The Loveliest Dead

by Ray Garton

  Lily opened her eyes. Claudia was sitting on the edge of the bed. Lily’s headache had receded, but a dull, faint throb remained. The nausea had passed. She sat up on the edge of the bed, stretched her arms and yawned.

  “Boy, did I sleep,” Lily said.

  “No call yet?”

  “No. I think the phone would’ve woke me.” Claudia took the cell phone off the bedstand and checked. “Yes, someone called from the Eureka Police

  Department.”

  “They did? Damn. I slept through it.”

  “You needed the sleep. I’ll call the number.”

  Claudia made the call and handed Lily the cell phone. After four rings, a recorded voice answered and began to recite a menu of options. “Voice mail,” Lily said as she took the phone away from her ear and held it in front of her, frowned at it. “I don’t feel like dealing with voice mail. How do you hang this thing up?” she asked.

  “Press the End button.”

  Lily pressed the button and handed the phone back to Claudia. “We should try the Kellars again. Do you have their number?”

  Claudia flipped the cell phone open again, pushed a couple buttons, and handed it over. “I’ve already programmed it into the phone.”

  Lily smiled as she took the phone. “You’re terribly efficient.”

  “Hello?” It was Jenna Kellar.

  “Mrs. Kellar, I’m glad you answered. It’s Lily Rourke.”

  “Oh, yes,” Jenna said. “Look, I appreciate your concern, but we have a couple investigators here right now. I don’t think we’ll need—”

  “Mrs. Kellar, the Binghams aren’t going to help you. If anything, they’re only going to make your situation worse. I’ve been having very strong visions about this, Mrs. Kellar. Something bad is going to happen if they—”

  “What have you got against them?” Jenna said.

  “I don’t know them, but I know of them. I know what they do, how they work, and the problem you have is not—”

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t talk right now. My husband could come in here any second. I barely got him to agree to the Binghams, and he wouldn’t be very happy if he knew I was talking to you.”

  “Wait, it’s extremely important that we talk. Your son is in danger.”

  There was a lengthy silence over the line.

  Lily said, “I saw what happened in your house last night. I saw your husband attack your son. I think the thing that made him do it—”

  “How do you know that?” Jenna said, her voice breathy with surprise.

  “I told you, I’m psychic, and I’ve been having visions about your family.”

  Jenna sighed. “What do you want from me?”

  “I want nothing from you but a little of your time. I think I can help you.”

  “My husband is coming, I have to go.”

  “I’m staying at the Motel 6 in—”

  The call ended with a click. Lily pressed the End button, flipped the phone closed, and dropped it onto the bed. “These people are impossible.”

  They went to a small diner for a late lunch. Claudia had a corned beef sandwich and Lily a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Halfway through the meal, Claudia’s cell phone chirped. She took it from her purse, flipped it open, and looked at the display above the keypad. She handed the phone across the table to Lily and said, “It’s the police department. Just press the Send button.”

  Lily said, “Hello.”

  “Hello, this is Merry Peebles at the Eureka Police Department. Could I speak to Lily Rourke, please?” Merry Peebles sounded like a teenager.

  “This is she.”

  “Chief Winningham would like to see you right away. He’s on his way back to the station now.”

  “When do you expect him?”

  “Any minute.”

  “Okay. We’ll be right there.” Lily ended the call and handed the phone back to Claudia, saying, “It looks like we’re finished with our lunch.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Saturday, 3:32 P.M.

  Chief Winningham was seated at his desk in his squeaky chair, smiling, when Lily and Claudia entered his office. He stood and said, “Miss Rourke, Miss— I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten your name.”

  “Claudia McNeil, but I’m just Claudia.”

  “And I’m just Lily.”

  “Well, Just Claudia and Just Lily, why don’t you just sit down. Coffee?”

  They declined as they sat in the chairs that faced the desk.

  Winningham sat down and wheeled the chair up to the desk. He tapped an open folder that held several sheets of paper. “Those two names you gave me— they’re both missing. But they’re not from around here. Billy Enders, ten years old, disappeared from Crescent City on March 11, 1997, and Jonah Wishman, eight, from Ashland, Oregon, on July 21, 1996. Both are still missing.”

  Lily nodded. “I suspected as much.”

  “Now, Lily, if you know something about the whereabouts of these boys, you have to tell me.”

  “I don’t. Not yet.”

  “Are they related? Can you tell me anything?”

  “Nothing I’m certain of yet. And frankly, Chief, I’m not sure you’ll want to hear it.”

  Winningham’s smile disappeared altogether and his back stiffened slightly. “It’s got something to do with Lenny Baines, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes, it does.”

  “Look, Lily, I said I knew the guy, I didn’t say I dated him. If you’ve got something to tell me about Leonard Baines, you have to tell me.”

  Lily said, “Like I said, I’m not certain of anything yet. I’m still piecing things together. I need to talk to the Kellars—Lenny’s daughter and her husband—but Mr. Kellar has made it very clear I’m not welcome. Until I can talk to them and get into that house, I’m still kind of in the dark, so I’m hesitant to tell you anything.”

  Winningham smiled again and sat forward in his chair, folded his arms on the desk. “I’ve got this fishing buddy. He’s retired now, but he was on the force in Redding when you identified the knife being used by that stabber back in—what, ‘seventy-eight? He loves telling that story. I’ve heard some others about you, too.”

  “All true, I hope.”

  “Far as I’ve been able to tell. Nobody knows a damned thing about you, but you’ve got a reputation, and it’s a good one. If you’ve got information that might lead to the remains of those boys, I want to hear it, even if there’s a few holes in it.”

  A vague, dull ache was all that remained of Lily’s once-throbbing headache, but it was enough to irritate her. She rubbed a temple as she said, “I have reason to believe that those two boys were abducted, tortured, and murdered by Leonard Baines. I don’t know how or where he disposed of them. But I know they weren’t the only ones.”

  “How many others?” Winningham asked.

  “I don’t know. But I’ve got a bad feeling there was a lot of them.”

  “Damn,” he said with a sigh as he leaned back in the chair, rubbed the back of his neck with a beefy hand. “I don’t suppose you have the names of any other missing boys, do you?”

  “No.”

  Winningham’s bushy eyebrows crept up his forehead. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  Lily was about to tell the chief she’d let him know if she came up with anything, but the electric-blue flashing made her eyes flutter as she inhaled the smell of bananas. She got up and went to the small couch against the wall to her right. She sat in the center of it, then lay down on her left side and said to Claudia, “Another one’s coming.” She saw Claudia’s mouth move but did not hear what she said. Darkness rolled over Lily and engulfed her. Darkness and silence.

  Lily regained consciousness but did not open her eyes. Through the pounding of her head, she listened to Claudia and Winningham.

  “Can I borrow your garbage can?” Claudia said. “She might vomit when she comes around.”

  “Sure,” Winningham said.

  Lily felt nauseated. She’d eaten nothing bu
t a little soup for lunch, but it was threatening to return.

  “How long is she usually out?” Winningham asked. He sounded unnerved.

  “It varies. Sometimes just a couple minutes, sometimes several.”

  Lily realized there were tears in her eyes, and her throat felt hot and constricted. Her eyes seemed to press against her closed lids with each throb of her head. She sniffled and whispered, “I’m going to need some water. And some tissue.” She slowly sat up on the couch but did not open her eyes.

  “Be right back,” Winningham said as he left the office.

  “You’re crying,” Claudia said.

  “It was awful. Awful.”

  “What was awful?”

  Lily dabbed at her eyes with a knuckle, then folded her arms across her upset stomach and leaned forward as much as her girth allowed. A brown plastic wastecan lined with a white garbage bag stood in front of her legs.

  To Claudia, Lily said, “Could you please get a couple pills from my purse?”

  Winningham returned with a Styrofoam cup of water in one hand and a box of Kleenex in the other. Lily put the tissues on the couch beside her and drank down two pills with some water. She handed the cup to Claudia, who put it on Winningham’s desk. Lily took a couple tissues from the box and noisily blew her nose. She tossed the tissue into the wastecan and said, “Write down these names.”

  Winningham hurried around his desk and picked up a pen as he dropped into the squeaky chair.

  Lily said, “Kenan Miller, Eric Noone, and Martin Pryor. Marty,” she whispered. “Everybody called him Marty.”

  As she spoke their names, Lily saw their faces as she had seen them in the vision, filled with terror and pain. When she started sobbing, she sounded, at first, like she was laughing. Crying made her head feel worse, which only made her cry harder. She buried her face in her hands as Claudia put an arm around her.

  “They suffered so,” Lily said once the wracking sobs diminished. “Those poor little boys suffered terribly.” She looked up at Winningham. “And you were there. I saw you in my vision—he had children locked in his house while you and other cops were outside with more children. I’m not positive, but I’ve got the feeling it was those three boys I named—they were in the house while you were there. He ... he enjoyed that, it excited him, having you there while he had tortured and starving little boys inside his house.” One half of Lily’s upper lip curled back. “He got off on it.”

  Winningham left the chair, came around the desk, and perched a hip on its front edge. He rubbed the back of his neck as he cocked his head.

  Lily said, “Something I’ve said bothers you, Chief Winningham. What is it?”

  He dropped off the desk and stood up straight before her. “Are you talking about... well...” He chuckled. “Ghosts?”

  “I honestly don’t know, Chief. I think there may be some remnant of Leonard Baines in that house, and possibly the remnants of some of his victims. Some lingering presence, or energy. I suppose you could call them ghosts, if you want. I don’t like the word myself, because, for one thing, I’m not sure what the hell this is yet so I don’t know if it applies, and for another, the word ‘ghost’ comes with too much baggage for it to be of any use to me.”

  Winningham nodded. “It’s useless to me, too, I’m afraid, because ‘ghost’ doesn’t look good in a police report. It doesn’t hold up too well in court, either. So, if you have any information that could lead to the whereabouts or remains of any of those boys, I want to hear about it right away. But when it comes to ghosts, or spirits, or whatever you want to call them, I’d rather you just leave me out of it, okay?”

  Lily said, “Oh. I see.” She stood, took a deep, steadying breath. “I’m sorry if my work offends you, Chief. But this is not something I’m doing out of the goodness of my heart, you know. I’m doing this because if I don’t it will drive me insane. I’m doing it because I have to. If I didn’t have to, I wouldn’t be wasting any of your time.”

  Winningham held up both hands, palms out. “I’m sorry, Lily, I didn’t mean to imply that you were wasting my time. But for professional reasons, I’d rather not show up in an article with lurid headlines in the Global Inquisitor. That’s all.”

  Lily slowly paced the length of the office with a forearm across her belly. “You probably can’t wait to tell all your buddies about your experience with the weird and mysterious psychic, but suddenly you’re worried about becoming a laughingstock. It’s that story in the newspaper, isn’t it?” Lily said as she turned and looked at him. She nodded her head a couple times. “Yes, the one about the trucker who claimed to have been beaten up by a ghost in the Kellars’s house. Ever since that story went national and you started getting calls from the tabloids, you’ve been wetting your pants because you’re afraid of being made a fool of in the media.”

  Winningham’s chin dropped as his eyebrows rose, and he stared openmouthed at her for a moment. He closed his mouth, shifted his weight from foot to foot, and looked like he was about to say something, but he did not.

  “Come on, Claudia, let’s go,” Lily said.

  As Claudia stood and picked up her bag, Winning-ham said, “Wait, I’m sorry, Lily, I didn’t mean to offend you. I don’t want you to go away angry.”

  “Don’t worry, Chief,” Lily said as she opened the door. “I’m angry, but not at you. I’m angry at Leonard Baines, but there’s not a damned thing I can do about it.” She turned and went out the door and down the corridor.

  To Winningham, Claudia said, “Please call us once you’ve got any information on those boys. Thank you for your help.”

  “Come on, Claudia,” Lily said in the corridor. “I need some chocolate.”

  In the Beetle, Claudia started the engine. “Did you read his mind?”

  Lily released a single humorless laugh. “Are you kidding? I didn’t have to. He was broadcasting that like CNN with breaking news.”

  “Where do you want to go next?”

  “We’re going to have to go see the Kellars again. But first... is there a Marie Calendar’s in this town?”

  They found one on Broadway in Eureka, and after Lily had squeezed into a booth, she ordered a slice of Chocolate Satin Pie before the waitress could ask what they wanted. Claudia ordered coffee.

  “Looks like your stomach is feeling better,” Claudia said.

  “I need some chocolate. I suppose you think I was terribly rude to Chief Winningham back there.”

  Claudia shook her head. “I think you were upset.”

  “I was. I still am. Why do you think I need some chocolate? If I were an alcoholic, we’d be sitting at a bar right now and I’d be knocking back vodka.” Lily put her elbows on the tabletop and rested her face in her hands for a moment.

  “Are you feeling any better?” Claudia asked. “How’s your head?”

  Lily sat up straight. “My head feels like a heavy-metal drum solo. My stomach’s queasy, but right now my need for chocolate outweighs my desire not to throw up.” She rubbed a temple with her fingertips. “I’ve got to work this out, because I don’t know how much longer I can take these visions.”

  “I imagine they’re exhausting, and they’re making you sick,” Claudia said.

  “No, it’s not that. Yeah, they make me sick, but I’ve been through it before, I can take that. No, it’s the visions themselves. They’re horrible.” A moist lump grew in her throat, and Lily took a deep breath and pulled herself together, then began to shed tears.

  The waitress came with their orders. Lily took a generous bite of her pie, then sat back and closed her eyes. “Mmm, feel those endorphins,” she whispered. After several seconds, she licked her lips and said, “I’m not looking forward to dropping in on the Kellars again. I think we should ask Kimberly to go with us—she might be able to help us get a foot in the door. Why don’t you give her a call.”

  “Kimberly said the Binghams were coming today,” Claudia said. “If we deal with the Kellars, we’re going to have to deal wit
h them, too.”

  “I’m not worried about the Binghams. I’m worried about Miles Kellar. Whatever’s left of Leonard Baines in that house wants that boy. It wants him bad.”

  Jenna entered the kitchen and joined Martha at the breakfast nook. Martha was reading a book, but set it aside when Jenna slid onto the bench across from her.

  “Mavis called Father Malcolm in San Francisco,” Jenna said. “He’ll be here this evening.”

  “You look tired,” Martha said. “I just made some fresh coffee. You want some?”

  “If I drink any more coffee, my head will explode,” Jenna said. “I haven’t really done anything, but I feel like I’ve been busy running around all day.”

  “Well, you didn’t get much sleep last night, and you’re not used to all this fuss, that’s all, honey.”

  Arty had gone back to the hotel to get some equipment and their two students, Shannon and Willy. Mavis had stayed behind and talked with Jenna and David and Martha as Miles napped on the floor in front of the television. After nodding off a couple times in the recliner, David had excused himself and gone upstairs for a nap.

  “While it’s just us girls,” Mavis had said, “I’d like to talk with you both about my husband, Arty. Even at his advanced age, he’s as hyper as a teenage boy. He’s very enthusiastic about our work, sometimes to a fault. Don’t be surprised if he snaps at you or raises his voice. It doesn’t mean he’s angry, it’s just that he’s very excitable.”

  Jenna had smiled and said quietly, “I hope you won’t be offended by anything my husband might say. Neither of us has ever been the least bit religious, so this may be a little uncomfortable for us. I think he’s going to go ahead with whatever you want to do, but he’s not going to enjoy it, so he might make a hostile remark or two.”

  “In that case, I’ll try to keep my Arty on a leash,” Mavis had said, smiling. She’d explained that it was important for everyone to stick together at all times once the house was blessed. “After that,” she’d said, “the demonic entities in the house will be very angry, and they’ll be frantic to make trouble. It will no longer be safe to be alone anywhere in the house.”