by Alexie Aaron
“I killed him when he was at his worst. It was so easy. They were all away on a weekend trip to the city. It was just him and me. The staff was on holiday. He was resting when I came into his room. He was in such pain. I leaned over and told him I had the cure. I stuck the gun to his chest and shot him. He didn’t even look surprised. I think he was relieved. I cleaned up my mess. Switched mattresses with one of the least used rooms. I stored him in the attic in Kip’s elephant-gun box until they closed the house for the winter. By that time, the heat had turned him all leathery. They had been working on an electrical problem in the room adjacent to the stairwell. The wall was left open. I simply pushed him into the space and finished the workmen’s job for them. By the time they returned in the spring, I think they had forgotten what was what.”
“Didn’t anyone miss your father?” Kiki asked.
“They had a dozen private dicks out looking for him. Kip gave up after a while.”
“Why did you kill yourself? Was it out of remorse?” Cid asked.
“No. It was the pain. I wanted it to stop. I wrote my mother a letter confessing all I had done. I requested to be entombed in the landing so I could be close to my father.”
“Oh my god,” Kiki said. “Can you imagine having to live with that?”
“A sane woman would have called the cops,” Jesse said. “She entombed her son next to her murdered lover and lived in this house until her death.”
“She had to have had help,” Jesse pointed out.
“What brought you back?” Cid asked. “Why are you haunting this house?”
“The noise. I would wake when the noise became too much. There were so many parties here. I woke up and did my best to break things and scare away most of the owners of this place. The screaming lady in the attic, I killed.”
“You killed Gwen?”
“She wouldn’t stop screaming and crying. I don’t know how her husband stood her. I encouraged him every night, just as he fell asleep, to shut her up. One day - I think it was a week after she gouged her eyes out - her nurse was excused and left with a healthy bonus. He waited a day and then suffocated Gwen. He put her in the floor. These old places have so many hiding places. He said a few words and sealed her in. He left the house never to return. It was blissfully quiet. That was, until her sort showed up,” Jerald said, pointing to Faye.
“Do you know me? How did I get here?”
“You came with the noisy crowd. All the parties, all the sin. You followed everyone around, a mouse in the shadows. Taking down this and that in your notebook. One day you were here, and then you were gone.”
“So you didn’t see who killed me?”
“No. The parties stopped after that, and I rested, until this noisy crowd showed up.”
Faye hung her head and faded away.
“If we bury you and your father someplace peaceful, will you stop haunting this house?” Cid asked.
“Will the pain go away?” Jerald asked.
“I don’t know. I think so,” Cid offered.
“If the pain goes away, then yes. Otherwise, I have to do what I need to do.”
“And that is?”
“Kill until the noise stops,” Jerald said simply and faded away.
The three looked each other. Kiki put her finger to her lips. “Why don’t we get the graves prepared,” she said, trying to keep her voice modulated.
“I have some cedar left in the garage,” Cid said, picking up on Kiki’s act.
“I’ll give you guys a hand,” Jesse said.
They walked quickly down the steps and over to the garage. Once they were inside, Cid put his hand up so he could listen to see if Jerald had followed them. “Speak softly,” he warned. “It took a lot of energy to communicate with us. I think he has to recharge, but let’s not take any chances.”
Kiki’s words rushed out, “We can’t let that monster stay on this property.”
“We need to burn his bones,” Cid said. “Maybe his father’s too. Then, we’ll bury the ash where we said we would bury them. This way, we haven’t lied to him.”
Jesse looked at Cid. “Are you sure this will work?”
“He seems to be tied to either his father’s or his own corpse. Faye says he returns to the stairs after every encounter. It’s worth a try. Jesse, scan that journal and the pictures, because they get burnt too. Anything associated with Jerald goes,” Cid instructed.
“I’ll call and get permission to burn some debris. The local fire chief is a reasonable guy,” Kiki said.
Cid walked over and drew out some boards. “I’ll get started on the coffins.”
“I’m going to pull in some of that scrap lumber before it gets rained on,” Jesse said, picking up a wheelbarrow and leaving for the scrap pile.
Faye appeared.
“I’m sorry, Faye. I had hoped Jerald would have more information for you,” Cid sympathized.
“Ghosts are a selfish lot. I think he killed the Lambert trio.”
“Do you?”
“I can’t quite remember. I know they performed here. I can see them standing on the landing singing to us from above. I remember thinking they were angels. Oh, to have such a beautiful voice! I was telling Marmee that Beth has a beautiful voice. Amy disagrees. She says Beth is too frail to…”
Cid watched sadly as Faye remembered that this memory was, also, from a book. Tears fell from her eyes but never touched the ground. “Little Women,” she sniffed.
“I admire you,” Cid said.
“Me? You admire a crazy mixed-up ghost without a memory to call her own?”
“You’re so brave. Here you are on the cusp of a new adventure. You have no baggage to hold you down.”
“Baggage?”
“It’s psychobabble for memories of past events that weigh you down and stop you from doing the things you want to do.”
“I’m not sure what you’re trying to tell me?” Faye asked, moving closer.
“Let’s take Jesse for example. He has a fear of clowns and dolls. This stops him from appreciating a circus or, perhaps, having a tea party with his step-nieces. The fear of clown dolls is his baggage.”
“You mean one of many bags. Seriously, that man is really messed up. There’s not a train station big enough to hold his suitcases.”
Cid laughed.
“So by me not knowing what my past is…”
“It frees you. I’m not saying that we’re going to stop looking, but you should use this time to have an adventure. To move on to other things, fun things.”
“But that damn broach. It holds me here.”
“Only if you believe it does,” Cid said.
“Hold your horses! You’re telling me that I don’t have to be tethered to that cursed pin or my submerged bones?”
“I know a ghost that moves about freely. He does have to recharge. You don’t seem to have that kind of problem.”
“I don’t, do I? Cid, I do have to rest. I can’t be walking around like this all day.”
“We all have to rest.”
“You can’t lay Jerald to rest. He won’t rest.”
“We know.”
“Whatever you have planned, count me in. I’m not buying that he didn’t kill me too.”
“You’re not the noisy sort, Faye.”
“I can be when you need me to be,” Faye assure him. “I’m going to watch him, make sure he doesn’t creep up on you three when you’re making plans.”
“I appreciate it, Faye.”
Faye smiled and disappeared.
Jesse rolled in with some wood. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to get a blaze hot enough to burn those bodies to ashes.”
Cid motioned for him to follow him to his truck. He opened up the back, climbed in, and opened the equipment box. Inside rested a box of road flares.
“Ah, I’m seeing the light, Cid. I’m seeing the light.”
~
“What do you need a fire for?” Jerald asked from the doorway of the office.<
br />
“A diversion,” Kiki said simply.
Jerald thought a moment and smiled. “So no one sees you bury us.”
“You’re a smart ghost,” Kiki said calmly. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”
Jerald moved away and up the stairs. He looked at the spot where his father’s body had been hidden. It was nice to have him so close, even if his shriveled body unnerved him. Father and son would soon lay side by side in the coffins that were being made for them. They would rest in the peace and quiet. It was his dream being realized. And it only took killing the songbirds, the crying lady, his father, and a few others to have it.
Kiki lifted the laptop and typed all she had learned to Jake.
Jake: So we shouldn’t speak until this is over?
Kiki: Typing is fine, but we can’t chance Jerald overhearing.
Jake: I understand. How are you feeling?
Kiki: Scared.
Jake: Cid is there, and his friend Jesse seems reliable.
Kiki: True. Am I doing the right thing? Should the police be called? This house has seen more death than a funeral home. Is the house bad?
Jake: I have no way of knowing. Would you like me to send someone that can tell you?
Kiki: If you mean Mia, no. I have a feeling that Cid needs to do this on his own. He needs to step out from her and her husband’s shadow. He needs to show himself what he is made of and what he can do on his own.
Jake: You’re very perceptive.
Kiki: I watch a lot of late-night reality shows.
The work line rang. Kiki answered, “Hidden Meadow.”
“Kiki, this is Virgil. I just heard from the road crew. They are going to be delayed with finishing the drive. The rain is supposed to be settling in today and not passing through like was originally forecast.”
“When will the road be opened?”
“Thursday, instead of Tuesday as planned.”
“Thursday. I’m going to have to reschedule my crews, but we’re ahead of schedule, knock on wood, so don’t worry about your bonus.”
“Yet. You wanted to say yet,” Virgil teased.
“You know me well. Oh, Virgil, we caught some kids on the property, and they took off down your new hill.”
“Damn. Did they do much damage?”
“A few divots here and there. I think the rain will settle the topsoil in, but you may want to check on it Thursday.”
“I’ll look at it first thing,” he said and hung up.
Kiki glanced at the laptop. Marvin the Martian stood there wearing a nun’s habit and holding a ruler.
“Okay, I lied,” Kiki admitted. “But it was for a good cause. If he’s concentrating on the front landscape, he’s not going to notice that we messed with the Chinese maple or the patio.” She switched subjects and asked, “What’s on the movie schedule for tonight?”
Jake flashed a montage of haunted mansion movies.
“You’re an evil ghost, you know that?” Kiki sniped.
He changed to a series of chick flicks.
“You would watch them with me?”
The puppy with the big eyes returned.
“Stop, stop, you’re breaking my heart. How about a car chase?”
Jesse and Cid worked together and managed to produce the two coffins and get them into the house before the downpour hit. They carried each coffin upstairs. Kiki found some linens to line the coffins and to aid the men in transferring the remains to each box. Jesse wanted to take the adulterer sign from Barney’s neck but didn’t want to risk Jerald’s rage. Eventually, each body was resting in the open coffins.
Faye appeared on cue. “Are you going to bury them now?”
“We can’t bury them in the rain. I haven’t dug the graves yet. I have to be careful or the water will ruin the gravesite,” Jesse told her.
“We’ll move them downstairs so they can be carried out as soon as the rain lets us,” Cid said.
Faye moved off and watched as the men placed the covers on but didn’t nail them down. Each coffin was respectfully taken down to the mud room and set on the harvest tables. Kiki had picked some flowers and placed a few candles in old mason jars and lit them.
“It looks beautiful in here,” Faye commented.
“Thank you. I wanted it to be special,” Kiki said.
~
While the storm raged overhead, Cid and Jesse worked on repairing the wall and the landing floor. Kiki acted as a runner and slid in and out of the house bringing in forgotten materials. Soon, aside from a professional plastering - which Kiki would put on Feliks’s list to be done – the landing was finished.
“I’m headed for a hot bath. I’ll see you two in the morning,” Kiki said and walked up to the third floor and her room.
Jesse and Cid carried their tools down. As they passed the large crate, Cid heard the faint tinkling of the chandelier crystals. He assumed it was Jerald keeping an eye on them. He couldn’t wait for this to be over, and he had a backup plan if this didn’t work. He would have to involve Mia and Father Simon, and take on the favors this would involve, but he was determined that this house would be set free from the influences of that murderous bastard Jerald Archer, or his name wasn’t Cid Garrett.
Chapter Twenty-one
The sound of shovel hitting dirt was accompanied by Cid’s careful stacking of two funeral pyres. Faye moved in a circuit, watching Jerald, Cid and Jesse.
Kiki was busy rescheduling her crews. She had a long conversation scheduled with Hal this evening. She would have to come clean with all they had done to rid the house of bodies. She hoped to get him to loosen his purse strings a bit more. With his additional funding, she could finish the east wing in a few months. Otherwise, the wing would have to wait until next spring. Part of her worried that the house would only be half used. The dolls would be locked away, and the good parts of Hidden Meadow would be hidden until the house moved into someone else’s hands.
She dropped her head into her hands.
“What’s the matter?” Jake asked.
“I have a hard time not becoming attached to these houses.”
“It’s understandable. They are, after all, in your care.”
“But they aren’t mine.”
“True. Think about how your sister thinks about her students. They aren’t her children, and she has to let them go each year.”
“And they leave better students and children after having a year of her classroom,” Kiki finished. “I guess these houses are my babies.”
“It’s your love for them that makes you so good at your job,” Jake emphasized.
“Will I ever be able to look at them as brick and wood again?” she asked.
“Does it matter?” Jake probed.
“I think it should. Anyway, those are thoughts for another day. I have to go and get dressed for a funeral.”
“Be safe,” Jake said and signed off.
Kiki closed her laptop and picked up her phone. She put it in the back pocket of her jeans and climbed the stairs.
Jake watched her back. He saw the three lights. They too seemed to be protecting her. They stopped before the rooms. The lines of salt were too much for the Lambert sisters.
Jesse and Cid moved Barney’s coffin out the door quickly and down to the funeral pyre. They jogged up the hill, into the house, and picked up Jerald’s coffin. Kiki held the door as they walked this swiftly to its resting place.
Jerald loomed up out of the coffin, puzzled by his surroundings. He did find the spot quiet and within view of a small quiet stream. But the coffin wasn’t in the ground. The lid was taken from Barney’s coffin, and the woman was tucking something in with his father. The lid of his coffin was lifted, and the man they called Scrub put in his journal and pictures. He admitted his ego suffered a bit that the people didn’t want to peruse his thoughts over and over again, but perhaps they were too profound even for them.
Cid handed Jesse several unusual logs, and he tucked them around Jerald’s body. Why?
Did they need to weigh down his casket?
“He’s here,” Faye warned.
“Keep working,” Cid instructed the others.
“Wait! What is going on here!” Jerald demanded.
“We’re giving you a Viking sendoff,” Kiki said.
“Where is my boat? Where is the sea?” he asked.
Cid lit the pyres, and the dried wood caught quickly.
“No no no!” Jerald said and moved over to pull his body from the coffin. He couldn’t summon enough strength to do this. Instead, he filled the empty husk that was his body with his energy and sat up.
“Oh my god,” Jesse said, pointing. “Jerald is in his body.”
Cid pushed down his fears, lit the road flares, and tossed them into both coffins. Barney’s quickly burst into flames. The hot flare fed the wood and turned the pyre blue with extreme heat.
Jerald stood up and prepared to leap from his burning coffin.
Faye flew over the flames and butted her head into the belly of the corpse, and Jerald fell back into the flares. His body caught fire. Jerald rose out of his body with his hands around Faye’s throat. “You shall die again, you bitch! You interfering witch, once again I will send you into the well with your caterwauling sisters.”
Jerald’s body burst into hot flame, and above it, his spirit withered.
Faye twisted away and hid behind Cid. They watched as the body of Jerald Archer burned and his ghost turned to ash, never to haunt Hidden Meadow again.
“What about Barney?” Faye asked.
“Honey, he was long gone before we came,” Cid said. “That’s just an empty vessel.”
“Jerald said my sisters in the well…”
“He may have meant sisters metaphorically, like womankind,” Cid said, trying not to get the little ghost’s hopes up.
“It’s a clue that I will follow up on. So did he kill me?”
The looks on the three faces told her that they didn’t know, more importantly, that they didn’t think so.
“Sour lemonade! This is so frustrating!” Faye said and stomped off.