Darkness Exposed (11 page)
“Are you trying to start something here?” Bradley asked.
“Sure, I’ll do anything for a little excitement.”
Bradley paused for a moment. Having Mike around might be a solution to another problem facing his department. “Can you see other ghosts?” he asked.
“Sometimes,” Mike replied. “Just depends.”
“Depends on what?”
“Depends if I can see them or not,” Mike said, rolling his eyes. “Listen, I’m fairly new to this whole ghost thing, so I’m not up on all the rules. Sometime I see them and sometime I don’t.”
Bradley stood up and faced Mike. “Actually, I could use your help. We think we have an arsonist in town,” Bradley said. “There’s been a flurry of burning barns across the county. We have no motive, they all seem like random acts, but yesterday we found a body in the ruins of one of the barns. Want to take a look?”
“You asking me to investigate an arson scene, talk to a potential victim and help you solve a murder?” he asked.
Bradley nodded. “Yes, I am. You interested?”
“Hell, yes I’m interested,” he said. “You can water those plants later. Come on; let’s catch us some bad guys.”
“Yeah, and on the way, we can talk about this dropping in on Mary thing,” Bradley said, as he walked out the door.
Chapter Fifteen
“Okay Jeannine,” Ian said. “Let’s try this one more time.”
Jeannine nodded. “I’m so sorry, Ian. I just can’t seem to get this right.”
“That’s okay,” he said. “I suppose this is harder when you don’t have a body.”
Jeannine hovered above the couch in a horizontal position and took a deep breath. “I’m ready.”
The curtains had been drawn and the lights had been turned low. Stanley and Rosie sat across the room, keeping an eye on the doors in case they had any surprise visitors. Mary sat in a chair alongside the back of the couch, ready to take notes.
Ian pulled his chair closer to the couch and leaned forward. “Now Jeannine, I want you to clear your mind,” he said calmly. “Picture yourself on a white fluffy cloud floating above the earth with blue sky all around you. It’s warm on your skin and you feel totally at ease.”
Jeannine nodded and closed her eyes. She thought about the things Ian had suggested to her. Beautiful blue skies and fluffy white clouds. She inhaled deeply. She was slowly drifting. Her mind was clear. She was ready for Ian’s hypnotic suggestion.
She breathed in slowly, and picked up a fresh, almost salty fragrance. Was that a scented candle, she wondered. She could hear noises in the distance, it sounded like a crowd of people. Had Stanley turned the television on? Then she heard the distinct roar of an airplane.
“Airplane?”
Jeannine opened her eyes and looked around. Crap! She was above Hawaii, floating in one of the clouds near the island of Oahu. She and Bradley had gone there when they were newlyweds. But that was not where she was supposed to be now.
She closed her eyes and focused back on her house. Back on the living room couch. Back with Ian, Mary, Rosie and Stanley.
“Aye, well, she’s back now,” she heard Ian say.
She opened her eyes and looked around. Yes, she was back in her living room.
“So, where did you go this time?” Mary asked, leaning over the back of the couch.
“Hawaii,” she replied. “It’s really lovely this time of year.”
“Well, that’s better than Alaska,” Mary said.
“I’m grateful for the suggestion of blue skies and warmth. The whole ‘everything around you is white’ was not as enjoyable.”
She turned to Ian. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I do everything you ask me to do and poof, I end up somewhere else.”
“It’s not your fault,” he said. “You have no body to anchor you down.”
“But there has to be a way,” she said. “I need to remember.”
“I have a suggestion,” Mary said.
“I’m open to just about anything,” he replied.
“Let me be the body for Jeannine. Hypnotize both of us.”
Rosie shook her head. “Oh, no,” she said. “I’ve seen movies like that, where spirits inhabit someone else’s body. Bad things always happen to them, Mary.”
Mary smiled at Rosie. “But, Rosie, Jeannine and I are friends,” she said. “It won’t be like that.”
“Can’t say I’m crazy about the idea either,” Stanley said. “What’s to say once she’s in there, she’ll be able to get out?”
“I’ve seen it happen a time or two at a seance,” Ian said. “The medium opens herself up and the spirit is able to enter her body. It’s called channeling. But, it can be dangerous because you don’t know what kind of spirit might enter your body.”
Jeannine looked confused. “What do you mean, kind of spirit,” she asked. “The dead kind, right?”
“Well, actually, there are good spirits and there are evil spirits,” Ian explained. “Some evil spirits are tortured souls who led the kind of life that have them trapped here on earth. Some, from what I understand, never got the chance to have bodies and just hover around, waiting for a chance to try one on for size.”
“I never heard that,” Stanley said. “Where would they hang out?”
“Places where people are apt to give up control of their bodies,” he said. “Like the neighborhood pub where I’ve seen many a lad drink so much alcohol, he has no idea where he is or what he’s about. He’s a perfect victim for that kind of visitor.”
Rosie cocked her head to the side, considering what Ian had just said. “So, those people who do crazy things when they’re drunk and can’t remember anything about it. It might be because someone else is in there with them?”
Ian shrugged. “I can’t tell you for sure,” he said. “But, that’s the theory I’ve heard.”
“Well, I’m not going to get drunk,” Mary said. “I’m just going to sit back and share my body with Jeannine’s spirit for a little bit. And with all of you here, I’m sure I’ll be safe.”
“What do you think, Jeannine?” Ian asked.
“I’d be very grateful to Mary if it works,” she said. “I really think it’s the only way we are going to solve my murder.”
Ian stood up and checked his computer. “Okay, I think it best we not advertise what we’re doing over the cameras,” he said.
“No, I don’t think either Sean or Bradley would be happy with this experiment,” Mary agreed, then she clapped her hand over her mouth. “Have they been listening in?”
Ian clicked on a few screens and then shook his head. “No, luck is with us. They’ve both been offline for at least an hour,” he said. “Stanley, can you do me a favor and cover that camera with a paper sack. I’ll turn down the sound and send a message out that we’ve encountered a slight problem with the living room camera, but we’ll have it fixed in a trice.”
A few minutes later, the camera was covered and Ian had set up another one to record the session.
“Why didn’t you have that set up when Jeannine was being hypnotized?” Rosie asked.
“Because I couldn’t capture Jeannine’s voice or form on the camera,” Ian explained. “And now I’ll be able to do both.”
“And I don’t think I’ll be available to take notes,” Mary added, and then turned to Ian. “What will I be feeling?”
He shrugged. “I have no idea,” he said. “You might just take a nap while Jeannine uses your body to communicate with us, or you might be along for the ride.”
Jeannine hovered near Mary. “Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked. “We can try something else if you think it’s too dangerous.”
Mary shook her head. “I’m sure,” she said. “Just don’t make me do a chicken dance, okay?”
Jeannine chuckled. “I promise.”
Chapter Sixteen
Bradley’s cruiser rumbled down the snow-covered gravel road. The county plows had been through to push the snow into the ditches and sprinkle sand on the road for traction, but the roads were still slick.
“I’d always worry about losing an engine in one of the ditches in this kind of weather,” Mike admitted. “Those big girls aren’t made for slick narrow lanes.”
“Yeah, during the last fire we had to call a couple snow plows and pull one of the hook and ladders out,” Bradley replied. “Luckily it was after the fire was out, not before.”
Mike looked out the window and sighed. “I miss working fires,” he said. “It was such an adrenalin rush. From the moment that alarm sounded to the minute you finally put out the last flame, it was you against the fire. And you hoped you won that day.”
“I heard you were one of the best they had,” Bradley said.
“You were asking about me?”
Bradley shrugged. “Yeah, well, I had to know a little bit about the guy who could pop into Mary’s life any time he wanted.”
Mike laughed. “Yeah, anything you learned about me at the firehouse couldn’t have eased your mind too much.”
“Actually, other than being a lady killer, they all had great things to say about you,” Bradley said.
Mike turned back to Bradley. “How are the guys doing?” he asked.
“Good,” he said, nodding. “They’re doing well. If you’d like, I could drive over there so you could check it out.”
“Yeah, maybe after we check out the barn,” he said. “That’d be nice. Thanks.”
Bradley shrugged. “Just being nice so you keep your hands off my girl,” he said.
Mike laughed. “I’d take her in a minute,” he said. “But even though you act like an idiot, for some reason she’s still in love with you.”
Sighing deeply, he shook his head. “I know I don’t deserve her and I don’t know how I got so lucky,” he said. “But I really do love her.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said. “I can tell.”
The ruins of the barn came into view. “Whew, that used to be a great old barn,” Mike said. “One of the few round barns left in the area.”
“Yeah,” Bradley said. “Once the hay caught on fire, there was nothing they could do to save it. The fire department had no idea anyone was inside. The owner had already cleared out the livestock before they got there.”
“So, the body that you found,” Mike said. “The person wasn’t a family member?”
“No and there was no i.d. on the guy,” he said. “So we’re checking dental records. Hopefully that will give us something. Or…”
“Or his ghost is still here and willing to talk to us,” Mike added.
“Yeah,” Bradley said. “Exactly.”
They pulled up in front of the barn, Bradley got out of his car and walked to the barn. Mike floated a few feet behind him. Within a few minutes, they heard the screen door on the nearby farmhouse close. Bradley looked up and saw the farmer, Leroy Johnson, heading toward him.
“Morning,” Leroy said, extending his hand for a shake. “What brings you out here again?”
Bradley shrugged. “Just wanted to take another look around,” he said. “Make sure I didn’t miss anything,”
Leroy turned toward the barn and tipped back the brim of his baseball cap. “In all my years I never saw a barn go up like that. Strangest thing.”
“What was strange?” Mike asked.
“What was strange?” Bradley repeated to Leroy.
“Barn door was open when I got out here,” he said. “All the livestock were already in the pasture. Didn’t lose any animals, not a one.”
“That’s strange for an arsonist,” Mike said to Bradley. “They like to see things burn.”
“The other farms that lost barns, did the same thing happen to them?” Bradley asked.
Leroy scratched the side of his head. “You know, now that you mention it, I think I remember some of them saying the same thing,” he replied slowly. “That’s a strange coincidence.”
“That’s not a coincidence,” Mike said. “Something stinks here. Might be insurance fraud, might be something else. When there’s fire, animals hide, they don’t try to escape. That livestock was let out before the fires were started.”
“So, in your experience, when there’s a fire, do livestock try to escape?” Bradley asked Leroy.
Leroy shook his head. “Naw, they ain’t smart enough to escape,” he said. “They try to hide. Most livestock dies of smoke inhalation in barn fires. If they had tried to escape, they would have made it.”
“So, do you think they’re breeding smarter livestock?” Bradley asked.
Leroy laughed. “Only if they’ve graduated from damn stupid to just plain stupid,” he said.
Bradley chuckled. “Thanks, Leroy. Hey, you don’t mind if I walk around a little?”
“Naw, enjoy yourself, take your time,” he said. “If you need something, I’ll be in the machine shed.”
Once Leroy was out of hearing distance, Bradley turned to Mike. “What do you think?”
Mike was already walking through the remains of the barn, examining the scorched pieces of wood and the debris on the ground. “The fire started here,” he said, “In the center of the barn. Where did you find the body?”
Bradley picked his way through the rubble and joined him. “Back here,” he said, pointing to an area a few yards away from them. “He was covered by an old metal trough. It was the only thing that kept him from being cremated.”
“Did you ask where that trough used to be?” Mike asked.
Bradley nodded. “Yeah, Leroy had it up in the loft,” he said. “Didn’t use it anymore, but didn’t want to throw it away in case he needed it.”