by Kim Hornsby
Eve set the tea tray on the table beside me and handed me a mug.
“Many times,” I said. “He appears before me and, miraculously, I can see him. I can see everything when Caspian is nearby. Not through my eyes, but with my psychic abilities. We’ve had many conversations about his life in this house. And about Belinda.” I paused wishing I could see Joan’s expression. Were her eyes bugging out of her head? Was she smirking? I missed so much without eyesight.
“He and Belinda were very close when she was younger.”
Now we were getting somewhere. I had to tread carefully with the historian. I knew the relationship between Belinda and Caspian had involved admiration and love. “Did they grow apart?”
“Mercy no. But it became more difficult for her to see him as she got older, I believe.”
This was interesting. “Did she think it was caused by anything in particular?” I kept my voice light and casual as if the answer wouldn’t change everything.
“Perhaps she once mentioned to me that he was fading from this world.”
“About to cross over?” I knew this kind of talk was troubling to Joan. I could feel her hesitance. She didn’t need to speak for me to know the answer was no.
“I don’t know,” she lied. “She didn’t say.”
I wasn’t sure why Joan wouldn’t confirm that Belinda was concerned Caspian was fading away to nothingness. I suspected she didn’t think it was the good kind of leaving, the one where a ghost happily says adios and crosses over, never to haunt his world again. “I’ve had many conversations with Captain Cortez and he does fade away and stays away unwillingly. I haven’t seen or heard from him for days and that’s unusual. I often see him every day.”
Joan’s intake of air told me she was concerned. It was a small gasp but enough to make me pursue the questioning.
“What do you make of that?”
“Has he asked you for anything?” Joan’s voice was high, a sure sign that she was trying very hard to mask something.
“He’s asked me to find his bones and bury them so he can move on.” I laid it all out on the table seeing Joan was withholding information I might need. I waited for her to speak. And waited. Finally, I couldn’t stand it any longer. “Did he ask that of Belinda?”
“No.” Joan’s answer was too quick, too definite then she backtracked. “I don’t think so, anyhow.”
“I wonder why he asked me?” Now, I was very curious.
“I’m sure I don’t know. Belinda said in the last ten years he was often gone for weeks at a time and near the end of her life, he was gone for months. When she died, she hadn’t seen Caspian for over a year.”
This was terrible news to a gal who depended on the dude for vision. And had a hankering for the manly man who’d kissed me. I gulped down a lump of disappointment and changed the subject, slightly. “It’s a very active house. The ghost who inhabited Eve was a woman named Jacqueline who once lived in this house.”
“I believe that was the ghost who killed your sea captain.”
“Why do you say that?” Did Joan know the blood on the wall upstairs had been Caspian’s?
“Belinda once told me that Jacqueline stabbed him.” Joan said this so quietly, I could barely hear the words.
She was obviously scared of the mean ghost who had been married to Caspian. I tried to reassure her. “Don’t worry, Jacqueline has never been seen or heard in this room, if that makes you feel any safer. And, yes, Caspian was indeed stabbed in the bedroom with the mural, but he recovered from that wound. Jacqueline was not successful in her late-night murder attempt.”
“He told you that?”
“Yes, he did. Do you think it’s a lie?”
Joan cleared her throat. “I don’t know. It’s just that Belinda thought he died by her hand. Do you know why she tried to kill him?”
This was good, Joan asking questions. Up until now, her interest in our captain was bordering on only slightly forthcoming and barely curious, but this question came out of her with a deep need to know the answer. If Joan was interested, she’d be more likely to help me track down information. “I believe Jacqueline discovered that Caspian was going to expose her boyfriend as a smuggler.” I continued. “Alexander Stevens was Jaqueline’s lover and also head of the shipping company Caspian worked for.”
“Yes, I was going to tell you that Stevens was involved. Do you think that Captain Cortez was also a smuggler?” Joan sat forward in her chair, staring at my face. I didn’t know this because my vision had miraculously returned. No. I knew this through my clairvoyance. I sensed she was on the edge of her seat, her eyes fixed on me.
“He’s adamant he was not and seems indignant if I suggest it. According to the sea captain, he sailed along the western coast and once to Hawaii with cargo, none of which was illegal.”
Joan cleared her throat, noisily. “He was probably delivering timber and various goods, picking up more cargo as he dropped off. In those days, the sea captains worked for shipping companies by contract work and sailed mostly from Victoria to San Francisco.”
I looked towards Joan’s voice and tipped my head wondering whether to risk Joan’s departure with my next question. “As a psychic, I sense that you’re not telling me something Joan, and I wonder what it is.” I crossed my fingers and waited.
As was her custom, Joan took a few sips of her tea and stood quickly to announce her departure. “That’s all I know. Caspian worked for Stevens. Time for me to go. Thank you for the tea.”
Damn. I wish just once this woman came over when Caspian was present and I could read her facial expression. I knew that she had information she was guarding very carefully but I could not penetrate her mind to draw out what it was. When she headed out of the room, I grabbed TapTap and started sweeping my way to the door. “Joan, what are you hiding from me? Why do you always run out of here?”
Her footsteps sounded across the hall tile. “I’ll keep researching. Thank you again for the tea.” Her voice was so cheerful, it was as though I hadn’t just accused her of lying and withholding information.
***
That night, I went to the third floor after everyone retired and tried to summon Caspian. I stood in the hall whispering his name, then planted myself in one of the chairs on either side of the long table under the mirror. Tonight, I’d worn a low-cut dress, had not spiked my blue-tipped hair and wore very little makeup. All things that Caspian liked. I wasn’t beyond baiting the man to appear. For the first half hour, I just talked out loud to Caspian, telling him that I missed him and asking him to appear.
Nothing. Not even Moonraker, his cat, rubbed against my legs, but then, that could be because Hodor was at my feet and I knew the cat could see him. Luckily, my dog only smelled the ghost of the cat in the past.
After a time, I stood to face the mirror and although I couldn’t see, I attempted scrying, a practice I rarely relied on because my clairvoyance made it unnecessary. Facing the mirror, I stared straight ahead, of course seeing nothing, and called to my sea captain. “Caspian, if you can come through the mirror, I’d really appreciate it. You have me worried now, Dude.” I gulped down the lump that had risen in my throat. “Your last words to me sounded like you’d be gone a long time. Or they were instructions that I should dig deep in my memory banks to pull up some past incident with you. I don’t know which, but you’re not here to tell me. Please try to come through in the mirror. Let me see you.” I listened, blinked, rubbed my eyes and still nothing.
Paranormal investigators are used to waiting long stretches of time, getting nothing, being persistent. I’m no different. I don’t give up after a few minutes of attempt even though in this instance, my heart was aching to see Caspian.
I stood facing the mirror for over an hour talking to Caspian about various things and hoped my mother or anyone else was not lurking on the stairs, listening. Since my clairvoyance had returned with Caspian’s departure, I was sensing all kinds of stuff, including who was approaching and how far awa
y they were. I sensed nothing of the kind tonight. All I sensed was hanky-panky going on in Rachel’s new room on the next floor. Even though the thought disgusted me, like most kids who imagine their parents doing anything sexual, I recalled Rachel’s physique being described as a “rockin body meant for fun,” by her last boyfriend, a fake businessman who pretended to have houses all over the world but never seemed to have his wallet on him to pay for dinner. Distracted and tired of trying to scry, I sat on the chair again, wondering if I could get a message to Caspian through Jacqueline by going to the bloody bedroom to summon her. Caspian’s estranged wife had been anything but nice to us since we moved in and played enough tricks to confuse and annoy me to make me think she wouldn’t lend a helping ghostly hand, but it was worth a try.
I made my way downstairs to the bloody bedroom where no one dared to sleep, even though we knew the blood was only Caspian’s, and stepped inside the room, closing the door firmly behind me, I was careful to make sure Hodor’s tail was completely inside, something I learned the hard way with my sweet dog. Tonight, I’d fastened his harness from the Seeing Eye Dog School and had let him lead me up and down the stairs, having given TapTap a night off. I knew the stairs well enough that it wasn’t a big gamble to let Hodor earn his keep this way. Although he’d had months of training at Seeing Eye Dog School, he’d flunked, and my expectations were low for him. I was astounded every time I put the harness and handle on; my dog became a bona fide guide dog staying by my right thigh, no sniffing the floor, no dancing around and begging me to play ball. Even entering the bloody bedroom, he’d led me in and waited for me to close the door. There was hope for the beast who’d been kicked out of school.
“Jacqueline? Are you here?” I let Hodor lead me around the room. He took me to the fireplace where there was a chair and I wondered how well he could see outlines of things in the dark room. Or if the drapes at the tall window were open and there was a moon tonight. I wouldn’t know unless Caspian showed up, but I sat in the chair and told Hodor he was a good boy. Because he was.
“Jacqueline? I know you have reason to dislike Caspian, probably hate him.” She’d tried to stab him in his sleep, so this wasn’t clairvoyant brilliance I was relying on, but straight ol’ putting two and two together. “Are you here tonight? I said I’d do you a favor if you let Eve go.” Last week, when Jacqueline had inhabited my beloved cousin’s body, she had to be reasoned with to leave. She’d not only played the piano, but also unbuttoned Eve’s shirt to J Lo levels and then proceeded to bait Caspian with insinuations. I’d bargained with her saying I’d do a favor if she let Eve go. She did. Caspian thought Jacqueline left not by choice. He’d told me she faded away, not done a service to us, but a deal was a deal. I owed Jacqueline a favor and hoped I could deliver without being asked to kill Caspian or do something that would amuse and satisfy an evil person.
“Jacqueline? Are you here in this room? I’m wondering if Caspian is with you.” I wanted to say something I thought would make her attempt communication and believed mentioning her husband’s name might light a fire under her temper and sense of trickery. “I know you don’t think much of your husband, but I’m hoping to help you see what a wonderful person he is.” I said, tongue firmly planted in cheek. If, what Caspian said was true, Jacqueline’s temper might bring her to me to dispute that she thought anything but hatred for her husband and that was never going to change. I waited. I listened. The wind scraped a branch across the house and the windows rattled. Was this Jacqueline?
“Are you here?” Time passed. I was on hyper-aware setting.
Next thing, I felt a stab of pain in my back, between my shoulder blades, and instinctively folded in on myself and spun around in the chair. I couldn’t see anything but threw out my arms to try to feel the entity that attacked me. “Jacqueline, I’m here in friendship.” Hodor licked my hand. He could sense something, at the least that I was in distress. The pain in my back was gone but it had been so intense for a second, that I wondered if that was what it felt like to be stabbed. “Jacqueline, I know you need to pass on from this house and I’d like to help you. That’s the favor I want to offer.”
The room became consumed with a swirling cold wind, blowing my hair into my face and chilling me instantly. Hodor barked several times and I laid my hand on his back. “It’s OK,” I said, wondering if it actually was OK. “Jacqueline, I can help you pass on to be with Stevens, if that’s what you want, but you have to help me find Caspian.” If I’d had eyesight, would I have seen her form in the room? Hodor was trembling under my hand, which suggested he saw prey. Or at least realized that prey was nearby. My freaky psychic ability told me it was Jacqueline and she was angry. “Caspian has not been around for days and I need him back. You find him for me and I will help you pass on.”
I was just about to explain that I’d have to find out what bound her to this between life when the wind died as quickly as it was born, and the room went back to a slightly chilly sixty-six degrees, the usual temperature of Cove House. I kept the house cool because this sucker was humongous to heat. Hodor whined. “Everything is fine, boy.” I hoped my dog was not inhabited by Jacqueline. I was pretty sure that if the witch of the bloody bedroom could have inhabited me, she would have by now. I rarely asked an entity to inhabit me, something that was invitation only with me.
I sensed no ghostly activity remained in the room and I wondered if Jacqueline had tried to stab me in the back. Stabbing seemed to be her thing. At least Hodor remained safe from her dagger. I took the harness handle and Hodor led me to the door. Did Jacqueline get my message?
Find Caspian.
Tomorrow, I would try this room again with Eve helping. She might not have the full meal deal in clairvoyance, but she had eyes to see a ghost. Something I did not.
Chapter 4
It was now day five without Caspian. I’d lain in bed after my summoning in the bloody bedroom last night, half-expecting him to show up saying something like, “Jacqueline told me you’re looking for me.” But he didn’t. I fell asleep disappointed and dreamed about working a retail job where the customers were mean and threw clothes on the floor of the dress shop. I woke thinking I’d lost my wallet, something that had credit cards and lots of cash inside as well as a ticket I needed to claim a lottery win. When I sat up in bed and realized I’d only been dreaming, I was relieved but wondered if the wallet represented Caspian. He didn’t have control of my cash and credit cards, but he had control over much more.
I always got downstairs first, and although the coffee maker was programed to begin at seven, I often found myself in front of it earlier and pushed the power button myself. As I waited for the French Roast to fill the pot that morning, I let Hodor out the back door that led to the lawn, the cliff and the ocean beyond. I assumed he ran straight to the coach house where stray cats roamed and lived.
So far, I’d avoided Ron’s questions about his ongoing case by changing the subject, leaving the room for unknown reasons and last night after dinner, when he tried to talk to me about clairvoyance, I’d pretended I needed to make an important phone call and went to my room.
Hodor came in the door wet and I heard the rain softly falling on the stairs that led from the veranda to the lawn below. I grabbed the dog towel we kept by the back door and dried him off. “Did you chase those poor kitties, boy? Be nice to the kitties,” I said, giving him a thorough rubdown with the towel.
Once I got a mug of coffee, I crossed to the table and settled in to the chair to think about how else I could try to find Caspian, asking myself the million-dollar question. Did he know when he disappeared the other night, that he’d be gone for good? The coffee was warm going down and I swallowed and took a long, deep breath. “Caspian, where are you?”
He’d been gone for days before, but this time was different. If he’d simply disappeared, or said “Hasta luego,” I wouldn’t be so worried. Was it possible that in restoring my abilities, he’d done the deed needed to pass on to the afterlife? That
he didn’t need to bury his bones after all?
I remembered his salty, manly smell and how his lips felt, gentle, but insistent against mine. Although grieving had become a way of life for me now, I didn’t want to grieve twice in one year. I’d finally been able to push past the dark grief of losing Harry in the accident and was thinking I might be able to move on with my life now. I hadn’t intended to fall for Caspian. Not at all. Of course, once I saw him, I knew it was going to be a wonderful distraction having him around with his bedroom eyes and his smirking smile. Caspian was a big, gorgeous movie-star looking man and it was difficult to not look at him and want to run my hands all over his beautifulness.
What changed everything was walking on the beach with him, laughing at my dog navigating the waves. Caspian had said his father taught him to swim, talked about his love for the sea, and my heart had seeded and bloomed for this man. He’d seemed less like a ghost and more like an Alive. The hour on the beach felt like a date, strangely enough. I’d always thought of ghosts with a detachment that set them apart from those still here and navigating the emotions of daily life. Caspian was not like any ghost I’d ever met and that day on the beach proved something else. He was not like an Alive I’d ever met either.
Strange footsteps sounded on the stairs beyond the hall and I heard someone approach the kitchen. I knew everyone’s sound as they walked along the tile floor of this house, so I assumed it was Ron. As he got to the doorway, my sense told me I was right.
“Did you sleep well, Ron?” I asked, tilting my head so I’d be looking in the direction of the doorway.
“I did sleep well, thanks.” He moved into the room and pulled out the chair next to me. Hodor stood and was about to growl when I laid my hand on my dog’s back. Ron sat down and I knew he was staring at me. There’d be no running away now. It was me and Ron, alone in the kitchen and he could ask me anything he wanted, knowing I had nowhere to go but to the coffee maker for another cup.
