by Alexie Aaron
“Her mother was all tears, the bitch, and her father was annoyed that she signed it with her married name.”
Mia winced. She didn’t know what to say so she listened.
“After, they requested that I give them any other paintings she may have finished that I may have lying around.”
“What did you tell them?”
“That a collector has them.”
“I have them,” Mia reminded him.
“Did you not collect them out of the trash heap?”
“Yes, I see your point.”
“Anyway, I said I would get back to them if I could manage to get my hands on any,” Whit’s voice was on edge. “Mia, let’s not talk about this, not now. I hear wind noises, are you camping?”
Mia laughed. “No. Actually I had to drive ten miles out of Lund before I got a cell signal. I’m on the side of the road talking to you.”
“Your message said you were going to help Mike Dupree’s mother clear out an old house? Are we talking furniture or ghosties?”
“Both. It started off just furniture but…”
Whit laughed long and hard. “You poor thing. Can’t seem to catch a break.”
“I’m getting used to it, I guess. How are your folks?” Mia asked to change the subject. She listened while he gave her the lowdown on all things Martin. Mia waited until his conversation lulled before she excused herself. “I’ve got to get going. I have a job to do. It’s going to be difficult getting a call through from Lund so I’ll wish you a Happy Thanksgiving in advance. I’ll call when I can.”
“Good, you’ll understand if I can’t talk mush as the rents are around,” Whitney warned her.
“When have you ever talked mush, and what are rents?”
“Parents. Hey, I talked mush a week ago Thursday.”
“No, you were telling me how happy you would be if I got the ketchup out of your uniform pants. That’s not mush.”
“It was romantic, candlelight I believe…”
“That was during the power outage,” Mia teased him.
Ted heard Mia start to end her call so he put the window back up. He’d cracked it to listen in on her conversation. He knew eavesdropping wasn’t good manners, but he couldn’t help himself, it was genetic. His mother was the receptionist for a stockbroker. She had done quite well with her investing.
Mia climbed in the truck and asked, “Do you need more time?”
“Nope. I’m just screwing around now, reading online papers. You know the country has been taken over by the Chinese since we’ve been in Lund?”
Mia laughed and reached over and ruffled his hair. “Liar. But I get what you are talking about. I’ve never felt so isolated, and I live on a peninsula in the middle of effing nowhere.”
“So I won’t be seeing you living the life of a farmer’s wife then?”
“No farmer has asked me, yet,” Mia teased and put the truck into gear and headed out towards the grocery store.
“I have a bid in on April’s place,” Ted said quietly, watching her face for a reaction.
Mia glanced at him. “Really?”
“Yes, really. It’s a good deal. If she gets the job out east, the place is mine. By not putting it on the market we both save realtor fees.”
“But you’re… what about… Kansas?” Mia fought for words. Part of her was thrilled that he was going to be close by. The other part worried that he was there just for her.
“I know you’re worried about Murphy. He’s my friend too. Just because I can’t see him doesn’t mean we can’t hang out.”
“Murphy likes you. You’re family.”
Ted sighed contentedly. “The place already is set up with internet. There’s room galore if the PEEPs decide to relocate or split the business. The place has been recently remodeled and cleansed of one bad ghost. The gutters have just been cleaned,” Ted listed.
“By me,” Mia pointed out. “May I suggest that, as you are looking into ownership of the place, you invest in some gutter guards, and I should remind you that I own half of your driveway.” Mia related her recent encounter with April’s father and the little monstrous offspring of the Johnston clan.
“Poor Murph, must have given him a nervous breakdown.”
Mia smiled warmly. Ted would take Murphy’s side. Maybe having him there wasn’t such a bad idea.
“My last grown up question… PEEPs’ base of operations is Kansas. You’ll have to travel.”
“We do investigations all over the country now. Plus PEEPs isn’t forever, Mia. As with all hot things, it will eventually burn out. Me, I’m moving forward with my inventions, and I would like to take courses for my MBA at Northwestern. Now before you argue how far it is to Evanston from the hollow, let me remind you how far Kansas is from there.”
“Well then, if it works out, welcome to the neighborhood,” Mia said in a singsong voice.
“Are you going to show up with a pie?”
“Um no, I may bring cookies though.”
“Deal then.” Ted reached over and fist bumped Mia.
~
Beth was in her glory. She was surrounded by books and boxes of papers, some of them were in Swedish. She would have to set those aside until she could get a translation program for that language. Glenda brought out the family bible. It was a massive leather-bound tome. The family tree was massive. The first entries seemed to be penned in the same hand. Beth rationalized that upon receipt of the book, the family’s history would have been put in first before the author’s name was added. She moved her finger over where generations of births, weddings and deaths were recorded. Beth stopped at Glenda’s father, and there she found a problem.
“Glenda, to your knowledge, how many Lund aunt and uncles did you have?”
“Two aunts, Elsa and Lydia, Uncle Roland, and I believe there was a Joel but he died young,” she listed.
“I see the girls. There are three entries for the men but one has been scratched out. I can just about make out another J.” Beth squinted and flipped the page over and held it to the light. “Jonas!” She flipped back the page and looked at the dates. “Joel died at twenty-two. Do you know how he died?”
Glenda sat down and thought a moment. “My parents didn’t dwell much on the past. I don’t remember having a heart to heart with them over their histories. My grandmother though, she used to write in a diary. I’m hoping that we’ll find it when we clear the attic.”
“That would be a prize. Mia and Ted will be back soon.”
“Speaking of Ted, are you still mooning over that boy?”
Beth wasn’t surprised by Glenda’s direct question but that she knew about Beth’s crush on the techie. “I like him but… well… since Mia.”
Glenda shook her head. “Stop that nonsense right now. Sure, the boy is gaga over Mia, but let me remind you that before Mia he wasn’t much interested in you at that time either. Come to think of it, you weren’t much interested in him.”
Beth opened her mouth to protest. But Glenda cut her off.
“You forget you PEEPs have been having meetings in my dining room since the beginning. I’ve watched the group. Mike’s bimbos coming and going. That Amber was a piece of work, what a phony. And all during that time I didn’t see you have a spark of interest in that skinny boy. Not until he started looking at Mia as something other than a tool.”
“She’s a tool alright,” Beth said snidely.
“Tsk tsk. I think that Ted looks good when he’s unavailable. I used to think that you were just jealous of Mia, but you didn’t go after Burt when the two of them were snuggling. So, I think it’s the unavailability bug that has you in such a nasty state. I’ve seen it before. You don’t get to be this old without seeing a few things.”
“So you think that I only go after unavailable men?”
“I think you’re wasting a lot of energy in chasing a boy who never has seen you as anything other than a friend. You’re a good looking girl. Don’t waste your time on challenges that will only
make you miserable.”
“Do you like Mia?”
“She’s got pluck.”
“Why does everyone take her side?”
“Whoa, young lady, take a breath. There aren’t any sides. Sounds like a war’s going on. If so, I have to inform you that she isn’t fighting. She isn’t complaining. She is just a little nutcase wrapped in a bombshell of a body. You can’t see her correctly because you think she’s trying to take something from you. My older sister’s like that. She sees an attractive movie star on the television, and first thing that comes out of her mouth is that the woman’s a slut. She can’t appreciate the lady’s acting because her beauty makes my sister mad.”
Beth thought a moment. “My behavior doesn’t make me look too attractive, does it?”
“Bitter and bitchy tend to cloud the intelligent and beautiful at times.”
“So Mia’s never complained about…”
“Anything. Poor thing thinks she deserves all the shit that is thrown at her. She just pushes down the abuse and gets on with life. Sorta like that television shrink says. So you were dealt shit, grow mushrooms!” Glenda smacked the table and laughed.
“You know your son gave me and Burt a good talking to recently. Burt took it to heart and is seeing a professional about it. Do you think I need to?”
Glenda beamed at her son’s good sense. She didn’t see too much of it. But lately she had to admit that she was seeing more and more. “Do I think you need to see one of them psychiatrists?” she repeated Beth’s question. “No. I think you need to open your eyes and widen your horizons. Don’t go after men. Make yourself available, and they will come after you. Don’t settle down with any man that doesn’t adore you. Don’t compare yourself to other women. Mia is Mia. You are Beth.” Glenda let those words sink in. “I’ve got to get lunch started. I’m surprised I haven’t seen Burt nosing around the kitchen yet.”
“He’s upstairs with Mike in Ted’s room going over the data we collected last night.”
“It was sure an eye opener. I’ll be glad to see the last of this town. Eddy’s nuts, but I wish him well. Imagine Lund the go to place, bah!”
~
Mike stopped the tape when Ted burst through the door with Mia in his arms. “I think that’s enough for this morning.” He would delete that portion. It wasn’t anyone’s business but his and Mia’s what went on after they heard Beth on the stairs. Plus he didn’t want Burt’s ire up when he saw Mike cradling Mia, trying to keep her warm. Maybe he would copy it for his benefit but deprive the PEEPs archives of Mia’s kick ass body struggling into his little league clothes.
“What was your overall feeling about the three entities that were stalking you?” Burt asked.
“I don’t think they were seeing me. I think they were looking for whoever was in my room at the time of the lynching. Ted and Mia think that he was hiding in the attic. They heard a scuffle and someone being dragged away. When Mia went upstairs to investigate, something else was still there hiding.”
Burt picked up the drawing Mike had done as a child. “What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know, but Ted seems to have an idea. That’s why he was so hot to get to civilization and do some research.”
“Oh, I thought it was that he wanted to hang out with Mia,” Burt confessed.
“That too. Poor guy has it bad. What does Mia see in that cop anyway?” Mike asked Burt.
“They have history. She’s taking things slow, and he’s not put off by it. I don’t think it will last, but I’ve been wrong before.”
“How are you dealing with it?”
“Jealousy, spite, gnashing of teeth,” Burt listed. “You know the routine.”
Mike laughed. “Actually, I don’t. I never let it get that far. Maybe a mistake, who knows?” He looked at his watch. “I better head down and see if I can help with lunch.”
Burt nodded and followed him, rubbing his stomach. He followed him down the stairs, taking in the feeling of the house. The present occupants seemed to enliven the place. It was hard to get a feel of the drama that permeated these walls all those years ago with Ted’s testosterone, Beth’s bitchiness and Mike’s mother’s bossiness taking turns center stage. He thought of his team and hoped that he would be able to continue to find profitable outlets for them to keep on investigating together. Time would tell. Until then he would enjoy the hunt.
Chapter Nine
The six of them sat around the kitchen table enjoying the feast Glenda produced. Mia and Ted had come back famished. They regaled the others with their tales of the hunt for scallions in the local grocery store. Mia had interrogated the produce manager, while Ted picked up anything that remotely resembled an onion and put it in the cart. They had settled on three alternatives. Glenda rolled her eyes when she picked the leek out of the sack. “Close, but no go.” She did praise them on the shallots and green onions.
Mia and Ted offered to do the lunch dishes, and the others adjourned to the parlor to have coffee and catch up on what each other had been doing that morning.
Beth had just started her discourse of the Lund family tree when Mia and Ted joined them. Mike scooted over on the settee to make room for Mia. Ted pulled out a dining room chair and sat on it backwards.
“I think Joel and Jonas are the key players here. Joel died about the same time as our hanging victim. There is no mention of Jonas so far in the papers, but we have yet to go through the attic’s contents,” Beth reported.
“Mia and I will head up there momentarily,” Ted informed them. “I do have an idea of what Mia encountered in the attic last night was. If it is the same entity that Mike saw as a child, that is.”
Beth and Burt sat at the edge of their seats. Mia could see Mike was ill at ease. She reached over and held his hand. He squeezed it and didn’t let go.
“I was suspicious when I saw the drawing Mike made. It rang a chord and brought up a memory of something I ran across years ago in an internet search. I think the being was a victim of Ectrodactyly or Lobster Claw. It’s a genetic abnormality that causes the baby to be born without one or more central fingers. The little finger and ring finger may be joined also. The feet of these children many times are split. To a boy, Mike would have seen a crab man. Mia experienced the feeling of a claw grabbing her. But the entity enunciated clearly.”
“Ma, could Uncle Joel have been a twin? According to Beth, their names are recorded together. Perhaps Jonas was the one with Ectrodactyly. He was hidden in the attic. Scratched out of the family tree,” Mike pointed out.
“The poor boy,” Glenda said with her hand on her chest. “He would have been considered a freak and a monster in those days.”
Mia spoke up, “It would explain what we experienced last night. He was afraid. He wanted me to help him. To hide him. I don’t know why Murphy or I didn’t see him when we first searched the attic.”
“Could he have been hidden?” Burt asked. “A hidey-hole? Seems to me if the Lunds didn’t want anyone knowing they had a deformed son, they would have seen to his comfort away from prying eyes.”
“I think the answer is in the attic,” Ted said getting to his feet. “Come on, Mia old girl, let’s get started. Any of you nonpaid flunkies want to come along? Your help would be appreciated.”
Mia let go of Mike’s hand and waited for him to release hers before she stood up and dutifully followed Ted up the stairs.
“I’m going to give Eddy a piece of my mind. Stirring up all this trouble with his grandiose plans,” Glenda said to break the silence.
“I don’t think this is a bad thing,” Mike reflected. “I’ve been haunted for most of my life. True, it has brought me to this present occupation of ours, but it has crippled me. I want to see this through. No matter what scandal we find, I want to rest the ghosts and get myself clear of the nightmares.”
“Son, I don’t give a fig about scandal. I just want you to move on from this. If I would have known what hell moving back here brought you as a child I wou
ld have never done it. I’m sorry.” Glenda got up and walked over to Mike.
Mike stood up and embraced his mother. “Ma, you did the best you could. You’ve always been looking out for me. How were you to know?”
Beth and Burt fidgeted in their seats. The emotional drama before them made them ill at ease but also made it impossible to graciously get up and move out of the room.
CRACK!
The four of them jumped as Murphy’s axe hit wood outside.
“Dang fool ghost,” Glenda muttered and yelled up the stairs, “Mia, your buddy wants you to come out and play!”
They heard Mia’s feet pound down the steps. She had grabbed a hoodie and was pulling it over her head as she walked towards the backdoor.
CRACK!
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” they heard her call as she opened the door. “Jeez, Murphy, what the hell?” The screen door slammed shut after her. Soon they heard Mia return. She called, “Burt, Mike, come out here. Murphy’s found the well!”
Mia moved off the stoop and ran over to where the farmer was busy whacking his axe. A line of witch hazel shrubs obscured a large circular area lying between the large house and the neighboring abandoned bungalow.
She moved around the shrubs looking for a break in them large enough to enter the space. The previous drought had killed off any ground cover that had tried to work its way over the stone rim of the massive well. Some cautious person had engineered a metal cover hinged in the middle. It was padlocked. Mia kicked at a clump of dirt, and as it burst she saw something shiny beneath it attached to the stone restraining wall. She got on her knees and used the corner of her sweatshirt to rub away enough grime to read the plaque, “Lund Well 80 feet deep. 1852.”
She looked around for Murphy. She saw him sharpening his axe on the far rim of the well. “So how’d you find it?”
Murphy mimed a crab and pointed to the house.
“We think his name was Jonas. What he has to do with this well is still a mystery. We know his brother was his twin named Joel.”