4 The Silent Ghost

by Sue Ann Jaffarian

  Kelly shot up the last set of steps. Reaching Tanisha’s door, she knocked, “Tanisha, it’s Kelly.” Getting no answer, she tried the door, it was unlocked. A chill went through her as she put her hand on the door. She hesitated.

  Granny popped back out into the hallway. “Don’t just stand there! She needs you.”

  Taking a quick, deep breath, as if jumping into the deep end of a cold pool, Kelly shoved the door open and scanned the place with her eyes. At first glance, she didn’t see anything odd. And no sign of Tanisha.

  “Over here,” called Granny, who was hovering by the bed.

  Kelly heard a moan. Dropping her bag to the floor and the pizza box on the coffee table, she dashed to where Granny indicated. Leaning against the bed and tipped to her right, Tanisha was nearly wedged between the bed and nightstand. Her eyes were closed. Her body quivered. She let out another moan. Pushing the nightstand aside a few inches, Kelly knelt in front of her. “Tanisha, it’s me, Kelly. Are you hurt?” She noticed Tanisha’s nose and one cheek were scraped and freshly scabbed, like she’d gone down face-first on concrete.

  Tanisha mumbled something and slowly shook her head side to side. Not taking her word for it, Kelly ran her hands swiftly around Tanisha’s body and limbs, gently pressing, and watching Tanisha’s face for any sign of pain. Finding no injury, she slipped her arms under the limp girl’s armpits and started to lift her up.

  “Can you help me out a bit?” Kelly asked with a grunt. “Come on, try to stand. Or at least get up enough to sit on the bed.”

  Slowly opening her eyes, Tanisha focused on Kelly and seemed almost surprised to see her. Finding her legs, she helped Kelly raise her enough to set her on the bed. Once there, she shook herself, as if coming to from a faint.

  Kelly noticed the circles under her eyes were even darker than they had been that morning. “How long have you been sitting on the floor?”

  Tanisha scrubbed her hands up and down over her face. “Ow.”

  “Your face is scraped. Do you know how that happened?”

  “It is?” Tanisha lightly touched her nose, then flinched from the sting. “No clue.” She looked around, still half dazed. What time is it?”

  “About seven-thirty.”

  “After I dropped you off, I went to the store and picked up some sodas and other stuff.” Tanisha’s voice was slow as she tried to piece together the afternoon. Her fingers gently touched her check. She winced. “Then I decided to work on a new article I’m doing. I sat down at my desk and starting working.”

  “That’s the last thing you remember?”

  Tanisha shook her head. “At some point I took the trash out. I remember that, but not exactly when I did it.”

  “That’s probably why her door was unlocked,” suggested Granny. “Wonder if she fell outside.”

  “We found your door unlocked,” Kelly told her.

  Tanisha’s eyes gained focus. “How’d you get into the building?”

  Kelly sat on the end of the bed. “Russell Savage was leaving. He let me in, and I’m glad he did.”

  Tanisha looked around, as if trying to remember something important. “You saw Russ? I don’t think he ever called me back.”

  “He said something about being back in an hour. Maybe we could ambush him then, if you’re up to it.”

  Granny move closer and peered into Tanisha’s eyes. “Is she okay?”

  “No!” Without warning, Tanisha raised a defensive arm in front of her face and cried out. Granny backed up.

  Both Kelly and Granny looked around the loft but couldn’t see the other ghost.

  “This is Granny,” Kelly explained to Tanisha. “Not that other ghost.”

  Tanisha opened her eyes wide and studied the apparition in front of her. “Oh, Granny, I’m so sorry.”

  “Did that other ghost try to hurt you?” Granny had her hands on her hips, ready to get to the bottom of Tanisha’s problem.

  Kelly relayed the question, then added one of her own. “You let her get into your head, didn’t you?”

  “It happened so fast.” Tanisha got up on unsteady feet and started to move slowly around the loft as if testing her limbs for soundness. “One minute I was working, the next I was crying. I remember that. I started to cry. Then I was sobbing. I tried to shake it off.” She stopped moving and looked at Granny and Kelly. “I remember now. I got up and faced her. I got right up in the face of that ghost and asked her what she wanted. I asked her why she was doing this to me.”

  Tanisha stopped talking as her face exploded with surprise. “I saw her! Kelly, I really saw her this time. And she looked just like the picture you drew.”

  Kelly jumped to her feet. “Could you hear her, too?”

  “No. But her lips weren’t moving so I don’t think she was talking.” Tanisha clenched her hands in frustration, as she slowly paced, trying to remember more. “But she was gesturing to me. She hadn’t done that before.”

  “I’ll bet,” Granny said, pacing along with Tanisha, “the reason that woman couldn’t keep this place rented was because the ghost bothered her tenants.”

  “I think you’re right, Granny,” answered Kelly. She passed along Granny’s theory to Tanisha. “And I’ll bet even if none of them could see the ghost, she made them feel as bad as she did Rhoda and Tanisha here.”

  Tanisha stopped moving. “You mean, they didn’t stay here because the place gave them bad vibes?”

  “Yes,” Kelly confirmed. “You can see her, so you had an idea of what was troubling you, but if you couldn’t see the spirit, you’d just think you were depressed all the time. Or even sick, like poor Rhoda.”

  “You’re right, Kelly. If I couldn’t see her, I’d think I was going crazy.”

  “You said the ghost was making gestures. Like what kind?”

  “Like she wanted me to follow her. Like this.” Tanisha demonstrated with a hand movement. “She started drifting away, but kept moving her hand, indicating for me to follow.” Tanisha started across the floor, taking small, slow steps. Granny kept up with her while Kelly watched, taking notice of everything. “She was moving in this direction, beckoning me, and I followed.”

  When Tanisha was near one of the exposed brick walls, the one just off the kitchen, she stopped and spun around to Kelly and Granny. “That’s how I scraped my face! I was following her, in some sort of daze, and smacked right into the wall. I’m sure of it.”

  Kelly moved over to the wall, placing a hand on the solid surface. “Did the ghost go through the wall?”

  “I think so. And I think in my daze I tried to follow her and smacked into it.” Tanisha paused to think it through, but couldn’t come up with any more. “That’s the last I remember until you and Granny showed up.”

  “What’s on the other side of this wall?”

  “The laundry room.” Tanisha pointed towards a closed door on the side wall just before the closet doors. “You get to it through there. It’s brick on this side, drywall on the other. The brick wall is thick and directly behind it they created a space for the washer and dryer.”

  Their thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a cell phone ringing.

  “That’s mine,” said Tanisha. When it rang again, she followed the sound to her bag on the kitchen counter. Pulling it out, she answered it.

  “Hold on a minute, Rhoda, Kelly’s here, too. I want her to hear this.” Tanisha put the call on speaker as Kelly walked over to the counter. “Now what did you say again?”

  “I think I remember that girl in the drawing. I think I know who she is.”

  “Was she a tenant or owner?” Tanisha asked.

  “No, I don’t think so.” Rhoda paused. “I could be wrong, but I think that’s Russell Savage’s sister.”

  Tanisha leaned back against the counter, letting it support her. “Are you sure? Did you ever meet her?”

  “No, I never met her, so I’m not positive. She ran off before I moved into the building. But that drawing looks a lot like a photo Russ ke
eps in his apartment.”

  After the call, Tanisha plopped down on a counter stool, nearly missing it and falling to the floor. At the last moment, she corrected the action. Digging through her bag, she pulled out the drawing and stared at it. “She’s right. This does resemble the picture Russ keeps of his sister.”

  Kelly looked at the drawing over Tanisha’s shoulder. “But didn’t Rhoda also say tons of girls wore their hair this way?”

  “Yes, but I’ve seen that photo, too. I’ve seen it lots of times when I was in his apartment.” She glanced back at Kelly. “Remember, at first I thought this drawing looked familiar.”

  “Okay,” said Kelly, trying to connect the dots of information, “say this is Alice, Russ’s sister. We know from the hair and clothes that the girl in this drawing died in the late 90’s or a few years later. But Rhoda said Alice disappeared about the time the building was converted, so that narrows her death to the late 90s.”

  Tanisha nodded. Her eyes went back to the drawing, then to the brick wall. “You don’t think…you know.”

  “Maybe she didn’t run off like her brother thinks,” Kelly added, understanding what Tanisha was thinking. “Maybe that lowlife she was dating killed her and she’s trying to tell someone.”

  “Maybe she’s trying to let Russ know.”

  Granny wasn’t so sure. “Then why isn’t she haunting his apartment?”

  “Maybe she is, Granny,” Kelly told her after interpreting for Tanisha. “Maybe he’s not as sensitive to her presence as T and the others.” She looked at Tanisha. “Did you ever experience any ghost sightings when you were with Russ in his place?”

  Tanisha got off the stool and walked towards the brick wall in question. “No.” She placed a hand on the wall. “But I remember now when I first started seeing her. It wasn’t until around the end of March or April, about the same time I started dating Russ.”

  “Tanisha.” Kelly spoke slowly as she approached her. “What’s wrong? You’re absolutely ashen.” She put her hands on Tanisha’s shoulders. They were trembling. “T, are you going to faint?”

  Tanisha shook her head but said nothing. Her eyes were fixed on the wall and partially glazed. With several slow, deliberate strokes, she patted the bricks in front of her.

  Kelly immediately understood and turned to Granny, “Can you go through the wall?”

  “Sure, but it’s just a wall,” answered Granny. “The ghost probably went through it and disappeared to the other side. Like I do when I disappear.”

  “Probably, but it wouldn’t hurt to check it out.” Keeping one hand on Tanisha’s shoulder for support, Kelly ran her other hand up and down the brick surface. “Do you know, T, if this is an original wall, or part of the renovation?”

  Tanisha shook her head, trying to clear it. “We were told the walls with the exposed brick are all original and part of the support. That’s why they’re so thick. The drywall on the laundry room side was part of the renovation.”

  Granny scowled at the inanimate bricks. “Don’t say another word, I’m on it.”

  Granny passed through the bricks. A second later she was back. “Call the cops,” she told Kelly. “We got a stiff.”

  Chapter 10

  “Are you telling me there’s really a dead body behind that wall?” Tanisha scooted back several feet from the wall. Kelly was already in the middle of the living area, hugging herself against an inner chill. Both of them realizing that a theory about a body was not quite as terrifying as the reality.

  “Does it look like the girl in the picture?” Tanisha asked Granny.

  “Once maybe, but not now.” Kelly passed along Granny’s comment.

  Tanisha picked up her cell phone.

  “What are you doing?” asked Kelly with alarm.

  “Granny’s right, we have to call the police.”

  “And tell them what?” Kelly’s voice climbed with each word. “Um, a ghost told us there’s a body behind this wall?”

  Tanisha sucked in and blew out a long burst of air. “I’m a reporter. I’ll tell them I can’t reveal my source.”

  “Would that work in this case?”

  Tanisha had the phone in a death grip. “It’s the best I’ve got, Whitecastle.”

  “And what about Russ?” pushed Kelly. “Shouldn’t we tell him we think we found his sister before the police get involved?”

  “No,” Tanisha said with conviction. “I’m pretty sure calling the police first would be protocol. Let them tell him.”

  Granny went back through the wall to confirm what she’d seen. When she returned, the other ghost was with her. Kelly and Tanisha stared at the apparition in shock, as if seeing her for the first time. She wasn’t the spirit of a dead woman any longer; she was the spirit of a murdered woman.

  Without taking her eyes from the ghost, Kelly asked, “Can you see her, T?”

  “Yeah, very clearly.”

  “Let me know immediately if she tries to mess with you, okay?”

  “You got it.”

  Kelly studied the ghost, who stayed by the wall. “Are you Alice Savage?”

  The ghost answered with a slow and deliberate single nod.

  “Do you know who killed you?”

  Another affirmative nod.

  Tanisha fidgeted. “Are you going to play twenty questions with her all night?”

  “I’ve watched my mother talk to ghosts,” Kelly explained, not taking her eyes from Alice. “If they can’t or won’t communicate verbally, sometimes she’ll ask them simple yes and no questions.”

  Kelly started to move closer to the ghost, then grabbed Tanisha’s sleeve, tugging her along for support. “Were you killed by your boyfriend?”

  The spirit’s head went back and forth like a slow pendulum.

  Granny shook an index finger at the ghost of Alice Savage. “I’m betting that skunk of a brother killed you I’ve got an itchy feeling about him, and it’s not a good one.”

  The ghost didn’t offer an answer one way or the other.

  Kelly rephrased Granny’s question, “Did your brother, Russell Savage, kill you?”

  As the ghost’s head went slowly up and down, Tanisha’s legs buckled, causing her bottom to hit the hardwood floor with a thud. “Oh, God,” she moaned, covering her face with her hands. “I slept with a killer!”

  “You didn’t know that at the time, T,” Kelly reminded her, then shivered, remembering how Russ had invited her up to his place.

  “What’s worse,” Tanisha ranted, “is that he used Alice to get women. Playing the distraught brother whose baby sister had run off. Whining about how he’d been looking for her for years. It makes me want to puke.” Before Kelly could say anything, she added, “And what about me? I’m a journalist. I’m supposed to be able to read people and tell when they’re lying. I’m just as big of a fraud as he is.”

  Kelly knelt beside Tanisha and put an arm around her shaking shoulders. “You’re no such thing, T. You’re a good person who believed an evil liar. He’s a skilled sociopath and they can fool most people.”

  They both remained quiet until Tanisha looked at Kelly and said with the bluntness of a blow, “I think you should go, Kelly.”

  Both Kelly and Granny looked at her with surprise.

  “I’m serious,” Tanisha continued. “I have to call the police, but I don’t want you mixed up in this. I’ll handle the police on my own.”

  “You still going to say an anonymous source told you about the body in the wall?”

  “I really don’t know, but that body has to come out of there somehow and Russ needs to pay for Alice’s death.”

  Kelly stood up and held out a hand. “If we’re going to sound like lunatics, we’re going to do it together.” Tanisha took her hand and Kelly pulled her up from the floor. “You asked for my help. I’m not going to abandon you now.”

  “This will make the news, you know?”

  “I know.”

  “Your mother won’t be happy about your skills being made
public, should it come out.”

  “No, she won’t,” Kelly agreed. “And it will be quite a shock to my dad since he doesn’t know about them yet.” Kelly gave the matter more thought. “As much as possible, I think we need to downplay the ghost stuff. And under no circumstances should Granny be mentioned. Keep her totally out of it, even if I’m involved.”

  “That can be done,” Tanisha assured her.

  Kelly turned to Alice, but she was nowhere to be found. Only the hazy figure of Granny Apples drifted nearby. “Granny, where’s Alice?”

  “Gone,” the ghost answered. “And I’m thinking she won’t be back now that the truth is out.” Granny came closer. “Any idea how we’re gonna pin this on that Russell guy?”

  “That’s not our job, Granny. Hopefully, the police will find some incriminating evidence inside the wall.”

  Kelly looked at Tanisha, who was lost in her own thoughts. “You want to stay in my dorm room tonight? My roommate is gone for the weekend. You know, once you make that call to the police, this place will be crawling with them. You won’t be able to stay here for quite a while.”

  “Are you nuts?” Tanisha snapped. “I’m never sleeping here again.”

  “But the ghost is gone.”

  “Uh-uh. A body in the wall. A murderer above me. Who knows if Russ killed other women and stashed their bodies in other walls. This is the sort of crap my father thrives on, not me.” Tanisha stopped short. She looked down at the phone in her hand a moment, then up at Kelly as a half smile developed. “We’re going about this all wrong. At least I am.”

  After pacing the loft a few times and taking several deep breaths, Tanisha placed the call.

  “Dad, it’s me. I think I found the plot for your next book.”

  Chapter 11

  Kelly waited downstairs on the stoop for Tanisha to buzz her up. In her hands was a pizza box. “Come on, T,” she said at the locked door. “It’s getting cold out here.”

  “Does she know you’re coming?” asked Granny.

  “Yes, Granny.” Kelly rolled her eyes. “I even called ahead, like a well-mannered young lady.”