Dead Drunk

by Alice J Black

  “I thought we were equals?” She planted her hand on her hip.

  “Yes, we are, but I’m the who one sees ghosts. I really appreciate you being there to help me and everything, don’t get me wrong, but you might not sense the danger like I can. Remember, I’ve been spending time with Sylvia, learning what these devices are.” I paused, reached around to my back, and patted the bag. “And she’s been teaching me how to shield my mind, to let the spirits in only when I want. You can’t do that, and that leaves you more vulnerable.”

  “Fine.” She sighed. “Let’s get going, or we’ll be late.”

  Motioning for Olivia to go first, I followed her from the office, turned off the light and pulled the door shut as we made our way down the stairs. The sound of my steps echoed, and I vaguely wondered who was below our little office. I’d never seen anyone coming or going from the ground floor flat, and I could only hope we weren’t disturbing them too much. But an office for the price I got this one at was a steal, and I couldn’t turn it down, neighbour or not. Maybe I’d send them some muffins or something.

  Outside, I locked the door and made my way to the car. Olivia was already climbing in. I slung the pack in the backseat and jumped in behind the wheel.

  “I still have no idea how you drive this dinosaur,” Olivia grumbled as she pulled her belt and clicked it into place on the third attempt.

  Even I had to admit, Thumper could be a bit snobbish at times, and often, some of the gadgets—and by gadgets I mean seat belts and headlights—didn’t work, but she was mine. Thumper was a memory of my parents, and there was no way I was letting her go.

  “Leave her alone. Thumper is reliable.”

  “Yeah. Reliably cheap. I think you need an upgrade, Peyton.”

  “It’s not happening.” I shook my head, then started the engine and pulled away from the kerb.

  We got to Eileen’s house a little after six. It was still fairly light outside, but it would give us time to unpack, sort ourselves out, and make sure Eileen and Janice hustled upstairs. Although we felt a presence up in the main bedroom, most of the activity took place downstairs, so that’s where we would concentrate our efforts.

  Stopping the car, I took a look up at the house. Dilapidated, yes. Unfixable, no. I led the way through the small gate, which could use a lick of paint, and up the small concrete pathway to the front door, where I rapped three times.

  From somewhere inside, I heard a flurry of movement, and then Janice flung the door open.

  “Hi, guys,” she greeted us before stepping aside.

  I took my cue and entered, with Olivia following close behind.

  Eileen still sat in that same chair beside her late husband’s, and I was beginning to wonder if she ever moved. She was a woman who liked her comfort and was ingrained in the habits of a lifetime.

  “Hello, dears,” she greeted us with a light air, but the look on her face said it all. She didn’t want this to happen.

  “Hi, Eileen.” Olivia smiled and stepped forward. “How are you?”

  “I’d be better if you weren’t here, but that’s not your fault.”

  Her eyes flicked to the kitchen, where I saw Janice scuttling around.

  The sound of the kettle gave a base of background noise.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Needless to say, it wasn’t my decision for you to be here. Having Eric close by, no matter what form he’s in, has become a comfort now that I know it’s him, and I’d like him to stay.” She nodded defiantly.

  “Mum, you know we can’t keep this up,” Janice called from the kitchen. “You’re still not sleeping, and neither am I. I’m about to lose my mind.”

  “Oh, it’s always about you, isn’t it?” Eileen hissed before turning back to us. “I’m not sleeping, she’s right. But this time it’s because I’ve been sitting down here, waiting for him to turn up.”

  I glanced at Olivia. I assumed that since we’d received the call, mother and daughter had come to an agreement over what they wanted to happen. Now it seemed I was in the middle of an ethical standoff.

  As a ghost hunter, my first inclination was to carry out my job and ask the spirit to leave. But the other half of me, the human side that had woken up many times in the back of funeral directors, wanted to refuse. I understood exactly how Eileen felt.

  I bit my lip. For my first case, I never expected to be in such a quandary.

  Janice came through, carrying a cup. She set it on a small table just at the side of Eileen’s chair and stood back, planting her hands on her hips. “Mum,” she started with a deep breath.

  Here it comes.

  “I know you don’t want to get rid of Dad, and I get that. I really do. But it’s just not practical to have him here.”

  “Why? He’s not doing any harm. It’s not like he’s causing trouble or anything.”

  “You say that, but you know how many nights the noises have kept you up. And I’m sure his late-night visits are getting worse.” She turned her attention to me. “I’ve stayed quite a bit lately, and I keep hearing him rattle through cupboards. I’m terrified that one day the damn pipe will set the house alight.”

  “Yes, I know all of that.” Eileen’s hands dropped to her lap. “But he was my husband. Surely I have the last say in the matter.”

  “But you can’t just go on with a ghost in your house. You can’t.” Janice wrung her hands together in front of her body as she pleaded with her mother.

  “It’s my house. I can do what I like.”

  “Peyton,” Janice focused on me, “please tell her.”

  Janice thought I was going to side with her because of my profession. Before I became an alcoholic, I’d always been the peacekeeper. I’d be the one in the middle settling an argument in the schoolyard, and this was just like that. I hadn’t been afraid to speak my mind then, and I wasn’t now.

  “I can’t.” I shook my head.

  “What?” Her jaw dropped.

  “Your mother is right, Janice.” I set the backpack down on the floor.

  “What?” she repeated, still staring at me.

  “This is your mother’s house. I’m here to provide a service, but if she doesn’t want to get rid of the spirit, then I’m not going to force the issue. Some people take comfort in knowing a loved one is nearby, and I think your mother is one of them. I won’t take that away from her.”

  Janice’s mouth opened and closed.

  Eileen gave me the smuggest smile I’m sure she could muster. “Thank you, young lady. It’s good to know someone is listening to me.”

  “But, Mum,” Janice rounded on her elderly mother, holding her hands out, “there’s a spirit in the house. What if it’s not even Dad?”

  “It is him, Janice. I can feel him close. I can smell his pipe. It’s him all right. Don’t you think I know my own husband after forty years?”

  “I guess so,” she muttered.

  “And I want him to stay.”

  “What if you want to sell the house? Or move out? Nobody will buy this place with a ghost attached to it.”

  I dropped my head for a second as we hit the root of the issue. Janice was worried that once her mother passed on, nobody would take the house from the market. I was sure I’d made the right decision now. If it came to that in the future and Janice wanted my help, I would come back. But right now, this was Eileen’s place, and I refused to be a part of it any longer.

  “If I ever choose to sell the house, which I highly doubt, I’ll deal with it then. Or you can if I’ve gone to join Eric. But for now, he stays.”

  Janice huffed, and her whole body sagged as she realised she’d lost the argument. Quiet filled the room, and then beside me, I caught a faint whiff of tobacco smoke. It was so faint it almost wasn’t there, and then it was gone. Eric saying thank you, perhaps.

  “Okay.” The daughter turned to me with a fake smile plastered on her face. “Well, it looks like you’ve made this trip for nothing. I’m sorry.”

  �
�Don’t worry.” I waved it off. “It’s the nature of the business. Come on, Olivia. It’s time to go.” I motioned her to follow me as we said our goodbyes, and I made my way to the door, eager to leave the house and the tense atmosphere behind.

  I had no doubt that as soon as the door closed, the blazing row would begin. Something told me Eileen would win. She already had.

  “You gave up a whole lot of money there,” Olivia said as we walked down the path.

  “I know.” I sighed.

  Olivia was right. I could’ve gone with Janice’s wishes, but Eileen had the final say in the matter, and I couldn’t switch off from being human.

  “But I’m in this to help people. Eileen doesn’t need saving, and I think taking the spirit away will make things worse for her.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  “There’ll be other calls, and we’ll make it eventually.”

  Olivia opened the car door and paused. “You’ve got a good heart, you know that.”

  My cheeks heated as I gazed at my best friend over the top of the car. It had to be one of the nicest things she’d said to me, beyond her somewhat sketchy praise of my abstinence.

  “Thanks, Olivia. I couldn’t do it without you.”

  “I know.” She grinned and ducked into Thumper.

  It was time to go home.

  Days passed without a single call. Not one. We spent the hours mooching in the office. Those times when Olivia had to go to Stubbs and Oakley were the worst. It was lonely sitting in that office by myself, just waiting for the phone to ring.

  When she was there, Olivia researched local goings-on as best she could, using her mobile data since we had no internet. And I don’t know how many times I rearranged the kit room after Jim had kindly been by to put up a whole load of shelves. The office was the tidiest it had ever been, and probably would ever be.

  I slumped back into my chair after my fourth meander around the entire square-footage space we occupied, counting the ceiling tiles the first time and the floor tiles the next. This was turning out to be bad. Days without so much as a sniff. Without those calls, we wouldn’t have the money to pay for the internet, let alone build a website. The less advertisement we had, the less likely people would call us, and the likelihood for the business to go under, rose.

  I bit my lip. I couldn’t face that. Not after all the hard work I’d done. Not after everything I’d sunk into it.

  I glanced at Olivia as I neared the office door and paused. On top of dropping hours and suffering a severe wage decrease without so much as a complaint, she received a letter through the post this morning from Stubbs and Oakley. They were letting her go on the grounds that her part-time hours weren’t enough to cover the needs of their business. She was losing her job, and she was still here with me, riding it out. This woman’s belief in me was beyond anything I’d ever known, and I didn’t want to let her down. I couldn’t.

  “You’re going to wear holes in the floor, and then we’ll have an office with no floor.” Olivia lowered her glasses and stared at me for a second, her gaze unwavering.

  I dropped into the chair and bounced with it as it jostled slightly. A huge sigh escaped as I stared at my best friend. I knew she was right, but I just couldn’t bring myself out of my funk.

  “Listen,” she started, wheeling herself over, “we both knew this was going to be hard work. It was never going to be a walk in the park, and you can’t give up just because it’s a little tough going.”

  “I’m not giving up. I’m just . . . dejected.”

  “Whatever. You need to suck it up, Peyton. I am.”

  My eyes met hers. “I know.”

  “I haven’t managed to find anything that looks like it could be a haunting.” She jangled her phone in her hand. “But I’ll keep looking.”

  “No.” I shook my head. “We’re calling it a day.”

  “What? You know that technically we still have a couple hours until we close, right?”

  “If we get a call between now and six, I’d be surprised. Olivia, we’ve sat here all week, bored to tears, and I think it’s time we went and did something nice.”

  Her mouth curled into a grin. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “Amici’s?”

  I knew that eating out should be the last thing on my mind, considering the financial situation, but we needed a break. I was going to chalk it up to a celebration of a minor achievement. Though we hadn’t finished the case, we’d been out to see someone as a business, and that was something. I decided I’d just be sure not to order dessert.

  “Let’s go.” Clearing her phone, she dropped it into her handbag.

  The computer was already off. It had been for days in an attempt to be ecologically friendly, or rather, conserve some electricity.

  I stood up and stretched, feeling some of the energy in the air seep back into my joints as I moved. This was just what I—what we—needed. A little morale boost, and we’d be back Monday morning. Nothing would happen over the weekend anyway, and knocking off a little early was certainly a perk of being your own boss.

  Olivia took the lead, her actions full of the energy we had both been lacking, and made her way past the old sofa that lined the passageway and down the stairs. I was close behind, eager to leave the day—the week, in fact—behind.

  Stepping out into the waning afternoon, I closed the door, locked it, and dumped the key into my pocket. When I first stopped drinking, carrying a bag was a symbol of my normalcy. But over the months, I’d found that it had become increasingly cluttered, and it got to be tiring. My pockets did the same thing.

  “Are you driving, or shall we walk?” Olivia asked.

  “Let’s walk.”

  We began our journey in solitary silence. Amici’s was a place we’d frequented for many years. We knew the staff by name, and they knew us. Back in the day, when we first made it our haunt, they used to bring gallons of alcohol. Now the only thing they brought was soft drinks and food. I almost felt like they’d grown with me. Instead of tempting me with alcohol, they simply poured the soda.

  Olivia stepped in through the narrow doorway as we reached the Italian restaurant. Inside, the dim lighting greeted us. I smiled as the door closed and we became shrouded in the darkness. It was like coming home. The smell of garlic permeated the air, and the place was as busy as ever. Not too busy for us, though.

  “Olivia! Peyton!” Matt stepped up, with a wide grin.

  His perfectly straight white teeth were on display. He had dark hair, and dark stubble graced his chin. His eyes were chocolate brown and sparkled with mischief, as always.

  “Would you like your booth?”

  “Please, Matt,” Olivia drawled, shortening his name like we had for a long time now.

  There was something about the man that, even I had to admit, oozed charm. He was good-looking and nice. And ever since he’d made an appearance at the restaurant a year ago, neither myself or my best friend were able to enjoy a meal without ogling him. The way I saw it, it just added an extra bit of pleasure to the meal.

  He led the way to the booth we so often took up, despite the fact that we knew our way around the restaurant like it was a second home. Olivia sat in her usual spot as I pulled myself up onto mine. The sides of the booth cut out some of the noise around us. A candle flickered in an old chianti bottle in the centre of the table.

  I sighed and sat back. Everything else could go to hell. Just for the weekend.

  “Is it the usual, ladies?”

  I glanced at Olivia, who nodded.

  “Please,” I responded, with a smile. “Thanks.”

  He half-bowed, then made his exit, and I knew before long we would be tucking into good food.

  “This was a good idea coming here,” Olivia said. The smile on her face told the story. The week had taken it out of her, even if she didn’t care to admit it.

  “I figured we needed a treat. After all, we opened a business and have occupied that office, just w
aiting for a call to come in.”

  “Not to mention the letter I got this morning,” Olivia added, shaking her head. “I’m convinced they’ve found out what I’m doing.”

  “Working at Soul Seekers?” I asked, wrinkling my nose. “Are you sure that they would fire you for something like that?”

  “If it was anything to do with Stubbs, then yes.”

  “Don’t worry, things’ll get better.”

  She grinned. “You’ve changed your tune.”

  “It still worries me, Olive, but I can’t spend my life fretting. Come the end of next week, if we still have nothing, we can rethink everything we’ve done so far. But right now, I just want to eat.”

  Matt appeared with our carbonated drinks and set them down, with a smile, before flicking a towel over his shoulder and turning to another table.

  Olivia abstained from alcohol when she was around me. Most of the time. There was that occasion when we went speed dating on my insistence it would be fun, and she drank wine by the bucket full, while I had to face it completely sober. And that’s when John turned up, of course.

  I shuddered. He seemed to turn up in my life when I least expected it. Like now.

  “What’s up?” Olivia asked as she set her cola down.

  “I was just thinking about that speed dating thing you made me go to. The one where John got angry and drew the attention of the whole room.”

  Olivia sighed. “He really is an idiot. Have you decided what to do about the meetings?”

  I shook my head. “I’ve spoken to Adele a few times on the phone during the always-quiet periods in the office. I told her who he was, and I think she’s of the opinion that I should just ignore him and keep going. I don’t know what to do.”

  “What he did to you when you were both drinking was inexcusable. The night before I dragged him out of your bed, he was an absolute mess, and the speed dating fiasco just cemented it. But maybe it’s time to rethink things.”

  “What do you mean?” I tilted my head, mentally willing my best friend to choose her words carefully.

  “Peyton, isn’t the whole ethos of the meetings that everyone deserves a second chance?”