The Ghost Hunter Chronicles - A Place of Nightmares Vol 1.

A Place of Nightmares Chapter 16 Charms and Dark Enchantments.

I had been dozing off on the couch when the form of Diane Tweed swam across my mind. At first I shuddered, then I realized my mind was trying to remind me of something. In my vision I paused the progress of the phantom and drank in every poisonous detail of her.

Hard pale face, anthracite colored eyes. Her face had good bone structure, but it was all hard angles and a little too square. There was nothing soft about Diane Tweed.

I took in the rest, jet black hair scrapped back into a severe bun, high throated black dress with a morning pin worn at her throat. Long black skirt - wait!

The brooch!! I tried to imagine the details, it was very old indeed, intricate filigree suggested the death of a female family member rather than the plainer bulkier brooches worn in the morning of a father or husband.

As I recalled an episode of Antiques Roadshow USA, a sweet English mother had brought such a brooch to have it appraised. And didn't they say that inside the brooch along with dried flowers and what not was the hair of the deceased? Might the brooch pinned to Tweed's neck have belonged to her Great Grandmother many times removed, Black Hannah?

Another idea began tickling my brain. McKinley said Hannah believed herself to be the rightful owner of this property. Heretofore, no one had hinted at Hannah's last name. Might it be Maygar?

Might Hannah in fact be the Matriarch of the Maygar family who originally owned the house?

I could feel excitement growing in my stomach. If so, that meant that Diane Tweed had been a descendant of the Maygar family. Hence her fascination with the house, her refusal to leave, wanting her ashes scattered on the grounds.

Perhaps Diane Tweed, was not merely the infamous Angel of Death, once employed by the Rosenthorne Mental Asylum for the Mentally Confused. Perhaps she had researched her family history and it had lead her back here.

So the next question that went begging was this: What of Diane's family? Her last name was Tweed, not Maygar. She presented herself as Mrs, not Miss or Ms. She had been married at one time. Aide told us she had no family at the time of her death. No one came when she died, that didn't strictly mean there was no one. There could be estranged family members hiding out there somewhere. Trying to dissociate themselves with her infamous murdering status.

We had to find out!

My eyes flew open and I sat up. "Maggie!" I called.

Aide had been napping in a recliner and jumped to his feet expecting trouble of some kind.

The kitchen door flew open and the O'Donnel's rushed in. They had been in there making soup and sandwiches for everyone for when the Priests arrived.

"What's wrong?' She asked looking worried.

"Sorry, nothing. Did you say the other day before Macy went missing that you guys saw a pic of Mrs Tweed?"

Maggie looked relieved and replied, "Yes, but it's on our lap top, Jay took it."

Aide came over with our lap top under his arm. "Here use ours!" He said and passed it to Maggie.

She took it and sat next to me on the couch, she opened it biting her lip, "Okay, see if I remember the website." She clicked a few keys. We all held our breath, hoping the lap top was not being blocked by spirit energy.

"Ah okay here!" Maggie turned the computer so I could see the screen. There they were, two pudgy balding doctors with kinder faces than I would have expected.

Beside them, three smiling orderlies and a couple of ward nurses. Then behind them all, plain and tall, Diane Tweed. She wore the same dress I had seen her in, black, floor length and out of date for the thirties. In this photo she also sported a white nurses apron, cap and gloves. She was the only one in the photo not smiling. Her mannish face, flat, cold, hard and expressionless. I could see something was about the throat of her dress. I blew up the pic so I could see better. It was grainy and somewhat pixilated, but it was easy to see, that yes. Worn at the throat of her dress was a morning brooch. Dainty filigree with a dark grey smudge behind it, someone's hair. Could it be a strand or two out of Hannah's rat's nest?