spirit ever trap you in this room?”
“No. Since I live here alone, there was never a need to shut the office door. I do remember hearing the ghost writing, as you call it, whenever I’d get up to leave the room. It happened when I had paper in the guide and when I didn’t. The keys struck against the bare roller.” The expression on Jamie’s face changed. “Is that what you were talking about earlier with not being able to get to your son?”
“Yeah. We replaced all the doorknobs in the house when we brought Wolf home. None of them have a lock, but when I tried to leave the room the second time the haunting started, I couldn’t open the door.”
“What happened the first time?” Jamie sounded interested in the story for the first time.
“I fell asleep at the typewriter. When I woke up, there was a typed line from Amazing Grace. It made me wonder if I’d typed it in my sleep. We aren’t religious people, but my mother loved that song.”
“Nothing like that ever happened to me. There were no unexplainable footsteps or slamming doors or weird noises. Only the ghost writing.” Jamie wore a more confident look.
“Did the spirit ever communicate with you in words that weren’t hymn lyrics?” Jude asked.
Jamie shook his head. “No, nothing like that, but I wasn’t trying to communicate with it either.”
“Did you ever feel threatened the way I did?” Cope asked. He hoped the answer was no.
“No, but I didn’t give it much of a chance. I was only in this room to work. The most important thing in my life was writing the book. Like I said, I was usually in my own world when I was working. When the manuscript was finished. I sent it off to publishers in New York. I never dreamed one of them would agree to publish it.”
“What happened to the typewriter after you finished the manuscript?” Jude asked.
“Nothing. It sat here in my office. The hauntings stopped after I finished the book.” Jamie seemed surprised by his own answer, as if he hadn’t given much thought to the typewriter after he’d typed The End.
“Why do you think the hauntings stopped?” Jude was typing notes into his phone.
“I guess it had to do with not being in this room. I was away on trips to New York City and then a nationwide book tour. To be honest, I never thought about the haunting again until that night on Letterman.”
“What happened to bring the subject up?” Cope wasn’t a fan of late-night television. Some of the jokes were mean-spirited, and he’d rather be getting busy with his husband than nodding off in front of the television.
“He was going on about how strange authors could be and the fact that I was from Salem. We talked about how my ancestor, Sarah Hale, was named as a witch but never arrested or tried. I told him what I knew about that and he asked if I had ever been haunted by her spirit, since I lived in her house.” Jamie looked a bit green, as if he were reliving that moment in time all over again.
Cope knew they were going to need to do some research into Sarah Hale. Her death didn’t line up with what they assumed was the spirit’s timeline, but as he’d seen on multiple occasions, stranger things had happened. Cope was about to tell Jamie that very thing when he noticed how tired the man was looking. “One last question, Jamie. When Jude and I get to the bottom of this, do you want us to let you know?”
“Let me know?” Jamie looked back and forth between Jude and Cope.
“I think what my husband is trying to ask is if you want us to clear your name?” Jude’s voice was gentle.
Jamie’s mouth hung open for a moment. “I’ve lived with my one mistake for so long now. I’m not sure how to answer that question.”
Cope pulled out one of his business cards and handed it to Jamie. “You made one mistake. No permanent harm was done to anyone. Don’t you think you’ve suffered long enough?”
“Maybe so.” Jamie held out his hand to shake with Cope.
“A friend of mine has this policy of never using his psychic gift to read people without their permission. Unfortunately, I don’t have his scruples.” Cope laughed.
“I don’t blame you for checking me over, Copeland. I’m a stranger with a documented case of mental illness.”
“If you’re mentally ill, then