High Tops

High Tops

 

 

‘So, uh, Mrs Wheeler, what I need is for you to describe to me the events of the evening of 31^st October 2008 in as much detail as you can. Please don’t worry about what may or may not be relevant - It’s my job to decide that - just relax and start at the beginning, uh, from where you picked the kids up.’

 

He was much younger than the last two they had sent - couldn’t be more than a couple of years older than Zack in fact.

 

‘What did you say your name was?’

 

‘Special Agent Daniel Harper.’

 

‘Lets say you call me Laura and I’ll call you Daniel, how about that for a start?’

 

She had expected a smile but his face remained unmoved, a mask, as he nodded.

 

‘Okay. If you prefer. Laura’

 

And with that she had the measure of Special Agent Daniel Harper.

It was a nothing assignment, chasing up witnesses on a dead case file, but he was a rookie and such was the accepted order. Here was a man who would gladly swallow every s****y detail they gave him and hungrily ask for seconds, all the way to the top. Humour did not serve him well, and he had locked it away in a secret little box a long time ago. Still, she liked him better than the others who had come with smiles and sympathy that failed to hide their boredom. For this man there was no such thing a small case, and while it remained open it would hold a place in his mind. Not pride of place �" if there were no small cases for Daniel Harper there were surely some that were of lesser importance - but unlike his sense of humour it would be brought out, dusted down and thought on occasionally. That was good enough for Laura.

 

‘And you want to see if my story has changed? See if you can find any inconsistencies or embellishments?’

 

She expected him to baulk at this suggestion and to tell her how often people recalled a crucial, case-solving, detail years after the event and never thought to report it. It was the line the others had used, the standard response. Agent Harper surprised her.

 

‘That’s correct. One of the reasons we’re doing this is to see if your story still holds up and remains consistent. In a case such as this we don’t expect people to forget or misremember the details.  If they do then that would give us something new to chew on.’

 

He held her eyes with his as he spoke. He looked barely old enough to shave but his gaze was cold and hard and Laura thought it might make a pretty effective substitute for a polygraph.

 

‘You’ve read my statement?’

 

‘Of course. The original and the two follow-ups. I’ve also read every other witness statement related to the case, studied the tapes and ploughed through the details of every child abduction case in the state from the last twenty years. Rest assured, I have done my homework very thoroughly.’

 

The last comment was one that seemed to demand at least a token grin, but his mouth remained a thin, unwavering line.

 

‘That’s good to know, but it’s not really what I was asking. If you’ve read my statement you understand what I believe happened that night?’

 

‘Yes indeed. Your statement is quite clear on that point.’

 

‘But the FBI doesn’t share my belief, does it? You don’t share my belief, do you Daniel?’

 

The other agents they had sent had told her categorically that both they and the bureau would maintain an open mind until the case was closed.  How could they not, given the evidence of the tape. But Agent Harper didn’t appear to enjoy the smell of bullshit any more than Laura herself did.

 

‘No Laura, I do not share your belief about what happened that night.’

 

He placed a digital voice recorder on the table between them.

 

 

********

 

The Ghost was Laura‘s primary concern.

 

She hadn’t noticed it until they had reached the first house on Twin Rivers Avenue and Dan Roberts - arms laden with candy - had come out onto his wide, wooden porch to meet them. Laura stood back on the lawn letting the kids and their costumes take centre stage, and there was quite a collection to show off. This year they had a pirate, a fairy, a vampire, a witch, a zombie and The Wolfman, and there was not a store-bought effort in sight. The pride of a half-dozen soccer moms was apparent in every detail, from the rubber eye which dangled against the zombie’s cheek from a fake optic nerve to the witch’s broom made from tied twigs cut to length. Zack and Eddie had of course gone completely over the top - Zack coming as an axe murderer and Eddie as his unfortunate victim. The pair had practically drowned themselves in corn syrup laced with red food colouring, Zack steadfastly refusing to let Laura help him with his costume. Assuming Eddie’s mom had also been barred from the creative process then she had to grudgingly admit that the boys did exhibit a certain gruesome flair for design.

 

Once Dan had stopped emptying his wares into the paper sacks, he stepped down from the porch and moved towards Laura. As he drew close he reached out an arm at waist height and for one crazy moment she thought the old widower was about to wrap that arm around her hip and pull in close for a kiss. At the last moment, he feinted to the side and reached behind her instead. When Laura turned her head to follow his bony, liver-spotted hand she saw the ghost standing behind her.

 

It was the classic costume, a white sheet with two large black ovals for eyes. Despite it’s apparent simplicity, it was undeniably effective. The sheet was of such a brilliant white that it seemed to give off a luminescence and it was cut so perfectly that it followed the movements of it’s wearer perfectly.

 

Laura watched as the ghost held out a paper bag to collect the candy offered by Dan. The sheet flowed so perfectly with her movements that it seemed to grow with her arms and then shrink back again when she lowered the bag again.

 

It was so perfect in fact that Laura might have been persuaded that it was a real ghost, if not for pair of yellow Converse high-tops that peeked out from underneath the sheet where it did not meet the ground.

 

‘That’s a shy one you’ve got there’ observed Dan as the Ghost retreated back behind Laura again. ‘Who does she belong to?’

 

Later, when she thought about it, Laura would realise that she and Dan had both made the same assumption, that the ghost was a girl. There was no real reason for this. If pressed, she might have said that it was the yellow Converse that did it.  In Laura’s experience, 4^th Grade boys did not wear yellow Converse. Black and blue certainly, and red and green might also be acceptable. But yellow? That’s practically pink, as Zack had told her on more than one occasion. Or she might have pointed towards the costume itself. A younger boy might have been content with the simplicity of the ghost, but once they got to Zack’s age the boys generally wanted something a bit more gory, a bit nastier. Bill, the pirate, would have been risking a ribbing for his costume choice were it not for the fact that Bill had asthma, and both Zack and Eddie had witnessed him having a bad attack during Gym class three days earlier. They were currently sworn not to deliberately upset him for fear that they might accidentally kill him. This pact would be forgotten the following week. However, both of these reasons would have been over-analysing it, and the reason Dan would give when interviewed by Matt -  the Sherriff’s deputy - the following day would be closer to the truth. She just seemed like a girl.

 

‘Mmmm.’ offered Laura, head cocked slightly backwards as if to better observe the newcomer, ‘Looks like I’ve picked up a stray’.

 

‘She not one of yours then, Laura?’ asked Dan, eyebrow raised.

 

Laura sighed, and looked towards the kids on the porch who were chattering, laughing and comparing hauls with high-pitched enthusiasm.

Twin Rivers Avenue was trick or treat nirvana. A long, wide, leafy expanse of the suburban dream, sidewalks bordered by luxuriant lawns and large family homes. Prosperity and kids lived here side by side, and so naturally the holidays were always celebrated in style. The majority of houses and many of the trees were festooned with fairy lights, and there was a Jack ‘O Lantern outside every single front door.

Laura and Zack lived at the far western end of the Avenue where the spaces between the houses got larger and larger as it meandered slowly into the country side. Most of Zack’s friends lived closer to the centre of town and it had been Laura’s idea to have them dropped off at the eastern end, the plan being that they would finish up at her house where they could bob for apples and watch the monster movie marathon whilst gorging themselves on chocolate and waiting for their parents to come pick them up.

Zack and Laura had been at the corner of Two Rivers and Elm Street to meet the others punctually at 6pm, and by twenty minutes past the hour Zack had declared that everyone who was coming was there and they could ‘move out’. Only now did Laura realise that she hadn’t really checked with Zack exactly how many other kids had been invited and how many he had been expecting to show up. She didn’t remember the ghost arriving, but then Eddie and his mom had shown up first and Laura and Diane had got to talking. Most of the kids were dropped off by a parent but Laura didn’t know the majority of them as well as she knew Diane, and they just pulled up cars and waved a hello as they waited for the kids to pile out before they drove off again.

By the time Diane had left her to it and Zack had told her that they were ready to go, she had been happy to take him at his word. Was it possible that the ghost had been hanging back shyly and Laura simply hadn’t noticed her until now? She guessed that it must be, after all she hadn’t approached Dan’s porch with the rest of the kids, and if he hadn’t come out to meet them she might not have noticed her still.

 

‘Tell you the truth Dan, I’m not really sure if she’s one of mine or not’ said Laura. She turned her attention to the miniature spirit. ‘Now who have we got under here?’

 

The ghost was holding her paper sack open and studying it’s contents intently. Laura bent at the waist and held out a hand to lift the sheet and see which of Zack’s schoolmates was hiding underneath. As soon as her fingers brushed the material the ghost let out a shriek and jumped backward. The large black eyes painted on the front of the sheet were completely expressionless, yet somehow the ghost managed to hold her head in such a way that the eyes fixed Laura with an accusing look. Most kids would have just cut two round holes out of the sheet with a pair of scissors, and Laura couldn’t understand how this one see anything out of the two solid black ovals.

 

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you’ Laura said as she reached out her hand again, this time to comfort the ghost rather than reveal her identity. The ghost remained silent this time and didn’t leap backwards, but she did shrink away from the touch.

 

‘It’s Halloween’ said Dan. ‘Everyone should get at least one good scare, and that includes the kids.’ He turned his attention back to the kids on the porch.

 

‘What’s your name honey?’ Laura asked her young charge.

 

The ghost didn’t reply, just bowed her head a little sheepishly.

 

‘Are you one of Zack’s friends from school?’

 

The ghost raised her head and nodded.

 

‘Well alright then, now we’re getting somewhere. But you don’t want to tell me your name?’

 

The ghost shook her head in an exaggerated fashion as if to say absolutely, positively not.

 

Laura rolled her eyes and then smiled.

 

‘Okay, I was shy as a girl myself. Just tell me, do your parents know you’re here? I don’t remember seeing them drop you off.’

 

Again the ghost nodded.

 

‘And they’ve got the invite, they know where to come and pick you up later on?’

 

Once again, a nod.

 

‘Well, I guess that’s all fine then. C’mon, we’d better catch up with the others, they’re getting ahead of us.’

 

While she had been distracted, the other kids had bid farewell to Dan and moved on to the next house. By the time Laura caught up with Zack and the others, they had already collected the next instalment of their booty.

He and Eddie were explaining the grisly back-story that went along with their axe-murder motif to the delight and disgust of their other friends. Laura placed a hand on his bloody shoulder just as he was about to cross the street to their next target.

 

‘Not so fast buddy, I need a quick word.’

 

Eddie and the others stopped as well but Laura shooed them on and told them they’d catch them up. She was about to speak when she remembered the ghost and looked down, sure enough she was standing right by her side.

 

‘Hey honey, why don’t you go and join the others,’ she said nodding to the kids crossing the street. ‘I just need to talk to Zack for a second’

 

The ghost looked across the street and then back at Laura who nodded again. Reluctantly she left Laura’s side and crossed the street.

 

Zack started talking immediately.

 

‘They asked us mom, it wasn’t our idea. I mean, we made up the story when we came up with the idea for the costumes because, well, because it was just cooler that way. Made it seem real, but we weren’t trying to scare anyone, they asked us and…’

 

‘Whoah, slow down there buddy. What are you talking about?’ asked Laura.

 

‘Well’ Zack began, uncertain now, ‘The story Eddie and me were telling them about how his character axed my character and cut him up and ate his guts and…that is why you’re mad isn’t it?’

 

Zack had had a fixation with all things horror for as long as Laura could remember. He loved monsters of all kinds and his bedroom was a shrine to old science fiction and horror movies. Laura suspected that he had just about every classic monster model kit ever made, the wolfman, the mummy, the creature from the black lagoon and on and on and on. And that was fine, those movies were pretty tame by today’s standards, but lately Zack had been branching out and Laura had found a copy of a magazine in his schoolbag that seemed to consist of nothing apart from high definition photographs of zombies chewing on brains, limbs being hacked off, heads exploding. They had argued about it and Jeff had been no help, he couldn’t see what the fuss was about, though he had at least had the sense not to make that comment to her until after Zack was in bed.

 

‘I’m not mad, Number-One-Son, I just wanted to ask you a question.’

 

‘Oh, sure okay.’ Said Zack, his defences dropping as quickly as they had been thrown up.

 

‘Who’s that girl?’

 

‘What girl?’ Zack asked, genuinely bemused

 

‘The Ghost.’

 

Zack looked across the street to his friends. They were all gathered around the open door while the householder passed out compliments on the costumes. Eddie was holding his plastic axe over the head of the fairy (Katy Coulson) apparently demonstrating the best method of splitting a skull. The ghost was standing back from the others at the edge of the lawn. Zack shrugged.

 

‘I don’t know.’

 

‘She’s not from your school? You didn’t ask her?

 

‘Well maybe, I mean, I’m not sure. I think I probably mentioned it to a lot of people at school.’

 

Laura sighed.

 

‘But you didn’t bother to find out who was definitely coming right?’

 

‘Well….no’ Zack shrugged, ‘Does it matter?’

 

‘When I’m responsible yes, it matters. What if something happened?’

 

Zack furrowed his brow, which was no mean feat given the layers of latex and sticky fake blood that swathed it.

 

‘Like what?’

 

‘Like she has an asthma attack or gets hit by a car. Who would I call?’

 

‘An ambulance?’ offered Zack

 

‘Carry on being a smart-a*s and you’ll get relegated to Number-Two-Son, and bear in mind you’re an only child. I meant her parents.’

 

‘Oh right. You could just ask her.’

 

‘Uh-uh. Tried that, she was too shy to answer me, so you get over there and find out which one of your delinquent class-mates is hiding under that sheet. I assume it’s just adults she has a problem with?’

 

Zack laughed.

 

‘No need. That would be Jenna. Jenna Rhodes. She‘s so shy she hardly even speaks to Miss Radcliffe.’

 

Katherine Radcliffe was Zack’s form teacher and she was easily the most popular teacher with the kids at the elementary school - with most of the parents as well -purely because she was so easy-going and approachable.

 

‘Yeah I bet that’s her.’ Zack said, looking across the street, ‘Even with the sheet on, you can tell.’

 

Laura looked sceptical but Zack seemed convinced, so they walked across the street to join the others. Zack went straight to the front door to join the main event, Laura went to stand beside the little girl in the sheet who was once again hanging back.

 

‘So you’re Jenna?’

 

The ghost nodded. Thank god for that, thought Laura.

 

Mystery solved, Laura set about the serious business of squeezing every last piece of candy from the remaining residents of Twin Rivers Avenue. It might have been a tall order by themselves, but they had help from the other groups that had gravitated towards Twin Rivers that October evening. The street was buzzing and the energy and the enthusiasm of the children was infectious. There was laughter, shouting, screaming. The boys ran up and down the streets, the girls danced and skipped from door to door. Different groups stopped to talk and compare costumes and booty while the chaperones exchanged hellos and knowing looks or rolling their eyes at someone‘s antics. Every time a door was knocked on it was opened, and no one ever answered ‘Trick’ though many did demand a twirl or a pose for a group photograph.

 

Through it all, Jenna never strayed from Laura’s side. She wouldn’t approach the front door of the houses with the other children unless Laura went with her. Laura tried to encourage the others to talk to her and try and make her feel more included - and to be fair they did all try, at least initially - but Jenna proved to be just as shy around other kids as she was around adults. After a while, Laura realised that there wasn’t much she could do and decided not to worry about it. It wasn’t as if anyone was being mean to her or excluding her and Jenna seemed to be happy enough just being on the periphery with Laura, so why force it and risk spoiling everybody’s night? Besides she was finding Jenna oddly engaging company for someone who never spoke and liked having her close by. She had an economy of movement that made her appear surprisingly elegant. Laura thought that kids that age always seemed to have too much pent up energy for their immature limbs and only ever really looked comfortable in their bodies when they were running flat out, allowing gangly arms and legs to find their full extension. But for someone who was so shy Jenna seemed to drift along besides Laura in a remarkably graceful fashion. And once she decided it wasn’t anything she could do anything about, Laura began to find Jenna’s shyness and her self contained quietness rather charming.

 

At ten years old, Zack was already as confident and outgoing as his father. Laura loved her son and she knew that Zack loved her in return, but in a few years he wouldn’t need his mother anymore. And if she was brutally frank, he didn’t really need her much now. He was already beginning to leave childish things behind, and Laura felt (rightly or wrongly) that she was being supplanted by Jeff. Zack didn’t really ‘play’ in the same way that he had only a year ago. The games of imagination, the role-playing had been mostly left behind. When he went out now it was to shoot hoops. If he finished his homework early then he no longer wanted to sit down and play a board game, he wanted to go out to the yard and toss a ball around with his ‘old man’. And if the light or the weather meant they couldn’t indulge a love of sports, then they would fire up the XBOX and spend time hacking, slashing and maiming some vile form of alien life that was threatening mankind’s very existence. There was good-natured ribbing and inevitably some rough-housing and while she knew that neither of them would ever deliberately exclude her, Laura recognised that these were ‘man-things’. When she did join in, she was going through the motions and didn’t really feel part of it. In another few years, Zack would move on again and then he wouldn’t need Jeff either, but men didn‘t feel the loss in the same way. Laura understood that Jeff was tethered to his son by a love borne of pride. It was a fiercely strong kind of love but it also had enough give not to tug at his heart too hard when stretched over a distance, be it literal or metaphorical. After Zack had been born, she had been told that it was unlikely she would conceive naturally again and the sadness at the time had been tempered by the knowledge that they had Zack and that he was the very epitome of a strong, healthy American boy. Now as they continued on their way from door to door, she began to wonder absently about whether or not she and Jeff might be considered suitable candidates for adoption and, if they were, whether or not they would be allowed to specify a little girl.

 

It took another hour for Laura and her charges to clear the bulk of the residences and, while she was prepared to take her group of howler monkeys to every last door if she had to, she sensed fatigue was beginning to set in. While there could never, ever be such a thing as too much candy to a child, there was a limit to how much their hands could carry. There was also a limit to how much more schlepping they would be prepared to do as the evening grew colder. They were good kids but the enthusiasm had definitely been on the wane at the last couple of houses. When Laura suggested they make the next house the last one and then hurry back home for hot chocolate and scary movies there were no dissenting voices, and even a few whoops. Jenna of course said nothing, but she gave an approving nod when Laura asked her what she thought of the plan.

 

Jeff was horizontal on the couch when the gang tumbled through the front door and began taking over the lounge. He had been working his way through the DVD box set of The Wire that Laura had bought him for his birthday but he happily relinquished control of the television after a good natured scuffle with Zack and Eddie involving an odd combination of slow motion Kung-Fu and what she guessed were supposed to be some ’bitchin’ WWF moves. Laura was mildly disappointed to see that they completely eschewed the creature feature cable marathon and went straight to firing up the X-BOX but she guessed it was a sign of the times, and she found it quite touching when Zack seeing her look of disappointment eyed her solemnly and said, ‘It’s okay mom, we’re going to play Guitar Hero so the girls can join in. No shooting’.

 

Laura went to join Jeff in the kitchen and found that he already had the popcorn popping on the stove and was filling a plastic basin with water so the kids could bob for apples. She pulled up a chair, sat herself down at the kitchen table and began pulling off her sneakers.

 

‘That’s a nice idea honey, but they’re already into the video games. They’ll probably take the popcorn but I don’t think they’re gonna go for the apples.’

 

‘Oh well, that’s just great!’ He replied shutting off the water, ‘and I spent all evening hiding the razor blades.’

 

It raised a laugh.

 

‘You’re a sick man, oh husband of mine. Come over here and give your wife a kiss.’

 

Jeff duly obliged, and after fixing them both a cup of coffee he joined Laura at the table.

 

‘Looks like you had a good night, the kids seem happy enough and it doesn’t look as if you lost any.’

 

Laura blew across the top of her coffee.

 

‘Nope, matter of fact I gained one.’

 

Jeff gave her a quizzical look so Laura told him about Jenna. His forehead knitted itself into a frown as she spoke and it didn’t smooth itself over when she’d finished. He didn’t say anything but he didn’t need to.

 

‘Okay, I hear it’ Laura said, ‘Now I’m explaining it to you I know it sounds weird, but at the time it didn’t seem so strange.’

 

‘Yeah, well we’ve all been there.’ He leaned over and gave her a reassuring kiss on the forehead.  ‘It’s probably fine, but for now we have child in our house, a child we’re responsible for, and we don’t know for sure if her parents know where she is. Probably they do, but I think we want to be sure about that. Just in case. I’ll go and ask her for her number and give her folks a call.’

 

Laura gave a groan. She very rarely exercised poor judgement and it didn’t help that Jeff was being his usual understanding self, she felt like a dumbass.

 

‘No, my bad. I’ve got it covered. Besides, she’s really shy, she probably wouldn’t even speak to you.’

 

As it turned out Jenna hadn’t yet reached the point where she would talk to Laura either, but she willingly wrote down her home phone number on a notepad when asked. The other kids were sprawled out on the couches and the floor and vociferously commenting on Bill’s technique as he tried to hammer the coloured plastic keys on the guitar shaped controller in time with Enter Sandman. Jenna was sitting on an armchair, yellow sneakers stuck straight out in front of her bopping along to the music. Shy or not, she seemed to be enjoying herself and Laura decided that whatever the outcome of the call she was about to make, she was glad that the little girl had decided to tag along. She was, however, apprehensive about how the call would go and was equal parts relieved and angry when it went straight to the answer phone message.

 

‘Hi, you’ve reached the Rhodes house and this is Ed Rhodes speaking. If you’re calling for me, Helen or Jenna then please leave a message after the beep and we’ll get back to you just as soon as we can.’

 

And Laura did just that, explaining hurriedly that Jenna was with her and that she was safe and happy and leaving the address and number. Jeff had been watching the kids and tapping his foot out or time along with the music, but he had been keeping an ear open.

 

‘Nobody home?’ he asked knowing the answer.

 

Laura shook her head and they went back through to kitchen to talk out of earshot of the kids.

 

‘She said her parents knew she was with you?’ asked Jeff.

 

‘Yeah, but she’s just a kid, who knows if they do or not. Maybe the reason they’re not at home is because they’re out looking for her right now.’

 

Laura looked worried, the prospect of having made a mistake about this was no longer just embarrassing, it was a little bit frightening as well.

 

‘Or maybe they’re a couple of dead-beats who do know where she is and have used the opportunity to slip out to do a bit of partying themselves. Maybe they did drop her off and they’re banking on leaving her with us and picking her up tomorrow.’

 

Laura covered her face with her palms and slid them slowly down her face until the fingertips were just covering her mouth.

 

‘So what do we do?’ She asked from behind her fingers.

 

‘I‘ll call Matt.’

 

Laura made a face.

 

‘Really? Don’t you think that’s a bit premature? We don’t know what the situation is yet.’

 

‘And that’s exactly why I think we should call him. We’ve got to cover ourselves here.’

 

He could see she was unsure, that she didn’t want to bring trouble down on anyone’s head for what might be a simple misunderstanding.

 

‘Hey, it will be fine. Matt’s no fool, he’s not going to give anyone a hard time if it‘s just a misunderstanding. You know he won’t’

 

‘I guess’ Laura conceded half-heartedly.

 

Matt had been in the same high school graduating class as Jeff and was now a deputy with the Sheriff’s department. They weren’t exactly best buds but they maintained an easy rapport and understanding with each other. If Jeff asked him not to make too much fuss then he would probably try not to, but on the other hand he was a lawman and he would need to cover himself just as they did. She didn’t know how these things worked but what if Matt decided he had to call in child protection? Still, she was struggling to think of an alternative.

 

‘I guess you’re right’ she conceded half-heartedly.

 

While Jeff made calls first to Matt’s home and then to the Sheriff’s office, Laura made cocoa for the kids. When she asked Jenna if she wanted some she nodded yes, and Laura set the mug down beside her. Later, when she thought about it Laura would not be able to remember if the little girl had drunk it or not.

 

When Jeff got off the phone, Laura could see from his face that the call had gone well, and they went back into the kitchen again. As it turned out, Matt knew Jenna’s parents reasonably well and was convinced the whole thing was some kind of mix-up, they just weren’t the irresponsible kind apparently. He told Jeff that he had done the right thing in calling him but that he expected the whole thing to be straightened out real soon. He said he’d take a drive over to the house and see if he could turn anyone up, if not maybe talk to the neighbours. He had some urgent paperwork to attend to and a few errands to run first, so he didn’t think he would make it much before 10pm. He offered to send someone to pick up Jenna and take her to the office if needed, but under the circumstances he felt it would better if she stayed where she was for the time being, assuming of course that Jeff and Laura did not object. Now that Jeff had reassured himself by reporting it, he was happy to agree with Matt and to take care of Jenna for a bit longer and Laura was secretly delighted to have the little girl’s company for another couple of hours. Matt said he would check in with them again by 10:30pm to provide an update, and of course they should call him and let him know if Jenna’s folks showed up to collect her in the meantime.

 

Jenna’s parents didn’t show up to collect her but by 10:30pm all of the other kids had been picked up. By 11pm, Zack had headed for bed and Jeff and Laura wanted to do the same, but there had still been no word from Matt. When Jeff called the Sheriff’s office to find out what was going on he got Lorelei, receptionist and dispatcher extraordinaire.

 

‘Matt’s not here right now honey, he’s out on a call’

 

Jeff told her that he wanted to leave a message for Matt to call him urgently and that he would know what it was about.

 

‘I’ll certainly pass it on, but I wouldn’t expect to hear anything from him tonight. There’s been a wreck out on Shepherd’s Road, nasty one by the sounds of. High school kids in an overloaded car. Sounds like he’ll be tied up for there for a few hours yet.’

 

Jeff put the phone down and turned to Laura.

 

‘Looks like we’ve got a guest for the night.

 

When Laura explained to Jenna that they weren’t entirely sure where her parents were and she would have to spend the night with them, she had expected some sign of resistance or reluctance, given her shyness Laura felt sure that she would be fearful of spending the night in a strange house. But when Laura asked her if she understood, she just nodded.

Even though Zack was an only child he still had bunk-beds in his room and they were put to pretty regular use, usually by Eddie who would stay over once or twice a month. It didn’t seem appropriate for them to share, so Laura dispatched Jeff to the attic to fetch the camp bed, while she busied herself digging out spare blankets and pillows from the cupboard in the hallway. They made a bed up in the room that Jeff had commandeered for his study, before it was observed that most of his studying time was spent asleep on the couch. Now it was little more than extra storage, but it was clean and warm and provided a cosy little makeshift bedroom.

Jenna sat on the bed, yellow sneakers straight out in front and Laura sat beside her.

 

‘Will you be okay? You’re not scared being here by yourself are you?’

 

‘I’m okay.’

 

It was barely a whisper but it couldn’t have shocked Laura more if it had been a scream, she started and Jenna shrank away from her.

‘Oh honey, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you but you gave me a bit of a shock. I’d forgotten there was a girl under there, I wasn’t expecting you to speak.’

 

‘I can speak!’ Jenna’s voice was louder this time and she sounded almost comically indignant to Laura.

 

‘Of course you can. I’m sorry, but you have been a little shy tonight.’

 

Jenna nodded her head under the sheet.

 

‘Mom says I’m too shy. She says it’s okay now but I need to work on it for when I’m older. She says people aren’t as scary as they seem.’

 

Laura smiled at that.

 

‘Your Mom’s right. Did you have a good time tonight?’

 

The ghost head nodded vigorously.

 

‘Yes it was lots of fun. I’ve been looking forward to it, I was really happy when Zack invited me.’

 

Laura remembered Zack’s indifference when she had asked him about it and suddenly felt her age. She remembered that feeling from when she was a girl, was beginning to remember how shy she had been herself and how much a small act of acceptance could mean.

 

‘We went to visit my Aunt Linda in Stowesfield today and I told Mom and Dad that we had to leave early because I didn’t want to miss it. I think Dad was cross because he likes to leave later when we’re coming back home, he says the traffic gets too heavy otherwise and then he cusses and then mom tells him off.’

 

Laura laughed at this and then Jenna giggled herself.

 

‘So your Mom and Dad dropped you off on the corner tonight? I didn’t see you arrive.’ Now she had her talking, Laura wondered if she might get to the bottom of this mystery herself.

 

‘Yes. I mean…..’ And she paused, Laura was sure that if she could have seen Jenna’s face at that moment, it would have been a picture of concentration trying to remember. ‘I mean, they must have. I don’t actually remember arriving but I probably fell asleep in the car. I do that sometimes. Mom says I’m always fuzzy-headed when I first wake up.’

 

‘Ah, I’m sure that’s it’ Laura patted the little girls arm reassuringly through the sheet, ‘And you don’t know where your Mom and Dad were going tonight after they dropped you off?’

 

The sheet shook from side to side.

 

‘No, I guess I forgot that too. Sorry.’

 

‘You don’t need to be sorry, it’s nice to have another girl in the house. Now lets get that costume off you and you can get some sleep.’

 

As Laura went to lift the sheet, Jenna pulled away again.

 

‘Oh now, you’re not still shy with me are you? I thought we were getting along okay now. You’ll be more comfortable sleeping in something else. I have a t-shirt you can use as a nightdress, and besides, I’d like to see the pretty girl under there.’

 

‘I don’t feel very pretty at the moment. If you don’t mind, I’d rather keep the sheet on.’

 

As a statement it was tragically comic. It made Laura think of a fading starlet from the golden age of Hollywood, shut away in her mansion in the hills to hide the ravages of time from her adoring public. She had to bite the inside of her cheek to stifle a laugh.

 

‘Okay then, well I guess I can understand that, Lord knows I’ve had a few days like that myself. You know where the bathroom is if you need it, and if you get scared for any reason during the night our bedroom is at the end of the hall, don’t be scared to wake me if you need to, okay?’

 

‘Okay’ Jenna agreed.

 

‘Goodnight Jenna, sleep tight. I’ll see you in the morning.’

 

Laura was dead tired herself when she hit the sack and Jeff had to shake her awake the next morning.

 

‘Matt’s downstairs. He wants to talk to us both.’

 

Laura glanced at the clock on the bedside table, it was just after eight. She let out a groan but she dutifully rolled out of bed and pulled on her robe. Downstairs, Matt was standing in the living room holding his hat in his hands. He should have been in his own bed by now, but his eyes and the pallor of his face told them it had already been a hell of a shift and that he wasn’t about to go off duty any time soon. Laura waved a hello with one hand while stifling a yawn with the other.

 

‘Sit down Matt, I’ll put some coffee on’ said Jeff.

 

Matt raised a hand to refuse.

 

‘No. Thanks anyway but I’ve got a lot to get to this morning.’

 

‘Fair enough, we heard about the wreck on Shepherd’s Road. No news on Jenna’s parents yet, I’m guessing?’

 

Matt’s eyes studied Jeff, flicked to Laura, and then back to Jeff again.

 

‘Well that’s just it, Jeff. I don’t know who you have sleeping upstairs, but I can tell you one thing, it’s not Jenna Rhodes.’

 

‘Don’t be ridiculous. Of course it’s Jenna!’ Laura surprised herself with the edge in her voice but she immediately felt that she had to stand up for the little girl. She wasn’t going to have her called a liar without even a chance to defend herself.

 

‘Okay Laura, just take a step back and listen to what Matt has to say.’ Jeff said, ever the voice of reason. Laura was breathing hard, she couldn’t understand why she was suddenly so angry or why she was feeling such antipathy towards Matt.

 

‘Okay, fine. Why do you think it’s not Jenna?’

 

‘I’m not here to upset anyone Laura, believe me. But why do you think it is Jenna, did she tell you that herself?’

 

‘Yes, as a matter of fact she did. And Zack told us as well and he’s in Jenna’s class, so I think he would know.’ Despite her best efforts to control herself, Laura could feel herself losing her temper again. Matt was a friend but he had come here as a policeman, they were being weighed and measured and she didn’t like the feeling one little bit.

 

‘What does your Jenna look like, Laura? Is it anything like this?’ Matt produced a photograph from the inside pocket of his jacket and handed it to Laura. It showed a family in their garden. They looked ordinary, nothing special. Dad was tending to a barbecue, sandy haired, average looking. Maybe just on the cusp of developing a weight problem. Mom standing beside him holding a beer, figure still very much intact and obviously proud of it, though the crows feet that formed around her eyes as she beamed for the camera suggested that she probably had to work hard these days to maintain it. And there in the foreground, their daughter. She was smiling for the camera but it was self conscious and you could tell she would rather the lens was pointing elsewhere. She was wearing shorts and a t-shirt which made her look skinny and awkward and the fringe of her brown hair fell down over her forehead covering one eye. She was obviously going to be beautiful when she grew up.

 

‘Well, is that her?’ Matt asked again.

 

‘I don’t know’ said Laura and handed the photo back to him.

 

Matt decided to sit down after all, as Laura and Jeff explained. To his credit the deputy didn’t remark on the strangeness of the story, sensing correctly that both Laura and Jeff were beginning to feel more than a little foolish about the situation.

 

‘Okay.’ Matt said standing up from the couch, ‘I think it’s time I had a little chat with your ghost’.

 

They headed upstairs and Matt was about to knock on the door when he thought better of it. Not wishing to scare the girl, he asked Laura to go in first and wake her.

 

Laura rapped on the door with her knuckle, then opened it. The blankets were pulled back on the camp bed, and there were indentations in the pillow and the thin mattress showing where someone had slept, but that sleeper was long gone. On the floor at the foot of the bed, neatly together and with the laces still tied were a pair of yellow Converse sneakers.

 

They searched the house but found no sign of Jenna. They woke Zack and spoke to him, and though he confirmed to Matt the existence of the girl he also confirmed that he hadn’t seen her since the night before. When Matt asked him if he was sure it was Jenna, he could only shrug and say ‘pretty sure’.

 

Downstairs again, Matt gave in and accepted a cup of coffee.

 

‘What now?’ asked Jeff.

 

‘Damned if I know. If what you say is true, we have a missing child that no one can identify.’

 

‘What do you mean “if it’s true”? Do you think we’d make this up?’ It was Jeff’s turn to be angry.

 

‘I’m trying to keep an open mind about this’ Matt said wearily,’ But so far I haven’t seen any conclusive evidence that this child exists.’

 

‘Jesus Matt how long have you known us, I mean…’

 

‘It’s okay Jeff,’ interrupted Laura. If Jeff was going to be angry then she would assume the role of reasonable.

 

‘Matt’s right. But Matt, assuming there was a child, you haven’t told us why you’re so sure that it couldn’t have been Jenna?’

 

Matt put his coffee down and rubbed his eyes which were heavily bloodshot.

 

‘I know, because the wreck on Shepherd’s Road wasn’t the only one last night. Jenna Rhodes and her parents got wiped out on the highway coming back from Stowesfield. Truck driver lost control of his rig and slid it across three lanes. The parents were decapitated, died instantly, Jenna lost most of her face. She was pronounced dead at 4:15am this morning.’

 

Jeff squirmed his fingers through his hair.

 

‘Oh Jesus, this isn’t right. This isn’t right at all’

 

‘That’s putting it mildly’ agreed Matt.

 

There was no choice but to file a report for a missing child. After interviews with the other kids in Laura’s group, and neighbours like Dan Roberts who remembered seeing the Ghost with Laura, there was no question that the child existed and was now unaccounted for. The State Troopers had to be informed and took a lot of convincing that it wasn’t an elaborate joke at their expense when they were told there was no name, no description and no definite age for the child in question. All they had in fact was a height. When Matt returned to see Laura and Jeff that evening to go over the details again, he told them that the Sheriff was fit to be tied at the idea that he would have to give the same report to the FBI if this had not been resolved in twenty four hours. And it was obvious to all concerned that it wouldn’t be.

 

They sat in the kitchen drinking coffee again. It was dinner time but no one had much of an appetite. Zack had decamped to Eddie’s.

 

‘The Feds will want to talk you. Both of you’ Matt said. ‘It’s officially a missing child now, and you two were the last ones to see her. Unfortunately that means that they will consider you to be suspects.’

 

‘What?’ Laura was incredulous, ‘You’re kidding, right Matt? Suspects for what?’

 

Matt blew on his coffee, and took a big gulp before answering.

 

‘Use your imagination. By the time they get the call, foul play will already be assumed.’

 

Jeff closed his eyes and shook his head.

 

‘Christ, what have we got ourselves into?’

 

Matt finished his coffee with another big gulp.

 

‘Right, lets go over this again. Jeff, I remember you had to unlock the front door when you answered it to me this morning, and you’re certain the back door was locked as well?’

 

Jeff nodded.

 

‘Okay, all the windows were shut and latched on the inside and no one remembers having to close one this morning that had been left open? And we’ve searched the whole house?’ Matt’s cognitive gears were turning, ‘Well, if she’s not here and she didn’t let herself out, and you didn’t let her out then that doesn’t leave a whole lot of options.’

 

‘You’re suggesting that someone took her? How did they get in?’

 

‘I don’t know I’m just going over the…’

 

‘Crazy George!’ Laura suddenly screamed.

 

Matt shook his head. George Lafayette was an elderly widower who lived in the house across the street.

 

‘We’ve already searched the neighbours houses and yards and we’ve talked to George. I know he’s eccentric, and Lord knows he’s a miserable SOB, but I wouldn’t put him together with this.’

 

‘No, you don’t understand’ Laura was breathless with excitement as she turned towards Jeff. ‘The camera’.

 

‘Godammit, I didn’t even think. Of course, the camera’  Jeff exclaimed.

 

‘Somebody mind enlightening me?’ asked Matt.

 

George Lafayette was far from being crazy, but he had earned the nickname fair and square with some of his more ‘interesting’ behaviour. Laura had last spoken to him about a month ago when he’d been out working on his porch. He was up a stepladder and seemed to be running a cable from the inside of his house. Laura thought he was trying to fix up some kind of outside lighting before the evenings started to get too much longer. She was worried about him taking a spill and breaking a hip, so she had gone over to volunteer Jeff’s services as a handyman. But old George had in fact been fixing up an infra red camera to his porch post, a camera pointed at his garbage bins at the edge of the sidewalk. For some reason, he had become convinced that ‘No-Account Punk kids’ were stealing his garbage in the middle of the night and he wanted to catch them in the act. Laura had decided against asking him if why it was important to know for sure if kids were stealing his garbage.

 

Matt went across to talk to him without much hope. He returned half an hour later with a portable hard drive and a much clearer idea of what the Sheriff’s department should be doing to reign in the feral youth who were terrorising the local community.

 

‘Turns out old George is a bit of a technical genius. The whole set up’s digital, he keeps the files for a week on this’. Matt waved the drive under their noses.

‘Wanna take a look?’

 

Laura set up her laptop on the coffee table on the lounge and connected up the hard drive. She located the files easily enough and was about to start viewing those dated October 31^st when something occurred to her.

 

‘Matt, this is evidence. Are you sure you should be letting us see this?’

 

Matt waved a dismissive hand.

 

‘I doubt it’s going to show anything interesting, and if it does I’m sure it’s not going to incriminate you or Jeff, because I know you haven’t done anything wrong. Besides, I’m not great with this kind of thing. We’ll get through it a lot quicker here then if I take it back to the Sheriff’s Office and try and sort through it myself.’

 

Laura nodded and hit play. The footage was black and white and the time code started at 2100hrs. George had explained that he had it running on a timer starting at 9pm every night and finishing at 6am the following morning. Laura brought it up to full screen. The image was a little grainy but still of surprisingly good quality. As expected, George’s bins were front and centre but the camera was mounted high enough that it did indeed show a view of their front door beyond.

 

Laura fast forwarded to 2200hrs and they could see signs of activity around the front door as parents came to pick up their kids. They were in the background so they were quite small even on full screen, but she found she could identify most of the figures fairly easily. They watched parents arriving and then leaving with their kids for a while, and then when the activity stopped Laura set it to forward again. It rolled past 2330hrs, the time when Laura had left the ghost in the spare room. Now they watched the street in silence. It was eerie watching their own house from a strange angle at night and it made it hard not to think about who else might be watching and why.

 

Apart from a few cars rolling by without stopping, nothing else happened until 0117hrs when a middle-aged man walking a dog strolled into view. He let the mutt crap on George’s lawn and didn’t bag it. Shame on you, thought Laura. Then all was quiet again. They watched the time advance as nothing continued to happen. When the clock rolled around to 0400hrs Laura stiffened, she reached out and clicked the play button to return it to normal speed. Jeff looked at her.

 

‘What do you see?’

 

She didn’t answer, her eyes fixed on the screen. Matt looked at Jeff who shrugged, then both men returned their gaze to the screen. They watched in silence for another ten minutes and then they saw them arrive. They drifted in slowly from the edge of the screen and moved up the lawn towards the front door. They were both covered from head toe in white sheets, neither had any discernible marking apart from two black circles where you would expect their eyes to be. They stopped at the door and waited. The time rolled around to 0415hrs and Matt, Jeff and Laura watched in wonder as the front door to the house opened and a little ghost emerged. The two larger ghosts bent down and wrapped their sheet arms around the smaller one, and then all three of them began to make their way slowly back across the lawn again. Behind them the front door swung slowly closed. Instead of disappearing off the edge of the screen they crossed the street and came towards the camera. As the figures drew level with George’s bins, Laura reached out and hit pause.

 

‘Look’, she said pointing at the screen.

 

 

 

*********

 

Agent Harper reached out and clicked the stop button on the digital recorder.

 

‘Thank you, Laura.’

 

‘How’d I do?’ she asked, ‘Did I trip myself up?’

 

‘I will have to have this transcribed and compared to your previous interviews to know for certain, but no, I don’t think so. Thank you again for your time, I’ll be in touch if I do need to go over anything else.’

 

With that, he got up from the table and made his way to the front door, Laura followed him.

 

She wanted him to know. The others hadn’t seen it and she hadn’t wanted to tell them. Somehow, she felt that her belief should have been enough for them. Jeff had believed at first too, but it had faded with time, clouded by that ubiquitous male leveller of all things, logic. Matt simply refused to admit what he had seen on the tape. As far as he was concerned, they were still looking for two unknown suspects in the kidnapping of an unknown little girl. She supposed she should be grateful that at least that he wasn’t leaning towards the elaborate hoax theory. But now she wasn’t sure if it was enough, if she was enough to keep Jenna’s memory alive.

 

He paused on the porch to say his goodbyes, and she took hold of his smooth hand in both of hers.

 

‘Look at their feet.’ she said simply.

 

‘Excuse me Mrs Wh…I mean Laura, I’m not sure I follow you.’

 

‘On the tape. Look at their feet’.

 

‘I assure you I’ve……’

 

She held a finger to her lips and shushed him as she would a child.

 

‘I know you’ve been over it and over it, but you didn’t come to it fresh. You came to it after you’d read the reports and listened to the opinions, this was old news before you got anywhere near it. You had an expectation about what you would see and you weren’t disappointed. But she didn’t have any shoes, Agent Harper. She was wearing a pair of yellow sneakers when she came to my house and they were still there when she left. They’re long gone now of course - probably bagged and tagged and waiting in some evidence locker for a day that will never come- but the question remains, what was on her feet? Take another look.’

 

Then she let go of his hand, walked back inside the house and closed the door. Special Agent Daniel Harper stood on the porch for several minutes, not knowing quite what to do next, but of course the answer was simple.

 

He had a long drive back to the field office but instead of heading for the highway he pointed the car towards the centre of town. On the main street, he found a Starbucks and ordered a tea (he never touched coffee) and a bran muffin, before settling himself at a quiet table in the corner. He set his laptop on the table and logged on. The video file was right there on his desktop, he had been studying it again last night. He had watched the whole thing intently at least a half dozen times. He didn’t know how many times he had gone over the five minutes or so from when the two strangers appeared until they disappeared again with the little girl in tow. But Mrs Wheeler had been right about one thing, he hadn’t come to it clean. One more look wasn’t going to hurt any.

 

He was so familiar with it that once he started it playing he was able to click on the time bar at the bottom in the exact place so that the footage leapt instantly to the two adult ‘ghosts’ entering the shot. As he watched them move towards the Wheeler’s front door he blew on his tea, it was scalding hot. He knew he would burn his tongue, but he also knew that he would still drink it. He always did. He glanced at the screen. The front door had opened and the little girl came out to join the other two, but they were still too far from the camera at this point to be able to see their feet clearly. He broke a bit off his muffin and popped it in his mouth where it crumbled dryly. He took a sip of his tea and winced as he burnt his tongue. There we go. He looked up and caught the pretty brunette behind the counter watching him, she looked away bashfully as he caught her eye and then gave him a second sneaky look. He finally smiled but only too himself, too young.

 

His eyes wandered back to the screen and he hit pause immediately. He couldn’t know it, but he had stopped the video at exactly the same point as Laura had when she watched it. Something wasn’t right, but what?

 

He studied the freeze-frame. The figures had moved up from behind the garbage bins and were standing on the lawn in front of them. He knew if he started the footage again they would continue forward and disappear from the camera’s view in a matter of seconds. He looked to their feet but couldn’t see anything unusual, he couldn’t see their shoes but it was obvious from the way that the sheets pooled on the ground and dragged behind then that their shoes were covered, what was the big deal?

 

Then he saw it. The little girl’s sheet didn’t hang like the adult’s sheets did, there was no gather in it at all, it just ran straight down. And underneath it, before the grass became visible in front of her, was a dark shape. It took him a moment to realise what it was. The garbage bin. He could see the bottom of the garbage bin behind the girl because her sheet didn’t reach the ground. Her shoes didn’t block his view because there were no shoes, and there were no shoes because there were no feet. She simply floated above the ground. Not high above the ground, no more than a few inches at most.

 

Perhaps no more than the height of a pair of child’s high top sneakers.

 

Reviews

[Vikrantsingh]

I need time and patience, Its long story I will check and read it later but you must chop this into chapters and link the attention of audience.
Start was better. I hope this drag my attention till the end and grew some curiosity along the way!

All the best will read it on Weekends ;)

- Singh :)