Piceous Mysteries: Book One "Investigations"

Chapter 1

Piceous

The EMF squealed. There was definitely something here.

... Or it could be a loose wire. That was the problem with these devices; how unreliable they could be.

"What is it?" Mrs. Garcia asked.

"I'm not sure yet." I looked around and sniffed the air. Another unreliable tool; my sense of smell. Sometimes it was sharp and instant; other times, it was muddled by the scents of those around me. Having Mrs. Garcia in my presence made it more difficult to get a read. "If this place is haunted—"

"It is. You have to help me. My daughter refuses to stay with me, and it's affecting my custody case." Mrs. Garcia held her hand to her face in worry.

I always hated it when things got too emotional. Why couldn't there be more frat house hauntings? At least there I could get good weed... and a little strange. I sighed. "I can stay the night if you want me to."

She eyed me. I could see the look of desperation overtaking the fact she was seeing a miscreant before her eyes. Jet black braids and thick eyeliner framing chocolate skin might be something people could ignore in passing, but I was in her home— her place of sanctuary. On top of which, I wore my Pennywise the clown shirt for this little gig. Of course, my appearance wouldn't help my case... or hers, if she continued with the judgmental looks.

"Listen, I'm not going to take anything. You came to me for help, remember?" I turned off the EMF and set it in my duffel bag. "This is what I do... you can either trust me or judge me. Up to you."

She sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"It's okay. I'm used to it." I set my bag down. "It's almost eight. I can stay tonight or come back tomorrow."

"Please, now. It has to be now. The custody hearing is on Monday."

"Alright then." I sat on her daughter's bed. "Guess we're having a slumber party. Got anything to eat?"

She narrowed her eyes at me for a moment before nodding. "Yeah. I can whip up something really fast, I suppose."

****

I set up the motion sensor, temperature gauge, and night vision camera. This was going to be a long night.

Judging by the décor of the daughter's room, she had to be somewhere between ten and twelve. Still young enough to be a little girl's room, but old enough for a girl preparing to enter teenage life. Though the amount of pink was astounding.

After I adjusted the levels on my equipment, I took a better look around. At least she was a fan of Hello Kitty; we could relate there. The flip side of that was, I wasn't very good at talking to children.

There was a knock at the door. "Anything?" Mrs. Garcia asked.

"Not yet. Most paranormal activity either takes place in the dead of night or at a relevant time in which something extreme happened. Take the Alamo for instance: a lot of the action took place during the day, so stories throughout the years say many of the ghosts are spotted in broad daylight."

"I see." She didn't look to be one for a history lesson.

I chewed on the inside of my lower lip, in an effort to search my mind for ideas on keeping the information flowing. "Do you notice any activity when your daughter isn't around?"

"Yes. I'll occasionally hear thumping or banging whenever I'm downstairs in the kitchen. I'd come up to look but find nothing."

"At least we can rule out a poltergeist; they tend to follow children... and young children at that."