“He told us you were coming.” Mike said before
moving out of the way to let the nurse through.
After measuring Rose’s blood pressure, the nurse
looked at her face. “Well, you are still weak, and your
pulse is a little low, but your blood pressure is not too
bad—115 over 75—so I think it will be okay for you to
go when you are ready.” She smiled at Rose and was
about to walk out the door, when she stopped and turned
around. She sat on the chair Mike had occupied until a
few moments before, and took Rose’s hand into her
own, while she stroke Rose’s hair with the other. “I lost
my little girl too, a few years ago. I know how you are
feeling.”
Her words were the magic touch that rescued Rose
from the icy prison which had sprung up around her
heart the moment she saw Tracey laying on the gurney
and, as Rose looked into her eyes, she saw that the
woman was sincere. Their common loss was a bond
stronger than death itself. Rose squeezed her hand,
almost throwing herself into the arms of the woman
sitting by her side. She rested her head on the woman’s
ample bosom and sobbed. The woman’s arms wrapped
around Rose as unchecked tears ran down her cheeks.
After a few moments the tears subsided, and Rose
pulled back to look at her. “Thank you…I know that you
understand completely.”
The woman smiled, one of her plump hands quickly
wiping her own face as she stood up. “Yes, and I can tell
you that it will be a long journey for you. The pain will
dull over time, but your daughter will never leave your
heart. You will crave to hear the sound of her voice
when you need comfort, and when you need to hear it, it
will be there, forever recorded somewhere deep inside
of you. To this day, if I close my eyes, I can hear my
Lisa talking to me. If you have any other children, focus
on them, and be grateful for the time you are given with
them, no matter how long it is. Your pain might push
you to focus on the time you no longer have to spend
with your daughter, but I advise you to focus on the time
you had with her, because that was a gift to you from
God. Some souls are so pure that they only agree to
come here for a short while with the distinct purpose to
teach us something, and any of us who had them in our
lives are very fortunate.” With that, the woman walked
toward the door, and with one last smile, she was gone.
Rose regretted not asking what her name was.
#
Kathy watched Alexis with pride, as the girl ran her
delicate fingers over the camera while her eyes reflected
her excitement at being able to handle such a
sophisticated piece of equipment.
“Wow! This is so nice…” Alexis said while she kept
her eyes fixed on the camera.
Kathy smiled and placed her hand over Alexis’ tiny
one. “Alexis, how are you feeling, honey?”
Alexis seemed surprised at the question. “I am okay.
I just don’t understand some things.”
“That’s a lot to process. Would you like to talk
about it?”
Alexis was quiet for a moment, her mind assessing
the question, then she looked at Kathy, and her eyes
filled with tears. “I’m going to miss Tracey. My mom
says Tracey’s still alive, but I know she is dead. Lily
said…” She stopped abruptly, and bit on her lower lip.
Her eyes darted up and down the room as if she was
trying to make sure nobody could have heard.
“Lily?” Kathy asked softly, “Is she a friend of
yours?”
Alexis thought for a moment, her small hands
kneading the top of the camera she was holding; it was
obvious that she was making a decision at that very
moment.
“Yes,” she said as she nodded her head and averted
her eyes. “Lily is my friend.”
“That’s great. Do you and Lily go to school
together?”
“Sometimes.” Alexis answered evasively.
Kathy was a bit confused but tried hard not to show
it. “Only sometimes?” She could sense Alexis’
discomfort, and almost let the matter go, when Alexis
spoke.
“My mom and dad say Lily doesn’t exist, but she
does!”
Kathy caught on immediately. “Do your parents call
Lily your imaginary friend?”
Alexis’s eyes opened wide. “Yes! But she is not
imaginary. I can really see her. Has anything like that
ever happened to you?”
“No, unfortunately not. But, my sister had one—
Jenny—and she talked to her all the time. I used to be
jealous of her, because if my sister played with Jenny, I
didn’t have a playmate.”
“Did your sister tell you Jenny was real?”
Kathy smiled. “Yes, many times. And our parents
never believed her.”
“Same with my parents. They think I made Lily up.
I told my mom what Lily said the other day, and she got
really mad at me.”
Kathy wanted to know more. “How old is Lily?”
“Hmm…I never asked her exactly, but I think she is
about twelve.”
“What type of games do you play with her?”
“Anything we come up with together. Sometimes
she decides, and other times I do. She likes to play Hide
and Go Seek, and another game called Charades. It’s a
word game, you know. Lily says she used to play it all
the time. I like to play computer games, but she says she
can’t play those.”
“I know Charades—my sister and I played
sometimes, too. It’s an old game which goes back as far
as Civil War times.” Kathy said animatedly.
“Wow! Really?”
“Yes, a lot of the popular games kids play today
originated in the past.” Kathy paused for a moment.
“So,” she then asked, “what did Lily say that made your
mom so mad?”
Alexis remained briefly silent, her small hand
touching her left cheek. When she spoke, she shook her
head softly. ”Lily said that Tracey is not coming back,
that she’s dead.”
Kathy arched her eyebrows. “I can see how
something so devastating would upset your mom; she is
probably still clinging to the hope of finding your sister
alive. Did you ask Lily how she knows?”
Alexis shrugged her shoulders. “When I ask her
questions, sometimes she just runs off laughing and asks
to play. You know, one time Lily helped me find a
bracelet I thought I had lost. She told me to look at the
bottom of my old toy basket and there it was! Do you
think she hid it there herself, just to mess with me?”
Kathy remembered reading several case studies
discussing imaginary friends, but she couldn’t recall any
of them describing similar experiences. “I’m not sure,
Alexis. Does Lily ever tell you anything about her life?”
“No, not really. I once asked her why she dress
es
funny, and she didn’t really understand what I was
talking about. I thought maybe her family is Amish or
something. She always wears these weird dresses and
she doesn’t know what an MP3 player is. At first I
thought she was a bit strange, but she is nice and I like
to talk to her.”
“That’s interesting,” Kathy replied. “Maybe her
mom sews her clothes.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Alexis replied, and then her
attention reverted back to the camera. “What kind of
camera is it?”
“It’s a Canon EOS7D. Do you like it?”
‘Oh yes! How many megapixels?”
“Eighteen. It’s a very versatile camera. And a very
expensive one, at that. I usually leave this one at the
studio, and only carry the other one with me wherever I
go.”
Alexis was intrigued. “You mean you have more
than one camera you use?”
“Yes. I use this one for portraits and other
professional shots, and I carry a smaller Canon for
personal use. See? That one over there on my desk. It is
a Canon Powershot. It only has nine megapixels, but it
is a very reliable camera.”
Alexis carefully handed the larger camera back to
Kathy and hopped off the couch, heading toward
Kathy’s desk.
“I like this one,” She said as she extended a hand to
touch the small camera. “It’s more like something I
would use. I would worry about messing up the other
one. Does it take good pictures?”
Kathy joined her at the desk.” Yes, it really does for
a small camera. And it is durable, too. It dropped off the
table twice last night, and it still functions. I took some
photos around the house with it, to make sure it wasn’t
damaged, and it seemed to work well. The only problem
is that the photos seem to have too much light…all of
them came out a little strange.”
Alexis arched her eyebrow and looked at Kathy.
“What do you mean by strange?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything
like that. They all show an extra shot of light
superimposed over the items I was shooting.”
“That’s wild,” Alexis said with as much professional
demeanor as she could muster. “Can I see them?”
Kathy shrugged. “I don’t see why not. Let me get
them for you; I even printed them out.” She opened her
briefcase and took out a manila folder. She pulled out
the pictures, and laid them side by side in front of
Alexis. “See what I’m saying? They all have the same
light. I thought maybe the camera was damaged, but I
tried taking a few more photos with it, and they came
out fine. So, I have no clue what happened to these
shots.” She turned on the lamp over the pictures to make
it easier for Alexis to see them.
Alexis didn’t say anything at first. Her eyes darted
back and forth from one photo to the next, and her chin
began to quiver.
Kathy noticed immediately that something wasn’t
right. “What’s wrong, Alexis? Are you okay?”
Alexis continued to shake her head, and by now
tears were running freely down her cheeks. Her hands
were shaking as she ran a finger over the images, and
she swallowed audibly several times.
“For God’s sake, Alexis, what’s wrong? You’re
scaring me!”
Alexis turned to look at Kathy, and her words came
out in a pained whisper. “This isn’t light, Miss Kathy…
this is my sister, Tracey.”
#
When Tom got home, Kathy was sitting at the small
desk in the kitchen looking at the photos she had shot
the night before. She was so taken by her task that she
didn’t even hear him come in. He stood at the doorway
and watched her for a moment—he loved the look on
her face when she was completely absorbed by
something she was working on. Kathy picked up one
shot and looked at it under the light; then she placed it
beside the others and seemed to be studying them as a
whole. Suddenly she stopped and turned around. “Hey, I
didn’t know you were home. How long have you been
there in the shadows?” She said smiling; then she stood
up and pushed her chair against the desk.
Tom walked toward her and wrapped his arms
around her waist. “Just a couple of minutes. I love to
watch you while you are working. You look like a sexy
librarian with those reading glasses on.”
Kathy laughed. “A sexy librarian? I like that!”
“So, what’s for dinner?”
“Hmm…I’m not sure yet. I just got here not too
long ago myself—I had to drop Alexis off at the hotel,
remember?”
Tom nodded. “Yes. I so appreciate you chipping in.
The family is very distressed. I can only imagine how
hard it will be to break the news to their younger
daughter.”
Kathy tried her best to sound casual, though she
knew there really wasn’t a way to say what she was
going to say and not sound insane. “Alexis already
knew, Tom.”
Tom shook his head sadly. “Children can be very
intuitive, unfortunately. Alexis must have heard some of
the conversations between her parents and the detectives
who went to their home.”
“No, Tom. You’re not hearing me…I mean that
Alexis really knew. She has a friend she talks to, and her
friend told her about Tracey.” As she uttered those
words, Kathy realized how strange they sounded, even
to herself.
“I’m not following you, Kathy. What friend? Should
the police know about this?”
“No, no…it’s a different type of friend. What you
would call an imaginary friend.”
Tom raised his eyebrows and his eyes got wider.
“An imaginary friend? And this imaginary friend told
Alexis about her sister? Of course she did—I assume it
is a ‘she,’ right?—isn’t that what imaginary friends do?
Kids make them up to feel less alone. That’s why they
are called ‘imaginary.’”
“That’s correct, Tom, but I don’t think it is the case
with Alexis. I really believe Lily is a spirit rather than a
figment of her imagination.”
Tom looked at Kathy as if she had suddenly grown
three heads. “A spirit?! You can’t be serious, Kathy. Tell
me you don’t really believe that.”
Kathy weighed her words for a moment. She
wanted to tell Tom about the photos, and she already
knew that he wasn’t going to be very receptive if she
pushed the “spirit” issue too far, so she decided to be
diplomatic. “I’m not sure, Tom. Alexis was reticent to
talk; it was like she was scared I wasn’t going to believe
her. But, some of the things she said are so unusual for a
child to make up that I think they came from someone
else.”
Tom’s curiosity was piqued, but he asked cautiously,
“What sort of things?”
“Well,” Kathy answered, “for one thing, this Lily
wears strange clothes for a modern child, and she won’t
touch a computer; she doesn’t even know what an MP3
player is.”
“That’s it?” Tom sounded a little surprised. “What
kind of imaginary friend did you expect her to create? A
gang member?” As soon as the words escaped his lips,
Tom noticed that his tone was more irritated than he
ever meant for it to be. “I’m sorry, Kathy…it has been a
very long, exhausting day. I really appreciate the fact
that you were willing to help, and I am sure it was good
for Alexis to have someone to talk to, but we are dealing
with a child who just lost her big sister—some strange
things are going to come out of her mouth.”
From his words and tone, Kathy knew that this
wasn’t a good time to expand the conversation, so she
decided to focus on dinner and to leave the really
spooky stuff for later, hoping that a full stomach and a
backrub would make Tom more receptive. “You’re right,
Tom. It has been a long day for all of us. Why don’t you
go change while I whip up something for dinner?” She
tried her best to smile nonchalantly.
Tom smiled. “It sounds like a very good plan. I’ll be
back in a minute.” With that, he left the room and Kathy
opened cabinets to find something fast and easy to
prepare. She found a box of Macaroni and Cheese in the
pantry, so she put a pot of water to boil on the stove and
some dinner rolls in the oven. She was too tired to enjoy
a glass of wine and knew it would quickly put her to
sleep, but she also needed Tom to relax enough to hear
what she had to say, so she poured two glasses and
brought them to the table. By the time Tom came back
to the kitchen, everything was ready. They ate quietly
for the most part, but Kathy’s heart skipped a beat when
Tom asked her if she was working on something new.
“No, not particularly. I’m working on a wedding
package, but I am down to the last few touches. The
bride is gorgeous—she doesn’t need too much help to
look breathtaking.”
“Is that what you were working on when I came in?
You were completely taken by those pictures…it almost
looked as if you were holding your breath.”
This is the perfect time… Kathy toyed with the idea
of showing the photos to Tom, but how could she
convey what she wanted to say without sounding like
Killer in Sight (A Tom Lackey Mystery) Page 6
