Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2001 10:40:05 EDT
From: MystryAuthr@aol.com
Subject: Chapter 28 of All Lost Things

Here is Chapter 28. I'm finally getting back on schedule after the
attacks. We're nearing the end now; I hope you have enjoyed the ride as
much as I have. Send feedback and comments to Aterovis@aol.com and be sure
to check out the website for all the latest news on Bleeding Hearts. You
can now order an autographed copy of the book from the site.

http://www.steliko.com/bleedinghearts


Chapter 28

	At Judy's words I felt as if ice water had flooded through my
body. Following Amalie Marnien anywhere wasn't exactly on my 'To Do'
list. Seth's vague warning about the ghost fluttered through my mind and I
dug my heels in mentally.

	Judy slumped to one side, as if desperate to avoid the apparition's
gaze. Amalie looked past Judy to me, her eyes locking with mine. Despite
having seen her once before I found that I was far from prepared to see her
again. Even in the uneven light from the lightning she was easy to see. I
was struck anew by how different she looked from the way ghosts were
portrayed in TV shows and movies I had seen. She looked as solid as Judy or
I, no transparent specter or gray ghoul, and yet there was something
strangely insubstantial about her, some deep knowledge that she didn't
belong here in this plane. She was wearing the same dark mourning dress she
had been wearing the last time I'd seen her, and the same expression of
intense sorrow. Her penetrating stare left no doubt that she wanted
something.

	I was trapped in that gaze like a fly in a spider's web, powerless
to break away on my own. Suddenly she turned away, breaking the spell. My
knees buckled and I sat down heavily on the steps with a thud. Judy
recovered before I did. She grabbed my wrist and tried to yank me up. I
pulled sharply away.

	"We have to follow," she said with a surprising intensity.

	"No!" I gasped.

	Her eyes widened. "We have to!"

	"I can't!"

	"This is what we came here for."

	"No."

	She spun around in frustration and took the remaining steps in one
graceful leap. She looked up and down the hall almost frantically, waving
the flashlight back and forth.

	"She's gone," she said in confusion.

	I realized that the hairs on the back of my neck and on my arms had
settled back to their normal state and I knew she really was gone, at least
for now.

	I pushed myself to my feet and joined Judy in the now empty hallway
just as the lights flickered and came back on.

	Judy looked closely at me. "You saw her too, right? I didn't
imagine that."

	"I saw her," I said softly.

	"I don't understand. I thought she wanted me to follow her but then
she was gone when I got down here."

	I shrugged. "Can we go back down now?"

	"Ok, but we're far from done here."

	"Oh, I think I'm done."

	We went back down to where the others were waiting in the ballroom.

	"Man, you missed all the excitement," Kane said as soon as we came
into the room.

	"I rather doubt that," I said dryly.

	"The electricity went off and we were all standing here in the dark
and then we heard these footsteps," he plowed on. "We thought it was you
and we said something but they went right down the hallway and then
stopped. Next thing we know we hear a door slam shut and before we can do
anything the lights come back on. We're all trying to figure out what
happened when you came back downstairs so we know it wasn't you."

	"Which way were the footsteps going?" Judy asked instantly on
alert, "Could you tell what door closed?" I'm sure the thought had occurred
to her at the same time it did to me that the footsteps were most likely
Amalie.

	"What happened up there?" Steve asked.

	"We saw Amalie again," I said, "but then she disappeared before
Judy could follow her."

	"Where did the steps go?" Judy asked again.

	"It sounded to me like they stopped at the door to the basement but
I can't be sure."

	"The basement?" Judy repeated. "Show me."

	Steve led the way to a door in the hallway that was tucked away
under the staircase, Judy on his heels and the rest of us trailing
behind. I knew the house had an old fashioned dirt-floored cellar under it,
but I'd never been down there. From what I knew, once all the safety
regulations were met not much else was done down there. Steve opened the
door and flipped on his flashlight.

	"The light is at the bottom of the stairs so we'll have to use this
going down."

	"Anybody else want to wait up here?" Kane asked hopefully. When
nobody answered and we all started filing down the stairs he heaved a sigh
and fell in behind the last person in line, Adam. We all gathered at the
bottom of the stairs as Steve reached out and pulled the chain that lit the
single dim bulb hanging from the rough wooden beams above our heads.

	Except for the wires and pipes passing overhead, the basement must
have looked much the way it did when the house was built. The dirt floor
gave off a damp, dank smell and the brick walls were grown over with moss
and mildew. A wooden bench-like counter had been built along one wall, for
vegetable storage in the days before refrigerators, I guessed. There wasn't
much else down here. It wasn't a suitable place for storage for much else
as damp as it was. It didn't take long to see that there was nothing much
to see. A collective sigh of relief went up; I hadn't even realized I'd
been holding my breath.

	"I want to spend the night here," Judy announced suddenly, making
everyone jump slightly.

	"Tonight?" Adam asked in surprise.

	She shrugged. "Whenever is convenient. Tonight would be fine with
me."

	"I need to go home, I have a project I need to get back to," Adam
said.

	"I have, uh, homework," Kane added quickly.

	"It's summer," I pointed out and received a nasty look for my
effort.

	"It's not necessary that everyone stay," Judy said. That made me
brighten up considerably until she went on. "Except for Killian; I may need
him here."

	"Arg!"

	"Is it alright if I stay?" Micah asked.

	"I don't see why not," Judy answered.

	"I'll be staying too," Steve said.

	"It'll be a supernatural slumber party," I grumbled.

	"You can do each other's hair," Kane suggested with a giggle. He
seemed in much better spirits now that he knew he was leaving soon.

	We started back up the stairs as Steve asked, "What will we be
doing exactly?"

	"I want to sleep here mainly," Judy explained.

	"Then why do you need me?" I was quick to ask.

	"I want to talk to you," she said, "And I want you to sleep here
too. For whatever reason she seems to be rather partial to you. You may
pick up things I don't or she may show you things she won't show me."

	"Killian and Amalie sitting in a tree," Kane started to sing.

	"Aren't you leaving?" I snapped.

	He grinned. "Hell, yeah. And I must say I'm pretty damn happy about
that."

	"Maybe I'll just leave you here," Adam said warningly. That shut
him up.

	The storm seemed to be winding down outside so Adam and Kane
decided to leave in Steve's SUV after Judy promised to take Steve home in
the morning and Micah said he'd take me.

	Once they were gone everyone stood staring at each other. I was the
first to wonder how we were going to sleep; we didn't have any bedding or
sleeping bags.

	"We can run to my apartment," Micah asked. It's closer than your
house and I have blankets and a couple sleeping bags."

	"Why don't you and Steve go get them, Micah," Judy said. It was
phrased as a suggestion but the order was pretty plain, "That way Killian
and I can talk."

	Micah shrugged good-naturedly, "Sure."

	"Ok," Steve agreed, "But only if you promise to tell me what
happened upstairs as soon as we get back."

	"Of course."

	They left in Micah's car and Judy and I were all alone, well,
except for Amalie. I turned to my living housemate.

	"What's going on?" I asked.

	"What do you mean?"

	"Why is it so important for me to be here? Why do you need to talk
to me? And why is she here at all?"

	"By her I assume you mean Amalie?"

	"Yes."

	"Well, let's see. To answer your first question, I need you here
because you are obviously a sensitive, and from all appearances I very
strong one. I need you to help me if we're going to figure out what is
keeping Amalie on this plane. To answer you're last question, I don't
know. That's what we're trying to figure out. I suspect it has something to
do with the baby you heard crying."

	"What about my other question? What do you need to talk to me
about?"

	"This actually has nothing to do with our mysterious ghost."

	"Then what does it have to do with? You and Novak?"

	"Me and...?" She seemed surprised. "No, it doesn't have anything to
do with Novak and me. Why would you even ask that? What does Shane have to
do with anything?"

	I blushed. "Well, I mean, I saw you at his house the other day."

	"Yes, I'm seeing Shane. He's a fascinating man, very good
company. But why would I want to talk to you about that?"

	I blushed even harder. "I don't know. Never mind."

	"Does it bother you that I'm dating your boss?"

	"No!" I said quickly.

	"I mean, I know he's a little older than I am but really, what are
a few years? We get along great and enjoy spending time together."

	A few decades would be more like it, I thought, but all I said was,
"I think that's great. Really. But if that isn't it then what do you want
to talk to me about?"

	"Oh, it's about your case you're working on."

	"Were working on."

	"What?"

	"I'm not working on it anymore."

	"But why? It's far from over."

	"My part is over. I did what Asher asked me to do."

	"Maybe, or maybe not. Either way, I'm surprised that you would be
able to just walk away from this without knowing what really happened."

	"Let's just say some things took place that made this case be a
little more than I wanted to be involved with right now."

	"You mean Asher and the boy."

	I was surprised that she knew about that, but then again, why
should I be surprised at anything she knows these days. I nodded.

	"I don't think that's anything serious, and anyway, I real
professional doesn't let his personal feelings interfere with his job. None
of this is what I really wanted to talk to you about. I wanted you to know
that someone you talked to in your interviews is lying to you and it has a
great impact on the case."

	"Wait a minute, someone lied to me? Who?"

	She shrugged. "That I don't know. I just know that someone did and
that you needed to know that for your own safety."

	"What do you mean?"

	"You have to be careful. If this person starts to realize that you
may know they lied, or even suspect, you could be in danger."

	"Is this person the killer?"

	"I don't know that either."

	"For the love of...Could you be a little more vague?"

	"I'm sorry, Killian. That's really all I know."

	"How do you know?"

	"How?"

	"Yeah, does someone-" I paused, then finished, "come to you?"

	"Someone? Like who?"

	"Someone who is dead?"

	"No, it's not like that at all. I just...know. Sometimes it's a
dream, sometimes it's just something I have a strong urge about, sometimes
it's just someone that I know beyond any doubt. It's rarely detailed or
exact and it isn't anything I can control. Why did you ask if someone comes
to me, does this have something to do with what you said earlier when I
asked you of Amalie was the first ghost you've seen?"

	I opened and closed my mouth a few times, then decided that if
anyone would understand then Judy would. Besides, hadn't Seth told me to
talk to her? I nodded.

	Her eyes widened. "Someone comes to you?"

	I nodded again.

	"My God! Who?"

	"Seth."

	"Adam's son?"

	"Yes."

	"He comes to you? How? In a dream?"

	"I don't know really. At first I tried to tell myself it was just a
dream, or maybe my imagination, but I don't know. I really don't think it's
like that. I think he actually comes and talks to me, but only when no one
else is around. He says he can't come whenever I want him to, only when I
need him."

	"This is...I don't know if I've ever known anyone this has happened
to. How did it start? When did it start?"

	"He just suddenly started appearing a few weeks ago and talking to
me, giving me advice on my love life mostly."

	"On your love life?"

	"Yeah. He's kind of a busybody."

	"This keeps getting more and more bizarre. Why on earth would he do
that?"

	"I asked him that too. He said because...because he loves me."

	"A love that reaches beyond the grave. This is just incredible. He
gives you advice on your love life, huh? Does he tell you anything else?"

	"He's about as vague as you are," I told her. "He said to be
careful of Amalie, but he couldn't tell me why."

	"Is that why you panicked when we were upstairs?"

	"That and it is pretty scary you know."

	"Are you scared when Seth comes to you?"

	"Strangely enough, no, not at all."

	"Maybe not so strangely. He's probably a different sort of entity
than Amalie."

	"Actually he said something like that."

	She nodded.

	"He also said you have a lot of gifts and that I should talk to you
about being sensitive, except he didn't use that word."

	That seemed to surprise her. "He said to talk to me?"

	"Yup."

	"About being a sensitive?"

	"He said you'd explain it."

	"What's to explain? It seems pretty self explanatory to me."

	"Well, you've already explained it some earlier, but I guess I do
still have a few questions."

	"Well ask."

	"Why am I sensitive? Where does it come from? Are you born that
way?"

	She laughed. "That's like asking are you born gay. I'm not really
sure, although often that gift does seem to run in families. You should ask
your mom some time if anyone else in the family ever had a reputation for
being psychic or anything."

	I made a face. "That's not the sort of thing that you bring up
casually, at least in my family. Can we go back to that whole somebody lied
to me thing?"

	"I told you all I know. Someone you've talked to lied to you. Why
don't you tell me who the major players are and what they said that could
have been a lie?"

	"Well, let's see. Where to start? There's Nadine, she was the dead
guy's girlfriend. She had a fight with him that night but that was nothing
new, they fought all the time. The neighbor saw her leave. She could have
conceivably come back later, but we don't have any reason to really think
that. All she really said to us was that they fought and she left and he
was in one piece when she left. We know that's all true so it couldn't have
been her that lied.

	"Then there's Phillip Zaranski. Ira, the dead guy, worked for him
at this sleazy motel. Turned out Ira was blackmailing Zaranski. He was
secretly taping people's, er, escapades at the motel. So he had a strong
motive for wanting Ira dead, but several witnesses placed him at the motel
around the time of the murder. I don't think he did it. He seemed a little
too weaselly to actually chop somebody up with an ax."

	Judy lifted one eyebrow. "Don't ever underestimate the depths a
person will go to protect their skin, especially someone who is already
morally corrupt."

	"He was never really a serious suspect, even Novak agreed."

	"So who was?"

	"There's the neighbors."

	"The ones who saw Ira's girlfriend leave after the fight?"

	"No, that's Mrs. Fields. She's a sweet old lady. This is the
neighbors on the other side, Terry and Becky Haynes. They aren't from
here. They had a baby that was killed by an abusive babysitter. They moved
here to try and get away from the memories and moved in next door to an
abusive father. They kinda took Caleb, that's Ira's son, the kid Asher is
sorta with, under their wing. They tried to help him as much as possible
but there wasn't much they could do. They took Caleb in after he was
released from police custody. They are definitely strange and I guess they
have a motive of sorts, but I can't think of anything they might have been
lying about."

	"Ok. Who's next?"

	"Um, I guess next would be Caleb."

	"Is he still a suspect? I thought you got him freed."

	"Well, I did, but it was on the testimony of this kid named
Finn. And if somebody was lying to me and it was essential to the case, it
makes sense that it was one of them. Of course, Caleb never told me
anything. Nothing helpful anyway. He was almost hostile."

	"Hostile? And yet he asked you to help clear him?"

	"He didn't ask me; Asher did, remember?"

	"That's right," she said thoughtfully. "I was there the day he
called. I had forgotten that he was involved on a deeper level than just
being involved with this Caleb boy. We'll get to that in a minute, but
first what did the other boy tell you that got Caleb freed. What was his
name? Flynn?"

	"Finn, short for Finnegan. He's definitely an odd duck. Even his
fellow schoolmates call him eccentric. The day I met him he was wearing a
kilt. Not that that means anything. Anyway, he told me that he and Caleb
were having an affair of sorts and that the night of the murder Caleb was
at his house the whole night. He was willing to go to the police with that
statement even though it meant his parents would find out he was gay."

	"Oh, really? And have you talked to him since that startling
revelation took place?"

	"No, I haven't."

	"A visit with Mr. Finn might be in order."

      "But if he was lying what did he have to gain from that lie? Caleb is
with Asher now, not him."

	"I don't know; a visit might ferret that out. Who else is there to
have lied to you?"

	"No one."

	"What about my dear nephew?"

	"Asher? Are you serious?"

	"Why not? If he had feelings for this boy, and he obviously did or
he wouldn't have insisted on you taking the case, then he had a lot at
stake. Is there anything important that he's told you that could be a lie?"

	"I...I don't know. Maybe."

	"Tell me."

	"Well, he said that he and Caleb didn't hook up until after Caleb
was released from jail, but if it was before then Caleb was either messing
around with two guys at once or Finn was lying. But then two people would
have been lying and you just said one was."

	"I didn't necessarily say that, or if I did I didn't mean to. There
are lies surrounding this case, how many or who told them I don't
know. Obviously the most destructive lies may have come from Finn. If what
he told you was lies then the rest crumbles like a house of cards. If Caleb
wasn't really with him that night, where was he? Killing his father? And if
he didn't, then who did? And why? These are the questions that still need
to be answered."

	"But why do I have to be the one to answer them? Why can't the
police do it?"

	"Because you started the job and now you have to finish it. Follow
through on what you start, love. It's an important lesson."

	I couldn't help but feel she was talking about more than
detection. Was she trying to tell me something else in that mysterious way
of hers? Before I could think further on that, Steve and Micah came back
in, each loaded down with blankets, pillows and sleeping bags.

	"That was fast," Judy said with a broad smile.

	"At your service," Micah said with an answering grin. "Where do you
want these?"

	"What room was Amalie's? Do we know?"

	"Well, we know which one the master bedroom was," Steve answered,
"Whether or not Amalie actually slept in there we have no way of knowing."

	"It'll do, let's set up house in there."

	We all followed Steve up the stairs to the bedroom and made up our
beds. That done we went back down and had a snack of chips and salsa that
Micah had brought along. We chatted for awhile about everyday stuff and
then Judy announced that it was time for bed. As we started up the stairs
once more Micah grabbed my wrist and pulled me behind. We stopped on the
landing and he slipped his arms around my waist.

	"Mmm, I've been dying to do this all night," he said as he gave me
a gentle kiss.

	"Interesting choice of words," I said softly and he gave an
ungentlemanly snort. "So is it all you hoped it would be?"

	"Well, it's been interesting, I'll give you that. I had kinda hoped
to see her for myself."

	"Trust me, it's not all it's cracked up to be," I said pointedly.

	"Still, I'd like to experience it for myself, at least once."

	"How about if I give you my next experience for free? You think
they're transferable?"

	"You seem pretty confident you'll have a next experience."

	"Well, apparently it's inevitable. I'm a sensitive, remember?"

	"Ah, yes. Killian the Great, Seer of Wonders, Friend of the Dead."

	I stuck my tongue out at him.

	"Hey, at least we get to spend the night together for the first
time," he said and waggled him eyebrows.

	"With two chaperones," I added.

	"It's a start."

	I smiled. "Yeah, it is that."

	I leaned in for one last kiss before we followed Steve and Judy
upstairs when a thin low sound made a shiver run up my spine. I jerked away
like I'd been shocked.

	"Did you hear that?" I whispered.

	"Hear what?"

	Before I could answer it came again, louder this time and
unmistakably the sound a baby crying.