by Alexie Aaron
“Hypothetically…” Sheriff Grady murmured. “He wouldn’t post it online.”
“No, he wouldn’t.”
“It’s not Ted Martin? I hear he’s a bit of a gossip.”
Cid couldn’t help but chuckle. “No, not Ted. Ted’s busy. Actually, Ted can keep secrets; he just chooses not to.”
“Yes, do it. We could use all the help we can get. Can I ask another favor?”
“I’m listening.”
“Have your friend investigate Calvin Franks. There’s something not right there. He could have chosen six other properties for this artists’ retreat, but he wanted High Court. Why?”
“I was wondering that myself,” Cid admitted. “We’re going to have to tiptoe around him. He’s very bright and determined.”
“Exactly.”
Cid took his time and took enough pictures to capture the wall. He then recorded a video, slowly panning so that Jake could get the feel of the desperate motivation of the elder Grady. He put his phone down and said, “I’ve seen her with my own eyes.”
“Luminosa?” Grady asked.
“Yes, just for a few seconds.”
“What did she look like?”
“Her face was filled with grief, but I could tell she was once beautiful.”
“She had a lot of kids, but they did back in those days. It wasn’t unusual to find families of ten or more kids when I was growing up, all nationalities, and not all Catholic. My father wrote in his report that Pedro Bautista had just retired when they moved out here from Fort Carson, Colorado. He was called back up and left the family here. Luminosa had her hands full managing the motel by herself, but her older kids helped. According to my mother, Luminosa’s family in Mexico used to take care of rich, exiled Spaniards. Motel guests were no problem in comparison.”
“Is there anything else for me to see?” Cid asked.
“No, this is the lot. I would appreciate being kept up to date on your friend’s investigation.”
“All I need is an email address, and Jake will be in touch,” Cid promised.
“Jake what?”
“Just Jake,” Cid answered and walked out of the room.
Chapter Thirteen
Kiki was getting used to the nurse’s routine. She slept in-between blood draws and other prodding. Her room was private, but her bed was too far from the windows for her to sit back and enjoy the view. She tried to watch TV, but every show sparked the memories of things she should be doing at the worksite. She reached for the phone and started to dial Walrus when a candy-striper walked in with a package.
“This came for you, Kiki!” the teenager bubbled. “Would you like me to open it for you?”
Kiki lifted an eyebrow. “No thank you. I’ll open it.”
“Okay,” the sprite answered. “I’ll stand here just in case; those Apple boxes can be tricky.”
Kiki wanted to say something rude but stopped herself. The teen couldn’t help being perky. The mere idea of maintaining that optimistic behavior in a surgery ward was very brave. “Huh, I didn’t notice.”
Kiki opened the box to find an iPad. “I wonder who sent me this?” she asked, looking through the box.
“I could call the store. My ex-boyfriend Billy works there.”
“Um, I wouldn’t want you to get him in trouble or reignite his ardor.”
The candy-striper giggled. “No ardor, that was the problem. I’m Marie Claire. I know, my mother didn’t have much imagination. Who names her kid after a fashion magazine?”
“I like it,” Kiki said, attaching the cord to the iPad. “I know there’s always some charge but…”
“That’s what I’m here for. Let me plug it in… Nope, not there. Last time I did that, Nurse Anne had a fit. Here…” Marie Claire completed her mission. “Will there be anything else?” she asked.
“No, I think I’ve got it. Thank you again,” Kiki said. In her mind she thought, please go away now.
The screen lit up, and instead of tutorials and registration nonsense, there was a giant eyeball looking at her.
“Jake, you’re a bit off-putting,” Kiki said, wincing.
The eye was replaced with Marvin the Martian. “Earthling, I have analyzed the hospital data, and you’re on too much morphine.”
Kiki frowned. “Well hello to you too.” She shut the iPad.
The bedside phone rang. Kiki picked up the receiver.
“Open the damn iPad or I’ll schedule you for a colonoscopy.”
“Jake! You wouldn’t do that, would you?”
“Do you want to test me?”
Kiki opened the iPad, and the screen was filled with flowers.
“I was so worried when I found out,” Jake told her in a voice that was strange but somehow seemed to fit the ghost living in the computer system of PEEPs.
“You sound different.”
“This is the closest I could get to my original voice,” he said. “A little bit of Ryan Gosling, a little bit of Antonio Banderas. Pick up the earbuds and put them in, then hang up the phone.”
“You’re very bossy today,” Kiki commented, picking up the earbuds.
“I’m upset. I had to find out from Cid, who mentioned your hospitalization offhandedly as he uploaded your arrest video.”
“I’m sorry. I have no computer here, and aside from Cid, there isn’t anyone who knows how important you are to me,” Kiki said, immediately regretting letting that slip. She was on too much morphine, but there was no one to blame but herself. She wasn’t in pain as much as she didn’t want to think what Mimi was doing to her life right now.
“How are you?” he asked.
“Emotional. I’m mad because of how I was treated. I’m afraid I’m going to get fired for not being able to keep this haunting on the down low. Cid called my sister, Mimi, and she’s…”
“Complicated?” Jake offered.
Kiki’s lips twitched.
“A Pickles tornado?”
“Don’t get me wrong. She’s kind and will take good care of me, but she likes men and…”
“You can’t stop her from messing around with your men?” Jake asked, his voice slightly cool.
“They aren’t my men. They are my colleagues, my friends. I don’t want things to be odd between us,” she explained. “I wouldn’t put it past her to masquerade as me to get to you.”
“I would know by the keystroke she wasn’t you,” Jake said confidently. “Am I important to you?”
“Yes!” Kiki said rather too loudly. “Even though we know that this relationship can only go so far, it doesn’t stop me from…”
“Kiki, are you trying to tell me you love me?” he asked.
“I care for you,” she let herself admit.
“Do you love me, Kiki?” he pressed.
“I’m not sure,” she hedged. “How would you feel if I do?”
“I’m not sure. I care for you too much to see you waste your life with a nonphysical being. Although, the thought of you with someone else makes me feel bad.”
“That’s called jealousy. You know, friends can love each other. I love Walrus and Scrub, but I view neither of them as anything other than a friend.”
“Not Cid?”
“Nope. Don’t really know Cid that well.”
“He’s one in a million. A saint with devilish undertones.”
“Are those your words?”
“Nah, that’s how Mia would describe him. You know we aren’t the only ones with an unusual friendship. Mia has been friends with a ghost named Murphy since she was fourteen. I’m sure they love each other, but she lives in the real world and has a husband that she’d fight God himself for.”
“Do you believe in God, Jake?” Kiki asked.
“Yes. I’m not a computer,” he reminded her. “Just the ghost of a man who resides in one.”
“What about your family, do you talk to them?”
“No. They have buried and mourned me. I don’t want to cause them further pain. My mother wouldn’t understa
nd why I would choose to reject the light and exist in the ether.”
“So, aside from PEEPs, I’m the only one that you talk to?”
“Yes. Unless I need to call someone for information that I can’t get on the net or the dark web. But that is only communication, not friendship.”
Kiki smiled.
“I love it when you smile,” he said.
Kiki looked at the camera in the iPad a moment. “So, tell me what’s on your plate today?”
“Cid has given me a complex investigation. He’ll tell you about it when he comes to see you. Also, I’m investigating each officer that laid a hand on you. Do you want me to wreck their credit?”
“As tempting as that sounds… No, I understand Sheriff Will Grady gave them a proper dressing down, and Cid pulled the tape… But you know that already. Sorry, my brain is a bit fuzzy.”
“Would you like me to ask Judy to come and see you?”
Kiki grinned. She remembered well the healer that arrived with Mia. “As tempting as that would be, I’ll let Mother Nature complete my healing. I understand the genius of the scalpel operated on me.”
“He has a very high success rating.”
“Jake, how did you buy this?”
“With a debit card. PEEPs pays me like they do all their employees.”
“They pay ghosts?” Kiki questioned.
“Murphy gets paid in trees he can use to reforest his farm. I get money deposited in an account. I’ve invested a lot of my money. Soon I’ll have enough to start a scholarship fund for deserving students.”
Kiki was amazed. “That’s very commendable.”
“I think it will balance out all the things I have to do to get information. I’m a hacker, Kiki.”
“Why not think of yourself as an information-retrieval specialist?”
“Hmmm, IRS? Nope, that’s taken. I guess I’ll have to do without an acronym.”
Kiki laughed. “Do you have any movie recommendations?”
“I hear La La Land is fun…”
Kiki settled back in bed. “Then La La Land it is.”
Wayne greeted his friend Cameron Jones with an energetic wave. “Cam!”
“Wayne Shipley, if you grow that mustache any larger, you’ll get neck trouble from holding your head up,” he teased.
Wayne looked at the tall, black forensic scientist and could find no fault with the middle-aged man. Cam and Wayne lived in the same small town. When Cam was in college, he would substitute teach at the local high school. That was how the two had met. Cam had decided against teaching, hearing the call of science, and moved all over the country with the FBI. The two became reacquainted when Cam retired and started up a small lab in their town. He even returned to teaching, subbing when needed.
“I really appreciate you coming all this way, Cam.”
“I admit, the lure of a fifty-four-year-old cold case had me clearing my calendar. When you told me there were bullets still in the siding, I just couldn’t believe it. Sheriff Grady is most accommodating. I have free run of their lab, and he’s managed to get me a few assistants from the state.”
“I think he wants this case solved. His father had it originally taken from him, and the old sheriff felt it wasn’t really investigated at all,” Wayne said, trying to keep as much of Cid’s confidential information just that, confidential. “There is a caveat.”
“I’m listening.”
“The motel is… well… haunted.”
Cam grinned. “I saw a ghost once. You remember the old Miller flour mill?”
“Down by Ashly Creek?”
“That’s the one. I had taken a class there to collect samples of the old, moldering wheat that you can still find in the dark corners. Anyway, I was packing up my gear when, bold as brass, a miller walked by carrying a bale of wheat on his shoulder. His image was so clear that I could see sweat rolling down his face.”
“Did he talk to you?” Wayne asked.
“Nah, he didn’t know I was there.”
“Cid would call that a residual haunt.”
“What kind of haunt is going on here?” Cam asked, pulling his equipment case out of the back of the rental car.
“Active and a bit dangerous. Although, I have it on good authority, the ghost won’t mess with you while you’re collecting evidence.”
“I take it this is one of the victims?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t tell me any more than you have to. I don’t want it to bias my findings.”
“Can I direct you where to start?”
Cam smiled. “Yes, and then you’re my silent helper until my team arrives.”
Wayne didn’t answer. He just nodded.
Faye watched the two, cautious of not manifesting and disturbing the collection of visible evidence. She watched Cam carefully remove the bullets and fragments of bullets from the siding. He called out to Wayne the location where he had extracted the bullet and the corresponding collection bag number. He also dug around at the base of the east wall and found two other bullets.
“I get the idea some kind of massacre happened here. Do we have any DNA of the victims?”
“That’s a question for the sheriff,” Wayne answered.
“Now take me to Cabin 4.”
“It’s an active crime scene,” Wayne warned.
Cam pulled out a request, signed by Sheriff Will Grady, for him to collect evidence of the assault of Richard Warren and any cold case items that may be found.
Wayne handed the paper back, and Cam secured it in his lab jacket pocket.
“This way, mind the brambles,” Wayne warned.
Cid watched the two from the security cameras. He caught glimpses of a small ghost, he assumed was Faye, tailing the two. Luminosa, if she was there, didn’t do anything to obstruct the collection of evidence.
A movement on the feed from the street camera caught Cid’s eye. He reversed the video to see Calvin Franks walk up the drive and scoot behind the trailers. Cid looked at the various feeds and picked him up again. He was standing just inside the tree line staring at Cabin 4. Cid smiled. He applauded himself for changing the angle of the camera. Cid wanted to see who was watching them. He wasn’t a bit surprised that it was Calvin. But why?
Jake had been uncharacteristically quiet after Cid had updated him on what was going on at High Court and what happened to Kiki. He accepted the job of examining the wall of evidence shots and promised to get back to him as soon as he had anything.
“She’s going to be okay,” Cid had told Jake. “Her sister is here to take care of her personal needs, and I’m watching her back at work.”
“Perhaps Ted could FedEx some Opticals…” Jake started to say.
“Or Curly,” Cid suggested. “I lack the computer power to run him though.”
“Would you mind if I hacked a few cell phones?”
“I’m not your keeper. You’re a big boy, Jake,” Cid said, hoping the ghost would do exactly that. But Cid had to keep his distance from the illegal. He was working with the law now.
“Okey-dokey,” Jake said and disconnected before Cid could ask him if he had found out anything about who had been taking his picture the first night of his arrival.
Cid put his cell phone in his top flannel coat pocket with the camera facing out. He started talking, not sure whether Jake was there or not, “I never really thought about the difficult situation you’re in, Jake. Murphy’s got a body, sort of. And a weapon. But you’ve got this quick brain and the internet, including the dark web, in which to exist. That reminds me, I wonder whatever happened to Lobo, Billy, and Yann?”
Lobo, Billy, and Yann were, in life, Mia’s hacker family. They were killed by demons seeking restitution for the raiding of a treasure vault. Mia offered herself as restitution for their crimes and took the punishment. The three ended up moving into the computer and into the internet instead of taking a ride on the light. The dark web was more of a draw for those spirits than Heaven.
“Mia would have
never let them replace or displace you. I just wanted you to know that,” Cid said.
“I know, Cid,” a different sounding voice came over his phone speaker. “I know.”
Chapter Fourteen
Macy went through the motions of her day looking over her shoulder. It wasn’t that she felt anyone watching her; she just didn’t want any more surprises. She also resisted the urge to go back to the archives. She had her secretary set up a meeting with the archives clerk, Honor Blackwell, when she returned to work the next day. Before then, Macy hoped to consult with her father about how to approach Honor without riling the woman who Macy considered most valuable. Now, for the ghost problem…
Macy pulled out Cid Garrett’s card and punched in his numbers.
“Hello, Macy, it’s good to hear from you,” Cid answered.
“Cid, I have a sensitive subject I would like to consult with you about in person. Today if possible.”
“My calendar today is full.”
“How about this evening? A late supper, my treat,” she offered. Sensing his hesitation, she added, “Nothing you say, I will print without your reading it first. Honestly, I doubt it will make the paper at all.”
“I’ll be available after seven. I’m coming to town to visit my boss.”
“Visit your boss?”
“Kiki. She’s in the hospital.”
“Why?”
“I’d rather not say.”
Macy’s first thought was woman problems, her second was concern. “I hope she is fast on the road to recovery.”
Cid was baffled. It seemed like Macy Eggleston of the Stepner Gazette had no idea that Kiki was injured or anything about the recent happenings at High Court. Keeping something that involved all the emergency services quiet would be an impossible endeavor even for Sheriff Grady.
“Off the record,” Cid said.
“Off the record,” Macy agreed.
“Two of our guards were attacked last night. The state police were there, and one of their cruisers blew up, sending Kiki, Jesse, and the state police sergeant to the emergency room. Honestly, I thought that was the reason for your call.”