by Alexie Aaron
Her arm shot up from her body. The outstretched hand pointed at the windows, her fingertips dripped with blood. Cid’s eyes followed the drops as they fell to the floor, leaving a floral pattern before joining the other drops and pooling at the woman’s feet. “Let me out!” she screamed again.
Cid heard the pounding of feet on stairs, and Jesse burst through the room. Cid put his hand up to stop Jesse from coming any closer to the apparition.
“Let me out!” she screamed. The woman curled her toes, and the long nails scratched at the blood-soaked floor.
Jesse moved to the closest dormer window and opened it.
The eyeless woman smiled wider and made motions of trying to move towards the window. She clawed at her feet which would not move. “Let me out!” she screamed over and over again as she shredded her feet, but still she could not move. She twisted in agony and was slowly sucked into the floor.
The lights went on.
Cid and Jesse looked from each other to the window to the door and back at the floor.
A faint female voice wafted on the wind that came through the window. “Watch,” it said.
The pool of blood ran along the floorboards and drained around a rectangle of floorboards, the length and width of a coffin.
Jesse grabbed a couple of spikes and handed one to Cid. “Let’s pry these boards up.”
Cid and he worked furiously, and when they were finished, they were looking down at a rotted, black silk bag. Cid sliced through the bag knowing what they would find there.
The desiccated corpse of a woman lay with her arms crossed over her body.
“I think we better get Kiki,” Jesse said.
“Maybe we should let her sleep,” Cid said, reaching for the tin teabag box that was setting on the corpse’s stomach.
“Remember how mad she was when you didn’t tell her about the pin…”
“The broach,” Cid corrected.
“The pin,” Jesse insisted. “…right away?”
“You’re right. Go and get her. I’ll stay here.”
Jesse pulled out his phone as he walked away. “I’m sorry to wake you. Oh good. Get dressed and wait for me. Cid and I found something you should see. Yes, now.”
Cid shook his head as an argument ensued.
He opened the box. Inside, he found melted crayons and a piece of paper too fragile to remove where he was. The wax from the crayons had dyed the paper. Still, he thought, with the proper light, he would be able to make out the words. He closed the box and stepped away from the corpse.
“You can come out now, Faye.”
Faye appeared wearing a serge dress, and her hair had been plastered to her head and secured in a low bun. “I think I know how I got here.”
Cid smiled. “Go on.”
“I was hired to look after the ward of the house. Little did I know that they had a crazy woman locked up here.”
“Faye, that’s Jane Eyre. You are not Jane Eyre,” Cid said softly. “You must have read the book.”
“Fiddlesticks and horse feathers!” Faye shouted and disappeared.
Kiki had pulled on some jeans and a sweatshirt. She had one of her boots on when Jesse knocked on the door.
“Come in,” she said as she hopped around looking for her other boot.
Jesse picked it up and handed it to her.
“What kind of body?” Kiki asked, gathering her phone and ever-present moleskin notebook, which she secured in the back pocket of her jeans.
“Desiccated, it’s kind of mummified.”
“Tell me what you know,” she said as they walked out of the room, careful not to smudge the salt line Cid had laid there.
“Cid was late. Just a few minutes, but I had a bad feeling. So I went in search of him. I found him in the attic and…”
Kiki’s hands got clammy, but she kept her professionalism. “I may know who it is.”
“How?”
Kiki told him the story of Gwen. “They thought she had run away, but maybe that’s what her keeper wanted them to think.”
“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Jesse advised. “This house has many secrets.”
Kiki took the attic stairs two at a time. She walked in to see Cid standing over the open floorboards. He had a small tin box in his hands. He walked over and handed it to Kiki. “It was placed with her. Careful, the heat of the attic melted the crayons.”
Kiki flipped the box open and closed. Her attention at the moment was on the five feet of leathery flesh in the rotted bag in the floor. She knelt down and carefully examined the body. “I saw another one like this when I was a kid. It was in the wall of a warehouse which we were renovating into lofts.” Kiki felt the cold breeze from the window. “Why is the window open?”
“She wanted to leave through the window,” Cid said. “The door has been open for weeks, yet the window is the way she wanted to leave.”
“Perhaps she wanted to kill herself,” Jesse said, looking out. “The drop would take her onto the old patio.”
“Right outside the big study,” Kiki said, accessing the house’s blueprints that were burned into her memory.
“If she is Gwen, she would have wanted to kill herself where her husband could watch,” Jesse suggested.
“Or where he wouldn’t be able to not see where she landed day after day,” Cid offered.
“Poor crazy girl. What happened to you to make you behave this way?” Kiki asked the corpse.
“Should we call the authorities?” Cid asked.
“I really want to, but it would be my job on the line. I promised Hal no publicity. The police wouldn’t be involved, not at this late date. It would be the coroner, and Gwen would probably receive a pauper’s burial. Could we not bury her on the property?” Kiki pleaded.
Jesse looked out the window. A plan started to form. “What if we bury her under the new patio where she would have died if she jumped?”
“That may be enough to rest her tortured soul,” Cid said.
“If we time this right, we could bury her on one of the days we would be trapped up here,” Kiki said.
“And no one would be walking in on us asking questions,” Jesse said.
“I’ll get started on her coffin after work tomorrow,” Cid said.
“You’ve built coffins?” Kiki asked, surprised.
“A few,” Cid said and changed the subject. “Let’s cover her up and lock the attic.”
Kiki walked around the room and looked at the gouges in the window frames. “When we take her out, we take her through the window.”
Cid and Jesse looked at her, amazed by her sensitivity.
“In the meantime, I’ll try and see if I can read this. If not, I’ll send it to a forensics lab. I think it’s important.”
“Stop her!” Faye shouted. “She’s just going to seal it in that damn drawer with my broach.”
Kiki and Jesse looked around them. Faye walked in the door with her hands on her hips. Cid saw that she had changed her look. Gone was Jane Eyre. Faye had reverted back to the efficient-looking secretary Cid had originally mistaken her for.
“What?” Kiki blurted out.
“You’re a thief!” Faye accused. “Stealing my broach. It’s mine, and it doesn’t belong in your locked drawer.”
Kiki looked at Cid.
“Kiki, Jesse, this is Faye. She’s what I would call an intelligent ghost, an active haunt.”
Faye was pleased to be called intelligent but bristled slightly at being labeled a haunt.
“Where did she come from?” Kiki asked Cid.
“The well,” Faye said. “Thank you, I can answer for myself.”
Kiki paled.
“Yes, it’s my bones down there with others. All mixed up. The others aren’t here at the moment. Just me. Stuck here because you have my property. Now hand it over, missy, and I’ll say no more about it.”
“It’s very valuable.”
“I expect so.”
“Are you sure it’s yours? Maybe you stol
e it,” Kiki accused.
Faye’s ghostly complexion went from white to watered rose.
“Did you?”
“Did I what?”
“Did you steal it?”
“I don’t know. All I know is, where it goes, I go.”
“How did you die?” Jesse asked kindly.
“I expect I was murdered, but I don’t remember.”
“What do you remember?” Cid asked.
“I walked into a room. I think it was in this wing. I saw something I shouldn’t have but I don’t remember what. And then I was rising out of the well. That’s it. I’ve been searching for something that will bring the past back to me, but so far, not a darn thing.”
“Cid called you Faye.”
“I think that’s my name. I’m in a photo that hangs in the east wing hallway.”
“We’ll get that photo and see if we can trace you. Faye, I’m not stealing your broach. I’m just keeping it safe. It has a piece of cloth caught up in the backing. I don’t know if it came from your clothes or your murderer’s,” Kiki admitted.
Faye looked at Cid. “Can you vouch for her? She looks pretty shady to me.”
Cid laughed. “I stake my reputation that Kiki Pickles is an honest person.”
“Kiki Pickles, oh my, what a horrible name.”
Kiki’s brows drew together.
“Not the Kiki part but Pickles. Who wants to be called Pickles?”
“Mrs. Pickles,” Kiki said. “My mother loves my father very much.”
“She’d have to.”
Kiki’s face eased back into a smile. “Tell you what, if I can’t find out who you are by the time my job here is finished, I’ll give you the broach.”
Faye held out her hand. Kiki put her hand out nervously and yelped when Faye touched it.
“You’re so cold.”
“You try spending a half century in ice water and see how you feel.”
“I was in it for only a few minutes. That was enough for me,” Kiki said.
“You were very lucky. I think the stinker on the steps cracked a few boards, but I can’t prove it. He hates you, Miss Pickles. Holds you responsible for all the noise.”
“Can you talk to him? Tell him that we’ll be gone as soon as we bring the place up to code?”
“He won’t listen to me. I’m not sure he can even see me. That toothy thing upstairs says that he committed suicide, and suicides aren’t aware of other spirits. But they are aware of the living and hate you for being alive.”
“So you met Teeth,” Cid said.
“Met him and un-met him. He’s gone.”
“He’s away? When’s he coming back?” Kiki asked Cid.
“He didn’t say. My friend Mia says that demons have a whole different concept of time. It may be a day to them but years for us.”
“Huh.”
“If he won’t speak to you, this guy on the steps,” Jesse qualified, “how do you know his feelings about Kiki?”
“He talks… no, he shouts to himself.”
“Did you get a chance to speak with this woman?” Kiki asked.
“I tried, but she just cried and wrung her hands. No one was more surprised than I to hear her yell at him,” Kiki said, referring to Cid. “I think she’s a class A fruitcake.”
“You shouldn’t make fun of the mentally ill,” Cid scolded.
Kiki watched as the little ghost stuck her chin out before saying, “How dare you censure me. You’re not my father.”
Faye stuck out her tongue and disappeared.
“That’s real mature, young lady,” Cid called after her.
Kiki and Jesse started laughing. Cid couldn’t help but join in.
“I think we better tidy up and get some sleep. We’re going to need to have our wits about us in order to explain the stained glass and the torn-up floor,” Cid warned.
“Don’t worry,” Kiki said. “I’ve got this.”
Chapter Seventeen
Kiki carefully opened the back of the frame. The photo had been professionally mounted and sealed behind a very pricey, gilded, wood and glass frame. Kiki figured that it may have been a gift. A treasured memory of what looked like an elaborate costume party. Normally, parties like these were part of New Year’s celebrations. Was this house occupied in the icy winter months? If so, the owner must have been very important or loved to have his guests travel to spend that night with him or her.
She lifted the balsawood back and set it aside. Next, she took tweezers and caught the corner of the photo and gently extracted it from where it rested against the old glass front of the frame. Kiki walked it to the scanner copier and scanned both sides a few times before she was convinced the watermark of the photo paper showed.
Cid walked in carrying two mugs of coffee. Jesse stepped in after him and closed the door.
“I’ve scanned the picture and emailed it to Jake and to my sister Mimi. She’s got a girlfriend who collects scandal sheets from post-war Hollywood.” She pushed the original picture across the desk. “The question is, which one is our Faye?”
Cid looked at the upturned faces. The picture was taken from the second floor landing, looking down into the hall. Part of the chandelier was caught in the picture.
“Look at all the sparkling jewels. I’m sure we’re not talking paste,” Kiki commented.
Cid lifted up the picture to get a better look at it. “Some of those little sparkles could be orbs.”
“Give me that,” Jesse insisted. He grabbed the magnifying glass out of Kiki’s desk organizer and methodically scanned the photo. “Are you talking about these here?” he asked, pointing to the three lights appearing a foot over the crowd.
“Yes.”
“Dust motes.”
“In this house at the height of party season? No,” Cid said.
“Insects?” Kiki guessed.
“Could be, but how many line up perfectly as if they are holding hands?” Cid questioned. “They are a trio of…”
“Oh my god,” Kiki said. “I may have something. I’ll be right back.” Kiki got up and walked crisply out of the room.
Cid tapped the photo. “Look at this character. He’s dressed more simply than the others.”
Jesse scanned him with the magnifying glass. His eyes opened, and he handed the picture and glass to Cid. “You look at him. What don’t you see?”
Cid looked at the man in question. He wasn’t happy. He seemed enraged. “No smile.”
“Look lower,” insisted Jesse.
“He has no feet.”
“I’m willing to bet that this is the guy on the stairs. We’ll have to ask Faye if she shows up again,” Jesse said.
Kiki returned with an armful of journals, books, and a very ornate scrapbook. She set them on the desk and began talking, “I read these some time ago, so you’ll have to excuse me until I find it. It’s just at the edge of my memory. She flipped through the scrapbook and stopped. She delicately removed a piece of newspaper. “On this side, it talks about someone receiving a prize for roses, but on this side…” She cleared her voice and read, “Missing folk trio investigation closed. Singing trio, The Lambert Sisters, were reported missing six months ago when they did not arrive for their Berryville County Fair performance. They were last seen at Hidden Meadow where they were auditioning for The Barkleys of Broadway. Press secretary Richard Rounding told investigators that he personally put them on the bus to Berryville.” Kiki squinted and said, “It basically goes on to say that they closed the case when a rumor, that the girls had split up the group and gone their separate ways, reached the Berryville Sheriff’s Department.”
“So you think that they never left here?”
“Why three lights?” Kiki asked. “Do souls normally travel in threes?” she asked Cid.
“I don’t know, but I know who I can ask,” he said, writing down the question. “Jesse, show her the man with no feet.”
Kiki lifted an eyebrow. “Do you think he’s our attacker?”
&nb
sp; “See if Jake can work some miracles with combining his face recognition software with the shiny sheets.”
“Shiny sheets?” Jesse asked.
“Gossip papers,” Cid explained. “They are usually where all the photos of the day were shown. With all the memorabilia out in eBooks, he should be able to hack in and…”
“Excuse me, hack?” Kiki asked. “Hack, as in illegal?”
“Don’t worry, he’s careful it won’t come back at PEEPs or you.”
“He could get into trouble.”
“Kiki…” Cid said softly. “He’s dead.”
“They could confiscate the PEEPs computers and…”
Cid saw the panic in her face.
“When Jake first appeared, Ted and I worked like maniacs trying to rid our system of him. He simply traveled out and then right back in. It’s not like he’s a virus… Although, Burt did call him the dark web plague once.” Cid smiled. “He’s not going to do anything stupid. He’s got a reason for existing, now.”
Jesse shook his head. “Are you telling me, Boss, that you’ve fallen for a computer?”
“No. A ghost that exists in…”
“The Ghost in the Machine. Isn’t that a horror flick?”
“It’s also the title of an Arthur Koestler book about…”
“Cut the pedantic running off at the mouth,” Jesse said to Cid. “Honest to God, what kind of world are we living in, where dead guys get the best girls?”
Kiki blushed.
“I don’t see anything worth dying for,” Faye said from the doorway. “She’s a criminal.”
Kiki looked over to see Faye dressed in a twinset atop a pencil skirt. Her hair resembled Grace Kelly’s. “Don’t you believe in knocking?” Kiki asked.
“Too much energy. Can I have my broach back?”
“The pin stays here until we sort out who you are, missy,” Jesse said.
“It’s a broach, and I did agree to that,” Faye admitted.
“While you’re here, can you help us with this photograph?” Cid asked kindly.
“Sure.” Faye moved between the men, causing each to feel a strange tingle as she moved through their sides.
“Where are you in this picture?”
Faye studied it and pointed to a woman dressed as a flapper. “This is me.”
