Edited

Chapter Four

She could have been cursed by some genie like Desiree. Africa was a place with lots of genies and wizards. She could be the victim of her husband's family conspiracy to get the inheritance from her. She could have been the victim of a series of unfortunate events. Coincidence.

And she could really have killed Mr. Schwarz.

Those were all the possibilities I could think of to explain what was going on with Sam, but I admit I was inclined to believe she was guilty once she had a very unfriendly visit from police officers that same afternoon while Tucker and I were finishing the Ghost Portal.

I had just finished tying the last filter to the Portal when I heard several steps rushing inside the castle. I thought it was a massive ghost invasion, so I concentrated on forming the two circles around my waist that transformed me in my ghost alter ego. I flew down the cold stone stairs and found the Venetian police abruptly entering the place with a warrant.

"You can search how much you like, sergeant." Sam said in a cold voice that matched her erect body and dark features. "You won't find anything you haven't seen before. And this time you better not break anything."

"Is that a threat, Mrs.?" The sergeant said and Sam, much to my admiration and surprise, took a calmly long drag of her cigarette and blew it off on his face. She should know better than to treat a policeman like that.

"Take it as you like." She replied. Instantly, the man shoved her on an empty couch very rudely. She sat up straight like a spoiled rich girl almost daring him to touch her again, but she knew better than to voice any more threats. Those investigators knew for sure she was a cold blood murderer and they wouldn't tell a soul if the sergeant suddenly decided to slap her. They were the only witnesses in the room (as far as they knew) and they wouldn't report a case of aggression against their own superior.

I floated invisible, watching every step of the investigation. They searched for fingerprints, they took pictures of the stairs I supposed Alexander had fallen from. They searched in the kitchen for possible poisoning products and in Sam's bathroom's cabinet for illegal medicine. The medicine in there may not have been illegal, but I was surprised to find many bottles of morphine and syringes. There also were several other painkillers and sleeping pills. Those were enough to kill a human being (maybe even an elephant).

I checked on Tucker and Cole. Both were busy in a tower and didn't even listen to the commotion downstairs. Without going visible, I floated back to Sam to check on her before that oversized sergeant did anything to her. I found her sitting on the same sofa, smoking her third cigarette. She had her legs crossed revealing a black garter underneath her small skirt.

"Tell me again how he fell down the stairs." The sergeant asked with a smirk.

"I have no idea. I was asleep. I woke up with the noise and found him dead already." Sam replied. She didn't meet his eyes, but I could see that she was slightly sad at saying this. She closed her eyes tightly and took a deep breath.

"All right, lady. I've had enough of your games." He spat at her and abruptly he picked her up by her shoulders to shout at her face, trying to intimidate her. On his very ungentle act, he ripped part of her beautiful Versace dress and I could see that same murdering look she had given the old ladies the day before back in her eyes.

I felt a cold shiver pass through my body as I saw that scene. The girl I grew up with suddenly vanished from my sight to be replaced with a cold bloodied woman who faced that tall man with such strength that in will he looked very smaller than her. He looked intimidated by her stare. With just her cold gaze she was able to put him back on his place.

I was going to interrupt them, but Cole was faster than me. He showed up in the stairs, running towards Sam and wrapping his little arms around her waist. The sergeant stepped back, completely changing his attitude.

"Basta." Sam said, wrapping her arms protectively around the scared kid. "Se non hai trovato niente vai via. Non posso permettere questo comportamento davanti un bambino." I wish I knew Italian to understand why suddenly she started speaking it. Obviously even the sergeant was caught by surprise. Everybody was being very careful to speak clear English with her and suddenly she humiliated them by showing how useless their efforts had been.

The sergeant called his team back and nobody had found anything incriminating. It looked oddly like a routine. They gathered their equipment and climbed in the police boat.

"Cole, dear. Why don't you go to the kitchen and get some chocolate I put there for you?" Sam suddenly said and Cole more than happily jumped from her arms and run to the kitchen. The sweet smile on Sam's face was replaced by a cold smirk and she approached the sergeant. I was stunned as much as he was. She neatly wrapped her arms around him and said in a deadly quiet voice "You won't believe I'm innocent, will you?"

"You are a vicious snake who killed a good man. You're everything but innocent, lady." He said, but he didn't move away from her. Like every man, he was very weak to be in contact with such beautiful lady even if he believed she was deadly. That's our weakness I guess. We will gladly walk to a lady's arms even knowing she's most likely holding a knife behind her back.

"Too bad for you." Sam said and she stepped away from him. Her necklace started glowing as he climbed on the boat and went away. I watched as she held the necklace, breathing heavily, looking very anxious.

As the sun set in the horizon the boat went further away. I watched it go peacefully until someone was thrown in the water. The commotion was absurd. Several men jumped in the water trying to save the first one. But I knew their efforts were hopeless. The sergeant was already dead by the time they were able to bring him back to the surface.

I stared at Sam who had horrified tears running down her face, but she didn't look away. I was oddly suspicious that she knew that man would drown at that moment, but I hadn't seen her move a muscle to cause it. She was keeping something very important from me and at that night I would find out what it was. With the portal ready I could face her husband's ghost.

"All right Sam." I said, becoming visible right by her side. She didn't seem surprised. "What's going on here?"

"They think I'm responsible for my husband's death. They won't leave me alone." She explained; she was trying to hide the necklace and also she was trying to look normal, but I could see her hands shaking. Once again I could see her becoming my best friend again. She would be apprehensive like that when she ran out of her parent's house to go to a gothic performance. She'd have fun, but she knew she was doomed. "Is the portal ready?"

"Yes." I answered quietly, eyeing her suspiciously from head to toe. She saw me staring, but she didn't stop me. She didn't change her attitude. I stepped closer to her and tried to touch her, but she stepped back with an agility I had never witnessed before. I was hurt once more and I was distracted by my own feelings when she was only concerned that I haven't noticed that she'd pull away to save me from the same fate the sergeant had. "Once I've caught this ghost and you're free… will you return to Amity Park with us?"

"I…" She was obviously expecting that question, but I had to ask anyway. I was too blind and too intrigued by her beauty to smell the danger around her. Danger in some women can smell a lot like Chanel #5 to confuse the senses of poor passionate guys like me. "I won't leave this castle." She said seriously, after taking a deep breath.

"You're lonely here." I said, insisting and walking towards her as she kept walking back away from me. "I don't understand what's going on with this castle, but you know how snoopy I can be. I will find everything out whether you want me to or not." I spat at her and unlike her attitude towards the police a few minutes ago she didn't face me with that poisoning courage. She seemed to shrink back to her vulnerable state and she didn't fight me anymore.

"It's no use running away from here. I tried it." She said quietly and I had to take one step closer to listen what she was saying. Finally I had a small response. I was ready to hear her muttering out the truth, but she only said sentimental things to confuse me even more. "This is the place where I found happiness again even if it was eventually taken from me. I'll always be alone and I've accepted my fate."

"It's your choice." I tried to encourage her to speak on. I hadn't noticed that I had somehow trapped her against the wall, but we weren't touching. I could see that she was very worried about it, but I had decided to respect her space and not touch a strand of her hair without permission, as hard as it would be.

"No, it's not a choice!" She cried out and finally I saw the façade fall. She trusted me enough to let desperate tears fall from her eyes right in front of me. Today I think that it took more guts to break down than to stand her position. "In Africa I had this stupid saving the world thing. I put myself in the middle of a guerrilla to save the children of a poor village and I got myself shot." She explained. "I jumped in front of a small kid."

I immediately understood why she was so affectionate towards Cole and the kids in the city. Every kid was the mirror of that one she had saved.

"Alexander fixed my wound and brought me to Italy for a treatment, but because of the shot something very precious was taken from me." She said quietly. "And he accepted that and married me anyway."

"You're saying that I wouldn't accept your condition, whatever it is?" I felt like she had slapped me in the face. She didn't trust me like she had trusted her husband. Oh that ridiculous, snobby man who had taken my best friend before I had the chance! That faceless ghost who I hated more than any other arch enemy!

"You don't understand!" She raised her voice defiantly and I knew how to pick up a challenge. I was going to reply, I was going to sentence myself to death by grabbing her shoulders and shaking her, but I didn't. Cole decided to interrupt us by walking in with his little arms carrying more chocolate than he could hold.

"Don't fight." He said to us, looking in verge of tears.

"We're not fighting, honey." Sam said to him, using that small time to walk as far away from me as possible. She picked Cole up in her arms, with her back turned to me so I couldn't see her expression. "Danny," She sighed as she continued our argument. "I've paid you to get this ghost and nothing else. Please do your job." And then she walked off to the dining room to control how much chocolate Cole would eat.

I was stunned – for lack of better words. It took me a while to comprehend that she was treating me like an employee once more. But then…. That's what I was… I was just someone she had paid to do my job. I was nothing else to her. Knowing that only inspired me to work harder to get to the bottom of the mystery that surrounded her. If she was a murderer I'd put her in jail with the same lack of compassion she had showed me.

At that same night I would eat my words with a bitter sauce. I informed Tucker of what had happened immediately after she left me alone and he was much surprised and almost offended that I doubted Sam's innocence in that case.

"Danny, Sam isn't a criminal. If she has anything to do with her husband's death, that would be an accident. I can't believe you'd have doubts about the girl we grew up with." I must admit I wasn't surprised at his reaction. When a father sees his son enamored with a new mother figure he's bound to defend her for his son' sake.

"I just want to stick with the skepticism." I answered and when I said that I heard a gasp coming from the door. Both Tucker and I turned around to see a very pale – and obviously offended – Sam standing there with Cole staring at us with eyes that showed betrayal and stubbornness.

"I'm sorry to interrupt." Quickly, she covered her surprise to hear such cruel words coming out of a supposed friendly mouth. "Dinner is served."

I couldn't remember more awkward moment in my life such as that one. Sitting down by the side of a woman who knew I feared she was murderer and my best friend, who was sipping his soup quietly, sticking to Sam's innocence to the end. I must admit I'm jealous of his unbreakable loyalty to her. I wish I had been that loyal.

Cole was sitting down quietly in a corner, playing with a plushy dog Sam had given him to keep him busy.

"Tucker, could you keep Cole with you tonight? I have some work to finish and I can't keep an eye on him." Sam said in a low voice so Cole wouldn't hear her. Tucker nodded and smiled at her. "Maybe you should show him the towers. There's a telescope in the north one."

After saying that, she stood up, leaving her untouched plate. She tightened the scarf around her neck and walked elegantly out of the room, with the hurry of a feline about to catch the prey. I glanced at Tucker's disapproving look. He knew what I'd do, but he didn't stop me anyway.

I turned invisible and followed her through the cold stone corridors to the second floor where she entered the drawing room and locked it with a huge skeleton key she always kept in her pocket. I was very careful to not become visible again because she was looking around the room suspiciously as if expecting me (or maybe her ghost husband?) to show up.

Two minutes later, she stepped closer to the burning fireplace and placed some logs in it to build up the fire. After that, she opened a drawer and picked stacks of old yellowish papers. I could see she had cut off and kept some newspaper articles. I only had time to read the words 'Mr. Schwarz' and 'wife' before she threw the articles in the fire. That only raised my suspicion even more.

She unfolded her husband's will and spent some long minutes reading it. Obviously he had given it all to her along with some cash from his life insurance. The reason for killing him was right in front of my eyes, or so I wanted to believe. She must have a real good alibi to escape that one.

But my new evidence was thrown to the fire with the articles. I was shocked to see that she was destroying the only document that would provide her some financial stability in the future. In her lapse, she threw the will in the fire, the protocol of Mr. Schwarz insurance, his diaries, her own diaries and many photographs.

She fell on the floor sobbing like a little girl and I almost gave into my feelings and made myself visible to hug and comfort her. That small tantrum was proof enough for me that she had really loved Alexander and even if she had really killed him, it was out of a bigger reason than just money.

Nowadays in the cold nights when the memories of her haunt me, it's exactly that moment I see. When she was hopelessly lying on the floor, crying among their happy pictures, among the passionate letters they had shared in Africa. I see her sobbing inconsolably the cruel fate she and her husband had had.

As she cried, I walked around the room and the only thing that she had left intact that caught my attention was her husband's small circular glasses placed on top of a folded paper. I reached closer and all I could read was the title "Mrs. Schwarz's Will." So Sam had written her own will already. I understood at that moment how afraid she was to die; I had thought she feared her husband's ghost would kill her.

As the time passed her sobs started quieting down, but her breathing became heavier. She sat down on the couch, with a hand on her forehead, glancing at the clock from time to time as if waiting for something to happen. I had never seen her that anxious before and I admit it scared me.

When the clock struck midnight a chilly breeze blew out the candles in the room. The papers and pictures flew around and Sam stared apprehensively at the wall. Her necklace started glowing and a thin light came out of it and slowly started to form the outline of a human, just like a genie when it's released from the lamp.

A moment later a man was standing in the middle of the room. He was tall, blond and so muscular that he normally would have been considered 'huge'. His piercing green eyes and ghostly pale skin immediately made me realize who he was. Mr. Schwarz was the image of a wealthy man who always had everything he wanted his whole life and wasn't used to failure.

"Hello honey." He said with his voice dripping sarcasm. Sam smirked back, but I could say she was terrified, but she was ready to face him. She was sure she could face him because we had the portal ready to capture him. "You were a badass today." He said that while removing his shirt. I knew what would happen as soon as he started unbuckling his jeans, but I couldn't move. I wasn't scared, but perplex.

"You'll be gone today." Sam said, standing up from the couch, saying slowly and in a hissing voice that made me remind a poisonous snake. "I have ghost hunters in this house ready to get you and make you pay for what you've done."

"I've already paid, honey, remember?" He laughed dryly, finding the situation very amusing and it only made Sam angrier. Her jaw tightened and she turned around, marching towards the door with her hands closed in fists probably to get Tucker or me so we could get rid of her husband's ghost.

Mr. Schwarz flew in front of her blocking her way out and she glared at him furiously. Her hands were shaking as if she was in the verge of slapping his arrogant face. He, on the other hand, was very calm and put a hand on her small back to bring their hips closer. I could say that infuriated her and I was very angry myself at such a scene. I wasn't used to see Sam being tormented like that. Even in our years back in high school the bullies wouldn't take it so hard on any of us.

"Yes, I've paid already. As I remember you pushed me down the stairs so cowardly that I couldn't believe it!" He laughed, kissing her jaw as she shut her eyes tightly, trying to ignore the feeling, since she couldn't fight him off. "Too bad your plan backfired. You wanted to get rid of me and now we're stuck together forever."

"So romantic." Sam replied sarcastically and I remembered of the little girl she had been, speaking all her sarcastic lines with a tired expression. So indeed she had killed her husband and just like he said her plan backfired, but still that didn't justify him controlling her life and taking advantage of her every night.

And then he threw her on the couch and she didn't fight, as if she too used to it happened every night that she gave up fighting. She just waited patiently for him to take his claim on her and go away, disappearing inside the necklace.

I couldn't take it anymore. I was losing control. Nobody treated my Sam like that and her expressionless face only made me want to get rid of that vile ghost as soon as possible.

The lights started flicking and the air inside the room became icy. The furniture started shaking as if an invisible power was causing the whole room to shake. That was a powerful sign of ghost activity.

I snapped and screamed.

"TUCKER IT'S TIME!"

I didn't wait for Tucker, I turned visible and literally flew on Alexander's neck, grabbing from his hair and throwing him away from Sam as hard as I could. He hit the opposite wall and I fired ghost rays at him. I saw Sam sitting up, very surprised at the sudden attack. I was very upset at her as well.

I took out my fury on Alexander, but the one who deserved some beating was Sam. So she was a murderer and I was beating a ghost like a punch bag because she had killed him in the first place. But victim or not, nobody laid a hand on my Sam.

Tucker arrived just in time to capture him inside the thermos. I almost got sucked in with him. I don't think Tucker knew exactly where he was aiming. The ground stopped shaking and the candles were lit up again as if by magic. The room was still very cold, but it didn't bother me. I also realized it didn't bother Sam.

"He's strong!" Tucker suddenly announced. "The thermos won't hold him for long."

"Let's get him inside the portal, quickly!" I said; the thought of having that man on loose again made my blood boil.

"It's not ready!" Tucker said nearly panicking when he saw the thermos shaking as Alexander struggled to get free. "The power is off! We don't have electricity in the house."

"Free him then!" Sam suddenly said, rising from the couch and staring at the clock. When the clock struck half past midnight she held the diamond on her necklace up. It was shining like a lamp.

Tucker looked at me as if asking permission. I was the expert at ghost-fighting; he always looked at me before reaching a decision. I lowered my head tiredly and Tucker opened the thermos. Alexander flew straight to the diamond and got stuck there. The necklace stopped shining and Sam let it go again, breathing heavily and holding her head on her hands as if in a terrible headache.

"You killed him." I said in a low voice. Sam looked up surprised at the accusation and Tucker looked at me, too. "You didn't deny it."

Sam lowered her eyes to the floor and I could see tears escaping from the corner of her eyes and sliding down her pale cheeks. Her neatly manicured fingernails were pricking her skin to the point of draying blood. She took a deep shakily breathe and opened her trembling lips. I must admit I was ready to listen to the confession coming out from her mouth like a blow in the gut taking all my fury and hate towards her betrayal and turn it in pure conscience torment.

But she bit her lower lip, turned around and ran out of the door. I followed her just a fraction of second later, but the corridor outside was empty and there wasn't the sound of her heels. It was like she had disappeared as soon as she had stepped out of the room.

At that moment I was highly suspicious that the castle had secret doors and passages as well.

Is the suspense killing you? It's killing me, too. I wasn't sure if I should have revealed the husband's ghost so soon, but hey, there are lots of secrets I'm still hiding, so… I guess it's time for Danny to know who the enemy is. I'll probably just be able to update in a month. This story is a bit difficult to write. I need to pay attention to every little detail so everything will make sense when I reveal the truth behind…… everything. Lol. So, keep the reviews coming, I will need a lot of inspiration for the next chapter!