Strange events are heavy on Barker Christian's mind this summer at Northshire Inn along Lake Erie. Although the inn feels sleepy, romantic, and hidden, innkeeper Barker knows all its annoying in and outs, and supernatural and grating secrets. Barker's very much aware of the drug use that occurs in room 202, and there are disturbing ghosts in room 112 that haunt the paying guests. Nor can he forget about Radcliff Roberts, the famous horror writer in room 210, who is up to something naughty during the evening hours. Two other strange events occur: Matty Lavender, lead singer of The Thorns, is missing; and a watercolor artist appears on the opposite side of the pond that some guests can see and others can't. Barker stays grounded by his interest in Cal Pipp, the inn's maintenance man. Cal is breathtaking, easy on the eyes, and someone Barker's heart desires. Only problem is Cal doesn't know Barker likes him. Until summer heats up, ghosts materialize, and a different side of Cal appears ...

The Men of Northshire Inn

No longer interested in finding invisible felines, my attention concentrated on the horror writer: a beast of a man that stood over six-four and had a mass no less than three hundred pounds, perhaps almost four hundred pounds; I wasn’t sure. As he slowly, almost snail- or sloth-like, made his decline down the white-washed stairwell that led to the cobblestone walkway and skirted around the edifice, and to the grassy yard that spanned the fishing pond, I noted his long black coat (from his thick neck to pudgy ankles); its cuffs tight around his wrists, as well as the collar around his neck. He clicked a golden cane against the cobblestone, until exiting on the grass and headed toward the pond, making a slow trek around of the water. Sunglasses covered his eyes and what looked like an onyx black garden- or sunhat decorated the peak of his skull. Barely could I make out his vampiric-white cheeks and the backs of his hands, but I did see those pale splotches of flesh.


Chapter 13