Devil of a Ghost Tour 6

Present

“Let’s go get a drink,” Lynn suggested. After they escaped the Franciscan Hotel, Lee barely gave her time to say 'goodbye' to Hector before steering her towards the car. She hugged him around the waist. He seemed normal enough now, so maybe she'd just imagined the whole thing.

“Are you sure? It’s kind of late.”

“Sure, I’m sure. It's been a long time since we stayed downtown. The Dome Bar is beautiful.”

“With a six-dollar bottle of beer.”

“I want a rum and coke.”

“That’ll be eight dollars. Geesh, you’re expensive.”

“But worth it!” Lynn grinned up at him.

They strolled arm and arm across the San Jacinto Plaza to the Paso del Norte hotel and bar. On the way, they stopped to admire the alligator sculpture in the middle of the plaza. “OK, I’ll bite, why alligators?”

“You don’t know, Ms. I-Google-everything?”

“No, and obviously I don’t Google everything.”

“Live alligators used to be part of a downtown attraction. The alligators were here, for, I don't know, maybe, fifty years.”

“You’d think that would be a little dangerous.”

“Yea, for the alligators. Some college kids pulled a couple out of the pond one night. They put one in a professor’s office and another one in someone’s swimming pool as a prank.”

“You’re kidding!”

“Nope and after twelve, blissful years of marriage, you think you’d realize I don’t kid... much.”

“Right!” Lynn gave him a squeeze around the waist as he opened the big, wooden door that lead to a room, two stories high.

Over the bar, in the middle of the room, hung a Tiffany stained glass ceiling. Dramatic lighting brought out the blue, green and white shades of the floral design. The brown speckled walls and gold-plated moldings glowed with the light from the hanging chandeliers.

“I think this is the most beautiful place to relax and unwind. There are a lot of fluer de lis decorations too. What did Hector say about them?”

“I thought they used them to brand prisoners who were marked for death.”

They ordered and settled back in the comfortable, cushioned chairs. Lynn frowned as Lee fiddled with his iPhone.

“Don’t play games on that thing now.”

“What? No, I’m checking out the pictures I took.”

“Of the empty building?”

“Yea... wait. Whoa! Check this out. There were no windows in that building, right?”

“Yea, let me see,” Lynn took the iPhone from Lee. “OK, first one - big, empty building. Second one - big, empty building. Third one - big, empty building. I’m beginning to detect a pattern here. Fourth one - big... Holy shrimp!” Her eyes met Lee's, “There’s a light in one of the windows!”

“Look at the next one.”

“There’s a light. Sixth one, there’s a light. Last one, no light.”

“I took those pictures one right after the other.”

“So it’s like someone turned a light on and then off.”

“Yea,” she grinned, “This is awesome, honey. We’ve got to show these to Hector and Marcos.”

“Sure. Here, let’s check the audio.”

“Were you recording the session?”

“Some of it when we were down in the basement.”

Lynn took one of the ear buds as the waiter brought their drinks and set them down. “I thought you didn't believe in this stuff?”

“Well everyone else had something to use and the iPhone has a voice recorder. I figured, what the heck.”

After a few minutes, Lynn said, “Stop. I heard something there.”

“So did I.”

After several minutes, Lynn pulled the ear bud out shaking her head. “I don’t know what it’s saying. There’s a garbled sentence and then a word. Let’s send this to Hector and Marcos and see what they think.”

“Good idea. A toast, to a devil of a ghost hunting team.”

***

A week later, Lynn had a ‘girl’s night out’ planned. Lee elected to stay home rather than go out with his friends. Guilt nibbled at her conscience about leaving him behind, but he told her to go on and enjoy herself.

She returned early, around ten, to find Lee drunk and playing on-line poker. Lee was an affectionate, 'I love you, man' drunk, so finding him like this didn’t bother her. As she leaned in to give him a ‘hello’ kiss, he flinched and glared at her, “What?”

“Nothing, just giving you a ‘Hi, honey, I’m home kiss.’”

“Humph.”

“You winning?” she said glancing over his shoulder.

“Not really. I win some, then I lose it all.”

“I thought you hated gambling? You told me it was basically throwing money away.”

“I'm just changing my mind. You know, like a woman.”

“Don't get smart. Well, its play money anyway. It is play money, right?”

“Maybe.”

“Lee!”

“What? I've spent a couple of bucks. No big deal.”

“Come on, hustler, let's call it a night.”

“Nah, you go on, don’t wait up for me.”

“Lee, how long have you sat here? How many bucks have you lost?”

“What the hell? You go out and have a good time. I stay here and have a good time, and now you’re jumping my ass?”

“Lee, I’m not jumping you,” she held up her hands backing away. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he shouted.

She left him and closed the door behind her. What the hell indeed, she thought.

***

Sunday morning they usually slept in before going to the corner bakery to pick up some menudo with pan bolillo and pan dulce. Lee brushed his nose as Lynn tried tickling him. Her lips brushed his ear. “Come on, menudo is good for a hangover.”

“I'm not hungover. Much,” he groaned. “Go without me, you know which kind of sweet bread I like.”

“Oh, all right. Hey, you were grumpy last night.”

“I was?”

“Yeees.”

“I don’t remember. I don’t remember much of anything. Can you put some coffee on?”

He snuggled back down under the covers as Lynn ruffled his hair. “Sure.”

“And hey,” Lee said poking his head up from under the covers. “I’m sorry if I said anything stupid last night.”

“It’s OK,” she said from the doorway. “I love you.”

“I love you more.”

***

As they were slurping up the spicy, hominy and tripe soup with hunks of white bread for dipping, Lynn’s phone rang. “It’s Hector,” she said, “Hey, Hector, what’s up?”

Lee raised his eyebrows when her eyes widened and waited for her to hang up, then asked, “And?”

“He got something on the EVP. He wants to meet me down at Kipps Cheesesteaks to pick up the pictures and recording. Want to come?”

“No, that's OK. What was on the EVP?”

“He heard the word - fool.”

“Nice, even the ghosts think we’re stupid,” Lee said.

I’m going to jump in the shower.” Lynn winked, “Race ya!”

Lee fumbled with his coffee cup as she raced out of the kitchen and up the stairs. “No fair! I’m still handicapped.”

About half-way, he glimpsed Lynn flash him before ducking into the bathroom. Lee smiled and then froze as he envisioned himself dragging her by the hair and throwing her down the stairs. He stumbled backwards to dodge her body and caught himself by gripping the railing so hard his hands turned white.

“My God, Lee, are you all right?”

Lee forced a smile. “I, uh, yea, I’m fine. I must be hungover still.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yea, yea, I’m coming. Get the water warm.” Peeking over his shoulder, he caught a glimpse of Lynn, bloody and broken, at the bottom of the stairs. He raced the rest of the way to the bathroom and shut the door.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Lynn asked him for the hundredth time. “Why don’t you come with me?”

“No, you go on ahead. I need to get ready for work on Monday.”

“All right, love you.” Lee accepted a kiss and waved as she backed out of the driveway.

As he closed the door, he heard the creak of footsteps on the second floor. He swung around, but saw nothing. The footsteps continued to the top of the stairs, then started down the stairs. A distinct footfall landed on each step. A gauzy black mist gathered together in the shape of a person.

Not believing what his senses were telling him, Lee rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palms. The footsteps stopped. When he opened his eyes, nothing was there.