The friends of Beach Drive stood in one of Marlow House’s upstairs guest bedrooms, looking through the window at where Pearl used to live. They hadn’t turned on the bedroom light, so they stood in darkness. Earlier, they’d watched the shadows of Walt and Brian move across the side yard to the back gate and leave the property. Since that time, they had seen very little until the downstairs light of Olivia’s house turned on. Prior to that, the only light from next door came from an upstairs bedroom window. Even if it had been daylight, the fence separating Marlow House’s property from its southern neighbor obscured the view of the rear side door of said neighbor’s house.
“I wish Brian or Walt would at least text us,” Heather said. “What’s going on over there?”
“I assume they found the body, and they’re probably busy calling the police,” Ian suggested.
“I wish Marie or Eva were here. It would have been a lot easier if one of them could have gone over there to find out what was going on,” Danielle grumbled. “At least then, Walt and Brian would know what they were walking into.”
No one asked where the two spirits were this evening, because they had discussed it before dinner. Earlier that day, Danielle had asked Eva and Marie to take a trip to Astoria, where Betty’s family lived, hoping to find Betty’s ghost. Now, Danielle regretted the suggestion. She would rather have them here, instead of her husband walking into what might be a murder scene.
“Is that them?” Lily asked, leaning closer to the window. The friends looked outside into the darkness and watched as what looked like two shadows moved across the yard to the kitchen door. A moment later they heard Hunny and Sadie barking downstairs. The friends turned from the window and rushed from the dark room, with Ian carrying Connor.
Just as they reached the hallway, Walt and Brian stepped out from the kitchen.
“You’re back?” Danielle said.
With tails wagging, Hunny and Sadie were already greeting the two men.
“We’ve been watching for the police to arrive. What’s going on?” Heather asked.
Brian shook his head. “No one’s coming.”
Danielle frowned. “You didn’t find her body?”
“Yes, we found her body,” Walt said.
“How did she die?” Heather asked. “Was it murder?”
“Shouldn’t the coroner or something show up to get her?” Lily asked.
“The coroner wouldn’t want her the way she is right now,” Walt said.
With a frown, Heather looked from Walt to Brian. “What’s going on?”
“She’s alive,” Brian announced.
“What do you mean she’s alive? We saw her ghost,” Danielle said.
Walt pointed to the dining room. “Why don’t we go in there, and we’ll explain what happened.”
After the group moved to the dining room, Ian put Connor back into the highchair, and the others sat down where they had been sitting earlier. Brian and Walt proceeded to tell them what had happened after going next door.
“If that wasn’t Olivia’s ghost in the dining room earlier, it has to be whoever Heather saw Friday morning. The woman who looks like Olivia. And it seems she’s now dead. Or maybe she was already dead when Heather saw her the first time,” Chris suggested.
“What’s interesting,” Walt began. “When we were over there tonight, Olivia was wearing the same outfit as the ghost. Same blouse, same pair of pants. She even had her hair tied back in a red ribbon like the ghost.”
“Whoever was with Betty on Friday morning wore the same clothes Olivia had on later that day,” Heather reminded him.
Danielle, who was finishing up what she had left on her plate earlier, paused and said, “Perhaps she’s a ghost. It’s possible she’s harnessed her energy so people who aren’t mediums can see her. That can happen.”
“Brian and I already discussed that possibility. Our neighbor is not a ghost. For one thing, she made that call to the police station. We know she called someone, and they heard her, because the chief called us because of what she told the people on the other end. I’ve never heard of that happening before,” Walt said. “When we hear a spirit, it’s not sound waves in the traditional sense. Not something that can travel through a phone.”
Danielle shrugged. “It doesn’t mean it’s not possible. We don’t know all the rules. Maybe a spirit can be in one location, and someone in another location can hear them. It might even seem to come from a phone when it isn’t.”
“Walt also pinched her,” Brian said.
Chris frowned. “You pinched her?”
“With my energy, not my fingers; that would rather defeat the purpose. If she had been a spirit, my energy would not have a body to pinch. She could only pretend to feel the pinch if she saw it coming. Which she didn’t.”
“What did she say?” Lily asked.
“She said something like ‘ouch.’” Walt shrugged. “She assumed something bit her.”
“This is bizarre,” Ian muttered. “I didn’t think things could get stranger around here. Boy, was I wrong.”
They all sat in silence for the next fifteen minutes, finishing what was on their plates and contemplating the recent events. When they were done, Heather began clearing the table. When Danielle and Lily started to get up to help, Heather told them to sit down, yet flashed the men at the table a look that told them, are you just going to sit there?
They all understood what they had to do. Chris and Ian went into the kitchen while Brian held the door open between the two rooms, and Walt, who remained sitting at the table, turned to the buffet. Platters and bowls lifted off the buffet and floated toward the open doorway and into the kitchen.
Lily looked at Danielle and grinned. “I suppose there are some perks to being pregnant.”
Danielle giggled. “And having a husband with telekinetic powers.” The next moment, they heard something crash in the kitchen. Danielle cringed. “Someone didn’t catch a plate.”
When Heather returned to the dining room fifteen minutes later, she said, “I’m sorry. We had a minor problem with the control tower.” She looked at Walt and said, “You might want to work on that. Chris is cleaning it up.”
A few minutes later, everyone returned to the dining room, and Lily had placed Connor on the floor, who now played with Hunny and Sadie.
When Chris sat back in his chair, he said, “You know what I started thinking about in there? This whole thing with our new neighbor rather reminds me of my out-of-body experience.” He was referring to his head injury during a kidnapping, which left him temporarily in a coma.
“That crossed my mind too,” Lily said. Lily, like Chris, had experienced a similar out-of-body experience.
“Yes, that’s an instance where someone who is alive can present as a spirit to mediums. But they also have a comatose body somewhere. It sounds like our neighbor was fully conscious and appeared healthy when Brian and Walt were over there,” Danielle reminded them.
Snowflakes fell from the ceiling. The mediums looked up.
“Looks like Eva is on her way,” Heather mused. “I wonder if Marie is with her.”
The next moment, Marie materialized in the space between the buffet and dining room table while Eva floated down from the ceiling in a shower of snowflakes. When Eva’s shoes touched the floor, the snowflakes vanished.
“We’re back!” Marie announced.
“Did you have any success?” Danielle asked.
Marie let out a sigh. “Unfortunately, no.” The next moment, Marie reached down and picked up Connor, who had put his arms out to greet her. To the non-mediums, it looked like the small boy had taken flight. Meanwhile, Eva took a seat in an imaginary chair.
“Poor family, parents are utterly devastated. They’re having her body cremated. They said the coroner is releasing the body for cremation tomorrow,” Eva explained.
“We also stopped at the morgue just in case Betty had finally showed up. But she wasn’t there or in Astoria with her family. I have a feeling the girl has moved on,” Marie said.
“That’s the feeling I get, too,” Eva said.
“Are they having a funeral?” Danielle asked. “We all know spirits often show up at their funeral.”
“That’s typically when a spirit follows their body,” Eva said. “Although that’s not always the case.”
“They’re having a memorial service on Saturday,” Marie said. “In Astoria.”
“I guess it would be strange if one of us attended her memorial, especially since it’s in Astoria. It’s not like any of us really knew her,” Heather said.
“I hate these one-sided conversations,” Lily whispered to Ian. He nodded in agreement.
“Walt knew her a little,” Danielle said. “She helped him with research at the library.”
“I have no clue what you guys are talking about,” Brian interrupted. “But don’t you think you should tell Marie and Eva what happened tonight? Maybe they can figure out what’s going on.”
“What happened?” Marie asked.
Walt told Marie and Eva about the evening’s strange events. When he was done, Eva said, “That is most curious.”
“Do you have any idea what might be going on?” Heather asked.
“No. But it is most interesting, especially considering whatever you saw not only looked like your neighbor, but dressed the same,” Eva said.
“What does this mean?” Marie asked.
“It means one of us needs to stay with this new neighbor and catch the spirit when she shows up next door again,” Eva said. “I’ll happily volunteer for this mission. I’d like to find out what mischief is underfoot.”
“Why do you assume this mystery spirit would show up next door?” Danielle asked.
“If your neighbor is alive and there is a ghost that looks like her hanging around the neighborhood, and this ghost dresses like her, I would have to assume this ghost is spending some time with the neighbor. Otherwise, how else would she know what she wore each day?” Eva asked.
“Are you suggesting there is a ghost impersonating our neighbor?” Danielle asked.
“Damn, I wish I could hear what they’re saying,” Lily grumbled.
“Me too,” Brian and Ian said at the same time.
“We have a ghost, and we have a living neighbor. If the ghost looks like the neighbor, I assume that ghost is probably some deceased relative of the neighbor. One who bears a striking resemblance to her. The clothes tell me this spirit is hanging around the neighbor. If I decided one day to dress like Heather, I would need to first visit her and find out what she was wearing. How else would I know what outfit to imagine?” Eva explained.
“Why in the hell would you want to dress like Heather?” Chris snarked.
Heather glared at Chris. “Shut up.”
“Okay, you guys! Enough! What are you talking about?” Lily blurted.
Danielle repeated for the non-mediums what had been said. After the telling, both Marie and Eva went next door. They had a spirit to catch.