Chapter 11

When Wilson and I got back to his house, I fixed myself a cup of lavender tea. I needed something to settle my nerves. I sensed Detective Romero’s call on Zoey foreshadowed trouble, and asked Wilson to join me at the dining room table. If he had connected with Alicia Mae, perhaps she might know something about the night Lacey drowned, and if she did, I wanted to know.

“Tell me you’ve got some good news. That you did more than just observe our little ghost this time.”

Wilson looked pleased with himself, and with the chair’s back to the table, straddled the seat opposite me, cowboy style. “I should get Brownie points or whatever it is you give out for good behavior.”

“Good behavior?” I put my cup down. “Need I remind you, Wilson, your work here is a kind of quid pro quo.”

“Oh, that’s right. That is how this is supposed to work, isn’t it?” Wilson smiled and jiggled the back of his chair. “Well, then, you’ll be happy to know, not only did I talk with Alicia, but she invited me to a tea party.” Wilson paused and waited for my reply.

“A tea party? And how may I ask, is it you went from Alicia running away from you to inviting you for tea?”

“Simple. Girls love bling. I found a sparkly barrette on Zoey’s dresser, something that looked like Zoey might have worn as a child, and offered it to her.”

“And for that, she invited you to tea?”

“She did, and not just tea. Turns out there’s a playhouse in the backyard beneath the big weeping willow tree. In front of it is a child-sized picnic table. The playhouse is just behind the pool. Alicia said her father built it for her. It looks like a little gingerbread house with all the trimmings. But I suppose you haven’t seen it since you mere mortals wouldn’t be able to.” Wilson smiled, beaming with pleasure at his new found discovery.

“Indeed,” I said. Noting the pleased tone in Wilson’s voice, I added a little of my own. “However, now that you’ve mentioned it to this mere mortal woman of psychic powers, I’ll be sure to look for it.”

“You’re welcome. And, if it helps to know, it appears Alicia’s gone to live there, at least temporarily.”

“Did she say why?”

The idea that Alicia was living in the playhouse didn’t surprise me. If something had happened to frighten her—if she had seen Lacey drown—it made sense she would seek refuge in a safe place, and Zoey or anyone living in Zoey’s house would never know the playhouse was still there. In reality, the playhouse had been torn down years ago, but in the spirit world, where Alicia lived and Wilson hovered between, it still existed. In its own sphere, invisible to those currently inhabiting the Pink Mansion.

“I didn’t ask why she was living there. But I can tell you this, Heather was right, Alicia Mae has a lisp and the most becoming giggle. Not at all shrill or annoying like many little girls.”

“Dare I say, it sounds to me like our little ghost has wrapped you around her little finger, Wilson.”

“I wouldn’t go that far, but I am curious.” He got up from the table, walked to the window, and looked outside, “Is Alicia Mae stuck here like me? Is she a shade?”

I took another long sip of my tea before I answered. I didn’t know, but the thought had occurred to me.

“Possibly,” I said. “If she’s been here since she drowned, all those years ago, maybe. If she was a ghost, it’s more likely she would have come and gone, and if she had, she wouldn’t be alone. Ghosts like company, they seldom travel alone unless they’ve attached themselves to someone for a specific purpose. And then it’s usually temporary. The fact Heather remembers her as well makes me wonder if perhaps there’s a reason why Alicia hasn’t left.”

“If she’s a shade, why has it taken her so long to transition? You told me not to get too settled, that once the universe had made its mind up about me, I could go at any time. Certainly, the powers-that-be can’t have any doubts about a child. Why would she still be here? All alone like she is?”

I looked down at my teacup. The spirit world was as full of mystery as the mortal world. In many ways, they’re mirror images of each other. My only answer to Wilson’s question was that we each have a mission to fulfill. When we’ve accomplished what we’ve been sent here to do, we leave. “My sense is, she’s waiting for something or someone. Did she mention anything about the pool? Or Lacey? Or the accident?”

“We didn’t talk about the accident or Lacey for that matter. But she did say she is afraid of the water. She won’t go near the pool. She said her doll had fallen in once and she had gone after it. That her mother was very mad at her because of it. I got the feeling she felt as though she had been sent to her room and was waiting for her mother to come and tell her it was okay to come out again.”

“That’s a long time out,” I said.

“Yes, but from this side, time is different. Tomorrow can be yesterday and yesterday hasn’t even happened yet.”

“An interesting observation, and one I will have to take into consideration.” I thanked him for his work and told him I needed my meditation time. Time to think about what I had learned about Zoey and Alicia Mae. Why the two had found their way to me, and what it was I was meant to do.

I had never encountered a shade that had stuck around as long as Alicia Mae, but the fact she was still here, in the same house she had died in seventy-five years earlier, told me she had a very good reason not to leave. Perhaps Wilson was right. Maybe she was waiting for her mother to return. Or perhaps she had attached herself to Zoey like she had to Heather, because she identified with her. If so, why?