The Grey Girl, The Van Tassel Murders

Chloe Miller wiped the sweat from her brow, leaving a black grease stain across her pale skin. “Some days I think I might just give up on you,” she grumbled, sliding the wrench back into place. The bolt that only a moment ago wouldn’t budge, suddenly turned. “Then you do something so sweet.” She smiled as she pulled the bolt free. The 1939 Harley Davidson did not respond. She patted the seat. “You’re a good girl.” Chloe jumped at the sound of the garage door opening. She pulled the old pocket watch from her coveralls and frowned. “He’s early. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not,” she told the bike’s headlight. Getting to her feet, she stretched her back as Alex’s car pulled into the garage. She smiled and waved to him then turned her back as she put away her tools.

“You don’t have to stop working just because I’m home,” Alex said as he shut the car door.

“I know, but I want to hear how it went.”

“I wish you’d been there,” he said, wrapping his arms around her and giving her a small kiss on the cheek.

She wriggled free. “No thank you. And be careful. I’m filthy.”

“It went the way they always do. Oh, and I picked up the mail. There’s something for you.” Alex watched as Chloe unzipped the coveralls, revealing a Grateful Dead T-shirt and jeans. He pointed to her shirt. “That seems inappropriate.”

“What? I like the music, and the colors are nice.” She pulled the bottom of the shirt up to look at the design. “Anything is better than gray.”

“When I got you that IPod, I thought you’d find better music to listen to,” Alex complained as he entered the house. Chloe was right behind him. “You know, something from this century.”

Chloe stared at Alex for a second. Her hand landed on her hip in the manner that was so endearing yet dangerous. “I’m over one hundred years old. I can like things from any century I choose.”

“Not according to this you’re not.” Alex held up an envelope, pulling out its contents with a flourish. “You, my dear, are Chloe Miller, twenty years old, born in Pittsburgh.” He couldn’t read anymore, as she had swiped the documents from his hand.

Her smile increased as she read. “I’m alive again.” Her smile faltered a little. “It is a little disconcerting, how easy this was to get.” She looked up at Alex’s smiling face, her own grin quickly returning. “This means I can finally get my own place.” She smirked at the look he was giving her. “I mean, it just isn’t proper for an unmarried young lady to live, unchaperoned, with her suitor.”

“I thought you were over a hundred.”

“Well, then, it’s not proper for a woman my age to be with such a young pup.” She laughed as he tried to snatch the papers back.

“How do you plan to pay for your own place?” Alex pouted.

“Your father pays me for the work I do, you know,” she grumbled as he snatched the papers back.

“But now you have to pay taxes.” Alex waved the papers at her and she grabbed for them, laughing. A knock on the door interrupted their play, and before either could respond, Alex’s younger brother, Aaron, burst in without waiting for an answer.

“Sorry to interrupt, but something happened after you left,” Aaron said, walking to the refrigerator. Ignoring his brother’s annoyed looks, he grabbed a drink without asking. “The restoration magazine was just finishing the shoot.” He held the bottle out toward Chloe. “They asked about you, you know.”

“That’s why I never attend those things.”

“Yeah, you look like the girl who was rumored to haunt this place,” Aaron said.

Chloe took the bottle of water from his hand. “Ever since that woman, what was it, postered that video.”

“Posted.” Alex and Aaron sighed in unison.

“Right. Posted.” Chloe frowned. “It’s all … ‘you look so much like her’ and blah blah blah. It’s better if I’m not there so you and your father can just talk about the restoration without any distractions I might cause.”

“You know, it is good publicity for us,” Aaron began.

“We have enough work coming in without Chloe being exploited,” Alex argued. Aaron raised his hands in surrender.

Chloe shook her head. This wasn’t the first time she had heard this argument. “Alex, I can make my own decisions. Aaron, I want to help with the business, but I will do it as a worker. Not as an oddity or curiosity.” She walked over to the couch where she dropped down, put her feet up on the coffee table, grabbed the remote, and turned on the TV. She pretended to watch some old cartoon.

“Hey! What did we talk about?” Alex asked, pointing to the table.

“Yeah, yeah, over a hundred.” She waved him off.

“Cartoons, at a hundred?” he countered.

“These may be something you’ve seen before, but they’re new to me.”

Aaron snickered behind them. It was something he had already heard several times. Before it could continue, he decided to put a stop to it. “Listen, you two,” he interrupted. “As I said, something happened after you left.”

Chloe shrugged. “I was never there.”

“Yes, I know. I was talking to Al … Chloe stop it.” Aaron huffed as she giggled at him.

“You get so easily flustered.”

“And you’re too old to be acting like this.” Aaron took a breath as he watched the two do that thing that drove him crazy. They could just glance at each other and know exactly what the other was thinking. “Enough!” They both looked at him with the most innocent faces they could muster. He took a deep breath. “The brother and sister I never wanted. Anyway, we had a visitor as the magazine people were packing up. Some rich guy who just bought an old mansion and wants us to do the restoration.”

Alex looked at Chloe, who shrugged. “Yeah, and? Isn’t that what we do—and have been doing—the last three years?” he asked.

“You’re not telling us something. What’s different about this house?” Chloe asked.

Aaron couldn’t meet her gaze. “It is the Van Tassel manor,” he explained, as if it were nothing.

Chloe stared at him with a look of polite confusion on her face. When Alex sucked in a breath, she looked at him expectantly. “Ok, what’s wrong with the place?” she asked.

“It’s haunted,” Alex replied, glaring at his brother.

“Oh, you know I’m scared of ghosts.” Chloe laughed.

“From what I’ve heard, these are some pretty awful, violent ghosts,” Alex replied, his anger rising.

“Well, in that case.” Chloe frowned and returned her attention to the TV. “I mean, I’m sure, after Edgar and Kerlvin, I wouldn’t know how to handle myself with angry spirits.” The remote hit the coffee table hard and Chloe was on her feet. “This is why I think about getting my own place,” she said, poking Alex in the chest.

Behind them Aaron was slowly backing toward the door. “You stay right there,” Chloe demanded. Aaron stopped moving. “Yes, the papers you brought say I’m twenty,” she continued. “But I’m not. I know you want to protect me and keep me safe, but it’s no longer the nineteen thirties.”

Alex tried to interrupt but it was too late. Chloe was on a roll.

“I am not a little girl. You complain that I might get hurt when I get my bike up and running. I was killed once already. It’s my life. I want to do something with it. I was trapped in a house for decades, so if I want to take a long ride through the country on that bike when it’s done, I am damn well doing it. If I want to help restore a haunted house, I’m going to do that too.”

“I love you. I want you to be safe.” Alex replied quietly.

Her face softened. “I love you do, but I need to live. I was dead for so long … I need to live.”

“Yeah, I know, I know.”

“Um, so what’s the plan here?” Aaron asked.

“We are taking the job,” Chloe said.

Alex bit back his protest.

Aaron’s hand was on the doorknob. “Good, since we already accepted it.” He was through the door before the shouts could reach him.