by Ava Day
“Yeah, me neither.”
Brent clears his throat. “You know the pizza’s getting cold upstairs.”
“You're right. She’s gone anyway. I guess this can wait until after dinner,” I agree as my stomach rumbles.
Glancing over my shoulder I already feel the urge to come back and find whatever it is that Laverne wanted me to. Brent looks around the auditorium apprehensively before following us out into the lobby. We did just spring the whole ghost thing on him with no warning. I wonder if he's just playing along until he can have us hauled away for believing in ghosts.
Chapter 10
Dinner goes alright, but Brent is mostly silent until we are cleaning up. He pulls me aside while Joy is in the bathroom.
“Can we talk a little more privately?” he asks.
“Sure, let's go take a walk,” I reply. “Hey, Joy. We're gonna get some fresh air. Be back in a little bit.” I grab a hoodie from my room before we head out. Brent and I meander down the street for a little while enjoying the cool spring night and star filled sky until he breaks the silence.
“Are you alright, Penny?” His voice is filled with concern.
“About seeing ghosts or finding a corpse in the basement?” I reply.
“I guess both. The body of that woman would be enough to give anyone nightmares. Ghosts though?” He stops and turns to me.
“Her name is Laverne by the way. We went and found out who she was. Joy and I didn't just start seeing ghosts. We cast a spell together.”
“A spell?”
“Yeah, it was in one of those books.”
“What was this spell supposed to do?”
“Awaken our supernatural powers…” I mumble. “Okay, now that I'm saying it out loud it does sound a little unbelievable.”
“More than a little, Penny. Ghosts and magic? But if you believe it then I'll take your word for it. It might take me some time to understand it is all,” he says. He’s totally using a don’t-upset-the-crazy-person voice. Great.
I should really diffuse this situation. “Or perhaps Joy and I are still a little miffed that you took it upon yourself to paint our apartment and sand the floors so we’re pulling your leg.”
“You two city girls…” Brent laughs aloud, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, alright? I guess I was just a little too excited that you’re back in town and wanted to make sure you didn’t get overwhelmed and leave, especially after finding a corpse in your new place.”
“So does this mean that you'll still work on fixing up the Beacon? I liked what you did with the apartment and maybe we could talk to Joy about letting you start on the roof while we figure out Laverne's murder.”
“Penny, stop messing with me.”
“No, I’m serious about that murder part. Her name really was Laverne, too.” I know honesty is the best policy, but not when it makes you sound like a total lunatic.
“Murder? How do you know she was murdered?”
“It's just where the investigation is going at this point.”
“The investigation? I thought you two were running a coffee shop and now you're detectives?”
“I guess we are this week. It's just become kind of personal since we found Laverne in our basement. She deserves our respect,” I reply. “I stopped by the police station and they consider her death some type of bizarre hoarder accident.”
“Lemme guess. Detective Sheffield?”
“Yeah.”
“He wants to retire this fall.”
“That’s ironic. He seemed a little hostile to all the retirees around here.”
“And even if he didn’t. There’s no way he’s opening up a murder investigation right before tourist season unless he absolutely has to. If he finds foul play, he won’t announce it until after the leaves are off the trees and it’s someone else’s problem.”
On our way back down the street now, I look down the alley next to the theater and see that Joy's car has been moved forward. The door to the basement is hanging wide open again. What the heck is going on with this place? Without saying anything to Brent I abruptly turn and stalk down the alley towards the doorway. He follows close behind me.
“What are you doing?” he whispers.
“Someone keeps opening this door. I even had Joy park her car in front of it and somehow they managed to move it,” I say, exasperated.
“I could reinforce the door and put an alarm on it, if you want. That would at least scare anyone away if they manage to get the door open after my modifications.”
“That's a great idea. Please do that ASAP. Tomorrow if you can. I'm just paranoid about it after finding Laverne's body. Who knows what kind of creep might be sneaking around in the basement?”
The last sentence is a scary thought. Joy and I are sleeping here now and if anyone can get inside, I wouldn't feel very safe. Joy would definitely have a problem with that. Brent pulls a flashlight from his pocket and inspects the door. He doesn't discover any signs of tampering. Stepping into the basement, we pull the door closed behind us. We check the locking mechanism to make sure it's not malfunctioning. It all works perfectly but I still want Brent to replace it with something a little more heavy duty. With Brent leading the way through the darkness, I follow his beam of light towards the spiral staircase that leads to the kitchen behind the concession stand.
“Thanks for talking to me,” I say.
“Always. I still really care about you, Penny,” he replies as he tucks a stray hair behind my ear. “I never forgot about you and that summer.”
“Neither did I.” Boldly, I give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I'll see you tomorrow.”
“We'll get that door in the basement squared away so you two don't have to worry about it anymore.”
“Goodnight,” I say.
“Goodnight.” He lets himself out of the front door. I head upstairs when I hear his truck engine rev to life. Joy is sitting at the kitchen table sipping a glass of wine.
“That was quick.” she says casually.
“Yeah, we just had a little chat. Are you ready to hunt for whatever it is Laverne wants us to find?” I ask.
“Why do you think I'm sitting here waiting for you?”
“Let me grab that runic language book so we can decipher what everything is,” I say.
We head down to the auditorium and for the first time, I feel really exposed with the hole in the roof letting the night air in so readily. The tarp covering it flaps gently in the breeze and filters the moonlight with a blue tint. We work methodically from top to bottom pulling out anything we find and figuring out what it is. I remembered to grab a notebook so I could inventory everything in plain English for future reference.
Looking over my shoulder, I keep expecting Laverne to appear suddenly. This would be so much easier if we knew what we were looking for. I watch the glow of the moon slowly move across the tarp until it's out of view. We've deciphered only a third of the objects in the section Laverne lead me to and we didn't even bother with anything that looked like an ingredient.
Joy informed me that they're actually called reagents, not ingredients. She's been reading the A Beginners Guide to the World of Magiks book that we used cast the spell from the other night. I'm ready to give up and call it a night, but Joy pressures me to do one more shelf.
Pulling a plainly carved box from the ledge in front of me, I open the lid to find a beautiful pendant on a silver chain. It's an amethyst crystal, but inside it has tiny veins of gold running throughout it in a crisscross pattern. Propping the book I'm using to decode the labels against the shelf, I start working on what this beautiful pendant is used for. Most of the items are just a name with no description. Some of them have a small set of instructions on how to use them. The amethyst pendant has a few sentences scrawled on the label in a very neat and precise handwriting. I know I've found the right object after I decipher the first few words. Allows the wearer to communicate with spirits.
“Hey, Joy! I found what we are looking for,” I s
hout as I hold up the pendant for her see.
“Really? What does it do?” she asks.
“I haven't got the whole thing figured out yet but it's used for talking to spirits. You just have to wear it,” I respond.
“Well, all we need now is for Laverne to appear and start talking to us again,” Joy says as I slip the pendant over my head.
It doesn't make me feel any different. One thing is for sure, I'm not taking this thing off unless someone rips it from my neck. With a hearty yawn, I put my arm around Joy's shoulder and we trudge out of the auditorium. I'm practically asleep before I even hit the pillow. It's been a long day and I'm more than ready for some rest.
I'm awoken by the smell of coffee being brewed wafting down the hallway. I stumble out of bed and make my way into the kitchen. At the table I find Brent and his friend Nate gulping down coffee while Joy is cracking some eggs for breakfast.
“Good morning sunshine,” Joy exclaims cheerfully. “Do you want any eggs?”
“Sure,” I reply groggily.
I make a run for the bathroom before Brent and Nate can laugh at my awful bedhead. I look like I got in a fight with a ceiling fan. Pulling out a chair, I plop down next to Brent and steal a sip from his cup.
“Nate and I are going to wire up the doors to an alarm. It's not going to call the police or anything but it will let you know if someone is in the building,” Brent explains.
“That will be a big relief. What do you think about the hole in the roof? I know you put a tarp over it. but it's not very secure,” I ask.
“We're not magicians, the locks will take most of today,” Nate interjects. His choice of words makes us chuckle, even Brent. “I'm sure we can get a crew working on the roof this week.”
“Nate's right, the roof is going to take some time. It's not easy to get up there and I doubt anyone is going to jump down into the auditorium from that height without seriously injuring themselves.” Brent reasons.
What if they can float down? I better not say that out loud.
Joy finishes up the eggs and plates them out to everyone. The guys eat like someone is going to take their food away. Joy and I eat at a leisurely pace and actually try to enjoy our breakfast. After everyone is done, Brent and Nate head down into the theater to get started on changing the locks and installing the alarm.
“What's the game plan today?” Joy asks.
“We should go talk to Oscar, the man the ladies at the library told us about,” I say.
“Do you really think it's worth the time?” she replies.
“Are you ready to just forget about the dead body and the ghost?”
“Good point, I'll grab a jacket,” Joys laughs as she runs down the hall to her bedroom.
I'm much less enthused about the idea of visiting a stranger who may or may not be a psychopath, even if he is an old man. I check the map on my phone to figure out where Pine Street is. It's surprisingly not all that close to downtown. Joy comes back into the kitchen with her purse and jacket on.
“Looks like we're going to have to drive today. Oscar lives kind of far,” I inform her.
“That's fine. I kind of miss driving everywhere. My car is my second home or it might as well be for all the stuff I keep in there.”
On our way out, I inform Brent where we are going in case something terrible happens. He just laughs at first until I give him my serious face. Nate actually waves at Joy as we're leaving. She beams a smile at him and waves back before bolting out the door.
I give Joy directions as we drive down various twisty side streets. The town of Spring Valley was not laid out with any sort of grid pattern in mind. We slowly make our way down Pine Street looking for Oscar's house. I spot it at the end of the road and it's just like it was described to us, white picket fence and a beautiful front yard that puts all the others on the block to shame. Joy parks at the curb and we exchange glances.
“This is either going to go very good or very bad,” I tell her.
“Why do you say that?”
“I just have a feeling.”
Opening the small gate carefully, I make sure to latch it after Joy enters behind me. We approach the house cautiously as if it's able to attack us. Joy knocks on the door and then quickly runs down the steps to stand next to me. We wait for a minute or two and no one answers so I knock again, harder and longer this time. After a few more seconds, I hear someone moving around inside the house and turn to give Joy a thumbs ups. The door finally begins to open and an old man pokes his head out.
“I don't want to buy anything. Go away,” he demands.
“I'm not selling anything. We just wanted to ask you a few questions,” I reply.
“Are you the police? If you are then come back with a search warrant or talk to my lawyer,” he shoots back. Joy finally gains some courage and chimes in.
“No, we're not the police but we have a question about the Beacon Theater. You know the one that's downtown?” she asks.
“Of course I know about the Beacon. There I answered your question. Now get out of here before I call the cops on you for trespassing.”
“Oscar, the ladies down at the library sent us. They said you might help us with figuring out some of the town's history,” I interject before he shuts the door on us. It seems to work because he sticks his head out of the door a little more.
“Well, I don't have all day. What's the real question?”
“Did you know the two sisters that owned the Beacon back in the mid-80's?” Joy asks.
“No, I didn't know those two hags,” he sneers.
“Did you know that one of them was murdered in the basement and her body was just found?” I shoot back.
“That's a shame, but what does it have to do with me or the town's history,” Oscar replies, his tone a little more sympathetic.
“We read an article from around the time they took ownership of the theater and it says that someone threw a brick through the window. The women down at the library also told us that was you,” I say.
“Those old biddies need to keep their damn mouths shut. Yeah, I threw that brick. I was just angry, that's all. Doesn't mean I'd kill anyone.”
“Just angry seems a little understated, don't you think, Penny?” Joy says to me.
“Yeah, sounds like you were mad enough to toss a brick. What else are you capable of?” I goad him, hoping he’ll show us his true colors.
“Listen here, you don't get to come to my house and accuse me of committing a crime that I didn't even know had happened until you told me just now. You didn't even have the decency to introduce yourselves to me.”
“Sorry,” we say in unison and I continue, “My name is Penny and that is Joy. We just bought the Beacon and we’re the ones who found Laverne's body.” As I explain the situation a little more Oscar's face starts to soften.
“Look, I was upset because those two ladies weren't going to reopen the Beacon as a theater. My wife had just died that year and we had our first date there. It made me angry that other couples wouldn't get to have the same memories that I shared with my wife,” he explains. “The paper didn't mention that I went there the next week and replaced the window for them? No one remembers that part of the story.”
“Wow, we had no idea. Our plans for the Beacon are to open a coffee shop in the lobby and have an art gallery in the auditorium. I'm sure people will meet there for first dates. I really hope that they do in fact,” I reply.
“Well, good luck to you, but it won’t be the same,” he grumbles. “You can’t turn back time anyway. Now unless there anything else I can help you with, get the heck off my porch.”
“I think we got what we came here for,” I say. We quickly head back to Joy's car, looking over our shoulder as the cranky old man watches us.
A light drizzle gently patters on the roof of the car as Joy drives us back to the Beacon. My mood is befitting the weather. I was really hoping this would be an open and shut case. That Oscar would confess everything just like in the movie
s but he turned out to be just an old man. I think. It's also worrying because now we have no leads and whoever or whatever killed Laverne is still out there.
Chapter 11
Brent's truck is parked in the alley when we pull up. He and Nate are at the back door with a drill. They wave at us as we park so we saunter down to see how things are going with them.
“Everything all secure now?” I ask Brent.
“Yep, just finishing up out here and then we can test the alarm to make sure it works,” he replies.
They've reinforced the door frame and added an additional deadbolt. Two small wires connect to a box next to the door. Nate finishes drilling the last screw and we leave him and Joy in the alley so they can test the door while we're inside. Once we reach the lobby, Brent sends a quick text to Nate. A few seconds later a blaring sound erupts all around us and then abruptly stops.