Secrets and Specters

by Raven Snow

  Ms. Poole arched an eyebrow, but her words were measured and calm when next she spoke. She was no stranger to Lady being difficult. “Because her son is busy two weeks in a row, it seems.”

  “Busy week at the police station, huh? What’s up?”

  “I wouldn’t know.”

  “You didn’t ask?”

  “No, I didn’t ask. It’s none of my business. Will you go to the movies with her or not?”

  Lady twirled a lock of her blond hair around her finger. “I mean… I guess I could. Does she even want to go with me?”

  “I’ll tell her you’ll go.”

  “She doesn’t even know? Ms. Poole, no offense, but seriously— I don’t think she wants to go with me. You’re her friend. I’m just the girl who delivers her enchanted rain water.”

  “Why would it matter who goes with her? All you do is sit there and watch a movie together. There’s almost no socializing involved.”

  “Yeah, that’s going to the movies. I’d still rather go with a friend, though. Plus, you usually, like, grab dinner before or after.”

  “Why? We have food at home.”

  “That’s not the point.” Lady shook her head. “Maybe you should go out with her more often. Sounds like you kinda need it Ms. Poole. Mandatory fun time.”

  “Have you had dinner yet?”

  “No.” Lady had been too busy climbing along the side of the inn for dinner. “I’ve been working.”

  Ms. Poole scoffed at that. “You’re a slow worker. Boil some water. We’ll have spaghetti. Have Otsuya and Doyle eaten?”

  “They went out on business.” Lady retrieved a pot from under the island and took it to the sink. “What is it they do exactly, by the way?”

  “That’s none of your business,” said Ms. Poole in a very matter-of-fact way.

  “Isn’t it, though?” Lady tried to be careful with the words she chose. “I mean, we all live under the same roof, and I work here, so… I should know, right?”

  “You think you deserve a thorough background check on all our guests?”

  “It’s hard to call him a guest.” Lady took the pot to the stove. She turned on the burner. “He’s here all the time,” she pointed out as she salted the water. “He basically lives here, right. Is that even legal?”

  “Lady,” Ms. Poole said, the name carrying some weight. She said it like a warning, like she didn’t want Lady to turn this into a problem.

  “I just mean… You know what it is they do, right?”

  Ms. Poole was lining up vegetables at her cutting board. She hesitated, her hand on a tomato. “I do,” she said finally, carefully.

  When she didn’t elaborate, Lady continued. “I know they make deals with people. Or, rather, I know that Doyle makes deals with people and… I guess Otsuya helps him?”

  Ms. Poole raised an eyebrow again. She neither confirmed nor denied what Lady had just said. Not that Lady needed her to do that. She knew she was right about that much, at least.

  “I know that Otsuya is a ghost,” Lady continued. It felt crazy to say out loud. She half expected Ms. Poole to call her out for losing her mind. “You know that… right?”

  “I do,” Ms. Poole said with a nod. That came as no surprise. If anything, Ms. Poole looked mildly annoyed that Lady even had to ask. Of course she would know what went on under her own roof. That made Lady all the more curious about the question weighing most heavily on her mind.

  “So, if you know what Otsuya is, then… Do you know what Doyle is?” Lady bit her bottom lip as soon as the words had left her mouth. She knew she was pushing it. It was a bad idea to go grilling Ms. Poole about Doyle less than ten minutes after breaking into his room, but she couldn’t help herself. Maybe, just maybe, she would get a straight answer.

  “Check and see if we still have French bread in the pantry. I’ll make some garlic bread.”

  “That doesn’t really answer my—”

  “If you poke your nose where it doesn’t belong one more time tonight, you’re not getting any garlic bread.”

  Lady grumbled but shut her mouth. She would find out eventually. In the meantime, she really wanted garlic bread.

  Chapter Two

  Lady didn’t sleep well. Her dreams were full of little micro nightmares. In some she was falling from a great height. In others Doyle was looming over her, casting accusations that were one hundred percent correct. Finally, there was a more abstract dream where it was just one big shadowy figure looming over her, standing at the foot of her bed.

  Lady was rudely and abruptly awoken by a sudden impact with her mattress. She sat upright, Otsuya’s smiling face filling her vision. “Good morning!” Otsuya said brightly.

  Lady looked around, her sluggish brain groping for some kind of foothold. “What time is it?”

  “Time to go to the library!”

  “What?”

  Otsuya’s grin fell a little. “You said we’d go, remember?”

  Lady vaguely remembered saying something like that. “Did I say I would go this early?”

  Otsuya climbed off Lady’s bed. She took one of her arms in hand and gave it a tug. “If you wait too long Ms. Poole will just put you to work. I have to work later too. Come on, come on.”

  Otsuya was right. Lady would no doubt have chores today. A day didn’t go by where she didn’t have something Ms. Poole wanted her to do. Now that she thought about it, she never did clean the floors on the second story. She would need to do something about that today. Ms. Poole wouldn’t be thrilled when she found out. “Okay.” Procrastinating some and heading to the library sounded more tempting than cleaning floors. “Let me get ready.”

  Otsuya cheered and left the room, Lion at her heels. That left Lady to visit the bathroom and throw on some clothes. She picked a comfy pair of skinny jeans and a band tee. After a moment of consideration, she pulled a hoodie over the whole thing. It was overcast outside. Between that and the early hour, it was sure to be chilly out. The hoodie was plain and black, more than a little stretched out from use. She had picked it up from a local thrift store. It fit fine for her needs. It was big and cozy and warm and that was all she could ask for. She pulled on her sneakers and headed for the kitchen.

  Otsuya had already fed Lion. She was crouched near the cat, scratching him between the ears while he had his head shoved in his bowl. Knowing Otsuya, she had probably put some people food in there on top of the normal cat chow. Ms. Poole did that too when Lady wasn’t around. It was a wonder she wasn’t the owner of the world’s fattest pet cat by now.

  Ms. Poole was also in the kitchen. She was standing over the stove. The smells and sounds of sizzling breakfast meats made Lady’s mouth water. “Going somewhere?” asked Ms. Poole, looking Lady up and down.

  “Just the library,” Lady said, hoping her boss wouldn’t tell her no now that she had gone through the trouble of getting dressed. “We’re coming back.”

  “When are you coming back?”

  “Soon…ish.” Lady hoped that would suffice. She didn’t have any hard-set plans for the day. She reached for a piece of bacon, withdrawing her hand quickly when Ms. Poole slapped it.

  “That’s hot. You’ll burn yourself.”

  Lady rubbed her stinging hand, not sure how much sense it made paradoxically hurting someone to keep them from hurting themselves. “You want anything from the library? Romance? Something steamy?”

  Ms. Poole rolled her eyes as she laid out a paper towel and started piling food in it with her tongs. “Do you want anything, Otsuya?”

  “No, ma’am.” Otsuya was still crouched down and petting Lion. Lady wondered if Otsuya had to eat, what with her being dead and all. She knew that she could. That alone raised a lot of questions.

  Ms. Poole filled another paper towel anyway. She put this one in a plastic bag. “Take that to Crispin when you go. Tell him to stop eating that gas station garbage.”

  Lady accepted both her own paper towel parcel and the bag meant for Ms. Poole’s nephew. “Got it. Thanks
, Ms. P.”

  “Never call me that again.”

  “Thanks.” Lady turned and headed for the door. “All right, Otsuya. Let’s go.”

  Otsuya hopped up to a standing position. “You coming Lion?”

  “I’m not sure—” began Lady, but Ms. Poole cut her off.

  “Let him go,” she said. “He should get out with you more. You can’t leave him cooped up here all the time.”

  ‘But he’s a cat,’ was what Lady wanted to say. Cats stayed at home when you went out. That was what they did. They weren’t dogs. You didn’t take them on long walks in the park.

  Except she knew what Ms. Poole was getting at. The old woman called Lion Lady’s familiar. Lady wasn’t sure all of what that implied just yet, but she couldn’t deny there was a special bond between her and her pet. Besides, Lion had been a feral cat when first they met. Staying cooped up probably wouldn’t sit well with him, and it wasn’t like he wandered off outdoors. No, Lion was surprisingly good about staying by her side. “Fine,” Lady said, getting a small cheer from Otsuya.

  Like he understood, Lion scarfed down the rest of his food and followed both women to the door. It was indeed cold out. The cool air made Lady’s nose start running the moment she stepped out the door. If Otsuya noticed the cold, she didn’t seem to mind it. Lady noted she had at least gone through the trouble of putting on a scarf. It was long and red and fluttered in the breeze.

  Lady opened her paper towel while they walked. There was bacon and sausage all shoved into a biscuit. Lady disassembled the breakfast and ate it in pieces. The meat was warm and crispy. That was definitely a plus for living at the inn. She’d never gotten such a good breakfast anywhere else. It had been mostly breakfast cereals and frozen waffles. Back when she was very young and living at a group home, the meals had been bland cafeteria-tier food. Blech. It was nice living somewhere with lots of home cooking, even if the inn wasn’t technically a “home.”

  “So, what kind of book are you looking for?” asked Lady.

  Otsuya had been walking on ahead. She slowed down, falling into step beside Lady. “I dunno,” she said with shrug. “Nothing in particular, I guess. I’ve been helping out at the library, mostly. I basically work there now, remember?”

  Lady didn’t remember that specifically. She remembered Crispin giving Otsuya the okay to come back into the establishment. Before that, she had been banned. Otsuya had sticky fingers, even at a library. “How have you been helping out?”

  Otsuya scoffed and gave Lady an offended look, like she had just openly doubted her. “I’ve been helping out! You know, like, putting away books and stuff. How else do you help out at a library? Ask Crispin if you don’t believe me.”

  “I believe you! I believe you!” Lady held up a hand in a gesture of peace. Just one hand, though. She wasn’t about to drop the rest of her breakfast. It was too good. “I’m surprised you have time for it, though. Don’t you have a lot to do for Doyle, too? I know he’s, like… your main job.”

  “Yeah, well, what can I say? I’m a busy girl.”

  “Apparently.” Lady hesitated. She had asked Otsuya what it was she and Doyle did before. She had never gotten a straight answer, but there had to be a first time for everything, right? “Hey, what is it you do for Doyle exactly?”

  “Different stuff.”

  “Like what?”

  Otsuya raised her shoulders in a shrug. “Whatever needs doing.”

  “Okay, but… Like, what did you do last night, for instance?” Lady shoved her last piece of bacon in her mouth. “Just wondering,” she added, when Otsuya turned a sidelong, suspicious look on her. “We’re friends, right? I like to know what my friends do for a living, is all.”

  Otsuya’s expression darkened. It did that sometimes. It was always a little unnerving, the way she frowned, her eyes narrowing. “I know you were in his room last night,” she said.

  Lady very nearly fumbled the rest of her breakfast. She choked on the bacon in her mouth. “What?” she asked, coughing.

  “I know you were in his room last night,” Otsuya repeated, more slowly this time. “Be careful, Lady. You’ll make him mad.” Otsuya walked on ahead again.

  What was Lady supposed to say to that? She swallowed, her mouth feeling suddenly dry. She didn’t say anything at all, instead electing to follow Otsuya the rest of the way in silence.

  At least things relaxed once the library was in sight. Otsuya turned and flashed a grin at Lady, like the talk on their way there hadn’t happened at all. “Have you been in the library since Crispin remodeled?”

  “He remodeled?” Lady wasn’t totally surprised to hear it. Crispin’s underfunded library had come into some money recently. Renovations were in order, but Lady didn’t realize they had happened already.

  “Yeah. Wait ‘til you see it. It’s great.”

  The library was already pretty great as far as Lady was concerned. It was located in a big, old brick building. It had clearly been a church long ago. She walked through the open front gates and along the stone path. Otsuya had hurried on ahead to the door. When Lady reached it, she swung it open grandly.

  Lady stepped over the threshold and took a look around. The inside of the library really wasn’t much different. It was kind of a letdown after Otsuya’s build up. The books were all on the same heavy wooden shelves. Light came in through the same stained glass windows and fell colorfully across the floor. It was gorgeous, but it looked like it had the first time “What did he, uh… What got remodeled?”

  Otsuya let the heavy door close behind her. She gave Lady a hard look, hands on her hips. “Seriously?” she asked, like Lady was blind. “Look.” She went to the nearest shelf and pointed at the spine of a book.

  “Barcodes?” Lady wasn’t sure what else she was meant to be looking at. “He already had all the books marked before, didn’t he?”

  Otsuya pointed more emphatically. “Plastic. See? All the barcodes are laminated.”

  “Oh,” said Lady, clearly disappointing Otsuya with her lack of enthusiasm. “Sorry. When you said he renovated, I was imagining a… bigger change.”

  “To be fair, this was a pretty big change,” came a man’s voice from between the shelves. It wasn’t Crispin. The voice was deeper. Dom, Lady decided a split second before he appeared in the middle aisle. He was holding a stack of books under one muscular arm. “And we have a wireless scanning system now. We won’t have to lug all the books up to the front as much. That’s less going up and down ladders, which is good for everyone. Especially Crispin. You’ve seen the way he goes up and down these old things. He’s gonna fall one day. It’s not if, just when.” He inclined his head in a somewhat belated greeting. “Hi there, Ladies… Lion.”

  “Dom.” Lady acknowledged him with a nod. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about Dom. He put her on edge. It wasn’t just the way he looked, though that was certainly off-putting. He was a big guy with broad shoulders and full beard. He had curly brown hair that was on the long side and looked unusual the way he styled it with an undercut. Lady thought of him as a Viking gone punk. He was an odd looking fellow, intimidating but attractive in a weird way. At least he would have been attractive if his personality wasn’t so abrasive.

  “Is Crispin here?” asked Otsuya, ignoring the greeting.

  “Isn’t he always?” Dom nodded in the direction of the front desk.

  Otsuya hurried along to the far end of the library. Lady followed after her at a more leisurely pace. Dom did the same. “You can’t bring food in here,” he told her. Lady doubted he actually cared. He was just being difficult. It wasn’t like cats were allowed either, but he hadn’t said anything about that.

  “This is for Crispin,” Lady said, raising the plastic bag for his inspection as they walked. “Ms. Poole sent it, but I guess I can throw it away if I gotta.”

  Dom looked ahead, dropping the matter there. Crispin was his best friend. At least, Lady could only assume he was. Dom had a protective streak in him as far as Cr
ispin was concerned.

  “I thought you guys were going to hire on more people?” Lady changed the subject.

  “That’s the plan,” said Dom with a sigh.

  “Did you actually tell people?” Lady cast a casual look at their surroundings. “If I was a librarian, I’d be clamoring to work here. This place is gorgeous and the books are… old. Librarians like that, right? Having a lot of old books?”

  Dom raised his shoulders in a barely perceptible shrug. “I wouldn’t know.”

  “People haven’t applied, though?”

  “No, they have. Crispin just hasn’t hired any of them.”

  “No one have an impressive enough resume?”

  “Their resumes are fine. He’s just picky.”

  “He can’t be that picky.” Lady couldn’t help but grab for the low-hanging fruit. “He hired you, didn’t he?”

  “I don’t officially work here,” Dom said, completely ruining Lady’s wonderful joke. “I just help out when I can.”

  “Otsuya has been helping out too, huh?”

  “Depends on how loosely you’re defining the word, help.”

  “Crispin.” Otsuya leaned against the counter. Impatiently, she wrapped and unwrapped the scarf around her right forearm. “Come on! You have a customer!”

  “Hold on!” After a few more seconds, the door to the back room opened and Crispin stepped out. He was a cute guy. Not handsome like Dom, but definitely cute. He had messy blond hair and glasses. He wore a lot of sweaters and was a little on the pudgy side. Lady didn’t mind soft boys. Heck, she’d happily go on a date with the guy if he’d just ask. Not that he ever would ask. He didn’t strike Lady as especially forward or daring. Maybe she needed to just go ahead and ask him. “This is a library, Otsuya. I don’t get customers.” He didn’t look particularly annoyed at being shouted at. He even smiled when he saw it was Lady who had tagged along. “Lady! It’s nice to see you.”

  “It’s been a while since I stopped by, huh?” Lady reached the counter and offered him the plastic bag. “Here. Your aunt sent you a care package.”

  “Hmm?” Crispin inspected the bag and its contents. “Oh, that was nice of her.”