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“Absolutely,” Toots said.

“Well, I hope we can make contact with someone. I’m more excited than afraid. So I’m ready when you all are,” Abby said, then looked at Chris. “You’re okay with this?”

“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t, so I say let’s get this show on the road.”

“One more thing. I take this seriously, try not to crack too many smart-ass comments.”

“Well, I think that’s almost a miracle,” Ida said.

“Kiss my ass,” Sophie said. “Now let’s get started. Let’s all join hands.”

They all joined hands, forming a circle around the table. “Everyone relax. Think of a person you would like to make contact with. It doesn’t have to be anyone you knew personally.”

Sophie allowed the room to capture the silence and tranquillity, the wishes and desires, of the others. Well, maybe not Chris’s and Abby’s desires.

“Everyone take a deep breath and relax, open your minds and hearts to the possibilities of another dimension, another plane where lost souls are trapped. If there is a spirit in this room that would like to make its presence known, we are here to help you. Let’s all place the tips of our fingers against the water glass in the center of the table. This is our means of communicating with the spirits.”

They all unlocked their hands and each touched the glass with the tips of their fingers.

“If there is someone in this room that would like to communicate with us, move the glass to my right for yes and to my left for no.”

Their eyes were glued to the glass. When nothing happened, Sophie repeated her words. “No one in the room means any harm. We want to help you, to understand you. If you understand this message, move the glass to the right for yes and to the left for no.”

Again, they waited. After several seconds had passed, the water glass moved ever so slowly to the right. Sophie heard several intakes of breath. “You understand us. Are you a male or female? Move the glass to my right if you are female, to my left if you are a male.”

Sophie cast a glance at Chris and Abby. They were mesmerized.

The glass slowly moved to the left. “You are male.”

“Is there someone in the room that you have a message for? To the right if your answer is yes, and to the left if your answer is no.” The glass slowly moved to the right.

Everyone took a deep breath when they saw the answer.

“Can you move the glass in front of the person you wish to give a message to?”

They waited for a few minutes and nothing. Sophie was about to ask another question when the glass glided over to rest in front of Toots.

“Oh,” Toots whispered.

Sophie continued with her questions. “Were you married to this woman? If so, roll the glass side to side. If you were not married to her, do not move the glass.”

All eyes were focused on the glass. When several minutes passed, and there was no movement, Toots’s relief was palpable.

“You were not married to this woman.” Sophie liked to confirm the message for those in the room and for those not in the room.

“Do you have a message for anyone in this room? Move the glass to the right if your answer is yes and to the left if your answer is no.”

The glass rolled so fast to the right but stopped as quickly as it started.

“You are angry with someone?”

Again the glass rolled to the right.

“Is the person you are angry with in this room with us now as a living, breathing human being?”

The glass rolled to the left.

Sophie was so into this, she didn’t have the least bit of fear. She couldn’t speak for the others, but they didn’t look as though they were ready to jump up and leave.

“Can you materialize so we can identify you?”

The glass rolled to the right.

They all let out loud gasps.

“Shhh, it’s nothing to be frightened of. Let’s put our hands palm down on the table.”

“Show yourself.”

The dining room suddenly became icy cold, the candles flickered. A cloud of fog appeared. It drifted close to the table. A man’s face began to form. Pale features, the fog whirled around like a small tornado, then stopped as fast as it started. The cloud hovered above the table, where all eyes were directed on the face of none other than Bing Crosby.

Sophie was so excited, she almost allowed herself to lose control.

“You are Bing Crosby.”

The face actually smiled.

No one said a word. This was a true phenomenon. A paranormal masterpiece.

“Do you have a message for anyone in the room?” Sophie said.

The cloud floated over to Toots, stopping. Sophie was at a loss. What did Bing Crosby want to tell Toots? The chill in the room was so sharp, it was hurting Sophie’s skin. She wasn’t sure what to do but knew if she didn’t gain control, she would lose the spirit.

“Sophie, I think I might know the connection,” Toots whispered.

“What?”

The cloud continued to hover above Toots.

“Aaron Spelling’s house. The land it was built on was the former home of Bing. Spelling demolished the Crosby estate to build his mansion.”

Suddenly the cloud began to whirl around the room. The flames on the candles blew out, then they crashed to the floor. Sophie’s hands were shaking so badly, she had to sit on them. As fast as it started, it stopped.

No one moved or said a word. They had all just witnessed an event which, had they not seen it with their own eyes, none of them would have believed possible.

Sophie was about to tell them to relax and vacate the room when another mistlike cloud began its foggy manifestation. The room became even colder if that were possible.

The mist floated around the room as though it had a mind of its own. Sophie didn’t speak, as she didn’t want to risk losing it.

Just as before, the cloud floated around the room, stopping in front of Abby. She drew in a deep breath, then slowly released it. She stared into the mist as a face began to form, again, just as before, only this time it was the face of a female. Pale skin and bloodred lips formed inside the fog. Blond hair in a style suited to the sixties materialized.

All eyes in the room were focused on the image in the foggy mist hovering above Abby’s head. There was no mistaking the woman’s face as she slowly smiled, a smile unlike any other.

It was the face of Marilyn Monroe.

No one made a sound. Breathing was barely heard. This was out of Sophie’s league.

The face turned to Abby, as though she knew her. Abby looked into the face of one of the most famous Hollywood actresses of all time. No one moved a muscle. Abby gazed back at the famous movie star, whose death remained a mystery to that very day.

Abby gazed at the red lips as they slowly moved. It was impossible not to believe that the spirit wanted to give her a message from beyond the grave.

Abby’s hands shook, but she never took her eyes off the mysterious movie star.

The room got even colder as the mist with Marilyn Monroe’s face moved closer to Abby.

Abby gazed into the eyes of the dead star. The red lips mouthed slowly as though she wanted to make sure her message was understood.

“My death was an accident.”

The room became so cold, Sophie feared it would ice over.

The cloudlike mist began to whirl around, just as before, but nothing fell or moved. As though swept up in a vacuum, the mist disappeared as fast as it had come.

No one moved. No one spoke. There were no words to convey what they had just witnessed. There was one possible reason for this supernatural event, and they all knew what it was, though none had put it into words.

Abby Simpson had just been given the exclusive of her—or anyone else’s—lifetime.



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An hour later, they all gathered around the kitchen table. They weren’t very chatty, as none of them could quite believe what they had just witnessed. A paranormal phenomenon.

“Toots, make a pot of coffee. No, scratch that. We all need a stiff drink. Agreed?”

“I’ll blow my diet for whatever is the strongest drink in the liquor cabinet,” Ida said.

“I can’t drink anything. I have to drive home. I want to keep a clear head so I can recall everything that just happened. Sophie, can you let me look at those tapes before I leave?” Abby asked.

“Yes, I was going to suggest we do that. Let me get the equipment. Toots, we’ll need your laptop to view the recordings. I’ll only be a minute,” Sophie said.

“Chris, you haven’t said much. Are you okay? I mean, none of us are okay okay. We’ve witnessed something pretty scary.” Abby was concerned about Chris, since he’d been too quiet since they left the séance room.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I’m just having a tough time with this because it defies everything I’ve ever believed in. My belief system just…I don’t know, got a dose of reality? Another dimension? I’m an attorney. We deal in facts. And I can tell you what happened in that room was anything but factual.”

“Ida, you haven’t said much,” Abby observed. “What are your thoughts?”

“I have had to deal with so much in the past few weeks, this is just one more thing I have to cope with. I can’t fathom this actually happening in my everyday life, yet I know it did because I saw it with my very own eyes. I guess we’re all still shocked. I’m not sure what I think.”

“I agree with Ida,” Mavis said. “This is just too strange for me. I’m just an old Maine girl. Ghosts and spirits don’t scare me, and I do believe they exist. If I didn’t before, I certainly do now.”

Toots returned to the room with the laptop and a bottle of scotch tucked under her arm at the precise moment that Sophie returned with the equipment. Sophie made fast work of setting up the laptop so they all could view the tapes. When she finished, she placed the computers at the end of the kitchen table.

“Let’s move our chairs around so we can all see this together. This is some of the same equipment they use on Ghost Trackers. so it’s top-of-the-line. I’ll sit next to the computer in case there are any glitches.”

Toots poured six shots of scotch. “Anyone need a drink, help yourself.”

Toots tossed back the scotch like a pro.

“I’ll have one of those,” Ida said. “Mavis, too.”

Toots slid two glasses across the table like she’d seen them do in the old Westerns. “Sophie, you want one?”

“Not yet, let me watch this first. I do want a cigarette, though.”

Toots stepped out to the deck and grabbed a pack of smokes and a lighter. One of her house rules, and she didn’t have many, was no smoking in the house. She was about to break her own rule. If ever there was a time to do it, this had to be it. She lit two cigarettes and brought them into the house.

“Sophie, this is a one-time deal, okay?”

“Sure.” Sophie took the cigarette and drew on the filter-tipped end so hard that her cheeks looked like someone had squeezed them together. She did this two more times, then gave the cigarette back to Toots. “That’ll hold me for a while, I want to watch this. Can everyone see the screen?”

They all nodded. Toots stood behind her so as not to blow cigarette smoke at the others at the end of the table.

Sophie made a few quick strokes across the keyboard, then the séance room filled the screen. Each of them leaned as close to the screen as possible, hoping that what they’d witnessed in that room had been captured by Sophie’s high-tech gizmo.

The images on the screen were of them seated around the table. The expressions on their faces were somber. Sophie’s voice filled the room as she’d explained to Abby and Chris a few rules and things that might or might not happen. This was all caught on tape as the angle of the camera’s lens was focused directly on the table. Like a surveillance camera, Sophie had set hers to scan the table in three-minute increments. This happened three times. They watched the glass roll to the right, then to the left, then roll across the table in front of Toots.

When it should’ve shown the puffs of mist with the face of Bing Crosby, the camera caught nothing except the look of shock and surprise on their faces. Sophie looked crestfallen when they all sighed in disappointment. Now they knew the mist with the face of Marilyn Monroe wasn’t likely to appear on the screen either. Sophie continued to monitor the computer. All eyes were fixed on the screen, hoping against hope for an image to appear, but nothing happened.

Abby’s facial expression went from apprehension to shock. That must have been when the image of Marilyn Monroe appeared. They continued to stare at the computer screen, but other than their shocked expressions and the glass rolling across the purple sheet, nothing else appeared on-screen.

“Shit,” Sophie said, as her fingers started dancing across the keyboard. “I’ll save this, but we’re going to have a hard time convincing anyone that glass moved on its own.” She was about to cut the image when Abby saw something on the screen. “Stop! Can you rewind that a millimeter? I think I saw something.”

“Sure,” Sophie said. She used her finger as the mouse controller. She reversed the images on the screen by running her hand along the touch pad. When she was close to the clip where Abby asked her to stop, she touched a few keys, and they waited.

“There! Stop, go back two seconds,” Abby said.

Again Sophie did as Abby asked. She hit the keys to continue playing when she saw it, too. “I’ll be a son of a gun, look at this. All of you come closer.”

They all gathered around the monitor as close as they could without bumping heads. Sophie did her keyboard dance for the third time, but this time she knew approximately where to stop, as she’d seen something, too.

“There, look.”

One by one they took turns leaning as close to the monitor as possible. When they saw what Abby had pointed out, they observed the image, then stepped back for the next one to see. When they’d all viewed the image, they returned to their chairs.

As Sophie was the resident séance guru with the knowledge to set up, monitor, and operate the high-tech gadgets, she was officially in charge of the evening’s discovery.

“One by one I want you all to tell me what you saw. I want to make sure we’re all on the same page. Abby, since you were the first to see this, I want you to wait until the others tell us what they saw.”