by Lotta Smith
As Jackie went on with her quest to get the boy’s attention, he slowly raised his head, looking sleepy. “Um… you are…?” Looking at the ghost of a drag queen, he tilted his head to the side. As he did, I noticed that it was his blood staining his shirt crimson. Assuming from the huge gash on his head, the cause of his death looked like a fall from a high place. I resisted the urge to flinch as I looked at the boy ghost and imagined the impact he’d had prior to his death.
“I’m Jackie. Meet my friends, Mandy and Rick.” As Jackie introduced us, the teenage ghost’s eyes widened.
“Can they see me?”
“Mandy here can see us, but unfortunately, Rick can’t. What a shame,” Jackie said breezily.
“Hi, I’m Mandy. Nice meeting you,” I said, looking him directly in the eyes, prompting him to suck in air.
“Seriously? How many fingers do you see?” The teenage ghost made a V-sign.
“I see two fingers,” I said. “By the way, we’re looking for a girl named Julie. Did you see this girl at around two in the afternoon?” I showed him a photo of Julie.
“Was she wearing a pink down coat?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “And a pair of black trousers. She was also sporting a navy Prada backpack.”
“Oh, that girl.” He cocked his head to the side.
“You saw her?” My eyes widened.
“Did he see Jules?” Rick nudged me by the elbow, and I nodded.
Looking at the photo, the ghost said, “I think it was this girl. The girl was strolling down the street with a young woman, and then the girl hopped in a black Mercedes and left.”
“Oh gosh… she’s been kidnapped.” Jackie gasped.
“What happened to the young woman with Julie? Was she taken with the girl?” I asked. Assuming from Meredith’s words, I thought it was highly unlikely that Bella let Julie leave like that.
“The woman who looked like a college student? As the girl—Julie?—hopped in the car, the older woman suddenly turned on her heels and left.”
“Oh my God…,” Jackie and I said in unison.
Rick frowned. “It’s not good news, is it?” I shook my head and conveyed the information to him, and he groaned.
“Can you tell them more about what you saw?” Rick asked the blank space where the ghost stood. He couldn’t see or communicate with dead people, but I was used to being the interpreter to convey dead people’s words to him.
“Okay, can you see that low-rise condo over there? The white building with a red façade?” The teenage ghost pointed at a building located several yards away. “Julie was walking with the woman, and then the Mercedes drove by, slowing down before stopping by her side. I saw a middle-aged dude wearing a black suit driving the car. Then the window in the back seat rolled down and an old lady with heavy makeup talked to the girl.”
“Did you catch the old lady’s words?” Rick asked.
“I heard words like ‘mom’ and ‘sick.’ And I think the old lady said ‘hospital.’ Anyway, the girl voluntarily hopped in the car.”
“Hell,” Rick groaned as I whispered the ghost’s words to him.
“In retrospect, I sensed something fishy about the situation.” The ghost shrugged his slender shoulders. “Then again, I couldn’t do anything ’cause I’m stuck here.”
“Can you describe the old lady’s attire?” Jackie chimed in, sounding like a detective.
“I saw her black jacket. I didn’t see much of her face, but I remember her thick makeup… especially the blood-red lips.” The teenage ghost tilted his head to the side.
“Do you remember the car’s license plate?” Rick pressed on.
“Well… no. I wasn’t paying much attention.” The ghost shook his head.
I relayed his words to Rick, who insisted, “Try harder. Can you at least remember some of the letters or numbers?”
The ghost furrowed his eyebrows. “Sorry, I really can’t remember what was written on the plate. Besides, the distance between the car and me wasn’t nice.”
“I see,” I muttered. The ghost had a point, but Rick didn’t look pleased.
Crossing his arms, Rick said, “Fine. Don’t hesitate to be in touch with Mandy here in case you recall more about the girl’s abduction.” Then he took a few steps to the side and pulled out his phone.
“To be in touch? Seriously?” The teenage ghost displayed a cocky smile. “For your information, I can’t make phone calls.”
“Oh, right. You can’t move from here.” I nodded, exchanging a glance with Jackie. I was glad Rick was on the phone and I didn’t need to translate the ghost’s smartass remark to him. Rick himself had a habit of being a smartass, yet he detested when he was on the receiving end of such comments.
“I’ll come and check on you regularly,” Jackie volunteered.
“Thanks, Jackie, and….” I turned to the teenage ghost and stumbled with my words. “Gosh, I didn’t ask your name.”
“I’m Tyler McGraw,” he muttered and closed his eyes, as if our brief conversation had exhausted him.
CHAPTER 4
After parting with the ghost of Tyler McGraw, we hurried back to the Greys’ condo. The sky had fallen dark and lights from streetlamps and shop ads illuminated the neighborhood. The promenade was neither crowded nor deserted. I found it odd that the FBI and police struggled to find living human witnesses.
“Hey, Mandy, did you feel the ghost was telling the truth?” Rick asked me, putting his phone into his coat pocket.
“Well, I don’t think he was actively lying, but….” I fumbled with my words.
“But what?” he pressed on.
“Something about him is bugging me, like he seemed to remember so much in detail,” I said.
“Of course, he should remember things in detail. He witnessed the kidnapping of a little girl. In my opinion, his statement lacks info, like the car’s license plate.” He shrugged.
“That’s because you’re an FBI agent and Tyler’s just a kid. He looked like a high school student,” I pointed out.
“Besides, the boy was sleeping when we spoke to him. And it took him a while to catch our voice,” Jackie chimed in. “I have a hunch he’s one of those ghosts who sleeps through their post-life existence in this world. I was surprised he admitted to witnessing Julie’s abduction. I was wondering how he’d managed to stay awake at the time.”
“Hmm… perhaps he’s most active in the afternoon?” I said, but it sounded more like a question than a statement.
“By the way, how did that ghost end up being bound to that place?” Rick said as I relayed Jackie’s words to him.
“I thought about asking him, but I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to ask such a personal question on the initial encounter.” I sighed. “So, Rick, how are we going to deliver the news to Meredith?”
“We’ll tell her about Jules’s abduction. The kidnapper might be someone Meredith knows.” Rick shrugged.
“I know, but we can’t possibly tell her about the source of information—like, ‘By the way, we heard about Julie’s abduction from a ghost of a teenager bound to that place’—can we?” As I looked up at him, he touched my eyebrows. “What are you doing?”
“Just smoothing your forehead,” he said nonchalantly. “You don’t want to have frown lines engraved on your face at this age. Oh, and don’t forget that hassling yourself doesn’t help with the case.”
“Um… thanks?” I said, resisting the urge to frown and feeling really hot in the cheeks.
“Anytime.” The corner of his lips quirked up into an angelic smile. “Don’t worry about the informant. I’ll do the talking, and you don’t have to tell Meredith about your skill. Are we good?” he asked, taking my hand.
“Good.” I nodded, tightening my grip on his hand.
I was worried sick about Julie. Being kidnapped was beyond horrible, and I felt even more horrible about delivering the grim news to her mom.
“Don’t worry, honey. I’m always here to help you guys,” Jacki
e cooed.
* * *
When we returned to the Greys’ condo, Rick relayed the news about Julie’s abduction and the description of the culprit to Julie’s parents.
“Oh my God… it’s like a nightmare. No, I hope it’s a nightmare. At least with nightmares, the reality might not be that bad when you wake up,” Meredith muttered as if she were having difficulty processing the news.
“An old lady in black, chauffeured around in a black Mercedes with a man in black? No, I can’t say we have such an acquaintance.” Ben, Julie’s father and a hotshot neurosurgeon, furrowed his eyebrows as he squeezed his wife’s hand.
“We’ve told Julie never to hop into a stranger’s car.” Meredith shook her head. “Especially considering Bella was with her. She adores Bella, and I can’t imagine Julie ditching her and going for a joyride with an old woman she’s not even familiar with.”
“But isn’t it odd? Why did Bella let the old woman take our daughter away? Doing nothing?” Ben frowned.
“That’s a good point. It’s odd.” Rick crossed his arms.
“By the way, considering the captor was an old lady, the odds of her being a pedophile is very small, right? In that case, the motive for Julie’s kidnapping should be money. If so, what’s the kidnapper doing? She should be demanding ransom by now,” Ben said breathlessly, and then he blanched. “Oh crap, the woman was old. What if she’s after Julie’s organs?”
“Stop it already!” Meredith snapped, clutching her hands into fists. “Don’t even imagine that! We have to find Julie. Rick says she’s alive and not in any immediate danger.” Her voice was strong, but her knuckles were white and trembling.
“Oh… I’m sorry…,” Ben mumbled, clutching his head with both hands.
An awkward silence filled the air, but when I glanced at Meredith, my eyes widened.
Jackie, who popped up from out of nowhere, was floating around the agitated mom, whispering, “Relax. Everything’s gonna be all right. Now take a deep breath in… and out….”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes when the ghost of a drag queen winked at me as our eyes met.
Meredith didn’t seem to notice Jackie’s presence, but she appeared to have calmed down. “Gosh, I’m famished. I don’t know what I want to eat, but I’ve got to eat something for dinner,” she said.
Ben raised his eyebrows, looking like he was seriously considering rolling his eyes, but at the same time, he was smart enough to refrain from doing so.
“That’s a good idea,” Rick interjected. “This place will be packed with feds in no time, so it’s clever to eat something while you can.”
“If you don’t mind, I’m more than happy to help you in the kitchen, Meredith,” I volunteered, prompting Meredith to smile for the first time that day.
“Actually, I was thinking about ordering in, but yeah, it’s better to have something to work on. Thanks, Mandy. I’d appreciate your help so much,” she said, then led me to the kitchen.
The Greys’ kitchen, smaller than the one at Rick’s place, was full of topnotch equipment but managed to appear cozy.
“By the way, Rick said he found a witness at a brownstone building on East 78th. Was it the one right next to a white building with a macaroon shop downstairs?” Meredith asked while stuffing a head of cabbage into the chopper.
“Right. That’s the one.” I nodded, dumping canned tomatoes, ketchup, black pepper, and sugar into the sautéed mixture of ground turkey and chopped celery. We agreed to go with a simple dinner of turkey sloppy Joes and a side of coleslaw. “The neighborhood was populated, but it wasn’t easy finding a witness.”
“Oh no, not that building,” Meredith muttered.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, startled, wondering if I said something I shouldn’t have.
“Oh, it’s not your fault, but this boy named Tyler McGraw was found dead in front of that building about a year ago.” She frowned. “I know a friend of his mom, and according to her, he was rumored to have committed suicide. The worst part was no one around him, including his parents, could see any reason for that.”
I gasped, and so did Jackie. The possibility of Tyler becoming a ghost after committing suicide had crossed my mind, but I didn’t have the heart to ask him for the cause of his death.
After a while, I said, “Look, Meredith,” though I wasn’t sure what I was going to tell her. “Julie is fine. I’ve known Rick for a while, and when he says Julie is fine, she’s fine. You can trust him.”
“I know I can trust him.” She gave her a courageous grin. “Speaking of him, let’s serve dinner to the boys. They must be famished.”
CHAPTER 5
The following morning, Rick, Brian, and I were gathered at the dining room of Rick’s condo on Fifth Avenue, having a meeting over breakfast. I adored Rick’s lavish condo with state-of-the-art chef’s kitchen and everything, but sometimes I missed the noisy, crowded living arrangement at my parents’ home in Queens. At least I could always expect food to be served without my cooking.
“Why didn’t you throw out that haunted card?” Brian Powers, one of very few exorcists who could actually cast out evil spirits, glared at me. “I told you that old bat is bad news. Evil is an understatement for Aurora fucking Westwood. If I may say, you shouldn’t have accepted it in the first place.”
I bit my lower lip, looking begrudgingly at the black card on the dining table. “I get your point, but you can’t possibly say, ‘Thanks for offering your card, but I refuse to have it because you scare the bejesus out of me,’ can you? And in fact, I did throw it away as soon as I got away from Aurora. Okay, so I didn’t and couldn’t hurl it away in the middle of the theater’s corridor like a total litterbug, especially in front of Julie, but I remember tossing it into the trash. After that, I’d totally forgotten about it but somehow it came back to me. I don’t know how that card came out of the trash and jumped into my scheduler, and actually, I don’t want to know how that happened.”
“What? The card came back to you? Like one of those haunted antique jewelries? The worst part of this is that I can’t tell you to shut up and stop lying to me.” Brian took a gulp of coffee. “Where’s your ghost pal?”
“Jackie? She went to have a chat with a ghost who witnessed Julie being taken away in a black Mercedes,” I said. “Ghosts tend to be more open to fellow ghosts than they are to humans.”
Brian snorted and turned to Rick, who was savoring the bacon and eggs on his plate. “So, what do you want me to do? I’m not that naïve to assume I was invited to breakfast just out of courtesy.”
“Hey, Brian, ever heard of small talk?” Rick raised an eyebrow at Brian, who responded with an annoyed glare. Rick shrugged. “It’s about Aurora Westwood. I need your insight about that TV psychic.”
“What insight? Like that old bat is a monster?” Brian grimaced.
“Actually, Mandy suspects Aurora has something to do with Jules’s disappearance. The amber alert has been issued, and Child Abduction Response Deployment and the NYPD are already working with their conventional ways. So, we’re taking the unbeaten path,” Rick said nonchalantly, touching my arm. “Also, I have a hunch that she’s probably right.”
“What? Are you serious?” Brian’s eyebrows jumped up. “Okay, so that old witch has no such thing as standards. Also, the part about Jules’s governess strengthens the theory that someone used some crooked magic. Her story about losing Jules on the way while she zoned out sounds too lame for an excuse, so perhaps it’s not an excuse.”
“Right. The cops and the feds regard Bella as the prime suspect. They don’t believe her. Still, it’s possible to mess with Bella’s head and take away Jules in front of her.” Rick looked at me. “Mandy, tell him about your experience during the encounter with Aurora at the theater.”
I told Brian about the intense gaze Aurora had directed at Julie and how the psychic had complimented Julie’s beautiful aura. “Also, there’s this ghost of a young boy who saw an old woman with heavy makeup, dressed in
black. According to him, this woman took Julie away. I know there are way too many old women in the city, but on top of it all, Aurora’s ardent eyes directed at Julie has been bugging me ever since. You know, she creeped me out.”
“I know. That witch is beyond creepy.” Brian grimaced. “Hell, I should have warned Jules about Aurora the Evil.”
“What’s bugging me is I have no idea about Aurora’s purpose in taking Jules,” Rick muttered.
“Mandy.” Brian frowned. “Aurora described Jules’s aura as pure, innocent, and beautiful, right?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “Then again, considering Julie’s just a little girl, it’s no wonder she has a pure and innocent aura, is it?”
“Yes and no. There is a smorgasbord of pureness and innocence in terms of aura. Every kid has a different aura, just like adults. By the way, why do you address her as Julie instead of Jules?” Brian asked me, munching on the toast soaked in the egg yolk.
I shrugged. “That’s because she informed ‘Jules’ is a special nickname reserved for her close friends, and she made it clear I wasn’t her friend.”
“What?” Rick frowned. “I’ll have to have a nice chat with her when she’s back.”
“No, Rowling. You don’t have to do that.” Brian shook his head, but a corner of his mouth was quirking up. “Let the girl handle her own feelings.”
“Um… I’m not quite following?” I said, sounding more like a question than a statement.
“What are you talking about?” At first, Rick seemed to be as clueless as me, but soon he furrowed his eyebrows as if he’d come up with some kind of a theory. “Mandy, don’t worry about her attitude. She’ll be more than thankful for you when she’s back.” He squeezed my hand.
“Okay, now let’s go back to the main topic.” Brian’s face turned serious. “The old woman was seen in a black Mercedes with a driver clad in black, right? I often see Aurora at TV stations, and if I recall it right, her secretary’s always in black and so are her drivers. Also, she’s got five black showy cars, including a Mercedes. The rumor is that Aurora Westwood is notorious for her black magic, like she’s used little kids as a tool for attracting not-so-nice spirits.”
