Chapter 1

It’s a quiet fall afternoon in Bayport. Frank Hardy shuffled in his seat as he tried to concentrate on his computer report. It had been a few weeks since their new brother Dan came to live with them. So far he had been adjusting as well as could be expected. He was still quiet and suffered frequently from nightmares. Their friends had accepted him into their group and tried their best to help him feel welcome to the neighborhood. He took a glance at the door way that connected his room to the bathroom that he and his younger brother Joe share. He was amazed that Joe showed no adverse reaction to the events that brought Dan into their lives. He was glad that Joe seemed happy to have another older brother in his life. He thought back to his notebook. It was of an adventure that he and Joe supposedly had in South America. Why he couldn’t remember what had happened he didn’t know. Other than the two medallions that the Chilean government had given them as gifts, neither brother could remember what had happened.

“Hey Frank, could you come here for a minute?” Joe’s voice shouted, snapping Frank out of his thoughts.

“OK,” he replied, getting up and stretching his cramped legs.

He walked over to Joe’s room to find his brother scratching at a piece of paper.

“What’s wrong?” Frank asked, sitting on his brother’s messy bed.

“It’s these equations, they don’t want to break down for me,” Joe replied, erasing something in frustration.

Frank looked over his brother’s shoulder. His papers were a mess of scribbles and jumbled equations. He pulled over a chair and sat down beside him. Taking a fresh piece of paper, he rewrote the equation.

“First of all, remember that even the hardest equation can have the simplest answer,” Frank reminded him.

Joe nodded, “I know. I tried everything, but it still wouldn’t break down.”

“First, let’s see if you set it up right.”

After a few minutes of going through the problem, they discovered that Joe had left out a small piece of the equation that would have made it easy to break down. After going through the rest of the problems, checking for the small pieces, all of the equations worked out evenly.

“Thanks, big brother,” Joe said as he finished the last equation.

“Anytime.” Frank replied, “Has Dan come back yet?”

Joe shook his head. “Biff said he wanted to show him some of his father’s contracting places so he could get a feel for some hands-on work.”

“That’s good. It might help him feel better. By the way I might have a new case for us to work on.”

Joe was instantly interested. “No kidding. With dad and Dan going on that fishing trip it would be the ideal time.”

“A friend of mine might need our help in Vermont. I’m going to talk to him later on tonight online and see what the problem actually is.”

Joe leaned back in his chair. “I just hope it’s not something that we can solve in a day. We haven’t had a case in a couple of weeks.”

Frank smiled, knowing how Joe could never resist a mystery. “I’ll know tonight.”

After dinner and more homework, Frank waited until his friend Matt came into the chatroom.

“Hi.”

[Hey Frank, it’s great to hear from you.]

“I talked it over with my brother, and we’ll take the case.”

[Great, because I really need your help.]

“What do you need help with?”

[I’ve wanted to sell a house I inherited. The only problem is people claim it’s haunted. I need you and your brother to help me prove it isn’t.]

“Has there been any proof?”

[Just the usual odd noises, things being moved around, that sort of thing.]

“We can be up there this weekend. I’ll do some background here. Email me the address.”

[Sure thing. I’ll email it in a few minutes. I have to log off. I’ve got some work to do. TTYL]

“Bye.”

Within a few minutes the email came with the address. While searching through haunted houses wasn’t exactly Frank’s idea of a usual case, comparing it to what had happened over the last month made it sound easy. The address itself seemed familiar. A quick search engine search found that house in question had been in the news four years back.

Two mysterious deaths had taken place at the house. Although the father was under suspicion no one had been charged in the deaths of Jim and Hannah Latch, 16 and 10.

“It must have been the old deaths that have people seeing things,” Frank thought as he read the article.

Just then Joe came into the room. He read the article his brother had found.

“Investigating a haunting? That’s not going to be easy,” Joe remarked as he sat on his brother’s bed. “Though it would be a nice change of pace.”

Frank nodded. “We can leave this Friday after school. Let’s go through Dad’s files tonight. Maybe there’s something there not posted.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time. I’m just surprised that two people die in the same house and nothing more is done about it.” Joe remarked as he leaned back, “Maybe there’s something in the public records.”

Frank searched through the internet. Accessing the public records of township, he was surprised that only the investigation’s beginning report was there but nothing else. A check with the local papers produced small articles and bits in the obituaries but nothing else. They decided to try their father’s files for some more information. Even there only a few reports that went unnoticed by child welfare authorities.

“I wonder why that agency didn’t check into them,” Joe said, putting the files back into the cabinet.

“Probably had too many to begin with. Although it’s not like we haven’t someone do a quick acting job to fool the authorities,” Frank replied, helping his brother clean up the office. “Dan leaves tomorrow with Dad in the morning that gives us another day to look around before we leave. Let me get back to the internet, maybe I can find something that’s been hidden.”

An hour worth of searching would yield more information on the house itself rather than the actual deaths of the Latch children. There was nothing more that the police files would reveal other than the name of the officer who investigated the case before his transfer. He sighed in frustration and logged out.

“So we’re going ghost hunting?” Joe asked as he got ready for bed.

“Looks like it,” Frank replied before turning in for the night.

During his study break the next day, Frank used the time to search through the newspaper archives in the school’s library. One newspaper listed Hannah’s death as a result from injuries sustained in a fall down a flight of stairs. Another listed Jim’s death as a possible teen suicide. Neither paper really devoted much space to the events. By that time he had to return to class. He wondered if he would have better luck looking through the local achieves where Matt lived.

Later after school, the brothers headed home and packed a couple of bags before leaving a note for their parents. Joe felt it was best to leave before the rush-hour traffic. He grabbed a couple of snacks and something to drink before leaving.

As they drove along the road, Joe could help the feeling of terror that wanted to take over. Something was wrong.

“Are you OK baby brother?” Frank said, snapping Joe out of his thoughts.

Joe sighed. “I really don’t know. It’s those weird feelings again. Something’s not right.”

“We’ll find out what’s going on once we see the local library, Matt’s going to meet us there,” Frank replied, trying to distract his younger brother.

“Maybe.”

Joe leaned back. He really didn’t know what to do except ignore the feelings. He took a bite of the fruit he had brought along trying to think of something else. Looking around at the tall trees that were passing by them, he thought about their last camping trip, when the met up with Dan for what they thought was the first time. They never did finish that trip.

“When all this is done, do you want to go camping again, just the two of us?” Joe asked, still looking at the beautiful trees.

Frank thought about that. He and his brother hadn’t really been able to spend any time alone together sine they started this case. Maybe camping wouldn’t be a bad idea. At least it would give them time to adjust.

“Sounds great. We can start planning as soon as this case is over.” Frank suggested, “I would have planned to go after Dan got settled in but then midterms came up and then there was dad’s case…”

“I know.” Joe answered, “Things like that happen. Maybe we can try for here in Vermont. We haven’t camped here in a while.”

They finally agreed to camp in Vermont as Frank pulled into the parking lot of the local library in the town where Matt lived. Matt was waiting by his own car. He looked a little nervous. His skin was pale, and his dark hair was slightly unkempt. He shook hands with both of them.

“Matt, are you OK?” Frank asked they quietly walked into the library.

Matt sighed. “To be honest, not really. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since I inherited that house.”

“Do you believe the place is haunted?” Joe whispered as they walked to the periodicals section.

Matt sat down in a chair next to all the microfiche and CDRoms he had pulled from the shelves. “To be honest I’m starting to believe it is. It’s hard to explain.”

Frank noticed that his hands were shaking slightly, something his friend never did in the past. “Maybe if my brother and I stayed the night with you, you might sleep then we can figure out what’s going on.”

“I really hope so,” Matt replied.

They searched through the archived information Matt had found. Just as Frank had found on the internet, even the local papers didn’t have much more on the deaths other than a brief article and the children’s obituaries. Their father, Gregory Latch, had been a suspect at one time but was released with full apologizes. There were many articles on Mr. Latch, mostly on how prominent he was, and how many friends he had. Most of the articles painted him in good light. Other papers which had small articles claiming that he was a suspect in the deaths of his children had later articles apologizing to Latch.

“Mr. Latch is very powerful, and the police found it hard to prosecute him, so I’ve heard,” Matt explained.

Joe sighed. “Trust me we know what it’s like to deal with a person like him.”

Frank knew that Joe was referring to Callie Shaw. She had been Frank’s steady girlfriend until she had tried several times to split him and his brother apart. She had gotten to the point where she had nearly killed Joe in a jealous fit. She used her family’s money to keep her out of prison and in a cushy mental hospital. To this day Chief Collig was still angry that he couldn’t have her charged with the crimes that she had committed. He would never forgive her for hurting his brother like she did. She still sent him letters and gifts, begging for his forgiveness.

After printing out the information they needed, Matt suggested they get something to eat before heading over to the house. He explained that the power frequently went out so there was no guarantee they could make something hot to eat. They stopped at a local restaurant for a good meal before heading over to the house. Looking around on the outside, the brothers checked the phonelines and the outside powerlines. None of them looked tampered with and appeared to be functioning. Joe noticed that there was a dog across in the other yard that seemed to be barking directly at the house and not at him. The house seemed to be an older house. It was in need of a new paint job, and the back door was in need of replacement. He wasn’t positive, but he could have sworn that there was someone looking at him from the attic window. Shaking off the cold feeling, he walked to the front of house.

“See anything?” Frank asked as he checked the front porch light.

Joe shook his head. “Other than the dog barking at the house, nothing much.”

Mike nodded. “That dog has been acting crazy for awhile now. Seems to think something’s going on in the house when it’s only me.”

They waited until Mike opened the door. Frank noticed that Joe seemed a little apprehensive about the house as they walked inside. Looking around he saw that Mike was doing his best to fix up the place on his own. There was nothing unusual about it. Looking around he saw that most of the furniture was still there.

“Did you buy all this furniture?” Frank asked as they came into the dining room.

“The house was completely furnished. I still don’t understand why they didn’t take it with them,” Matt replied, walking in front of them.

Joe looked around the room. It had an eerie feeling to it, like he was very cold. Something wasn’t right. Frank looked around when suddenly he heard his brother wince. Turning about around his eyes went wide when he saw his brother holder his upper arm.

“Joe, what’s wrong?” Frank demanded going over to his brother.

Joe winced. “My arm started to burn.”

Frank lifted his brother’s sleeve. His breath caught when he saw four oozing scratches on his brother’s arm!

Chapter 2

“How did this happen?” Frank demanded, trying to stop the bleeding with his hand.

“I don’t know.” Joe replied, wincing at his brother’s touch, “My arm just started burning.”

Matt disappeared into a bathroom and returned with a first-aid kit. Frank took the kit and took care of the wound on Joe’s arm. It looked painful but wasn’t too deep. All three noticed how cold the room seemed to get.

“Did you turn the heat off?” Frank asked as he closed the first-aid kit.

Matt shook his head. “No, I keep it at a comfortable level. I’ve had the electric company come out here several times, and they can’t find the source of the heat loss.”

Joe sat down in a chair, holding onto his arm. Frank waved his hand in front of the vents. All of them were giving off a warm breeze. Coming back to where Joe was sitting, he found the cold area to be gone.”

“Believe me the cold spots are the least of the things that have been going on in this house. I need people to stay with me overnight to prove I’m not crazy.” Matt said as he put away the first-aid kit, “Trust me, it gets worse as night comes.”

Frank thought back to everything that happened since they met their new brother Dan. “Trust us Matt, there’s probably nothing that could happen that wouldn’t surprise us.”

Matt looked at them for a fast moment. Joe looked up at him. He seemed surprised. “What’s happened to you two since we last saw each other? Normally you two don’t believe in a haunting.”

Joe sighed. “Let’s just say we’ve seen things that changed out minds.”

“Well, I have a couple of friends who are coming over. I contacted them on the web. You might say their ghost hunters,” Matt said sitting down in a dinning room chair.

Joe was surprised. “Like those people I see on that show Unexplained Reports.”

Frank nodded. “Yeah. They use equipment to measure anomalies in the atmosphere. It’s to make sure that the haunting isn’t caused by something else other than the paranormal.”

“When will they be coming?” Joe asked trying to ignore the pain.

“Tomorrow night. It’s the earliest they could come. They would have come today but one of them college classes,” Matt explained.

Something wasn’t right in the house. Frank noticed all the blueprints on the table. “Are these of the house?”

“Yeah, I tried to get as many I as could find from the public records,” Matt said, turning on the overhead lights as bright as they would go.

They looked over the blueprints. The house had three levels, five if you included the attic and the basement. Many of the rooms were small, containing only one window. It appeared to have 4 bedrooms and two bathrooms. There were several smaller rooms used as storage and crafts room. Frank explained that many homes built during it’s time had storage rooms because cold weather would confine people for two to three weeks at a time. So they stored up to get themselves through the blizzards and other storms.

“Do you use those rooms?” Joe asked, looking closer at the prints.

Matt shook his head. “I’m here by myself. You guys look over these prints. I’m going to go turn on all the lights in the house.” Noting the looks he got he added, “Trust me you’re going to thank me.”

As they heard Matt walking about the house, they turned their attention back towards the prints. Joe noticed that there were some rooms hidden by doors or by shelves.

“This is like one of those mansions with all the secret rooms,” he remarked, pointing out one of the hidden rooms.

“Some people were really scared of a lot of things at that time, so secret rooms were built to hide valuables and themselves.” Frank explained, we’ll probably spend all night looking through the secret rooms if we have enough light.

Joe nodded. “Yeah but only if we don’t fall asleep.”

They continued looking at the maps until Matt came back into the room. He seemed out of breath but appeared relieved that the lights were on. Now that all the lights were on, Frank could see that the rooms were in need of new wallpaper. Some of the woodwork was chipping and the old paint was peeling. The furniture looked fairly new and expensive. Why wouldn’t the former owner take it? Matt came over and looked at the blueprints. He pointed out that he didn’t know many of the secret hiding places. Joe looked closely at the spot for the dining room. According to the plans there was a hiding space on the wall.

“These plans say that in this room there’s a hiding spot on the wall,” Joe said, pointing at the prints.

Matt looked around at the walls. “If it’s here I don’t see it.”

They all started tapping on the walls, looking for hidden switches. Frank pulled back a small picture and found a small safe.

“I guess this is it,” he remarked.

“Wow, I didn’t even know that was there,” Matt remarked as he looked at the safe’s door.

The brothers took only a few minutes to successfully crack the combination. Just as they opened the door, the cold air hit all three of them again. Joe shivered as Frank looked inside the safe. The only contents were a small shoebox. Looking through the box they found a couple of birth certificates.

“This is interesting,” Frank remarked, sitting down on a chair.

“What is?” Joe asked as the cold air finally left.

“None of the last names on these have the last name Latch. The ones on here say Branch,” Frank explained, pointing out the names.

Matt thought a moment, “The only people who used to own this house were Latches. When they moved out my grandfather bought it for me and left it in his will for me. The Latches moved out about a year and a half ago.”

“The county records will tell us if they were born here. If not we’ll have to use the Internet.” Frank explained, “Of course these could be fakes. Did your grandfather know anybody with the last name Branch?”

Matt shook his head. “No. My grandfather bought this house after the Latches moved out. My family and I weren’t getting along, and he wanted to make sure that even if I had to sell it for the money, I could use it to get a smaller place for myself.”

Joe looked around the room, wondering where the cold chill had come from. Something was telling him that there was a reason behind it, but what? He thought about their find, shouldn’t be too hard to find the people on them.

“You ok little brother?” Frank asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Yeah, just trying to figure out where that draft keeps coming from,” Joe admitted, sitting down in a chair.

“Well, the librarian I talked to said that these houses are quite drafty.” Matt explained, “She says that I shouldn’t be surprised by a high heating bill.”

“In the morning we can check the ductwork. Probably just a few rolls of insulation will take care of it,” Frank said.

They both agreed and continued looking at the prints. It was though each room had its own hiding place. It was going to take several hours to search all of them.

…Thump…Thump…Thump…

“What was that?” Joe asked, looking at the ceiling.

“That goes on every night. I thought it was just the plumbing,” Matt replied.

…Thump…Thump…Thump…

Frank stood up. “I think it’s coming from upstairs.”

By the time they reached the room where the noise was coming from, the sounds had ceased. The room turned out to be a child’s bedroom. The pink wall papers and dolls on the shelves led them to believe it belonged to a young girl.

“Does the plumbing run underneath this room?” Frank asked as they looked for the source of the noise.

“I wouldn’t know. I really haven’t had a chance to look at the prints,” Matt replied as he looked under the bed.

…Thump…Thump…Thump…

“Sounds like footsteps,” Joe whispered as he pressed his ear to the door.

The “footsteps” sounded like they were moving from one end of the hallway to the other. They ran to the end of the hallway, only to find the rooms empty. Going through each of the rooms, they couldn’t find a source of the noise.

…Thump…Thump…Thump…

“I think there’s someone in downstairs,” Joe whispered.

They stealthily moved downstairs, only to find the house empty. The front and back doors were locked and all the windows were closed and locked. They checked in the closets, under the beads, and behind curtains. No one was hiding in the house.

“They could be in attic or in the basement. There are lots of places to hide up here,” Frank said, trying to find some sort of reason behind the noise.

Joe nodded. “Maybe. Though whoever it was had to have moved fast to hide in this house. I didn’t hear anything being moved.”

Matt looked around the hallway, looking up at the ceiling. He pointed up at the ceiling. They both saw a small attic door. The only way to get to handle was a small string attached to the end.

“That’s the only way to get into the attic that I know of. You have to jump up to string or use a ladder.” Matt explained, “I haven’t been up there yet. I do have a roof inspector coming next week to see if it needs to be replaced.”

“Do you have problems with the neighbors?” Frank asked, trying to listen for the sound.

“They’re all really nice to me. But whenever I ask about the Latch family no one really wants to talk about it. All they say is that they’re glad Mr. Latch is gone from the neighborhood. Apparently he didn’t get along with any of them.”

“Looks like we might have to talk with him.” Joe concluded, “Did they say where he went to.”

“No. The postal worker who delivers here said that he didn’t leave a forwarding address.”

…Thump…Thump…Thump…

This time the sound was coming from living room. Running downstairs and into the room, they found only an empty room, the curtains fluttering as though a breeze had blown through. They searched the entire floor, under all the furniture, behind the curtains, and in the small closet, but found no place a person could hide. Joe felt the same chill pass over him.

Matt sat on the couch. “This is what goes on night after night. All after I inherited the house and came to live in it and that was four months ago.”

The brothers sat down in chairs. Joe leaned back and rubbed his sore arm.

Frank looked around the room. “Did anyone threaten you or offer to buy the house after you moved in?”

Matt rubbed his temples. “The neighbors told me that they’ve seen lights go on and off. They’ve heard banging noises, seen the shades go up and down, and have seen shadows pass by the windows. None of them threatened me or offered to by the house. In fact they all told me that I should consider selling it to the first person that offers.”

“Has anyone offered?”

Matt thought a moment. “Now that you mentioned it, a man did come to my house about a week after I moved in. I told him I wasn’t interested. After he left, that’s when all the craziness started happening.”

Joe looked over. “Maybe we can talk with the neighbors in the morning. It might be some kids playing jokes on you.”

“I wish was that, but honestly I don’t think so. Wouldn’t they have given up by now?”

Frank looked around. “Probably. We can check with the neighbors in the morning to see if they’ve seen anybody leaving the house when you’re not here. Let’s look around here, they might be hiding in one of the secret places in here.”

They were surprised that there were three hiding places, plus a hidden stairway into a concealed room in the basement that had been hidden under a heavy display bookcase. The house was now quiet with exception of the rattling of the plumbing pipes. Joe had an eerie feeling like someone was watching him.

“Let’s get out of here,” Joe said, rushing up the stairs.

Frank ran after him. “Joe…what’s wrong?”

“Someone or something was down there watching us,” Joe replied, not knowing how he would explain it.

“It’s a feeling a lot of people get when they visit.” Matt admitted, “It’s like there’s someone hidden in the walls that’s constantly watching.”

“Let’s go to sleep right now and get a fresh start early in the morning. It’s already getting late as it is,” Frank suggested.

Matt brought them to the main room which he had been sleeping in. He had already set up two cots for his guests. Although Frank didn’t like sleeping with the lights on, at this time with all the noises going on the house, they had to be ready for anything. Maybe later on that night when he was sure Joe and Matt were asleep, he could turn the lights off. The bathroom’s plumbing made the usual old house noises when they used the sink and toilet. When Joe tried to use the shower, the plumbing rattled so loudly that he had to keep his shower to only a couple of minutes.

Later on that night, Frank managed to turn off the light in the bedroom, allowing them all a more restful sleep. He settled back into his bed, hoping to get some sleep after the day’s events. He could have sworn something brushed past his skin, like a gust of wind blowing a feather. He turned to his side. He opened his eyes and saw his brother was having trouble trying to sleep. Closing them again, he hoped to find sleep once again. A terrible scream roused him from that sleep. It was Joe!

He shot out of his bed. Matt fumbled for the light and turned it on. Joe was standing up, holding his back.

“Joe, what’s wrong?” Frank demanded, going over to his brother.

“My back,” Joe moaned, wincing in pain.

Frank moved his brother’s hand aside. Three deep scratches, oozing blood had been cut into his back!

Chapter 3

As Frank got up to get the first-aid kit, an unseen force knocked him down to the floor. He tried to get up again, but the force struck him down again. Matt crawled on the floor to the hallway light and turned it on. Frank stood up and rubbing his lower back. As he was getting the first-aid kit, Matt lifted his shirt. There were two rapidly forming bruises that appeared deep red on his back. Frank treated Joe’s wounds while Matt made up a cold compress for his back. They began hearing an eerie noise, almost like a small child crying coming from one of the bedrooms. Despite their pains, the brothers ran with Mark into the room, only to find it empty with the curtains fluttering.

“Matt, I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m telling you we’re going to find out,” Frank promised.

Joe gingerly sat up and was shocked at the bruises on his brother’s back. He winced as the bruises were already starting to turn purple. The compress seemed to be helping in slowing the swelling. Matt gave them both pain-killers.

“I think we should sleep with the light on,” Joe declared.

“I won’t argue with you there,” Frank replied.

They tried to sleep. The night was interrupted by the rattling of the pipes and occasional footsteps. Joe tried his best to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes it was as if someone in the walls was watching him.

It was hard to get up that morning. They helped Matt make breakfast. Joe admitted that the feeling of the house was a little different in the morning that at night.

“What’s the first stop this morning?” Joe asked as they sipped at some juice.

“You might want to start with the library for the background. It opens early,” Matt suggested.

“Might as well.” Frank replied, “Can’t do much here until there’s better lighting.”

They went over to library just as it opened for the day. Matt directed them to the periodicals section. Frank knew that there was a lot of information that hadn’t been posted on the Internet, and they might be there all day. They divided the newspapers and local magazines between them. Searching through them they managed to find a local investigation that Mr. Latch was suspected in causing the deaths of his children, but the coroner had concluded that the deaths were from accidents in the house. There was no mention of the Branch children anywhere.

“How about we check the missing person’s website? Maybe someone reported the Branch children missing,” Joe whispered.

Frank nodded. “We can do that. The birth certificates did say there were born in Maine. Does this library get any papers from that state?”

Matt thought a moment. “It does get a main paper, and a couple of local papers. They should have recent copies upstairs in the hard copies.”

Going up stairs, Frank did a quick search on the library’s database. He found several articles on the Branch children. They filtered through the stacks of newspapers until they found the articles. This time it was a Mr. Branch that had been suspected in the deaths of his children, but the coroner again ruled it an accident.

“Just dead-ends,” Matt whispered, slumping in a chair.

“We’ve never let that stop us,” Joe told him.

Frank nodded. “He’s right. We have other avenues of getting information. This was just the easiest. Now you say most of the neighbors knew the Latch family?”

Matt nodded. “From what they told me, most of them didn’t like Mr. Latch. Though now that he’s gone, they might want to talk.”

They made copies of the articles before leaving the library. Joe noticed that it was considerably cooler that day. Still it felt good to be out of that house. Even the cuts on his back had stopped hurting. Frank was surprised when he lifted his brother’s shirt to find the cuts were almost completely healed. His own bruises were rapidly healing. After lunch, they walked through the neighborhood, trying find someone who knew the previous owners of the house. Their first stop was an elderly lady sitting in a rocking chair on her porch, trying to escape the heat of her house. She smiled when she saw the three good-looking young men approaching her house. She reminded Joe of old lady Mrs. Miller who lived across from the middle school. With her faded pink dress, high stockings, black shoes, and her silver hair pulled into a bun.

“Well, I haven’t had company for awhile, what can I do for you boys?” she asked.

Frank smiled. “I’m Frank Hardy and this is my brother Joe…”

Before he could finish, she interrupted him. “Wow, I finally get to meet you two! What are you investigating?”

Matt explained who he was and why he asked the Hardys to help him.

She nodded. “Thank goodness someone’s looking into that horrible man. Didn’t like him the first day he brought his family into the neighborhood.”

She directed them to sit down in chairs as she stood up. “Would you boys care for some lemonade?”

Frank could sense that the old lady was enjoying their company and didn’t want appear rude. “That would be nice. Do you want some help?”

“Young man I’m not as frail as I look. Now you three sit there and I’ll get it,” she told them.

Matt smiled as she disappeared. “That’s one thing about Mrs. Nathan. She always takes care of herself.”

Minutes later she came out with a tray of lemonade and a plateful of her homemade chocolate chip cookies. Joe was surprised that despite her age she could lift and pour the heavy pitcher of the drink. She passed each of them some cookies and a glass of lemonade before pouring a glass for herself. As she sat back down she talked to them.

“So you want to know about that man?”

“Anything you can say to us will be useful,” Frank said as he pulled out pad and pencil.

“He moved his family into the neighborhood about three years ago. His daughter Hannah was a delightful little girl. She was very polite and liked to play with the dog I used to have. Her father was always finding one excuse after another to yell at her. If she got dirt on her clothes, if she was playing with my dog, if she didn’t have her hair neat,” Mrs. Nathan said.

Joe took a sip of the delicious lemonade. “I’m sorry to say I know fathers like that. Did you ever see him hit her?”

Mrs. Nathan nodded. “A couple of times he’d spank her for no reason. Once I saw him slap her because she didn’t come inside fast enough.”

“What about her older brother Jim?” Frank asked.

“I think he deliberately did things so his father wouldn’t attack his sister. Often Mr. Latch would excuse what he did and still punish Hannah,” she replied.

“What was the most severe thing you saw Jim do?” Joe asked.

“I remember that one.” Matt answered, “Jim drove his family’s car through the garage, totally demolishing the door.”

Mrs. Nathan nodded. “And instead of yelling at Jim, Hannah was punished for getting a little bit of mud on her shoes.”

“Didn’t the mother do anything?” Frank asked, knowing that if his father tried something like that, Laura would have a fit.

“She was one of those types that kept her mouth shut. I yelled at her several times, didn’t do any good.” Mrs. Nathan admitted, “I called child welfare, but he always put on a good show, I finally called the police several times.”

“Mrs. Nathan these cookies are really good,” Joe admitted, fishing his last cookie.

“Thank you, young man. Now is there anything else I can help you with?” she asked.

Frank smiled. “If you don’t mind we do have some more questions.”

She smiled back. “I don’t have anywhere to go, and I have plenty of cookies and lemonade, so ask away.”

“When the Latch children died from accidents, did the police investigate?” Frank asked.

“Accidents my foot. That man killed them and got away with it, nobody believes me though.”

Frank nodded. “You gave us good reasons why you would suspect he killed Hannah, but what makes you think he killed Jim?”

“Like I said, Jim always tried to protect Hannah. I suspect he was trying to protect her and Mr. Latch killed him because of that. They both died in the house. There were cops everywhere that night but no one came around asking questions except Officers Joe Morgan and James Boone. I tried calling them back but they had both been transferred.”

Joe looked over at Matt. “Are those two officers part of the local police force?”

Matt shrugged. “They were before they transferred. I tried looking for them. The last I heard was that Boone is with the state troopers and Morgan is a detective in a nearby county.”

Frank looked back at Mrs. Nathan. “Mrs. Nathan, since Mr. and Mrs. Latch moved out, and before Matt moved in, did you notice anything unusual going on inside the house?”

“I’ve seen lights going on and shadows passing by the curtains. I’ve seen shades pulling down and raising themselves. The lights have flickered on and off. Other times I could have sworn I saw the front door open then close itself.”

Frank nodded. “If I were to ask you if thought the house were haunted, what would you say?”

Mrs. Nathan took a sip of her drink. “I would believe you. Jim died very angry at his father for what he did to his sister. He also died trying to protect her. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s still here, thinking he has to protect her.”

She went on to explain other things that had happened at night. Namely shadows and lights moving across the windows. Her new dog acted strangely around the house. He would often growl then other times would mournfully howl. Flowers that had never been planted started growing and blooming in front of the house. One time when she went to the front door to see for herself, she left when she heard a child laughing. She had called the police several times to report the activity, but they dismissed it as neighborhood kids playing tricks on her.

“Did you hear of anyone with the last name of Branch?” Frank asked, trying to put together his notes.

She shook her head. “Not that I know of. The only people who lived in there were the Latches and before that old man Wicker lived there.”

Joe leaned back slightly. “You wouldn’t happen to know where Mr. Latch moved to, and if Mrs. Latch went with him?”

She nodded. “Yeah, she went with him. I can’t believe she didn’t try to leave. In my days if a man beat on a woman that woman’s family showed up and put her husband in his place.”

“You’re a very nice lady. You’d get along great with our Aunt Gertrude. Would you like to talk to her some time?” Joe asked.

The lady smiled brightly, happy at the thought of a real friend. “I’d love to. We can exchange recipes or knitting ideas.”

Frank smiled. “She’s loves both those things. And she likes to travel. She’s always complaining that she doesn’t have someone closer to her own age to have as a traveling friend.”

Mrs. Nathan smiled more. “I’ll go write down my address and phone number.”

She disappeared into the house and came back with a neatly written address and phone number.

“You have nice penmanship,” Frank remarked as he neatly folded the paper and tucked it into a folder in his notebook.

She smiled, “Thank you. With my spare time I’ve taken up calligraphy. You boys call me or stop by if you need anything else.”

She took the empty glasses and tray with the pitcher and took it into the house.

“Nice old lady,” Frank remarked.

Joe raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think she’s that old.”

Matt leaned back. “So where to now?”

“Back to the library. I want to do research on the Branch children then see if we can track down those two officers,” Frank replied.

As they climbed into the brothers’ van, Joe looked up and saw what he thought was a face looking at him through the window from an upstairs bedroom of Matt’s house. Frank looked in time to see the face disappear behind the curtains. Matt ran into the house with Frank and Joe in tow. Running up to the room he opened the door to find no one in the room. They searched everywhere. There was no sign that someone had been standing there or was now hiding in the room.

“We would have heard someone coming down the steps,” Joe said, finding his voice.

“I didn’t see anyway they could have climbed out the back window. We would have heard one of the secret places being opened,” Matt added.

“The face was familiar.” Frank said, “I want to look at those pictures from the articles again.”

They sat in the van while Frank looked through the pictures.

“Look, doesn’t this girl look like the face in the window?” Frank asked, handing them the picture.

Joe was shocked. The face looked exactly like the girl in the picture!

Chapter 4

Matt was surprised. “You know I’ve seen this little girl sometimes on my doorstep.” They both stared at him. “I’m serious. One time someone rang the doorbell, and she was standing there. I asked her who her parents were and she ran away. I never saw her again.”

“This is getting really weird,” Joe remarked.

Frank turned on van and put it into gear. “I agree. Let’s back to the library and then track down those officers. No telling when they’re on duty.”

“The question is where did Mr. Latch go? How do we find that out?” Matt asked as Frank drove along the road.

Joe leaned back in his seat. “The post office usually has forwarding addresses for bills and stuff. Unless he doesn’t want to be found. Does the post office here have Saturday hours?”

“They do but they’re closed. That will have to wait until Monday morning if you want it.” Matt replied, “How do we track down a pair of cops?”

“That will be easier,” Frank told him.

He pulled over and called Staci Rivera on his cell-phone. She promised him it shouldn’t take too long to find out where the officers had been transferred to and would call him back. They went to the library to find anything they could on the Branch children.

Staci Rivera began calling all the police stations that she had friends at. Ever since their encounter with the alien group, she had more clairvoyant visions than ever. She felt as though there was something more going on that either brother realized. Something bad had happened. In a few minutes she learned that Officer Boone was with the Vermont state troopers division, and Detective Morgan was in Hopperville next to the town where they were. Like most state troopers, Boone could be anywhere within the state depending on his patrol route.

Nearly two hours of searching had yielded little on the Branch children. There were a couple of articles on how the three children had died mysteriously in their house. Their obituaries and a few small articles that said that the police may be looking into the deaths, but the local district attorney had dropped the case.

“Does the D.A. drop the case like that all the time?” Matt whispered.

“Depends.” Frank answered, “Even if he has a lot of evidence the D.A. has to decide if he can get a conviction. Something must have happened to convince him not to prosecute whoever was the main suspect.”

“Frank look.” Joe said, handing him a paper, “This article says that Mr. Branch was considered a suspect but was never charged, and he received an apology from the D.A.”

“Let’s see if we can find where Mr. Branch is now.” Frank told them, “Let’s start with the Internet first.”

After an hour of searching they could not find anything relating to Mr. Branch other than the fact that he had disappeared with his wife after their children had died. Without his home equipment, there was no way he could access police files. But maybe through his laptop.

“Got something, big brother?” Joe asked, looking over his shoulder.

“A hunch. But we’ll have to use my laptop to do it. Matt, do you have the Internet at home?” he asked.

Matt nodded. “Of course. I’m just never home that much for obvious reasons.”

“I’m going to need your connection. I won’t be able to find what I need through this terminal. Let’s get going,” he said.

Joe took over driving the van while Frank called Staci. She gave him the information he needed and asked if he needed anything else.

“Why do you think I need something else?” he asked.

[It’s that clairvoyant stuff kicking in. You know, I don’t know if this helps. But I happen to know a professor that investigates the paranormal as a hobby. He’s a nice guy.]

“He won’t make a big deal of it?”

[No, in fact he encourages me to help him find places that he could investigate. It helps him gather more evidence to prove his theories.]

“I’ll talk it over and see what happens when we go back to the house.”

[Be careful Frank. Something bad happened.]

“I will. And thanks.”

[No problem. I better go, Boomer’s howling.]

She hung up just as Boomer’s howls grew louder.

“Can we find them now?” Joe asked.

Frank nodded. “Both of them we can. I can access the files later tonight. Hopefully there won’t be any fluctuations in the power.”

“I have a battery backup pack you can use. But let’s go, I’m hungry and we should take food back if we want to eat dinner. I’m too nervous to use the stove.” Matt admitted, “There’s plenty of good places that don’t cost a lot.”

After a dinner and a stop a convenience store for stuff for breakfast, they went back to Matt’s house. Frank set up his laptop and went to work searching the Internet for what he needed. He couldn’t risk someone taking a chance on seeing what he was going to do. In a few minutes, he had tapped into his own computer at home. There he used his own methods to access police files. There had been a report filed against Mr. Branch, but it had been withdrawn. After that a detective had noted that he and his wife had left Maine without a trace. He did a background search on Latch and his family. Just as he had suspected there was nothing more than a social security number, birthdates and a job report for Mr. and Mrs. Latch. He couldn’t find much on the Latch children.

“Looks like the Latch family only exists on paper,” Joe said as he looked over Frank’s shoulder.

Matt was surprised and looked at the screen. “Don’t we all?”

“Some papers yes.” Frank explained, “But I can’t find anything. No school reports on the kids, no health reports, nothing.”

Joe thought a moment. “What about driver’s license? Mrs. Nathan said Jim was driving the car when he smashed the garage door.”

A quick search.

“Nothing. Jim must have been too young to drive.” Frank felt himself growing frustrated, “Nothing in juvenile records. I can’t even find the reports to family services.”

They all felt a cold chill brush passed them.

Joe looked around. For a moment he thought he saw a shadow move through the hallway. He walked over.

“What’s…” Frank started but Joe waved his hand, stopping him.

Frank and Matt started following Joe. Joe’s eyes were wide as he saw the shadow “walk” up the stairs and go into one of the rooms. Chasing after the shadow Joe could feel the “cold trail” left by whatever it was. His eyes went wide as the shadow dissolved through the door! He opened the door and ran inside. Frank and Matt were on his heels. The light was on in the room. The curtains were fluttering, and there was a cold chill throughout the room.

“I didn’t turn on this light. In fact I haven’t been in this room in months,” Matt whispered as he shivered in the chill.

Frank looked around. “That shadow brought us in here for a reason. Something’s going on in here.”

They searched around the room. Feeling along the wall, Joe tapped a spot in the closet wall. The sound was definitely hollow. Moving his hand around the hollow area he found the latch. The panel moved out, revealing the small hiding space.

“Frank, I found something.”

He came over to the hidden space his brother had found. He had been looking around. This room had obviously belonged to a teenaged boy. There were no pictures or clothes, but the room had the same feeling that he always got in his brother’s room. Now, he was looking at a secret hiding space, wondering if his brother had one. Joe searched the small space. There were a few photo graphs. A couple of the pictures were of Hannah with various bruises on her face. There were dates listed on the back of each one.

“I can see if these dates match the reports that Mrs. Nathan talked about,” Frank said as Joe and Matt looked at the others.

Joe picked up one photo. “I think this is James.”

The photo was of a teenager a little younger than himself. He matched the one that they had seen in the online obituaries. The teen had a very bad black eye. There was also a date on it. Matt picked up one of the photos. It was of a family two children an older boy and a younger girl. He didn’t recognize anyone in the photo.

“Hannah I’ve definitely seen around here. But this family, I’ve never seen this family.”

Joe took the photo. Instantly the cold chill filled him, causing him to shiver. Something struck his forearm hard, sending the photo flying across the room. A dark bruise rapidly formed on the skin.

“Joe, what happened?” Frank demanded, looking at the bruise on his brother’s arm.

“I don’t know. It was like a fist came out of nowhere and hit me.”

Frank went over as his brother checked to make sure his forearm wasn’t broken. He flexed his fingers. There was the pain of the deep bruise but nothing more. There was something about that photo, something he couldn’t place. When Frank knelt down to pick it up, he was struck on the back, knocking him completely to the floor. The light flickered on and off and the cold chill turned into a deep freeze.

…Justice… The word screamed into the ears.

The door slammed itself shut. The other doors began banging as if someone were pounding on them.

….JUSTICE!!!....JUSTICE!....JUSTICE…The word continued screaming in their ears.

Footsteps ran from the door to the hallway then a loud scream followed by a sound as if someone were falling down the stairs. Frank was finally able to free himself of the force that was pinning him to the floor. Joe ran to the door and yanked it open. There was a shadow of a tall man standing at the top of the steps. All three of them ran towards him but he disappeared into the wall. Joe eyes went wide as he saw the bottom of the steps. There, laying half on the last step was the blood covered body of Hannah!

Chapter 5

Just as they got to the bottom of the steps, the body disappeared into the floor!

“Matt, what’s going on around here?” Joe demanded staring down his brother’s friend.

“I don’t know!” he admitted, “It’s never been this bad.”

They looked around the living room. Apparently no one else had heard the screams. The neighborhood was quiet with the exception of a few crickets. Standing quiet for a few minutes, they had expected the police to show up.

“I guess the police are tired of coming here,” Joe said as he cradled his now painful forearm.

“I’ll get you some ice,” Matt said.

He made an improvised icepack and headed it to Joe.

“What about you?” Joe asked his brother as he put the pack on his forearm.

Frank shrugged. “I don’t know.” He lifted his shirt and turned his back towards them. “Anything?”

Joe looked it over. There was large red mark taking the shape of a fist. “You have a mark, I’m not sure if it’s going to bruise yet.”

Frank lowered his shirt. Turning back to them, he remembered something the old lady had told them. “Didn’t Mrs. Nathan say that Hannah was reported to have died in an accident?”

Joe nodded. “That’s right. So what are the chances that it was a fall down the stairs that was the supposed accident?”

Suddenly their nostrils filled with a floral scent. A pleasant sweet scent, like they had just stepped into a floral shop.

“I think someone’s telling us we’re on the right track,” Frank mentioned.

He shivered. He had still held onto to the fact that there was no such thing as ghosts. Now he was having a hard time staying with it. He looked around. There were no more shadows, and the house was completely quiet except for the rattling in the water pipes.

“So what do you want to do now?” Joe asked, still flexing his fingers.

“I think we should leave and never come back,” Matt said, turning on one of the lights.

Frank stood up. “Let’s just try and get some sleep. We have to get up very early if we’re going to catch Officer Boone before he goes out on patrol. Detective Morgan doesn’t come on until the afternoon.”

They all secured the downstairs windows and doors, making sure do to leave bells on the door knobs. In the room upstairs, Matt pushed a chair under the door handle after they were all settled for the night. He didn’t want any more “pranksters” trying to break into the room.

“How am I supposed to sleep?” Joe asked as he settled into his bed.

Frank sighed. “That’s a good question. I don’t know either.”

“Guys, I’m really sorry I dragged you into this. I thought it was just a prank,” Matt apologized, his voice sounding sleepy.

“Matt, if you only knew what we’ve been through. Only you’d never believe what we’d say,” Frank said.

Joe knew what he was talking about. It seemed like only weeks ago he and his brother and some of their friends were battling aliens on a distant planet using special powers. Now he wished he had them. Though after meeting the Phoenix, he was more inclined to believe that there are things that exist that can’t be logically explained. Now he didn’t know how to take on what was going on in the house.

“I’m not sure what you mean by that. I just don’t want anyone getting hurt.”

Joe turned in his bed. “Trust me Matt. We’re going to find out what’s going on here. We can call in that professor if we can’t find anything else.”

It was a long frustrating night full of half hour intervals of sleep interrupted by rattling pipes, slamming doors, and cold chills. Joe felt himself growing weary of sleeping in the old house. Frank considered staying the next night if they needed it in a hotel so that they could at least get some sleep. As soon as he closed his eyes, he finally fell into an exhausted sleep.

The next morning the sun had barely risen before all three of them woke up. Matt them all strong cups of coffee and reheated muffins, before they left the house. Frank drove the van as they went to the first stop on their list; the state trooper police station where Officer Boone was stationed.

The sun was coming over the horizon when they made it to the station. They arrived just as Trooper Boone did. He was similar to Trooper Welshman only that he was older. He was surprised that someone was taking up the Latch case.

“Come inside with me while I log in. I’ll talk along the way,” he told them.

Along the way he described to him the case as it went. Apparently according to Mr. Latch, Hannah was running in the house as she had been forbidden to do and had tripped and fallen on a toy of hers on top of the steps. He insisted that after she had fallen, she died instantly.

“Well, that could happen but what about James?” Frank asked.

“Him I had a hard time believing,” Boone said as he signed himself in.

“What happened?” Joe asked.

“James or Jim as his mother referred to him was hanging a picture over his window and the little bench he was standing on toppled and he fell out the window, breaking his neck on the ground.”

Matt sat down, his face paling over. “I can’t believe my grandfather bought that house.”

Boone looked over at him. “The incidents were kept hush-hush. I doubt he knew.”

“That’s what I don’t understand.” Frank said, “If two people die in the same house one soon after the other, why didn’t the press pick up on it?”

The officer sighed. “I don’t know. Latch had a lot of money to throw around. He had his lawyer threatening to sue everyone and even brought several lawsuits against several reporters.”

“So instead of sticking with the story, they moved onto to the next one,” Joe said.

The officer nodded. He checked to make sure his uniform was correct. “I don’t have much of the information. The officer who investigated with me kept the information. He was hoping to take it on later as a cold case file. Detective Joe Morgan. He transferred to the squad that in the nearby town.”

“I don’t blame him. Say what was your impression of Mr. and Mrs. Latch?” Joe asked, trying to figure out what happened.

“Mrs. Latch was very scared of her husband. It was almost as if she was afraid he would fly off the handle or something. Mr. Latch, now he was a different story. It was as if he enjoyed seeing his wife look so scared. He walked around like he was bigger than everyone else because of all his money. Now I think he got his money from an inheritance, because I never found a work record for him.”

Joe raised his eyebrows. That would explain why they didn’t find much in the way of articles on Mr. Latch. But what about the heritance. That would be something to look for.

“Officer, why do you think he’ll killed his children?”

Boone’s face looked haunted. “Because he’s evil. He’s one of those people you know is evil just by looking at them. He wants everyone around them to be perfect and that was especially true of his daughter, Hannah. I think he liked seeing the fear in his family’s eyes. I was out there numerous times when the neighbors called on them. Every time he got his family to say nothing happened.”

“Is there anything else you can tell us?” Frank asked.

He shook his head. “Not really. I really have to get going. But if I remember anything I’ll tell Morgan.”

They left the police station trying to figure out how one person could wield so much power. Their next stop on the list was the police station where Detective Morgan was stationed. Detective Morgan appeared to be an older version of their friend Con Riley. He was surprised that someone was looking into the Latch case. He thought it had been shuffled to the cold case files.

“I don’t know how I can help. That case was shuffled as soon as some money was thrown around,” he said.

“What makes you say that?” Frank asked.

“A lot of the detectives in that area at the time felt that the D.A. was taking bribes. I couldn’t prove it and no one wanted to try. But with Latch and all his money I wasn’t surprised. He’s not the first rich person to get out of facing justice.”

Frank sighed. He knew what he was talking about. After the last year of dealing with Callie, her tirades and everything she did to Joe, she still hadn’t truly faced justice.

“Do you have any evidence to suspect that Hannah and James were killed by their father and not in the accidents?” Frank asked, trying to keep his own feelings down.

“There were the autopsy reports. The coroner still has those. There was no way that Latch could not have those done because by law an autopsy is done whenever you have a strange accident in the home that results in death. I haven’t personally read them, but I think they would show that both had multiple old injuries. Hannah was probably thrown down the steps.”

“So she was probably dead before she “fell” down the steps,” Joe said.

Morgan nodded. “Now about James I wasn’t able to see the report either, but his death seemed odd too. Like why would a teenage guy be hanging a framed picture over his window?”

Joe could understand that. He liked hanging posters and things that took only a few seconds to put up.

“I was never able to talk to Mrs. Latch. Though the only thing I could get out of her was that she was married previously but her children from that marriage were dead. How or why I don’t know.”

Frank thought back to the Branch children. Could they possibly be connected?

“Did you hear about Branch children?” Frank asked.

He shook his head. “No I have not then again I’ve only recently transferred, so I haven’t gone through a lot of the cases yet. If you want I can put you in touch with a friend of mind who handled that case. Do you want to see the evidence we have here on the Latch case?”

Frank agreed and the detective handed over several thick files. They went through the folders. There were several gruesome crime scene photos. Joe looked at one taken of Hannah at the bottom of the steps. He noticed that there was something odd about the way her body had ended up.

“Frank, look at this picture.”

Frank looked over at it. Her body was folded over on its side. Yet there was one thing sticking out from his mind. Actually two.

“The toy she supposedly tripped on, where is it?”

Joe nodded. “That’s the first thing I saw. Then there’s no blood. No bruises, no torn clothes, nothing to suggest that she feel down a flight of stairs. The stairs themselves, no blood, no shoes, nothing to suggest someone fell. And her hair, it’s in place. It’s like someone put her there.”

Frank looked up. “That’s what it is baby brother. Someone put her there. Because I was looking at the autopsy report. She has no fresh bruising on her limbs where someone falling down the stairs would get them. No open wounds on her head. But the pathologist report that there was deep physical bruising on her neck. The cause of death was labeled a broken neck. The cause of which is undetermined.”

Matt showed them the autopsy photos. “This doesn’t look like the bruises I get when I bang into things.”

Frank looked at them an instantly knew what they were. “They’re the tell tale signs of someone’s hands being put on her throat. I think she was strangled or someone tried to and in doing so broke her neck.”

Joe picked up on what he was thinking. “Then staged the accident to make it look like she had fallen down the stairs, breaking her neck.”

Matt was surprised. “Then how did the Latches get out of being investigated?”

“Money. He tossed it around and got out of it. Looks like we’ve got another night of searching the ‘net, if we’re going to find out whom Mrs. Latch was previously married to.”

Turning the files back over to the detective with a promise to update him on any leads, they left the station trying to make some sense of what they had discovered. Joe could feel the chills that had plagued him inside the house, now hit him inside the van. He looked over and saw all the things they had found in the house now being stored in the van. Something told Frank to keep the stuff as well as his computer in the van. As Frank drove the van back to the house, they noticed that the front door was open. Going inside they could see why, the house had been ransacked!