Haunted Hamlet (Zoe Donovan Mystery) Read Online Free

house’s dark walls, and when I was twenty, something that looked a lot like blood appeared on the back exterior wall. According to the authorities, these incidents, as well as several others, had logical and scientific explanations, although no one has actually revealed what those might be. Most accept the vague answers they’ve been given, but there are others of us who wonder if, perhaps, the house really is haunted.
    After returning to the truck , I called Ellie to let her know that Joel had apparently left early.
    “Hey , Zoe. How’d the meeting go?” Ellie asked.
    “It didn’t. J oel must have left early. I looked around in the barn, but he was nowhere to be found.”
    “That’s odd. I just talked to him this morning and he said he’d be there until dark.”
    “I guess something came up, although it’s strange that he left the barn door open.”
    “Hang on while I check my messages. Maybe he called while I was talking to the food vendor.”
    Ellie put me on hold. A lone rain cloud drifted across the sky , blocking what was left of the sun. I took the phone from my ear and held it at my side, looking toward the front of the house, where a black cat was pacing back and forth in front of the door. She was far enough away that I couldn’t see her clearly so I couldn’t be certain, but it looked like she might have recently had kittens.
    “Zoe , are you there?” I heard Ellie come back on the line.
    I returned the phone to my ear. “Yeah , I’m here. Did Joel call?”
    “Yeah , he did. I’m sorry I didn’t notice he’d called before you went all the way out there. He cut his hand, so he headed home early. I called him to arrange for a reschedule, and he asked if you would mind locking the barn. He said he meant to go back and do it but got tied up. There’s a combination lock on the door. You’ll need to unlock the mechanism and then relock it after the door is closed. Joel gave me the number; I can read it to you over the phone.”
    “Yeah, okay . I can head back over to the barn and lock up, but give me a few minutes.” I began walking toward the cat.
    “ Why? What’s going on?”
    “ There’s a cat on the porch who looks like she’s trying to get into the house. I’m going to check her out. I can call you back if you’d like.”
    “No , that’s okay. I can wait on the line.”
    I put my phone on hold and jogged over to the cat. I bent down and pet ted the friendly cat, who immediately began purring. “Did you get locked out?” I wondered. It was obvious by her swollen nipples that she had recently had kittens. The cat meowed and rubbed against my leg. I couldn’t help but notice the look of despair on her delicate face. Poor baby must be frantic that she had become separated from her babies. She must have gone out when the door was open and then been unable to get back in.
    I clicked back on the line. “The cat looks like she’s had kittens recently,” I informed Ellie. “My guess is that the babies are inside, but Mama got locked out. I’m going to go in and see if I can find the kittens. If I bring them to the Zoo, they’ll have a much better chance of making it to adulthood than they will on their own.”
    “You’re going into that spooky old house a lone? You do remember what happened the last time?”
    “Yeah , I remember,” I answered. “Just stay on the line as backup and I’ll be fine.”
    “Yeah, ’cause that worked so well before.”
    “The last time there was a body in the basement. What are the odds of that happening again?”
    “Knowing you? Pretty good.”
    “ I’ll be fine. If you hear me being ax-murdered, call Salinger,” I said.
    “You do realize you’re insane?”
    “Yeah, so I’ve been told.”
    I gathered my courage and opened the front door of the musty old house. There were decorations stacked in the living room, which led me to believe that Joel must have been using the house as a staging area to assemble his props before installing them