Page 6 of Ghost Hunters 1

On the way back to her bedroom, she checked every room but found nothing out of place.She got to her room and found nothing there as well.She shook her head and got undressed.She placed Claire’s diaries on the table beside the bed and shut off the lights.

She wanted to but she felt too tired to read anymore tonight.

Early the next morning...

As the sunlight shone into her window Jillian groaned and tried to turn over.After the mysterious happenings of the night before, it had taken her a long time to fall asleep.

Her hand flopped down over the edge of the bed and Poppy touched it with her nose.The wet sensation of the dog’s nose startled Jillian awake and she groaned again.

She sat up and glanced over at the diaries.She felt amazed to find them still there.She wouldn’t have been at all surprised to find them missing but she knew that if someone had come into her room, Poppy would have alerted her.

She got up; dressed and gathering the books together she headed downstairs.Letting Poppy out the front door, Jillian went to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee.While she waited for the coffee to brew, she began reading the diary again.

Last night she had gotten to the part just before Matthew arrived.

Claire had described life in the late 1980’s, living with her sister in the business their father had left them.While respectable she longed for a little adventure and romance.Claire had been yearning for an adventure that would sustain her through the mundane, something she could remember during the lonely nights in her dreams.She wanted, no...she yearned for something she knew no respectable woman should have.

She felt her soul crying out but she didn’t dare dream for too much.Claire wanted just a hint of danger in her life.She was already twenty-five and didn’t have a husband.She sounded a bit like Jillian herself.Jillian got the feeling there was something going on that Claire hadn’t told anyone else about.She had hinted that there might be someone in her life but Jillian felt confused by this.Matthew hadn’t arrived at the Inn yet.

Jillian took a break to let Poppy back into the house and to get a cup of coffee.Sitting down she couldn’t help herself, she had to pick up the diary again.She wanted to know what Claire felt about the man who would eventually lead her sister to run away with him.

Jillian grew more concerned for someone she’d never met as she continued to read the words Claire Belmar wrote.Her coffee grew cold as she read about Matthew’s arrival and the feelings that both sisters shared for the man Matilda described as a playboy.

Claire was very graphic as her words filled the pages.Jillian could understand her fears and longings for the man she described in her diary.The words she read were feelings she had never experienced before.Then as she described them Jillian thought about the betrayal Claire would have felt had Matilda run away with the man Claire loved.

She finished one book then picked up the next one and shook her head.Claire had written that passion had overtaken the young couple and they had given into their growing love for one another as only a man and a woman could.Jillian couldn’t believe what she was reading.

Claire was having an affair with the man Matilda loved!

Claire went on to say that she knew how Matilda felt about Matthew and how Matthew didn’t want to hurt Matilda but it was Claire that he really loved.He proved it every time they were together.This was astounding as that had been Tilly’s exact words in her letter to Jillian’s grandmother.

Jillian was so engrossed in what she was reading that when Poppy stuck her nose onto her arm Jillian was startled.She looked over at Poppy.

Poppy wagged her tail.

“Dog, I swear you gave me a fright.What’s the matter, are you hungry?I guess I am too.”She got up, went to the refrigerator and got some bread out.She made toast for herself and opened a can of dog food for Poppy.

She warmed her coffee and thought about what the diary told her about Claire.Was it possible that Matthew was playing both women for fools?Or was it possible that neither of them knew they had both fallen for the same man?Jillian decided that she needed to see if she could find Matilda’s diaries.This drama was intriguing to say the least and maybe if she could find Matilda’s diaries she would find out more about the fire.

Jillian hadn’t made up her mind about Matthew yet.Maybe he was the scheming charmer Matilda and Claire first thought he was or maybe he really loved one of them but the question was, which sister did he really love?Now there were more questions than answers and she needed to know what the truth was.

After she ate her toast, she picked up the diary again.The next several pages were dedicated to the growing love Claire felt for the man that had become her lover.Jillian skipped over the ramblings and got to the next part.It seemed that Matilda found them together.Claire wrote that she would never forget the look of betrayal on her sister’s face when she found them.Nor would she forget the scream that shattered her soul.

Claire wrote:

“My secret is no longer a secret.Tilly caught Matthew and me together today.I didn’t realize until it was too late that she too had strong feelings for Matthew until I saw the look on her face.I felt like such a fool.Tilly screamed when the shock had passed and it was the sound of her own heart breaking.She ran away and Matthew ran after her but it was too late.I don’t know how I’m ever going to face her again.

This was the last entry in the diary.

Putting the small book down, she got up to get some more coffee.She couldn’t help herself.She had gotten caught up in someone else’s life.She kept wondering how much time had passed between that last entry and the fire that destroyed the Inn.Had the fire happened that night or days later?