Ghosting (Reindeer Games 7)

Ghosting (Reindeer Games)
Lena Austin
All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2015 Lena Austin

Geoff grinned up at the magnificent lodge in the mountains above Denver, Colorado and drew a breath of clean, cold mountain air. He turned his cell off with fiendish glee and dropped the smart phone in his carry-on bag to rot at the bottom of the bag for the whole week of his vacation. No phone. No noise. No stress. Christmas alone in the mountains. He couldn't wait.

The owner of the hotel had reluctantly allowed him to rent the next-to-last cabin at the very end of a long line of small one-bedroom A-frames with kitchenettes and regular access to the main lodge's famous homemade buffets. Geoff had even offered to pay extra for the last cabin, but the stubborn old bat had refused adamantly to discuss it. The last cabin wasn't available to anyone, and that was that. She'd promised the heat would be on when he got there, and hung up.

Judging by the blast of warm air that smacked him in the face, the owner had been true to her word. The fridge and pantry were stocked per the grocery list he'd sent, and everything he'd sent ahead by USPS was stacked in the corner. There was even a colorful quilt on the bed in the loft, just visible from the front door. All the comforts of home, as promised, even down to the drip coffee pot chugging away at a fresh brew per his request.

Geoff couldn't get his suitcase and box of last-minute supplies in the door fast enough. By the time he had tasted the coffee, he'd forgiven her and called her Coffee Goddess when he called the front desk.

"Hmph!" was her cranky answer, but she was more pleasant after that. "Dinner's at seven, Dr. Goldwyn. Don't forget to bring a flashlight. Gets dark early here." Another phone rang stridently in the background, reminding him he was bothering the owner, who was apparently manning the front desk alone.

"I'll eat here tonight, Mrs. Sedler, and thank you. See you for breakfast." He hung up quickly. Geoff couldn't wait to dig into his pile of books and toast his toes in front of a fire he'd built himself. He needed silence one helluva lot more than he needed food. Geoff didn't even finish the Philly cheesesteak sub before he was asleep in front of the fire with a book on his chest and his reading glasses falling down his nose.

* * *

Andy came awake slowly as the sun set, and he caught one last blink of light before night fell. He wondered what had disturbed him this time. Was it another curious child, exploring the spooky, dilapidated lodge at the top of the hill?

That was most likely. The last disturbance to his non-existence had been his dear sister, now middle-aged and as crusty as stale bread, but to Andy she was still the adorable little munchkin who ran her fat little legs to keep up with him. She'd been up the hill last time to warn him there would be a lodger in the cabin just visible down the road.

"Can't persuade him to any other cabin but Bear View, dammit." Addie stared at the walls, turning in a slow circle, hoping for a glimpse of Andy's shadowy form. She never stopped trying and hoping for the chance to see him, even after over fifty years of nothing. "Wish I could see you, but I know you have to be here. I'm sorry, but I won't be able to come up much. Got a big family with a yearning for a Colorado Christmas coming tomorrow. Four fucking kids, for Chrissake. They're staying in the big house with me. I'll be pulling my hair out by the time they leave." Liar. Andy knew she'd probably stay up all night baking cookies for Santa with those aforementioned kids and love every minute of it. Addie was like her creme brulee -- crusty on the outside and gooey on the inside.

Just as soon as he'd figured out he was dead, he'd found himself holed up in this cabin. It had always been home to him. Hell, his body was buried a few feet away from the back door. When that had happened, he wasn't sure, but he'd known his body was there even before he saw the headstone.

He couldn't remember much else about how he died, but his anger simmered just below the surface of his consciousness at all times. He knew Darren had killed him, and that was enough to make his blood boil and chase all reason from his head.