The Touch

by Lisa Olsen

  “I brought you some cocoa,” Allie smiled from the doorway, drawing Lexi out of her reverie.

  “Oh, thanks,” Lexi tried for a smile, not wanting to let on to her theories until she was a little surer of them.

  “Any luck so far?”

  “No, I’m pretty much getting him sitting here working and surfing the net.” Not a lie.

  “Listen, about before… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to call what you do crap. That’s not what I meant at all,” Allie apologized, setting down the mug of hot cocoa on the desk blotter.

  “Oh, yeah I know, Allie. No worries, I know you’re under a lot of stress,” Lexi waved away the apology, feeling a rush of guilt over any bad feelings on her part in seeing her sister’s face.

  “Like I said, I’m going crazy sitting here doing nothing all by myself. I keep thinking, what if this is it? What if this is my life now? Here all alone?”

  “That’s not gonna happen Allie,” Lexi reached for her sister’s hand with her gloved one, giving it a squeeze. “I’ll tell you what, how about I spend the night here with you tonight? It’ll be like a sleepover, like old times when we shared a room, remember?”

  “How could I forget? You snore like a freight train,” a trace of the old Allie was visible in her smile.

  “I’m pretty sure that was you,” Lexi laughed, “but I can stay in the guest room if you think you might keep me up with your snoring.”

  “Alright, a girls’ night in it is.”

  “Do you have any other girlfriends you want to invite?”

  “Not really. I’d rather have it be just us with all of this going on anyway.”

  “Okay great. We can braid each other’s hair and pig out on ice cream.” Lexi left off the part where they’d stay up telling ghost stories, though it did come to mind.

  “Maybe I’d better go out and buy some groceries then, I’m fresh out of mint chip and donuts.”

  “You do remember,” Lexi laughed. “Do you want me to stop by the store for you?”

  “Actually, I think it might be a good idea to get out for a little while. If you don’t mind sticking around here for a while,” she added quickly.

  “No, I’m fine to stay here. You go and take your time.” She could always borrow something to sleep in and Lexi knew that Allison always had an extra toothbrush lying around. At least she used to; it had been a while since they’d had any kind of impromptu sleepover together.

  “Okay, I think I will. Thanks Lexi.” Allison bent to wrap her arms around Lexi for a hug and Lexi was careful to keep her bare hand balled up into a fist, away from anything she might inadvertently touch.

  “What are sisters for?” Lexi smiled as they parted ways. Tugging on the glove as soon as Allie was gone, she picked up the phone, calling Gabriel’s cell.

  He picked up on the third ring. “Detective Ryan here.”

  “Hello Detective Ryan, are you busy?”

  “A little,” his tone sounded guarded. “What can I do for you?”

  Lexi caught the implication, he wasn’t alone and able to talk freely. “I wanted to talk to you about Neil and Chloe. I think… I think he might be dead.” Having said it out loud for the first time, she couldn’t help but feel like it was true.

  There was a pause on the line as he took in what she said. “What makes you think so?”

  “I’m getting nothing but a black void whenever I try to focus on connecting to him in the present.”

  “But the two of you have never had much of a connection before, right?”

  “That doesn’t have anything to do with it.” Lexi wished she’d waited to have this conversation with him in person, maybe it would have been easier to explain, but as usual she’d followed her more impulsive nature. “It has to do more with the connection they have with the object. Usually it either works or I don’t tap into it at all, I just get the memories. But this time all I got was a big bunch of nothingness. I’ve never felt anything like that before, but then again I’ve never tried to forge a connection with someone I know is dead before either.”

  “Okay,” Gabriel replied after a moment. “Do you have any idea what might have happened to him or where we might find him?”

  “Sorry no,” Lexi admitted. “I know it’s not much to go on.”

  “Or anything to go on…” he muttered.

  “I just wanted you to know, that’s all.” It was hard to keep the ribbon of hurt from her voice.

  His voice dropped. “I know Lexi, and I appreciate you calling, really I do. I’ll call you later and we can talk more about it, okay?”

  She decided not to mention anything about the ghostly singing for the moment either. “Okay. I’m staying the night at Allie’s tonight.”

  “Oh? That’s nice of you. I’ll let you go for now then.”

  “Bye.” Lexi sat with the phone in her hand, wondering what to do next. While it was clear that Gabriel believed in her gift, he was right about one thing; it didn’t give him any evidence to go on. All it told her was that the vision she’d seen of Chloe being held in a dark room seemed more and more likely if Neil really was dead. But what did that have to do with the ghosts of children singing nursery rhymes? Maybe nothing, but Lexi intended to make the most of her sleepover that night.

  Chapter Nine

  Allison was eager for the distraction of the sleepover, going all out in her shopping with junk food that Lexi was willing to bet hadn’t graced the inside of her kitchen in some time. All too happy to help distract her sister, Lexi scoured the house for all of the key components for a successful sleepover. Since Allie had the junk food part down, Lexi dug up the other essentials; nail polish, tweezers, cold wax strips, three different kinds of facial masks… every conceivable accoutrement for personal grooming she could think of was assembled on the coffee table with a stack of movies to choose from to get the ball rolling.

  Between Allie’s selection of DVD’s and the cable’s On Demand feature (which Lexi spent the better part of a half hour drooling over; they only had basic cable at her house) there were too many choices available not to descend into a lively debate over what to watch. Both were in a nostalgic mood and both agreed to a classic movie from their teen years, but that’s where the ability to agree ended. Lexi wanted something quirky, maybe in the Cusack milieu. Allie wanted more like Pretty in Pink or the Breakfast Club, but those didn’t sound as appealing to Lexi. Who wanted to sit around listening to spoiled high school kids complain about their white bread lives for two hours? When Molly Ringwald got to see what it was like to be a social pariah for four years, then they could talk, otherwise, Lexi wanted something light and fun.

  In the end they agreed on Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, because there was no denying what a fox Matthew Broderick was in his heyday. After the first wave of snacks, they painted each other’s toe nails and Lexi mixed up a batch of honey oatmeal face mask while they laughed over the movie, and generally had a good time reciting the lines along with the characters.

  “It’s been a long time since we did this,” Allie sighed, settling back onto the couch with a bowl of mint chip ice cream while her nails dried.

  “Yeah well… you have other responsibilities now,” Lexi replied, without a trace of rancor. Even as kids their tastes were different, nights like this had been few and far between even before her marriage to Neil. “Do you ever do this sort of thing with Chloe?”

  “No,” Allie replied, a trifle subdued and Lexi instantly regretted mentioning her niece. But it was important to focus on the future, especially one that included such happy memories to be made.

  “She’s probably old enough to get into it, provided you don’t mind watching something with sparkly vampires or the Jonas Brothers,” Lexi grinned. “I bet she’d like it.”

  “Maybe,” Allie nodded, setting down her largely untouched bowl of ice cream.

  “Are you gonna finish that?”

  “No, you go ahead,” Allison waved her on.

  Not one to let good ice cream go to
waste, Lexi leaned forward to scoop the bowl up before it got too melty, savoring the rich treat.

  “Do you think Neil ran off with another woman?” Allie asked out of the blue, and Lexi blinked at the rapid change in subject, grateful for the spoon in her mouth that gave her a few seconds to formulate her response.

  “I really couldn’t say Allie, you’re the one who knows him the best,” she replied carefully. So far she’d kept the truth about Monica to herself and she intended to keep it that way if at all possible. Especially since it seemed obvious that Neil hadn’t run off with her.

  “I know we’ve had our share of problems, but who doesn’t?”

  As far as Lexi was concerned, their problems were a bit more serious than Allie was making it sound, but she thought it interesting that her sister finally acknowledged that her marriage wasn’t exactly Ozzie and Harriet. “I’m not the best person to ask, I’m not all that experienced in the relationship department, remember?”

  “Oh, right,” Allie nodded, looking embarrassed.

  “No, it’s fine. You have to kiss a lot of frogs before your prince comes, right? I’m still in my amphibian phase, that’s all.” But Lexi was hopeful, especially with Gabriel in the picture. Speaking of which… “Hey, you never told me,” not that she’d been all that interested at the time, “why did you break up with Gabriel back in high school?” Though for all she knew it had been the other way around and Gabriel had done the dumping.

  “Gabriel? Wow, that was a long time ago,” it took her sister a few seconds to shift gears. “He never took me anywhere fun. We didn’t go to parties; we went to one dance, but we didn’t go to the party afterwards. He was always either in training for sports or he had a lot of studying to do. It was like… his priorities were all out of whack.”

  Or just not in synch with hers, Lexi thought to herself. It sounded like Gabriel took his academic career a little more seriously than Allie had, and she hadn’t wanted to sacrifice her social life to be with him. Not that she was gonna come right out and say that, but no wonder he hadn’t seemed all that eager to rekindle things between them if that was why she dumped him. Especially if she’d been vocal about why. “I’ll bet it serves him well as a cop though, those guys are married to their jobs,” she commented idly.

  “Yeah, he seems to be pretty focused,” Allie agreed. “But people change. Who knows, if things don’t work out with Neil…”

  Lexi’s head came up sharply, was she for real? Her husband had been gone for less than a week and she was talking about maybe starting something up with Gabriel? Mashing her teeth against the inside of her lips, she kept from blurting out something inappropriate. But wasn’t that practically the same thing she’d said to Gabriel the first day they’d met? So why did it bother her so much now?

  Holy crap, was that jealousy she was feeling? The thought of Gabriel and her sister together again was enough to fill her with a serious case of ickiness. The realization was funny enough to help her find a little humor in it and the knot in her stomach started to loosen. “Yeah, stranger things have happened,” she nodded, grateful when the movie’s end credits started rolling and they could seize upon the distraction of picking the next movie without going back to either topic.

  From there it seemed natural to segue into Girls Just Wanna Have Fun with a pre-Sex in the City, Sarah Jessica Parker. That one definitely lost some of its appeal with age and Allie fell asleep halfway through. Lexi wasn’t sure if she should disturb her or not, but from the angle of her head, Lexi decided to wake Allie to save her from a terrible crick in the neck come morning. Offering to take care of the mess, Lexi stayed behind to straighten up, noting that Allie would have plenty of junk food on hand in the coming week; they’d barely made a dent in the stash.

  It was a little strange being in the quiet house with Allie gone up to bed, and when Lexi started up the stairs, there was a moment of uneasiness as she snapped off the downstairs lights. While she was used to going up the stairs in the dark at her own house without giving it a second thought, something made her turn the hall light on before she ascended the staircase. Safely reaching the guest room, Lexi could smile at her fear; nothing evil jumped out at her and not even a flicker of a ghost put in an appearance while she got ready for bed. Allie’s borrowed sleepshirt came down to about mid thigh, comfortable enough with the weather turning warmer and she decided to forego socks for fear of mussing her new pedicure that sported a rainbow of colors. Just about to climb into bed, an idea came to her and Lexi let go of the covers, padding barefoot to the top of the stairs, this time refusing to turn on the lights out of sheer stubbornness.

  Careful to be quiet lest she disturb Allie, she crept down to the formal dining room, in search of the heavy china cabinet. Moonlight filtered through the window, giving Lexi more than enough light to see where she was going without bumping into furniture and to see her prize; their grandmother’s old set of china and silver tea service. Gran only used the good china on special occasions which pretty much meant Easter and Christmas with the odd birthday thrown in when rain kept them from going out. But the tea set had been brought out at least once a week for afternoon tea with anything ranging from home baked lemon scones to ritz crackers and cheese whiz depending on the mood. It was the only thing she could think of that Allie had around the house that might have a direct line to Gran.

  At her house there were treasures of her own that she kept from Gran’s place, both before and after she died; her favorite being the afghan in her room and a few pieces of jewelry that were too precious to wear often and too beloved to sell, even when money was tight. As she reached for the teapot now, Lexi frowned over the thick layer of dust visible even in the poor light that smudged her gloves. Usually Allie was absolutely meticulous in her housekeeping and it bothered her to see Gran’s prized possession so forgotten. Maybe she’d talk to Allison about taking it back to her house when all of this was over? Maddie might get a kick out of having high tea on Sundays.

  It had never occurred to her to try and forge a connection with her gift to someone she knew to be dead before but that was exactly what she intended to do that night. Would she get that same blank feeling she got when trying to connect through Neil’s pen earlier? Would she end up with a series of memories of Gran serving them tea on a sunny summer afternoon? Would she reach Gran’s ghost? Tempted to almost give up the idea altogether, Lexi pulled herself together, ignoring the prickling sensation that she was being watched. Tugging off her glove, she reached for the teapot but chickened out at the last moment, instead turning on the dining room light and the hallway light for good measure until she stood bathed in golden light, half relieved and half feeling disgusted for wanting that crutch before she began.

  With trembling fingers Lexi reached for the teapot, closing around the cool metal. She let the initial jumble of images slide by without scrutiny, concentrating on forging that link to her beloved grandmother and met… nothing. That same void of utter nothingness met her efforts, as though she was coming up against a big black wall that absorbed all light, sound and energy, firmly separating Lexi from her quarry. Relaxing her concentration, she was able to access the layers of memory embedded in the silver pot. Images of Allie dusting and polishing the teapot appeared, and then there was Gran doing those same things, and tears escaped Lexi’s sightless eyes as she beheld that dear face, so full of life and love. It was with great reluctance that Lexi let go of the images and returned to the present to swipe at her eyes. Gran was unreachable beyond the memories stored in the object, as she should be in death.

  Just like Neil.

  ***

  With leaden feet Lexi ascended the stairs again, too tired to be wigged out by the darkened house now. Beyond the bone weary exhaustion from using her gift for a prolonged time was a sense of melancholy for the loss of her Grandmother, the only person to ever show her unconditional love. It was a very subdued Lexi who climbed into bed, eager to escape to the lure of dreams where anything was possible. But th
e dreams that took her were hardly peaceful and calm. In unfamiliar surroundings, her subconscious gave free reign to all the doubts and fears without her rational mind to ride herd over them. And behind it all was a steady litany of mocking voices; high and childish, they teased her with the taunting nursery rhyme over and over again. “Take the keys and lock her up, lock her up, lock her up. My fair lady…” Again and again they haunted her dreams until she startled awake, half convinced she heard the singing aloud in the room with her. The echo of the song ringing in her ears, Lexi rubbed the sleep from her eyes only to freeze in terror at the sight of the shadowy form standing right next to the bed.

  Her throat constricted in fear, a strangled sound issuing forth as she tried to suck in a breath past the pounding of her heart. The figure took a step forward and Lexi cracked her head against the headboard in her haste to scoot away, only then realizing that it was Allie standing there, not some spooky specter that meant to… to what? Even if it was a ghost, what could it possibly do to harm her? A flush of embarrassment rushed through her over the foolish reaction and she was glad for the cover of darkness that probably masked half of her reaction to Allie’s sudden appearance. Still, what was her sister doing there in the middle of the night? “God, you scared me half to death,” Lexi breathed, losing the rigid pose.

  Allison remained still, her face unreadable in the uncertain light. After a few breaths, Lexi started to feel uneasy again. Why wasn’t she answering her? “Allie?” she prompted, sitting a little higher in the bed. “Is something wrong?”

  Without a word her sister turned around and walked out, leaving the bedroom door standing open. Lexi stared after her, more than a little disconcerted over the encounter. After another few moments of lying there wide awake, Lexi slipped out of bed to follow after Allie just in case she needed something. In those few seconds her sister had given her the slip though; the master bedroom was empty and there were no telltale lights on in the house.