Excessica Anthology BOX SET Winter (103 page)

She
smiled when he jumped off the bed. “Zack’s set up in his basement, Shirley, his
wife, calls it Zack’s Lab,” she told him as they went inside the house.

“Hey,
Zack,” he said, once they’d gone down into the finished basement.

“Bobby,”
was all Zack said without taking his eyes off the equipment in front of him.

She
watched the sound waves, listening. “Play that section again.”

“She’s
running, but it sounds like she’s saying,
go to hell
,” he said while
hitting some keys and played it back again. “Go to hell,” he repeated.

He
let it play on until another spike showed. They ran it several times, slowed it
down and sped it up. Shaking her head, she told him, “One more time.”

It
was Bobby who finally made sense out of it. “Don’t! Stop it!” Then it was
followed almost immediately by, “You’re my wife.” She looked at Zack, then
behind him at Bobby. “Terrific job.”

“Intense,”
Zack commented.

“You
can say that. The bastard was raping her. Going to log and wash the bad taste
from my mouth.”

“Whisky
in the kitchen.”

“Pass,”
she said, shuddering at the thought of the rotgut touching her lips. “I will
snag a chair though.” She grabbed a folding chair from a stack against the wall
and Bobby took it from her. “Thanks.”

In
the trailer, Carla scooted boxes and he set the chair up. She motioned for him
to sit then went to heat up the coffee he brought. Her mind was in turmoil and
the menial tasks helped her pull her thoughts, and her emotions together. Until
he touched her and she dissolved.

She
turned into him. “I thought I knew, but I didn’t know. You know, domestic
issues, couples fight, couples make up, but that kind of violence never entered
my mind. It should have. It really should have. Almost everyone who died in
that house, died as a result of violent act.” He held her tight, soothing with
a hand moving over back. It was nice, needed and she closed her eyes on the
flowing tears.

“I
read ghosts can be more aggressive after death, because they couldn’t when they
were alive,” he said, resting his cheek on her head.

He
was right, but she knew with her whole heart, it wasn’t so with Betsy and
Roger. She pulled away from, grabbed a napkin and wiped her face, blew her nose
and told him, “I’m sorry, these things don’t usually get to me like this.”

“It’s
all right, understandable,” he said, reaching out to her. “I can’t imagine it’s
always easy to deal with what you see when you know details of their lives, how
they died.”

She
leaned into the hand caressing her cheek. His head lowered and she knew he was
going to kiss her. She should stop him, but she wanted to feel them again.

Soft,
gentle lips brushed hers. She cupped the back of his head and brought him closer,
hunger surfacing as she moved over his mouth devouring, absorbing, tasting her
more experienced love. Swallowing his moan when she delved between his lips,
his hand cupped her ass and drew her closer. His erection pressed into her. She
wanted him in ways she’d been denied so long ago. Ways another woman had
already shared. The thought of him in bed, making love to a woman that wasn’t
her stopped her cold.

Carla
turned away, her hand shaking as she took the cup from the microwave and handed
it to him. “It’d be so easy to succumb to what I’m feeling right now, but I
can’t. You can’t waltz back into my life and try to pick up where we left off,
like things haven’t happened, like you didn’t hurt me and go off to marry
someone you claim was a mistake. Besides, I’m working and you’ll be
leaving…where do you live?” she rambled.

“Home,
home on the range,” she heard come from the headset lying on the workstation.

“Do
you love me?”

She
stared at him.

“Where
the ghosts roam, roam, roam,” Zack came again.

“Like
I said, I’m working. Why don’t you get some rest? I need to see what’s up and
write up some notes.” She went to the workstation and sat down, conscious of
his movements behind her while she put on the headset.

“I
want to live where you are,” Bobby whispered near her ear.

“I’m
here, Zack. I see them,” she said, gazing at the screens. “While this is
amazing to see, I want to know why there is so much more activity going on than
past Halloweens. Is it because we’re outside watching?”

“You
know how they like to be center of attention. They don’t have yours, not like
other times.”

“Yeah,
I know.”

When
the apparitions dissipated, she logged it and went back to the couple on the
stairs to expand the notes, including what they’d heard, rather what Bobby
heard, and her summation.

Lost
in thought, lost in the quiet of the house, she jumped when Bobby called her
name. “Yeah. What?” she asked.

“Do
you ever randomly hook up and see what’s going on?”

“I
have, yes. Why?”

“You’ve
done all the holidays, the typical family gathering occasions, so I wondered if
you’ve recorded anything on a typical, unimportant day.”

She
glanced over her shoulder. He was reading her reports. Turning in the chair,
she rested her arm on the back of it. “You didn’t start at the beginning?”

He
smiled and her heart skipped a beat. “I skipped through to the reports for this
year.”

“I’ve
done random, spur of the moment visits, anniversaries of their deaths,
holidays, special occasions; anything and everything dating back to high
school.”

“At
the risk of offending, or sounding ignorant. Doesn’t the city or the police
hassle you for trespassing?”

“I
used to come in from the alley. And one day, I ran into Zack doing the same. We
hooked up and once we actually attempted to buy the house. The owners refuse to
sell, but they did have a legal document drawn up giving us permission to hunt
all we want. They figure it’s to their benefit to have us coming and going. We
keep vagrants from taking up residence.”

“Ok.”

It
may have been years since she’s seen him, but he still got that wrinkle between
his eyebrows when he was thinking. “Going to share?”

“What?”

She
pointed to the area between her brows. “Some things don’t change.”

He
shook his head, lifted his hips and pulled his wallet out, opened it and took a
card from it and handed it to her. “Maybe a foundation will have some pull.”

She
took the card, looked at it, but didn’t get past the company name. “You work
for the Terrance Hall Foundation? You’re the reason we receive funding?” Anger
rose in her. “You’re here on their behalf to make sure we’re using the funds
appropriately!” She stood and pulled ledger books from the overhead cabinet and
threw them at him. “There. Every penny’s accounted for and receipts.” She
tossed the headset on the station and stormed out.

Chapter 7

“Did
you get that! Did you hear the ass was only playing me!” Carla complained,
stomping down the basement steps.

“I
heard you storm out without letting him have his say.”

“Don’t
side with him!”

He
faced her. “Not, but I’ve never known you to run from anything.”

“I
didn’t run. I…ok, I’ll go back and let him try to talk his way out of it.”

Carla
returned to the trailer and sat down. “Explain yourself.”

“Have
you had any further experiences?”

“Huh?”
she said, confused. “Don’t change the subject.”

“You
changed it.”

“Robert
Michael Whitten, I’m going to toss your ass out the door if you don’t explain
right now.”

“Damn,
you’re right. Some things don’t change.” He set the books aside and got up.
“Look. I started the foundation in 2002 with you in mind, but it helps many
causes, many organizations.”

“2002,
but we never received—”

“It
took some time for the board to come around. They’re more into helping
traditional causes. In your defense though, the articles you’ve written went a
long way to sway them. They were impressed with your honesty rather than the
bloated articles of other ghost hunters. Believe me, they researched,
investigated you and Zack.”

“Investigated
us; how without coming here and talking to us.”

“There
are many ways. They also learned that you’d contacted other organizations for
funding and to try to validate the Duncan house as a legitimate haunted house
and were shot down.”

“And
our past went along way in persuading them as well.”

“Maybe
some.”

“I
wish you had told me.”

“I
couldn’t, not until now.”

“Trina?”

“She
didn’t know of the foundation. I didn’t want her to make it part of the
divorce.”

“Wow!
I’m going to need to absorb this.”

“No
problem. So, to get back to the question. Have you had further experiences such
as spooked me off?”

She
nodded and gestured toward the binder. “There are documented cases throughout.”
She left it at that, and turned to the monitors, reaching for the headset.

Bobby
kissed the top of her head. “I want to be in for the long haul, but not because
of the foundation.”

“We
need to save this discussion. I need to process and make a rational decision.”

He
took the headset from her and set it down. Whether she moved of her own free
will or he pulled her up, she didn’t know. It only mattered that he kissed her
like they were back under the bleachers. She trembled and found herself pulled
tightly against him as their tongues mingled.

Her
mind said stop, her body said more. She wound her arms around his neck,
feathering her fingers through his dark waves. The heady scent of him filled
her senses. He still wore the same musky cologne, but she learned that earlier
last evening. He moaned. Or was it her?

“Oh,
yeah,” he mumbled against her mouth.

She
closed the short distance, wanting to continue taste-testing. His hands slipped
up under her sweater and caressed the small of her back.

“I
can’t wait until midnight. I’m going to ravage your body.”

“I
might let you,” she said between kisses.

“Mommy,
come on. We're going to be late.”

Chapter
8

Carla
jerked back from Bobby and searched the monitors. “Did you hear that? It was
plain as day.”

“I
heard noise,” he said.

“Same
on this end” she heard Zack say through the headset she picked up and back in
place on her head.

She
watched the familiar shadows, knowing all too well what was going to happen.
This was one set of victims she’d seen a few times before, but never early
morning.

 “What’s
wrong?” Bobby asked.

“I’m
puzzled. There’s been so much activity already, more than usual, but this
situation is usually an evening appearance when we’ve been on to witness it.
It’s a mother and daughter who were slaughtered on Halloween back in ’62. The
police records say they were getting ready to go trick or treating when a man
broke the front door in and took a hatchet to them.”

“The
house is full of horror stories. Could be the owners don’t wish to put anyone
else in harm’s way and that’s why they refuse to sell.” Bobby turned his chair
around and sat, folding his arms on the back while watching.

“Maybe.
Zack, any hunches as to why we’re seeing so much activity? It gives me a
strange feel of what’s to come.”

“I
told you, it’s the two of you together that is stirring them up,” Zack told
her.

“You’re
being redundant.”

“Stop
sucking face and things will quiet.”

“Ha,
ha.”

“What?”
Bobby asked.

“Zack
says they’re jealous and trying to get my attention, so we need to stop sucking
face.” His eyes narrowed, and she found it amusing to watch him look around the
place. “He can’t see us.” She tapped the headset. “Hearing.”

“Oh,”
he said before a grin crept across his face.

“Zack,
while the troops feel they need to gather, I’m going in to do some fishing.”

“Not
a good idea for you to go alone.”

“I’ll
be fine. They love me, you said so yourself.”

“Right
now, it may not be unanimous if you get my drift.”

“Yeah,
I get it.” It would definitely be worth it if her infatuated ghost was jealous
enough to take things to a new level.

“I
think it’d be interesting to take Bobby in the house with you and see what
happens.”

She
laughed. “You’re ornery.”

“Well,
go have fun. I’ve got your back.”

“Appreciated.
Switching to wireless.” She set the headset down and turned it off. “Remember
what I said. Don’t interfere,” she reminded Bobby while putting on a wireless
headset and attached the battery pack to the back of her jeans.

“What’re
you doing?”

“My
job. You can watch and listen, but you won’t be able to talk to me. Nor will I
be able to hear you.” Flipping on the speaker nestled between the monitors near
a receiver, she informed him, “Only Zack will be able to talk to me.” Carla
pulled a jacket on, grabbed her kit, put the file of photos in it and turned at
the door. “I’ll be back,” she said in the gruffest tone she could manage. He
didn’t smile. She walked up to him and kissed him. “Relax.”

Carla
left and crossed the street to enter the property. Her heart pounded against
her chest cavity. She latched the gate behind her, took out her handheld
thermal meter along with the K2 meter, turned them on and went up the walk to
the porch steps and up to the front door. She shivered when she entered a cold
spot. “I’ve entered coldness, fifty-one degrees.”

“Daybreak
temps been steady at fifty-seven.”

“No
visuals, but you,” Bobby added.

She
pulled the keys from her pocket. “Going in.” Unlocking the door, she stepped
over the threshold and let her eyes adjust to the inner darkness. “I should
have worn a winter coat. It’s freezing in here.” Standing still, she let the
temperature register. “Forty-nine in the living room, quite a drop.”