Chapter 4 Ben #2
They left with a promise to get together again soon. The cop tailing them had waited near the cars, in a spot where he had a clear view of the beach around the lighthouse. He waited for Ben and Erik to get back in their car before doing the same and following them as they pulled away.
“I guess sending the angel statue to the nuns makes sense in a lot of ways,” Ben said as Erik drove toward Haley’s shop. “It would be safer from art thieves than in the cemetery, especially since the nuns have magic to protect it. And if the statue had any mojo, the nuns could contain it.”
Erik nodded. “Angels were often seen as helpers or messengers. The nuns themselves have also certainly fit that description over the years.”
He paused. “I emailed a friend of mine who specializes in forensic accounting and asked for a favor. I’m hoping he can find out who the biggest purchasers from the Commodore Wilson liquidation auction were, and cross-reference that with the ones where Bellamy handled the sale.”
“You figure that one of them also got away with the dome, since they would have had a lot of packing crates?” Ben asked.
“Worth a shot. Want to bet the top bidders also were mobbed up the wazoo?”
“That’s a sucker’s bet,” Ben replied. “Of course they were.”
Erik was quiet for a moment. “That evangelist who was the last owner owed many people a lot of money, including the Mafia,” he mused. “Maybe he promised them the dome toward what he owed, or they just decided to take it to pay down the debt.”
“Not legal, but certainly possible,” Ben agreed. “And since the dome would be damn near priceless, sneaking it out avoided paying taxes.”
“That, too.”
Signs about the Awesome Autumn Festival had sprung up everywhere.
Ben knew he would feel more enthusiastic if a Mob shootout wasn’t still a possibility.
Although he would normally be looking forward to the roles he and Erik had agreed to play, the preparations seemed more like a distraction at the moment.
Erik parked down the block from Haley’s apartment, where she also held psychic readings. Their plainclothes bodyguard found a spot nearby.
“At least we should get a heads up if anyone is following the guy who follows us,” Ben noted with a nod to the cop. “And if he thinks there are sketchy people scoping out the store.”
“I didn’t want to bring anyone else into this because of the organized crime angle, but if we can make contact with some of the spirits, it could fill in some of the missing information and maybe prevent this from getting to be a bigger deal,” Erik said.
“Do you think Haley is a strong enough ghost whisperer to handle this kind of stuff?” Ben asked.
“I guess we’ll find out,” Erik said.
“Just like getting a witness to spill their guts. Sometimes one cop will make a stronger connection than another, and if the informant feels more comfortable, they say more,” he added.
Ben had certainly seen that play out with human witnesses and guessed there was no reason for ghosts to be different. Ghosts are still people—just dead ones.
Haley had a quiet table ready when they showed up. “I made fresh tea,” she told them as she ushered them inside and closed the door, leading them to the back room. “Always helps to soothe the nerves.”
She poured cups for all of them, then sat facing Ben and Erik. Candles flickered on the table.
“Before we go further, I need to ask, do you really want to know?” Haley gave a pointed look to Erik then Ben. “Because you can’t un-know once I tell you, and that may make you a target for bad people.”
“Yes, Erik said. “We need answers, and bad people are already targeting us. That wouldn’t be new.”
Haley laughed. “If you knew half of what the ghosts tell me on a regular basis, you’d put me in witness protection. People who didn’t get their sins off their chest before they die want someone to hear their secrets afterward.”
“How do you deal with that?” Ben asked, intrigued.
“If the new information can help solve a crime, find a missing person, or save someone, I will make an anonymous tip to authorities,” Haley replied. “If it’s just someone getting bad choices or indiscretions off their chest, I don’t. Confessing to murder? Yes. Confessing to an affair? Nope.”
She paused to sip her tea. “It’s something I had to wrestle with for a long time. But no human harm can come to the ghost; they told me of their own free will, and doing my best to prevent more damage or right a wrong is the closest to absolution I can give them.”
“That makes a lot of sense,” Erik said. “I’ve used the information that ghost informants have provided numerous times to solve cases, find stolen goods, and identify criminals. It’s not admissible in court, but the ghosts’ information usually leads me to something that can be used.”
“And given what we talked about last time, I’m guessing this has to do with the Mafia and old cold cases?”
“Yup,” Ben said with a grin. “I guess we’re predictable.”
“I heard about the guy who tried to break into your shop, and that makes me suspect that the two recent murders the cops aren’t saying much about have something to do with it all,” Haley said.
Erik and Ben took turns explaining more of the basics of the case, with the stolen dome, the haunted window, the known Mafia ties, and what they had pieced together from research.
“You boys managed to step in it.” Haley shook her head. “And it sounds like the Commodore Wilson is the biggest ghost. But I have to ask, if the dome has been missing for thirty years, why does it matter now? I’d think you would be glad to have it out of Cape May. Good riddance.”
“Yeah, we probably should feel that way,” Ben replied. “But since there have been two murders connected to Tiffany windows, and one of those victims helped to sell off the dome from the Commodore Wilson, it seems like it’s not going to end until we figure out what’s going on.”
“You think someone wants to use the dome for some sort of magic?” Haley asked.
“We know the panel has dark energy,” Erik said. “Domes concentrate power. It might be able to boost the efforts of a spellcaster with bad intentions.”
Haley nodded after a moment to think over what he had said. “I guess that’s possible. We draw warded circles and create energy domes on a much smaller scale, and for very brief uses.”
“The storms are already boosting energy,” Ben added. “And someone is interested enough in the Tiffany dome that they’ve killed twice. That’s definitely not the kind of person we want ‘boosted.’”
“Okay. You’ve made your case,” Haley agreed.
“We want to contact Grant Samuels,” Erik said. “There’s a chance he knows more than we do about the dome.”
“No guarantee Samuels will show, but let’s give it a try,” Haley said.
They joined hands, and Haley slipped into a trance. “Grant Samuels. We call to you. Please speak with us.”
Silence stretched for a minute, then two. Just as Ben thought Samuels had refused to talk with them, he felt a cold breeze that raised his hackles.
“It’s Samuels,” Haley said. “He’s here, and I don’t think he’s happy about it. I’ll let you know what he says.”
“A man is dead because he bought a haunted stained-glass window from your estate. Who would kill for that and why?” Haley asked, but from the delay, Ben guessed that Samuels didn’t answer right away.
“The Collector, or The Oligarch. He doesn’t know their real names. Powerful crime bosses who coveted art, especially stained glass,” Haley repeated.
“Do you know what happened to the Tiffany dome from the Commodore Wilson hotel?”
Another pause, longer this time. “He wanted to bid, and they said they would kill him if he did,” Haley relayed.
“They?”
“The Collector and The Oligarch. He didn’t want to know who won. It touched off a Mob war,” Haley murmured.
“The angel statue, does it have magic?” Erik blurted.
Ben felt the cold weight of the ghost’s presence.
“It can amplify resonance,” Haley told Ben what the ghost said.
“Who haunts the window?” Haley asked and waited for an answer.
“Arkadi Mikhailov, the witch who originally commissioned it. The one who wrote the grimoire.” Haley looked distressed at the revelation as she repeated the information.
She glanced at Erik and Ben, checking to see if they had other questions.
Erik sensed that the ghost had probably answered out of boredom and was running out of patience. Both men shook their heads.
“Thank you for speaking with us. Go in peace,” Haley told the spirit.
Erik felt a shift in the energy, and knew the ghost was gone.
“I think that was a one-shot deal,” Haley told Ben and Erik. “He doesn’t want to hear from us again.”
They didn’t speak until Haley had sage-smudged the area and done a purification ritual. The ghost carried a darkness with it that made Ben want to bathe in holy water.
“What did you make of that?” Haley asked. Ben sensed she had some strong opinions but was waiting to hear theirs first.
“Creepy.” Ben spoke up first. “If I had walked into an empty house and got the sensations he was putting off, I’d have salted his ass or high-tailed it out of there.”
Erik nodded. “He wasn’t a good man, and he didn’t care. But we got what we came for, a couple of names we didn’t have before, and an answer about the window that got Peter Randolph killed.”
“Those two names, The Collector and The Oligarch, sounded like something out of an action movie,” Haley noted.
“Welcome to our lives,” Ben said with a sigh.
“Hey, it keeps things interesting,” Haley replied.
“People who want to say nice things to ghosts and parted on good terms just think of them or leave flowers at their graves. They only come to me when it’s a difficult conversation.
” She paused. “Although I’ve got to admit, the folks you look for are a bit more interesting than most.”
“Thank you,” Erik said. “I know ghosts with dark energy are more of a drain than usual. But it’s for a good cause, I swear.”