~
Kiki stood looking out at the quiet streets. The hour was late, and Alan was sleeping peacefully in bed. Kiki felt an unrest she couldn’t exactly identify. Was it paranoia? Had she really fallen so far down that she no longer could value a good employee but thought of him as her competition? Kiki would love to have blamed her parents for this nurtured distrust. They had pitted her against her identical twin sister Mimi. Their intention was to get each girl to excel by making them compete with the other, but all it did was separate the two girls who really needed the other to balance what was lost in each during the division of cells.
Kiki thought about the project she needed the money from this job to secure. She had already optioned it to keep it off the market. Alan had a client who owned the block and was arranging for his estate to be put into order. Richard Westly wasn’t ill, but he was a planner. He had purchased the properties when they were not much more than a ruin, and he and his employees had worked hard to produce economic apartments for the working class of the city. But those initial renters had eventually moved on. Westly put limits on the leases of any new renters so that the property would not be occupied when he wanted to sell. Alan had suggested either he sell to Kiki or take her on as a partner. The two had spoken, and Kiki was pushing to have the project to herself. Westly decided it was time he retired and saw Kiki’s project as one that would further improve the neighborhood. Kiki had sealed the deal when she promised that the block would be called Westly Square.
“Why not Pickles Square?” Westly had asked the young contractor.
“I can’t see Pickles Square as something someone with a solid bank account would be wanting to be put on their expensive stationary. Besides, you saved these buildings from being torn down. You deserve to be remembered for your sacrifice.”
“You really love these old homes, don’t you?” Westly observed.
“They are my children,” Kiki said.
“Buildings can’t return your love, young woman,” Westly cautioned.
Kiki turned around and looked at the man sleeping in the bed. Alan had returned her love and wanted to make a life with her. Why was she still so resistant to marrying him? What was wrong with her?
~
Cid and Jesse locked up the house and followed the other’s boot prints in the snow to the workshop. They put their tools away and headed back outside to the trailer. Inside, Sally had left some snacks and a thermos labeled hot toddy. Jesse and he talked quietly, sensing Sally was asleep in the back bunkroom. Cid looked at the book and glanced at her notes and smiled.
“She’s gotten pretty far into Daniel’s story. Two interesting facts. She thinks that maybe Atwater isn’t the family name. It could have been changed when August immigrated. Also, at the time of building the house, there was a circular stairway hidden by a carved wood panel in what is now the media room.”
“That’s impossible, we would have found it when we ran the conduit,” Jesse said and then shook his head. “We didn’t run any on the fireplace wall, did we?”
“We didn’t. Let’s take a look tomorrow.”
“After we finish testing all the plugs for Carl,” Jesse said. “If we can get the electrical finished, we can seal that ceiling.”
“It will be interesting to do because there is no way to avoid smearing the salt lines, unless you can levitate?”
“Do you think Kiki would mind putting Jon and Daniel on the payroll?” Jesse mused.
“Right now, I’m not sure either of us is still on the payroll,” Cid said.
Jesse got up and cleared the table and helped Cid to make his bed. “Get some sleep. Until we hear otherwise, we are still employees of Pickles Renovation.”
~
Faye walked into the nursery to find Jon and Blue Daniel playing with the toy soldiers. But instead of lining them up on the battlefield, they were using them as chess pieces.
“I would like to thank you on the behalf of the renovation crew for your forethought in disabling your crazy comrades in the basement.”
“It was the least we could do considering they locked up the monster who has been feeding off us for more years than either of us can remember,” Jon said. “We didn’t know about the salt, or the iron, let alone lead.”
“Cid has been part of a paranormal investigation group for a few years. He is a good person and will end up doing the right thing. You can depend upon that.”
“Ah, but he isn’t in charge,” Blue Daniel said. “I’ve seen the fierce woman with the strange looks. She runs this crew.”
“She can be fair. We think that that monster that feeds off of you has been possessing her and making her think the wrong kinds of thoughts,” Faye reported. “Do you know who that was before it was turned into a negative elemental?”
“Negative elemental, what in the holy church is that?” Blue Daniel asked.
“Demon ghost,” Faye said. “When demons die, they become negative elementals. But we are investigating whether this can happen to a very bad human.”
“If it’s the latter, then it’s August Atwater,” Jon said. “The first time I locked eyes with him, my heart bled. The second time, he was holding my bleeding heart in his hands. The
