A Rose by Any Other Name (Haunted Series Book 18)

by Alexie Aaron

  “You know, Ma, when we find the bodies, the police will have to be brought in,” Mike told her.

  “Just the coroner,” Glenda corrected. “Audrey’s good at handling him, I understand.”

  Burt was working his way around the house, tapping walls, trying to save the expense of the X-ray. While he worked, he went over in his mind the way Mia was treated by Stephen. How much of that was the real Murphy? How about his feelings? He was outraged by Stephen’s manhandling of Mia. How could Mia forgive Murphy after this? He wouldn’t mention it. Instead, he wrote all of it down in his private log.

  ~

  Ted looked down at his sleeping wife. Amanda and Charles had met him at the door with a bundled up Brian. Brian had given Ted a kiss, telling him, “We going to eat ’pagetti. Mommy sleeping.”

  “Be careful, Amanda, the sidewalks are a bit slick,” Ted cautioned.

  “Thank you, son. We’ll bring back some pasta. You may as well get some sleep yourself. You look rather pale.”

  “It’s my heritage,” Ted said, closing the door.

  He took off his shirt, shoes, and pants and slid under the duvet with Mia. Her body was warm. She turned over and looked at him with lazy druggy eyes. “Hello, husband.”

  “Hello, wife. How are you feeling?”

  “Confused and sore. I think I’m going to have to see a psychiatrist. In the last two days, I’ve had three husbands, a miscarriage, been spanked over the knee by my best friend and felt up by yours.”

  “Cid told me. I think he thinks that I’m going to be mad at him.”

  “Don’t be. He was my husband until I kissed him,” Mia said. She kissed Ted. “See, that’s how I should feel after being kissed by my husband.”

  “How does it feel?” he asked, holding her tenderly, very aware of the large bandage and the injury underneath.

  “Kissing you is like a drink of very rich hot chocolate on a cold day. It’s sweet on the lips and tongue, but it warms my belly, not to mention…”

  “Um, you better not mention that.”

  “You’re not taking the doctor’s orders seriously are you?”

  “Yes. I wonder if your other husbands found you such a handful.”

  “I’m sure I was. One tried to kill me.”

  “Is that an option?”

  Mia growled.

  “How about we hold each other for a while,” he suggested.

  Mia cuddled into Ted and soon was back asleep. Ted held on to her. He saw two Mias in his mind’s eye: the superhero who flew through the house with Murphy tucked under one arm while decapitating a ghost with the other, and this soft gentle woman who was in love with him. Both beings contained in one small package. Mia moved against him.

  “Teddy Bear, you’re not sleeping,” she said as she moved her hands, exploring.

  “Whoa, Mia,” he said, catching her hand.

  “It occurred to me, you’re not under doctor’s orders.”

  “Yes, that’s true.”

  “I think I would like to give you something from Menu A.”

  It was Ted’s turn to growl.

  Chapter Ten

  Mia walked into the house holding tightly to Ted’s arm. She reached out with her mind and told Mike he had a nice ass. He almost fell off the ladder he was on. “I can report that some of my powers are back,” Mia said.

  “Wait here,” Ted said. He strode into the library, carried out a chair, and set it by a heating register along the wall. “Please come sit.”

  Mia walked slowly over, looking into corners and checking out the shadows. She sat down and watched as the male PEEPs examined the entry hall. Glenda walked out of the library and over to her.

  Mia tilted her head. “Glenda, do you hear that? It’s a squeaking sound. It sounds like…”

  “Someone unscrewing a nut from a bolt,” Cid said from across the room.

  Mia looked up. “The chandelier is moving,” she warned. “Stand clear!”

  They watched in amazement and horror as the chandelier came crashing down.

  “Someone’s in the attic with a wrench,” Mia said, calmly looking up.

  Ted and Cid vaulted up the stairs.

  Mia got up slowly, walked over, picked up a piece of the smashed lighting fixture, and moved it back and forth in her hand before holding it to the light. “It’s fake. Glenda, did they tell you this was a crystal chandelier?”

  Glenda was amazed at how calm Mia was. She herself was glad for the panty liner she’d put on that morning.

  Audrey came running out holding the iPad. “What was that noise?” She looked at the mess on the floor and asked, “What happened?”

  “Someone is sending a message. Evidently, Renee Roustan was just act one,” Mia said. “Maybe a lost soul? No.” Mia put her hand to her temple. Nothing. She walked over to the fragments of the chandelier and took off her glove before she put her bare hand on one of the holding bolts. “How old is this house?” Mia asked.

  “I’m not exactly sure,” Glenda said

  “Does any of it predate the fire?”

  “Why?” Audrey asked.

  “I’m getting smoke and screaming… a lot of screaming… Not people, horses. “Did the original carriage house burn down?” she asked.

  “I’m going to find out,” Audrey assured her. “Anything else?”

  “We need Murphy back,” Mia said.

  Mike, who had been clinging to the ladder with shaking hands, looked over at Burt. He shook his head and started climbing down.

  Burt looked over at the sensitive, trying to gauge her mood from her face. Mia was tired and sore. Ted told him that the wound from Murphy’s spectral axe was not healing as fast as she would like. Mia was the one who sent Murphy away, and now she wanted him back. He walked over to her and gave her a hand to hold as she navigated over the pieces of the large chandelier.

  “Thank you, Burt,” she said softly. “Sometimes, when a powerful entity leaves, the others act up. It’s sort of like a Who screaming, ‘I’m here! I’m here!’”

  “Mia, we need to talk.”

  “K,” Mia said, looking up with her soft green eyes.

  “In private.”

  “Lead the way, but inside this house, Cid’s going to hear everything.”

  “I have the keys to Mike’s condo.”

  “K.” Mia looked at him suspiciously. “What do I tell my husband?”

  “Leave that to me,” Burt said.

  “Alright. I’m going to go and talk to Jake while you talk to Ted,” she said and walked slowly down the hall. Each step sent shockwaves through her midriff. She knew that if it wasn’t for Sariel’s protection, Murphy would have killed her with the blow from his axe. The enchanted barrier stopped the blade from moving beyond her ribs, but still, her body had absorbed the blow.

  “Hey, Jake,” Mia said as she arrived.

  “Hello, Destroyer of Worlds,” Jake responded as Marvin the Martian.

  “Am I getting fired?” she asked.

  The Magic 8 Ball appeared on the screen. Mia tapped it, and Marvin looked under it. “Too early to tell.”

  Jake played music. Mia recognized the Annie Lennox song.

  “Walking on, walking on broken glass…”

  “The broken window? Ted paid for it. If you’re talking about the chandelier, I couldn’t stop it. No demon, no telekinesis. Is that why I’ve fallen out of favor with Burt? Well, crap on toast.”

  Jake showed Mia a dog turd on a piece of toast.

  “Ew. Time for a new swear phrase. I borrowed that one from Glenda. I never thought of the image it brings up.”

  “How about your fuck me and leave me a rose?” Marvin asked.

  Mia flushed. “Damn.”

  Jake produced a series of images of dams.

  “Gee, I thought you’d go for Dante’s circles. You chose another path. Jake, I’m beginning to appreciate your complexities.”

  “Damn!” Marvin responded.

  Upstairs, Cid and Ted were balancing on beams in
the unfinished part of the attic.

  “What did you find?” Burt asked.

  “We found the five nuts but no wrench,” Cid reported as he made his way back to the solid flooring.

  Ted scratched his head. “I’m glad no one was underneath the thing when it went.”

  “Me too,” Burt said. He looked at Ted a moment.

  “I take it, you want to talk to me,” Ted said.

  “Ted, would it be alright with you if I took Mia away for a few hours to discuss my graphic comic book?”

  “Now?” he asked, surprised.

  “It’s kind of an emergency. If I can talk Mia into doing a few more voice-overs, I may have an internet series on offer to me.”

  “Whoa! I’m sure she’ll help you out,” Ted said.

  “I wanted to take her someplace nice,” Burt lied.

  “Are you dating my wife?” Ted asked.

  Burt blushed. “No. Can I?”

  “No,” Ted answered.

  “Well now that that’s settled…”

  “Sure, but don’t tire her out. She’s not at her best, and she refuses to take any more pain pills.”

  “I’ll be careful,” Burt said and walked away.

  Cid looked at Ted. “It’s not like Burt to want to leave the scene of a haunt.”

  “Yes. Mia will tell me what it’s really about when she gets back.”

  “You’re not worried?”

  “No, are you?”

  “Nope. While we’re here, let’s give this area a thorough search. I smell smoke. I’m thinking that some of the original joists are still here.”

  ~

  Mia walked into Mike’s condo and straight to the bathroom. Burt turned on the lights and waited anxiously for her to return.

  Mia walked in with a tissue box in hand.

  “What’s that for?” Burt asked.

  “When you fire me, I’m going to cry,” she said.

  “I’m not going to fire you.”

  “Oh, then why all this cloak-and-dagger bullshit?”

  “Mia, we need to talk about what happened in Renee’s game. I didn’t think you would want to talk about it in front of Ted, and I don’t want to talk about it in that house.”

  Mia nodded her head. “The memories Renee planted are messing me up, Burt.”

  “Me too, Mia. Cid’s going through mega guilt.”

  Mia smiled. “He should.”

  “What?” Burt asked, alarmed.

  “A lady never tells. Okay, let’s talk. When you entered the game, I didn’t know who you were. I was having a hard time with my marriage, and I was supposedly pregnant and having cravings. You smell like donuts, Burt. I was craving you.”

  Burt blushed. “Thank you for that.”

  “But that’s not what is messing me up,” she assured him.

  “Is it Murphy?”

  “Yes. I fear that it’s quite possible that this incident could unbalance him.”

  “He slammed you against the wall and then turned you over his knee and spanked you like a child. How much is that the real Murphy?”

  “Oh. I wouldn’t put it past him to spank me, but he wouldn’t beat me,” Mia stated.

  “He tried to kill you and me.”

  “That stopped the minute the ghost’s head left her body. I could feel the change in him. Once we were outside, he was freed from the residual effects of Renee.”

  “Or was it because he was out of the house?” Burt asked.

  Mia’s eyes opened wider. “You’re right. Are you thinking this is a situation like the old house?”

  “You mean, do I think the house is sentient?” he clarified.

  “Yes?”

  “No. Do you?” Burt asked.

  “No, but there could be a controlling entity, like in the hollow, involved. It was too much to hope for that Renee, like Jerry, was strong enough to contrive an alternate world. Jerry had to continually remind his players who they were, but we arrived in the game already primed with the past of Renee’s parents and the boarder. When the game finished, we should have been freed from the contrived memories. But, Burt, for me, I am still Mrs. Roustan. To embed memories in each of us so real that I’m feeling guilty that I slept beside Ted last night, takes tremendous power.”

  “The Jerry haunt was very similar, but he needed people to fill all the roles. Renee didn’t take people to be the cook and the maid. They were created by or for her,” Burt pointed out.

  “Actually, they could have not been there at all. The whole world wasn’t real, Burt. We just thought it was. Otherwise, all the people who weren’t killed by axe would not have starved to death. They would have continued to live and enjoy a full life. Children would have been born. A whole alternate reality would have occurred. This was contrived. It wouldn’t surprise me that we were moving around in something akin to a ghost’s green screen. The house itself may not be there at all.”

  Burt looked at Mia, stunned.

  “The Chicago fire took everything else in this neighborhood, but all of the house was destroyed in the fire. Or was it? I picked up something from a bolt that originally was attached to the rafters. I bet the house burned down but was rebuilt brick-by-brick by a power that refused to move on. It needed the foundation covered by the rose brick shell.”

  “I’m not sure I can take that leap with you just yet,” Burt said. “Let’s go back and examine why Renee chose each of us. Renee normally took people. Why would she risk it all and take a ghost?”

  “Unless she knew she could control him.”

  “Or something could,” Burt added.

  “The Roustan house could be multidimensional,” Mia said, letting her inner voice talk through her. “There are more rooms than advertised. The spirits are kept close to the controlling entity. Only Renee was allowed to come out and play. Perhaps she was too strong to control. She could have fed off of the entity or the entity was amused by her little games.”

  “This is why I wanted to talk to you here away from the house,” Burt explained. “I wanted whatever that spies on us to think it was because of Cid’s big ears we had to leave to talk in private. Mia, Mike and I discussed this last night at dinner. We are very concerned about your and my safety. You can’t bring Murphy back here.”

  “Now that we’ve talked, I agree with you. He’s too dangerous. Would you mind if I told Murphy why we can’t have him here?”

  “No, I don’t mind. I think it would be a good idea. Maybe he has a better perspective on the house now that he’s away from it. I was going to suggest you OOB over, but you’re too weak.”

  “I’m going to fly over. I’m hoping that it will start this to heal. If not, Judy is at the farm. Let me call Ted.”

  Mia pulled out her phone and pressed speed dial number one.

  “You’re calling to tell me that you and Burt are running away together?” Ted said instead of answering.

  Mia laughed. “No. Can I?”

  “No.”

  “K. Actually, I’m going home to see if Judy can help me. I’m not healing. Maybe she knows why?”

  “I’ll drive you,” Ted offered.

  “I going to do some birdman stuff. It’s faster.”

  “Not naked.”

  “Not naked. I’ll explain everything when I get back. Do you need anything from the house?”

  “Curly. We forgot to pack him.”

  “I’ll bring him.”

  “Hurry back.”

  Mia ended the call.

  She took off her coat and handed it to Burt. “Would you mind bringing this back to the house?”

  “My pleasure.”

  Mia looked around her and walked to the dining area where the ceiling was higher. She brought forth her wings.

  Burt noticed that they were different, more luminous than when she flew Murphy out of the house.

  Mia extended them, wrapped them around her body, and disappeared.

  Burt walked over to where she had stood seconds before. Ever the investigator, he pulled o
ut an EMF meter and took a reading. Mia didn’t leave any energy, but she did leave a scent behind. It wasn’t perfume, but Burt remembered the aroma and smiled.

  ~

  Mia emerged from the aerie. She pulled on a heavy sweatshirt Cid had left behind and went in search of Murphy. She found him on the south side of the large hill, working on clearing a clogged streamlet. The heat of the sun warmed Mia as she trudged through the four inches of accumulated snow.

  Murphy sensed Mia’s presence and moved quickly to her. She was pale and hurting, but she managed a smile.

  “Do you have a few minutes for a conversation?” Mia asked, her eyes kind.

  “Let’s go back to the aerie. It’s too cold out for you dressed like that,” he said.

  “Sure. How are you doing?”

  “I’m confused and ashamed, but I’m existing.”

  Mia turned and looked at him. “It’s not our fault. We couldn’t anticipate what was going to happen. Renee’s gone - I took care of her - but the residue won’t leave us. I’m going to consult with Judy and Father Santos.”

  “Why Judy?”

  “I’m not healing. I suspect it has something to do with your axe being a spectral axe.”

  Murphy’s face told Mia all she needed to know. He was devastated he had hurt her. She knew she couldn’t take him in her arms. The fictions of their backgrounds would add to the confusion of the emotions both of them were experiencing. “Let’s call it an accident.”

  They had reached the aerie. Mia walked in, and Murphy helped her take off the sweatshirt. She was weak but managed to make it to one of the sofas before her legs gave out. She patted the cushion beside her. “Come and sit. Don’t worry, I’m too tired to make any moves on you.”

  “Bad Mia,” Murphy said.

  “Murph, I have to ask you to sit the rest of this investigation out,” she started and proceeded to tell him everything Burt and she had spoken about.

  “I understand, and even though I shall miss you, I’ll stay here,” he said.

  “Murph…”

  “Call me Stephen.”

  “No.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it adds fuel to the cinders of the false memory. You and I weren’t married,” she said softly. “It wasn’t your child I lost. It was Neal’s. It was a horrible thing to do, to pull that out of my memory, to bring back that sorrow that I only recently allowed myself to remember.”