by Becky Durfee
Zack’s interjection seemed random. “What are you supposed to call her again?”
“Amma,” Jenny clarified. “It’s Icelandic for grandmother.”
“She’s Icelandic?” Jessica asked. “Did she ever live there?”
“As a child she did.”
Jessica looked puzzled. “And now she lives in Florida? That’s quite a difference in climate.”
Jenny thought for a moment before noting with a laugh, “I think if I grew up in Iceland, I’d probably retire to Florida, too. Maybe I inherited my hatred of the cold from that side of the family.” A sigh denoted Jenny’s change of mood. “Well, I did get her phone number for a reason, so let me make this call and see if I can get to the bottom of this little mystery.”
As she said those words, Jenny once again saw the similarity to a Scooby Doo episode.
Ingunn’s greeting was curt when she answered the phone. “Yes?”
“Hi, Amma, it’s Jenny. How are you?”
“Hello, Jenny. I guess I can’t complain. How are you?”
“Doing great.” After a short conversation that brought the women up to speed with each other’s personal lives, she informed her grandmother about the latest investigation. “So far we’ve been given two names—Andrew and Elizabeth—but we can’t seem to figure out who they were. There are two deceased soldiers named Andrew buried on the premises, but we have no explanation at all for who Elizabeth might be. None of the home’s owners had that name; we already checked into that.”
“How did you come across this spirit?”
“I was actually hired to investigate it. It’s been haunting the inn, and the owner wants it gone.”
“Haunting, eh? How so?”
“Well, it makes its presence known through wind gusts in the house, and so far I’ve been able to detect that each breeze is associated with a message. While everybody can feel the wind, so far I’ve been the only one who can understand the intent behind it.”
“Huh,” Ingunn said as if she were deep in thought.
Jenny gave her a moment to elaborate, but she said nothing more. “What is it, Amma?”
“It’s just that the spirit has to feel very strongly about something in order to penetrate into the world of the living.”
Goosebumps surfaced on Jenny’s skin. “So you’ve seen this before?”
“I’m old. I’ve seen it all before.”
“And that’s exactly why I’m on the phone with you,” Jenny replied with a smile. “When I talked to my father, he said you’ve actually been able to summon spirits in the past. I think that’s what I’m going to have to do if I plan to get anywhere. If you don’t mind me asking, how were you able to do that?”
“I don’t think that’s something I can explain over the phone. It took me years to master that skill.”
“Well, would you be opposed to flying up here to Virginia for a little getaway in a haunted bed and breakfast? I can arrange for everything, and it would be my treat.”
“I can’t let you do that,” Ingunn replied.
“Of course you can. If you don’t want to come, that’s perfectly fine, but if you do come, I can certainly take care of it all.” Jenny’s tone became jovial. “It’ll be a business expense.”
The change in Ingunn’s demeanor was obvious through the phone. “Well, in that case, I think I could deal with a little vacation. After all, I’d love to meet my new granddaughter.”
New granddaughter, Jenny thought. She was twenty-seven years old, yet this made her sound like a newborn. She smiled for more reasons than one. “That sounds great. Let me just go back to my room and get my computer; then we can figure out what’s the best flight for you.”
After ten minutes’ time, a flight had been booked for later that evening.
“I guess we have some time to kill before her flight arrives,” Jenny noted to Jessica and Zack. “What would be the best use of our afternoon?”
“If you’re willing,” Jessica began, “you could go into the city and do a little research. There’s a ton of Civil War information to be learned in Richmond and Petersburg. Maybe you can get someone to help you find out about Andrews and Elizabeths and their connection to this property. I’d offer to do it myself…” She looked down at her lap. “But I have an inn to run.”
Zack and Jenny exchanged glances. “That sounds good to me,” Zack said. “It beats waiting around here for cryptic messages that may or may not come.”
“I’ll get my purse,” Jenny added with a smile.
Soon Jenny and Zack were on the road, Jenny behind the wheel. The weather was warm, the windows were rolled down, and the radio blared through the speakers. The smell of spring was in the air, and it was one of those days where it felt good to be alive.
About fifteen minutes from the highway, Jenny felt a tug. Lowering the radio to concentrate, she shifted forward in her seat and allowed her mind to relax. At first Zack seemed confused by her actions, but when she turned left down a desolate side road he seemed to figure out what was happening.
The road itself was barely wide enough to fit two cars; the shoulder consisted of a couple of feet of grass before the dense woods began. At a seemingly random place Jenny pulled the car onto the right shoulder, turning on her hazard lights before wordlessly getting out of the car. Grateful for the boots she always kept in the trunk, she slid them on and headed out into the woods with Zack following closely behind.
A path of trampled brush seemed to already be laid out before them, although Jenny followed the guide in her mind, not the clues from the ground. Five minutes into the walk Jenny froze, tapping her finger on her chin. “It’s around here somewhere.”
“What is?” Zack asked.
“The thing I’m supposed to find.” The couple looked around the area, which was densely covered with plants and vines.
“Uh oh,” Zack said.
“What?”
“There’s a shoe.” He pointed a few feet off the beaten path, where Jenny glanced and saw a woman’s dirty sneaker lying ominously by itself. The sight gave Jenny a chill.
Taking a few more steps into the woods, Jenny’s attention became directed to a shiny object on the ground. It was a buckle. “And there,” she said, “it looks like a purse.”
Silence weighed down on them like a wet blanket. They continued their search for a few minutes when Zack announced, “Oh shit.”
“What’s the matter?”
He guided Jenny by the elbow, gesturing about fifteen feet in front of them. “Correct me if I’m wrong,” he began, “but I think that’s a body.”
Chapter 4
The police arrived in droves. Zack and Jenny stood off in the background as the officers cordoned off the area with yellow crime scene tape. An officer with a notepad approached Zack and Jenny, flipping through several pages until he found a blank one. He then began a series of questions.
“How did you come across these bodies?”
Jenny surprised herself with the confidence in her voice. “I was led to them. I’m a psychic, and I was just driving through on route two-fifty-seven. I felt a tug that told me I needed to come out here, so I followed my instinct, and here I am.”
Despite her conviction, the officer looked at her with one raised eyebrow.
“Look me up,” Jenny said. “I’m all over the internet. My psychic ability has helped solve several murders. I’ve already worked with a few police departments; I can gladly give you the contact information of some of the officers I’ve helped, if that will get you to believe me.”
“I think I’ll take you up on that,” the police officer said.
She chose to give him Danny Fazzino’s number as opposed to Elijah Murphy’s; she still felt badly about how that last case had unfolded, and she didn’t want to poke a sleeping bear.
“Whoa,” the officer in front of her said as he hung up his phone. “You really are a psychic.”
“I’m glad you believe me,” Jenny replied with a smile. “I’m actually
in town to look into some paranormal activity that is potentially Civil War related, and while on my way to Richmond to do some research, I got this feeling that I needed to come here.”
“Sarge, we got another one!” The voice came from deep inside the trees, causing Jenny, Zack, and the interviewing officer to look back in that direction.
The police officer who was apparently the sergeant traipsed over to where the voice had come from. “Jesus Christ,” he muttered loudly enough for everyone to hear. “It’s a friggin graveyard out here.”
The interviewing officer turned back to Jenny. “So let me get this straight. You were just driving along, and you felt the need to come down this tiny little road…and walk out into the woods?”
“Yes, sir. Apparently one of these victims wanted to be found.”
As the officer wrote, he said, “This is going to be a difficult one to explain.”
“Well, we found them, didn’t we? Isn’t that all the proof you need that there’s some validity to what I’m saying?” Jenny asked. “Besides, now you’ll be able to put an end to some missing persons cases...that will feel good, won’t it?”
The officer looked at her intently. “We don’t have any missing persons cases.”
The words confused Jenny initially until she considered their proximity to the highway; these people could have been from anywhere, dumped along the road by some lunatic who was just driving through.
“Sarge!” A voice came from a different area. “You’re not going to believe this.”
“Don’t tell me you found another one,” the sergeant said with disgust.
“Actually,” the newest officer said, “I found two.”
Members of the FBI showed up in staggering numbers. Zack and Jenny had been ushered back to their car; the entire area was now considered part of the crime scene, and the couple wasn’t allowed anywhere near the activity. Through bits of overheard conversation, Jenny was able to deduce that the body count was sitting at seven, although they weren’t sure how high it would eventually go.
The local police officers looked much more frazzled than the seasoned FBI agents; even without the uniforms Jenny could have easily determined their affiliation based on the expressions they wore. As she stood watching the professionals do their jobs, Jenny felt a short-lived but very distinct wave wash over her.
She hunted down the first officer she could find. “Excuse me,” she said.
The overwhelmed local officer turned to look at her, although he didn’t say anything.
“I just wanted to let you know that the letter T is going to prove to be important in this case.”
He looked at her as if she had two heads. “The letter T?”
“Yes, sir. A capital T.”
The officer continued on his way.
“You’re going to need to tell that to someone else,” Zack noted. “He thinks you’re a nutball.”
Jenny giggled, realizing how crazy she must have just sounded. “I think you’re right. Where’s that original guy we talked to? He believes me.”
Zack and Jenny scanned the crowd until they found the man who had first interviewed them. He was behind the crime scene tape, and Jenny had a difficult time getting his attention. With enough arm-waving, however, she finally got him to notice her, and he excused himself from his current conversation to approach her.
“What can I do for you?” he asked.
“You can believe me,” Jenny said.
“I do believe you.”
“Well, that’s good, because I have something else for you. I just got a brief flash of the letter T. Somehow that’s going to prove to be important.”
Opening his notepad, the officer scribbled the latest information.
“So what’s the body count at now?” Zack posed.
“Right now eight, in varying stages of decay. This has been somebody’s dumping ground for a long time.”
Jenny shook her head.
“And none of these people are local?” Zack asked.
“I don’t believe so. We don’t have anybody unaccounted for at this time. But we’re not that far from truck stop alley, so this would be a convenient place for someone who’s just passing through to dispose of evidence.”
“Truck stop alley?” Jenny asked.
“Yeah. That’s what we call it. Right off the highway you’ve got those four truck stops, one on each corner…northbound, southbound, left, right…no matter where you’re going or which direction you came from, there’s a convenient place for you to stop and rest your bones.” He made a guilty face before quietly adding, “Perhaps I shouldn’t have worded it that way under the circumstances.”
“I know what you meant,” Jenny said without batting an eye. “I guess there are people streaming in and out of there at all hours of the night, too, so this guy could have easily used the cover of darkness to hide his actions.”
“All four stops are twenty-four-hour,” the officer said, “and they’re all busy as hell.”
A voice crackled through the unit on the officer’s chest. “This one’s got ID. A girl from Georgia.”
Jenny closed her eyes, sickened by the fact that somewhere in Georgia a family was about to get the worst phone call of their lives.
The officer turned off his unit. “I guess I’d better be going back,” he said. “Listen, my sergeant asked me to get your contact information, just in case we have any more questions about this. I’d like to give you my number, too…that way you can give me a call if you get any more divine insight.”
Jenny exchanged information with the officer, whose name turned out to be Kevin Howell. “Honestly, if you want me to be able to come up with anything new, I’ll probably need to come back when there’s not quite so much commotion. I was able to get that one quick reading about the letter T, but generally speaking I need quiet in order to get a good contact.”
The officer looked over Jenny’s shoulder. “Shit. Already?” Jenny turned to see a news van pulling up at high speed. “How do they always catch wind of this stuff so quickly?”
“Well, I guess there goes any chance at quiet for a while, huh?” Zack noted.
“I’m sure this place will be a zoo for days,” Jenny muttered disappointedly. “But listen,” she said to the officer, “would it be possible for me to get a copy of that one victim’s ID? Or any others that you find? My father out in Washington state is also a psychic, and he can get a lot from a photograph.”
The officer shook his head. “I don’t know. That’s a new one for me. I’ll have to ask the higher-ups to see if that’s possible.”
“My grandmother is also coming,” Jenny continued, pulling out her phone to check the time. “In fact, I have to pick her up from the airport soon. She has the gift, too; maybe she’ll be able to give you some insight.”
The officer looked at her with disbelief. “You’re a family of psychics?”
Jenny shrugged; family was too strong of a word given the circumstances. “It’s a genetic trait, apparently.”
“I tell you what…I’ll call you after I talk to the boss.”
Smiling politely, Jenny pulled her keys out of her purse. “Thanks. I look forward to helping you in any way I can.”
Zack and Jenny remained quiet in the car for a long time. The only sound was the hum of the tires on the road and the occasional mechanical utterance from the GPS, which was now programmed to take them directly to the airport. The unscheduled events of the afternoon left no time for research at the library.
Eventually Zack’s voice permeated the silence. “That was pretty creepy, wasn’t it?”
Raising her eyebrows, Jenny replied, “Indeed.”
“Well, as upsetting as it is to make such a find, hopefully this will put an end to this sick bastard’s little game.” He patted her leg as she drove. “Thanks to you, maybe the body count won’t go any higher.”
“Either that or he’ll just find a new dumping ground. It’d be great if the press didn’t know about it. Then the
cops could just stake out the area and catch this guy in the act.”
“But that would mean another body,” Zack noted. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the goal is to prevent this from happening again. Maybe the press getting a hold of this story will actually be helpful in that regard.”
Another silence ensued; Jenny was simply too affected to discuss the topic anymore. Was that family in Georgia getting the phone call right now? She sighed and ran her fingers though her hair. This day had seemed so glorious just a few hours earlier; now she was so upset she could cry.
“I’ve forgotten what to call her again,” Zack said as they pulled up to the airport parking lot.
“What?”
“Your grandmother. What do you call her again?”
“I call her Amma,” Jenny noted. “That’s Icelandic for grandmother.” She shot him a playful glance out of the corner of her eye. “But she’s not your grandmother. Truthfully, I’m not sure what you should call her.”
“Well, you can marry me,” Zack replied with a smile, “and then she will also be my grandmother…kind of.”
Jenny bit her lip; the topic of marriage still made her nervous. Keeping the conversation light, she noted, “We don’t have time to get married between now and the time her plane lands, so in the meantime you’ll have to figure something out.”
They exited the car and walked wordlessly toward the terminal. The talk of the proposal had put Jenny’s brain into overdrive, and she once again began considering a notion that had plagued her before. She debated whether or not to bring it up, ultimately deciding it was something that needed to be discussed. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure,” Zack replied. “Fire away.”
She gathered her strength with a deep breath. “It’s something I’ve been thinking about, even though it’s not necessarily a pleasant topic of conversation.” She clenched her fist and swallowed before continuing. “What if, God forbid, I miscarry tomorrow? Would the offer for marriage still be on the table?”