The Ghost and The Haunted Mansion: A Haunted Bookshop Mystery

anything.”
    “Insulting me?”
    “By not making a pass.”
    Oh, brother.
    “Listen, Seymour, I think you’re a great guy.” I took his arm and began walking him to the door. “But I wouldn’t want us to put our friendship in jeopardy, you know? That’s too important to me.”
    Good line, baby. You think that up all by yourself?
    Seymour nodded. He stopped in the doorway and looked down at me with an excessively sympathetic look in his eyes. “I agree with you, Pen. Let’s just keep things on a friendship level between us. It’ll be better for you in the long run. You’ll see.”
    I gritted my teeth. “ Anyway , you have other romantic prospects to think about, don’t you? I mean, April Briggs was all over you tonight.”
    “You noticed, too, huh?” Seymour waggled his eyebrows. “She couldn’t keep her hands off me, but you know, there was still something missing with her.”
    “Missing?”
    Seymour shrugged. “That chemistry thing again. I told her all about my comic collection, my pulp magazines, too, and she wasn’t even impressed. Hardly knew what to say.”
    “Well, not every couple has everything in common. On the other hand, Seymour, maybe April’s not the one for you. Aunt Sadie always says there’s someone for everyone, and I’m sure your soul mate’s out there somewhere. You’ll know her when you meet her.”
    Nice, baby. That’s a much better line.
    “Well, maybe you’re right, Pen.” He smiled and walked into the hall. “Pleasant dreams, okay. I’ll be in the next room if you need me.”
    I closed the door behind him and collapsed against it. “Lord, what a night.” With a sigh, I moved back into the center of the shadowy room and glanced around. All of a sudden, I felt very alone.
    What did I tell you before, doll? With me around, you’re never alone.
    “I’m glad you’re here, Jack,” I said as I changed into the oversized T-shirt. “Even though you really should have listened to me and ducked out. You dodged a bullet tonight with that Spirit Zapper guy, you know?”
    Dodging bullets was always my specialty. Until the last one, that is . . .
    “My point exactly. You can’t be too careful.”
    I yawned as I pulled down the bedcovers and climbed into Seymour’s Superman sheets. I yawned again as I switched off the bedside lamp. Still sitting up, I looked around. With the light off, this room was much darker than my own room on Cranberry Street, where ambient light from the street seeped softly through my thin curtains. The closed brocade drapes on Miss Todd’s tall, narrow windows blocked even the moonlight.
    They seemed to block all sound, too. Not that there was much to block in the first place. Up here on Larchmont, car traffic was minimal, pedestrian traffic was practically non-existent, and Miss Todd’s mansion sat high on a hill, a fair distance from her nearest neighbor.
    I swallowed. The silence felt tomblike.
    “Jack?”
    Yeah?
    “You want to talk?”
    Get some rest, baby. You’ve had a long day.
    “But, you’ve been gone the last few nights. This is a good time to catch up—”
    No, it isn’t.
    I stifled a yawn. “Why don’t you tell me more about that case of yours?” I yawned again as I settled myself under the covers. “Did you ever find”—(yawn)—“little J. J. Conway’s mother?”
    If Jack answered, I didn’t hear. I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.
     
    “WHAT THE—?”
    A noise woke me from the sleep of the dead. I lay on my side, stiff and still, peering into the inky dark.
    “Where am I?”
    The mattress didn’t feel like my own. I glanced around and saw four posts, a thick canopy draped overhead. That’s when I remembered: I was in Miss Todd’s room. Then the noise came again—
    BOOM!
    The thunderous explosion shook the massive bed. Another one came and then another.
    “My God!”
    More booms came in rapid succession, until the sounds overlapped like the mechanical roar of a freight train running right through my head. I sat up and screamed—
    The noise abruptly ceased.
    A moment later, the master bedroom’s heavy door slammed open. By the light of the hallway I saw Seymour standing there in pea-green Incredible Hulk pajamas.
    “Pen! Are you okay? I heard you screaming!”
    “Did you hear it?” I asked, clicking on the bedside lamp.
    Seymour blinked. “I heard you .”
    “Not me ! Those booms! Like a giant stomping through the mansion! Then it started running. The rumble was so loud the bed