All Chapters of Haunter: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

I didn’t have the heart to watch Brandon make a mess of my bedroom, so I left him take whatever he wanted upstairs and I headed to the library. Joseph was in the study with Isaac and Trisha, while Edward took a break from keeping Cristine at bay. I found him reading online, but he disconnected the tablet right away to talk with me.“What do you think is happening?”I shrugged and explained to him Brandon’s theory, about Cristine’s arrival being related to Ann’s departure.“So she’s part of the family?”“She may be. I think your brother Henry could’ve met her mother while he was serving in Paris. The dates sort of add up.”“You mean she’s my niece?”“I think so. The people at the Foundation deny having correspondence or financial records that would allow us to see if your brother was in contact with Cristine’s mothe

We could hear Isaac’s loud voice from the third-floor landing. Plain to see he and Brandon had already set to monitor the live feeds, because he shut up the moment I opened the study door. “Come in. It’s safe,” said Joseph right away. “Thank you, Joseph,” I murmured, looking around at the mess the room was. “How is she doing?” “She throws things now and then. But she’s still where you left her.” “By the loveseat?” “Yes. Be careful.” “Wish me luck.” I traded a look with Trisha, who nodded with a quick encouraging smile. “Cristine, c’est moi, Fran,” I said, facing the end of the loveseat where I’d seen her the night before. “Can we talk?” Trisha translated. Nothing happened, so I stepped closer. The circle of spices and herbs had been blown away, but Amy had explained to me the oil worked to imprint it on the floorboards and sustain the barrier. I sat down on the floor, about thr

Brandon paused his camera for a minute, just enough to hand me a tri-field meter on a handle mount that also had a GoPro to film the device readings up close.“There. You man that, I’ll shoot the whole thing.”“Yessir. Where are we going?”“Basement first.”“Shouldn’t we let Isaac and Trisha do it? I mean, at least shoot them doing it.”Brandon looked up at the ceiling, sighed, and nodded. I could see he hated stepping aside, so I grabbed the meter from the mount and handed it to him.“That doesn’t mean we can’t go check it.”He smiled, grabbing the device. “Let’s go.”It was the first time I’d ever been to the basement since we’d released Kujo, and it felt sort of weird. I mean, it was so empty. Just a regular basement full of old stuff. I didn’t realize I’d stopped a few steps in, looking around, lost

I followed Brandon without a word all the way up to the third floor. He made me walk into the study first and locked the door behind us. Okay, no interruptions whatsoever? What was going on?I was still looking around, amazed to see the large room completely restored in such a short time, when his arms showed up from behind me and wrapped around my chest. The warm touch of his lips brushing my ear caused me a chill.“Let’s talk now,” he whispered. “I wanna clear this outta the way.”I turned my face toward him and brought up a hand to run my fingers through his short hair, kissing him.“I love you,” I murmured.“Me too, kid.” He let go of me to go to the loveseats. “C’mon, let’s have a seat.”“Jesus, you sound awfully serious.”I didn’t dig the way he raised his eyebrows. “Because I am. Come.”Not like I had a choice. I s

The next morning, I leveled up in willpower and extracted myself from Brandon’s arms before the Collins arrived. I got dressed in the bathroom to avoid waking him up with my noises, tucked him in and tiptoed out of my room. Trisha and Isaac were still sound asleep too, so the Manor was amazingly quiet.The cat ball flashed the moment I paused outside the east parlor, and I went on to the kitchen with Lizzie, Cristine and the twins, who didn’t leave their new-found aunt’s side come hell or high water. Edward and Joseph joined us a moment later.I wanted to know how Cristine was dealing with her situation, and while I made breakfast, they told me that despite her deep sadness, she felt welcomed and contented with them. Seeing how we were working nonstop to figure out what had happened to her, she trusted we would find a way to help her go back to her loved ones sooner than later.They asked me about our findings, so I told them what little we act