Muses

by Elizabeth Andre

  “You’re welcome. It beats listening to a woman tell me about being abducted by aliens and then asking me if I know how to make LSD,” she said, maneuvering her wheelchair through the library smoothly, for the most part. The occasional obstacle was usually a patron sitting or standing in an aisle often with a pile of books near them.

  “Was the LSD for the aliens?” Maya asked.

  Miranda laughed. “I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe the aliens were intergalactic drug runners or something. That would have made it more interesting, at least. She’s not the first one to come here talking about being abducted by aliens.”

  “An everyday occurrence?” Eddie asked.

  “Not every day, no, but often enough that we’ve started to keep a tally. So far, stories about alien abductions rank just after inquiries about porn on library computers.” She opened the door to a smallish room decorated with old posters from long ago community events. “This should get you started.”

  Julie held the door open for the others. As she passed by, Miranda smiled at Julie, who was a little surprised and quite pleased. Miranda’s smile was sunny and charming. Julie couldn’t help returning her smile with one of her own. She bumped into Eddie as she walked into the archive room. She apologized, feeling a rush of heat to her cheeks as she tried to get a look another look at Miranda.

  “Your cheeks are blooming red,” Eddie said, following Julie’s gaze. “Ah. I see.”

  Julie ignored Eddie, but she put her hand to her cheek and felt the warmth that suffused the skin. She took a good look around the room, which had a large black machine that looked vaguely like an old computer but wasn’t one, dark green filing cabinets, and bookshelves groaning under the weight of dozens of books and notebooks that looked like they didn’t get much use. There was a small table and four chairs in the room, too. Fortunately, Penny was at her job as a trucking company dispatcher. Jason was spending the day investigating potential MBA programs rather than ghosts. Julie wasn’t convinced business school would be a good fit for her generally flighty brother who’d barely finished college quite recently, but she didn’t think it was a bad thing for him to check out. That meant there were just enough chairs for Julie, Maya, Steve and Eddie, although space was still tight in the room.

  “Thanks, Miranda,” Eddie said. “How familiar are you with this archive?”

  “More familiar than most librarians here. I’ve worked here for nearly ten years now. You looking for anything special?”

  “Do you have anything about the Stephenson sisters? They lived in a house on…”

  Miranda finished Eddie’s sentence. “Grant Street. Yes, I know. I knew Richard and Kate Vinette. Such a shame. They were great patrons of the library. Did you know Kate was a library board trustee several years ago? So sad about Richard. They still don’t know who killed him?”

  Julie said, “Not as far as we know. Besides, we’re really investigating the ghosts.”

  “Ghosts?” exclaimed Miranda. “You think the house is haunted? How thrilling. You know, you’re not the first to think that.” She placed a couple of big, bound books on the table.

  Julie couldn’t decide if Miranda believed her or if years of listening to tales of alien abduction had given her the ability to agree, at least on the surface, with anything library patrons told her. It didn’t matter as long as Miranda kept talking. She liked the sound of her voice.

  “They, Richard and Kate I mean, came here several years ago looking for information about the house. It’s been a while, but give me a couple of minutes. I think I can put my hands on some of the information they found.” She went over to one of the shelves and pointed up at some books and boxes of what looked to be film. “Those would be good places to start.

  Steve got the books and boxes down from one of the shelves and placed the items on the table.

  “The books are self-explanatory,” she said. “The microfilm holds all the newspapers from the time. You’ll need to use the reader.” She nodded toward the large black machine.

  Maya picked up one of the boxes looking bemused and sat down in front of the machine. “How does this thing work?”

  “You’ve never used one of them, I suppose.” Eddie sounded amused. He tapped her shoulder. “Out of the way. Let me show you how it’s done.”

  He opened up the box, pulled out the spool of film, and threaded it into the machine. Images from a 1925 edition of the Springfield Heights Gazette, a local newspaper that had closed up shop years ago, appeared on the screen. When he got to the women’s pages, a story about a recent garden club meeting was featured prominently. It noted who attended and who presided over the meeting, including the Stephenson sisters.

  “One of the sisters started the garden club,” Maya said. “The oldest one, Eleanor, I think.”

  “What are we looking for exactly?” Julie asked as she opened up a cookbook issued by the garden club and found a recipe for molasses crinkle cookies.

  “Anything that might help us figure out how to draw the ghosts to Maya,” Eddie said.

  “So, are you all ghost hunters?” said Miranda, her eyes shining with excitement. This question she directed at Julie.

  Julie said, “We certainly are. We’re the Paranormal Grievance Committee.”

  Miranda was unfazed. She’d clearly heard far weirder from other library patrons. “Do you think it was a ghost that did Richard in?”

  “We’re really not sure. Our investigation is in its early phase,” Eddie said. “Hey! Look at this.”

  “What?” Julie said.

  “Here’s a picture of the sisters.” Eddie had stopped on the image and was zooming in on it.

  Unlike the photo Maya had found on the internet, in this photo the sisters were adults. The photograph was posed, and it looked like they had sat for this portrait. Perhaps it hadn’t been meant to be used in a newspaper, but originally intended for familial consumption? The item that accompanied the picture mentioned that the sisters were being honored by their church for their volunteer work with poor women and children.

  Eleanor or Nelly, the eldest, sat in the middle. She wasn’t the tallest sister, but she dominated the photo. Her curly jet black hair tumbled behind her head, landing on her broad shoulders. Rosamund or Rosie, the middle child, sat on her right and had her long hair pulled behind her in a thick braid that disappeared behind her back. Madeleine or Maddie was tall and lanky, possibly still growing into her body. Her hair was also pulled back, and, as the youngest, her face looked almost babyish in comparison to her sisters. None of the sisters smiled.

  Eddie was going to start flipping through the pages again, but Maya stopped him. She stared at the picture as if she were committing the sisters’ images to memory. They looked through several more pages of old newspapers before coming across an article in a newspaper dated June 1, 1927. On that day, Lizzie Borden had died, and liquor sales had started in some areas of Canada to those living in the U.S. even though prohibition was still in full force. More important locally, the town had decided to bury a time capsule containing items from several residents, including the Stephenson sisters. The time capsule was to be opened seventy-five years after its burial. They asked Miranda if she knew anything about the capsule. She was able to track down a newspaper article that mentioned the capsule being dug up and opened a few years ago. According to the article, a bottle of Stephenson’s Herbal Healing Tonic was among the items in the capsule.

  “Does this tonic have anything to do with the Stephenson sisters, our ghosts?” Eddie asked.

  Miranda thought for a moment. “Probably. I’m not the local history expert, but I seem to remember hearing from someone at the historical society that the Stephenson family money came from selling patent medicines. You know the stuff that’s mostly snake oil and hope?’

  Steve nodded. “I had a great uncle who used to swear by some concoction he used to guzzle years ago. It was mostly alcohol.”

  “Yep. If it wasn’t alcohol, many patent medicines were laced with co
caine, morphine, cannabis, or whatever until government regulation came along,” Miranda said.

  “Do you know what happened to the time capsule after it was dug up?” Julie asked. She wanted to keep everyone focused. It was too easy to get lost in history in places like this. They had a job to do.

  “There was a display of the items here in the library, but it was taken down a few years ago when we had renovations,” Miranda said. “The display was never put back up. I don’t know why. I think I know where it is.”

  “Can you show us?” Maya asked.

  “You’re thinking that we can use a bottle of tonic or whatever else that may have belonged to the Stephensons as a way to reach the sisters.” Eddie turned to face Maya.

  “Yeah. I think that might be a better way than my other idea,” Maya said.

  “I agree,” said Julie who started following Miranda out of the room.

  Eddie and Maya followed suit.

  “This could be the break we’ve been looking for,” Maya said.

  ****

  Julie saw it before Maya did. She pointed to it after Miranda, with gloved hands, had removed several items from one of the boxes. It was a sterling silver vanity set, including a hair brush, comb, and mirror.

  “Those were among the items donated by the Stephensons,” Miranda said.

  “Can I see the brush?” Julie asked.

  Miranda began unwrapping the brush and displayed it to Julie, showing her first the bristle side and then the back.

  “See? Look at the monogram,” Julie said.

  The silver was black with tarnish, but one marking was clear. The brush had been monogrammed with the letters M and S.

  “Madeleine Stephenson?” Maya asked.

  “Better than average chance that it is,” Eddie said.

  “The comb is monogrammed, too,” Miranda said, laying the brush on the wrapping she had placed on the table. She picked up the comb. “Also with the letters MS.”

  While Eddie peered down into the box, Julie said, “The newspaper article we saw about the time capsule didn’t mention the brush and comb set.”

  “Well, it’s just a brush and a comb. The bottle of tonic is probably more interesting, historically speaking, and especially when you can speculate about how much booze was actually in it.”

  Julie gazed at the brush, careful not to touch it. She was sure that this was the brush Madeleine Stephenson used to brush her hair every night, just as Lily had seen her ghost do.

  “But it’s a nice vanity set,” Miranda said. She was now flipping through the pages of a ledger. “Yes. Very nice. It’s a set made by Tiffany and Company. It would have been high end at the time. I’m not surprised the Stephensons would have something like it.”

  Eddie asked Miranda for a pair of gloves. “I want to get a closer look at that brush.”

  Julie looked down in the box. “Here. What’s this?” She got a pair of gloves from Miranda and pulled out a thin silver chain with a small silver ball hanging from it. The ball had a visible latch and hinge and was clearly some kind of locket. Near the hinge were the letters M and S.

  “Let me see,” Maya said as she put on a pair of gloves.

  Julie placed the locket on Maya’s open palm. She rolled the locket back and forth in her hand and then opened it. “A lock of auburn hair. Whose is it?”

  “It doesn’t look like it belonged to any of the sisters. Whoever this hair belonged to must have been very special to Madeleine,” Julie said.

  “Speaking of hair,” Eddie said as he held up the brush to the light and squinted. “There are still a few hairs on here.”

  Julie noticed Maya light up.

  “That is fantastic.” Maya turned to Miranda. “Can we borrow this stuff? These things would really help with our investigation.”

  Over the past few months Julie and Maya may not have been able to get it together, but Julie had gotten to know Maya fairly well. She was obviously excited. Her words came fast and furious. She flexed her fingers compulsively like she was about to place a bet.

  “These ghosts have caused so much trouble,” said Julie. “They may have even killed Richard. We have to figure out a way to get rid of them, to set them free.”

  Miranda looked at each of them warily. “Well…”

  “How soon will these be put back on display?” Eddie asked.

  “That’s just it. I don’t know. Truth be told, I think everyone has forgotten about this stuff,” Miranda said, gesturing at the boxes of items that came out of the time capsule.

  “So you’re saying these few items won’t be missed,” Maya said.

  Miranda still looked indecisive.

  Julie said, “We’ll bring them back when we’re done. We probably won’t need them for long anyway.”

  “All right.” She rewrapped the items and gave them to Maya. “Take good care of these, and let me know how it goes. And find out what happened to Richard. I never did think Kate had anything to do with his death. I’m glad the police agreed. I always liked them both. Clearing this up will probably give lots of people some peace.”

  Just before they left, Miranda gave Eddie the bottle of tonic that had also been buried with the time capsule.

  “You never know. It might come in handy,” she said.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Objects of desire

  The next day Maya arrived at the Vinettes’ house and laid the hairbrush, comb, and mirror on Lily’s bed. She’d felt some energy from the items in the archives. That energy got stronger here. The team filled the room, and Lily stood by looking beautiful but skeptical.

  “You really think that saying some words over a hair brush and burning some incense will get the sisters to communicate with you directly?” she said.

  “Yes,” Eddie said. “But not all the sisters. Just Maddie. When the three of them are together they’re terrifying and angry. Maddie is the only one who has attempted to communicate with us directly.”

  “Is that what you think she was doing?” Lily appeared to look more and more doubtful.

  “I do,” piped in Steve. “She’s shown you scenes from her life several times. She showed Maya her bedroom from long ago. None of the other sisters have done that. She’s the one we can get to because she’s trying to get to us. And summoning just her is certainly better than what Maya had originally planned. Ow! Watch it!”

  Penny had poked Steve in the ribs. “You watch it,” she sneered.

  If Maya had lasers for eyes, Steve would have been vaporized. Lily looked at Maya, puzzled.

  “Now I’m intrigued. What was your original idea?” Each time Maya saw Lily she seemed better rested. She was either getting used to the ghosts or more confident that Maya and the team could do something about them.

  “That’s best not gone into right now,” said Maya as she averted from Lily’s gaze and focused on rearranging the vanity set on the bed. “I think we should get a move on and get to work.”

  Lily smiled. Her dimple reappeared, but she looked puzzled. “No, really. What was your original idea?”

  “I think we can talk about that when this is all over,” Eddie said. “Right now, we have what we think is the best way to tackle this. Just let us do what needs to be done. Okay?”

  Lily’s face changed from a look of amusement to annoyance. “All right. But I really do want to know what Maya’s original idea was.”

  “Afterwards. After this is over, I’ll tell you everything.” Maya’s reassurance seemed to satisfy Lily.

  “Come on. Let’s get moving. These ghosts aren’t going to exorcise themselves!” Steve hoisted his audio equipment.

  “Exorcists are us!” Jason shouted and whooped.

  “Nope. Paranormal Grievance Committee. Exorcists Are Us is an outfit in Montana,” said Steve with gravitas as they finished setting up and got ready to record whatever happened.

  “They’re watching us right now.” Lily moved a little closer to Maya. “I can feel them.”

  Maya put her hand on
Lily’s shoulder. “You’re gonna get through this. We’re gonna help you do it.”

  Lily’s cheeks reddened. “Thanks, Maya. That means a lot. I’m glad you and your team are here.”

  Penny stationed herself and her video camera in one corner of the room while Steve crouched nearby with his audio equipment. Lily sat on the bed. Jason stood in the doorway, holding his EDI meter casually. He fidgeted.

  “How long do you think this will take?” Jason asked.

  “As long as it takes,” Julie said. “Do you have something better to do?”

  “Probably one of his fantasy rugby or football or whatever leagues.” Maya arranged sticks of sandalwood incense and a white candle on the desk.

  “There’s no fantasy rugby league that I know of. Maybe there should be,” Jason said.

  Julie rolled her eyes. “Don’t give him any ideas. Next thing we know, he’ll be setting up a fantasy rugby league complete with betting 24/7.”

  Eddie waved his hands. “Okay. Sibling bickering cease, please. Time to snare some ghosts.”

  He lit the incense and the candles. Silence fell as the first tendrils of smoke escaped the tips of the sandalwood incense sticks. Maya stood with her eyes shut and her body as open as she could make it. She wanted to welcome Madeleine to her.

  “Please don’t be scared, Maddie. Come visit us. We don’t want to hurt you. We want to know you.” Maya kept her eyes closed and waited for several moments. “We’ve brought a few things we think once belonged to you. I know how much you enjoyed brushing your hair every night until it shone. This brush once belonged to you, didn’t it?”

  Maya opened her eyes. They waited a few moments in the silence. No one moved. Then, in the stillness, the candle’s flame went out.

  “Whoa,” Lily said.

  Jason whispered, “I’ve got something.” His EDI meter beeped and whirred. He took a step toward the bed.

  Now Maya heard it, the susurration like whispers she’d heard before in this house. This time, though, she could make out a distinct voice. Soon, she felt the warmth of a spirit coming close to her. It was the feeling that had just been frustratingly beyond her grasp in this house.