“I’d certainly like the chance to try,” Edmée growled. “Brandon, thank you kindly. I’ll take it.”
Brandon handed it over butt first with a grin. “Had a feeling. You both stay in your room tonight, as you have been. We’ll be roaming the house and trying to find the source of this thing.”
“To that end,” I said, “let’s sit down and you tell me everything it’s been doing. The more I know, the better chance we have of hunting this thing.”
4
The house lay very still and quiet in the darkness. It neared ten o’clock, and it had taken a while for Cali to settle. The little girl was very excited and anxious for me to shoot the ghost, and getting her to fall asleep had been a real trick. Edmée looked done in, too, dark circles under her eyes.
We stood in Cali’s bedroom now, and Mack went through everything with a fine-tooth comb. Not much in there—a wooden box holding some toys, a child’s bed, a small dresser. I had my thermal goggles on and a Glock in hand, watching his back as he worked. I admit the little boy in me was really hoping to shoot something too.
Mack finally stood, a look of disgruntlement pulling his mouth down at the corners. “I don’t see anything with energy attached. And I can feel him watching, but he doesn’t seem at all inclined to come out right now.”
“What do you want to do? Try provoking?”
“Not just yet, cher. Most spirits need a day or two before they’re bold enough to come out and harass strangers in their territory. Let’s give this one some space.”
Mack was playing things cautiously because he didn’t want to provoke the ghost and cause further damage to Cali. I was of the same mind. “Alright. Where do you want to settle? Here?”
“Living room for a while. If we give him space, maybe he’ll come out.”
“Worth a shot.” I backed out of the room. This house felt uncomfortable to me. I wasn’t sure if it was the close quarters—I barely had head clearance in the house—or if it was the bad atmosphere the ghost had caused. Could be both. I retreated to the couch, and Mack came to snuggle in next to me. He normally cuddled if he could, and I encouraged this, but tonight he didn’t seem settled. Unnerved might be the word for it. He was ever-so-slightly tense while leaning against me.
“Edmée seems cool,” I offered.
“Always has been. I came out to her first, y’know. She hugged me and told me that it was alright, it didn’t change anything for her. And she’d always believed me about the ghosts, too.” There was a smile in his voice.
“I can see why you said she was a favorite cousin, then.”
“Part of the reason, yeah.”
“What about Cali’s father?”
“Well, about the time Edmée hit eighteen, her mama died. She took it real hard, as they were two peas in a pod. About that time, she met him—he seduced her, basically. Edmée was in trade school at the time, and they met on a construction job. We all tried to get her to ditch him, but he could be sweet if he was of a mind to. Not that the mood struck him often. He was always drunk and verbally abusive. When Edmée got pregnant, he kicked her out, and that was the last we saw of him. She stayed with my mama while she was pregnant with Cali, as the pregnancy was rough.”
“Wow. Nice guy.”
“He ain’t winning any prizes, that’s for sure.”
I pondered that and really, as hard as it was to be a single mother, it sounded like Edmée and Cali both were well shed of him.
A quiet click sounded in the darkness and my head snapped around as I tracked it.
“What?” Mack whispered urgently, also sitting up.
“Just heard a door open.”
The padding of feet was soft on the carpet and I had a hunch who it was. Cali’s head popped into view, and she stared at us uncertainly.
“Can’t sleep, kiddo?” I asked her.
Cali nodded and took my question as permission to come in closer. Or maybe she wasn’t waiting for permission. She crawled right up into my lap as if she owned it, tugging her baby blanket up with her, a very well-loved stuffed frog in her hands. I put an arm around her as her head pillowed on my chest. Complicated emotions of sympathy and anger twirled in me. The cuddling was cute, but I hated that she was so scared she came out for protection.
“Did you see something?” Mack asked her, a thread of hardness in his tone.
She shook her head, burrowing into me harder. “Want Brandon.”
“I share the feeling, mon angé,” Mack drawled.
“Awww. I feel loved.” I grinned down at the top of her head then at the cute brunette tucked in on my other side. I would not be able to respond quickly if some threat did pop up, but at the moment, giving them attention seemed a higher priority.
Mack looked up at me, eyebrows lifted slightly in question. “Do children normally just climb on you?”
“It’s about fifty-fifty odds. Kids do this to Don too. They’re either terrified of us because of our height, or they look at us like an organic jungle gym. I don’t get much of a middle-ground response.”
“You don’t seem to mind it much.”
“Naw. Kids are cute and if they’re climbing me, I figure they’re safe.” I looked down at the little heater curled up in my lap. Cali looked gravely back up at me. Her eyes were drooping, and she was clearly tired but stubbornly staying awake. “Cali, the bad ghost who’s trying to drag you out of bed. Did he say anything to you?”
She nodded, voice barely more than a whisper. “Said his house and go away.”
Mack went taut. “You tell your mama that?”
“No,” she said, curling tighter into a ball.
I figured, or Edmée would have passed that on. “Cali, that’s a good clue for us. Helps us find the ghost. Thanks for telling us.”
She uncurled and gave me that serious look again. “Okay?”
“Anything you tell us helps,” Mack assured her gently. “Because you’ve seen him. I haven’t. I don’t know what to look for. Make sense?”
Cali nodded but didn’t add anything else, snuggling her face further into her blanket and my chest. I really didn’t know how she was breathing in that position.
I exchanged a look with Mack. Now this was an interesting turn. The situation might not be what we’d assumed. “If he’s saying it’s his house….”
“Odds are he’s not attached to something they picked up and brought in,” Mack finished, staring around the living room with new eyes. “He’s been here all along, and them moving in got him riled up.”
“But why her room and not her mother’s?”
“Now that, cher, is a good question. I don’t have an answer for it. My first thought is he’s somehow connected to the house itself, which is why salting the window and doors didn’t do any good. But that doesn’t explain Edmée’s room. And there’s nothing different in Edmée’s room.”
We’d searched her room first, and Mack had beefed up the defenses before Edmée and Cali gone to bed. It had been a normal woman’s bedroom, although disorganized with the hasty move in. Literally nothing in there to guard against ghosts except the salt. It really didn’t make any sense.