Jamis Bachman, Ghost Hunter

by Jen Jensen

  Carmen spoke on her phone. “I need an ambulance. Maybe more than one. Fire trucks. There’s fire and injuries. Third Street. In front of the campus.” Her voice wavered. She set her cell phone on the truck, even though the call was still there.

  “Should we get the guy in the house?” Sapphire spoke to Carmen, over the top of Jamis’s head.

  “No, just wait for the cops,” Carmen said.

  The flames on the second floor leaped and grew, running down the front of the house, as if they were tasked with what they were about to do. The whole house erupted in fire.

  Sapphire rushed to her car and came back to Jamis with a towel.

  “I called the cops, too,” Sapphire said, wiping Jamis’s face, trying to clean the blood from her eyes. Carmen slid down the side of the truck to sit next to Jamis. Jamis dozed in and out of consciousness, aware of the heat from the house.

  “Dan Abbey,” Jamis mumbled, pointing at the front yard. Sapphire moved forward, but Carmen grabbed her arm.

  “Let the cops get him,” Carmen said.

  Jamis fell forward, unable to sit up. Carmen held Jamis against her, sitting side by side.

  “It’s okay, kid. Just hang in there,” Carmen said. Sapphire pressed the towel against the open wound on Jamis’s forehead. “You need to stay awake. You probably have a severe concussion. Paramedics will be here any moment.” Jamis tried to nod, but her vision blurred.

  “How did you know?” Sapphire asked Carmen, pointing at the chaos around them. “How could you know? Did she call you?”

  “She came by earlier. We had a fight. I tried to go to sleep, but I couldn’t. I just had this overwhelming sense that she was in danger. I just felt like I had to find her.”

  “Thank you,” Jamis said, but it came out garbled.

  “I found her like this. Bobby Reynolds was about to kill her. I think they killed Stephanie and they tried to kill her for figuring it out.”

  Sirens filled the air. An ambulance skidded to a stop in front of Carmen’s truck. Paramedics rushed to them. Carmen let go of Jamis. Sapphire pointed to Dan Abbey and told them another man was in the house. They rushed in through the kitchen and came out less than a minute later with Bobby Reynolds on a stretcher. Another set of paramedics rushed to Dan. Jamis looked up into the night sky at the full moon as they lifted her into the ambulance. It was so bright she could see as if it were dusk. The night was beautiful and would have been perfect to spend with Johnna, in front of the fire.

  In the ambulance, Carmen held Jamis’s hand. The paramedic hooked up an IV and attached monitors to Jamis. “It’ll be okay,” Carmen said. “I’m sorry. It’s going to be okay now.”

  Jamis heard her voice even as she drifted away. As she faded from consciousness, she tried to tell Carmen to call Johnna, but words would not come out.

  * * *

  Bright light stretched endlessly in all directions. Jamis lifted her hand to her head, touched above her eyebrow, expecting to see blood. There was nothing. She studied her exterior for sensations of pain and found none. Either she was dead, or she had slipped into another dimensional loop, but she couldn’t be sure. “You’re not dead.” She turned and saw Emma about twenty feet from her.

  “You’re Emma,” Jamis said.

  “I am,” she said.

  “I’m not dead?”

  “No, but you got close. Really close.” She walked toward her. “I think you’re in the hospital right now. Probably unconscious.”

  “I wouldn’t have let him kill me,” Jamis insisted.

  Emma smiled and stopped just a few feet from her. She took Jamis’s hand. “You almost did, though. I’m glad he didn’t.”

  “Where am I? Is this like the field?”

  “Honestly, I’m not sure. This is a new place for me. I didn’t do it. Didn’t bring you or myself here.”

  “It’s so bright,” Jamis said with some derision.

  “Let’s break a few light bulbs, see if the light comes down.” Emma laughed and smiled at Jamis, eyes bright.

  “You really are beautiful,” Jamis said.

  “I’ve heard. It’s just a projection, you know. It all is. I wonder why I chose it,” Emma said.

  “Maybe it’s just the most authentic representation of your soul,” Jamis said.

  “Well, that’s what we do, isn’t it? We fixate on these ideas of ourselves, and then we insist upon them in the world, again and again. We try to create permanence where there is none, including in ourselves,” Emma said. “I’d like to sit down.” Two high-backed chairs appeared to the right of them. “Will you look at that.”

  “Did you know that would happen?”

  “Oh my God, no. But such power could be dangerous.” Emma crossed her legs and patted the seat beside her. “Come sit.”

  Jamis did and sighed. “God, I’m tired.”

  “Yeah, well, you’ve been busy.”

  “I really have. It’s been a weird week.”

  “I think it’s been going on longer than that, though. I can’t quite grasp it all, but this is the crescendo and final arc of one long chapter in your journey. You had a lot of shit to work through. Now, you’re into new beginnings. The next chapter.” Jamis laughed at her language. It felt out of place in the bright light. “No one tells you while you’re alive what’s going to happen, how long it will take to work through it, and how painful the process will be. Our inclination is usually to hang on when we should just let go.”

  “Unless you’re hanging on a ledge,” Jamis said.

  “I suppose it depends on the ledge and the timing of your descent,” Emma said. She uncrossed her legs and turned to face Jamis. “You helped me, my kids, and Carmen work through it. Somehow.” She waved her hand in the air. “I’m not quite sure how, but it feels better now. Like I can move on.”

  “I don’t want you to go. Will I see you again?”

  “Yeah. But you already are. It’s already happening.” Emma stared at a spot over her shoulder, a small smile on her lips. “Everything is happening from this point in the eternal now. Does that make sense?” Jamis indicated it did not. “It will. I think it does for me because I’m really dead to this life.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, though Jamis wasn’t sure they were breathing. “I do. I have to let this life go. I didn’t think it was my time, all those years ago, but that doesn’t matter. Suffering is between what we think we should have and what actually is.”

  “That’s very Buddhist.”

  “They got a lot right.” Emma grinned. “We’re connected. Me and you. Somehow. Maybe we ran into each other during the Dark Ages, thought it might be fun to stay in touch. Really, though, I think you needed a mom. Of all the things I did wrong, the thing I did best was be a mom. It’s so weird, isn’t it? I was only a mom because I turned my back on who I was. It goes to show you that love is always possible, no matter what.”

  Jamis sobbed, put her hand over her mouth. A dark well of hurt moved out of her then, and Emma held her. “Thank you,” Jamis said. “I think you’re right.”

  “I think so too,” Emma said. “But, all things as they are, I think my time here is up. Got to move on. The other Emmas need this part of me with them.” Jamis held up her hands, not understanding. “I didn’t understand either. I think it’s because when you’re in there,” she tapped Jamis’s head, “behind these eyes, your vision is fixed to what they can see, for the most part.” She touched Jamis’s cheek, then dropped her hand. “Unless some crazy woman breaks into your dreams.”

  “Where’s Stephanie? I thought she’d be here.”

  “She’s already back, I think. She has a lot to work out. But you helped her. I felt her with me, but I don’t anymore.” They shared silence. “Do me a favor?”

  “Anything,” Jamis said.

  “Tell Carmen she lost the game. She never asked me question nineteen.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Emma stood and held out her hand to Jamis. “She’ll know.” Then she pulled Jami
s close and kissed her cheek. “Now, love my daughter and wake up. You have to wake up now.”

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Jamis woke to sunlight through a small window in the wall above her bed. The ceiling was white, industrial foam-like material with metal strips holding it all together. The walls were beige and the metal trim around the door was blue. Johnna was next to her and Carmen was at the foot of her bed. Sapphire and Sara were on a small light blue couch near Sam.

  “You’re awake,” Johnna said, taking her hand in hers. Jamis tried to smile, but it hurt too much.

  “Don’t try to smile yet. We thought your jaw was broken,” Johnna said. “But it’s not. I looked at your X-ray. You’re just really bruised and swollen. It might be hard to talk.”

  “That’s going to be hard for her,” Carmen said. Jamis wanted to laugh, but could only hold up the middle finger on her left hand.

  “You have four broken ribs,” Johnna said. “There was concern you might have a skull fracture or brain swelling from all the blows, but the CAT scan came back clear. You’re just really beaten up, Jamis.” Johnna’s eyes were soft with concern.

  “Carmen told us what happened,” Sam said, moving toward the bed.

  “Or at least as much as I understand,” Carmen said. “The paramedics picked up Dan Abbey. They removed about thirty pieces of glass from his body. One nicked an artery and he almost bled out when they removed it, but they saved him. He’s in ICU down the hall. Bobby is dead.”

  Jamis tried to wet her lips with her tongue, but her mouth was dry. Johnna saw it. “Do you want some water?”

  “Yeah,” Jamis said.

  Johnna poured water over ice, handing it to her. Jamis struggled to drink it.

  “Here,” Johnna said, “Let me lift the bed for you.” Jamis’s head pounded as she struggled upward. Jamis took the water from Johnna’s hands and sipped. She swished it around her mouth. She set the water on her thigh. “How long have I been unconscious?”

  “They kept you under, medically induced, for hours. It’s Monday morning,” Johnna said, twisting her arm to look at her watch. “About ten a.m. We were getting worried you weren’t going to wake up.”

  “I don’t think I wanted to.” Jamis sipped the water again. “Carmen, the cops. Bobby. It was self-defense.”

  “You mean because I clocked him with a bat?”

  “Yes,” Jamis said. “He was going to kill me. You saved me.”

  “The official cause of death was suffocation.” Jamis was confused. “I don’t know. I clocked him good. He looked dead. But when they got him here, they found he’d inhaled smoke. Had scars in his throat and esophagus from smoke inhalation. Pronounced him dead about six hours after they got him back here.”

  “I pulled the video feed for them, Jamis,” Sapphire said. “They didn’t see the camera you had at the top of the stairs. It got everything. It recorded their conversation. They got there about three minutes before you. They broke in through the back door and took down the cameras on the first floor. But they missed the one at the top of the stairs. They were looking to go into the attic like we did, but you interrupted them. We have a video of them assaulting you. From that angle, you could see the whole front room. All of it was recorded up until the point they yanked you back into the house. Right when I logged in and saw it live. I think I accidentally stopped the recording. I was so frantic. I’m sorry.”

  “So, we didn’t get the poltergeist throwing shit around the room?” Jamis should just be happy to be alive.

  “I’m so sorry. I was so scared,” Sapphire said. “I just had to get to you.”

  “It’s okay. You two saved me,” Jamis said.

  “The cops will still want to talk to you, but I think it will be fine,” Sapphire said.

  Jamis closed her eyes. Stephanie had raged downstairs and she’d seen her, materialized. Once again, proof was missing. She didn’t want to be upset about that.

  Johnna tugged at her fingers. Jamis turned to her, seeing only her as the room faded away. “Sapphire told us. About my mom and Jacob. Sam. Bobby making that driver jackknife.” Her eyes filled with tears.

  Sapphire spoke again. “Jamis, the thing I don’t get though…” Jamis turned her eyes back to her. “They tied you up. We watched it on the video. How did you get free?”

  Jamis drank the rest of the water, and Johnna took the cup. “I don’t expect any of you to believe me, but someone untied the ropes on my hands.” She looked at Carmen. “She told me I had to get up because Carmen was coming.”

  “What?” Sapphire came to her.

  “Carmen,” Jamis continued. Carmen had deep circles under her eyes and looked so stressed and tired. “She told me to tell you that you lost the game. You didn’t give her question nineteen.” Carmen’s shoulders dropped, and she cried. Sapphire put her arm around her shoulders.

  “My mom,” Johnna said.

  “I have no idea what’s going on here,” Sara said, speaking for the first time.

  “I’m pretty sure I do,” Sapphire said, “but I think we can wait for Carmen to tell us.” Sam took Sapphire’s hand. She looked at him with tenderness and love. He held her hand delicately on his shoulder, not making eye contact. Jamis saw it and smiled.

  A knock on the door interrupted them. It was Detective Daniels, who also had dark circles under his eyes. Jamis kept everyone awake. “If I may, I need to talk to Jamis.” Everyone but Johnna readied to leave. “Alone,” he added, looking at Johnna.

  She sighed and turned to look at Jamis, squeezing her hand, leaving the room reluctantly.

  “I saw the video,” Detective Daniels said as he sat in the chair.

  “So they said,” Jamis answered.

  “You were right and wrong, all at once.”

  “It often goes that way with me,” Jamis answered, closing her eyes again. “My brain feels like jelly.”

  “Dan Abbey is awake. He lawyered up. Claims that Bobby Reynolds had him under duress, had nothing to do with any of it. That he just found the body after Bobby killed her.”

  “He’s a liar.”

  “Well, we’ll build a case. Our district attorney recused himself. Conflict of interest. Since it’s his uncle,” he said.

  “I didn’t even think of that. What will you do?”

  “We’re talking to the attorney general. Getting guidance. Charges are being filed. Second degree murder. Accessory to murder. Interference with justice. Kidnapping. That’s you. Attempted murder. That’s also you. I’m digging up as many charges as I can find.” He tapped his knees with his fingers. “Shame I didn’t get to try Bobby.”

  “He was a monster. The world is better without him,” Jamis said with venom.

  “They think he came to in the house as the smoke descended from upstairs. Took in too much, too fast. Had burns inside his throat. Third degree burns on forty-five percent of his body. Can you imagine?”

  “I hope he suffered,” Jamis said, happy he was dead.

  “He did. For about six hours,” he said. The door opened. A nurse came in.

  “Wait. I had all of Stephanie’s stuff moved into a shed. Tess’s nephew can tell you where. It didn’t burn in the house,” Jamis said.

  “I don’t know if I’m angry or grateful.”

  “I need to look at Jamis now,” the nurse said. “You can talk to her later.” She checked the IV bag.

  “Yeah, that’s fine. I’m sure she’ll see a lot of me. One more thing though. We got the order to exhume Stephanie. But we’re waiting to do it until we figure out jurisdiction. We’ll do it as part of the charges.”

  “Thank you,” Jamis said, managing a weak smile.

  He held up his hand. “Not me. You almost got killed. Just stay in touch. I will need official statements when you’re well enough, and you’ll likely need to testify at trial.” He left, and as the door opened, Johnna came back in.

  The nurse had put something in her IV. The pain dissipated and time stilled. Johnna’s breath was on her neck, and he
r lips, and barely a whisper in her ear. “Don’t go. Stay here. With me. I love the way my house feels when you’re in it.” Jamis closed her eyes and lifted both hands to Johnna’s face.

  “Yes. We’ll figure it out,” Jamis said. “We’re each other’s karmic reward.”

  About the Author

  Jen Jensen lives in Phoenix, Arizona, with a pack of rescued senior dogs, lovely family and friends, and spends too much time reading books.

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