Sneak Peek: The Wrong Ghost

My fourth book in The Reboot Files Series: The Wrong Ghost will be available this week, just as soon as I get the description done (Man those things are hard!) Anyway here's the gist of it:

This time Reboot ghost buster Irene Waters is off to picturesque Lake Morona to investigate rumors of the ghost of a vengeful female spirit haunting its shores. Pretty standard fare for Irene and her cameraman Troy Stenson except for few odd things. First they learn that their boss, Bernie Youngman, had previously passed on covering this particular ghostly tale. Now he has not only changed his mind about covering the story but has even insisted on coming along. Then they find that Reboot has competition for the story, and to Troy's dismay it is his former employer who is the competition! Then there is the “ghost” who is just a little bit too cooperative, and it may not even be the right ghost. Of course there is a plethora of suspects, but motivations are not so clear. Worse still, the mysterious Records Department is lurking in the shadows planning who knows what. Well I do but that’s to be expected.

Okay now as an added bonus here's a sample chapter, and not the beginning this time. Hope it makes sense out of context:

After Bernie assured his employees that he would be okay going down the path by himself, Irene turned and unceremoniously walked towards the trees. Troy followed after her quickly and was surprised when she stopped in front of the trees and was studying the ground in front of them. Finally he asked “What are you looking for?”

“I’m not sure.”

He pressed, “Then why are you looking for it?”

“I’ll know when I find it,” she said absently walking slowly as she studied the ground. She asked, “How well do you know Bernie?”

Troy immediately opened his mouth to answer, but then closed it again remembering Irene’s annoying habit of catching onto things he had missed.

“As well as anyone knows their boss I guess,” he finally admitted, “What’s bugging you about Bernie anyway?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Irene…”

“I’m serious, I’m not sure, just something about him doesn’t add up.”

“Like what?”

“Well, why was he so upset that I knew about his name just now? I mean he was the one who told me, even if he didn’t remember doing so.”

“He explained that,” Troy reminded her.

“Yes, and it may even be true,” she responded as she stopped and looked down at a spot in the ground.

“Boy you are in a suspicious frame of mind. What would the Bible have to say about that?”

“Jeremiah 17:9 the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” she obliged.

“You think Bernie is desperately wicked?”

“We all are,” she answered.

“Even you?”

“Of course, I’m just saved because I am born again by the sacrifice of my Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Okay, what about deceitful? How does that fit in?”

“Well he won’t tell us why he wanted to come on this story. Unless you bought the glory days explanation.”

Troy asked in astonishment, “So you’re saying that Bernie is deceitful and desperately wicked just because he forgot he told you about his name change and may be exaggerating about having trouble at home?”

“You call it an exaggeration, but if it is not true it is a lie, and liars are not to be trusted. Even if you like them,” she informed him.

“Come on Irene, not everyone has your high moral standards. Besides Bernie may not be a Christian, but he is married to one.”

“So what?”

Again Troy thought about it before agreeing, “Nothing I guess. So if you’re right and Bernie does have an agenda do you think we’ll figure out what it is?”

“Great-Aunt Minerva would have said that secrets are like weeds. They usually get rooted out eventually because nobody likes weeds.”

After making this pronouncement Irene knelt down for a closer look at whatever she had found. Not seeing it himself Troy finally asked, “Okay, I give. What are we looking at?”

“Glass,” she answered pointing to the ground in front of her, “And a lot of it.”

Troy knelt down beside her and finally saw several shards of broken glass on the ground.

“Oh yeah, I see it. Looks like something big broke. How did you know it was there?”

“I saw it glinting in the sunlight,” she replied.

“I didn’t see it.”

“I didn’t either, until I noticed it.”

“Okay, but does it mean anything? Man, I ask that a lot don’t I?”

She shrugged and commented, “If you want to know you’ve got to ask. As to whether it means anything or not, I’m not sure yet. However, it is an odd thing to be here out in the middle of nowhere.”

“Oh man when you start talking about odd things everything starts getting complicated. I wonder if Craig saw the glass.”

“I don’t know, but I doubt it. It may be obvious, but he wasn’t looking for it. He was looking for camera angles,” she said.

“Why do you assume that?”

“Well that’s what we came up here for isn’t it?”

Troy thought about that then nodded in agreement. As he and Irene stood up he mused, “Virginia sure chose an inconvenient location to haunt didn’t she?”

“Too bad it wasn’t at the lake shore like Bernie thought,” Irene agreed.

“Yeah she would have to be on a hill that is so hard to get to rather than a lake shore that’s not. Kind of weird how that worked out.”

At Troy’s observation Irene got her now infamous "That makes no sense" look on her face. Unfortunately Troy failed to see it as he continued, “Well you’re probably right and Craig didn’t notice. He was too intent on doing his job. Man, I hate organized people, no offense Irene.”

“None taken. You’re organized too you know,” she reminded him.

“I know, but don’t spread it around.”

“Does the other hill have a name?”

“No,” he answered, “One of the things Tiffany told me was that originally both of these hills were joined, and other creepy things besides Virginia were said to happen here. Legend says that these trees used to cover most of the hill and then went down the back into a deep wood. Supposedly people who went into that wood never came out and you could hear their cries of help forever after.”

“Wow that does sound scary. Can you stand it?” she teased with a smile.

He looked at her ruefully stating, “It’s fine as long as I don’t have to go into them. Anyway, Tiffany says that legend has mostly died out because the woods only look thick now and they go into a sheer drop. They actually had to cut down a few in order to put up a fence.”

“How did that happen?” she asked.

“Well the story goes that the two hillsides were connected and the whole thing was called “The Flat Top”. About fifty years ago, more or less, there was a large earthquake and the hillside split in two. Most of the trees either collapsed or fell down the backside when it collapsed. That’s why all the pathways up are so disjointed.”

“According to Tiffany,” she pointed out.

“Right, so I don’t how reliable it is. I mean I don’t think she’s lying, but it’s what “she heard” and you know how that can go. Not to change the subject Irene, but I think I should tell you about Tracy Campbell.”

“You don’t have to,” Irene assured him.

“I know, and I appreciate you not pushing on that, even though you’re a pest about my brother.”

“That’s different, you need to clear that up.”

“I know, and I will. However, back to Tracy, Bernie’s right, it’s not a secret. Before I got the boot she and were…close.”

“Close?”

“Close and things did not end well,” he continued, “Do I have to go into the gory details?”

“Not if you don’t want to,” she said absently as she returned to study the glass on the ground.

Perversely Troy found himself peeved at her lack of curiosity, mostly because he knew she wasn’t faking it. As a consequence he sounded more irritated than he was when he snapped, “Will you quit it with the glass already? It’s weird, I admit, but we have a story to do, remember?”

“Okay,” she agreed immediately looking back to him, “But I think we should tell Tiffany or someone about it as it could be dangerous. So where do you want to start?”

Troy crossed his arms and looked at her. He knew Irene didn’t drop things this easily, so it was weird, there was that word again, that she was doing so now. Still he wasn’t in the mood to try to pry information out of her so he shrugged and answered, “We’ve got to find a different angle, something to bypass Craig’s good organizational skills.”

“Right, good TV,” Irene said standing at attention and saluting.

“Cut it out Irene.”

“Well I suppose we could get some clarification about the other Virginia Rick was talking about.”

“Now you’re talking.”