Elizabeth Basque - Medium Mysteries 02 - Silver Lake (2 page)

Mack could have made a snide remark, but he didn’t. Sometimes, he could be thoughtful like that.

I shook the decanter as my lit cigarette hung from my mouth. I removed the lid and poured the soothing contents into my favorite martini glass. I took a sip that emptied half the glass, refilled it and turned to him. “You know, as much of a pain in my ass that you are, I care about you.”

“
So, you want me to watch you get drunk?” he asked, trying to make light of my bad habit. “I’ve seen it before, woman.”

I moved slowly toward the living room to where the newspaper lay on my coffee table. “I’ve got a bad feeling about something in the paper.”

Mack tilted his head ever so slightly, and gave me a brief encouraging smile. “Let’s have it, then. Zombies really do exist? The mother of all tsunamis? More radiation in the atmosphere? None of them can hurt me, Pauline.”

I downed my drink.
Get it over with. Maybe it’s nothing,
I told myself. “First, you have to promise to not disappear on me.”

“
I’ll promise no such thing,” Mack countered. “I come and go as I please.”

“
Well, let me put it this way. If I tell you, and you leave, then don’t come back. I mean it.”

Mack folded his arms, face now grim. “All right, bazo, you’ve got a deal.”

Sometimes, I hated the fact that I was psychic. I took a big breath. “I didn’t think anything could hurt you, old man,” I told him, and pointed to the newspaper, “but I have a feeling this might.”

Mack was still curious when he floated over to have a look at the opened news page.

When he saw the photo of the couple, I knew.

I didn’t think it was possible, but his ghost face paled. The look of recognition was followed by such grief that I could barely stand it. He scanned the article announcing their marriage, but his eyes kept flitting back to the photo.

Then he glanced back up at me as he put more distance between us.

When he reached the wall, I took a step forward. “Stop. You promised you wouldn’t disappear.”

“You. You tricked me. How did you find this?”

“
It’s in the paper, for God’s sake.”

“
This is none of your business, Pauline.”

“
Well, it’s public knowledge now,” I pointed out.

“
So, why do you think I would be so interested in a couple becoming engaged? People marry all the time. It’s not as great as it sounds. Believe me.”

“
Mack, please don’t leave. I know you don’t talk about your past, at least to me. But he looks just like you. And I’m telling you, I have a bad feeling about this impending marriage.”

On the brink of leaving, Mack just hovered. I didn’t know if he thought I was serious about never coming back. I wasn’t, really. Especially not with his reaction to what I’d just shown him.

“Please,” I begged. “Tell me.”

I waited, while Mack hovered. He seemed to be weighing something in his mind. After a moment, he floated down closer to me. A single ghost tear slid down his ghost cheek.

“You’re right,” he said grimly. “That’s my son.”

Chapter Three

I’d already known the photo of Garrett Mackenzie was Mack’s son; I’d felt it in my bones. But hearing him say the words aloud shocked me all over again. I had so many questions. I knew I had to be patient, gentle. This was the first thing I’d ever learned about the old ghost from Massachusetts.

Mack hovered in his favorite chair, the one he liked to overturn when he wanted my attention. I opted for another martini, and left him to his thoughts as I prepared it in the kitchen.

Then I opened the sliding glass door to the patio, since I wanted another cigarette. I didn’t like to smoke inside, but sometimes, I broke this rule.

“So, you have a son,” I began quietly. “And he’s apparently in love, and getting married.”

Mack nodded. “Garrett. I haven’t seen his face in I don’t know how long.”

“Have you seen him since you died?”

“
No.”

“
Is it because he lives outside of Echo Park?”

“
No. I can go to Silver Lake if I want to. I could probably go anywhere. But no, I’ve not seen my son in many yeahs, I imagine.”

“
Mack, I don’t want to pry. I’ve been respectful of your privacy. But you know, I do get these feelings, and well, I’m not sure if it was just seeing the photo of him—he really does look a lot like you—that surprised me, or what.”

“
Uh, yuh,” Mack looked down at the coffee table between us. He wouldn’t look me in the eye.

“
I can imagine it’s hard to see his face after such a long time.” I was dying to ask Mack how long he had been dead. I wanted to know how he died. There were so many things I wanted to know.

But I couldn’t push too hard. So, I tucked my toes under my legs, and took a small sip from my glass. The glass sloshed, and I did my best not to spill. Mack didn’t seem to be going anywhere, and that was a good sign. But he was deep in thought.

“I know you want me to tell you everything,” he said. He could read my thoughts much more easily than I could read his. “I think I died about two or three years ago. It’s becoming harder to remember. I have a gravesite, also in Silver Lake. It has the date. I’ve never been there, either.”

“
So, you lived in Silver Lake?” I asked.

“
Yes. Garrett must have taken after me. So, he’s a real estate investor. Good for him. Maybe he’ll have better luck than I did.”

This seemed a safe enough subject to talk about, so I asked Mack, “Did he inherit all his property from you?”

“No. It all went to someone else. I left him almost penniless. And I’ll never forgive myself for that.”

More riddles. “Mack, can I ask…?”

But Mack suddenly became angry. His eyes were deadly cold now, and he flew up, knocking over the chair. I jumped, as well, and I spilled my drink. I had to admit, he frightened me a little. I’d never seen Mack so furious.

“
Damn, woman, have a little respect!” he shouted. “This isn’t even about you.”

“
I’m—I’m sorry,” I whispered.

Mack was moving away from me now. He settled for the middle of the room.

“Look, Pauline, I’ve got some things to attend to. No wondah yuh single, you don’t know how to let a man be. I’ll be back.” And with that, he was gone.

My apartment on the hill of Echo Park was quiet. Sometimes, too quiet. It was like that now. The only sound was the ticking of my wall clock, the kind that used batteries. Tick, tick, tick. I glanced at it, noting the time read a little past noon. It was really a little past one, but I hadn’t bothered to change it when daylight savings time had started.

Since the class ended at one, Julie would probably be here at any moment. I sighed, wondering where Mack had gone. He was in real anguish and pain, even though he was no longer alive. What could be troubling him so much?

“
What, indeed?” I said aloud, my voice sounding much too loud. There was something wrong. I could feel it. I wondered how pissed off Mack would be if I did some research on his son.

I rose from the couch and drained what was left of my martini. I pulled the chair back into position, and went into the kitchen to get a paper towel to wipe off my blouse where I’d spilled my drink.

Chapter Four

I heard Julie’s knock—she always gave three quick taps on the door—and then she entered. We knew each other well enough by now that she felt comfortable coming in, at least when she knew I was expecting her.

“
Pauline!” she exclaimed, bustling in with my notebooks for the class. “You won’t believe what happened…” She stopped. I must have looked upset, or at least, flustered. “What’s wrong?”

I didn’t know what to say, so I just shook my head and continued wiping my shirt.

“Pauline, what is it? And why wasn’t Mack haunting the class today?”

“
Let’s just say Mack and I had a little talk,” I answered. I forced myself away from the liquor area and grabbed a couple bottles of water from the fridge, handing one to Julie.

“
What about? Is he here? I want to talk to him. He left me with some real winners, those two new spirits.”

“
Well, I wouldn’t bother him with it just now,” I said dryly. “And besides, no, he’s not here. I don’t know where he went.”

She set her purse and my books down on the kitchen table, and got out her pack of cigarettes. She glanced at me questioningly, and I nodded. We headed out to my patio.

The sky had cleared up, and I guessed the temperature was about seventy—not bad. My thoughts were scattered. Probably the martinis. Maybe because of Mack. Perhaps both.

I lit a smoke and looked at the cracks on the cement patio. I should get those fixed, I thought. I glanced up at the little Christmas lights I’d strung along the eaves for the holidays. I should take those down, too.

Julie leaned forward, frowning at me. “You’re not listening to a word I’m saying.”

“
I’m sorry, Jules, what?”

“
I was trying to tell you about today. But maybe you should go first. What’s going on?”

“
No, give me a New York minute, all right? What were you saying?” I shook myself and gave Julie my full attention.

Julie leaned back, trying not to be offended at my indifference. “It was a strange class today,” she began again. “Those two ghosts Mack brought, I don’t know where he got them from, but one of them is a real piece of work. Mack’s going to hear it from me, let me tell you.”

“Was it the man or the woman?”

“
It was the man,” Julie answered, and giggled a little. “I guess it’s not really so bad, but he really spooked some of the participants. Two of them left.”

“
What did he do?”

“
Well, my guess is that Mack told him he was supposed to haunt the room. And this ghost—his name is Dan—maybe he got the wrong idea. I mean, the ghosts are supposed to see if the class can feel their presence, or make contact, right?”

I nodded. That’s what I’d been teaching them for the past month.

“Okay, but Dan just didn’t get it. Or, more likely, Mack told him to have a little fun with the class. I tried to explain to him and the woman ghost, Mary, but Dan had other ideas.”

I was intrigued. “Do tell.”

“First, we were meditating, like we always do. And it was really quiet. Everyone was concentrating on being open, you know, all that. So, a couple of minutes into it, we all hear this
woooo, waaaa, whooo,
like a ghost in a cartoon, or the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland. I was thinking, ‘Oh, my God,’ but some of the participants didn’t think it was all that funny.”

“
Ha!” I smiled, imagining it. “Then what happened?”

“
Well,” Julie became more animated now, “he showed himself. Most of the class could see him. He was swirling around the room, sideways, like he was racing after something.”

Julie giggled again, and this time, I joined her. “Oh, no.” I rolled my eyes.

“Wait, there’s more. We could also hear this other sound, a really high-pitched mewling. I didn’t even know what it was, until I saw it.”

My curiosity was really piqued now. “What was it?”

“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Julie was almost bursting. “However the guy died, his cat, poor thing, must have died with him. And it turned out, that’s what he was chasing around the room.”

“
A
cat?
”

“
A ghost cat. Can you believe it? It was cute, black and white, with really green eyes. At first, we didn’t know what he—Dan, the ghost, I mean—was hauling ass all around the room for. And then, the cat just appeared. At first, because it was kind of dark, you know, I thought it was a rat or something. And I got kind of creeped out, and then, because I was scared, everyone else freaked. Panic in the clubhouse!”

I tried to imagine the scene, my students with a sub for the first time, and with a crazy ghost making spooky sounds while chasing a cat ghost around the clubhouse room.

I cracked up laughing. Julie, who had been trying to stay serious while explaining all this, joined me.

I laughed so hard that my sides ached. “Oh, God,” I said, trying to catch my breath and wiping my eyes. “I wish I could have been there.”

“Me, too!” she exclaimed. “I could barely control the class. Finally, I ordered Dan to leave.”

“
I wonder where he went,” I managed to say as my laughter settled into an occasional chuckle.

“
I wonder where he usually haunts,” Julie said. “Heaven help whoever he hangs with.”