Ghost Tales of Seattle

Ghost Chase Part 13

Beth said, "There's something I wanted to ask Addie."

I glanced at the ghost. "She can hear you."

"Did you know that Hettie and her husband wanted to take you to court?" Beth asked.

"What, why would they do that?" Addie frowned and the air grew cold.

"They wanted to hold a civil trial to formally adopt Mathilda. They claimed you had abandoned your child."

I saw dust spin around Addie. "I never did. I sent money every month. They knew I wanted to bring her to me when I had waved enough. Why would they do such a thing?"

I wasn't sure why Beth felt a need to bring this up with her ghostly ancestor. Was there family trauma she needed to act out? Robert nodded at Molly who pulled out an EMF meter. I realized it was a set up. Robert wanted Beth to provoke so he could get readings. It was working, the EMF spiked as Addie's emotions rose.

"They did adopt her, once your body was identified," Beth said. "You never visited when she was old enough to remember you."

Before Addie could go poltergeist and start throwing things around the van I asked, "But if Mathilda was adopted, why do you use the name Bolton?"

Addie had taken it as a sign of respect from Beth and I hoped that was the case. If not, we could be in for a stormy time of it. I didn't need the EMF readings to tell me Addie was draining energy from the environment. One of the reasons I don't drive is if a ghost got mad enough at me, they could short out a car's system at the worst of times. I tried to get Beth's attention so she would change the topic a bit.

"I found the papers for the adoption in an old trunk in the attic of my grandmother's house. I wanted to know more about Adelaide Bolton and why she would abandon her child. I dug deeper and found letters from her to Mathilda which had never been opened. I read them and saw that she loved her little girl and wanted them to be together. That's why I agreed to go on this wild goose chase. The chance to communicate with Addie was too good to miss out on."

Robert watched the EMF reader go back down. "The chase continues. We've reached the Moore. I have a friend who works there who got permission to let us in. I'm not sure how we're going to find this clue Addie left, with all the changes that happened to the sight between now and then."

Addie smiled, "Don't you worry. There's a spot in the basement which I've been too quite recently. You'll see."

"Addie says we need to head for the basement," I said.

Robert's friend was a custodian who wanted to be an actor. It seemed he'd agreed to let us in because Robert said he would be on the Netflix show. His name was Bill and he told us all about a seance performed in the 1970s and the large number of EVPs amateur ghost hunters had gotten in the basement. As we headed downstairs, I didn't see any ghosts, but I did smell cigar smoke, a scent that was said to linger in some of the seats' upholstery.