Chapter 5

“It looks like a party,” Jake commented to himself.

The young busybody pulled his sedan in front of the house in the Karlson Creek neighborhood. A decent-sized group milled around across the street. Some sipped from red Solo cups, hinting at a possible college party nearby. With Danica still at Magnum’s, Ashlynn held center stage for the latest neighborhood incident. The teen recognized Nancy, the nursing student, along with several of the hot girls from the house that he had noticed the night before. A buxom brunette from said house seemed to be keeping most of the neighbors in line with dirty looks and the occasional bitchy order. Also, looking as if she had just arrived, stood an off-duty Sally Jasso.

Hopping out of his car, Jake rushed over to check on what had happened. Immediately, Jasso frowned at his presence. Ashlynn responded by telling the police officer that Danica called him for work.

“Where are your friends, Jasso?” the constant thorn in the side of the EPD asked.

“I called Sally rather than the police,” the redhead informed him. “We don’t need to restart our reputation as jumpy women.”

“Now that’s not what I told you,” the young cop corrected. “I said to call 911 if you know for sure you had a sighting. And this sounds like one.”

“I’d say so. We saw it through the front window while dropping Ash off,” a blonde recounted.

Seeking to know who was who and who saw what, Officer Jasso asked them to back up for a moment and identify themselves. The light-haired blonde who’d spoken, along with a darker blonde and a young man, were the friends that Ashlynn had gone out for dinner and drinks with. All four had seen the glowing light moving around in the living room upon their return.

“I’d say it lasted for almost twenty seconds before the light vanished,” the young man, identified as the lighter-haired blonde’s boyfriend, estimated.

“Oh, man,” Jake moaned softly. Running his hand through his hair, the superstitious sleuth regretted not making a detour to Anchor Rock earlier in the day. Confronting a ghost while not prepared wasn’t wise.

“Yeah, it wasn’t a quick look and see before it was gone,” his girlfriend confirmed.

“Are you going to call for backup?” Nancy inquired.

“No, not yet. I’m going inside to search again.”

“I can help,” Jake offered.

“No! I don’t need you involved,” Jasso responded. After a moment of mulling it over, she decided that Ashlynn could accompany her. “I know my way around this home by now, but you can point out if anything is disturbed.”

“Wouldn’t it be better if I also came along? I’m not useless, you know,” the experienced amateur detective reminded. He also chose not to point out that he had more experience with shit going wrong during searches than Jasso had.

“Fine! You can watch the back door to make sure that no one slips out. Is that okay with Mr. Media?” the off-duty cop challenged.

Before Jake could reply, a dark-skinned girl that he’d seen coming and going from “The Hot Girl House” yelled, “Look!”

The weird glowing light had reappeared on the second floor near one of the front windows.

“Who! Ish thut ta ghost?” a drunk guy asked.

“It’s in Felicity’s bedroom,” the bossy, buxom brunette stated.

“Shit!” Officer Jasso swore. “Alright. You can come inside Magnum, but you’ll need a partner who knows the house’s layout. We’ll also need somebody else to watch the rear.

“I can do that,” the blonde’s boyfriend offered. His girlfriend said she’d join him.

“Nancy, Summer, or Priscilla know the house best,” Ashlynn disclosed, glancing at the nursing student and two of the hot girls.

“Yeah, I can go with him,” Nancy agreed.

“Hold on. Does anyone have a fireplace close by?” Jake asked, grimacing over losing one of the more attractive girls as his partner. “And does it have an iron poker?”

“We do,” the dark-skinned coed said, slapping the brunette on the arm.

“Can you–”

“I’m on it!” the dark-skinned coed replied before he could finish his question. Jake watched in admiration as her toned ass in a tight pair of shorts raced up the front stairs of the house next door.

“Seriously?” the attractive police officer challenged, shaking her head at the teen, who understood she meant the iron poker, not his leering.

“Hey, you have your way of doing things, and we have ours,” Jake declared before dashing over to his car to grab a flashlight from the glove compartment. Returning, he asked if he should go upstairs first. As the guy, he felt a sense of chivalry, or at least wanted to appear unafraid in front of these older coeds.

“Forget that. We’re going to clear the downstairs before heading up there. I don’t want to take any risks and miss this person this time. You and Nancy will check the basement while we do the same for the first floor. Only when we’re sure, we’ll all head upstairs,” Officer Jasso explained before calling in the incident on her personal phone. “Can one of you girls explain to whomever arrives what’s happening?”

“I can!” the dark-skinned coed replied, returning to hand an iron poker to Jake.

“Thanks, Summer,” Ashlynn told her neighbor and friend.

“If you want, we can watch the stairs from the porch,” Summer offered, gesturing at the buxom brunette, who didn’t look thrilled by getting dragged into the mess.

“Good,” Jasso responded before dismissing Jake’s request for a key to the back door. “No, you can enter through the front with us.”

With Ashlynn unlocking the door, the off-duty police officer entered first with her firearm drawn at her side. In her other hand, she held her flashlight, which immediately turned useless when the redheaded resident flipped on all of the living room’s lights.

“Turn that off!” Sally hissed.

“Why? I don’t want that thing sneaking up on us,” Ashlynn replied.

“It does glow,” Jake pointed out. Then, he glanced behind him at the closet next to the front door. “Uh, aren’t you going to check in there first?”

“Don’t tell me how to…You know what? Just go to the basement, Magnum,” Jasso directed.

“Wait!” Ashlynn ordered, reading her phone. “Mandy said they just saw the glow near the back door before the lights came on.”

“Ah, hell. It probably went into the basement,” Jake groaned, gripping the fireplace utensil tighter in his hand.

While Ashlynn kicked at the jackets in the front closet, Sally peered behind and around the sofas. Declaring the main living room to be clear, she told Jake that they’d follow him down the hallway before splitting up.

“Don’t worry about the kitchen. We’ll check it.”

“We still need to go through it,” Jake muttered before nearly jumping at spotting movement.

“Ched!” Ashlynn cried, rushing over to pick up the house cat. “Are you okay, buddy?”

“You'd better hang onto him,” Sally suggested; however, the redhead had other ideas.

“Hold up. I’ll have the girls watch him out front. I’m not sleeping in here tonight, and neither will he.”

As the busty ginger went to hand off the orange cat, Jake headed for the back entryway. Descending the three stairs from the kitchen to the small landing, he flashed a thumbs-up to Mandy and her boyfriend outside.

“Yeah, be safe outside while I risk getting ganked by a ghost,” superstitious sleuth grumbled under his breath. “I swear, even my **** won’t convince Phinn about thir existence.”

“What was that?” Nancy asked from behind, startling Jake.

“Uh, nothing. Wait! Do you have your phone? Well, start recording,” the stocky athlete directed before taking the first step down toward the basement.

It took eight steps to descend into the old house’s basement, although Jake might find it more appropriate to call the room a cellar based on its grimy, dark appearance. Using a wide arc of his flashlight to begin, he saw several metal shelves on one side against a water-stained stone wall. Unfinished, exposed beams and a cracked cement floor didn’t add anything pleasant to the ambience. Nor did several large piles of items on the floor that might offer cover to somebody lying in wait. Even worse, a giant aging furnace sat in the middle of the lowest floor, splitting the room by a third.

“Great. It’s even creepier than I imagined,” Jake mumbled, swinging the flashlight around to check under the stairs. Instead of a ghost or intruder, he found an old bicycle.

Satisfied that his back was safe, Jake eyed up the washing machine, dryer, and sink across from him. Telling Nancy to stay by the stairs, he began to make the journey toward that side. Unfortunately, he found himself jumping every several feet to shine the flashlight in surprise at the other side of the pile of items or at the side of one of the metal shelves.

“Oh, shit!” Jake screamed, spotting movement on his left side, against the wall. Gripping the iron poker like a baseball bat, he dropped the flashlight to deliver a mighty blow.

CRASH

“Ahhh!” Nancy shrieked.

“What was that?!” Ashlynn could be heard screaming from the first floor.

Grabbing the rolling, but still working, flashlight, Jake pointed it at what had caused the crash. Sighing, he shook his head at his idiocy.

“What happened? Are you okay down there?” Officer Jasso yelled from the small landing.

“Yeah. Um, tell Ashlynn that I’m sorry about their mirror,” Jake called back, wincing at the broken shards. “Don’t worry. I’ll clean it up when we’re done.”

“A mirror? Jeez, don’t be so jumpy, Magnum,” Sally suggested, chuckling.

“Yeah, yeah, at least Phinn wasn’t here to witness that,” Jake mumbled before remembering what he’d told Nancy to do. “Ah, you can erase that part.”

“No way. Not until Dani sees it,” the nursing student chuckled.

“Great. I look like a fool.” Having said that, Jake willed himself to look tough before he moved to the darker, creepier side of the basement behind the furnace. “Fricking place looks like a serial killer’s lair.”

That’s when the cackling started.

“Wait, no shit? You heard cackling?”

“Yeah, everyone in the house heard it. The sound seemed to come from the walls,” Jake told the shocked yet smiling young man.

The next morning found the junior detective back at Lexi’s apartment complex. As the bartender had suggested last night, Jake had set off to interview Rand Dolan, Dani’s ex-boyfriend, about his experiences with the Horny Poltergeist. A recent graduate of Bentworth College, Rand appeared to be in the process of moving soon, based on the rows of boxes and bubble wrap that littered his apartment.

“Fuck. That’s wild,” the brown-haired man remarked. “I bet that freaked you out.”

“It…startled me somewhat,” Jake admitted, reluctantly. A muffled laugh caused him to frown. “So, did you ever hear anything?”

“Once. Wait, make that twice. The first time, I thought I heard something like an oof. That’s when I thought I had the ghost. I turned to see that weird glow and tried to tackle it,” Rand recounted. “I swear, I thought I felt something light hit me before I passed through it. That’s when I fucked up my shoulder by slamming it into the wall.”

“Damn. You tried to tackle a ghost? Don’t you know they’re intanger…intangible?” Jake challenged, correcting his pronunciation.

“I didn’t believe it was real at the time. I’d heard a noise and checked Deb’s bedroom, as she was gone for the weekend. That’s when I left her room and saw the light to my left at the end of the upstairs hallway.”

“That’s where I saw it! It slammed me into the nightstand. Pretty sure I got a concussion,” Jake admitted.

“Damn, bro. You’re lucky you weren’t zapped into a ghost right three,” Rand’s roommate commented from his spot on a plastic patio chair. Three of those types of chairs and a television perched on a crate made up the remaining furniture in the living room.

“So, you saw it several times, right? Dani mentioned that you had a few encounters,” Jake prodded, ignoring the roommate.

“Shit, I’d call them run-ins more than encounters. I seemed to be the person who came across it more than anyone, especially up close,” Rand guessed. “Still, it never really seemed to attack me, outside of when I went after it. It’s Deb’s brother who got the worst of it when he was shoved down those basement stairs. Guy was lucky he didn’t break his neck. That was the final straw for me.”

“Hold up. You saw it up close more than once?” Jake queried.

“Oh, yeah, totally.”

“And…what did it look like?” Jake prodded, suddenly wishing Phinn could’ve come with him to conduct the questioning.

“Oh! Right, man,” Rand responded. “It was just fucking weird. Almost like this glowing white blob. Kinda like you’d see in a cartoon.”

“You said it looked like the kind from Scooby-Doo,” the roommate reminded.

“Yeah, indeed. It looks like your classic ghost. Almost like a white sheet with eye holes cut out,” Rand explained before his eyes widened. “Those eyes! Oh, fuck. Did you see the eyes?”

“Uh, no. I barely caught a glimpse before I got knocked down. Why? What did the eyes look like?” Jake responded.

“Gold. Yeah, that’s it—glowing golden eyes.”

“Glowing gold? Huh?” Jake sounded, fighting off a shiver. “Wait, did you chase it one time?”

“Kinda. I started to, before thinking better of it,” Rand admitted. “I know KJ swore he saw it outside and ran after it. Of course, he didn’t catch the thing. It’s a fucking ghost, bro! But nobody else has seen it outside like that. I mean, they’ve seen it around the roof, and Dani swore that she saw it in the tree, outside her bedroom window.”

“I heard about that sighting from her,” Jake said, nodding.

“Damn shame. Dani’s awesome. Hot and sweet. But I couldn’t deal with this spooky shit, and she refused to move in here. I don’t know why. This place is cool.”

“Yeah. I can’t see why she didn’t want to move in here,” Jake agreed, eyeing up the lack of furniture while a creepy crawly insect raced across the carpet.

“Sucks big time. I think we’d still be together if it hadn’t been for that damn ghost,” Rand complained. “What’s her new man like? I heard he’s a fucking scumbag lawyer.”

“I haven’t decided about him yet,” Jake replied. Then, while Rand and his roommate started bitching about lawyers, the son of an attorney gave his thanks while seeking to depart.

“Holy shit! I know you! You were on the news last week with that hot ass Hollie!” Rand’s roommate exclaimed, jumping up to hug Jake.

“Um, yeah, I was on the news,” the teen detective agreed, keeping his arms against his sides during the awkward, unwanted hug.

“Dude, I told you that this is Jake, the son of Dani’s boss at the bar. He’s the kid detective,” Rand reminded his friend.

“Man, did you hit that?” the roommate asked, pulling back while still holding Jake to stare into his eyes.

“Hollie Kittler? Um, no, I didn’t.”

“Fucking shit man! That sucks. I totally rub off to–”

“I gotta go. I need to check the house again,” Jake claimed, gently pushing the recent college graduate away from him.

After making a polite departure, the stocky investigator waited until he reached his sedan before asking what his brainy half thought.

“That if those two morons earned degrees, then I’m seriously wondering about my dad’s employer,” Phinn commented. He’d been listening to the interview on the phone.

“I meant about what he said,” Jake replied, starting his car.

“What did Danica ever see in him?”

“He was in great shape when she dated him.”

“I’m on the phone. I couldn’t see him,” Phinn reminded.

“Oh, yeah. Uh, he’s lost some muscle mass while getting a little flabby. Also, he was a popular guy around campus. I think he was in an unofficial fraternity or something,” Jake recalled.

“Probably the same place where he killed his remaining brain cells,” Phinn remarked. “Alright, outside of his stupidity, Rand Dolan sounded like he believed the Horny Poltergeist to be real. I don’t see how that helps.”

“It helps by proving that ghost exists!”

“No, it doesn’t,” Phinn responded. “Now, I hope you have a better plan than using dumber and dumber to back up your superstition.”

“I do! I’m heading back to Dani’s. I want to search the house in daytime, and I wanted you to help,” Jake revealed. “I meant by using my phone. I know you’re still grounded.”

Phineas agreed to help and told Jake to call back once he began the search.

Of course, Jake nearly forgot to call after he stopped at The Hot Girl House across the street. Frazzled and horny by the midday yoga session and the accompanying outfits, he barely remembered his reason for showing up. Fortunately, Dani understood, so she told Ashlynn to finish while she helped Jake.

Three times on the trek across the road, Jake attempted to compliment the brown sports bra and yoga pants that went nicely with the future teacher’s light brown hair, while showcasing her C-cups and toned ass. However, each time he started to say something, a voice in his head told him to be quiet. The little voice fought long enough that Jake ran out of time when they entered through the front door.

Even in daylight, the house felt eerie from the silence. Danica and Ashlynn had opted to sleep across the street, with Cheddar joining them. They’d only returned to grab more clothes, but did so with five other girls for backup, as Jake learned. Remembering to call Phinn, Jake slyly set up the video call.

“Where do you want to start?” the part-time bartender asked.

“Um, the basement.”

“Okay, but remember to be careful. We never cleaned up the mess,” Dani reminded, causing Jake to wince. That’s when he heard the muffled voice.

“Not that I don’t appreciate the view, but I do need to see the house,” Phinn stated, only seeing Dani’s yoga pants-covered butt.

“Oh, right, sorry. Um, Phinn’s going to provide a second opinion,” Jake explained to his crush. “You can finish with your yoga stuff if you want.”

“If you’re sure. Then, okay.”

The camera phone unknowingly followed Danic as she departed the house. Sighing, Phinn reminded his best friend why taking this case wasn’t a good idea.

“Your feelings betray you.”

“Whatever, Darth. Face it, she’s spectacular. Let’s get to work.”

Descending the basement stairs for the second time in the last twelve hours, Jake repeated his slow, wide arc from the previous night, but with his phone, not the flashlight this time.

“It doesn’t look creepy. Seems to be a normal, older basement,” Phinn said.

“Well, it’s a lot creepier in the dark and at night,” Jake defended his description from last night. “You see? Nowhere for a person to hide.”

“I’ll be the judge of that. Clearly, Ashlynn’s friends saw the light by the door, and it didn’t have time to get past you four. At least, I trust Jasso not to miss something so obvious,” Phinn commented. “Now, did you check those boxes?”

“None of them is large enough to hide a person.”

“What’s on the floor in front of you?” Phinn inquired, ordering Jake to lower his viewpoint.

“Uh, it’s nothing. Just a broken mirror. Nobody has had the time to clean it up yet.” Jake replied.

“How long has it been like that? It seems dangerous with a cat on the loose,” Phinn pointed out.

“Not long. It happened last night,” Jake disclosed, already walking past the washing machine and dryer.

“Wait, it happened while you were there, or you found it during your search?”

“It got broken during the search.”

“By whom?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Jake replied dismissively, revealing to Phinn who did it. He followed by giving his partner a quick tour of the other side of the basement behind the furnace. “See? No place for a real person to hide. So, the Horny Poltergeist is a legit apparition.”

“No, don’t pull out your paranormal thesaurus to cover for your folly,” Phinn admonished.

“What folly? I didn’t miss a spot.”

“Turn around and head back toward the wall across from the stairs,” Phinn instructed. Once Jake reached the sink, he challenged his partner’s point. “Jake, look around. Look closely. Is there a place somebody could hide in a pinch?”

“Nope.”

“Oh, come on. Think! Remember what it was like to play hide-and-seek,” Phinn prodded.

“Why? You always ruined it by not even bothering to search. Do you know how annoying it was to get found by your deduction skills?”

“And what else often happened?”

“I don’t know. Dusty would get stuck in some crazy, dangerous location like the air vent or…Holy shit. No way. No fucking way!” Jake insisted, staring at what Phinn wanted him to see right before his eyes. Leaning down, he opened the dryer’s front door. “There is no fucking way somebody hid inside there last night.”

“I’m not saying that they did for sure. However, that is a large dryer. I assume the landlord bought in bulk for multiple units and likely bought from a seller of commercial units.”

“Yeah, it’s bigger than ours or yours, but come on. You’d need to be short, skinny, or…”

“Limber. Or perhaps in a panic,” Phinn suggested. “Still, it’s merely a possibility to explain last night. Now, let’s move on.”

Returning to the kitchen, Jake moved the camera around until Phinn told him to stop.

“This won’t take long. Then, we can check the two bedrooms down here,” Jake explained.

“No. We start with the two most likely hiding places first: the basement and the attic. After we finish those, we’ll study the bedrooms and the closet dimensions.”

“The closet dimen…Whoa, do you think there could be a secret compartment?”

“One never knows,” Phinn replied.

Heading upstairs, Jake showed Phineas the hallway where he’d encountered the Horny poltergeist the other night. Grabbing a small step stool from beside a bookshelf, he pulled it under the attic opening.

“No drop-down stairs?” Phinn queried.

“No. The attic just has a covering that you raise to climb through. That’s why it seems unlikely for a hiding place. I mean, how can you put the stool back in its regular place?” Jake asked.

Lifting the cover, Jake slid it to the side before placing his phone on the attic floor in order for him to pull himself up. Once he’d climbed up, Jake grabbed the phone to show Phinn the small attic. The slanted roof outside meant that most of the attic had similar ceilings that left only the center with a full headroom to walk around under.

“Is that a fireplace?” Phinn inquired, causing Jake to swing the camera back toward the red bricks.

“It is, but the fireplace in the living room was long ago filled in,” Jake relayed what he’d been told.

“Or it might have only been boarded up with a thin layer of bricks. That could be a possible secret compartment,” Phinn suggested. However, he told Jake to finish with the attic before looking into that theory.

Five minutes passed while Jake and Phinn surveyed every walk or floorboard of the attic. Finally satisfied, Jake put the phone beside the opening to the lower floor. However, while preparing to drop down, he looked up. Something made him pause.

“Hold on.”

A muffled response came from the phone while Jake studied a support beam that ran above the opening. After his eyes widened with realization, he hurriedly grabbed the phone and pointed it at the beam.

“Look! You see those notches? It looks like something rubbing back and forth against the beam. Maybe a rope or something other way to descend and climb back up.”

“Damn, you might be right. Good eye,” Phinn praised. “Look around. We must have missed something. Does everything look exactly like it did last night?”

Jake spent a few minutes circling the attic. Finally, he did a double-take at a two-by-four lying off to the side of the fireplace by about fifteen feet. Sitting under where the slanted ceiling met the floor, Jake hadn’t noticed it before. However, glancing back over at the attic’s entrance, he checked around the cover before returning over to the piece of wood.

“This,” Jake said, pulling the 2x4 out. “This wasn’t there last night. It was by the opening. I stepped on it while we prepared to go back down and nearly fell.”

“Interesting. Take a few steps back and point the camera at that fireplace,” Phinn instructed.

After he did so, the two teens simultaneously noticed the difference. On the left side of the bricks, the wall ran directly across to the slanted ceiling. However, on the right side, a gap existed from the edge of the bricks to the side wall.

“Fuck me! There must be…” Jack trailed off, rushing toward the left side of the fireplace, which was the same side that he’d noticed the piece of lumber.

“Look and feel around for–” Phinn directed. However, Jake also had experience searching for secret passages and compartments.

“Got it!” Jake exclaimed, feeling the wall push in before opening towards him. A soft click also sounded.

“Careful,” Phinn warned, but Jake had already grabbed the 2x4 to be safe.

Using his fingertips, the stocky detective swung the narrow door open.

Inside sat a tiny alcove. Although the compartment lost headspace rapidly on the side that ran toward the ceiling, Jake saw a sleeping bag and a pillow under the low ceiling. On the floor in front of the door lay a piece of rope with knots in it. However, what sat on a small, low shelf against the brick fireplace is the item that had both teens swearing: A flatscreen monitor.