The First Church (14 page)

Dan smiled his thanks, took the device and saw a video had been set ready to play.  He glanced at
Reverend Joseph and the man nodded.

With a shrug, Dan started the recording.

When it had finished Dan’s heart thumped loudly against his chest.  Silently, he played it again.

And again.

And again.

Finally, he pressed ‘stop’ and put the phone down on his lap.

“Is this real?” he asked after a minute.  He knew it was.  Felt the horrific truth of it deep in his gut.  But still, he needed to ask.

“Yes,” the Reverend answered.

Dan didn’t want it to be true.  He wanted it to be a terrible joke.  Some sick prank.

There were two boys, blinded by something, and in the hospital. And Officer Raelynn was dead.

The situation was a serious one, and Dan needed to think out of the box.

The kids had said it was a ghost who had blinded them
, Dan remembered.

And why would the teenagers lie about it? There would have been every reason in the world to tell the truth. Who’s going to lie about being blinded by a ghost?

There was also no reason for grown men to tell the same lie, if indeed it was a lie.

Dan sighed, shook his head and looked up at Luke and asked, “What’s the favor?”

“We believe we may know how to stop anything else bad from happening,” Luke said carefully.

“What do you need from me?” Dan asked.

“Years ago,” Luke said, “back in nineteen sixty-one, I think, Mr. Jonathan Boyd stopped an attempted burglary.  The name of the burglar was never released.  He was under eighteen.”

“What does it have to do with this?” Dan said, gesturing towards the phone.

“The ghost you see in the film,” Luke continued, “belongs to a skull that
Mr. Boyd had in his possession.  There were six skulls
altogether
.  Yesterday, a second ghost appeared, which means a second skull was placed somewhere in the Church.  Not only do we need to find the skulls in the Church, detective, but we need to find the
skulls which haven’t been brought in yet, as well.”

“And you think the original burglar might have something to do with this?” Dan asked, not quite following Luke’s line of reasoning.

“When Mr. Boyd died in January of nineteen sixty-eight, all of his memorabilia disappeared,” Luke said.  “I know because I asked around after I got home from Vietnam.  The young man who was arrested was found, according to the newspaper, to have other stolen items.”

“And you think
he may have gone for Mr. Boyd’s items after the man’s death in nineteen sixty-eight,” Dan said, nodding his head.  “Yes.  I can see how it can work.  So, what happens after we find these skulls?  Do we destroy them?”

“Not according to Mr. Boyd,” the Rever
end said, speaking up for the first time.  “You see, we managed to speak with him in the morning, and he says the men like to drink their saké.  And to be left alone, essentially.”

Dan frowned, tapped on the phone with one finger and then he nodded.  “Hold on, hold,
Reverend. You’re telling me you actually spoke with a ghost? Now listen, I’m having a hard enough time wrapping my head around the whole concept of ghosts. But are you saying you not only had a conversation with one, but the damned things drink, too?

“Yes,” the Reverend said hesitantly. “It’s difficult for me as well. But I can only tell you what I have been told, Detective.”

“Alright,” Dan said with a sigh, shaking his head “Alright.
I guess it can’t get any crazier, can it?  I’ll try and dig around.  See if anything comes up.  I’m not going to put this phone into evidence because, quite frankly, no one will believe what’s on it.  I’m still not sure I fully believe it myself, but I don’t know if there’s any other explanation for what was seen.  What I do know, though,
Rever
end Malleus, is you need to keep everyone out of the Church.  Do you understand?”

“Yes,” the Rever
end said.  “We were already planning on doing so.  We don’t want anyone else hurt.”

“No,” Dan said, looking down at the phone on his leg.  “No, we don’t want anyone else hurt at all.”

Chapter 33: Jim Makes a Friend

Jim sat on the porch on the side of the house and watched Lisa get home from shopping.  She caught sight of him on the porch and waved.  He blushed and waved back as she smiled, grabbed a couple of grocery bags out of the trunk of her mom’s minivan and helped to bring them in.

“She is a very pretty young woman.”

Jim nearly jumped out of his seat and stared, surprised at a man who stood on the porch. Yet the man didn’t look right, almost as if he was fuzzy around the edges.

Jim wondered if it was a trick of the light.

The man gave him a quick, awkward smile.  “I am sorry.  I certainly did not mean to frighten you.”

Jim cleared his throat.  “It’s okay.  Can I help you?”

The man shook his head.  He was curious looking, almost a little flat, as though he was on the porch, but he wasn’t on the porch.

The stranger flashed Jim a tight smile.

“Please forgive my awkwardness,” the man said.

“Sure,” Jim said, grinning.  “No worries.”

“I do not have any worries,” he said, frowning.  “Or are you saying you have no worries?”

Jim opened his mouth to answer, but the man continued to speak.

“Is it just a phrase?” the man asked.

“Yes,” Jim nodded.  “Just a saying.”

The stranger nodded.  “Excellent.”

“May I help you?” Jim asked.

“Yes, please,” the man said.  “You, your grandfather, and Brian Roy, you are all going to attempt to restrain and detain half a dozen ghosts?”

“How do you know?” Jim said, confused.

“I know,” the stranger said.  “I must speak with Brian
Roy, but I am not sure he will speak with me.”

“Why?” Jim asked.

“I gave him a gift,” the man said.  “I do not speak the exact truth.  I forced a gift upon him.  Yes, it was forced.  Therefore, it is not unreasonable to believe Brian Roy may not wish to speak with me.  I have come, then, to see if you will ask him to speak with me.”

“Um, sure,” Jim said, feeling confused.  “I don’t know who you are, though.”

“Oh yes,” the man said, his eyes widening.  “A name would help.  I am sorry.  I had forgotten.  My name is Leonidas.  But you can call me Leo.”

Chapter 34: Interrupted

Brian was almost asleep when there was a knock at his door.

He sat up and listened.

Wrong room? h
e thought sleepily, stifling a yawn.

“Hello?  Brian?”

Damn it
, he sighed.  He got out of bed, pulled on his jeans and a tee shirt and walked to the door.  He looked through the peephole and saw Jim Bogue.

Brian unlocked the door and opened it.  “Hey Jim, everything okay?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Jim said, shuffling his feet and looking embarrassed.  “Someone asked me to speak to
you because he’s afraid you won’t want to speak to him.”

Brian frowned, confused.  “Come on in.  Take a seat, kid.”

He stepped aside and let the teenager walk past him.  Brian closed the door but left it unlocked.  Jim went to the room’s desk, pulled its chair out and sat down.

Brian went to the easy chair, grabbed a bottle of water off the small table and had a drink.  “
Sorry, I don’t have anything to offer you.”

“No worries,” Jim said, smiling.  “You know, I’ve never been in a hotel room before.”

“What do you think?” Brian asked, chuckling.

“Just makes me think of Law and Order,” Jim said, “like someone’s hiding from the police.”

“Well, thankfully, I’m not,” Brian said.  “Anyway, how’d you know where I was?”

“I figured you’d be here,” Jim said.  “Closest hotel.  And I called my cousin,
Freddy, he
works in the lobby downstairs.  He told me you were here and what room you were in.”

Brian laughed and shook his head.  “Fair enough.  So, let me get this straight, someone came to you and asked if you could come speak to me?”

“Yeah,” Jim nodded.  “I was sitting on my porch, Grandpa and the Rev were upstairs with the Detective, and all of a sudden there was this guy
there beside
me.  I never even heard him come up the stairs or anything.  And our porch, it’s
really
, really squeaky.  He was kind of
odd, though.”

“How so?” Brian asked.

“Just, I don’t know, awkward?  Like he wasn’t sure if he should say certain things.  And he talked kind of funny.”

“Did he have an accent?” Brian said.

“No, nothing like that.  I mean,” Jim paused, frowned and then he said, “It’s like, instead of using a contraction, he uses both words.  Instead of ‘don’t’, he said ‘do not.’”

Brian frowned.  “Why is he afraid to talk to me?”

“He said he gave you a gift, but he isn’t sure if you liked it,” Jim said, shaking his head.  “Like I said, he was a little strange.”

“Did he tell you his name?” Brian asked, taking a drink of water.

Jim nodded.  “He said his name was Leo.”

Brian put the bottle on the table and looked at the young teenager.  “I’m sorry, Jim, could you say his name again, please?”

“Leo,” Jim said.  “Well, Leonidas, but he told me I could call him Leo if I wanted.”

“And he talked a little differently?” Brian asked softly.

“Yup,” Jim said, nodding.

“And he wants to speak with me?” Brian said.

“He told me he did,” Jim answered.  He looked at Brian.  “Are you okay?  You look kind of sick.”

“No, no.  I’m okay.  Did he say how he would get back in touch with you?  Once you got my answer?”

Jim nodded.  “He said he would stop by my house again.”

“Alright,” Brian said.  He cleared his throat, had another drink and smiled tiredly at Jim.  “When he visits, please tell him he can see me whenever he wants.  I would be very happy to talk with him.”

“Okay,” Jim said, standing up.  “It was really strange, you know.”

“What was?” Brian asked.

“Talking with Leo.  He knew all about the ghosts.  How do you figure he knew?” Jim asked.

“Well,” Brian said, shaking his head.  “Leo just knows, kid.  He just knows.”

Jim shrugged.  “Okay.  I’ll see you tomorrow then, Brian.”

“See you tomorrow, kid.”

Brian watched Jim leave and then, as the door clicked shut, he poured himself an extremely large shot of whiskey.  After he had
knocked it back,
he set the glass on the table and got up.  He went to the bed, picked up his phone and sent a quick text to Jenny.

Leo just got in touch through a kid up here.

As he waited for her response, Brian walked to the door, locked it, and wondered what it was Leo wanted to talk to him about.

I guess I’ll know soon enough,
Brian thought.  He stripped off his clothes and laid back down in bed with the phone beside him
.

Chapter 35: Life Gets Difficult

For thirty-six years, the Board of Trustees for the First Congregationalist Church of Rye, New Hampshire had put forth a sincere effort to buy the property adjacent to the Church.  The First Church’s Trust owned the land between the Church and Mrs. Colleen Staples. 
She had willed her home and property to the Church, and upon her untimely death, the half an acre and the structure became part of the First Church’s estate.

The Church also owned the Old Burial Ground, as well as the three acres of woods directly behind the burial ground, Mrs. Staples’ home, and the Hurlington House.  The Board of Trustees had long striven to obtain the Hurlington House, the ownership of which would have given the Church an entire block.  A massive piece of property on which the trustees could build.

And the trustees succeeded.

The lawyer for the Church, Attorney Richard Slater, met with the representatives for the Hurlington House.

At three o’clock in the afternoon,
Mr. Slater sat across a mahogany table from Attorney Rachel Madden and Mr. Eugene Hurlington.  Mr. Hurlington was ninety years old and was tired of owning the Hurlington House, which offered sanctuary to men of dubious character.  Eugene had inherited the home from his father thirty-seven years before, and he had enjoyed the constant offers from the trustees to purchase the property.

The week before, however, Eugene had been told he had pancreatic cancer, and it was time to get his affairs in order.

The Church, Eugene had thought, had been good sports over nearly four decades.  He decided to give the Church his house, and the land around it.  His only stipulation was that they name a building after him should they decide to tear down the structure and replace it with something else.