The Ghostly Gambit

At the exact stroke of midnight, the ghost appears. He is hovering at the foot of Rose Trelawney’s bed, his feet hanging down until his bare toes almost brush her thick carpet. His arms are covered in dripping seaweed, which glows a phosphorescent green that lights up the sickly markings surrounding his bushy beard. His eyes are hollow pits that gaze balefully toward the bed.
“Witness my flesh, Rose,” he intones between croaking gasps. “My ships sent sailors to their doom, lost souls who returned to drag me down to the briny depths!”
Mrs. Trelawney is bolt upright. She clutches at her sheets, white-knuckled with terror. “Jason,” she whimpers. “No.”
“Yes!” the figure roars. “And the same fate awaits you, Rose Trelawney! As long as you send boats across the dreaming seas, they will await you! Your death is fast approaching! Do you feel it?”
A faint briny scent drifts across the room. I’m actually quite impressed by the showmanship, but I’m also getting worried that Mrs. Trelawney isn’t going to survive to the confession. “Let me guess,” I say as I step out of the closet. “She needs to sell her share in the business, as soon as possible.”

The Everland Mysteries are my first series, and one that is dear to my heart. These stories of Basil Stark, Everland’s last pirate and first private detective, and of his friends, found family, and associates have lifted me up in difficult times, and I couldn’t have done it without my readers.

As we reach the darkest night of the year, I thought that it would be nice to do something in return. The Ghostly Gambit is a short story set in the winter after the events of Pawns and Phantoms. If you are a returning reader, please enjoy this glimpse in one of Basil Stark’s less complicated cases. If you’re a first-time reader, I hope you enjoy this, and maybe you’ll want to know more about these folks afterwards!

The story can be downloaded here. Thank you for reading, and happy holidays!