Episode 11: Dead Giveaway

“What have I done?”

With the ghost of Curtis, aka Curly still wearing plastic wrap so that he had a tangible substance that she could see standing outside her screen door, Erin Parrish witnessed a silent scream. The boy had just lost the girl of his dreams that he never even knew he wanted right before his invisible eyes. Erin having sent the new couple outdoors had somehow miscalculated her intentions. While it spooked her to have the female apparition Vienna here, having crossed over from her final resting place in Boston Massachusetts then crossing again over a mystical sigil on the front door threshold, the girl simply vanished without a trace. Damage control was required, along with investigation the only way she knew how. “Curly! Stay right there, let me try something.” The boy obeyed but looking ready to fall to his knees in trauma. This girl had obviously smitten him to be this upset. Even his plastic body wrap was being pulled off as if ripping his clothing away out of torment and tantrum.

Lifting her necklace Erin spoke out, “Gemma? Help me here. I need to know what happened to Vienna. Is she with us or has she been taken away? Show me, please.” Only a flicker of blue on her dangling gemstone then a pounding sound over the TV set behind her. Looking back there was Vienna pounding on the invisible barrier from the other side, within the recorded episode of that haunted house she was murdered in. The Ghost Hunter’s in the show were freaking out over thumps on a wall next to them. The convoluted communication was heartbreaking. “Curly look!” She opened the door for the tatterdemalion and motioned him inside.

The door nearly ripped from its hinges; Erin let it go in favor of what was important. Rushing to the TV Curtis placed his palms on the surface and found her hands touching his like soulmates. Erin nearly cried as Kyra came rushing back inside with her posse of boys. “What’s going on?”

“Our visitor was taken away from us and back into the episode on TV. She made it as far as the doorway there and poof MIA.” Kyra hugged up to Erin out of concern, Curly’s wrapped head looking back with an obvious cry for help in rescuing Vienna. “I’ll figure this out Curly, I swear. Where is my cell phone? Balcony!” In a near trample the other ghosts ran upstairs, those still in stretch wrap tripping over themselves to retrieve her phone. A huge scuffling sound on the ceiling above her she rolled her eyes. The boys were fighting over the phone. “DON’T DROP IT!”

Lester winning out brought it down with a swift response and handed it to Erin. Kyra pointing out credits for the show grabbed the TV remote and hit pause. Curly found Vienna’s hands frozen in time beneath his flatly placed palms. “Good job Kyra. Once that show is off the air it’s hard telling when it might rerun for us. There has to be some delayed reaction if the ghost hunters there heard Vienna’s pounding on the wall. You know this episode had to be recorded over a year ago by now. Still, even in reruns it must be like a conduit for communication. We don’t really understand everything concerning how the afterlife works. Getting there guys, getting there.”

“What’s your phone going to do? Who could we call that won’t think we’re crazy?”

“First thing is first. Just don’t let that show run through. Keep our connection until we can’t go any further. “I’m looking up murders around Boston that connect to the local police finding Vienna Edwards body.”

“Her name is Vienna? Wow! I like that name.”

“Yup!” Erin searched stories and quickly discovered a photo of the deceased girl and a local news report from 2012. Playing the video, the female reporter conveyed the story of Vienna Edwards gruesome demise. The killer still on the loose the murder went unsolved. “How can they not trace it back to the killer if Vienna met the guy on Tinder? Surely the cops are not that stupid in and around Boston.”

“She’s beautiful. Only 17! Well, 27 now if she had lived.” Year of our Lord 2022!

Moving up to Curly, Erin shared the photo of Vienna resized full screen. “This is Vienna! You have good taste. She’s really pretty.” As if he and the boys hadn’t seen her on the TV just before she seduced them from the afterlife. In their world of in-between they could see one another exactly as they were. To the living they were simply invisible, traditionally intangible to the naked eye. Until they focused enough to touch physically. This place Souillon House belonging to Genevieve Souillon in the 1800’s somehow allowed the boys a much greater ability of touch than most places, most ghosts. With Vienna able to make a love connection through the television meant that even her home must have similar... “Boston! Salem ... witches back in the 1700’s they say. Kyra ... I think Genevieve was a witch. The attic has bound books that look like witchcraft material. At least to me they do. I’m not 100% certain. Oh! There’s a bunch of dicks in jars. The lady of the house was nuttier than we thought.”

“WHAT? And she wants me to be her roommate.” Kyra began murmuring as she paced in circles. “I need air again. Good luck with your girlfriend Curly.” She patted the plastic remaining on his shoulder. “I’m here for you Buddy.” Out the door she went. Outside at least, she had the dogs and those inhabiting said pooches.

Still on her cell Erin did note they had suspects from eyewitness descriptions of a man on foot in the neighborhood that night. Yet no prints were ever found in the house to identify him, nor hair or DNA in any fashion. It was like the man cleaned house well. Not even any semen in Vienna’s body after the rape. How does one do that? Condom sure, but there should have been some slip up on the killer’s part beyond a sketch drawing which the news video produced. Seeing the sketch Erin winced. “Whoa! I think I know this guy. The hotel manager where that adorably miserable young maid Isabel works sure does resemble him. He was pretty creepy. I’d tell Eerie when he gets here as a tip but how do I explain even doing a search for a murder probably over six hundred miles away? Obviously, I can’t connect the ghosts, or he might freak out.”

Shuffling about Erin reclaimed the TV remote from Lester who Kyra passed it to. Rewinding the show was impossible with no DVR. Finding an e-mail link on the tail end of the episode she wrote it down in her cell for future reference. With Vienna pleading the heartbreak was even more horrible. “Curly? I know this is not what you want to hear but we will find her again. I promise you. Let me do this my way ... for Vienna.” She peels one hand away from the TV then Erin pressed her own on to Vienna’s ghostly palm impression. It was as if Vienna connected with Erin in that moment. “Vienna? I’ll find a way to reunite you two. Can you understand me? Press your forehead against the TV if you do.” The ghostly girl did just that, Curly kneeling to place his own forehead against hers. More heartbreak!

“We have to let her go for now. I’ll see if I can get a copy of this episode from the History Channel so we can keep in touch with her. Vienna? Can you see us?” A nod without her forehead leaving the screen. “Can you see my cellphone and what is on it?” Another nod. “Is this what your killer looked like?” Sketch artist rendition shown on pause. One more nod Erin sighed, “Let me play detective. I want to solve your murder, Sweetie. Maybe if I can do that, we can somehow sever ties with that house and bring you here again. All I can do is try.” A weeping sound heard through the speakers the show went off the air. Vienna vanished! Curly lightly pelted the TV with his fist so as not to break it. “Hang in there Curly.” She sat the remote on the TV stand. “Control your emotions and bre ... I guess you can’t breathe. You know what I mean. I need to make some calls. Boys? Be here for your brother.” Thumbs up all around. Thank God for latex gloves!

Needing air herself Erin stepped back outside onto the front porch and sat down on the steps. Kyra felt badly for abandoning her friend and sat beside her bestie putting an arm around her, head on her shoulder. “It never gets easier, does it?”

“No, it doesn’t!” Erin sighed and took a screenshot of the sketch artist drawing for future reference. “I need to check on my girl Isabel.” Kyra winced. “The teenager I met at the hotel. If my gut is right and you know it normally is ... this guy is the manager of the hotel.”

“That has to be coincidence.”

“Vienna said the drawing was her killer. Nodded it was anyway. The show ended so I made Curly just go relax until I could figure this out. Isn’t it just incredible the empathy ghosts can have?” The dogs moved in to lay down at their feet below the bottom step. “Same for you two. Always here for me. I love you Erin’s best friends ... well, dad. And yes dad, I will get dressed eventually!” She still hadn’t since her dad Benjamin gave her grief earlier through Brimley Stone’s possession of Kyra. Speaking of, “So you’re feeling okay after that body swap?”

“Yep! It just made me feel as if my blood sugar dropped is all. Short rest I felt fine, still do. Just ... freaked out is all. I’ll adjust!”

“I know you will. I love you bunches Bestie.” Side hug! “Let me warn Isabel to be careful around that hotel manager just in case.”

“We can tell Officer Barker when he gets here.”

“Tell the man what? That we think we know a killer that’s never been convicted? I ... hold up!” Refreshing the screenshot Erin posed her cell toward the poodle Cotton. “Brimley? Do you get any psychic impressions on this guy?” Unable to get any closer to the porch before her body was cast out of Cotton the dog winced as if near-sighted. Erin moved down closer to give her a better look. A yelp of yes, the dog whined then looked at Kyra. As if mind reading the dog’s request Kyra groaned, “Really? So soon?” Groaning, Kyra stood up and picked the dog up in her arms. Right before Erin’s eyes the transfer completed.

“Hello again. Erin that man has no soul. Even as a sketch, I can read his life like a book.”

“I think he’s the hotel manager of the Belltower Inn where I stayed at before getting the keys to Souillon here. Do you think ... this whole Vienna thing, with her coming over through the airwaves...?”

“Was on purpose? Yes! She felt the connection to her killer. Perhaps without even knowing it.”

“But ... seducing Curly? The other boys?”

“The girl obviously had issues in her living existence that carried on with her into death.”

“She did meet this guy on Tinder, if it is him. So, she likely wanted sex to begin with. Nympho? I know I can relate to that.”

“Yes! I am getting visions of another young girl. Latina, I believe.”

“Isabel! The maid at the hotel. What do you see?”

Jaw dropping in Kyra’s expression, Brimley freezes then thaws just as fast, “Go to her ... now! She is in danger.”

“The hotel room I paid up for her?”

“Yes! HURRY!”

“SHIT! Give me Kyra’s shirt. LESTER? PURSE AND CAR KEYS!” The door flung wide as Brimley sat her clueless dog Cotton down on the steps in order to remove Kyra’s long shirt. Holding the purse in midair Lester waited until Erin put the shirt on before she grabbed the bag with her ID in it and bolted to her Land Rover. “Brimley? Release Kyra after I’m gone. I need her here if Officer Barker shows up. I can’t involve him unless it becomes necessary.”

Scooby Boo followed her and forced his way inside the vehicle before Erin could get in. Ben wanted to protect his baby. She was kind of glad he wanted to go. Behind the wheel Erin backed up in her yard and kicked up dust on her way out the iron gates and down the road, aiming for the town of Belltower. On the way she dialed the number for Isabel’s cell and waited until it answered. Not even a hello, just heavy breathing. Muffled whimpers were in the background. “Izzy? It’s Erin, are you okay?” Click! Call ended! “FUCK!” Pedal to the metal!

“Vienna had to be warning of this.” She told the Great Dane in the passenger seat. “It’s just too close to home. She might not even understand the tip she was giving. This is going to go bad dad, I just know it.” Flying down the road she called Isabel again hoping to protect her in any way possible. Another pickup of dead air she took a huge risk. “Vienna says hi.” A growl heard out of an obvious male voice. “I know who you are Mister Manager. I will take you down if you hurt Isabel. By the way, Vienna says hi!” A trigger mechanism in her mind to see if he cursed, “Bet on that!”

“You will fail.” His only words, followed by a low-level baying that sounded like a sheep, he hung up again. Scooby Ben barked at the windshield drawing Erin’s attention. A police car up ahead clocking her speed she slapped her steering wheel, “NOT NOW!” Giving chase with sirens blaring she had two choices ... pull over ... or press on, making it worse for herself. A fast brake and off the shoulder slide she put her Land Rover in park. Hopping out as the Officer pulled up, she put her hands palms up to her side to show she was unarmed but held her cell. Kyra’s shirt being short for the much taller Erin, her pussy popped into view without even considering the wardrobe malfunction.

“Well, look who it is.” The male Officer stepped from his car. “Ms. Parrish, correct?”

“Hey Dreyfus!” She remembered him from Brimley’s home, “Listen to me, before you go writing me a ticket. I need you to follow me to Belltower. I think my friend Isabel is in danger. She called me in what sounded like she was being manhandled. Someone severed the call on us. I called back and all I heard was heavy breathing and whimpers.” She omitted the goat like murmurs not thinking they mattered, “At least back me up on this.”

“Where does she live?” Officer Dreyfus Bodine asked. “Wasn’t Eerie coming your way here soon?”

“That was the plan ... until I got this call. I didn’t even take time to get dressed.” She wasn’t even sweating over the fact he was seeing her freshly shaven cunt. She was proud of her boy’s and their ghostly landscaping skills. Dreyfus was having troubles not looking. “Can we agree to let you frisk me later and go help Isabel?”

“Right! Sorry! Where was she?”

“She works at the Belltower Inn as a maid. I’m going there first. I’m not sure where she is beyond that because she’s pretty much homeless. I rented my former room for two weeks to give her a place to go. Her manager is ... creeping on her, so I think there’s where we should start. She’s only seventeen.”

“Christmas! Okay follow me.”

“No sirens! If she’s being hurt, we can’t alert the attacker.”

“Until town at least. I’ll cut them before heading for the Belltower Inn.” The only hotel in Belltower, a former Holiday Inn back in the day. “Wanna lock up and just ride with me?”

“I have my da ... dog with me as protection. I’ll just follow you.”

“The poodle demon?”

“No, my other dog. He’s a Great Dane.”

“Whew! Okay, let’s ride!”

“Room 3C!”

“Got it!” A mad dash for his car Officer Bodine hit the sirens and drove around Erin. Hot pursuit they made it to Belltower in five minutes, the hotel on stealth mode in ten. Pulling up at the front office they found the vacancy sign dark yet no cars in the lot. Side by side they spoke through car windows.

“That doesn’t look suspicious at all.” Erin pointed out the sign.

“Nope! Stay here, I’ll go check it out.”

“Like you said ... nope!” She drove on toward the hotel room and pulled up out of direct sight of the room itself. Getting out Scooby Ben followed her down, he wasn’t leaving her side. “You know your white eyes are a dead giveaway.” For a dog Ben applied the necessary motor skills to shrug as best he could then trailed behind his daughter. Grumbling at her exposed lower body he shook his head. Dreyfus pulling to the far end of the hotel stairs came up from the far side, gun in hand. What caught him off guard was that Erin herself was holding a 9MM. Eyes bulging he called for backup over his shoulder mic just in case, volume turned low to a whisper he knew his fellow officers were on their way.