Blackvine Manor Mystery Read Online Free

to the apartment that directly faces hers across the courtyard. He still hasn’t let go as he knocks on the door and she has to tear herself away from the flashing suggestions his large, capable hands are producing in her head.
    “Charles in charge, Alexis, what can I do you for?” George Carleton opens the door slightly and speaks to them through a narrow gap.
    “Hiya, George, sorry to barge in.” Maxwell drops her hand and pushes the door to George’s apartment open wider.
    Her hand cools and Alexis realizes the heat his innocent touch ignited in her. “I didn’t realize we lived straight across from each other, George.”
    “And I didn’t realize you had so much film equipment, Georgie. Got any projectors in here?” Maxwell pushes all the way into his studio, the mirror image of Alexis’ apartment.
    George gives Alexis a stricken and confused look. “I’m a cameraman, freelance but I get a lot of local gigs. And all the extra stuff is for editing, no projectors.”
    “This looks like a little bit more than work, eh, George?” Maxwell goes immediately to the equipment lined up along the window facing Alexis’ apartment.
    George gives Alexis another look, reminding her of a kicked puppy, “What’s going on? Are you alright?”
    She relents and tells him, “Someone played a trick on me. I saw and heard an argument play out; it didn’t end well.”
    Maxwell picks up a pair of night vision goggles and turns sharply on George. “I think you need to explain a few things.”
    Alexis shies away from George and it breaks him out of his haze, “This is more than work, this is my hobby. I’m a paranormal researcher. I use this equipment to assess possible encounters. Once I get some good evidence, I’m going to join the West County Paranormal Society.”
    “You’re a ghost hunter?” Alexis asks as Maxwell snorts.
    “Yeah.” George snatches back the night vision goggles. “But there’s more to it. There’s a science to it, and … and standards for evidence.”
    Maxwell steps closer to him, using his six inches of extra height to loom over him. “And you’re spreading stories about Blackvine Manor? You’re the reason this cursed place is getting a bad reputation?”
    “It’s not a bad reputation,” George splutters. “This place is really haunted. And it’s not hurting you at all.”
    Maxwell cocks an eyebrow at him and George cowers slightly. He opens his mouth to apologize but Maxwell cuts him off. “Is this kinda thing why you were asking about storage unit #203?”
    Alexis wants to stay and ask George a hundred questions but Maxwell’s reminder sets her on a different trajectory. “Yes. I heard music coming from it the other night.”
    “Like you heard inside your apartment before you decided to rent?” He frowns.
    She feels her heart sink. “Why? Didn’t you hear it? I’m not crazy!”
    “Well, let’s go open it.” Maxwell snatches out his phone and calls Barry. “We’ll figure out where all the sounds are coming from and then catch the person doing it.”
    “What if it’s not a person?” George calls out but Maxwell is already ushering Alexis into the hallway and closing the door.

    * * *
    B arry meets them in the basement with a lock cutter and a sour look on his face. When he sees Alexis he sends his eyes heavenward before handing over the tool and leaving without a word.
    “He’s not the nicest of people, is he?” Alexis sighs.
    “Barry? He’s a realist.” Maxwell pops the lock off storage unit #203 with a quick jerk and heads in before Alexis can look.
    “Nothing but a rusty sledgehammer and an old box,” Maxwell tells her as he stoops to pick up the box.
    The cardboard box falls apart as he stands up and a scant pile of old things fall to the cement floor of the storage unit: a picture frame showing a pink-bowed infant, a decorative tin full of ticket stubs and nostalgic scraps, a ragged book, and a silk scarf with a delicate hummingbird print.
    “Nothing that