“That’s ours. This isn’t the first child to go missing this week. We have a couple others from Friday and today, actually,” Garrett replied. It was a good strategy. We had to give them some information in order to get them to more easily relinquish theirs.
“Oh, yeah. The Phillips kid, right? Gone missing on Friday if I remember correctly,” Bowman said. “Two of our colleagues in Missing Persons were on that. You took over?”
Garrett took a deep breath, resting his hands on his hips. He practically towered over the two middle-aged cops. “Yeah. It became an FBI matter since more than one child has gone missing, and your PD is understaffed for this.”
“Who’s the other kid?” Bowman asked.
“Have you checked the rest of the house? Any sign of Louella Devereaux?” Garrett replied, bluntly changing the subject.
Bowman evidently noticed the shift but didn’t pursue it. Instead, he pursed his lips. “Nothing. From what we know, they adopted her six months ago. Raucous little thing, had some run-ins with the law before that. Sixteen and perpetually angry, covered in tattoos. We’ll pull her file up for more details, but I specifically remember busting her once for a misdemeanor. She was hanging with the wrong crowd.”
“Do you think she might’ve done this to them?” Fraser murmured, unable to take his eyes off the dead father.
“I’m not excluding the possibility,” Bowman said. “But frankly, I doubt it. The moment she got into the Devereauxes’ place, she stayed out of trouble. I didn’t see her in the back alleys of El Cajon anymore, either.”
“Maybe something happened to her,” Garrett suggested. “Looks like there was quite the struggle here. What if some old nasty friends of hers followed her up here and did this, huh? She’s been missing since yesterday. Maybe someone took her first, then came in and killed the parents.”
I knew where this was going. Garrett was planting early suggestions.
Astrid came back in, swiping on her tablet screen and frowning. “Says here Louella might be a Telepath, based on the eyewitness reports. Some people said she knew too much about them, that she used that information to get favors. You know, better seat in the cafeteria, discount on a blouse, minor stuff like that. She unknowingly tried it on a couple of Neutrals, too, who followed her around for a couple of days and observed her behavior and interactions with people. It’s how she was brought to our attention, in the end.”
That got Bowman and Fraser’s attention. Their eyebrows shot up. Garrett cleared his throat, prompting Astrid to look up.
“Seriously?” Garrett muttered.
“What? I thought you were flashing them,” she retorted.
“What are you people talking about?” Bowman asked.
Garrett walked up to them and slowly raised his left hand, his Esprit watch glistening blue. The cops stilled, their eyes twinkling yellow for a split second. “You never met us. We were never here. You’ll stand here in silence until you hear a honk outside. After that, you’ll resume your investigation. Louella is missing. Something must’ve happened to her. You’ll put an APB out on her.”
The cops stood there, idle and absent-looking, as we left the house. I found the Ryder twins’ card on the floor in the hallway. I picked it up and handed it to Garrett.
“They’ll be in there for a while,” Garrett said, looking at the card. “Hm… This does have their stench all over it.”
“This is just like the Cranstons,” Astrid replied.
“Despite what you said to the cops, we have no idea what happened to Louella.” I sighed. “Could she have run away, or did the Ryders take her?”
“We won’t know for sure until we canvass the area,” Garrett said.
Tatyana, there are spirits here. They saw what happened, Oberon chimed in, startling me.
“Hold on,” I murmured. “Let me check with the spirits.”
Garrett and Astrid waited patiently at the bottom of the stairs, while I remained at the top, closing my eyes.
“You’d better come through for me, Oberon,” I whispered.
As the darkness settled around me, I noticed the spirits drifting around—most of them in the yard, though there were a couple standing right next to Garrett and Astrid, motionless and semi-transparent.
There, in the yard, Oberon said. They know something.
I made my way down the stairs and stepped onto the green space, where dozens of hydrangeas and rosebushes blossomed in rich shades of pink, lilac, and red. Four spirits stood in the middle, in the shade of a massive magnolia tree. They didn’t look from this era, but rather from the early 1900s. Three of them were Latinas, and the fourth was African American—she caught my eye.
With or without Oberon’s guidance, as a Kolduny I was able to spot spirits that could help me. I could see it in her eyes. The African-American girl had seen something.
“There’s a ghost inside you,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.
“I know. He’s helping me,” I replied, giving her a soft smile. “What are you all doing here?”
They looked at each other, then over my shoulder at the other two spirits, next to Garrett and Astrid. The African-American girl sighed. “We died together. There was a fire here in 1912. Well, those two back there, by the stairs, died sometime in the fifties. A party went horribly wrong.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “But why are you all still around? You should’ve moved on.”
“We don’t know about the two starlets, but we couldn’t,” one of the Latinas replied. “The young lady of the house at the time, Estrella, was only five. We had to look after her.”
“Then she had children. We wanted to protect them, too,” the African-American girl added. “Then the Devereaux clan bought the mansion and kicked them out. For some reason, we were stuck here. We couldn’t follow Estrella’s family.”
“That’s all very nice, but what did you see?” Oberon cut in, his voice louder and clearer than before. Suddenly, I felt tired and heavy, as if Oberon was draining the life out of me.
“Get back inside,” I said. “You’re wearing me out! This isn’t part of the deal, Oberon!”
I heard him grumble something, before I felt the enormous pressure leave my shoulders. I could breathe again.
“Something horrible happened here,” the African-American girl said. “Two people… with strange powers… They came up to the door very early this morning. I think it was three, maybe four o’clock. The Devereauxes let them in, because they said something had happened to Louella. The Devereauxes were already worried. They hadn’t seen her since Saturday morning.”
“Then they talked for a while about Louella,” one of the Latinas added. “The strangers wanted to know where she could’ve gone.”
“They didn’t know where Louella was?” I asked. The spirits shook their heads simultaneously. “Which means they probably tried to catch her outside the Devereaux property, maybe somewhere in town. They came here knowing she wouldn’t have come back home, and inserted themselves onto the property.”
“They killed them,” the African-American girl said, her lower lip trembling. “They slit their throats and trashed the place, then dropped a card on the floor and left, laughing. They were laughing!”
“What did they look like?” I asked.
“The girl had short black hair and brown eyes. The boy had long black hair and brown eyes. They were related, undoubtedly. Perhaps siblings,” she said. “They looked alike. They were vicious. So vicious.”
“When is the last time you saw Louella?” I replied.
The African-American girl exchanged glances with the others, and frowned at me. “Early morning on Saturday. She left the house in a hurry, but I don’t know why. I wasn’t inside at the time. Her mother came out, shouting her name and asking her to come back, but Louella wouldn’t listen. She kept going, until she vanished up the road. None of us could follow.”
“I suppose you’re all tied to the property, that’s why,” I said. “Thank you all. Thank you.”
I left them beneath the magnolia tree and headed back to Garrett and Astrid, the darkness dissipating around me as I returned to the living plane.
You should ask those other two standing behind your friends, Oberon suggested.
I stopped in front of Astrid and Garrett, then closed my eyes again. Two young girls in midcentury garb were chatting behind them, giggling and giving me sideways glances.
“Did you two see anything?” I asked them.
They both shook their heads. One of them was a redhead, the other a luscious brunette. Their skirts and ruffled tops reminded me of movies from Hollywood’s Golden Age. They must’ve worked in the business. They had the theatrical gestures and demeanor of Californian starlets.
“I think you did,” I said, smirking.
“We’re not interested in talking to you,” the redhead replied. “You’re bland.”
“That hunk you’ve got in you, though… He can chat us up if he wants to.” The brunette grinned, revealing two rows of pearly white teeth.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, sighing with frustration. “Do you have anything to share about what happened last night, or do you just want me to hook you up with another ghost? Because he can’t take you girls out on a date, if that’s what you’re hoping for.”
“We know that!” the brunette snapped, then pouted. “But it’s been a long time since we’ve met someone as dashing as your… friend. We just want him to talk to us, and we’ll tell you what we saw.”
“You’re not yanking my chain here?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
They both seemed insulted, their nostrils flaring angrily. At this point, I had a choice. Leave them be, or let Oberon talk through my body. That meant revealing him to Garrett and Astrid. Information was crucial at this point. I didn’t feel like I had much of a choice.