The Taw Ridge Haunting

by Austin, Robin G.

“I needed my daily dose of mold spores.” I laugh. He doesn’t.

  “Ms. Boshears just called. She wants me to lock the doors and go home. You’re the only guest in the hotel. She told me to let you know. We had six rooms filled tonight, but everyone checked out after the cops came.” He still sounds panicky. “Maybe you should stay somewhere else too. There’s a motel on the highway. I could call for you if you want.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m fine here. Get some rest. You look… tired. Did Ms. Boshears say how long she plans on keeping the place closed?” As soon as I ask, I realize I could have a voice message telling me to go home.

  “She didn’t say.” Now he sounds sad.

  “Okay, if I don’t see you again, take care.”

  “You too. The front door will be locked, but there’s an emergency button on the side and you can use the back entrance too. I’m sure there won’t be any emergencies, but—

  “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.” I start to walk away and stop. “There’s a door at the top of the stair in the supply room. Where does it open to?”

  “The one at the back of the hotel?” I nod. “It opens into the kitchen.”

  “Okay. Goodnight, Alex.”

  I take the elevator to the thirteenth floor. An empty hotel all to myself except for maybe a street person, a spirit in the basement, and three on the thirteenth floor. I only doubt the latter but tonight, I’m determined to confirm that the ladies aren’t here, if only for Kyle’s and Carol’s sake.

  Once I’m in my room, I put Rita in her box. “I’m doing a private séance tonight, and you’re not invited. You should have thought about that before you took off. I doubt anyone in their right mind would kidnap you, but that’s only my common sense explanation. If someone did, I hope they’re still alive.” I swear her stitched mouth twitches.

  Before I set up for my séance, I check my phone. Boshears didn’t call me. Levi left a message to tell me that the cameras still haven’t picked up any signs of mischief.

  I unlock the doors to rooms 1303 and 1306, drag the table out of my room and into the hall, and set up my Ouija board. Mojo’s excited.

  In each of the three rooms, I spray sage essential oil for protection. Then I sit on the bed, pray to the Great Spirit, and tell each of the women why I’m here and what I’ll be doing in trying to contact them.

  I don’t feel a single chill or see a single shadow out of the corner of my eye. There’s no change in the lemon scent in the rooms, and I don’t sense a shift in the vibrational frequency. When I open my eyes, Mojo is sitting in front of me. “Ready?” I ask. He goes to lie next to the table. I stop at the alcove and look out the window. The lights from the fountain sparkle, but that’s all that’s happening down there.

  I place Agustina’s blue calcite and an eagle feather on the table, run my fingers through a bowl of rock salt, and say a prayer to the spirit gods. Then I pick up the pendulum and hold it over the board.

  “I call upon the spirits of Janet Onah, Diana Chasse, and Kay Lynch. If your spirit is here, know that I’ve come to listen to your truth and help you crossover. I ask that you make your presence known to me now.”

  I will myself to fall deeper and deeper as I cross the veil between the living and the dead. The pendulum gets lighter, but it doesn’t move. One at a time, I ask each of the women to speak to me, to tell me of their terror that night, their fear, their pain, their rage, the reason they need to stay.

  I feel like I’m floating peacefully on a liquid cloud. Mojo is making puppy noises in his sleep. The ladies aren’t here. I whisper their names and pray to the gods to let them speak to me. The subtle click of the air conditioner causes me to jump, and I snap out of my trance.

  They really aren’t here. I’m sure of that now. I’m also sure that Tollison is the spirit that is haunting the place. Either he can’t bear to leave his hotel, or he has another reason to stay. There’s only one way to find out, and that way is in the basement. As much as I feel this job is already over, I can’t leave my work undone and Tollison behind.

  I lock the other two rooms and take my things back to my own. I’m getting ready to go downstairs when I hear the soft ding of the elevator. Mojo’s waiting in the hallway. The elevator door opens. He isn’t standing in ghost pose and he isn’t growling either.

  I’m standing in the doorway, waiting to greet my visitor in the empty hotel, when the lights go out.

  Chapter Thirty Three

  §

  I call Mojo and lock the door behind us. He still isn’t growling, but I think he should be since I don’t think a spirit turned the lights out. Based upon my past experience here, I’m not so sure about the activity with the elevator.

  It’s too dark to see a thing from the peep hole. I check out the window and see that the fountain lights are out too. I go back to the door and listen for sounds. My fierce wolfdog is spread out on the bed. I don’t hear a thing through the door so I get online to see if I can find anything about a power outage.

  If anything happened in town, it hasn’t hit the news feeds yet. Calling Boshears is about the last thing I want to do. That and bring the police back to keep me up half the night or force me to go elsewhere.

  Now what? A power serge could have tripped the elevators and neither the living or the dead was in the car that came up. Honestly, I have no idea if a power serge can trip anything. Could be the lights are out because Boshears didn’t pay the electric bill.

  Whatever is going on, I don’t appear to be in any danger and it’s almost midnight. After I check the news feeds again, I turn off my laptop. Then I get ready for bed and stand at the peep hole and look at nothing for another ten minutes before giving up. I’d open the door and maybe even go out and look around, if it was anything but as black as coal out there. Tollison and whatever else is going on in the hotel will have to wait until morning.

  ∞

  Pounding on my door wakes me. Sunshine is blasting through the window. For some reason, it feels like it’s the afternoon. So much for my plan of getting up early to go to the basement.

  “Hold on,” I yell.

  Mojo’s at the door looking back at me. I figure it’s the housekeeper who wasn’t notified about the closure. I check the peep hole. I’m wrong. I crack the door and look out. Boshears looks like she ate a snail.

  “I’m sorry to disturb you. I thought you would be up by now.”

  “I wasn’t. What time is it?”

  “Nine thirty-seven.”

  “Exactly?”

  “What?”

  “What can I do for you, Ms. Boshears?”

  “Can I come in?”

  “No.”

  She actually stomps her foot then she shakes her shoulders. I’m almost awake and not happy about it.

  “Fine. Would you please come to my office as soon as possible. We need to discuss current matters.”

  “I’ll be down once I’m dressed and ready. Is the electricity back on?”

  “Back on? When was it off?”

  “I’ll be down as soon as I’m ready.” I shut the door before she can answer.

  Close to an hour later, I wave to the desk clerk and walk to Boshears’ office. Her door is open. Through clinched teeth, she tells me to come in while staring at my paper Starbucks’ cup. I let her stare. I don’t do mornings without coffee, and I’m not impressed with the woman. She totally bailed on her employee last night and on her responsibilities here. She also looks like she was up all night partying. I doubt she was.

  “What now?” I ask.

  She shuffles things on her desk before lacing her fingers and sitting up straight. “This was– obviously was, another setback. However, I’m proceeding as planned.”

  I nearly drop my coffee cup. “Are you serious?” I didn’t mean to say it so loud. I take a long sip of my coffee.

  “Very serious, Ms. Raven. You were right. I guess that makes you happy.”

  “Which part should I be happy about?”

  “You mentioned somethin
g or other about Aubrey’s behavioral changes and I ignored you. If I’d listened, that girl might not have been injured. Of course, she wouldn’t be suing me either. So it would have been a win-win for both of us.”

  Was that Boshears’ pathetic attempt at humor? I’m not sure, and I’m almost out of coffee. “How is Nicole?”

  “Well enough to retain an attorney.”

  “Well, that’s good news.”

  Boshears almost chuckles. “It is.” She slumps. “I’m not a monster. I feel awful about what happened to the girl. I had no choice but to hire Aubrey. I won’t go into any of that. Please don’t ask. Not that it matters since it will be all over the news soon enough, if it isn’t already.” Boshears is rambling and she’s gone back to shuffling things on her desk.

  “So why proceed? A young woman was almost murdered in the lobby, and apparently by your assistant. Things like that don’t usually go over well at celebrations. Why not postpone the reopening for a couple of weeks?” I might be a little self-motivated on the subject. I’m not really up for smiling to the cameras anymore.

  “I can’t. As I said before, there are no cancellations, no refunds. I expect the press to show up in droves and my banker, of course. No doubt the public will stagger in throughout the day to eat the chips and dips and gawk at the blood stains.”

  “Well, I do have some good news for you.” Boshears cringes. “I attempted to contact the three women in a séance last night.”

  “Good Lord.” She slams her hand on her chest.

  I ignore her fright or maybe indignation or both. “And I can and will certify that their spirits are not on the thirteenth floor or anywhere else in this building.”

  “So you’ll sign the certificate. That is good news.”

  “I will, but only as far as the women are concerned.” I hesitate in filling her in on the details about Tollison. I’m not sure Boshears can take much more. Still, his cause of death is convincing evidence, to me anyway, that he hasn’t left his beloved hotel.

  “Oh, please. Don’t even suggest that there are other ghosts in the hotel. How long do you want to drag this out?” Boshears does air quotes around ghosts.

  “Not a second longer. Shall I leave?”

  She clinches her jaw and rubs her forehead. “No, you shall not.”

  I chuckle. “I learned something about your uncle the other day. Something that if you knew, I wished you had told me.”

  “I know nothing about the man. Just tell me what you learned.”

  “Fine. If no one did, someone should have told you that two years ago your uncle went to the hotel’s basement, sat on the bottom step, and put a bullet in his head.”

  “Who told you that?” Boshears looks ready to leap over her desk. I don’t have a clue why she’s so upset. Maybe I was too blunt.

  “Detective Radford. When I met with him, he said he found a file with information about your uncle’s death.”

  “What kind of file? The attorney told me he died of heart disease. And last year, not two years ago. I believe this detective you talked to made a mistake.”

  “I didn’t see the file, but I doubt Detective Radford made a mistake. I’ve already told you I’ve experienced some things here that appear to be supernatural. Last night when the hotel was empty and locked, someone took the elevator to the thirteenth floor. Before I saw who it was, the lights went out.”

  I tell her about my trip to the basement last night and the voice as well as the unlocked window. I skip the details of Rita’s escapade.

  She’s rubbing her temple again then she exhales like it’s her last breath. “So what are you going to do about it?”

  I’m about to tell the woman what she can do about it when my phone rings. It’s Kyle Lynch. I totally forgot about calling the man back.

  “It’s Kay Lynch’s son,” I say. Boshears shrugs and raises her hands. I answer anyway.

  “Kyle, sorry I didn’t get back to you.”

  He says he understands since he knows I’ve had my hands full with all the things that are going on at the hotel. He also says he did a little checking on Tollison since he knew I wasn’t telling him everything. Somehow, he learned of something Radford didn’t mention. Tollison spent almost a year in a psychiatric ward. On the day he got out, he told a nurse at the facility that he was going to his hotel. A woman the nurse didn’t know picked him up.

  I’m sure my mouth hung open when Kyle mentioned the psychiatric ward. Boshears looks more curious than irritated now. Without knowing of this, I’m glad I didn’t go downstairs last night. The mentally unstable make wicked ghosts.

  Kyle’s still talking. He says he spoke to Carol about the séance. He says that tonight is good for the both of them, and wants to know what time we can ask Tollison some questions. I laugh. No wonder he’s in sales.

  I ask him how eight o’clock works for them. He tells me Carol’s getting off early so that they can be here at eleven. Then he launches into the perks of a house he just listed and wants to know if I have ever thought of moving to Nashville. I assure him I haven’t, and he tells me to keep his card.

  Since I’m staying awhile, I think a séance is a good idea. I’m reluctant to have Kyle and Carol attend, but Kyle said something that told me I have no choice. I just don’t know if what he claimed is completely true since it would require his knowledge of confidential psychiatric records.

  He said Tollison told his treating psychiatrist that he knew the identity of the killer and that he planned on taking it to his grave. Kyle says both he and Carol wanted to reach into that grave and knock it out of the man. They agreed it was too late for that and decided a séance was the second best thing.

  “Well,” Boshears yells.

  I was staring at the wall. Now I’m staring at Boshears. “Well,” I say. “How would you like to attend a séance at eleven o’clock tonight in the basement?”

  Chapter Thirty Four

  §

  Boshears slams her hand to her chest again. I hope she isn’t doing that because she’s getting sharp pains. It was probably a bad idea to invite her to the séance, but the man was her uncle. It might offend him if she doesn’t attend.

  After I tell her the things Kyle found out, she looks confused. She tells me she’ll think about it and let me know, but that she’s usually in bed by ten.

  I tell her it may just get my signature on the certificate, and she looks like she’s on the verge of tears. Seeing as she’s vulnerable, I ask how it’s going with the cleaning women’s lawsuit. She tells me she paid scam money to shut them up after their attorney discovered they won’t need surgery after all.

  “Great,” I say, “I’d like to talk to them.”

  Boshears hangs her head then grabs a tissue. I don’t know if she’s falling apart or playing a drama queen. She’s doing neither well.

  “Maybe the women made the story up or maybe someone or something really did chase them down the stairs. I agree it sounds suspicious. Even if they were still here, it’s unlikely that the spirits of the murdered women would be malicious towards them. I just want to ask what it was that they saw.”

  Boshears makes a huff sound, flips through her appointment book, and writes something on a post-it. “Call their attorney. Do not under any circumstances bring my name into your conversations with those women.” She holds the note but isn’t handing it over. “Are you sure the detective told you Tollison died two years ago?”

  I tell her I’m sure. She shakes her head and hands me the attorney’s name and phone number. “What concerns you about that?”

  “First that the attorney lied to me. Second that it took a year before they found him­– his remains.” Boshears’ eyes shift in the direction of the basement.

  “Well, I guess he didn’t have anyone to check on him. Not in town anyway.”

  She’s still staring towards the basement. “No. He did. Thank you, Ms. Raven. I’ll let you know about the– about your little séance before I leave for the day. I’m not sure I’m up
for it, but if it will help get your name on that certificate, I’ll consider it. It’s probably irrelevant now, but I did pay you to sign the thing.”

  I ignore the comment and tell her I hope to see her tonight. I’m already calling the attorney as I’m going back to the room. The man’s in court, but his paralegal says since the case is closed, she’ll contact the women to see if they might be willing to talk to me. She wants to know if I can offer them an interview fee. I tell her I’ll pay the first woman who calls me twenty-five dollars.

  Ten minutes later, I get a call from a woman who wants to be known only as Ruby. She isn’t telling me more than that and her attorney’s name, but she wants to confirm I’m paying in cash. I confirm I am, and she agrees to meet me at the Dirty Dog for lunch. Something tells me I’m paying for that lunch too.

  Once I’m back in my room, I check on Rita. I didn’t really get a good look at her last night. In the light of day, she’s seems just fine except for a little dirt. There’s no indication that rats were nibbling on her. Maybe they don’t nibble on their own kind.

  I put her back in her box and tell her to behave then me and Mojo go to the back of the hotel. He heads to the field, and I go to check the basement window. I’m sure I locked it last night, but after a few minutes of tugging, it slides open. Someone is definitely using the place.

  I have a feeling Mac is the squatter. I guess it’s a better place to stay than the park and probably a lot safer. He might even be the one who turned off the power last night to get even with me for locking the window. Seems that whoever unlocked the window was in the basement when I was down there looking for Rita. If only she could talk. If only.

  I walk around looking for footprints that have to be somewhere, but I don’t find any. I can’t even see that attempts were made to cover them up by the person who doesn’t want to get caught.

  It’s almost time to meet Ruby at the Dirty Dog, but not before I relock the window. I just hope the place is empty. Boshears’ door is closed when I walk down the hall. I almost wonder what she doesn’t want to tell me about Aubrey. I think it’s a safe bet though that she’s cut all ties with the woman. I’m relieved to know I won’t be running into her down in the basement.