Friday morning
"You look tired." Sara was leaning on her car in front of the nursery home when Sofia jumped out of her car. When the blonde removed her shades Sara could see, Sofia didn't sleep much or well.
"Long night."
"Thought you left the department around one." Sofia had brought her the boot print and left because Sara didn't have any time for her.
"I did. Doesn't mean I went to bed – not right away. Early night, cold night with rain, the best time to be out in a club."
"Best time to be in bed."
"Yes, that's for sure but some people prefer not to be alone in bed all the time."
"That's why you look so tired, you woke up in the wrong bed. Not the smartest thing when you start working in the morning."
"I don't wake up in strange beds. I don't sleep at places where I had my fun like I don't take them home to me. You need some rules in life, theses are mine: Enjoy every night but don't get caught by staying and don't get trapped by getting them to your bed. There're too many people around who don't understand the meaning of a short fun."
"Most of the college kids understand nothing else."
"I prefer them over twenty-one and a challenge. Guys who jump every girl are boring, they don't satisfy my hunger of a good hurt."
"I didn't know your standard is that low."
"Nothing wrong with hunting as long as both understand the rules. You should try it too, could bring you out of the boring anchoret life of yours."
"Not my cup of tea when I'm working."
"You want to tell me you're hunting affairs when you're off?"
"I'm not like you and I'm not a machine. I won't say more about that, not your business."
"Every time it's getting interesting it's not my business, what a pity. Alright, let's talk to Misses Lennox, maybe we'll got more today. I'm curious how she'll prove to you that there's a ghost in her house."
"Me too."
Sara had called the nursery home before they came over. Misses Lennox was waiting for them in her room. The nurse of the night before was with her again. Sara wondered for herself if Misses Lennox had a personal nurse or if their work schedules were as bad as they of the CSI.
"Good morning Misses Lennox." Sara said.
"You're back. And you too." Misses Lennox's eyes met Sofias.
"Of course we are, we've got some questions. Still. When did you get the house?"
"Thirty-three years ago. Thirty-three. You know what that means?"
"The number? No."
"It's the age Jesus Christ died." Sofia said and earned an surprised look from Sara and a pleased one from Misses Lennox.
"Very good, yes. Thirty-three years of suffering and that's a sign. This house haunted me for thirty-three years, it will kill me soon. The ghost will come and get me."
"You're not living in the house anymore, why would the ghost leave the house to come to you?" Sofia asked. Sara made the decision to listen as long as they were talking about ghosts. She'd ask the questions about science and reality.
"I wanted to sell it."
"Really?"
"Yes. It's haunted, I knew nobody would like to buy it. I tried so much, I called the ghost buster, I called priests, nobody could chase the ghost away. So I made the decision to sell it. For over ten years the house was on the market, I moved out after five of them to here, couldn't bear to live in that house anymore. Finally, last month, I got a letter that somebody wanted to buy my house. A young man, he wanted to offer ghost tours in Las Vegas and when he heard of the Ghost House, that it was up for sale, he contacted me, offered me good money to sell it. He…he wanted to make a spooky motel out of it."
"Do you know his name?" Now they were talking business, Sara thought. "That sounded more like reality.
"Casper. Casper White." That again sounded like a flat joke.
"When was the last time you talked to Mister White?"
"Last week. He wanted to be here the day before yesterday, he wanted to sign the papers, bring the money but he never showed up. This new body must have scared him away. You can't mess up with ghosts."
"Says who?" Sara had no idea why she asked that, it slipped out of her mouth.
"The ghost."
"Did the ghost ever talked to you, Misses Lennox?" Sofia asked, knowing Sara wouldn't go this way.
"Yes, of course. It warned me."
"When was the last time it warned you?"
"Last week. Thursday night." The voice of the woman became quiet.
"What did it say to you?"
"It didn't say a thing. It wrote me a note."
"A note?"
"Yes. When I woke up in the middle of the night I found this note on my bed. You sell the house and you'll regret it. I do regret it, somebody died because of me. I killed this person because I wanted to sell the house."
"Do you still have the note?" Sara really wanted to see how a note of a ghost looked like.
"I burnt it."
"What?" She burnt evidence?
"The note said, if I don't burn it, it will inflame itself and we'll all burn in our sleeps. So I took it to the basin and burnt it, washed the rest of it down the drain."
Sofia sighed. All evidence gone.
"The one in your room?" Sara asked.
"Yes my child. I didn't want anybody get hurt."
"Can I have a look at the drain?" Sara asked more the nurse than Misses Lennox but both nodded. The investigator got up, took her kit and walked to the drain.
"Did you get another note, Misses Lennox?" Sofia got the attention of the old woman back.
"No, but I didn't call Mister White to tell him, I can't sell it. I couldn't reach him, so I thought, I'll tell him when he comes over. You should talk to him, I worry because he didn't come along."
"When exactly was he supposed to be here?"
"Two days ago, in the morning." At that time the body was dead but nobody knew about it. The new body couldn't have scared the man away.
"How did Mister White look? Can describe him?"
"A young man, but they are all young compare to me. I think, he was in his late thirties, early forties, his hair was short, black and his eyes green. A really nice green." Sofia didn't need to look at Sara to know, she had stopped what she was doing. Casper White was their John Doe, the body they had found. Somebody was deadly serious about not selling the house.
"Do you know where I can reach Mister White? How I can contact him?"
"I've got his card…Amy, could you have a look on my desk? There's a card of Mister White on the top shelf."
"Of course, Misses Lennox."
"And Mister White wanted to buy the house to make a motel out of it?"
"Yes, for his ghost tours. Do people really want to make things like that? Ghost tours?"
"They aren't scared of anything anymore, Misses Lennox. You moved to here five years ago, did you live in your house alone?"
"No."
"Who lived with you?"
"The ghost."
"Beside the ghost. A husband?"
"My husband died twenty years ago. One day I found him dead in the bed. His heart had stopped beating, he always had a healthy heart, very strong. I think the ghost killed him."
"What was his name?"
"Barney."
"Do you have children?"
"No, we were never blessed with children."
"If you can't sell the house…"
"I won't sell it, the ghost will kill us otherwise."
"What are you going to do with the house?"
"I'll leave it to the ghost. I tried to change my will but the damn lawyer didn't do it. I'm sorry for the language."
"I hear the word lawyer all the time, no need to apologize." Sofia smiled.
Misses Lennox chuckled a bit.
"Misses Lennox, I can't find a card of a Mister White."
"I put it on the top shelf, I'm sure about that, Amy."
"I had a look all over your desk, it's not here. Shall I have a look around the room."
"You do that but I'm sure I put it on the top shelf." Her eyes became big. "Detective, the ghost took the card when it brought the letter to here, it knows about Mister White, he might be in danger. You have to find him and warn him."
It was too late for that, but there was no need to tell the old lady about that.
"We need an address or telephone number to contact him, that's why we need the card."
"I can't remember that…"
"Your phone list, Misses Lennox." The nurse came back to them. "All numbers Misses Lennox calls show up on a list, when you remember the last time you tried to call Mister White, we can get his number from the list."
"I called him last Friday. After I got the letter in the night."
"I'll go and check that for you, detective."
"Thank you. Misses Lennox, who inherit you the house?"
"My father. It's in the family for over hundred years. My grandfather built it with his own hands."
"And did the ghost live in the house right from the beginning?"
"No, it came in later, much later. Twenty years ago. I think it's my uncle Sam."
"Why is that?"
"Because he and my father always argued and one day, my father and he fought, my uncle lost his balance and fell down the stairs, broke his neck. He started to haunt us, he wanted revenge. We thought when my father died a few month later, it was uncle Sam who came back from the grave and killed him."
"How did your father die?"
"He hang himself. I'm sure uncle Sam talked him into it."
"Misses Lennox, I've found something in your drain that looks like it might be burnt paper. Mind if I take it with me to the lab?" Sara asked. She had demounted the drain under the basin.
"Child, what are you doing? That's not a job for a young woman, that's the job of a man."
"I'm fine, don't worry. May I?" Sara hold something black with her tweezers.
"Of course you can. Please don't hurt yourself. I can call the facility manager to repair that."
"Don't bother, I'll have it fixed in a minute. I don't do this for the first time."
"The young women today…when I was young, I didn't demounted a drain or walked around with a gun. I spent the time at home, making everything nice and comfortable for my husband. Are you married, Honey?" Misses Lennox looked at Sofia.
"No."
"Engaged?"
"No."
"You're young, but don't wait too long, all good men are taken if you're not careful enough. It's not nice to be alone when you're old."
"I'll be alright. Misses Lennox which real-estate company takes care of your house?"
"Smith and Son."
"I think I'd like to talk to them about your house."
"Can you tell them I don't want to sell it anymore?"
"That's a thing you've to do, I'm sorry, I can't do that."
"I'll call them, I don't think anybody wants to buy it, but better safe than sorry."
"You're right, Misses Lennox."
"What did you find in the drain?"
"Something that might have been paper, I don't know. It's burnt, all the water did the rest, I doubt that the guys in the lab can do anything with it, but I'll try." Sara poured some coffee for them. After their talk with Misses Lennox they drove to the lab.
"Casper White is very likely our John Doe." Sofia leant back.
"That's what I think." Sara eased her shoulders.
"I'll take the number the nurse gave me and try to find an address to Mister White. You think it's his real name?"
"With a name like that he had no other choice than working in the ghost business."
"And get killed by a ghost."
"A ghost that comes to a nursery home to leave a note for the owner of the house not to sell it? Come on, that's bullshit."
"You think they're new-fashioned and send emails? Misses Lennox doesn't have a computer and I doubt she can handle them."
"Don't they write their messages on a mirror? At least in most of the movies they do."
"You watch ghost movies?"
"I watch a lot of stuff to find out, there's too much crap out in the world. Last movie I watched was with a mummy, haunting organs to reincarnate itself after I don't know how many years. It even got a German Shepard and when the main actress tried to burn it with a lighter and hairspray or whatever, it burnt and was still alive."
"I keep that in mind in case I meet a mummy."
"It didn't kill it, try it with a cat, they were above them in Egypt, as far as I know."
"You're strange."
"I spend too much time with you."
"I know you can never get enough of me, that's why you enjoy spending time with me."
"Arrogant bitch."
"Arrogant doesn't make me wrong. I'll go and try to find something out about our Casper White. I'll call you if I find anything."
"Alright. I dig into the life of Misses. Lennox and try to find something out about her family, who obviously liked to die in the house."
"That's why it's the Ghost House."
"Whatever."
"The tire marks in the desert came back as a 1998 Sedan. There are over hundred of them registered in Las Vegas, the lab tries to narrow it down, after your witness spoke about a male as a driver, they eliminate all female owner without a partner, leaves us with ninety five."
"I'm used to get long lists from you, but they are usually not that long."
"Wait, we looked for men with a rap sheet and then we're down to twenty. No murder, some were in prison for B & E. None of them made any trouble the last weeks." Sara gave Sofia a list with names.
"Great. I'll call twenty guys, pay them a visit, track them down and hope one has no alibi and a motive to kill the guy and leave him in the house."
"And play ghost for a runner at night time."
"Of course, I forgot about that. I love my job."
"That's why you're the detective, go and detect."
Sofia formed with her lips the word 'bitch' and left the lab. She'd get Sara for that, payback was a bitch too.