by Alexie Aaron
Murphy threw an imaginary noose over his head and hung himself.
“I think he’s the swinger too,” Mia agreed.
“Who are you talking to, Mia?” Mike asked, making his way across the yard.
“Murphy.”
“Hey, Murph,” Mike acknowledged.
Murphy scraped his axe against the ground in a friendly way.
“Burt’s gone into the shed for a hedge clippers. You look like a fairy in your witch hazel house,” Mike teased.
“We’d never had found this had it not been devoid of leaves. I don’t even think you can see it from the house. It’s in a blind spot,” Mia pointed out.
Burt strode over and began clipping a way into the ring. He made mincemeat out of the thick branches. Mia liked seeing him working hard. She always thought his body was made for blue collar trades instead of punching a keyboard all day.
Mike soon joined her, and she showed him the plaque.
“Someone was proud of this. They had to do this all by hand back in the day. Eighty feet, damn.”
Burt bent over and fussed with the padlock. “It’s an old one. If we can’t find a key, we will have to use a hacksaw on it.”
“Why?” Mike asked.
“To open it.”
“But the ghost that haunts me wants me to stay away from the well. He’s been telling me this forever,” Mike informed them.
Mia nodded but asked, “What about his brother? I betcha a trip to the zoo that his body’s down there.”
“Can’t do no harm to keep it there. Eighty feet!” Mike stressed.
Mia walked over and took his hand. “We won’t do anything you don’t want us to do. But I would like you to consider why Joel wanted Jonas’s death kept quiet.”
“I think it has something to do with what we saw last night. Down by the old rooming house,” Mike guessed.
“Let’s go back to the house. Mia, you have an attic to search. Mike, you and I better get ready to film the area by the rooming house and where they hung Joel, if it was Joel,” Burt reminded them.
They abandoned the well and headed back towards the big house. Mia was still holding Mike’s hand which made Murphy upset. He clumped his axe down. Mia ignored him. He dragged it all the way back to the house in protest.
~
In the light of day the attic was a friendlier place. Someone long ago took care to outfit the small casement windows with floral curtains. As Mia drew them back, she scanned the yard below as she shaded her eyes from the afternoon sun. Ted and Mike began to drag boxes and crates to a staging area where they, along with Burt, would form a chain so that the smaller items wouldn’t have them wearing their legs out running up and down the three sets of stairs. Each male would be responsible for one staircase. Beth and Glenda would pick and choose what needed to go into the parlor to be looked through. Mia’s job was to clean as they went.
Murphy stood by, watching them work. He scanned the space as it was emptied. At one point he melted through the floor and paced off the lower level. He next went outside and moved up the south side of the house.
Mia heard his scratching on the outside wall. She opened the nearest casement window to the sound and stuck her head out. She saw him half in and half out of the wall. She drew back in and didn’t see him in the attic space.
“Mike, come here please,” Mia called.
“Just as soon as I shift this bureau,” he replied. “Ted, give me a hand.”
“Aye aye, Cap’n,” Ted said and walked over to take one side of the heavy mahogany piece.
“How the hell did they get this up here? Maybe I can convince Ma to leave it to Eddy. Let it be his problem,” he said as he nodded to Ted to begin to lift.
The two men struggled and only got it a few inches off the ground before they had to abandon the effort.
Mia walked over and started to open the drawers. It was full of books.
Ted looked over her shoulder and asked, “Who puts books in drawers?”
“Good place if you don’t want to dust them,” Mia guessed. She began removing the heavy volumes and reading off the titles.
“Wait. Let’s get Beth up here,” Mike said and walked over to the stairway and bellowed her name down the stairwell.
They heard a muted answer as the researcher climbed the series of stairs to get to the attic. In the meanwhile Mia had removed the contents of three of the five drawers. She stacked them more according to size than subject. The old hardcover volumes were difficult to read as a good deal of gilt lettering had worn off or faded into the material of the cover. Beth appeared winded but curious about what precipitated Mike to disturb her from her tasks down below.
“We found these old books,” Mia started to say as she pulled open one of the smaller drawers and reached in and pulled out a handful of documents before continuing, “and papers.”
“We thought you would be able to tell us whether to junk them or what,” Mike explained.
Beth knelt down and picked up book after book, opening them to the title page. She flipped through a few and said with awe, “First editions. Many of these are medical books. Some law too.” She opened one book and gasped, “Mike, this is worth a fortune,” she said holding it up for him to see. She read in perfectly accented French, “Traité des arbres fruitiers.” She opened the book carefully and translated, “It’s the Treatise on Fruit Trees by Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau, illustrated by Pierre Antoine Poiteau and Pierre Jean François Turpin.”
Mike leaned over as she carefully turned the pages.
“Pictures of fruit?” he questioned. “I don’t get it.”
“If we find all five of these books, Mike, you’ll never have to work again.”
Ted whistled behind her and crowed, “Ebay, here we come!”
“Don’t get too excited,” Beth said as she picked up book after book. I only see three here. Don’t get me wrong these will still bring in a truckload of money, but a set will bring big money. I can only imagine what they’d be worth. Everyone is looking for the Audubon Birds of America in estate sales and attics, but these, which are frequently overlooked by the scavengers,” Beth paused and put her hand on her heart, “are worth millions.”
“If we can find the other two books,” Mike clarified.
“Yes, we need the set.” Beth cradled the books gently in her arms. “I’m going down to find a safe place for these. Bring the other books down, and I’ll go through them there. Damn, I wish we had internet here,” she said and walked out of the attic in a daze.
“I guess Beth knows books,” Mia observed.
“Did you see the look on her face?” Ted said. “It was how I must have looked the first time I held a joystick in my hands.”
“You mean your joystick,” Mike teased Ted and winked at Mia. Both blushed. “Oh, Mia, you had something you wanted me to look at?”
Mia shook herself to clear her mind of the book find and back to what she was dealing with before. “Oh my god, yes! Come here.” She got up and cruised over to the far wall. “There’s a space here, maybe a room. It’s bricked off, but Murphy assures me we need to get in there. Maybe the other two books are there,” she said to tempt Mike after she saw the hesitation in his face.
Mike ran his hand along the brick façade. “But where to start? If we do it wrong I could bring the side of the house down on us, and Ma will kill me.”
“Hold on.” Mia went back to the window and called, “Murphy!” He appeared suddenly beside her, causing Mia to jerk her body in surprise, losing her balance. She pitched forward and almost fell out of the window. Mike caught her by the belt and hauled her back in.
“Good thing I was watching your ass, Cooper.”
“Thank you, you saved my ass, Dupree.”
“And what a nice ass it is,” Ted chimed in from the other side of the attic.
Murphy, feeling bad about the incident, lightly touched her arm to get her attention.
“Oh, Murphy,” she said taking a deep breath and calm
ing herself. “Can you see from the other side of this wall,” Mia said, walking over and patting the bricks, “where there may have been a door or opening?”
Murphy nodded and pushed through the brick. Within moments he appeared half in and out of the center of the wall. He dropped his axe forward and scratched at the wood flooring.
“Ted, toss me a Sharpie.”
He reached into his shirt pocket and tossed the permanent marker to her.
Mia got on her knees and drew a line along the area where Murphy used his axe to indicate the opening. “Murphy says there was a…” She paused, looking at the ghost, and asked, “Doorway?” He nodded. “There was a doorway here.”
Murphy laid his axe on the ground and mimed to Mia something about a window.
“I think he’s telling me that there is a window on the outside of the house. Maybe we don’t need to break into the room from here,” Mia suggested.
“How big is the window?” Mike asked the space he thought the farmer was existing in.
Murphy walked over to the casement window that Mia had almost fallen from and pointed to it.
“Same size as these windows,” Mia answered for Murphy. “I could crawl through it,” Mia offered.
“No. It’s a four story drop. The ladders we have here are ancient. And I think there is a yew tree in the way.” Mike pulled his hand through his hair as he thought. “I will have to run it by my mother before we take a sledge hammer to the wall.”
“Would it help if I bilocated and took a look to see if the books are in there?” Mia offered.
“No!” Ted shouted. He walked over and took her chin in his hand. “Every time you bilocate, something goes wrong with your head. No amount of money is worth endangering you.”
Mia jerked her face to release her chin from Ted’s grasp.
Mike looked down at her. “Is this true?”
“Yes,” Ted answered for her.
Mia stuck her chin out and glared at Ted, “Maybe it takes a lot out of me, but only when I encounter…”
“Doesn’t matter,” Mike interrupted her. “I’m sorry, Mia, I had no idea the toll it takes on you. How did I not know this?”
“It’s a recent development,” she admitted.
“Who knows?”
Mia nodded over at Ted and said, “Ted, Beth and Burt.”
“What are you doing about it?”
“Not OOBing.”
“What does your aunt say? Father Santos, or the creepy little girl…”
“Sabine,” Mia supplied. “They don’t know. Just you guys. The PEEPs and me.”
Murphy dropped his axe.
“And Murphy,” Mia added.
“I’ve got to think about this. Let’s just keep the existence of the room to ourselves for now.”
“Maybe Murphy could look for the book?” suggested Ted. “We could show him the other books and…”
“Can he read?” Mike asked.
CRACK!
The sound reverberated off the walls off the attic. “I’m sorry, old bean, but I had to ask.”
Mia smiled as she observed Mike trying to make amends to Murphy who was pouting big time. Mia walked over and interceded, “Murph, give the guy a break. It’s not like you’ve been bosom buddies.”
The farmer set his face in thought. He begrudgingly nodded.
“If we were to show you some books, could you check and see if they are in there?”
Murphy put his fingers to his eyes and then moved his hand outward. He then walked over and put his hand through the chest of drawers and shook his head no.
“Murphy, can only see what is in plain sight. If the books are in a drawer or a chest or even under a dustsheet, he will not be able to tell.”
“So this is like the vault situation that newscaster got into in Chicago a ways back,” Ted pointed out. “We won’t know what’s in there unless we open it up.”
“Could be a treasure, could be a big mess,” Mike pondered aloud. “I will have to talk to ma.”
“When you do, please consider that I think that there are answers in there. Information that will help us to rid you of the ghost that is attached to you. I’d say that was more valuable than some dusty old books,” Mia advised, making sure not to make eye contact with Murphy.
“I hear you, thanks for the advice.” Mike walked over and put his hand on the wall and closed his eyes. “I will never cease to be amazed at how the past can find its way into the present and cause a shitload of trouble.”
“We all have baggage, Mike,” Ted said and added, looking at Mia, “some more than others. It doesn’t mean we give up. We just have to think things through. We have time. Let’s go and get something to eat and talk it over with the others.”
Mia looked at Ted as if she was seeing him for the first time. She filed the experience away for now. She too was hungry. The emotions of the last few minutes had her stomach in knots.
Mike opened his eyes and smiled. “Let’s feed our bodies and nurture our souls.”
“Cool, who said that?” Ted asked.
“I did,” Mike said and winked at Mia as he walked by her.
Chapter Ten
To say Glenda Dupree was overjoyed at the prospect of a possible fortune to be found in the attic was an understatement. She got up and danced. She not only danced but she granny danced. Her legs shot to either side of her to the rhythm of We’re in the Money, which she sang in tune and with a Broadway flare. Mike was beet red but soon gave into the glee that radiated from his mother.
Beth tried to raise a cautionary finger. Burt grabbed her hand. “Let her have this moment.” Ted and Mia just laughed. Murphy started to keep time with a light tap of his axe.
They didn’t hear the screen door slam the first time. The second time Mia turned and saw the doorknob twist. She grabbed Ted’s arm and pointed. He pulled out a digital camera and trained it on the door. When it popped open Ted let loose with a barrage of clicks and flashes which caused George Albert to drop his Hubbard squash on his foot. He let loose with a salvo of curses that Mia was quite impressed with.
She got up and rescued the squash and helped the wounded man to the table. She caught a look from Glenda that said keep your mouth shut about the books. She pulled off his shoe then his sock. With tenderness she probed the bones of his foot and with the exception of a possible smashed toenail, Mia pronounced him fit.
George Albert smiled and thought what a lucky man Mike was to have this helpful tiny woman as his wife.
“Well I’ll be damned, what an entrance,” Glenda said, her hands on her hips.
“I’m sorry, Auntie, but you were singing so loud you didn’t hear me knock,” George Albert explained.
“I was just showing off to the kids,” Glenda explained. “What brings you here, may I be so bold to ask?”
“Two things really, Ma wanted me to mention that she has Grandma’s good set of dishes. Now that Mike’s settling down, did you want him to have them?”
Glenda took in the shocked looks of the PEEPs crew and quickly said. “No, I think that your mother will put them to better use. Mia’s not into antiques, are you dear?”
“No, I absolutely have no fondness for them,” Mia said honestly, catching on quick to the direction Glenda was taking the conversation.
“Okay and the second thing is that Ma would like to meet Mike’s bride. Would it be too bold to suggest that they stop over in the next few days?”
“Gee, Mia, it’s nice to be talked about while we’re sitting here,” Mike piped in. “George, I’ll give your ma a call after the holidays and set something up.”
George nodded. “Well that’s mission accomplished.” He started to get up.
“George, would you have any equipment that would allow us to explore the old well?” Mike surprised everyone with this question. “Mia and I are amateur spelunkers, and I told her about the well. I thought since we are in a drought that maybe exploring the cavern below would be a fine adventure.”
“Ho
w far down is it?”
“Eighty feet,” Mia answered. “We have the gear once we are down there. We just need a secure rigging to get us down there and up again.”
George thought a moment. “There is the rental place over on forty seven. I bet they may have a hoist strong enough for the job. Might be a bit pricy, and with the holiday, I’m not sure…”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Mike stood up to indicate the conversation was over. He walked George Albert to the door and thanked him for the invitation and the squash. He stood there until he heard their visitor’s truck start and pull out of the crowded drive.
Mia got up to leave, but Ted grabbed her arm and said, “Lucy, you gots some ‘splaining to do.”
Burt and Beth started talking at once and Mike groaned as he tried to explain. Glenda pounded on the table.
“Quiet! Land sakes alive, give the boy time to get his words out.”
Mike nodded a thank you to his mother and began, “It all started when the people at the hospital assumed that Mia was, um, Mrs. Dupree.”
“You did nothing to dissuade them?” Ted asked.
“No. I thought that if Mike needed a relative to sign off on a procedure, or get him out of the hospital it would take less time if a relative was already there,” Mia explained.
“So how’d did George Albert get wind of it?” Burt asked, enjoying the discomfiture of his partner and former lover.
Glenda spoke up. “Large county, small minds, big mouths. Someone called my sister, and when she asked me, I didn’t exactly come clean. It was nice to have one over on her. She’s always showing off. George Albert this and George Albert that. So when he asked why Mia Cooper didn’t take the Dupree name, I said it was because she’s in show business.”
A shocked Mia snorted. “Care to elaborate, Mrs. Dupree?”
Ted eased back in his chair. He started to understand the joke was getting way out of hand.
“Oh, you’re a spiritualist,” Glenda said and pointed out, “Not too far from the truth.”
“Madam Mia Cooper, palms read, ghosts rested.” Ted moved his hand in front of her as if he was reading a marquee.
She just harrumphed and sat with her arms crossed.