Muses Read online

  They lingered after the parade, despite the chill in the air, to chat with other friends who were there. October had been rather mild until a few days before Halloween when a weather system from the north, according to Julie’s mother who was a devotee of various weather-related websites, swept in and sent temperatures off a cliff. After several minutes, Julie and Maya left their friends to go to a cozy French bistro. Julie had the coq au vin, which was her favorite. Maya tried the cassoulet and told Julie that she thought her hair was cute. She blushed.

  Julie enjoyed Maya’s company, but this date wasn’t that romantic, despite the French food and candlelight. They talked, even argued a couple of times, mostly about ghost hunting, although Maya still seemed interested in Julie. Julie just couldn’t seem to let her guard down.

  When they left the bistro and stood on the sidewalk, Julie gazed into Maya’s beautiful brown eyes. Maya hinted about going back to her place for a drink.

  “This has been really great, Maya. We should do it again sometime.”

  Maya smiled and took a step closer to Julie after letting a couple of people pass between them. “I agree.”

  This was it. There was no talk of ghosts or hunting them. They stood silently. The world seemed to go quiet, even on this noisy Halloween night. This could be the moment when they would share their first kiss.

  Julie chased that moment away, even though she hadn’t meant to.

  “So maybe since it’s Halloween we might actually get a job. You know, someone might have a ghost that needs busting. Ha-ha.” Julie knew as soon as she said it that it was the exact wrong thing to say at this moment. She could see the light go out of Maya’s eyes, but Julie couldn’t stop. Something inside her was determined to kill the spark of this potentially romantic moment. She talked about the new EDI meters coming out and how they should check out the paranormal investigator conference in a couple of months. “That could really drum up some business.”

  “Um, sure. That’s always a possibility.” Maya looked confused and disappointed. Then she got a knowing, rueful smile on her face. “Maybe we will do this again sometime. Maybe we won’t. We are working together, after all, but I had a really good time, Julie.”

  Maya stepped away, closer to the curb and put up her arm to hail a taxi.

  “I can give you a ride home. My car’s only a couple of blocks that way.” Julie cocked her head in a westerly direction.

  “That’s sweet, but not tonight. Besides, I’m in the opposite direction of you.” She stepped off the curb just as a taxi pulled up alongside them.

  “It’s really no problem.” Much to Julie’s embarrassment, her voice had taken on a desperate, whining quality.

  Maya opened the door to the taxi. “You have a good night. I’ll let you know if we get any potential jobs.” She got into the taxi and shut the door.

  The taxi pulled out into traffic, leaving Julie standing on the curb mortified and angry. Mortified because she couldn’t believe how stupid and awkward she had been, and angry at her stupidity and awkwardness. Normally, she would have delighted in the ghoulish decor on the homes and businesses she passed, but she didn’t see any of it as she walked to her car. All she could see was the look on Maya’s face when they didn’t kiss and the look on her face when she got into the taxi. She looked as if she couldn’t get away from Julie fast enough.

  After pounding the palm of her left hand on the steering wheel a couple of times, she drove home, trying to take in some of the sights along the way. When she got home, she realized it was still fairly early, just after 10:30. For a fleeting moment, she wondered what Gabi was up to. She pushed Gabi to the furthest corner of her mind. To take her mind off this let down of an evening, she popped some microwave popcorn, opened a bottle of beer, and settled in to watch a movie or two before turning in. She wondered what Maya must think of her.

  Chapter Three

  Was it really a date?

  Maya had the taxi drop her off at the apartment building where the girlfriend of her roommate Penny lived and where a huge Halloween party was going on. Just before she got out of the taxi, the driver, peering at the apartment building, urged her to “take care.” He seemed genuinely disturbed by the blood-like substance dripping from the walls, the fake bones hanging from various places, and the drunk people loudly partying on one of the balconies yelling at people walking by. She assured him that she’d be fine.

  All three stories of the building had been decorated, which was quite the undertaking. Maya knew because Penny had talked about it nonstop during the past month. Penny had spent a lot of time at her girlfriend’s apartment helping out. There was a cackling witch on the roof. A werewolf snarled out of a second-floor window. Ghosts hung out of the other windows. The top floor had been turned into a haunted house. The apartment where Jessica, Penny’s girlfriend, lived was on the second floor and filled with Halloween-themed cocktails and some snacks. Penny had spent hours making the zombie gingerbread men. The first floor had more libations and some games. Partygoers moved from apartment to apartment, drinking, nibbling on a variety of snacks, and otherwise cavorting.

  Maya was aware that she stuck out because she was one of few people not in costume. A drunk couple, male/female, accosted Maya on the second-floor landing, trying to guess who she was dressed up as. Amused by this, Maya let them make several guesses before they settled on her being a political fixer like the woman in the TV show Scandal. It was Maya’s great pleasure to tell them they had gotten it exactly right. The couple was so pleased that they announced they were going to the drinks table down on the first floor to celebrate. There was a bottle of tequila there that they liked. Maya watched them weave unsteadily through the throng of people down the stairs to the first floor. Then she heard a voice with an exaggerated Irish accent close to her left ear.

  “Tsk. Tsk. It’s drink that’ll be the death of so many young folk.”

  Maya smiled and turned to face a frightening witch. “You know you sound so much like your mother when you say things like that, Penny.”

  Penny’s face, slathered in pale, greenish makeup, creased into a smile. “I try. Aren’t you supposed to be on a date?” she said, switching to her usual mode of speaking.

  Maya nodded. “I was.”

  “Uh oh. Sounds like it didn’t go well. What happened? Come on. Let’s get something to drink.”

  Penny grabbed Maya’s hand and dragged her through Jessica’s packed apartment until they arrived at the keg. Penny grabbed two red plastic cups and filled them.

  “So tell me,” said Penny, handing one of the cups to Maya.

  “The date itself was fine. It’s what happened at the end of the it that got me thinking that it would probably be best if we just went ghost hunting, kept it all business, and that’s it.”

  They strolled over to the living room to find a better place to talk and were greeted by the sight of two guys making out on the sofa. One of them was dressed as a clown. His make-out partner’s face was smudged with white and red makeup, which made his Village People cowboy costume look even sillier. Every so often the cowboy seemed to land a hand or some other body part on the clown’s horn, letting out a loud sound like an antique car. The scene was surreal, but Maya and Penny found space for themselves on a pair of nearby hassocks.

  “I think she might be an approach-avoidance queen, you know?” said Maya. “She makes all the right noises about wanting to get with you, but then when you get together, she changes the subject, makes a break for it, and runs.”

  “You mean like you?” said Penny.

  “No, not like me, totally different. It’s just not going to work. I think from now on, the only getting together we’ll be doing is when we’ve got some ghost hunting to do.” Maya sipped more of her beer and really wanted to change the subject. Fortunately, the clown’s horn went off and produced three successive noise blasts, providing an excellent distraction.

  “I want a couple of those zombie gingerbread men you made. Where are they?” sh
e asked, scanning the table for food. There were a few bags of potato chips and a tub or two of dip, but that was it.

  Penny pointed toward the door. “The rest of the food’s in the apartment across the hall. Take as many as you want. I’ve already had too many. It all goes right here,” she said pointing at her stomach. “And here.” She slapped her hips.

  Ever since Maya had known her, Penny had been self conscious about her weight. She was chubby, which caused Penny some embarrassment, especially when it came to shopping for clothes. She hoped Penny’s girlfriend Jessica appreciated how lovely Penny was.

  “Where’s Jessica?” asked Maya.

  “She’s having too much fun being the ghost of a deranged ballerina up in the haunted house,” said Penny, her eyes lighting up.

  Maya knew what that kind of new love felt like. She hoped to feel that again, but it just wasn’t the right time for her and Julie. Besides, they had a business to run.

  “I must say, she looked really hot in that creepy, scary tutu with blood she made. Stick around and you can see her in all her ghastly glory,” continued Penny.

  “Sure. Why not?” Maya said. She thought about asking what Jessica had made the blood out of, but then decided there were some things she didn’t need to know.

  Penny grabbed Maya’s hand again as they squeezed through the increasingly drunken throngs. A ghost was passed out in one corner, and a woman, who appeared to be her girlfriend and was dressed as a vampire, was trying to revive her with coffee. They pushed through zombies and superheroes and animals and dragons until they made it to the third floor.

  The haunted house was indeed scary with green slime oozing out of the walls and monsters jumping out of dark corners. Maya had to agree with Penny that Jessica had thrown herself into the role of the ghost of a deranged ballerina with gusto. She wouldn’t even break character to do more than give Penny a little peck on the cheek.

  When Maya and Penny came back down to Jessica’s apartment to get more beer, they were just in time to witness two men—the Village People cowboy and a guy dressed up as a satyr—arguing in the living room. A third man, the one with the clown makeup from earlier, sat on the sofa sipping a drink as if none of it had anything to do with him. Periodically, he grabbed his horn and squeezed, letting out a loud blurt.

  “What’s going on?” Maya asked a guy dressed as a sailor.

  “Goat boy doesn’t like his cowboy boyfriend making out with a clown,” said the guy before he wandered away with another sailor.

  Penny guarded the drinks table. The apartment was messy enough, and she probably didn’t want to be crying over spilled tequila when she cleaned up the place with Jessica.

  Maya joined her and marveled at the fact that the end of her evening was a far cry from the scenario she had originally imagined. Julie was definitely in the “friend” zone and trying to keep the satyr from dumping a bucket of ice over the clown’s head was more absurd and dangerous than she would have preferred.

  Chapter Four

  Ringing in a new year…

  Julie had offered to pick up Maya for their first meeting with their potential new client and was surprised when she took her up on the offer. With the way their last date (and Julie had a feeling it was truly their last date) had petered out, she wondered how awkward it would be for them to be together in close quarters again. Maya was pleasant and chatty, much as she had been whenever Julie had seen her before. She took her cue from Maya and acted like the professional she wanted Maya to think she was.

  They had become friends. No need to talk about anything uncomfortable. They were in business together. They had set up an office in the ground floor of Mrs. Forcier’s house, in accordance with her will. Julie had been the first one to take advantage of the offer to live rent free and had taken up residence on the second floor. Maya was waiting for her lease to run out before her and Penny moved into the third floor.

  “Oh, I like that color on you,” Maya said.

  Julie had dyed the tips of her hair purple a few days ago. She hadn’t been particularly keen on it at first. It was a darker purple than she’d ever used.

  “Thanks,” she said. “So, what do we know about Lily? What’s her problem?”

  Julie kept her eyes on the road. The bright sunshine made this January day look warm even though it was bitterly cold.

  Maya pushed a button on the dashboard that would up the heat flowing to the passenger seat. “So cold.”

  Eyeing the sneakers Maya was wearing, Julie said, “Those won’t keep you warm. Don’t you have boots?”

  “Yes, I do, Mom,” Maya said in a gentle teasing tone. “But they’re old and kind of raggedy. Anyway, she said that she recently moved into her dead uncle’s house, and it’s filled with some angry ghosts.”

  “Ghosts plural?”

  Maya nodded. “In her email she said it’s hard to tell how many ghosts there are, but apparently, the ghosts are being blamed for killing her uncle at a Halloween party thrown by him and her aunt.”

  “The ghosts did it? Really.” Ghosts could be killers, but Julie preferred the ones who were more benign.

  “Lily says that her aunt insists that that’s what happened. Her aunt won’t even enter the house any more. The cops don’t believe the ghost story, but they haven’t been able to pin the murder on anyone who was at the party that night.”

  Julie thought about this for a moment as they sat at a red light. “The uncle had no enemies, even among the guests?”

  Maya shook her head. “Not as far as we know.”

  “And they couldn’t pin it on his wife?”

  “Nope, and it’s the spouse that’s always the strongest suspect. Lily’s email was short and desperate. It had this Princess Leia ‘Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope’ quality to it. That’s hard to resist.”

  “Yeah. Let’s be the Jedi knights riding to the rescue.” The traffic light turned green, and Julie zoomed through the intersection.

  “I did some quick reading while I was waiting for you to pick me up. Did you know that the Vinettes’ house is on a street that once had the highest concentration of crack houses and shooting galleries of any suburb around here?” Maya asked.

  “And was the Vinettes’ house a crack house?”

  “Might have been. There it is.”

  The house once lived in by Richard and Kate Vinette occupied a lot near the border between Springfield Heights and an older, inner ring suburb that dated back to the late 19th century. The area had gone through some tough times but was now on an upswing as people who wanted suburban living but didn’t want to move too far from the city had been flocking to it for the past couple of decades. The Vinettes’ home was on a quiet street that had seen the most dramatic transformation.

  Julie pulled over to the curb. The house was smaller than the homes that flanked it on either side but not by much. Julie liked it immediately because it had a turret. Ever since she was a little girl, she’d wanted to live in a house with a turret. She liked the roundness of the turret in comparison to the sharp angles of the rest of a house. She always thought it would have been cool to have her bedroom in a turret. When she was in seventh grade, she’d had an intense crush on one of her classmates, the new girl in school that year. One of Julie’s fantasies featured her rescuing the girl who had been kept imprisoned in a turret by her evil parents. After the successful rescue, Julie and the girl would fall into each other’s arms and make out.

  Patches of ice and slush had turned the sidewalk leading to the front steps into an obstacle course. Maya nearly wiped out as they approached the steps. She slid off the walk and into the snow-covered grass, which kept her from falling down.

  Julie pointed down at the stylish boots on her feet and said, “You know, if you had boots like these, things like that wouldn’t happen.” She kept her tone light and playful.

  Maya laughed. “Oh my God. I will get new boots when I get the chance, Jules. We’ve got work to do now.”

  They walke
d up the front steps, and Maya rang the doorbell. A few moments later, a young woman with shoulder length auburn hair and clear, light brown eyes answered the door. Although she had the look of someone who hadn’t slept in a few nights, she was pretty and looked unbothered by the ghosts who were supposedly haunting her house.

  “Yes? How can I help you?” she asked.

  “Lily?”

  “Yes?” She looked amused, as if she thought they were playing a game.

  “I’m Maya Nicholas. This is Julie Sussman. We’re with the Paranormal Grievance Committee. You emailed us about your problem.”

  Her face suddenly cleared. “Oh, of course. Come in, please.” She opened the door wider to let in Maya and Julie. “I’m Lily Blake. Let me take your coats.”

  The three women shook each other’s hands. Lily asked them to take their shoes off. As she removed her boots, Julie noticed bits of tape on the entryway to the living room off the foyer that indicated it had once been a crime scene. Piles of papers and books had been pushed to one side in the living room, and a few cardboard boxes were nearby. They were empty, waiting to be filled.

  “I’ve only just made a start at sorting this stuff out,” Lily said. She sounded a little embarrassed.

  “Your uncle died only a couple of months ago, so you shouldn’t beat yourself up for not having everything sorted out already.” Maya smiled at her.

  “I know, but I was hoping to get this place straightened up and cleaned up soon so my aunt can sell it. She has no intention of setting foot in here again.”

  “Where is your aunt?” Julie asked.

  Lily walked over to one of the built-in bookcases and began taking some books down from the shelves and placing them into one of the boxes. Despite Maya’s assurance, she clearly felt the need to at least make a show of getting things sorted out.

  “She’s staying with her boyfriend at a cabin in Florida.”

  “She’s already decamped to Florida with her boyfriend? That’s pretty quick. That should have made her a prime suspect in your uncle’s death,” Julie observed.