The Touch (25 page)

“Maybe number three, okay thanks Mr. Jassal.  Come with me and we’ll get you to sign a statement and we’ll get you out of here, okay?”  Cooper led him from the room,
leaving Gabriel
to send the women back to holding.  The cabbie’s identification wasn’t as airtight as he would have liked, leaving him less certain how to proceed. But a quick check with Captain Bristol found
the path laid out for him
.

The Captain didn’t even look up from the file he was reviewing.  “Charge her anyway.  Let the DA decide if it’s enough to prosecute.  We’ve got enough other work piling up; we can’t keep spinning our wheels on this one.”

“What about the little girl?”  They might have enough to charge Allison on for Neil’s murder, but there was nothing to indicate she had anything to do with Chloe’s disappearance, except maybe the absence of evidence that she’d been snatched in the first place. 

“Maybe the DA’s office can work some kind of deal on the murder rap if she tells us where the girl’s body is?”

Gabriel flinched as if he’d been hit, but
Bristol
was right.  After all this time, it was as if she’d disappeared off the face of the earth.  The chances that
Chloe
was still alive were slim indeed.  “Okay, you’re the boss,” he nodded.

“That’s what the sign on the door says
.”

Chapter Fifteen

In the end, she hadn’t been able to bring herself to eat Gabriel’s pizza.  Maybe it was petty of her, but Lexi couldn’t relax and hang out at his place as if there was nothing wrong.  Nor did she want to take his car, and luckily Maddie didn’t have a problem coming to pick her up. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Maddie asked, after several minutes of silence in the car on the way home.

“I can’t, I promised I wouldn’t discuss it,” Lexi sighed morosely. 

“Promised who, the cop?”

“Yep, but I can tell you, it’s not good.”

“Something to do with Neil’s case or Chloe’s?”

“Neil’s, and that’s all I’m gonna say, so stop asking,” she scowled.

“Still nothing on Chloe’s disappearance, huh?  That’s gotta be rough,” Maddie darted a quick, sympathetic smile at her. 

“Tell me about it.  I can’t believe I haven’t been able to get a line on her; just that stuff with all the missing children.”

“Maybe it’s somehow related?”

“How could that be?  That was back in the forties, that woman has to be dead and gone by now.”

Maddie gave a half shrug, “Stranger things have happened.  For all you know, a family member of one of those murdered kids might be seeking revenge on whoever lives in the house now.”

“You’ve been watching too much Sleuth TV,” Lexi snorted, but she appreciated the effort Maddie was making to draw her out.  Then again, all of the normal routes of investigation had come up with dead ends; maybe it was time to start thinking outside the box?  Not that she really thought a ghost was responsible, or any far fetched revenge motive from the family of long dead children, but it was a strange coincidence that other children had been kidnapped by a former owner of the house.  Was there a connection?  “Hey Maddie, do you think you could help me with some research tonight, or do you have other plans?”

“No I’m free, what’s up?”

“I need to find out as much as possible about what happened in that house.”

***

“Hey this is really sad, listen to this,” Maddie looked up from her laptop where she was stretched out on the couch.  “You were right about the woman Sophia living in the house and being wrapped up in a string of child abductions.  She didn’t have any family out here, just their daughter Bianca, who had a slew of health problems.  It looks like the mother went nuts after her husband died in the war, and there were some problems with her family in Italy, but it doesn’t talk much about that; mostly this is focused on the investigation.  Apparently she kidnapped those kids to keep her daughter company after the little girl was bedridden.”

“Ick, that’s so twisted,” Lexi grimaced.  “What happened to the kids?” 

“Oh God…” Maddie gasped, eyes rapidly scanning ahead. 

“What is it?”

“They found them all dead, except for one girl who succumbed to her injuries a week after they found her, and get this; the daughter Bianca was the first one to die.”

“Christ… what did she do to them?”

“It doesn’t say and I don’t think I wanna know,” Maddie grimaced. 

“Did she go to prison then?”

“The woman hung herself in custody before it could go to trial.”

“God, the whole thing is awful.”  To think the woman she’d seen taking such loving care of her daughter had gone so completely whacko…

“I’ll say.  Lexi, those kids all died in that house.  No wonder they keep paying you visits, trying to get your attention.”

“Yeah, I guess if there was ever a reason for a spirit to be at unrest, this qualifies.” 

“Maybe you should try to talk to them?  Ghosts are all seeing, right?  Maybe they can give you a clue to what happened to Chloe?”

Lexi shook her head slowly, “Just because I can see a vision of them doesn’t mean I can talk to them.”

“But didn’t you hear them singing?”

“I don’t know, Maddie… this is starting to sound really spooky.”

“You need a fresh place to start on what happened to Neil and Chloe, right?” 

“Nobody’s home there tonight…” Lexi conceded, unable to believe she was even considering this. 

“Great, then lets go!”  Maddie chirped enthusiastically, setting her laptop down on the coffee table.

“What… now?”

“You said it yourself, there’s no one there, sounds like a perfect time to try it.”

“You want to go to a haunted house at night…on purpose.”

“The ghosts have never tried to hurt you, right?  They’ve never done anything worse than play a couple of pranks on Allie.  They’re kids, they’re not dangerous.  I’m not telling you to go into a house with bleeding walls, for Pete’s sake.”

“Okay, okay let’s go.  It’ll keep my mind off of what’s going on with Allison anyway.”

“I was going to ask you why she wouldn’t be home tonight.”

“I can’t talk about it remember?”

Maddie wrapped an arm around her shoulders.  “It’s okay Lex; I think I can figure it out on my own.  I mean things were going like gangbusters with the cop, and then you’re here and he had to work, and Allie’s not around anymore?  Don’t worry, we’ll find something to clear her, as long as we can get the ghosts to talk to us.”

“I wonder if you can bribe ghosts with candy?” Lexi wondered aloud. 

***

The house was dark when they pulled up; the night eerily quiet, though that might have been her nerves playing tricks on her.   The first thing Lexi did when she opened the door was snap on the hall light, feeling marginally relieved the moment they weren’t drenched in darkness.  “There, that’s better,” she murmured, stepping deeper into the house.  Oddly enough, the hum of the refrigerator was strangely comforting, offering a degree of normalcy.

“How are we supposed to do this?” Maddie whispered, following close behind. 

She stopped in her tracks, “I thought you knew?  You’re the one who’s such a big fan of those ghost hunter shows on TV.”  Lexi’s interest in them was limited to giggling over how silly they were.

“No, I have no idea.  All they ever do on those shows is walk around talking to the open air.”

“Okay, let’s try that I guess.”  Lexi took a deep breath, shutting the door behind them.  “Hello?”  She took a few steps deeper into the house.  “Is anyone there?”  A muffled bump came from somewhere in the depths of the house.  “Okay, that was just a coincidence, right?” she breathed. 

“That could be a branch hitting the house from the outside.  We’ve got to stop freaking ourselves out, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” Maddie whispered back.

“Oh yeah?  Then why are you whispering?”

Maddie shot her a dirty look.  “Bianca, are you here?” she called out in a louder voice.  “Girls?” 

Nothing but silence greeted them, and Lexi started to feel a little foolish, calling out into the empty house.  “Now what?  Do we go up and down the halls talking to thin air?”

“Hey, I’m winging it here,” Maddie shrugged.  “What were you doing the last time you heard the singing?”

“I was up in the attic, touching Sophia’s dressing table and some of Bianca’s things the first time.  Oh, and I was in Chloe’s room touching one of the things left under the bed.  Maybe that’s a good place to start?”  It couldn’t have less luck than their attempts so far.  “Let’s go up to Chloe’s room, that’s where they left things behind under the bed before, and I think I want to try that stuffed bunny.”  She wasn’t about to suggest going up into the attic; not at night. 

“I’m game,” Maddie nodded, following her up the stairs.  Once again they turned on every single light they passed until the second floor was blazing with light.

“So that last time I tried the bunny I got…” Lexi stopped, turning first one way then the other.  “Where is it?  I left it on the bed.”

“Maybe Allie moved it?”

“Everything else looks the same,” she frowned, dipping her head down to look under the bed but there wasn’t anything there. 

“Maybe your sister took it into her room to help her feel closer to Chloe?”  But a search of Allie’s room turned up nothing. 

“That’s weird, where could it have gone?” Lexi paused at the top of the stairs.  “Maybe it’s in the den?  She’s been hanging out there a lot more lately, working with this website on missing children.”  Halfway down the stairs, the faint sounds of children singing floated down to them, the source difficult to place.  “
Take the keys and lock her up, lock her up, lock her up…”
 

“There, you hear that too right?” she cried out, beyond relieved when Maddie nodded, her eyes wide.  Freezing in place, they traded looks, unsure what to do when the singing started to fade, almost as abruptly as it began.

“Wait, don’t go!” Maddie called out, “Let us see you.”

Lexi smacked her on the arm, she had no desire to witness a ghostly apparition; the singing was bad enough, but the request had already been made.  “Bianca?” she called out softly.  “Are you there?”  A flicker of movement at the top of the stairs caught her attention, but as soon as she looked for the source of it, it was gone.  Lexi took another step up.  “Bianca is that you?  We just want to talk to you, Honey.  We want to find out what happened to Chloe.  Remember Chloe, your friend?  Won’t you talk to us?”  The lights flickered and they both jumped. 

“Was that a reply, do you think?”

“I don’t know…  Did you see what happened to Chloe?” Lexi tried again, her eyes widening when the lights flashed again.

“Does that mean yes?” Maddie asked, a grin spreading over her face as the lights flickered again right on cue.  “Let’s try one flash for yes and two flashes for no, okay?”

At the resulting flash, Lexi took the initiative.  “Did you see who killed Neil?”

Flash.

“Try something with a no answer.”

“Did Neil have anything to do with Chloe’s disappearance?”  Lexi knew from his time of death that he couldn’t have possibly done it and was rewarded with two flickers of the lights. 

“It’s working, it’s really working!”  Maddie hopped on one foot in excitement.  “Let’s try the million dollar question, did Allie kill Neil?”  The lights flashed twice again and now even Lexi was having a hard time keeping her heart from bursting out of her chest with excitement. 

“Did you see that?” Lexi gasped.  “I knew she was innocent!  Do you know who did kill Neil?” 

Flash.

“Is Chloe alive?”

Flash.

“Is she safe?” Both girls frowned as no response came one way or the other.  What did that mean?  “Is she somewhere nearby?” Lexi tried again.

Flash.

“What else do we ask?” she frowned, running short of ideas.

Maddie’s face fell, “I… don’t know.  We can’t exactly ask who the killer is.  What else has a yes or no answer?”

“Do I personally know the person who killed Neil?” Lexi called out but nothing happened in response.  “Hello?  Are you still there?”  The phone buzzed in Lexi’s pocket and she jumped again, swearing under her breath as she fished it out of her pocket.  “Who could be calling?” she wondered aloud when the unknown number registered.  “Hello?”

“Lexi, thank God,” Allie’s voice came through, “I need you to…”

“Allie!  Are you okay?  I know you didn’t do it…”

“You seem to be the only one,” her sister muttered.  “Look, I don’t have much time, okay?  I need your help.”

“Of course, anything you need.”

“I’m being charged with Neil’s murder.  I need you to get a hold of an attorney first thing tomorrow morning so I can meet with him before the arraignment.” 

“Yeah, okay sure, I can do that,” she agreed instantly; it was the least she could do until she figured out who actually killed him.  Hopefully Allie had the money to pay for a decent lawyer; maybe Paul would be able to recommend someone? 

“Find me someone good, Lexi.  I don’t want to spend the rest of my life behind bars for a crime I didn’t commit.”

“Of course I will.”

“I have to get out of here,” Allie sounded agitated, her voice rising dramatically.  “I have to get home, Chloe needs me, she can’t do without me.”

Lexi blinked, not quite sure how to respond to that.  Was Allie really losing touch with reality that badly?  “I know, I know she does Sweetie, we’ll get you out of there, don’t worry,” she managed to get out.  “I’ll take care of the lawyer and I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

“Thanks Lexi, I knew I could count on you.”  Allie hung up, or someone else did for her, leaving Lexi standing there, tapping the phone against her chin pensively. 

“She’s definitely starting to lose it.”

“Being arrested is bound to rattle anyone’s tree,” Maddie shrugged.

“Did you think of anything else to ask?”

“Nope, I’m stumped, what about you?”

Lexi hesitated for a moment, before coming up with something else.  “Can you
show
me what happened to Chloe?”  There was no response, and she wasn’t sure if it was because the ghost didn’t understand the question or if she was gone for the time being.