Twisted Fate (Tales of Horror) (14 page)

Vanessa leaned closer and stared out into the night. Something small and white waddled closer. It came into view, illuminated by the light from inside the house.

A seagull. It had a broken leg. It flapped its wings and then tucked them back in just before it fell over and died.

“Mom. Come and look at this. It’s happening again.” She pointed out the window. “There’s a dead seagull outside our window just like in front of the sheriff’s office.”

Her parents looked out the window.

The bird was gone.

Someone laughed outside.

It came across the wind, floated to them through the darkness.

Vanessa screamed as the front door burst open.

The witching hour had come again.

There would be no escape this time.

It’s just the way things are …

Bound

Kramer Kay stood among shelves of glass figurines. Someone was dead. She could feel it, but she couldn’t see them yet. As she walked around the display cases that held a variety of glass statues, the store clerk approached and asked if she needed any help. The store’s lights were bright, the air stale and dry. She turned, moistened her lips, and judged the woman to be at least sixty years of age. Her name tag read, “Beatrice.”

“I’m just looking,” Kramer responded. Beatrice probably heard that all day.

“Just holler if you need anything.”

Kramer politely nodded and turned away.

Every sort of figure was done up in glass in front of her. Dolphins, wolves, deer, even elephants. She reached out to pick up a glass rabbit and felt someone standing beside her.

A teenage girl held a glass figure of a deer with its head down in the grazing position. It appeared to Kramer that the girl, roughly eighteen years of age, worked here. Her name tag read, “Kelly.”

“I’ve always liked this one,” Kelly said. “It was my favorite.”

Kramer caught the use of past tense.
Was my favorite
.

“Which one is your favorite now?” Kramer asked.

“It’s still this one.”

Odd.

“But I thought you said it
was
your favorite?”

“I did.”

The girl placed the deer in Kramer’s palm. Their eyes locked as the young girl spoke again.

“Help me. I lay where the deer play.”

Her voice sent a shiver through Kramer’s shoulders.

“What did you say?”

“I lay where the deer play. Help me, find me. Let me find peace.”

Kramer blinked and then she was standing alone. Kelly had been there one moment, gone the next.

Kramer turned and looked toward the counter.

“Are you all right Ma’am?” Beatrice asked.

“Yes, yes of course.” Kramer approached the counter, the figure of the deer still clutched in her palm. “I’ll take this one,” she said, and handed the figurine to Beatrice.

“Oh my, nice choice. My former clerk, Kelly, just adored this one.”

Kramer’s head shot up at the mention of the girl she was just talking to. “Former clerk? What happened to her?”

“No one knows. She disappeared about a year ago. Not a word since. You must have heard about it. It was all over the news.”

Kramer avoided the news for this particular reason. Too many people screamed for help once she knew about them. She reached in her purse, yanked out a twenty and dropped it on the counter.

“Do you mean that eighteen-year-old girl with long blond hair?” she asked, now armed with what Kelly looked like.

“Yes. So you did hear about it. Tragic for the parents,” Beatrice said as she handed back Kramer’s change.

“I could only imagine. A tragedy.”

Kramer gathered her things up and left in a hurry without saying another word.

I lay where the deer play
.

What did that mean?

That’s the main problem with earth-bound entities who are stuck. They have access to vast amounts of information, but they forget I don’t.

She exited the mall and headed for her car, knowing she’d have to contact the investigating officer to see what she could find out about Kelly. Her contacts at the police department were pretty good, given that she’d helped them many times in the past on missing persons cases.

Bruce Wellington would help. Mostly because he kept asking her to dinner, but Kramer didn’t date cops. She couldn’t romance the very people she worked with.

From past experience, Kramer knew when someone from the Other Side like Kelly contacted her for something, they rarely left her alone until that something was dealt with.

She reached Bruce with her first call into the station after she got home. He promised to tell her everything he had on the case if she would agree to have dinner with him.

After ten minutes she finally agreed to meet him at The Keg for nine that night. What would it hurt? She could use a good meal.

He had looked up Kelly’s disappearance on the police computer and explained to Kramer that the case had gone cold eight months ago. Not a single lead had turned up as to the whereabouts of Kelly Walsh, eighteen. The parents had been interviewed extensively, even threatened with being charged in the hopes they’d break down and confess. They had been prime suspects in the case. But nothing came of it. The police had no one in custody and no idea where to look next.

Bruce asked Kramer why she was interested. Did she know something new? According to the file, Kramer’s call had been the first about Kelly in over eight months. All Kramer said was that she would get back to him and hung up the phone after confirming the time for dinner again.

This venture to help Kelly seemed fruitless. Maybe she could talk to the parents? After that, if nothing led her to what
I lay where the deer play
meant, she would drop it. At least until Kelly came back with more for her to go on.

When Kramer looked into the archives of the local newspaper via its website, she found excerpts about the missing girl, and interviews with the parents. Wendy Walsh and Mark Walsh still lived on Somerset Boulevard.

Two hours later, at 3:00 p.m., she parked down the street and walked up to knock on the Walsh’s door. The sun was hidden behind dark clouds that threatened rain. It reflected Kramer’s mood, and caused her to question why she was wasting time at the Walsh house. After losing their daughter and going through however many sleepless nights, and grueling interviews with the police and media, the last thing they needed was Kramer asking the same questions, re-opening old wounds. She had turned to step off their porch, when the door opened a crack. A single eye peeked through the gap.

“Yes?”

“Hello, Mrs. Walsh?”

“Who wants to know?”

“My name is Kramer.” Now what was she supposed to say? She didn’t want to make up a lie or scare Mrs. Walsh by saying the wrong thing, yet she had to get her talking about Kelly. She decided to try the truth. “I came here because I saw your daughter, Kelly, today.”

There was a moment of silence. The awkwardness made Kramer fidgety. She adjusted her coat and stepped back on the porch. The door opened far enough for the woman’s face to be exposed.

“That’s impossible. No one has seen Kelly for over a year.”

“I know, but I’m different. Let me explain. People who have unfinished business come to me after they pass away. Earlier today I was shopping in the mall and met Kelly where she used to work.”

Mrs. Walsh audibly gasped, raising a hand to her chest. “Are you playing games with me? Is this about money? What kind of person are you?”

Kramer was surprised by Mrs. Walsh’s response. Usually when she told people that she was a psychic, they either asked questions of a psychic nature or stated that they didn’t believe in the Other Side. It was rare that she would be accused of trying to cheat someone out of money.

Kramer described Kelly to Mrs. Walsh. “I read her name tag at the figurine store. I called the police, and found out the case had been cold for eight months. After meeting Kelly, I thought maybe we could talk. Maybe something will click for me.”

“You talked to the police?” Mrs. Walsh opened her front door all the way. “They give out information on a case so easily?”

“Ma’am, I’ve worked with the police for years on missing persons cases. My reputation is sound. I respect confidentiality. They wouldn’t work with me if I didn’t.”

Kramer wondered if it would start to rain before Kelly’s mother decided to either let her into the house, or send her on her way.

“Did the police send you?”

“No,” Kramer said.

“How about the media? Were you sent here to dig for more clues or did you come on your own?”

“I came on my own.”

Mrs. Walsh made an exaggerated attempt to step out on the porch and look up and down the street.

“Am I able to trust you? You’re saying no one sent you? You’re here to talk about Kelly and no one knows you’re here?”

Why are we still going over that point?

“It appears you’ve been hounded to the point of paranoia,” Kramer said. She raised her hands in an
I surrender
gesture and said, “I just want to talk. That’s it. No one and nothing is behind my motives.”

Mrs. Walsh stepped back into her foyer and nodded at Kramer, but she didn’t step aside to allow Kramer entry.

“Maybe we could continue this conversation inside,” Kramer said. “If it’s possible, I would like to see Kelly’s bedroom.”

“Okay,” Mrs. Walsh said, and moved to the side.

Kramer stepped in to a modest home. It was clean and tidy, but she started to feel that something was wrong again.

“Please understand. I’m usually pretty cautious when answering the door. We used to get reporters wanting interviews, and all sorts of weirdos, knocking at all hours.”

Oh, so now you only allow crazy psychics into your home
.

“Kelly’s bedroom is up there,” Mrs. Walsh said as she gestured at the stairs and started for them, slamming the front door hard. Kramer followed close behind.

When they entered Kelly’s bedroom, she saw that they’d turned it into a library. She also saw Kelly, sitting in a rocking chair in the corner.

“Are you okay?” Mrs. Walsh asked.

It must’ve shown on her face. “Yes, yes I’ll be fine. What happened to Kelly’s things? Aren’t you expecting her to come home?”

“Sadly, no. She wasn’t the type to run away. My husband and I decided to move on. If and when she does come home, then we would turn her old room back to the way it was.”

That’s odd. Mrs. Walsh knows more about Kelly’s disappearance than she’s letting on. Something is very wrong here. And how come she didn’t respond when I told her I saw Kelly’s ghost—which is confirmation her daughter is dead and not just missing?

Kramer heard a soft whisper. She looked over as Kelly was mouthing the words
where the deer play
.

“Was there a certain area where Kelly set up her glass deer?”

“Oh, my, you really are psychic.” Mrs. Walsh walked over to the closet and stood beside it, pointing into the corner of the room. “Before this bookcase was here, we had set up a circular rug in the corner. When she was little, Kelly would play for hours on that rug so none of her glass figures would break on the hard floor. She always played with her deer right here.”

Kramer walked over, being careful now to keep a little distance from Mrs. Walsh. Everything in her soul screamed at her to
RUN
. She had to leave, to come back with Bruce or never come back again.

To look like she was onto something, Kramer used her hands to inspect the bookcase. She ran her hand down the side of the wall and felt a slight depression in the drywall.

Someone else was coming as footsteps resounded along the outside corridor. She turned to see who it was. Mrs. Walsh’s facial expression had changed. She now looked angry.

The footsteps stopped outside Kelly’s bedroom door.

“Everything okay, Mrs. Walsh?” Kramer asked. “Have I offended you in some way?”

She hadn’t seen the rubber mallet in Mrs. Walsh’s hand before.

“You big city bitch.” Her voice had taken on a high-pitched squeal, as if this was her real voice and she had deliberately deepened it earlier to converse at the door. “You come here and want to start shit. Who do you think you are?”

Kramer had felt it. She should have run. She regretted getting this involved in the first place.

She turned to looked at the chair where Kelly sat. Kelly was crying, her face red, tears streaming down her cheeks. She was shaking her head back and forth, and mouthing the word,
No
.