by Lotta Smith
“Did I?” I tilted my head to the side. “Perhaps you were having a weird dream in which I kept kicking you.”
“No, I was awake.” He shook his head, chuckling. “So, Fiona, what’s going on?”
“I woke up about ten minutes ago. Actually, I was having difficulty sleeping, but I was somewhat dozing anyway. I had a weird dream in which Nana tried to wake me up. And I was lying on the floor, dead. And the weirdest part was that I was looking at my body from above, and I saw the clear mark of strangulation on my neck. Nana was telling me to wake up and call for help. So I got up and came to you. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I couldn’t stay in the bed anymore.”
“Oh,” I gasped. As I recalled that gruesome home movie and my promise to help Beverly protect Fiona, I snapped my head up. “Fiona, I’m glad you came to us.”
“Yeah, you did the right thing, Fiona,” Rick reassured.
“Thanks.” She smiled. “The dream itself was weird, but I also noticed Leo wasn’t in the bed. He wasn’t even in our bedroom.”
“Ouch! That’s because your hubby’s busy sleeping with another woman.” Jackie slapped her forehead. “By the way, you should seriously consider getting a divorce from him. I’m sure that guy is a womanizer who cheats on you as casually as breathing.”
Suppressing the urge to roll my eyes as Jackie went on, I was truly thankful that Fiona couldn’t hear the flamboyant ghost dissing Leo.
Rick was listening to her in silence, without the slightest twitch of his eyebrows.
“Look, Fiona….” When I opened my mouth, Rick put his hand on my shoulder. As I looked at him, he mouthed, “No,” with a subtle shake of his head. Obviously, he still opposed to informing Fiona about what we witnessed in the garage.
“At first, I thought he was in the bathroom, but he wasn’t there when I checked. As my head cleared, I realized he wasn’t there when I went to bed.” Fiona let out a sigh. “He often stays up late in the night in his den, working with his projects and so on, so I didn’t think it so odd. Then again, even considering his habit, it was too late. So I went to his den, but he wasn’t there either.”
“I see. I understand your situation.” Rick nodded. “Why don’t we revisit the storehouse? Perhaps your granny can tell you and Mandy more about the danger she’s been trying to warn you about.”
“Are you sure?” Fiona asked. “I thought asking Nana more about her prediction was a good idea, but I wasn’t sure if visiting the storehouse on my own at this hour would be a smart move. Also, the fog is still as dense as Styrofoam.”
“You did the right thing, I guess,” Rick commented. “I heard everything about your granny’s warning to you. You’d be way safer to move in a group instead of going solo.”
“He’s so right,” Jackie said.
“Okay. Let’s go,” I said, getting out of the bed.
“You know, I’ve been hovering in front of Fiona’s bedroom, keeping an eye on her, but so far, no one came near it,” Jackie informed me. “Also, I didn’t see Leo.”
I thanked Jackie for the information and relayed her words to Fiona and Rick.
“Where’s Brian’s room?” he asked Fiona.
“He’s on this floor,” Fiona replied. “But I don’t think he’s awake. I didn’t see lights coming out of his room when I came by.”
“No problem,” Rick reassured her. “He’s an exorcist, that’s why we brought him in. Unlike many of these frauds posing as psychics and doing TV shows, he can be pretty useful. Let’s go.”
“Okay.” Fiona nodded. “This way to his room.”
After waking Brian, who didn’t have as much difficulty as I did getting up, we walked down the stairs to the ground floor, intending to be as quiet and discreet as possible.
When we were just a few steps from the ground floor, small lights like those of a flashlight flickered and faded.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” Rick demanded, illuminating the direction where the lights came from. In one hand, he was carrying a flashlight, but his other hand was reaching for his hip holster storing a gun.
“Sorry… um… don’t shoot us, please?” a woman’s voice said timidly. “Hi.” Carrie waved at us, squinting from the flashlight directed at her face. Standing by her side were Lauren and another girl from the tour.
“Carrie, Lauren, Stephanie, what are you guys doing here?” Brian questioned them.
“You know, we were so excited and couldn’t sleep,” Stephanie said.
“And then Carrie said perhaps your granny might be having a party with other ghosts in the neighborhood,” Lauren chimed in.
“So we were like ‘Why don’t we ask Fiona permission to have a little nighttime excursion to the storehouse?’” Carrie batted her eyelashes.
Brian groaned. “Next time, don’t sneak around the tour destination. Otherwise, I’ll blacklist you and ban you from participating in any of my tours,” he said through gritted teeth.
“I’m so sorry, Brian. We didn’t mean to scare you,” Lauren apologized.
“Besides, you’re damn lucky that he didn’t shoot you,” Brian went on, pointing at Rick. “He’s a former FBI agent and has a license to carry a concealed weapon in every state. You could have been shot.”
“Hey, that’s a stretch, Brian.” Rick snorted. “Okay, so when I sensed you guys lurking in the darkness, I was a little tempted to shoot. Then I remembered I’m just a visitor here, and Fiona wouldn’t like having bullet holes in her walls.”
“I’m glad you didn’t shoot them,” Fiona and I said in unison.
“Me, too,” the three women mumbled one by one.
“By the way, what are you guys doing here at this hour?” Lauren asked. “Not that I’m being nosy and intrusive, but I just couldn’t help noticing.”
Brian and Rick exchanged glances. A moment later, Rick cleared his throat. “Actually, we’re going to the storehouse to say hi to Beverly,” he said. “Fiona here had a weird dream starring Beverly, so we’re going to visit her and ask the meaning of the dream.”
“What—” I opened my mouth, but he silenced me with his look. I didn’t know if it was a good idea to tell the almost truth to the three women. Apparently they had too much appetite for supernatural existence, and more than likely they’d want to come with us once he mentioned Beverly.
“Beverly?” Carrie asked excitedly.
“Do you mind if we tag along with you?” Stephanie asked sheepishly.
“I know it’s not an appropriate time to ask for a favor. Then again, since you guys are already headed for the storehouse…,” Lauren went on.
Brian looked at Fiona, who said, “Actually, there’s something I’d like to discuss with Nana privately—I mean, with the help of Brian here. Still, if you excuse us while I chat with Nana, you ladies are very welcome to come with us and say hi to her.”
“Are you sure?” Carrie’s face literally lit up—mostly because she was holding the flashlight under her chin, illuminating her face as if she only existed in the form of the face.
“Yes.” Fiona nodded.
Brian didn’t look very happy, and Rick didn’t show much emotion.
I pulled Rick’s arm and whispered in his ear. “Hey, don’t you have to stop them from joining us?”
“Why?” he whispered back.
“They might obstruct our interview with Beverly.”
“Hmm… you have a point. Then again, moving as a larger group makes it difficult to target Fiona. It’s not like our potential killer is scheming a mass murder or anything. Also, it may help that they’re women—some of them share Fiona’s build.”
“Okay, so other members can be used as a distraction.”
“Right.”
While we were discussing this quietly, Brian crossed his arms and glared at the three clients. “You guys need to follow every instruction of ours. Is that clear?”
“All clear, sir!” they said in unison, saluting to Brian.
“Perhaps you may want to invite other
guests as well,” Rick said, indicating the doors lined up across the long corridor. Many of them were ajar with lights spilling out to the formerly dark corridor. Some were completely open.
Brian took a deep breath. “All right. Anyone care to join the midnight tour?”
“More the merrier, perhaps?” Jackie commented, floating by my side.
CHAPTER 8
As it turned out, more than half of the Club Paranormal Tourism guests joined the impromptu midnight tour to the storehouse. And, of course, the camera crew following Brian’s tour tagged along with us, with the lights and everything.
As we went out of the main building to the passageway in the garden, the guests behaved like a group of excited school kids on a field day.
“It’s so cool… almost cold out here….”
“Right. And look at the fog. It’s still so dense….”
The team of ghost-craving guests were chatting nonstop, but at least they had the decency to lower their voices.
Despite the fog obscuring everything around us, we didn’t get stranded on our way to the storehouse thanks to the TV crew lighting our way.
“Okay, so I’m going to unlock the door,” Fiona announced under the lamp attached to the building’s façade.
When she took out the large brass key to the storehouse from her pants pocket, Jackie gasped. “Look, Mandy, someone is coming toward us from that direction.”
“Look, Fiona. It looks like we have a company.” As I said it, the sound of footsteps stomping on the pebble stones echoed in the fog.
“Who’s there?” Rick demanded. The footsteps were heavy, but it was impossible to tell who was coming.
“Who’s there?” I whispered to Jackie, who was squinting in the fog.
“Oh my God, it’s the jilting hubby!” Jackie gasped, prompting me to look around. At the same time, I sniffed. Something smelled like blood.
Before I could say anything, the voice responded. “Um… it’s me… Leo.”
“Leo? Where are you?” Fiona stepped toward the voice.
Lights were directed toward the footsteps. In the creamy fog, the first thing that jumped in my sight was what appeared to be Leo’s hand.
Fiona grasped it, saying, “Where have you been? I was looking for you.”
As she brought him under the lights, she exclaimed, almost shrieking, “Oh my God! Honey, what happened?”
Leo collapsed on the spot. He was shaking nonstop, his hands covered in blood.
“Leo, what’s this blood on your hands?” Rick asked, looking down at the guy.
“N-no… it’s not mine,” Leo mumbled, stuttering. “I… I… I was… just sl-sleeping, and… this lunatic barged in, and then he… Vina….” As his eyes settled on Fiona, he clammed up.
“I don’t trust this guy,” Jackie commented. “He’s a cheater, and you can’t trust a cheater.”
“You were sleeping in the car in the garage, right?” Rick clarified, prompting Leo to nod many times. It seemed like he just couldn’t stop nodding.
“Car? What were you doing in the car, Leo?” Fiona pressed on.
“Look, Fiona.” Rick turned to her. “I want you to stay here and let the guests inside the storehouse, okay?”
“Um… yes.” She nodded.
“Good.” Rick turned to us. “Mandy, Brian, let’s go.”
I looked at Leo with suspicion, as he could have been a murderer, but he seemed really shaken, and the amount of blood on him didn’t seem enough for someone who’d actually murdered someone.
“Fiona, take care,” I said. “In case of danger, you’ve got to whack your assailant with something in the storehouse, or your mug light, okay?”
“Okay.” She nodded, hardening her grip on the flashlight.
There was no sign that the fog was clearing as we ambled toward the garage. The camera guy and lights guy tagged along with us, but Rick didn’t complain. Perhaps because we could use the light, and having a videographer might turn out to be handy considering we were heading for an obvious crime scene.
“Watch your step. The surface is a tad bit uneven, and you don’t want to stumble and fall.” Jackie navigated our way with Brian relaying her words to the group.
With each step toward the garage, the smell of blood grew more intense—or rather, it might have been the residue of the attacker’s intent to kill.
Under normal circumstances, we should have reached the garage in less than a minute, but with the fog, we moved as slowly as a group of snails.
When we came to the garage, its door was open and we could make out the outline of the parked black SUV. One of its doors was open, and I could see a tanned arm dangling out of it.
“Hello? Vina? Are you all right?” Rick called, approaching the car. But the woman didn’t react, much less respond to him.
Putting on a pair of latex gloves that he always carried even after leaving the feds, Rick approached the woman who had been using the alias Susan White. The rest of her body was still trapped in the vehicle.
“Oh my God, she doesn’t look very well,” Jackie gasped, covering her eyes with both hands. “How dreadful! I’ve never seen so much blood. Actually, it’s worse than the time when I died.”
I rolled my eyes. After all, Jackie was a ghost, and it wasn’t like she could get any deader.
“Ooh… I think she’s dead,” Jackie said a moment later. She was peeking between her fingers to look at Vina. Obviously, her curiosity won over her fear of looking at blood.
Vina was bloody, perhaps more so than Leo. Most of it seemed to come from her head. She had a huge gash on her forehead, but the blood had ceased oozing out of it. Blood had spattered over the SUV’s doors and windows.
“Um… is it okay if we keep shooting everything?” one of the camera guys said, gagging.
“It’s okay. Make sure you record everything. That’ll come in handy when we talk to the police,” Rick replied. “Hey, but don’t puke here. We’re at a crime scene, and puking all over and contaminating the place qualifies as a serious offense. Is that clear?”
“All clear. Hey, Cameron, if you’re pukey, make sure you suck it up,” Brian interjected. Then he glanced at Rick and the body he was examining. “Is she dead?”
“Of course. Dead as a doorknob.” Rick shrugged, taking his phone out of his pants pocket and tapping the screen. “Gotta call the police.”
“Oh crap,” Brian muttered, looking slightly greener than his usual self. “Rowling, is there any way I can be of help?”
“From the look of the crime scene, and considering we have Leo as a witness, I don’t think hunting down the ghost of Vina is that crucial for this case.” Rick tilted his head, glancing at the exorcist. “Relax. Don’t puke and don’t touch anything.”
“Of course. I’m not an amateur,” Brian boasted, but his voice was trembling a little.
Rick chuckled, but then he raised his index finger, silencing the exorcist. “Hello. Yes, I’m reporting a homicide.”
Then I caught Fiona exclaiming, “Oh my God, is she—”
“Fiona!” I turned back to face her. “What are you doing here?”
“Who is she?” she muttered, without answering my question.
“Her name is Vina,” I replied.
“Was,” Brian corrected me. “She’s dead.”
“Oh my….” Fiona took a sharp intake of breath. Then she slowly exhaled, looking around the place. “So, Leo was with her, and she was wearing nothing but Agent Provocateur lingerie?”
“I’m sorry it happened.” I hugged Fiona. “But look at the bright side. She may be wearing sexy lingerie, but she’s a mess, seriously. Look at how her head is covered in blood. She looks like she was hiding in our human community despite being an alien from Planet Ketchup.”
Okay, so I was officially babbling, but I wanted to show my support to my BFF.
“Thank you so much, Mandy.” Fiona hugged me back. “At least she’s dead and I’m alive. Oh, add that she’ll be cut open in the morgue, spew
ing more of her ketchup, whereas I’m likely to keep my ketchup where it belongs for a while longer.”
Rick and Brian exchanged glances, but they were smart enough to keep their mouths shut about our conversation.
After Fiona and I were done hugging, she let out a deep sigh. “I knew he had been laid off, but I had no idea about him having an affair with that woman.”
As she shot daggers at the dead body with her gaze, I said, “Oh, so Leo told you about getting laid off?”
“Not really, but I knew.” She flashed a small smile. “He’s been acting weird for the past few months, so I called the consulting firm he was supposed to be working for. Anyway, I was aware of his situation, which was one of my reasons to seriously think about opening a bed and breakfast utilizing my family manor. But I had no idea about his affair, and I’d never expected he had the nerve to murder his mistress.”
Rick, who had just finished his conversation with the 911 operator, cleared his throat. “I don’t think he killed Vina. It looks more like he ran the hell out of here while Vina was being murdered, totally abandoning her. That scenario gives it a better explanation.”
“Abandoning… me? What are you talking about?” said a female voice, which wasn’t Fiona’s or mine.
“Fiona, did you just say anything?” I asked her, just in case.
“No. I didn’t say anything,” she said, shaking her head. Then she gasped. “Ah!”
“Fiona?” I called her name as she froze on the spot, but she didn’t respond.
Her neck was bent and it seemed like she couldn’t move it, and her face was turning red.
Suddenly, I saw bony hands wrapped around Fiona’s neck.
“Hey, you! Stop that!” Jackie flew over Fiona and bitch-slapped the assailant attempting to kill my friend. Even though having physical contact was usually impossible between living humans and ghosts, when Jackie smacked Fiona’s assailant, I heard the slap.
“Stop that, Vina!” I shrieked. “Let her go!”
I scurried to Fiona and tried to brush off Vina’s ghostly hands, but my fingers went through them.
“What the—” Rick turned back to find me wrestling an invisible enemy away from Fiona.
