Cooper turned off the GPS to silence the voice that kept announcing our imminent arrival at our destination. The truck lurched and lunged over encroaching tree roots. Low-lying limbs scraped the cab roof. My gaze darted all over the place even though I wanted to look straight ahead. Luckily, my nervous glances at the woods on either side of the truck didn't show me anything scary.
When Cooper reached a clearing, he braked the truck facing the house that seemed to rise up from the shadows. It appeared solid enough in that bad light, but I guessed that the wooden slats that covered the outside were completely bare of paint.
One glance his way told me he really, really wanted to explore. And though it was pouring out, I had no intentions of denying him that.
"Are you in?" he asked.
"You bet!" I slipped on my yellow rain jacket; he put on his sky blue one. Cooper dug around under the driver's seat and pulled out a flashlight that he had to slap against his hand to get going. The sudden beam startled us both.
Laughing, he got out of the truck. "Hand me dad's tub."
I dug it from the rear seat and did. He immediately nudged his door shut and started around the front of the vehicle to get to my side. I saw that he'd left the headlights on and was very glad of it.
"Please protect us, Nick." I opened the door got out, too, wondering if my spirit guide ever left my house. I honestly didn't know since I'd never sensed him anywhere else. But it was certainly worth a try.
A bolt of lightning forked across the sky. Thunder crashed, loud enough to make me squeal as we waded through ankle-high grass and mud to get to the front porch. If Cooper had any doubts about the place, I sure couldn't tell. Every time he glanced at me, I pasted a smile on my face that belied the thudding of my heart.
At the door, Cooper handed me the tub he held and fumbled with the lock before he got the key into it. One twist later, that weathered wooden barrier swung inward with a creak right out of a horror movie. I shuddered and refused when he took the tub and motioned with his head for me to go inside first.
With a laugh, he took the lead. I made myself follow, deliberately keeping the door open in case we needed a quick exit. That let the headlights illuminate the place a little. As we dripped rain onto sagging wood floors, Cooper swept the beam of the flashlight around what appeared to be a living room. Rain pounded the tin roof, a sound I should've liked, but all I heard was the scurry of little feet. Rats? Ew.
I gulped.
Cooper suddenly turned. "Can you believe this is mine?" Setting down the box, he whooped and caught me in a hug that pinned my arms to my sides. Cooper whirled us around. Clearly the boy saw things way differently than I currently did, and rightly so.
When he set me on my feet, I tried on his point of view for size, figuring I owed him that. "So it's safe to say you like it here?"
"Baby, you have no idea." He walked through a door with me just steps behind, taking us into the kitchen. All the cabinet doors stood open. I saw a white stove and sink and an empty area where the refrigerator should've been. A dampish smell permeated the stale air.
Cooper next headed down the hall to the bedrooms. There were three, all empty except one, which actually had a mattress on the floor. I eyed the thing with disgust. Who knew where it had been, right? Trash was strewn all around it, and I couldn't help but think that some homeless person might've crashed there at some point.
I nudged Cooper to get him moving again. He came to with a start, making me wonder if his sidekick was telling him more that I was getting. If so, we were probably dealing with the living and that made a transient scenario even more likely. The adjoining bathroom had a tub with claw feet that I definitely liked. I noticed that my mood got better as we left the area. A peek out revealed the rain falling harder, if anything, something the noisy tin roof confirmed.
Cooper pointed to the tub. "Let's check this out before we leave."
"Good idea." I walked just behind him to the living room, where I glanced out the windows. "Will your truck battery run down?"
"We won't be here that long."
We sat in the light spilling through the front door. Cooper placed the tub between us, lifting the lid to delve inside while I held the flashlight so he could see what he was doing. I let him run the show, watching as he pulled out baseball cards, paperback books, and music cassette tapes. I took them from him so he could dig deeper. He next withdrew a couple of football trophies and three yearbooks. I took those, too.
Photos followed, most of them in envelopes with a Photo Spot logo on the front. Cooper began to flip through them. Not wanting to intrude, I leaned slightly closer and saw snapshots of a younger Natalie with Brett. Prom poses, picnics, high school events. They looked happy and so in love.
I made myself check out Cooper's expression, expecting the worst, and saw that his eyes were definitely brimming. Without thought, I put an arm around him and touched my lips to his cheek.
He began putting everything back in the box though I didn't think he'd gotten to the bottom. Once he snapped the lid down, he said, "Let's check out the barn."
I nodded agreement.
Though the rain continued, it had slacked up a little. A lightning hit way too close for comfort lit up the yard as we stepped off the porch. I covered my ears when the thunder cracked seconds after. Motioning for me to follow, Cooper struck out for the barn, about thirty yards away, shining the flashlight all around. I hoped we wouldn't die by electrocution before we got there.
More lightning, the continuous flash-bulb type, revealed aged wood that had been bleached by the sun. A shift of the flashlight beam revealed red frames around the window, which made me think the barn had once been that color, too. A brave crow perched on the eave cawed at us, bringing to mind Edgar Allen Poe's classic poem about another black bird, the raven.
Nevermore? Yeah, that pretty much described how often I wanted to visit this creepy place, at least in the dark. For Cooper's sake, I hoped it would look a lot better in sunlight. The barn emitted an unearthly spookiness that killed the smidgen of good mood I'd been clinging to. Cooper glanced over his shoulder at me. I noticed his smile had slipped a notch. Was he getting bad vibes, too?
My heart rate, which had almost slowed to normal, picked up again as he lifted the handle of the double barn doors and swung one open. We both recoiled, Cooper so fast that his foot landed on my toe.
I yelped. He cursed. We shared a shaky laugh that should've lightened the moment, but didn't.
He ruffled his short wet hair. "Maybe we should come back when the sun's out."
"Yeah. Maybe we should."
Just as he turned to leave, I saw her--a gray mist barely visible in the lashing rain and dark. I gasped. Cooper looked where I looked. Knowing I couldn't avoid reporting this to Detective Simms, I memorized features that were a hazy blur one moment and, the next, almost as clear as she looked in life. Was this the woman I'd run through with my car? She looked new enough...well...every now and then, anyway.
Though I couldn't make out skin tone, I believed that the apparition's straight dark hair and eyes confirmed her ethnicity as Asian. Since I could make out her clothing, I was able to see blood on it. Lots of blood. And her arms had bruises, especially in the wrist area. Had she been bound? A chill ran down my spine.
Without saying a word to Cooper, I walked all the way to the back porch and dug my cell phone out of my pocket. I went through my contacts and found the newest entry: Detective Simms's number. By then, Cooper stood beside me. I touched the iPhone screen and listened to the ring. Once. Twice.
"Detective Simms."
"Hey. It's Mia Tagliaro. I've seen another spirit. I think she's connected to your case, and if she is, maybe she'll talk to us. Can you come out here?"
"Where's here?"
My mind went blank. I handed Cooper the phone. "He wants the address."
Cooper rattled it off and waited. "Okay. We'll wait." He ended the call and handed me my cell. "Want to sit in the truck until he get here?"
"Uh-huh." It would definitely be warmer there.
We cut through the house to get to it, gathering up the tub as we did. By then, our soaked clothes couldn't get any wetter, so when Cooper finally started the engine and flipped on the heater, that first chilly blast of air was torture. But the heat kicked in as the motor warmed, and by the time Detective Simms joined us in an unmarked car about thirty minutes later, I felt a lot better.
He'd dressed for the weather in a black rain poncho. I saw he wore jeans and rubber boots and considered him pretty dang smart to be ready for anything, even mud.
We piled out of the truck. I pointed toward the barn, visible from the front of the house because it lay to the right of it. The three of us walked to the double doors, which Cooper had left open.
I blinked against the rain running in rivulets down my face. "Saw her right there."
Detective Simms shifted his gaze to Cooper. "Did you see her, too?"
Cooper nodded.
Detective Simms frowned. "So is she dead or alive?"
Realizing I'd never fully explained Cooper's life-or-death abilities, I did it then, adding that his psychic gifts had been suppressed for a while, but were gaining strength. With a nod, Detective Simms turned on the flashlight he held and went into the barn. I didn't want to follow, but I did. My gut knotted with the certainty that something evil had gone down inside that old building. I truly expected to see spirits everywhere, all of them Asian, female, and murdered.
But I saw nothing except a beam of light skimming over a couple of stalls, rotting hay, and a riding mower. Glancing back, I gauged Cooper's reaction to the barn. He just shook his head.
"Getting anything?" asked Detective Simms, looking over his shoulder at us.
"No."
He directed the beam toward the loft and then into the corners. We saw nothing out of the ordinary, at least as far as we knew. We were all new to that barn and had no past impressions for comparison.
"I swear I saw her," I said, feeling foolish.
"Oh, I believe you." He walked back to Cooper and me. "What were you two doing here?"
Something in his tone made me wonder if he thought we'd been up to no good. Cooper explained that he was the new owner and even showed him the keys.
Detective Simms nodded, his expression unreadable. Or was that a hint of wry smile? "That's great, son. What are you going to do with it?"
The enthusiasm of his words didn't quite match his demeanor. I guessed because he was wondering what a kid would do with that much real estate.
"Not much for now," Cooper said, "though I'm thinking I'll live here someday. Obviously I'll have to have money to renovate."
Detective Simms nodded. "With your permission, I'll come out tomorrow if the weather is better and have a good look around."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever you need to do."
The detective focused his attention on me. "Was this the same spirit you saw before?"
"It's hard to say. Maybe if you let me get a better look at any photos you have, I could tell you more."
He nodded, but didn't offer to set up a time to do that. "Well, I don't think we're going to do much good here tonight." Detective Simms exited the barn. Naturally we did, too. "I appreciate your calling me. With luck, we'll find a lead here. God knows, we need one. You two be careful on those wet roads."
We nodded. He got into his car and left us.
"Let's go." Cooper took my hand. We trudged back to the truck yet again, both of us now damp from the inside out with moods as soggy as our feet. He didn't speak again until we were a couple of miles down the road. "Involving the detective should get those spirits off your back. And if that doesn't work, isn't there some kind of cleansing you can do?"
"Sage."
"Oh yeah. We should probably wait until the police are done here to do it, though. Meanwhile, just getting the law involved will probably stop the spirits from following you around now."
Following me around? Not exactly. Sometimes they darted in front of me.
"There's something I should tell you," I said. "That spirit that I ran through Saturday night? She came out of your woods."
His shocked expression made me wish I'd confessed sooner.
"And there's something else...that might've been her we just saw in the barn."
His jaw dropped. "Why the hell didn't you say something?"
"Didn't want to spoil things for you."
"Well you should've told Detective Simms, at least."
"Maybe." I touched his arm, hoping to distract him from all that negativity. "You're right to be so excited about the house. It's awesome. Fixing it up will be so much fun. Of course, you're going to need a better paying job than the one you've got, but there's time. And there's a lot you can do yourself." I talked to distract him from the ghosts.
It seemed to work. "I didn't check the ceiling for leaks, but I didn't see any water damage. I was thinking I might pitch a tent in the living room. That would get me out of Marty's hair."
"No!" I blinked. Where had that come from? I took a deep breath to cool the mysterious panic I felt growing inside me. "I mean, there's no electricity or running water. How will you shower, drink, poop?"
"There is that."
"But a weekend campout might be fun."
"Yeah." He seemed to like that idea.
* * * *
Since my parents were in bed when I finally got home, I didn't get to fill them in. Monday morning was no better. At the Tagliaro house, we had breakfast in shifts except on Sunday. So both Mom and Dad had already left the house by the time I got downstairs.
I picked up Tyler, as usual, missing Brynn during the drive to school. She had such a sunny disposition, quite a contrast to Tyler's, especially on Mondays, his least favorite day on the calendar. When we were almost there, his cell rang. He glanced at it and actually perked up, which piqued my curiosity.
"Hey." Pause. "Almost there. Where will you be?" Pause. "Okay. See you in a few." He ended the call with a half smile on his face.
"Was that a girl?" I asked.
"Maybe."
"You mean you don't know?"
"I mean I ain't telling you."
"Oh my God! You've got a girlfriend!"
"Shut up."
That made me burst out laughing, which felt so good. Since I'd been wallowing in the paranormal all weekend, normalcy was definitely a relief. "What's her name?"
"Shut up."
"What does she look like?"
"Shut up."
"What grade is she in?"
"Shut up."
"Where'd you meet her?"
"I said--"
"'Shut up.' Yeah, I know." I stole a peek at my rider and caught him grinning, which gave me the go ahead to keep teasing him. "So Tye-Tye's got himself a girl. Well, it's about dang time."
"Shut. Up."
The moment I pulled into the parking lot, Tyler bolted from the car. But I was just as quick, so I saw him jog over to a girl with a messy blond ponytail. Tall, lithe, with legs that went on forever, she greeted Tyler with a smile. He put his arm around her shoulders and quickly steered her toward the school.
Happy beyond belief for him, I watched until they went inside. And when Cooper walked up a few seconds later, I was still smiling.
"Hello, beautiful." He gave me a quick kiss.
"Mmm."
He sneaked in another. "You're in a good mood."
"You say that as if I'm usually not."
"Sorry. It's just after the weekend, I wasn't sure you would be."
Getting that, I nodded. "Since I truly believe that Detective Simms is now headed in the right direction and I will never, ever see another spirit that's lost in space, I'm feeling pretty dang happy."
"Good."
We parted ways shortly after since we had no classes together, but I saw him at lunch and then after school, when I mentioned a last lingering worry. "Have you told your mom about the land?" We stood by my car in the parking lot.
"No."
"But you will. I mean, how can you not?"
He didn't answer.
I straightened the collar on his maroon polo shirt. "You should probably do it face to face since letting Ruby into your life is a pretty big deal."
"I don't know, Mia."
"Just think about it, okay? I'll go with you."
Though he didn't commit, I hoped I'd planted a seed of possibility that would grow into the right thing to do. But he never mentioned his mom or stepdad over the next two days, and I didn't either, even though I wanted to.
Wednesday afternoon, I met with some of Mom's friends who all wanted readings. I'd done this a couple of times before but not recently, fun experiences I'd thoroughly enjoyed. When I got to Tagliaro's, I found them waiting in one of the private dining areas--five women, all of them as sassy as my Italian mom. As we had before, they sat at a table while I stood at the end of it. I sipped a cold drink Mom had given me before I opened myself up to any spirits needing to make contact.
Immediately a big presence, male, clamored for attention. "Whoa! This guy is new and loud. Very loud."
"Must be my Uncle Colin," said Leta, Mom's friend from way back. "He passed a month ago."
"Did he smoke a cigar?" I asked.
"Yep. Stunk to high heaven."
"Then this is him." While they laughed, I waited for more. "He says to tell his sister that she should quit visiting dating sites online."
"Mom's trolling again? Just wait till I get home!"
There was more laughter as I moved on to the next spirit frantically waving at me. I shared information from the dead for over an hour, an experience that left me feeling exuberant instead of drained. It felt amazing to be enjoying my gifts, and I was surer than ever that I'd finished with the homicides.
One last spirit changed my mind. The deceased cousin of one of Mom's friends, she gave me a couple of messages to pass along and then stepped aside, mentally speaking, and let another spirit move in. Asian, long dark hair, bruises. Yeah, the ghost I been so sure I'd never see again, piggybacking her way into my head.
"Mia?"
I startled. "Yes?"
"Everything okay?"
"Absolutely." I smiled really big and focused on the woman now watching me rather warily. Clearly, she thought I'd seen something awful, which I had, but it didn't have anything to do with her. So I improvised. "Your cousin loves that necklace you're wearing."
Visibly relaxing, the woman laughed. "She would. She gave it to me."
* * * *
The week rocked on. Not wanting to worry Cooper, I didn't tell him that I'd seen another disturbing apparition, this one out of nowhere.
On Friday the school held a pep rally for Martinsburg's last game, another out-of-towner. I cheered with everyone else as the coach handed out jackets to the guys who'd lettered, a tradition that was so Grease I couldn't believe it.
But some traditions clearly stood the test of time, as proved when Brynn and I followed the crowd to the parking lot to see off the team. While the rest of the players piled onto the bus, Cooper managed to find me long enough to hand over the jacket.
"I'll keep it safe for you," I said.
"I want to you keep it, period." Ignoring my sputtered protests, he gifted me a swift kiss and ran to the bus. Moments later it pulled out and students began dispersing. Brynn stayed by my side, however.
"That was so sweet." She actually had tears in her eyes.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," I said, putting on the jacket. Was it too big? Of course. Did I mind? Not a bit. I could've been Sandy, head over heels for Danny Zuko. And what a feeling!
Though Bryn and I had discussed going to the game, we didn't. A hundred miles was a lot for two teenage girls to travel late at night, especially when it might be raining and a ghost could run in front of the car. But I stayed awake until Cooper checked in around midnight. And since we talked too long, I didn't go to sleep until the wee hours of the morning.