by Blake Croft
Grady was sitting in a rocking chair on her porch as always.
“Hi, Mrs. G!” Scott called, waving.
“Hmm,” was all the greeting he got in return.
Scott gave Linda a meaningful look. Linda shook her head slightly. Scott opened his eyes wide and motioned with his head again.
“Ask her,” he mouthed.
Linda rolled her eyes in exasperation. Of the little she had spent with Scott Wilson, she knew that he wouldn’t give up till she did as he wanted, so she turned reluctantly towards Grady’s house, bracing herself for an assault of caustic words.
“Mrs. Grady?” Linda’s voice was hoarse. She cleared her throat and made an effort to be polite. “Mrs. Grady, Scott tells me you used to teach high school history. I was interested in finding out more about the mining operation. I heard it was abandoned after a mining accident, but couldn’t find any details at the library so-”
Mrs. Grady snorted with laughter. “I’m surprised you can read. Oh, this is a hoot!” The old woman got up from her rocking chair. “Junior school drop outs wanting to learn about the mines.”
The screen door slammed shut behind her, but Linda could still hear the old woman’s laughter from inside her house. Face as red as a beet, she glared at Scott who looked ashamed.
He opened the trunk. Linda joined him to get her grocery bags, still seething from her encounter with Grady.
“Let me help,” Scott said, leaning forward.
“I can do it myself,” Linda said, stepping in.
Their heads knocked together.
“Ow,” Scott rubbed his forehead. He looked at her with sudden realization and extended his other hand to rub her head as well.
“What are you doing?” Linda snapped.
“It must hurt.” Scott explained, shrugging.
“I’ve had worse,” Linda brushed his hand away. Now he was looking at her strangely.
“Was he a cop?” Scott asked. “Your ex. I’m just guessing because you weren’t this frank with me when I was in uniform.”
They both leaned forward at the same time again. Linda held up a hand. “Wait.” She picked up the two heaviest bags and handed them to him. “You can take those.” She grabbed the rest and they walked towards the house.
Linda chewed on the inside of her lip contemplating her answer to his question. She didn’t have to answer at all if she didn’t want to, but she didn’t see the point of hiding things that could easily be found out in one phone call to a police precinct in Brooklyn.
Bending to put her groceries down, Linda let her hair cover her face as she spoke. “Yes, he was a cop, as was his father and his grandfather and so on.” She fished in her bag for her keys, ignoring her hair tickling her nose. “Some of the worst times were after he came home from a tough day, or just a dull day. I stopped caring about his motivations after a while.”
She straightened up and unlocked the front door. She had no strength to look at him, or the pity in his clear blue eyes.
“He sounds like a right bastard,” Scott said cheerfully.
Linda turned on him with rage at his flippant response, but was shocked to see the same mirrored in Scott. His jaw was clenched tight behind his casual smile, and his eyes were dark like a tempestuous sea.
Scott shrugged. “There are some nasty people on the force. I’ll be the first to admit it. But not all of us are like your ex. Trust me on that.” His smile was a combination of goofy and sincere. Linda couldn’t help but smile back.
They entered the apartment. Linda had only been gone a few hours, but the air was stale and musty like it hadn’t been inhabited in years. She led Scott into the kitchen and put the bags down on the kitchen table.
“Ashley!” she called up the stairs but got no reply.
Linda was distracted. She put her handbag on the counter. “Could you excuse me a minute? I have to check on my sister.”
She didn’t wait for a reply. She went to the main hall and climbed the stairs as quickly as she could without sprinting up them, keeping her panic at bay. Bad dreams and soil in her sheets was one thing, but Marisa’s fall proved that things could get dangerous really fast and she had left Ashley alone for such a long time. What had she been thinking?
“Ashley?” she called down the hall. The light from the sun was fading fast in here, and the shadows were growing longer.
Ashley’s door was ajar.
“Ashley?” Linda knocked on the door and entered.
Ashley was asleep in bed. It wasn’t her usual way of sleeping, spread eagle, snoring, and drooling on the pillows. She was lying perfectly still, her breathing so soft and quiet that Linda had to watch her chest for movement to confirm she was alive.
“Ashley,” Linda crossed the room and shook her sister, sudden panic gripping her. “Ashley, wake up!”
It disturbed her that Ashley didn’t startle awake like she normally would. Instead, Ashley’s eyes fluttered like panicked moths in flight, and then opened slowly. Her eyes were still swimming in sleep but she opened her mouth, and cleared her throat.
“Ten more minutes.” Ashley said. “Just ten more minutes, then we can go to school.”
“You’ve been asleep all day.” Linda sat down on the bed beside her. “Are you feeling all right?” She touched Ashley’s forehead. It was cool.
“Just sleepy.” Ashley yawned. She sat up groggily in bed and rubbed her eyes. “What time is it?”
“A little after six,” Linda said. “I brought groceries.”
“How? We don’t have a car.”
“Stewart dropped me in town on his way to the hospital.”
“How is Marisa?” Linda was relieved to see Ashley looked a bit more alert.
“Why don’t you come on down and we’ll ask Stewart?” Linda got up and walked to the door. “Oh, and Ashley,” she turned back to face her sister who was struggling out of bed. “I need to talk to you about something. Freshen up and we’ll talk over dinner.”
Ashley’s legs got caught in her sheets and she went sprawling on the floor. Linda was about to walk forward to check on her when she bounced up like a spring. “I’m okay. I’ll be down in a bit. I need to brush my teeth.”
Ashley grabbed a towel and headed towards the bathroom.
Linda went downstairs into the kitchen where Scott had put away most of the groceries. “Everything okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Linda said. “She’s in the bathroom. We should go ask Stewart about the calls.” She felt a sudden urgency to continue with their investigation.
Scott gave her a quizzical look. “You’re eager.”
“I have a right to know what’s going on here. My counselor is in the hospital.”
“Fair enough.” Scott placed the last apple in the fruit bowl. “Let’s go.”
He led the way to the Blackburn wing. Linda peeked out the window; Grady was nowhere to be seen. Linda counted that as a small mercy. Scott knocked on Stewarts’s door. They squirmed in awkward silence.
The door opened a few seconds later.
Stewart was looking fresh and more upbeat than he had earlier in the day. His hair was wet from a recent shower and his eyes were less puffy.
“Hi Linda,” he smiled. “Scott.”
“Hi Stewart,” Linda gave him a small wave. “How was Marisa?”
“Great.” He clapped his hands, startling her. “She was up when I got to the hospital, and the doctors were finishing up tests. They were optimistic about her health. They think it’s a combination of sleep deprivation and a rare sleeping disorder. She’s coming back home tonight. I’m going to leave to pick her up in another half hour.”
“Really?” Linda was ecstatic. “That’s fantastic news!”
“I thought so too.” Stewart smiled. “It’s put a real spring in my step.”
“That’s good,” Scott interrupted. “Because I have a few questions for you.”
Stewart’s smile became less glaring, its contours became more guarded and secretive. “Sure,” he s
aid. “Go ahead.”
“You said that the call that was made from your landline to the phone in the adjacent apartment was not made by you, correct?”
“Yes,” Stewart folded his arms on his chest. “We’ve already discussed this.”
“You said you had no knowledge of the phone call.”
“I didn’t.”
“Yet there were several phone calls made from your apartment to the adjacent one over the past eight months.”
Stewart’s mouth fell open, his eyes widened and his skin became paler under his eyes. “That’s not possible. I would have known.”
“No one else has access to your phone on this side of the house?”
“No,” Stewart said. “Just my Mom, and she can’t reach out for anything since her stroke a year ago. I even asked Cindy May, and she denied using the landline at all. She’s only been with us for two months, and she hardly uses the landline unless the network’s down.” Stewart looked from Scott to Linda, accusation brimming in his eyes. “What exactly am I being accused of here?”
“We’re not accusing you of anything.” Scott held up his hands. “We’re just trying to figure out who made the calls from your apartment.”
“Well, it wasn’t me,” Stewart said. “And the messages made absolutely no sense. Why, is this an investigation? No one’s been harmed by the calls. They are a nuisance but they haven’t hurt anybody.”
Except Marisa, Linda thought but even as the idea crept in her mind she knew that it made no logical sense. How could the messages make her mad? There had to be a better explanation.
Just then Ashley climbed down the main staircase.
“Marisa just called?” Ashley said. She looked worse for wear. Her hair was knotted into a lose bun on the back of her head. She looked paler than usual. Yet, there was a twinkle in her eye, and a small smile on the corner of her lips.
“She says we better come get her or she’ll walk back home.”
“I’ll get going,” Stewart said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Unless you want to take me in for questioning.”
Scott raised his hand in a show of defense. “I’m just doing my job, man.”
Stewart shot him a dirty look then sulked back into his apartment. He was out within minutes, car keys jingling in his hands. Scott watched him leave, then waved goodbye and left in his own car, a thoughtful expression on his face.
Linda stood on the porch with Ashley and watched him leave.
Chapter 17
Stewart’s car pulled back into the drive at dusk.
Linda followed Ashley down the front porch to greet Marisa.
Stewart stepped out first and came around the car to open Marisa’s door.
She was gaunt and there were deep circles under her eyes, but she looked very much the same sassy old Marisa. She even had a snarky smile on her face. The only sign that she’d had a rough tumble down the stairs was the livid red scar on her forehead and the welt on her face.
“Thanks for bringing me home, Stewart,” Marisa said. Her voice was slightly hoarse but not weak.
“Anytime,” Stewart said. He looked fidgety, and his eyes kept flitting back to his apartment. “I’m so sorry I have to abandon you like this, but I should check on Mom. I’ve already asked Cindy May to stay past her time.”
“Of course,” Linda said. She took Marisa’s hand and helped her on the porch steps.
Stewart took them two at a time, unlocked his apartment door and went in.
“I hope you got groceries,” she said. “Because I’m starving!”
“It’s good to have you back,” Linda said.
Things weren’t perfect but at least Marisa was unharmed.
Marisa followed Linda and Ashley inside the manor and sat down at the kitchen table while the sisters prepared dinner. Once the meal was ready, they all sat down. The tacos hit the spot.
Even Marisa managed to eat one of them. Due to her sensitivity to sharp lights, only the overhead lamp was on. The rest of the kitchen was in relative darkness. Linda felt like she was eating under a spotlight on some vast stage. The sense of being watched was subtle, but still there.
“It’s a nice change to have you two feeding me,” Marisa joked.
“Hardy har har,” Ashley rolled her eyes. “Are you sure they didn’t transplant a new personality into you at that hospital?”
“Please,” Marisa shuddered. “I hate hospitals. Needles are a very real fear of mine.”
“Thanks for the information,” Ashley joked.
Linda sipped her iced tea. The jokes and banter were all good, but there was an underlying tension that they were all avoiding even though all of their conversations kept circling back to last night. The problem was none of them knew how to broach the subject.
“Speaking of information,” she cleared her throat. “I did more than just grocery shopping in town today. I did some research on the house.”
“Really?” Marisa looked quizzical.
“I never pegged you to be a Nancy Drew.” Ashley bit into her third taco.
“I was just curious,” Linda shrugged. “Anyway, the house is old.”
“Duh.”
“What a revelation.”
“Stop!” Linda laughed and threw a napkin at her sister. “It goes back to a little after the war of independence. Apparently they owned the lands where Grady’s house is and even the mines in the hill along the way. The labor cabins were built beyond the back garden so one of the Blackburns could keep an eye on them and they could learn to be ‘civilized’ by observing him. I mean, how crazy is that? Your workers aren’t miserable enough, so you build their housing close by to make sure they are?”
“No wonder this house is creepy. All those people sending it bad vibes.”
“That’s not all I learned.” Linda sipped on some tea again to moisten her dry lips. “I met Scott.”
Ashley raised a brow.
Marisa grinned.
“I mean… Officer Wilson had some curious information.”
“You’re suddenly on first name basis with him?” Ashley joked.
“That the calls we’ve been getting,” Linda gave her sister a stern look. “They weren’t a one off. There have been multiple calls throughout the past eight months from Stewart’s apartment at exactly three fifteen whether its day or night.”
Ashley stopped eating. Marisa went a whiter shade of pale.
“And the calls last one minute and fourteen seconds exactly.”
“Did he find the messages left before?” Marisa asked, her tone slightly breathless.
“No.” Linda shook her head. “But he knows who the cell phone number belongs to. She used to be Evelyn’s nurse. Shannon Dorothy.”
“Why is she still calling?” Marisa wanted to know.
“That’s the mystery, the number isn’t registered with her any longer, and the man who owns it now didn’t make the call.”
Confusion enveloped them. They played with the remains of their food deep in thought. Marisa’s eyes drooped and she looked like she would fall asleep on her plate. Linda still had a very vague idea of what was going on. Scott’s information about Samuel Blackburn and his contemptuous treatment of his workers, his death and the sudden sale of the mine all suggested the darkness stemmed from there; but how did that relate to her hallucinations? She needed to be sure before she could convince Ashley to leave.
“I think we should call it a night,” Ashley said. “I’ll clean up. Linda, you lock up. Marisa, get some beauty sleep. God knows you need it.”
Marisa threw a tortilla at her, good-naturedly.
Linda was rather happy in that moment. Marisa was back safe and sound, and though the calls were still shrouded in mystery at least she was doing something about it. She locked the front door, and made sure the window sash was down and secured as well. When she turned to go back into the kitchen, the painting made her stop. A little less than half of the painting was eclipsed by a black moon with a pale peach center.
�
�Lin?” Ashley called from the kitchen.
Ashley’s call forced her to abandon exploring the painting further. Was it a leaking pipe behind it that was staining the edges? Lost in thought, Linda went to the kitchen where Ashley was cleaning the dishes at the sink.
“You said you wanted to talk to me after dinner?” Ashley asked.
Linda bit her lips. This wasn’t going to be an easy conversation but she’d have to power through. “I think we should find another place to work,” she said.
Ashley stopped soaping the dishes. She looked perplexed. “Why? We just got here. I know I was being a jerk whining about how far it is from a major city but we need these jobs. I’m actually worried about losing the day when I should have been going over the books.”
“I know we need the money but we can find something that pays a little less while we find better jobs. It’s not ideal but…”
“That makes no sense,” Ashley frowned. “What is it you’re not telling me? You were practically begging to come here.”
“I know,” Linda tucked her hair behind her ears. “But don’t you think too many odd things have happened here since we arrived?”
“Okay, yes,” Ashley folded her arms across her chest. “I agree; Marisa’s episode threw me off but that’s her personal health issue. It doesn’t reflect on the rest of the company.”
“That’s not all that’s been happening,” Linda closed and opened her fists. “The dreams, the phone calls-”
“Coincidence, and teen pranks,” Ashley slashed her hand through the air as if trying to physically dismiss the arguments. “We’ve discussed this. I don’t understand why you’re making such an issue about it now.”
“I’ve been seeing things.” Linda admitted.
“Like your PTSD hallucination?” Ashley’s tone softened and she looked concerned.
“These hallucinations didn’t feel like figments of my imagination, though,” Linda ran a hand through her hair. “At least I don’t think so. They’ve all been so…” Linda couldn’t find the words to define what she felt. “They are just too similar, too interrelated to feel random.”
Ashley rubbed her forehead, sighing deeply. She looked like she had aged five years. “I know you’re going through a tough time, Lin, but getting up and leaving is not an option right now; maybe in a few months but not right now. You’re tired from yesterday. Get your rest. I’m sure you’ll feel different in the morning.”