The Moonlight Monsters Detective Agency Volume One (5 page)

‘Ok,’ Tina said, ‘so why don’t you tell me exactly when these disturbances first began.’

The young couple exchanged glances.

Oh,’ Juan said, ‘I’d say almost as soon as we moved in, right Karen?

His wife nodded. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘that’s right. We’ve only been here for a few months, you see. We thought it was a dream come true at first.’

‘Yeah it all seemed so perfect,’ Juan said, ‘but then the banging started…’

‘Always at night,’ Karen continued, ‘as soon as we’d go to bed, the doors downstairs would start banging open and shut – even the kitchen cupboards and the fridge. It was inexplicable.’

Juan folded his arms and sighed. Tina nodded for them to go on.

‘Well once I’d made sure it wasn’t an intruder, I was stumped,’ Juan said. ‘For a while I thought maybe it might be a stray cat or dog, but it didn’t fit. There’s just no way a cat or a dog would be able to open and shut all those handles, over and over…’

‘And that was when things started moving,’ Karen said, ‘I mean, they’d been moving around for a while sure – stuff going missing, or turning up in weird places – but now they started to move
right in front of our eyes
…’

‘You probably think we’re crazy,’ Juan said.

Tina smiled. ‘Absolutely not,’ she said, ‘in fact, I think it’s a marvel that you’re
not
crazy after enduring so much stress these past few months.’

‘Yes well, we’ve only seen it moving things a handful of times,’ Juan continued, ‘it happened much more frequently when it was just Sandy and Anna in the house. We think maybe it actually wanted to scare her away.’

Tina chewed the information over. It was sounding more and more likely that she had a poltergeist on her hands here.

‘Ok,’ she said, standing up from her seat, ‘you guys have seen and heard some things these last couple of months that have opened you up to a wealth of new possibilities about the world. I would like you to carry that open-mindedness a little further for the next few hours while I’m with you. In my work I often administer a process of inference – in fact, it’s what you would probably call a psychic reading – and I would like, with your permission, to take a reading of your daughter…’

Juan and Karen looked at each other uneasily for a moment, but did not say anything.

‘The reason I ask, you see,’ Tina said, ‘is because it’s not uncommon in these situations for the source of the disturbances to be a child or an adolescent in the household and when that is the case, believe it or not, it actually occurs most often when those children are suffering from autism or some other form of mental impairment.’

Juan sighed. ‘We didn’t want to say anything,’ he said, ‘but we did consider that.’

Karen stepped forward seriously. ‘But it couldn’t be,’ she said, ‘Anna’s just as clueless as we are in all of this. I can tell.’

Tina walked down to the end of the table where Anna continued to sketch, apparently oblivious to the serious mood that had settled over the room.

‘Do you mind?’ Tina asked.

Juan looked at Karen. ‘No,’ he said, ‘I don’t anyway. What about you, honey?’

‘Please, go ahead.’

Tina sat down beside the little girl. Anna continued to draw.

Slowly, Tina beamed the words: “
hello honey
,” into Anna’s mind.

She felt the little girl respond emotionally, though the gesture was free from words and essentially formless. Tina branched out and entered the strange and abstract landscape of the girl’s mind. Fractals and diagrams of all shapes and sizes flew it at her from every angle. She ebbed against huge clouds of colored emotions, riding on a wave of synesthesia. It was like being inside a children’s educational cartoon.

As Tina traversed the ordered chaos of Anna’s mind, she suddenly felt herself coming closer to what she was looking for. And then, in a flash, a face appeared to her, filling her whole vision – a giggling child, with blonde curly locks and a pallor that was as pale as the dead.

“
Anna,
” Tina asked, “
can you tell me who this is? Do you know who this little girl is?
”

She felt the confines of the girl’s autistic mind contract as she strained to form a response. A cloud of emotion filled her – curiosity, wonder, and mild trepidation. It was how Anna felt about the girl.

“
Anna, can you show me more pictures of this girl?
”

Nothing.
Just the same giggling face.
Slowly Tina drifted out of Anna’s mind.

As her being focused back on her physical body, Tina looked down at the table to the picture Anna was sketching. It was Anna herself, and beside her the little blonde girl from her vision.

Out in the hallway, the cover of the piano banged open and the first few tinkling notes of Chopsticks began to play, with childlike precision. The grown-ups in the room all exchanged an uneasy look.

Tina jumped up and ran out to the hallway. The Hernandez
family were
quick on her heels. The piano was open with the stool pulled out, but the spirit was gone.

‘So now you see,’ Juan said.

‘I never doubted it,’ Tina replied. She could feel the residue of the spirit that had inhabited the room just moments ago. It was child-like and innocent, but also lost and lonely.

At that moment her cellphone started to ring and all three adults jumped.

‘Sorry,’ Tina muttered.

She pulled out her phone. It was Boris.

‘Hello?’

‘
Ya
, Tina?’
Boris answered, ‘I’ve arrived on
Godot
Road, but I can’t see a damn thing in this light. Where are you?’

‘Give me a second,’ Tina said, and then turned back to the others. ‘It’s my partner, he’s just arrived. I better go out and show him the way. I’ll be back in a moment.’

She stepped outside into the cold icy night. Somewhere overhead the thundering rush of an airplane descending sounded out in the darkness. She walked down the path and out onto the road, keeping her eyes peeled for Boris. At the end of the street, with his huge hulking figure shrouded beneath a heavy fur overcoat and a Russian hat, was her partner.

Jeez, she thought, in the darkness and snow the werebear looked like he’d be every bit as terrifying to the unawares as whatever it was that was lurking in the shadows of the house she’d just left. She’d have to remind him to take off his hat at least, before he went inside and gave them all a heart attack.

‘Over here!’ she called.

Boris spun on his heels and began crunching across the snow towards her. ‘Ah,’ he smiled, ‘there you are. It is a cold evening, no?’

‘Yeah,’ Tina snorted, ‘as if you even feel it.’

‘So what we got here?’ Boris asked as he joined her on the Hernandez’s driveway.

‘I’m thinking poltergeist,’ she replied, ‘a little girl – and the presence is pretty damn strong too. I don’t suppose Ernie pulled up anything on the computer system?’

Boris shook his head. ‘Nada,’ he said, ‘all theses houses were only built last year. I had a look at the housing records myself.’

‘Huh,’ Tina nodded. ‘Ok, text the Egghead and ask him to run the address through the newspaper archives for the last year – see if he can dig up anything about a little girl, maybe a missing person’s report or a death.’

‘Got it.’

‘Right, the house is
back
this way. Come on, I’ll introduce you to the Hernandez family.’

They stepped into the front-room and Tina noted with relief that Boris had already taken off his hat and opened his coat before stepping inside. The young family had already stomached enough fright for one lifetime.

‘Guys,’ she said, ‘this is my partner Boris Rachmaninoff. Boris, this is Juan, Karen and little Anna.’

‘Ah hello little one!’
Boris called to the little girl, ‘What a beautiful young princess!’

Anna’s face broke out in a smile and Tina felt a powerful image flash forth out of her mind – that of Santa Claus. Oh man, Tina thought, holding a hand over her mouth to cover her smile. The poor kid thought Boris was Santa.

‘Oh she likes you!’ Karen Hernandez smiled, ‘she doesn’t usually take to strangers.’

Boris laughed with hearty delight. ‘Ha
ha
, yes, I have a whole den of cubs myself, but none so pretty as this one.’

As Tina watched her chuckling partner with his huge fur-coat and beard, she realized that he did kind of look like Santa. Better keep that one to yourself, she thought. She turned back to the young couple.

‘Is there anywhere in particular where the disturbances take place more than anywhere else?’ she asked them.

Juan nodded slowly. ‘Actually, yes,’ he said, ‘Anna’s room. That’s why we thought originally that it might be her who was doing it.’

Tina nodded to herself.
Makes sense.
‘Do you mind if we take a look?’ she asked, ‘If it’s any conciliation, I’m fairly certain now that your daughter is not the source of the problem.’

‘By all means,’ Karen said, ‘it’s the second door on the left upstairs. Do whatever you have to.’

‘Ok,’ Tina said, ‘Boris, let’s go.’

‘Goodbye little one!’
Boris cried to Anna and the little girl’s face lit up once more with a bright smile.

They climbed the staircase to the hallway upstairs. The presence was strong now. The spirit was close.

This is the one,’ Tina said, pausing outside Anna’s room. She pushed the door open and stepped inside.

She clicked the switch on and the room filled with light. It was a typical little girl’s room – pink wallpaper, a whole brigade of stuffed toys and dolls. Long lace curtains hanging over the window. But there was something else here too. She could see Boris’s breath when he spoke.

‘Do you feel it?’

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘she’s here.’

The spirit was so palpable it was almost as if there was another living person in the room. Tina focused her psychic energy, her mind spreading out into the ether around her.

‘Hello?’ she spoke, ‘Can you hear me? My name is Tina. I’d like very much if you could come out and talk to me.’

The dresser drawers began to tremble as she felt a voice reply. “
No! No! I only want to play!
”

Boris eyed his partner warily. He hadn’t heard a thing beyond the shaking furniture.

‘You can play with me if you want to,’ Tina said.

The fixtures shook even louder. “
No! I only want to play.
”

Tina turned to Boris. ‘Will you go downstairs and get Karen and Juan to bring Anna up here?’ she said, ‘I have an idea.’

‘Sure thing,’ Boris nodded. He turned and left, his loud footfalls sounding out through the walls as he followed the staircase down below.

‘Would you like to play with Anna?’ Tina asked.

The closet door slammed open, and a cold breeze blew out, rustling the lapels of Tina’s coat.

 
“
Y
es
!
Yes, I want to play with Anna.
”

The spirit was powerful – powerful and restless.

Boris arrived back with the Hernandez family. As Anna stepped into the room the spirit went wild. Every piece of furniture started to shake and a breeze as strong as a full wind blew around them.

“
Anna!
” the ghost cried, “
Anna come play with me!
”

Slowly a little porcelain doll rose up from the dresser. It hovered for a moment in mid-air, before flying across the room and hitting the wall. Immediately after this, a teddy bear rose up and began spinning around in circles. Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez looked terrified, even Boris seemed a little spooked. But as Tina watched young Anna, she realized that the little girl wasn’t scared at all. In fact she was smiling and looking across the room past the others. Her eyes were fixed on a spot in the corner.

‘She can see her,’ Tina whispered, ‘she can actually see her.’

With intense concentration, Tina let herself slip out of her body and over onto Anna’s wavelength. It all made sense now. The girl’s abnormal mode of consciousness had formed the perfect conduit for the spirit to return to the realm of the living.

Slowly, Tina turned and looked to the spot where Anna’s gaze was transfixed. And then she saw her – faint, but there nonetheless – a little girl in a blue frock with blonde curls. This was not Tina’s first time dealing with lost spirits. In fact it was quite a common occurrence for a human soul to become trapped on its way to the next world – whether by an untimely and unexpected death or by a particularly gruesome end. By the generally happy countenance of this spirit, Tina was confident that it was the former. It shouldn’t be too hard to guide her back to the right path then…

Tina stepped towards the ghost. ’Hello there,’ she smiled, ‘I bet you’ve been very bored lately, huh?’

“
Yes, it’s so boring here!
”

‘Is that why you woke up when Anna came?
Because you wanted to play?’