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

The truth unfolded within the next week. Detective Takis Wurther uncovered many details of Radcliff Roberts’s crime. I learned, as well as the Templeton community, that Matty Lavender did drugs with Radcliff. Mostly pills called Zeb or Fire. Radcliff purchased the pills from the young man on a weekly basis. According to surveillance cameras at the inn, Lavender arrived after three o’clock in the morning and sold the pills to the writer. He and Radcliff used the drugs on a few occasions. Keegan Less told Takis, “The two weren’t lovers, although Radcliff wanted to be. Lavender died because Radcliff put the moves on him. When Lavender didn’t welcome the horror writer’s sexual advancements, Radcliff sodomized the man and choked him to death with his bare hands.” Somehow, someway, Radcliff moved the body of Lavender from room 210 to the cabin in the woods. He left the body there, unburied.


Chapter 30