When I got to Lucy’s door, I paused to see if I could hear anything coming from her room. I heard nothing. I knocked on her door and opened it. Again, the smell hit me. It was stronger this time. I had to suppress the urge to gag. I reached over and felt along the wall. As soon as I felt the switch, I flipped it on. Lucy lay there in her bed, but her eyes were not closed.
She smiled at me. “What do you want, Priest?”
“Nothing, Lucy,” I said. “I just came to check on you. Are you feeling okay?”
She laughed in her choppy way. The laugh seemed to travel to the ceiling and out through the rest of the house. How she made her voice travel like that, I didn’t know, but she could make money with it one day if it really was just a trick.
“You like to feel things in this house, strange things, don’t you?” Lucy asked.
I nodded. “There’s a lot strange here.”
“You like to feel other things, don’t you, Priest? You can feel me if you want.” She raised her hips in a suggestive manner.
“No, Lucy. I’m not interested. I just wanted to make sure you’re alright.”
She smiled at me with her broken teeth and licked her lips in a way that made me uncomfortable. “I’ll be fine if you untie my hands. I’ll be really fine then.”
I backed up, turned off the light and closed the door. Now, I was torn with what to tell them. Part of me wanted Lucy looked at for possible sexual abuse, part of me wanted to investigate further. Sexual abuse didn’t feel right somehow, not as an answer, but I couldn’t ignore the fact that Lucy shouldn’t be sexual at six. She also shouldn’t even know what she knew about sex at six. But, plenty of kids did these days; some by way of evil people, others just by watching things on TV they weren’t supposed to.
I couldn’t withhold anything from Will and Tor. I didn’t want to tell them, but I knew I had no choice.
###
I walked down the steps, trying to figure out how to approach this. It wasn’t going to be easy. I found them in the living room where I’d left them. “Lucy wasn’t asleep,” I said.
Will sat up in the chair, his eyes widened in surprise. “She wasn’t?”
I crossed the room and sat down on the couch. “No.”
“The noise never stopped,” Tor said, almost accusingly. She then put her hand over her mouth and made a sound similar to a squeal.
I tapped my chin with my fingers. Tor’s damsel act was really getting annoying. I could see how Will was about ready to throw up his hands at the whole thing. I think that if it wasn’t for Lucy, he would have already left her. “This incident at Lucy’s daycare, you never said what it was…”
Will sighed. “A male caretaker molested some kids. We had Lucy checked. He didn’t molest her.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“The doctors said she hadn’t been touched,” Tor said.
“And you asked her?” I asked, turning my head and looking at them both.
“She said no.” Will wrung his hands together.
I sat back in on the sofa. “She definitely needs some psychiatric help, possessed or not.”
“Why?” Tor asked.
I sighed. “Because she just came on to me. That and the way she spoke to me; it just wasn’t normal. We need to start videotaping conversations with her.”
“Why?” Will asked, setting his soda on the coffee table.
“Because,” I said, “the things we’re looking for, they are going to come out in what she says and does while we are with her. Taping everything is our best recourse in documentation when we go to the church.”
The doorbell rang. One word escaped my lips: “Tabby.”
###
I walked out into the hallway and looked out into the foyer just in time to see Will let Tabby inside. She looked just as I remembered, with her long red hair twirled up on the back of her head. Her pale skin was flushed red from the cold, and her green eyes were tired.
She looked around Will and stared at me.
“Jimmy,” she said. She ran over and hugged me. She smelled of something flowery, just as she always did.
I sniffed her. “I missed you, Tabby-cat.”
“I missed you too.”
The choppy laughter rattled the ceiling.
Tabby jumped back. “What the fuck was that?”
“Oh,” I laughed. “That’s just Lucy saying Hello.”
“You’re kidding, right?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Nope.” I looked past Tabby and saw Tor and Will standing there, watching. I coughed. “I’m sorry, Will, Tor, this is Tabby.”
Tabby turned from me and walked over and shook their hands.
“Lucy’s upstairs,” I said.
Will picked up Tabby’s suitcase. It was one of those older models without wheels. As far as I knew, she’d always had it. It was a faded olive green with a hard case.
“If you don’t mind,” Will said. “You can share the library with Jimmy.”
Tabby looked at me, a question in her eyes.
“That’s fine,” I said to Will. I looked at Tabby. “The noises are quieter in the library.”
“Lucy’s noises?” she asked.
I nodded. We followed Will down the hallway into the library.
“This is some place, huh?” she asked me.
“You haven’t seen the half of it,” I replied.
We set Tabby’s suitcase down next to the other sofa—the one that wasn’t facing the door.
“Did you eat?” Tor asked Tabby from the doorway.
Tabby turned and smiled. “Yeah, I stopped on the way.”
Tor nodded. “Are you tired?”
“Not yet, I’m not,” Tabby said.
But she’d lied. I could tell Tabby was tired because of her eyes. The circles really stood out against her pale skin. I said nothing.
Tor ushered us all down the hallway and into the kitchen. “I’m making hot chocolate,” she said. “Then, I think Tabby needs to know why she’s here.”
It was weird. It was like Tabby’s arrival had brought back Tor’s confidence. She seemed to feel comforted by the presence of another woman. Maybe she’d felt ganged up on by Will and myself, but I couldn’t think of anything I’d said to make her feel that way. “Yes, Ma’am.”
###
Tor arranged us around the table. Tabby and I were seated near the window, Tor and Will near the door. With Tor, I noticed, that like everything else, hot chocolate wasn’t simple. She melted real chocolate on the stove and added it to a pan of hot milk. When it was finished to her liking, she sprinkled a bit of cinnamon on top and served it up in porcelain cups.
“You sure you want to trust me with one of these?” I asked. The thing was ornate with gold gilding around the rim. I knew my limitations, and since Tor and I were mostly prickly towards each other, I didn’t want to be blamed if something went wrong. Besides, I’m a klutz.
Tor patted me on the shoulder. “Of course I’ll trust you, Jim. It would be childish to make you use something else.”
Tabby took a sip of her chocolate. “Oh my, that’s good.” She looked up Tor. “Can I have the recipe?”
Tor smiled. “Of course. Just remind me to jot it down for you before you leave.”
Tor walked over to the counter to pick up her own cup. I stuck my tongue out at Tabby. She returned the favor. Leave it to Tabby to get on Tor’s good side in two seconds.
We were quiet for a few minutes. Tor came and sat down in her chair. Finally, Tor looked at Tabby and gave her a condensed version of everything. I’d expected Will to do it, but having another woman in the house had changed Tor. I just wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Tabby turned to me after Tor was finished. “What is it you want me to do?”
I wiped my mouth with a napkin. I didn’t need a chocolate mustache. “First, I want you to check out that room upstairs, then I want you to see what you think about the mirror up there. I also think it would be a good idea for you
to meet Lucy in person, and tell me your impressions.”
“Tonight?” she asked.
“No.” I twitched. “Definitely tomorrow.”
Lucy’s laugh echoed again throughout the house.
Chapter Sixteen
Investigations
I woke up with a particular smell in my nose, the smell of sunshine and quiet. I’m sure people would think me strange that when I say that I can smell quiet, but I can. For me, quiet smells like Tabby’s perfume and the smell of her hair. I opened my eyes and sat up. Tabby was still asleep, her arm tucked under her head.
She always looked so innocent in the mornings. I really didn’t realize how much I’d missed her. Actually, that’s a lie. I’ve missed her from the moment she left me. I missed her innocence, and I missed her reactions to the boneheaded things I do. I wasn’t being sappy, at least I didn’t think so. I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I was stupid for screwing things up with her.
I really can’t say that it was any one event, but what I’d figured out over the years was that I didn’t appreciate her enough, and I was an idiot. She was better off without me. I knew that. It was just hard to admit to it sometimes.
After a bit, her eyes popped open, and she looked at me
“What are you looking at?” she asked.
I laughed. “You.”
She sat up and moved her hair out of her way. “Jimmy, you really are weird, you know that?”
“I’m weird for watching you sleep?” I asked.
She snorted. “Yes! So, what do we do now, you lovesick moron?”
I felt my face grow red. Good one, Jimmy. Real Smooth. “Well, yesterday when I got up, Will allowed me to shower in his bathroom. I guess we’ll do the same today.”
Tabby nodded.
We grabbed out clothes and toiletries. I stepped out into the hallway and walked to the kitchen. I poked my head in. Will was sitting at the table drinking coffee. Tor wasn’t in the room.
“Morning,” Will said to me.
“Where’s Tor?” I asked.
“She went to check on Lucy. Tor said her breathing sounded labored.”
“Shit,” I said. “Want us to wait and see if we need to help take Lucy to the hospital?”
Will looked puzzled. “Wait for what?”
I held up my things. “Tabby and I need a shower…”
Will laughed. “Go ahead. I don’t care. Might not hurt to make it quick though.
“It okay if we use your bathroom?” I asked.
“That’s fine.”
I turned back out of the room and walked towards Tabby. I motioned for her to follow me with my head.
I led her upstairs and to the right to Will and Tor’s master suite.
“Just when I think this place can’t get any fancier, I see this,” Tabby said, pointing at the bathroom.
“I know. It’s crazy isn’t it?”
She nodded.
“You go first,” I said.
She smiled and went in, closing the door behind her.
I hoped Lucy was okay. From everything I’d been told, this thing that was happening with Lucy was what was causing her poor health. Since there hadn’t been anything like allergy symptoms when Lucy first entered the house, I didn’t think that something organic about the house was making her sick. If it was mold, it would have been pretty apparent early and the symptoms just didn’t match. Of course, it could simply be that Lucy was sick because she was sick. Kids get stuff every day. Maybe Lucy had a genetic problem that hadn’t been diagnosed. Kids with genetic problems die early a lot of the time. It was just another item to add to the mix. So many things were lumped together. It was going to take a lot of work just to organize the symptoms against the “supernatural” stuff.
Soon Tabby was done, and I rushed through my shower. When I was finished, Tabby followed me out. We dropped off our things in the library, then we headed back to the kitchen.
Tor was standing, leaning with her back against the stove. There were bags under her eyes that hadn’t been there the day before.
“How’s Lucy?” I asked.
She looked at me, her eyes sad and rimmed with red. “I think she needs a doctor.”
I nodded. “Do you need Tabby and I to do anything?”
Tor shook her head. “Go ahead and do what you’d planned. Will is readying Lucy so we can take her to the emergency room.”
“Do you think it’s pneumonia?” Tabby asked. “I overheard Will telling Jimmy that Lucy was having trouble breathing.”
“I don’t know what it is,” Tor said.
###
After Tor and Will left with Lucy, Tabby and I returned to the library and sat down on our respective sofas.
“Jesus Christ,” Tabby said. “What a mess.”
I chuckled. “You’re telling me? I really don’t know what’s going on. I wish I did.”
She paused for a moment. “So, tell me about this room.”
“Freakiest place I’ve been in awhile, that’s for sure.”
“How so?” she asked.
“I think you just need to see it. I doubt my descriptions will do it justice.”
She stared at me.
“No, really. Get your witchy stuff and let’s see what you can do.”
Tabby laughed. “My witchy stuff. You never change, do you?”
###
I led her out of the library, down the hallway and into the dining room. She paused, I assume to look at the dining room.
I cleared my throat. “It’s up here.”
She followed me up the staircase into the attic. When she stepped into the attic, she looked like a little kid just dying to explore. We wandered along, Tabby peering under sheets, until we reached the other side of the house. I didn’t have to tell her where the room was. She walked straight to it.
She froze, literally in front of the door, almost as if a string had pulled her there and had gotten stuck.
“I see what you mean,” she said.
I let her do her thing. She pulled out a bundle of sage from her bag and lit it. Then, she opened the door to the room. She paused again when she stepped into the room.
A gust of cool wind blew, making her hair fly around her face. She began chanting and moving the sage around. At first, it looked like nothing was happening, but then her sage stopped burning. There was no smoke, nothing. It just stopped.
“I’ve never had that happen before,” she said.
I scratched my head. “Maybe it’s trying to keep you from cleansing it.”
Tabby pulled a lighter out of her pocket and tried to relight the sage, but it wouldn’t light. When she flicked the lighter, the flame would appear, but as soon as it got near the sage, the flame would go out again. Tabby growled.
“All right,” she said, staring out of the room. “If it doesn’t want me cleansing it. I’ll do something else.” She stepped out of the room and closed the door.
She started walking towards the other side of the house, so I grabbed her by the shoulder. “Did you see the mirror?” I asked, pointing at it.
Tabby turned around and looked where I was pointing.
“Oh my God,” she said.
“What?” I asked.
She crouched down and turned it over. “Do you know what this is?”
I tried not to be stupid. “Well, it’s a mirror…”
She swatted me on the leg with her hand.
“Ow,” I said.
She ignored my distress.
“It’s much more than that,” she said. “It’s an old mirror. It’s a silver backed mirror.”
“So?”
“So!” She stood up. “So! You see the black paint?”
“Yeah.”
“This mirror was a receptacle.”
I leaned over and looked at the mirror again. “What do you mean?”
“Spirits, demons, whatever can be trapped in a mirror, but they can only be trapped in a silver backed mirror.”
“Why does it matter??
?? I asked.
Tabby put her hands on her hips. “Because silver has purifying properties, that’s why. It is an ancient thing because it’s an element. Silver has been used to fight evil elements for a long time. Only a very powerful witch could have done this.”
I really had no idea what she was talking about. “You mean like a spiritualist?”
Tabby stared at me. “No, I mean a witch. Who told you about a spiritualist?”
“You won’t believe me,” I said.
“Out with it.”
“The town librarian.”
Chapter Seventeen
Trial
1950
O’Dell stood in the foyer of Blackmoor. He hated being there, hated the feeling of the whole damn place. Ever since Jones had killed Black, there were reports of strange things going on in the house. The Black brother wanted to sell the house, but wouldn’t step foot in the place.
Left it all up to O’Dell. The Blacks still ran the town, even though they didn’t live there. If he didn’t take care of this, he knew he’d be out of a job.
Finally, he saw a black Ford pull into the drive. She was the last resort. The minister couldn’t do anything about the feel of the house. The priest had tried to exorcise the house, but had had a heart attack during the ritual. Another priest died trying to fix the damn house. It had taken some time, but he’d found Eldora Williams. Eldora Williams was the most revered spiritualist in the country. She’d helped police from all over on a variety of cases – murders mostly. If she couldn’t help, he didn’t know who could.
He’d tried to get the other Black to just burn the damn place to the ground, but Black wouldn’t have it. “If I can’t fix it, let him live in the fucking thing.”
Mrs. Williams got out of her car. She was dressed in a large black mink coat with a hat to match. She opened the back door of her car and pulled out a large black satchel.
O’Dell opened the front door of the house and waited.
Mrs. Williams smiled at him, adjusted her hold on her bag and walked through the doorway. As soon as she crossed the threshold, she froze.