Day Shift

“Where in the study?” Joe asked, trying not to sound impatient.

“Inside…” It was like a cell phone had dropped the call.

“Inside what?” Olivia snapped.

“I see the world…” Rachel whispered, and then Manfred was back in his body. His eyes opened. He looked from one of them to another. “I feel like something happened,” he said. “Tell me what it was.”

“Are ghosts always irritating and vague? Is that part of dying?” Olivia said.

Chuy released her hand. “Olivia,” he said reprovingly.

“Well, it was exasperating,” she said. “At least now we know which room.”

“Could someone tell me what happened?” Manfred looked from face to face.

Joe said, “Rachel paid us a visit. She said she’d put the jewelry in Morton’s study, because Lewis and Morton didn’t get along. Inside something.”

“Inside what?”

“She didn’t tell us that. We lost the connection before she could specify. She said something about the world. How do you feel?”

“That’s the first time I’ve ever been taken over like that,” Manfred said. “Interesting experience, and a little too personal for me.” He seemed excited about the possession, rather than exhausted or terrified, which was what Joe would have expected.

“That was an interesting experience for all of us,” Chuy said. “I thought we’d be here for hours trying to summon a spirit, and she popped into you like a hand into a puppet.”

“I’m not sure I like that analogy,” Manfred said. “But I’ll accept it. I was definitely somewhere else.”

Olivia stared at Manfred. “I couldn’t do that,” she said. “I couldn’t lose control like that.”

“Then the chances are overwhelmingly good that you won’t,” Manfred said. “Usually, the spirits visit people who are open to the experience. I hate to sound all abracadabra, but it’s true. I have a theory or two about why spirits are so vague.”

“Let’s hear them.” Olivia got up and leaned against the kitchen wall. She seemed too restless to sit any longer.

“I think maybe they lose their hold on specifics about the world, in the first place. If you were in a whole new situation and had no contact with the universe you’d known all your life, you might not remember every little thing, either. If we can talk to a spirit, they’re sticking around because they haven’t reached their final destination, for whatever reason. But they aren’t in the world any longer, so a lot of worldly stuff no longer seems important to them. My alternate theory? They do it to aggravate us. Because if they aggravate us, they’re still important to us and interacting with us and affecting us.”

“Interesting,” said Joe. “In this instance, identifying the room and using the qualifying ‘inside’ may be specific enough. I don’t suppose there’s any way you can just go to the house and tell the daughters that’s where you suspect the jewelry is hidden?”

“No,” Manfred said. “Because they’ll say, ‘How did you know?’ And I’d have to answer one of three things: ‘A little bird told me.’ Or, ‘Your mom’s spirit possessed me and told my friends.’ Or, ‘I know it’s there because I hid it there.’ Guess which one they’d believe?”

“But at least the jewelry would be found, and the case would go away,” Joe said.

“Leaving my reputation ruined. Psychics don’t have much reputation as it is, and you can imagine that my business would sink like a stone if it was widely believed I’d robbed an elderly lady out of her sparklies and then tried to return them when I’d gotten caught out.”

“Plus, Lewis the asshole would go unpunished,” Olivia said. She pulled herself away from the wall and walked around the little room, unable to be still any longer.

“Olivia, you need not fear about that,” Chuy said. “In the end, Lewis will get whatever he has earned.”

Olivia gave Chuy a very skeptical look. “Right,” she said. She laughed, but it was a laugh that sounded anything but amused. “I would never have thought you, of all people, would say that.”

“Why?”

“Because you and Joe have faced such ugliness, being together,” she said, obviously editing as she spoke.

Joe looked at Chuy. “We try not to judge,” Joe said quietly. “There’s always a chance for redemption.”

“If that’s what you have to tell yourselves so you can live with all the assholes, so be it,” Olivia said. “But I don’t have to.” Her eyes were lit with the fire burning in her. To Joe and Chuy, it was visible.

Manfred said, “Who needs a glass of water?” The passion of the conversation clearly made him uncomfortable.

“That’s right, just sweep it under the rug,” Olivia said, turning on him.

“After being inhabited by a lady in her sixties, I feel I can do without any more upset tonight,” Manfred said, an edge to his voice.

“I see your point,” Olivia said stiffly, after a moment. “I’ll go back to my place. We’ll make another plan. I’ll check in with the Rev. How’s the little boy doing?”

“Not so little. He’s growing,” said Chuy. “Visibly,” he added.

“He’s taller than he was when he got here,” Joe said.

They all looked at each other.

“I was going to say, ‘How is that possible?’” Manfred shrugged. “I should know better.”

14