Iris Pierce Mysteries

Part 8

Later that night, the dining table was laid with photographs of Miss Banks; she was released in the evening since the police weren't allowed to keep her in without any concrete evidence that she was the murderer, Elizabeth, her room, the Black Lodge and in the middle of all this was the locket Hampton had found in Elizabeth's room. It was a silver oval that opened to reveal a cryptic phrase.

There is always delusion...
E.M

It was short and meaningless to everyone but us. The initials intrigued Howard and Hampton, the intricacies and imperfections interested Rowena, but me? The emotions were important to me. My head throbbed with anger and pain, sadness and frustration, the thirst for revenge against the person who did me wrong. Everything I looked at just amplified my need to kill. My mind was on the verge of splitting, I could feel my fingernails digging into the palms of my hands, and the next thing I knew, I was lying on Howard's couch.

➿

'It happened again didn't it?' I asked without even bothering to see who I was talking to. I was so weak! If being psychic was the best way for me to help the company, I had to do it without passing out! 'How long?'
'An hour. Better than before,' Howard replied. 'See, this is why I don't want you doing this stuff anymore! I don't want to put you in a place where you hurt yourself!'

I didn't bother arguing back, what would be the point? He was right. I was a liability, not making things easier but making things harder. I saw Rowena's look of disapproval as she handed me a cup of tea. 'There you go, Iris. You should feel better soon.'
'Howard, she's fine. Iris, what did you sense?' This was Hampton. At least somebody was appreciative of my psychic senses. I shifted myself so I was sitting up right, facing everyone else in the room. 'The owner of the locket was-is-angry. But he has definitely gotten his revenge. He's a maniac! The whole locket is covered in blood. That man was Elizabeth's murderer.'

A few minutes later, Howard was sitting at the table, a huge phone book in his hands, skimming every page for the initials E.M. Hampton was off to sit in a fort of books, looking for any record of Miss Banks having given birth. Guess who I was left with. Rowena Chandler and me were standing in front of the Black Lodge, even more creepy and sinister after the body was found. The door wasn't locked like we'd expected it to be and the yellow and black police tape was ripped through. 'Kids?' Rowena asked knowing that wasn't it. When we walked in, we were in for quite a surprise. 'It's completely dark, where are the lights?' Luckily, after the Hanging Highway Man case, I always carried a torch with me.

'The power is out!' Rowena exclaimed while furiously trying to turn on the light switch near the door. The beam of my torch light scanned the room and my jaw dropped in disbelief. This can't have been the same house! The table was snapped clean in two, the couches overturned, cushions thrown about, curtains ripped down, and that was only the living room.

We had only made it to the game room on the second floor before things got really bad. 'What in the...' My torch light shined on the wall. In red thick gooey liquid, I thought it to be blood, it was written SEE YOU IN HELL BEATRICE! The liquid poured down the wall onto a body slumped onto the floor. The woman's eyes were glazed, glassy, her grey face was disfigured and contorted. My eyes wandered down her face and stopped at her throat. The slash across her throat was more alive than her listless half opened mouth, pouring blood down the front of her blouse. On her arm were strange symbols carved into her. Her limbs were bent out at different angles as if she was a rag-doll carelessly thrown away.