A Haunting at Hensley Hall (A Ravynne Sisters Paranormal Mystery) Read Online Free

herself. “I don’t believe their name is relevant. It is the house we are talking about.”
    Meg tugged urgently at Charlie’s arm. “Ask her where they died?” she whispered.
    Cupping her hand over the receiver, Charlie mouthed with a touch of annoyance, “What did you say?”
    “Ask her where they died?” Meg persisted.
    So Charlie asked and was told, “Why would that be pertinent? They died quite peacefully in their own home of natural causes. After all, they had been quite elderly and it was totally expected. No surprises…none at all!” Mrs. Brown said with exaggerated emphasis. A prickling awareness shot up Charlie’s spine, just as Mrs. Brown excused herself and hung up.
    Meg sighed. “You know what this means, don’t you?”
    Charlie let the ‘what?’ she didn’t want to ask escape her.
    “ Ghosts is what! The place is bound to be haunted, though I suspected as much from the first moment I saw it. No wonder they’re raffling it off in some cockamamie contest. Who in that town would buy the place if it has the reputation I think it has? No wonder they didn’t list the address. Anyone driving into Merritsville would soon find out the place is haunted and be out of there on the next bus!”
    “They drove in, they wouldn’t take a bus out, would they?” Charlie asked wryly. “You are really beginning to enjoy all this, aren’t you? We haven’t sent the check in yet. It’s not too late to call the whole thing off, if that is what you really want.”
    “Haunted mansion…ghosts…things that bump you in the night, are you kidding? You know how I love that kind of thing!” Meg told her with what came dangerously close to a giggle.
    And Charlie did know. How could she forget? At eight, Meg had begun holding seances in the attic. At first she had been the only one there, until she talked her non-believing sister into attending. She remembered Meg, her head wrapped in a silk scarf she’d pilfered from their mother’s dresser, concentrating on conjuring up the spirits, who had seemed totally disinterested in being conjured! Then one night, not long after they had persuaded their babysitter to let them see a Dracula movie on TV, Meg summoned up a vampire. Or thought she had.
    Charlie had never seen her so scared. And when she hadn’t been able to put her vampire back in his box, or wherever she hoped to stuff him, she asked their cook for garlic cloves. If Mrs. Porter wondered why Meg had developed a sudden craving for garlic, she never asked and, most importantly, never told their mother.
    Meg had tied the garlic in a wool scarf and wore it around her neck… night after night. Though she loved Meg dearly, she didn’t love sleeping in a room that reeked of garlic! In fact, she had developed a strong dislike for Italian food that scarred her to this day…so she had decided to take charge of the situation.
    It had been a stroke of genius! She had staged the vampire’s death. At midnight, with a full moon lighting the dark deed, she’d wrestled a black yard bag full of grass clippings to the ground and thrust a wooden stake through its ‘heart’. It had all been a lot more work than she’d thought, but with Meg watching from their upstairs window, it had seemed worth it at the time. She’d spiced up the vampire’s death with a few blood-curdling shrieks that brought lights on all over the neighborhood, including their mother’s. She had been forced to lay low for what seemed like hours, before she could safely sneak back inside.
    She had expected to find Meg awaiting her conquering heroine, but had found her fast asleep, the raggedy-eared teddy bear she’d been ‘too big for lately’ clutched close to her heart. Freddie. Why hadn’t she remembered that before? Now ‘Freddie’ was a shaggy white dog, who comforted Meg and had been the catalyst in changing her life.
    “Yoo hoo! Earth to Charlie. I’m still here, remember me? Anyway, I was asking, while you weren’t listening, what do