The House on Hallowed Ground

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The House on Hallowed Ground Page 13

by Nancy Cole Silverman


  “We’ll take the Jag.” Wilson grabbed the keys and, once again like a man who no longer feared his mortality, we raced from our house to Zoey’s in record time.

  Zoey was on the front patio, sitting by the koi pond as I came up the steps. She was still in her robe with her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail and wasn’t wearing any makeup.

  “Thank you for coming.” Zoey wiped her eyes with a tissue, put her arms around me, and bent her forehead to mine. “I didn’t know who else to call.”

  I wiped a few tears from her eyes. “I’m a good listener, Zoey.”

  “I should probably pay you.”

  “This isn’t a reading. This is me being a friend, and I won’t allow it. Now suppose we go inside and you tell me what it is you want to talk about.”

  Zoey took my hand and we walked inside where she curled up on the couch in the great room. “I feel so alone, Misty. This is all my fault. I should have realized what was going on.”

  “Zoey, you can’t blame yourself.”

  “Maybe not. But I was hoping you could tell me if Alicia Mae’s still here. I haven’t felt her presence since the séance. I’d feel so much better if I knew she was.”

  “You want her to be?” I asked.

  “I do. I really do. I woke up last night and I heard the piano playing. I thought maybe it was her and I came rushing in here to see. But when I came in the room, there was nothing. The room was cold and empty, and the piano…” Zoey shook her head. “There wasn’t anyone there. I’m beginning to think Chad’s right. I am going crazy.”

  “But you thought it was Alicia, and you still think so, don’t you?”

  “I want it to be. Unless you think I’ve got another ghost.” Zoey looked at the piano, her eyes wide.

  Wilson hadn’t mentioned the presence of any other spirits in the house, and I had my doubts Lacey would dare come back to haunt Zoey. Or revisit the scene of the crime. There was always the possibility another presence might have visited the house. Perhaps another ghost that felt a connection to the Pink Mansion or maybe Zoey.

  I looked back at the piano and took Zoey’s hand. I had no sense of a spirit in the house with us. “If there was another ghost in the house, I’m afraid it’s gone now.”

  Zoey looked disappointed. “It’s just, ever since I moved in, sometimes at night I wake up and hear the piano. At first, I thought I was dreaming. The music reminded me of when I was a little girl. I think I told you my mother used to play. I remember falling asleep to the sound of her playing. But later, after we met and you told me about Alicia, I just assumed it had been her.”

  In my mind’s eye, I didn’t see Alicia playing the piano. It didn’t feel right. It felt more like a second presence in the house. Someone with a reason for being there. Someone who played the piano because of the emotional connection Zoey had to it.

  “Do you remember what tune you heard?”

  “I’m not sure. “Clair de Lune,” maybe? My mother used to play that. It was her favorite. I can’t hear that song without thinking of her.”

  “And do you recall what tune you heard when you woke up last night?”

  “Not really. I just remember hearing the sound of the piano playing. My first thought was that it was Alicia. But now that Lacey died, I’m afraid I’ve done something to anger Alicia. That I’ve frightened her away.”

  I filed the thought about Zoey’s mother away in the back of my mind and looked out the big picture window at the backyard. A lighter-hearted scene played out in front of me. Wilson was sitting at the little picnic table beneath the big weeping willow. Alicia was playing hide-and-seek, peeking out the door of the playhouse with her doll Mariposa in her arms. But Zoey could see none of this.

  “You really think Alicia would run away?” I asked.

  “I don’t know what to think or why it’s even important anymore. Yet somehow the idea she’s still here makes me feel less alone, and I want to believe she is. Do you think she’s still here, Misty?”

  I pointed to the window. “There used to be a little playhouse out there. Just beyond the pool beneath that old weeping willow in the backyard. I know you can’t see it now, but if I told you it was still there, would you believe me?”

  Zoey looked at me, her eyes moist with tears. “Was it Alicia Mae’s?”

  “It was, and it still is. When she’s not here in the house with you, she’s out there playing with her doll. She considers it her safe place. Her father built it for her, just like he built this house. And near as I can tell, her parents loved her very much.”

  “What happened to her? Why is she still here?”

  “There was an accident. It was Alicia’s birthday, and the Manns had invited friends to celebrate. Something happened. Her parents weren’t watching. Alicia Mae fell into the pool and drowned.”

  Zoey put her hand to her heart. “But that must have been years ago.”

  “September 9, 1943, to be exact. Her parents couldn’t bear to be here after that. They put the house up for sale and left. Moved far away. I suspect it was too emotional for them to stay anywhere near here.”

  “But Alicia Mae came back.”

  “She did, as ghosts sometimes do. I believe she was looking for them, but they were gone. Alicia’s been here ever since. I don’t know about the previous owners, but Heather, the lady you met the night of the séance, knew her. Alicia was her imaginary friend. Heather’s family lived here in the late nineties and said she and Alicia shared a bedroom.”

  “The front guest room, where Crystal’s staying?”

  “Alicia still thinks of the room as hers, and in her world, the playhouse is still here too. It’s where she went the night she heard you rehearsing with Lacey. She was frightened by the yelling and went and hid there.”

  “But she knows I wasn’t really arguing with Lacey. That I didn’t kill my best friend. I tried to tell her at the séance. Do you think she heard me?”

  “I don’t think Alicia knows who killed Lacey, but I’m quite sure she knows it wasn’t you.”

  “Then why haven’t I felt her here the last couple of days? The house feels so empty. And I’m so alone. Can you bring her back?”

  I put my hand on the back of Zoey’s head and stroked her hair. I wanted to help her. To bring some kind of peace into her life. “I believe I can put your mind at ease about Alicia if that’s what you want. I doubt you’ll be able to see her. That will come with time. As you both learn to trust one another. But first, there’s something I need to know before I can assure you Alicia’s still here.”

  “Whatever you want.”

  “Did Crystal tell you about the doll she found in the guest bedroom closet?”

  “Ugh.” Zoey shook her head. “That’s the other thing that kept me up all last night. I don’t know how my doll ended up in the closet like that. All beat up and bloodied. Now the police are looking at me like I’m a suspect. And Detective Romero’s called my attorney and told him I shouldn’t be thinking of leaving town any time soon. Even worse, my commercial agent’s threatened to drop me, and the studio’s freaked. The final shoots are scheduled in Italy in two weeks, and there’s no way they can shoot around me. ’Cause guess what?” Zoey looked up at the ceiling, her eyes filled with tears. “My double’s dead. My best friend. And everybody thinks I did it.” Zoey bowed her head, and the tears started to flow again. “I didn’t kill Lacey, I swear. This is all a terrible nightmare.”

  I handed Zoey a tissue. “I don’t think you killed Lacey, not for a second. There’s only so much you can do while Detective Romero searches through the facts. Let’s not borrow trouble from tomorrow that may or may not ever materialize. Instead, I think maybe I can help you find something that will make you feel better.”

  “Anything.”

  “You asked me if Alicia Mae’s still here. You wanted proof, so let’s play a little game again, sh
all we? Last time, I asked you to leave the little plastic ring Detective Romero found in the spa on your dressing table for her, so that she might find it. And she did, right?”

  “It was missing in the morning, so I think so.”

  “Then let’s do it again. Do you have something else, something that was yours from when you were a child? Something you adored. Perhaps something your mother gave you?”

  “I have a box of things somewhere that still needs unpacking. I’d have to look, but...wait. I know something. It’d be perfect. I have a pair of ponytail clips with little unicorns on them. My mother used to take me to the pony rides in Griffith Park when I was little. One day there was this street merchant selling things. Plastic combs, barrettes, little mirrors and such. I wouldn’t let my mother leave until she had bought these cute little pink clips with unicorns on them. I still have them in a box on my dresser.”

  “Good. Get them, put them out on your dressing table tonight. Exactly like you did with the ring.”

  “You think she’ll come back for them?”

  “I do. But there’s something else I think you need to do as well.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It concerns Crystal. I don’t believe Alicia Mae likes her, and Crystal’s been sleeping in that front bedroom. Alicia’s old room. If you want her to come back, you need to ask Crystal to move into another bedroom. This is a large house, there must be another room she could use.”

  “I’ve got five big bedrooms, not counting my own. If you think Alicia would return, I’ll ask Crystal to take another.”

  “I think that’s a good idea,” I said. “At least for the time being.”

  I heard the sound of someone coming into the house through the kitchen. A moment later, Crystal’s voice rang through the hallway and into the great room where Zoey and I were sitting.

  “Zoe, I’m back.” Crystal stopped as she entered and spotted me on the sofa. “Oh, I didn’t realize you had company. I came in the back ’cause I had groceries. I’ll take the dry cleaning and put it in your bedroom.” In her hands, Crystal held several freshly laundered garments in clear plastic bags and a small vase of flowers in the other. Without saying anything more, she proceeded down the hall toward Zoey’s bedroom.

  “Crystal, wait. I’ve been talking with Misty about Alicia Mae. You know she used to live here. Her father built this house, and the room you’re in? It used to be hers and I’d like for Alicia to have it again. Misty thinks Alicia might come back to it if you moved out. Why don’t you take the second guestroom down the hall? It’s not quite as big, but you should be fine there.”

  “Misty thought it’d be a good idea?” Crystal shot me a look that could have melted ice.

  “Just for a while,” Zoey said. “I need to get my head straight. It’d really help me if you would.”

  Crystal bit her lips together. I sensed she was biting back a response. Thinking better of it, she smiled. “Not a problem.”

  “I really appreciate it,” Zoey said.

  “Oh, and somebody left these on the front porch.” Crystal put the vase of flowers on the coffee table. “They were there when I came in.”

  “Who are they from?” Zoey asked.

  “I don’t know. I suppose you’ll have to read the card for yourself.” Crystal snapped and did an abrupt about-face and left the room.

  Zoey squelched a smile. The first I’d seen all morning. “You think she’s upset?”

  “The Ice Queen?” I said.

  Zoey laughed then reached for the card with the flowers. As she read, her expression darkened, and she threw the card on the table. “Oh, my God. Crystal! Come back here. Quick. I need you.”

  “What’s the matter?” Crystal came running back.

  “The card on the flowers. It’s—read it. They’re from AJ.”

  Crystal picked up the card and stared at it.

  “Who’s AJ?” I asked.

  “He’s a stalker.” Crystal handed me the card. “The police arrested him a couple years ago for attempted kidnapping. We thought he was in jail, but obviously, he’s not.”

  “Call Detective Romero.” Zoey put her hand to her heart and leaned back against the couch. “Tell him he needs to come out here, right away. I need to talk to him. Now!”

  While Crystal called LAPD, Zoey filled me in on AJ, Adam Johnson, a drifter who had worked as an extra on a movie Zoey had filmed. She immediately pegged him as trouble and the director finally kicked him off the set. But that didn’t stop AJ’s attempt to follow Zoey, and, eventually, he tried to break into her former residence. Chad found him hiding in the garden outside her house and called the police. Since Johnson hadn’t broken in and wasn’t carrying a gun, he was sentenced for trespassing on private property and stalking. The judge gave him three to five years in the state penitentiary, but with today’s overcrowding, Zoey feared he had qualified for early release and was coming after her again.

  Detective Romero arrived thirty minutes later. Crystal met him at the front door and invited him in. Upon seeing me seated on the sofa, he nodded to Zoey and asked if I’d moved in. “Seems like every time I show up, you’re here, Misty.”

  “Zoey wanted to talk. The flowers arrived after I did.”

  Romero looked at the flowers on the table. “This them?” he asked.

  Zoey pushed the vase across the table with the tip of her toe. “Crystal brought them in. She found them on the front patio.”

  “That right, Ms. Martini? That where you found them?” Romero asked.

  “That’s where they were,” Crystal said. “Next to the koi pond.”

  “And when you picked them up and brought them in, did you happen to see a delivery van or anybody hanging around like they’d dropped them off?”

  “No, and I don’t know how anyone got through the security gate unless they scaled the bushes.”

  “The card’s signed by AJ,” Zoey said. “I thought he was in jail. He was arrested for stalking me two years ago. He’s crazy. For a while, I was scared he was going to kill me. Please tell me there’s some mistake. I can’t go through this again.”

  Romero took a pair of latex gloves from his pocket and slid the card off the table, careful not to disturb any prints that might remain. The writing on the card was distinctive. The letters were capped and blocked, equally as wide as they were high, with a slight upward tilt. The message read, SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS. MAYBE WE CAN BEGIN AGAIN. LOVE, AJ.

  “You recognize the writing? It’s pretty distinctive,” Romero said.

  I glanced at the card. I had seen enough designs around Wilson’s home to recognize the writing as the type used on architectural or stage designs. “It looks like the type of printing an architect might do.”

  “Or a draftsman,” Zoey said. “According to the police, AJ had been studying to be a draftsman before deciding he wanted to be an actor. He sent all his letters to me in the same strange handwriting.”

  “It’s going to be okay, Zoe.” Crystal put her hand on Zoey’s shoulder. “Detective, you have to find out if AJ’s been released. If he has, maybe he’s responsible for Lacey. Wouldn’t surprise me. We all worried he would have killed Zoey if he’d ever gotten close to her. It’s easy enough to think he might have mistaken Lacey for Zoey. The man’s nuts.”

  “I’ll make a few calls,” Romero said. “If AJ qualified for early release you should have been notified. I’m surprised you didn’t hear anything.”

  “You’d think somebody might have said something,” Zoey said. “Did anyone contact you, Crystal?”

  Crystal shook her head. “No. I never heard anything.”

  I didn’t believe Crystal. But I knew she wasn’t about to sit around with me in the room. She put her hand on Detective Romero’s arm and excused herself. Then looked at me like she could have spit bullets and said she’d be in the guest room, packing.


  Chapter 21

  “Just got off the phone with AJ’s parole officer. He’s been released alright.” Romero walked in from Zoey’s kitchen where he had gone to make his calls. “But don’t worry, Zoey. If AJ sent the flowers, he’ll be in jail for violating his parole before sunset. The District Attorney takes stalking very seriously.”

  “And if AJ killed Lacey?” Zoey asked.

  “We’ll find that out too.” Romero put his phone in his pocket. “Meanwhile, Misty, you got a minute?” Romero tilted his head toward the courtyard.

  I followed him outside. Wilson close behind me. “Something you need, Detective?”

  “You said you didn’t see the flowers when you arrived. I was curious if maybe—”

  “What?” I asked. “That I sensed something else was going on here? If I didn’t think you’d tell me different, I’d suspect you were beginning to trust me.”

  Romero put his hand to his head. I noticed he wasn’t wearing his wedding ring.

  “Take me with you,” I said. “You know you want to.”

  “What, bring you along to question AJ? A former felon?”

  “The only way I can help is if I meet the man. Come on, Detective, why not? What’s it going to hurt?”

  “You really think you’re going to get a read on him?”

  “Probably not. But if we hurry, I could get a sense of him. Tell you if he’s hiding something. But we need to leave now, before the trail goes cold.”

  “There is a certain risk, Misty. This wouldn’t be just a ride along. Things could happen.”

  “I’m quite capable.” I glanced at Wilson. Together we could handle whatever came our way. “You needn’t worry.”

  Romero shook his head. “One condition.”

  “What?” I asked.

  I knew Romero had been debating the wisdom of asking me to come with him. But somewhere in the back of his mind, it was something more. I had struck a nerve. It wasn’t just me pushing him to open himself up. His wife was there too. Telling him to let go.

 

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