by Alexie Aaron
“La Lecture,” Cid identified. “I see you’ve been reading about Pablo Picasso’s first mistress. Is that who you think you are?” Cid asked the ghost who could not remember her own past.
Faye had appeared to the renovation group in Hidden Meadow in many guises. She was a victim of murder, but why she was killed, and by whom, was never answered. Faye had no idea who she was. There was only one clue, a face in an old faded group photo, taken on a New Year’s Eve, to go by. But the ghost’s penchant for believing she was the heroine of books she remembered reading tended to lead them on a few wild-goose chases.
“Jesse refuses to see me, so I had to spend my time reading. He brought home a stack of biographies. Marie seemed like a good fit.”
“How much French do you know?”
“Not more than an American school girl. I know I’m not Marie, but I thought I would fit in better here if I were more a muse than a spirit.”
“Very sound thinking. So, Jesse refuses to see you?”
“The first day I appeared to him, in that hovel he rents while he works on his house, he shook his head and said, ‘I have no time for you. Go home.’ You can imagine my ire, not knowing where my home is, since I don’t have a fig’s knowledge of who I am.”
“That’s very distressing.”
“I let him know my anger from time to time, but when he started to bring home books, which I suspected were for me, I stopped hiding his tools.”
“I see,” Cid said. “Were they all biographies?”
“Mostly.”
Cid laughed. “Faye, or Marie or whomever you want to be, Jesse, in his ass-backwards kind of way, was helping you to discover yourself. If I were you, I’d drift over to that town in the distance and take up residence in the library.”
“I could, but then who would protect you lot from the wrath of Luminosa Bautista?”
Cid looked at her sideways. “Go on…”
“She’s unhappy, and she is dangerous. Her violence knows no bounds. She holds every living being responsible for what happened here.”
“What did happen here?” Cid asked.
“I only know bits and pieces. Luminosa brushed me aside worse than Jesse did. My advice is to follow the echoes. They appear after the sun is at its highest. I have to stay clear because the energy Luminosa pulls, to bring back the past, sucks the life out of me.”
Cid wanted to point out life wasn’t the correct word to use but kept his pedantic self under control. He looked at his watch. It was only eleven. He pulled out his phone and called Jesse.
“Well, look who finally got his rear in gear,” Jesse started. “We’re on our way up. Stay put, and don’t, I repeat, don’t, rile the ghosts up. Walrus has already developed ghost hives.”
“I had a hell of a drive and arrangements to make. I’ve been having an interesting conversation with Faye…”
“Don’t get me started on what you did to me, you sonofabitch. She yaps all day long, hides my stuff, and…”
“I didn’t want you to be lonely out on your property,” Cid lied. “Plus, if I brought another ghost home, Mia would fry my balls in the iron skillet.”
“Ouch, I hear she burns everything. It would serve you right. Let’s call it evens. You take care of Miss Faye on this job, and I’ll forgive you.”
“How nice of you.”
“See you in a few,” Jesse said and hung up.
Chapter Two
Luminosa Bautista watched the contractors from her side of the veil. She had to stop this group from destroying the evidence of her and her children’s murders. The police should be here collecting evidence. Hunting down the … The horrific day escaped her again as if it never was. She, herself, couldn’t see her attackers. She was shot in the back, and as the blackness descended, she watched, paralyzed, as each of her beloved children were hunted down and killed. All for… She stopped a moment. Why were they killed? Money? They did well but kept the balance of their savings in the bank. Enemies? They were peaceful people, taking after her ancestors who had waited patiently on the wealthy Spanish nobles, who fled Europe and settled in her homeland. So, if it wasn’t money, and they had no enemies, then why were they hunted down that cold autumn day and killed?
Faye looked down at the dark-haired woman from her hiding place. She had chosen to sit on a branch of an established oak tree. The woman paced back and forth and pulled at her hair before sinking to her knees and pounding the earth before her.
Cid turned around, hearing what he assumed was someone stomping on the ground. Maybe an upset child or a winded adult was making their way up the steep hillside? He turned around but didn’t see anyone. “But it doesn’t mean you’re not there,” he said quietly.
The sound of Kiki’s truck roaring up the drive replaced the pounding. With his extraordinary hearing, he noticed the slight squeak that indicated that one of the vehicle’s belts was slipping. He would mention it to Kiki later. No one wanted to be greeted with bad news.
Jesse hopped out of the truck just as Kiki pulled the truck into a space by the Airstream trailer they were using as a construction office. “So what do you think?” Jesse asked, waving his hand at the buildings.
“I see a lot of work. We need to get the rooves finished before winter,” Cid commented, walking with Jesse into one of the cabins. “I love the design of the roofline. Yours?”
“No, Kiki’s.”
“Someone call my name?” Kiki asked, striding into the cabin and over to Cid, clasping his hand in a firm handshake.
“I was just admiring your roof renovation.”
“I hope it will hold the snow this area gets,” she said. “I’m ninety-nine percent certain that the steepness of it will stop too much accumulation, but those dormers…”
“What if you heated the flashing? Not a lot, just enough to keep the snow from sticking?”
“Major icicles,” Kiki replied. “But I like your idea.”
“Why the dormers in the first place?” Cid asked.
“To bring in east and west light for the artists,” she answered.
“Why not skylights?” Cid asked.
“Too modern. Our client wants to maintain a homey look.”
Cid nodded, taking the information in.
“Also, I don’t know of a skylight that hasn’t leaked after a few years,” Kiki commented. “Can you imagine the fury of an artist with rainwater dripping down on a masterpiece?”
“No, but Ted would be miffed if his inventions got hit with water, frying a few circuits,” Cid said.
“How are the Martins?” Jesse asked.
“Busy. They adopted a teenager, have a son in the terrible twos, and a baby on the way. It’s a full house. Ted’s sold a patent and is presently working on something for a Mars mission, but won’t let any of us in on it.”
“How about Mia?” Jesse asked.
“She’s as round as she is tall. The baby is going to be a big one. She’s been given orders of only limited activity, so she’s out of the ghost hunting business for a while.”
“That must be driving her nuts,” Kiki commented.
“Another reason I was happy to accept your position,” Cid admitted.
“Clark, you’re a coward,” Kiki said and patted him on the back. “I’d like to go over a few things and get your paperwork out of the way. Scrub, see if you can get Walrus to check on Cabin 4. It’s nearly a football field away from the bad spot.”
“I’ll do my best. It would be better if we didn’t have to drive by the building…”
“What if you drove through the Forest Preserve and walked in?” Kiki suggested. “It would be downhill…”
“I see you’ve thought about this,” Jesse said.
“I ran into a ranger at Sissy’s bakery, and he offered the use of the road if we needed it.”
“He knows about the haunting?” Jesse asked.
“Walrus made the front page of the Stepner Gazette,” Kiki said, frowning. “Calvin wasn’t pleased.”
; “I spoke to the gentleman when I arrived. He seemed in good spirits,” Cid reported.
“Fortunately for me, he’s a forgiving sort.” Kiki squinted her eyes as if she was plotting something. “My plan is that I’m going to get Walrus to confide in the bartender at the Elks that he suffers from flashbacks from a childhood trauma or PTSD.”
Cid angled his head. His eyes held his disapproval. “I wouldn’t suggest you using a condition, many a returning vet and harmed child have, as a fiction. It isn’t right.”
“Clark, do you have a better idea?” she asked, using her moniker for the handsome carpenter.
“Say nothing. It will die down in time. In places like this, the gossip moves quickly. In and out. Something will soon replace it.”
Kiki seemed to take his advice in.
“Before I forget, one of your engine’s belts is slipping,” Cid said. “I’d have someone look at it.”
“How do you know…” she began.
“His super hearing,” Jesse reminded her. “Cid can hear a butterfly fart.”
This tickled Kiki and brought a smile to her face.
Cid shook his head at his friend. “Mind pointing me to where I can unpack?” he asked.
“Oh, sorry, meeting first, shower later,” Kiki said and then realized how that sounded.
Cid, ever the gentleman, let it go. He followed her to the Airstream.
Jesse walked over to what used to be the reception building and ran his hand over the exposed bullet-ridden wall.
“I wouldn’t do that,” advised Faye, who materialized before him dressed in a wild orange paisley dress and white go-go boots.
“Why?”
“Because Mrs. Bautista is kneeling not four feet from you.”
“What is she doing?”
“Unfortunately, I think, by her actions, she is cursing God.”
“Whoa,” Jesse backed away. He motioned for the little ghost to follow him to where an old rusted swing set stood. “Tell me what you know?”
“She doesn’t talk to me. To her, I’m an irritant. But I have observed a few things since we arrived.”
“Go on,” Jesse encouraged.
“What happened to her and her family came as a surprise. There was no warning. She’s stuck here. She can’t even get to her bones, which are in the graveyard on Route 43. That’s where the town buried the Bautistas, all in one large grave. They stacked them like cordwood.”
“Are there other Bautistas around?” Jesse asked.
“Not that I can see. No, that’s a fib. I see them at noon every day, but they’re like a movie running forwards and backwards at the same time. Also, there are others involved in the massacre, but they appear as black smudges to me. My advice, not that you or Ciddy-boy will take it, is to stop work at 11:45, and don’t come back to this place until 1 PM every day.”
“I take it, this is the time when the movie reel runs,” Jesse said, looking at his watch.
“It’s also the time when Mrs. Bautista hunts for the killers of her family,” Faye said. “Sometimes, she can’t tell the difference between the living and the dead. Her senses are clouded by hate.”
“Taking a lunch break seems reasonable…”
Faye was surprised; the man was not only listening to her, but taking her advice. She stilled her spine and took a chance and said, “Jesse, you can’t renovate this area until you find out what happened to her family. She is protecting evidence that may not have been collected when the murders happened.”
Jesse looked from Faye to the reception building and then at the other cabins and the series of connected rooms leading off the reception building. “We have a lot of work to do elsewhere, but Kiki will move on to this area soon.”
“Then you don’t have much time.”
“Why me? Cid’s the ghost hunter.”
“Cid can’t do it alone. He may be Superman, but if memory serves me, Superman does have his…” Faye frowned when the word would not come from her memory.
“Kryptonite,” Jesse filled in.
Her face brightened. “Yes, his kryptonite, Achilles heel.”
“What is it?” Jesse inquired.
“He doesn’t understand evil. Cid may have dealt with bad ghosts and demons before with PEEPs, but he doesn’t understand how a peaceful woman like Mrs. Bautista could reach out from the grave and kill.”
Jesse blinked, trying to take Faye’s information in. “She’s killed?”
“I overheard her talking to herself. Although, she really doesn’t have any memory of killing the men. Luminosa thought it was for revenge, but when the life left her victims, she learned she was wrong. She prays for forgiveness, when she’s not cursing God.”
“How do you know all of this?”
“I just do,” Faye said. “Time for me to skedaddle. The library closes for lunch soon. I have to wait for the place to clear out, so I don’t cause a ruckus,” she explained. “And I’d like to finish reading Anne of Green Gables.”
“Just don’t arrive back here a redhead with an obstinate attitude,” Jesse said.
The realization hit her that Jesse had read the book. “I thought it was a girl’s book,” Faye teased and faded away.
“There, that’s the insurance,” Kiki said, handing the last paper to Cid.
Cid took the time to read it through even though it was the same document he’d signed when he was on the Hidden Meadow project.
Kiki didn’t fault him for this, but it did irritate her. Cid read everything and questioned everything. She almost hit him when he pointed out a punctuation mistake. Pedantic people had their place in the world but were hard for a live-by-her-gut person like Kiki to understand
Cid signed it and handed it back.
Jesse burst in the door.
“Out!” Kiki growled.
Jesse ignored her. “Cid, do you have one of those ghost cameras?”
“In the truck, why?” he asked, irritated.
“We have fifteen minutes to either try to film one of them whatchamacallits haunts or leave the property for our safety.”
Kiki looked up from her paperwork.
“He’s talking about the residual haunt of the Bautista murders that Faye said would start ‘when the sun is at the highest,’” Cid explained.
“Which is noon,” Jesse said, tapping his watch.
“Did she also tell you that possibly a few men have been killed by Mrs. Bautista?” Cid asked them.
“Not until a few moments ago,” Jesse answered.
“What are you talking about? Calvin made no mention of anyone else dying here,” scoffed Kiki.
“Maybe they didn’t find their bodies yet.” Jesse offered
“Faye could be telling a story. You know how she gets when she’s reading,” Cid said.
“She’s reading Anne of Green Gables. I don’t remember any murders in that book,” Jesse fired back.
Kiki blinked twice. Once was for the mention of the ghost Faye being on-site and, two, that Jesse read Anne of Green Gables. Cid she could see bending the pages of an L. M. Montgomery young adult novel, but knuckle-dragging Jesse?
“Are we done with the paperwork?” Cid asked Kiki.
“Yes.”
“Would you excuse me while I indulge Jesse?” Cid asked.
“Go. I’ll expect you two goons back at one to look over the plans of Cabin 4,” she said.
Cid nodded, took his copies of the signed papers, and followed Jesse out the door.
Kiki scanned the paperwork and put her copies in the proper files. She talked to herself as she did the chore, “No one asks me to join them on a ghost-filming adventure. No one asks the boss to join them… Damn, am I putting too much distance between me and my employees?”
Kiki got up and looked out of the window at Cid as Jesse pointed out where he thought they should film. She turned around and looked at the computer. “I wonder if Jake is available?” Kiki sat down and sent an email to [email protected] and asked for him to text her wh
en he had time to chat. She knew he was working with Ted on a secret gadget and would be busy most of the day. Kiki got up, walked back to the window, and watched Cid and Jesse from the safety of the Airstream.
Chapter Three
Cid scanned the landscape with his camera. He wasn’t sure that he would be able to see, in real time, what the digital video recorder would pick up through the lens, but he hoped to be able to capture as much as he could veil-blind. Burt, the lead partner of PEEPs, had taught him how to use the camera with finesse: how to ignore the action in front of him, to be calm, and to run like hell when an active-haunt ghost locked eyes on the cameraman.
Jesse stood on the far side of where the bullet-ridden building was. He had the loaned tri-spectrum camera Cid had handed him. He was to hit the automatic button if he sensed movement of any kind.
Luminosa Bautista didn’t see Cid or Jesse. She was walking out of the laundry with a fresh stack of linen when her youngest son Miguel ran by her. “Mama, run, hide!” were the only words he said as he dove into a clump of low evergreen bushes his late father had tried to train into a hedge. This hedge was the only thing separating the motel’s property from the sloping farm fields.
She turned around and felt pain in her back. She saw the eyes of her daughter Leticia, who had walked out of the reception building, go wide and a scream form, never to be heard as a bullet ended her life. She fell to the ground. Her dead eyes open to the midday sun. Luminosa could not get to her. She could not call out to warn Miguel as the blackness found his hiding space, nor stop Pedro and Carlos from running to her side and suffering a similar fate. She didn’t see little Silvia or Raúl. Were they dead or hiding? The darkness took her, and as it did, she scorned God for letting this happen and chose the devil as her champion.
Cid witnessed, through his viewer, the fall of a large beautiful Mexican woman. He wasn’t quick enough to catch the running boy, but he did see a darkness hover over before moving on to… He could hear the echoes of shots fired. Was it that it was suggested by the bullet-ridden siding he had seen, or did he really hear the murderous shots fired from the past? He saw a teenage girl run out and fall. “That’s three,” he said softly. Two young males ran to their mother and sister. They were cut down with a barrage of bullets. “Is this one assassin or two?” Cid asked himself.