Elise VanCise

I read it and enjoyed it very much! The good guys are very likeable and the not so nice villan- well she was easy to dislike!

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Fabulous book. So good you can sit down and read it in one sitting.

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In the Dark is excellent! When Elise gave us a preview before it was published. I was hooked. When it was published, I purchased it. Really enljyed the ending.

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I think I enjoyed reading it more than you did writing it. I love it! The story, the characters I read it in one day I couldn't put it down!

                                                Chapter One

            Aaron Hewitt was having a bad day.  He quickly finished his afternoon class and didn’t even bother to go by the lab.  He met with the students who had set appointments then got away from campus as quickly as possible.

            When he finally made it back to his crammed two bedroom apartment Aaron poured himself a stiff drink, turned on some soft jazz, and sank into the sofa to contemplate which of today’s events the worst was.

            First thing this morning Professor Aaron Hewitt was regretfully informed that the university has decided Parapsychology is no longer a field of legitimate study. Therefore all classes and related activities are being cut from the next semester’s schedule, which so happens to start one month from today.  Then the Dean with a Cheshire grin adds that the board of directors has cut the funding of his grant retroactive immediately, and gave the professor his notice.

            Punches one and two but the left hook out of nowhere had been the lovely Veronica. Wearing a low cut blouse flashing him the lacy red bra he had bought her last Christmas. Aaron was sure the tactic was to ease the pain of her news. If that was the case the least she could have done was flash him the matching panties as “her life was heading in a different direction.”

            Just as Aaron had created a delightful manner in which the astute Dean and the vixen Veronica met their fates the phone rang.  It was Brian Lancaster, good he thought. Brian would gladly pour his own scotch and commiserate with him.

            Commiserate he did, Brian even contributed to the murderous fantasy. “Alright old chap the pity party is over.” 

            Aaron grimaced, “Your English accent sucks! I suppose your going to offer me a job.”  As the words left his mouth Aaron could envision his friend’s widening grin.

            “So does yours now that you’ve lived on this side of the pond for fifteen years. But I am offering you a job. As you know I am now living in spook central. My business here is booming as they say and I need someone with a scientific point of view. Not all the psycho ‘I feel this’ crap.”

            Aaron took a swig from the bottle having shoved the glass aside hours ago. “You know Brian there are some truly talented psychics our there.”

            There was a snort, “Yeah and I’m sure they are wearing red lingerie. Sober up, pack a bag, and come down here. The sunshine at least will do you good. I’ll even spring for the ticket since you’re now a pauper.”

            After an hour of arguing Aaron finally agreed to the trip and passed the night tossing two years worth of Veronica related memories into the fireplace. He was an absolute fool to think he had loved her. Looking back over the last year it was coming to an end anyway.

            Two days later, Brian was waiting as Aaron exited the taxi. The old friends exchanged greetings as they carried luggage inside. “That’s it?”  Aaron cast Brian a slight glare. “This is only a vacation I’m not moving. After all you are picking up the tab.”

            Brian slapped him on the back laughing, “Hey what are rich friends for.”

            Later that night Aaron stood with a group of amateur ghost hunters. A lovely sandy blonde woman stood before them. “Let’s begin with a little background on our location. The residence was built in seventeen fifty-two and within the next four years someone died almost every two months. Most due to horrible illness, but a few to more sinister means.” Page Michaels was young and energetic as she went over the home’s dark history and the rules of the hunt.  Aaron gave her credit for her professional demeanor.

            Over the course of the night he had to admit that Brian had a legitimate business selling ghost hunting vacations. Most of the clients belonged to paranormal groups back home and were genuinely interested in learning more about the field. A few were looky-loos just trying to catch a supernatural souvenir.

            The investigation of a local home was going smoothly. A few gave reports of small temperature changes and odd sounds but no real proof as of yet. Aaron was about to agree with Page’s call to pack it in for the night.

            Then precisely at two o’clock in the morning it happened. A cold fell upon the room Aaron and the group from Texas occupied. Aaron felt a tug at the hand holding the tape recorder and he began to ask questions. After about ten minutes the cold faded away and Aaron rewound the tape. A shiver ran down his spine as he pushed the play button.

            A strangled voice spoke to them begging for someone to stop.  The female begged her attackers to let her be sobbing in agony.  Not the voice of any living being in the room and Aaron’s voice could be heard clearly as the dead cried out events of the past that later he and Brian would verify. A young woman named Polly was beaten to death in that very room by three men.  At the conformation of the spirit’s claims Professor Aaron Hewitt knew he was moving to St. Augustine.

                                                 Chapter Two

            Six months later Aaron was finally settling into his new position as Senior Investigator at Spectral Trips. With Brian’s encouragement his research was ready to take off again, especially with people willing to pay to assist him.

            Brian had bought several properties to house guests when he set up shop in the Sunshine State. One of those an old historic home dating back to the Civil War.  Aaron tried to rent the home but his friend insisted it was part of his befits package.  This had also included a truck and new personal equipment once Brain had laid eyes on ‘the out dated junk’ Aaron had brought with him.

            The sun was starting to peek over the horizon as he entered the two story home after a long night of educating tourists.  More than once he had wondered about the history and what secrets the turn of the century home held. Brian had called it the SanCrist house and an engraved brass plaque bearing the name had been hung on the exterior of the restored home. Aaron set his keys on the foyer table and tossed his jacket over the chair. As he started up stairs there was a metallic clunk.

            Returning to the foyer Aaron saw his keys on the wood floor. He was positive the keys were set in the center of the table but then again he was tired enough not to be completely sure. Shrugging he tossed the keys back onto the table and drug himself up stairs to bed.

            Later that day Aaron rolled out of bed around one-thirty that afternoon. He climbed into the hot shower already making plans for tonight’s search of the old lighthouse. The history of the place built in 1874 was fascinating enough but there is a long list of paranormal events dating back to its construction. One of the most tragic is the death of the light keeper’s two young daughters.  While reading some of the background materials Aaron felt something like breath on his ear. Glancing around he saw a small bug flitter by and thought nothing more of it.

            At six o’clock he grabbed his jacket and went for the keys. They weren’t on the table. Glancing at the floor he saw them underneath. Thinking it odd he figured they must have fallen through the other side when he tossed them the night before. Something about the event didn’t seem right but Aaron dismissed it and headed for the office to prepare for a promising night.

            Page was already testing and packing the equipment. According to the roster it was going to be a small group. Pleased with this thought Aaron followed Page into the conference room to lay out his plan. Aaron stopped dead in the doorway as he saw the participants of the hunt.

            “Professor Hewitt! See I told you it was true!” The enthusiastic Matt Edwards was one of Aaron’s most promising students. He was serious about the field and wanted to go into independent research after graduation. “Matt, Sabrina, Amanda, everyone this is quite a surprise.”

            Amanda quickly explained that they had heard where he was and everyone decided they wanted to spend spring break with their favorite professor.  Aaron was touched by their support and pleased when they told him the good Dean was struggling to appease all of their rich parents who contributed funds to Aaron’s department.

            He quickly went over what would be covered during the evening’s investigation and what phenomenon to look for. “We’ve had reports of shadow people running up and down the lighthouse stairs. Also children’s voices heard running and playing. The old keeper is said to still inhabit his house so stay sharp.” Aaron was excited to have a crew he could trust completely. Page was a bit ruffled when he told her to not worry about the usual do’s and don’ts list. At least until they reached the lighthouse. Page and Brian watched as within forty-five minutes all the equipment sound and video was up and running including all the baseline data.

            The night started out slow and the thought of finding his keys on the floor tonight popped into Aaron’s mind. He was absolutely sure they were on the table when he went to bed.  Before he could ponder more he heard a whisper on the spiral staircase. A voice in his ear cried “Help me.” The look on Matt’s face said he heard it too. They both pulled out video and tape recorders. Matt called out to the darkened space, “Do you need help?”  Again they heard a woman cry for help, and then a door above them slammed shut.

            Running up the stairs they reached the top to find the door leading to the outside was open. Aaron had watched the caretaker lock the door earlier that evening. Now it stood wide open and unlocked. They quickly verified the locations of all the people and they were the only ones in the lighthouse.

            On the way down they glimpsed shadows that were definitely were not their own. Almost to the bottom Matt came forward and crashed into Aaron. Matt embarrassed got up off his former instructor, “Apparently, we aren’t wanted.”

            Not able to wait until the next afternoon Aaron sat in the study staring at the monitor in awe of the video evidence. They had captured a shadow going up the stairs and wandering the museum in the keeper’s house. There was Electronic Voice Phenomenon as well. On the audio recordings you could hear the woman asking for help and children, girls, playing and laughing.

            Aaron was overjoyed at the thought of a few more nights in the lighthouse and the former keeper’s residence. He could verify the evidence and determine if they were intelligent haunts or residual. Some of it seemed to be residual, the same events playing over and over, night after night.

            Exhausted he stretched out on the sofa meaning to get up and go to his more comfortable bed but Aaron quickly dozed off.

            The sun shining in the large living room windows woke him. He pushed aside the blanket and sat up. Blanket? Aaron didn’t remember getting up to get covers in the night, but then again he didn’t remember falling asleep. Still the blanket was in a cedar chest across the room. Having to get up and walk that far should have left some kind of imprint on his mind.

            Chalking it up to the odd hours he now kept Aaron replaced the blanket in the open chest and went upstairs to shower and dress. Aaron headed back down for breakfast and feeling grand after last night’s successful investigations.

            Upon entering the kitchen there was a knock at the door so he changed direction stomach growling and hoping it wasn’t going to take long. The image framed in the door way made him lose his appetite. “What are you doing here Veronica?”

            She smiled that sweet disarming smile. “Is that anyway to greet a friend?” Aaron cocked an eyebrow, “I thought it was ex-friend.” Veronica gave him a little pout and explained that she was here on vacation. Her friend Toni had booked them with Spectral Trips and imagine her surprise when Brian Lancaster greeted them.

            Aaron was far from naive and saw straight through her shallow façade. “They fired you as well and now you want a piece of our pie.”  Veronica tried to feign shock at his accusation. Shaking his head Aaron closed the door and went back to the kitchen.

            Veronica opened the door and followed him into the kitchen. “You really can’t be that angry with me Aaron.” He glared at her over his shoulder. “Oh yes I can.” 

            He completely ignored her as he smeared mayo on some bread and added cheddar and Swiss cheeses and lastly sliced ham. Grabbing a bag of pretzels and a beer he walked passed the obtuse woman into the dining room.

            When she sat at the table he continued to look at the transcripts he’d made of last evenings recordings. “Aaron it was a long flight. I came straight here, aren’t you even going to offer me a cold drink?” 

            Without even looking up he coldly replied, “No.” She sat there a moment longer waiting for him to change his mind as usual. After all he could never resist her. But after twenty minutes she realized he was resisting. “I guess I’m not welcome here.”

            As he replied, “Not really”, a cold settled into the room. Aaron looked around and saw the thermometer on the wall read forty degrees. That was impossible, it was over eighty degrees outside, and the thermostat was set for seventy-two.

            Veronica seemed to become very uncomfortable and got up so fast the chair fell over. “Your house is haunted?”  She could see by the look on his face he didn’t know. Aaron grabbed an EMF detector from his equipment bag but the cold dissipated.  He tried to get readings but nothing registered. 

            Veronica let loose a little squeal as a voice whispered in her ear. “Leave my house.” Aaron watched as she hastily made for the front door. He followed her until she reached the street and realized she had taken a taxi here.

            He waited outside with her until Brian came to pick her up. Veronica refused to go back inside. “She doesn’t like me,” was the excuse she gave. Aaron tried to find out who she was but Veronica didn’t know. She had only gotten the intense feeling the female spirit didn’t want her there and Veronica was going to oblige.

            Once Veronica was gone Aaron closed the door behind him and looked around the seemingly empty house. “I don’t like her either.”

               
                                              Chapter Three

            Aaron couldn’t sleep thinking about the little signs he missed. The keys on the floor every morning, objects moved elsewhere, and the blanket. Here he was investigating hauntings all over St. Augustine and he only had to look in his own backyard. At least he hoped nothing was buried in the backyard.

            The next morning he got up and was a little self-conscious wondering if he was alone when he showered and dressed. After getting ready he went to the library to research the house.

            He found Page and some of his former students researching their next subject of study. He had the passing thought that if Brian was smart he would hire these kids. Matt greeted him quietly as the stereotypical librarian eyed them. “I hear you have company.”  Aaron sighed Veronica had already spilled the beans. “It certainly seems to be a possibility.”

            As he went through the old census records he found deeds to the house belonging to a George and Anna SanCrist. They had one daughter who was to be married but she was shot during a battle outside of Fort Marion during the Civil war. What was a woman doing in the battle?

            Looking up from his reading he thought someone was talking to him. It was Page, “Brian cleaned out the houses when he got here. Some of the stuff was put into storage and some went to auction.”

            There could be some answers from the horse’s mouth. “You think some of it came from the SanCrist house?”  Page nodded and called Brian who agreed to meet them at the warehouse.

            Brian shook his head, “Honestly, you don’t think everything in this town is haunted? I mean Veronica could have been just trying to work you over.”

            “No, I felt the cold too and the temperature dropped to forty degrees in seconds.” Aaron wasn’t sure but he thought he heard a woman’s voice. That he kept to himself.

            They found the chest and Aaron didn’t know why but he felt like he was invading someone’s privacy. Inside were some ladies dresses in fairly good condition. They looked to be dated around the 1860’s. There was a photograph of a lovely young woman and a Confederate soldier.  Something about her seemed so familiar to Aaron.

            There were a few more photographs and trinkets of a young woman. There were Perfume bottles, a cameo, a few books of poetry, and a hand sewn doll left over from childhood.  In the bottom wrapped in a white scrap of material was a diary.  Not understanding why Aaron gathered some things from the chest and brought them home.

            In one of the guest rooms he cleared a place on the dresser and set out a silver and bone comb and mirror, a cameo broach, and a perfume bottle that still held the lingering scent of jasmine. Finally he set the creased and faded photograph of the soldier and his never to be bride propped against the mirror.   

            He waited impatiently for the dark to come. Matt, Amanda, Page and Brian had come to help him try and prove or disprove his theory.  After the equipment was set Aaron had a guilty feeling. This spirit hadn’t done anything to draw attention to its self before and they were going to hunt it down weather or not it wanted to be found. This had never weighed on his mind before but he had never had cause to search his own home before.

            Gathering baseline readings and running a final equipment check Brian sniffed and turned to Matt. “Are you wearing cologne?” Matt shook his head no then walked over to the window seat where Brian stood. “I smell it too. My mom wears something like it. Jasmine it smells like jasmine.”

            After the walkthroughs the group sat together in the living room watching the monitor when Amanda asked about the diary. Aaron had read some of the passages written in feminine scroll. “I don’t want to taint any evidence. Let’s see what we get first.”

            Sarah SanCrist watched the people in her house huddled around the television screen. She wondered what could be so interesting that Aaron would have guests over to watch it.  She had worried her actions toward that woman he called Veronica would scare him away.

             For a long time now she had been careful to hide her presence. But something about him made her want to make herself known. She had tried everything to get his attention, dropping his keys, turning off the lights, moving his things. Then she saw him fall asleep on the sofa. He was shivering from the cool early morning air and she covered him with a blanket.

            She moved closer to him to see what they were watching. He was intent on the screens and as usual didn’t notice her presence, but the girl next to him shivered. Sarah listened as Aaron spoke of the items they picked up this afternoon. She was shocked he had read some of her diary! 

            The screen darkened for a moment as the equipment’s power supply flickered. Amanda gasped and pointed at the screen as it brightened once again.

“There she is!” The girl jumped up from her seat and stared at the spot where Sarah had stood.

            Amanda was quite put out that no one took her claim seriously. “She was in the screen!  Well not in the screen. I think it was her reflection.”  Brian came up with several possibilities from her own reflection to shadows of some of the items on the selves. Amanda continued to insist it was the visage of a woman.  

            At any rate it was late enough and no real action so they decided it was time to call it a night. Aaron thanked everyone and took one final look at the screens. He felt disappointed as he headed up the stairs.

            Turning on the bedside lamp Aaron intended to read more of the journal. He looked under the bed and night table thinking one of the others may have knocked it on to the floor during the investigation. The leather bound journal was nowhere to be found. He looked on the dresser, under the dresser, downstairs, in the guest rooms.

            Aggravated Aaron went to bed intending on giving Brian a piece of his mind tomorrow. Bothered by the loss of the book he didn’t notice the extra shadow in the corner of the bedroom.

            Sarah watched as he seemed genuinely upset that her diary was missing. Just because she wasn’t exactly living anymore didn’t mean her deepest thoughts should be made public. Was she to understand that all the equipment he set up today was to look for her? Sarah now doubted the wisdom of her actions.

            She had longed to be apart of lives of those who had occupied her house. There had been families with children whom she’d befriended. Little ones seemed to have no misgivings about the pretty ghost in their rooms. Often she would tend to bad dreams and sobs in the night so their parents could sleep.

            Some of the older residents noticed her presence but ignored it as if they were afraid she was a reminder that Death himself would soon come to collect their souls.

            For a long while now Sarah just avoided contact with any of the mortal beings around her. She was careful not to make noise or be seen, but then Aaron Hewitt moved in. He was intelligent, handsome, with an easy smile. He was immaculate for a single man living alone. Well almost alone. She thought he worked too hard and kept odd hours. Working through the night and sleeping in the day.

            Then that awful woman came. How could he have been involved with her? She was obviously only interested in what he could do for her instead of in the man himself. From his reactions she had guessed he knew what she was now. Sara knew she shouldn’t have gotten in the middle of it but that Veronica didn’t seem to understand Aaron didn’t want her there.  Neither did she for that matter.

            She only hoped he wasn’t angry. Even though after Veronica was picked up he said he didn’t like her either, Sarah worried he would pack his bags and leave.  When he didn’t she was relieved. But now he is looking for her, why?

Something told her he didn’t know either. She could only hope they both found the answer agreeable when it came.

            Items newly displayed on the dresser in what was now a guest room caught Sarah’s eye. She couldn’t believe it. There sat the brush and comb her mother had saved a whole year to buy her for Christmas. The delicate perfume bottle was a gift also from Thomas Lindsey. The Confederate soldier she was to wed but both their lives were cut short. She looked at the tattered photograph and memories bitter sweet filled the night.

Does Aaron find Sarah? Will Veronica be trouble for Aaron? Are there more ghostly encounters in St. Augustine? Well now you'll just have to buy a copy of In the Dark and find out!  Go to: http://www.lulu.com/content/1093393 to purchase In the Dark