Murder in a Haunted House
Summary: Psychic Detective Royce is invited to spend a night in a haunted house. And of course, someone dies!
The question Royce must solve is: Was it really a ghost that did it? Or is someone using the excuse of ghosts to commit murder?
Genre: Supernatural crime
Series: The Shadow Detective (previously Mad Detective)
The day was setting and the pink sun was casting dark shadows in my private office. I sat with my feet on the desk thinking about food. The Korean takeaway below was very busy and I could the smell of fried noodles came flying thru the window; together with the sounds of satisfied customers enjoying themselves. I tried my best to ignore the complaints from the tummy while it grumbled and complained.
Business was slow, in case you didn’t notice.
That’s when she walked in.
A real dame she was.
Like the poet Taylor Swift said, I knew she was trouble when she walked in.
Fashionable clothes, stylish curled hair and an expensive Gucci handbag. Expensive pink heels that looked brand new.
She stood by me, staring silently.
“No,” I gestured at her. “I cannot take your case.”
She just stood in front of me. Gazing at me with cold, silent eyes.
“Sorry,” I said. “I need paying customers. I was homeless till a few months ago and am barely keeping this place.”
And she obviously couldn’t pay. Yes, she had the Gucci bag. Yes, she looked like she was a successful businesswoman.
But there was this other thing. A very important thing. A thing that put a spanner in the works.
She was dead.
Yup, 100% dead.
Her head had been smashed open by a blunt object. Her designer clothes were covered in blood and her eyes were hollow.
“Help…me…”, she said.
If someone had been standing next to me, they would not have heard her. I could hear and see the dead. And they kept bothering me.
“I can’t. Justice and all are nice, but I need money. I am not being selfish, I am literally on the brink of becoming homeless again.”
Before she could say anything, the phone rang.
I didn’t have a phone.
So yeah, the phone I didn’t have, that shouldn’t even exist, rang.
It was a strange old device. One of those phones from the 1930s. The one where you picked the receiver and said “Hello, operator, give me 2122?”
It had just appeared on my desk one day. Of course, it wasn’t connected to anything. And yet it rang. And would keep ringing until I picked it up. Avoiding ghost phones was as hard as avoiding actual ghosts.
So picked up the receiver. “Hello. Cambridge Pizzas. What can I get you today?”
A voice spoke in my head.
Don’t say no. When he comes in asking for help. Say yes.
And the line disconnected.
I knew who that was. It was a…well, an ancient god. Someone you could not say no to. Not without repercussions.
“What the hell did you mean…” I started to say when someone knocked on my door.
“Excuse me, can I come in?”
It was a nerdy looking guy with thick glasses and 2 phones in his pocket and a laptop in his arms.
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m Detective Royce, you are?”
“Jimmy. Paranormal investigator. For Psy-TV. My producer is doing a show, she wanted me to ask for your help. She can’t make it herself, she has already gone to the haunted house.”
He spoke so fast that I was confused. “Sorry, who are you again and why are you here?”
“Jimmy Wales. From Psy-TV.” He paused. “Sorry, I should have started with this. We have a haunted house and have been invited to spend a night there. And there is a reward of a million pounds if we can find evidence of ghostly activity. Isn’t that cool?”
“Maybe. And why are you here?”
“My producer. She asked me to come talk to you. Actually, she was going to come here herself, she should have been here by now, but then I got an email from the channel saying she wasn’t responding, and so I should come talk to you. You see an interesting opportunity…”
I interrupted him.
“Your producer. What does she look like?”
He was a bit surprised at my change of direction but went with it. “Ummm, yeah. I have a picture of her here.”
He opened the laptop and showed me a website for his channel. Listed under staff was Lisa Thurmann, Senior Producer. The picture showed a smart woman. Very glamorous, wearing designer clothes and with perfectly permed hair.
And exactly like the dead woman standing next to me.
“Did you producer go there today?”
“Last night. I lost contact with her. But she had given me instructions to come find you if she got stuck. I’m guessing she is busy which is why she couldn’t come.”
Yeah, she was busy. Busy being dead. The dead woman just stared at me with lifeless eyes. “Help me,” she said again.
“And what do you want from me?” I asked. To both of them, though only one of them replied.
“Well, the channel is building a team of experts. We have a famous ghost blogger and social media star, a well known psychic, and me. I am an expert in scientific investigations of the paranormal, if I may say so myself.”
He blushed a little, then continued. “We were told you investigate psychic phenomena. A psychic detective will help complete our team. It’s a great opportunity, I’m very excited.”
“Well, Jimmy,” I said, “I’m glad for you, but my policy is to ask for a down payment…”
He gave me a check. Five thousand pounds. “Another ten thousand if you stay there for at least two days and agree to be interviewed. Plus, we are looking for long term relationships so there will be more business coming your way if this goes good.”
He was really buttering me up. I could see a setup. A trap.
He paused for a breath, then added, “The owner has offered a million pounds bounty for proof of ghosts, as I said, but there is no guarantee of that. But you never know!”
Normally, I would have said no.
But the dead girl was still standing there looking at me. I don’t think she would leave until I brought her killer to justice. And that damn phone had told me to take the case as well.
“Fine, I agree. When do we leave?”
“Now. We need to leave now. It’s a remote island and the last boat leaves in an hour. Is that fine? It’s just a day or two. The TV channel will buy and send us spare clothes tomorrow. Does that work?”
I nodded. “Let’s go see your haunted house. And solve the murder.”
“What murder?” asked Jimmy with a surprised face.
#
I hate boats on a principle. This one was worse because it was very stormy outside and the only place to sit was in a tiny common area full of reflective mirrors.
Mirrors are my biggest fear. My kryptonite.
I found out about the hidden world when a creature from another dimension almost killed me and my shadow had to leave the mirror to save me.
She owns me now.
I don’t know why my shadow is a woman; she just is. She often talks in my head; and before you ask, no, she is different from that voice on the phone. I have a lot of voices in my head, often 3-4. I can manage them, as long as they aren’t fighting each other.
As the light reflected off the many windows and mirrors in the common area, I tried my best to look away from them. I turned to my companion and focussed fully on him. This seemed to please him.
“Tell me about this house and the person who bought it. Every single detail.”
“Okay, well, where to start? The house itself is not special. It was a holiday home for a duke for many years until the family fell into hard times and sold it. There was no evidence of it ever being haunted. And then, Lord Vishnu Nath bought it.
Vishnu Nath is one of the richest men in Britain. He made his wealth in old fashioned industries like steel and copper, at a time when most people were leaving them for more glamorous ones like AI and Web Software. He came from India but not much is known about his family there. He was from a poor background and could only come to Britain on a scholarship to get his Master in Material Sciences. Hmmm, what else?”
“The house. Why did Lord Vishnu buy it? What is his angle in all this? I mean, why is a steel magnate buying haunted houses?”
“Vishnu sold off his businesses and became a Lord when he donated several million pounds to the ruling party to get them out of debt. He was given a peerage as a reward. For a time, he was seen as yet another sleazy businessman turned politician. No one particularly cared about him. He had no offensive ideas and stayed in the background, so the media and social media just sort of forgot about him. Then he started collecting weird things.”
“Weird things?”
“Anything and everything related to murder, ghosts, the supernatural and the macabre. The knives of serial killers, the clothes of their victims, and houses where violent murder had taken place. He paid over the top for these things and in some cases created quite a scandal. Like when he tried to buy the underwear of a woman who had been raped and killed.”
“Yuck,” I said.
“Yuck, indeed. Lord Vishnu apologised and made a huge donation to a rape prevention centre, but the damage had been done. He was asked to resign and he did.
But a cult following had built around him. Ghost hunters, people interested in the supernatural, and online psychic types, all started following him on social media. Many experts claimed the items he bought were actually haunted. He also paid handsomely for information and soon every famous ghost hunter wanted to either interview him or get close to him. That increased his reputation in the ghost hunting community.”
He sat quietly and looked at me as if asking a question.
“But is any of it real?” I asked the unasked question. “Is he really collecting ghosts or he is just another crazy billionaire? Steel magnate turned ghost hunter—seems a bit far-fetched.”
Jimmy burst out laughing. “Exactly the question my boss asked. The answer is: I don’t know. And it doesn’t matter. The TV channel is interested because his name and reputation mean we will get a high viewership. We are talking millions of views for the short version we release for free on social media. And a few hundred thousand of those will pay to watch the whole thing. Plus, TV channels overseas have expressed interest so the network will be milking this for years. Hence why they can afford to be so generous.”
I considered him. “I thought you said you were a ghost hunter yourself?”
“I am. Though I am more of the scientific type. Electronics and cameras instead of crystals and chakras. But I haven’t found any proof yet. But the hope is there!”
My eyes fell, by mistake, on a mirror to our side. Instead of a reflection of the boat, I saw a dark burnt out castle on a desolate hill. The sky was purple and it was raining blood. Undead walked the grounds. A few turned to look at me and I turned my eyes away with a sudden and terrified sharpness. Luckily for me, my companion didn’t notice.
“I see. And the house?” I said hurriedly.
“Yes, the house,” he said. “Like I said, and I did do a lot of research, spending hours in the area and visiting everyone who ever lived there or knew someone who did. Not a single mention of a haunting. Normally, with zero evidence, I would have dismissed the claims as fake. But, because of Lord Vishnu…”
“You can’t. Because of his reputation. Could he have just made the thing up for publicity?”
“Hmmm, I wouldn’t think so. He is notoriously media shy and has only given 2 interviews since he quit the House of Lords 2 years ago. And both were to fringe podcasts interested in the supernatural. Plus, he is still quite rich. Finally, he never advertised the fact he bought a haunted house. He had been having a private conversation with a friend when a journalist overheard him and published the news. Vishnu was angry and refused to talk to any journalist about this. He agreed to talk to us because the channel brought me in, as well as a few other experts in the supernatural. And now, you know as much as I do.”
I nodded. “Thanks. Why me?”
“The channel found you. Don’t you investigate the weird and unknown?”
“I…do. But I keep a low profile. How did you even hear of me?”
He smiled. “Oh, we know a lot of people who know people. Someone recommended you. They asked how you solved the case of a woman who had been killed by her stalker, and whose ghost had been wandering around? And you helped her get justice?”
I had. But there had been no witnesses when the woman jumped out of her grave and killed her stalker. I knew this for a fact because the police report marked both of them as missing, not dead. So there was no way this guy could have known about that case.
He took my silence to mean I was impressed by him. “Yes, that was a very good thing; getting that girl justice and all. I am impressed…”
“Indeed,” I interrupted him. “Do you remember if it was Lord Vishnu who told you about this case I investigated?”
He was silent for a moment. “Now that you mention it, yes. He did mention it in an offhand manner. Though we did check the facts ourselves.”
He started waffling on about how thorough he was but I had lost interest.
I had to meet this Vishnu and find out how he knew so much about me.
#
The great Lord Vishnu was not ready to receive us yet, so kept us waiting. Which was fine by me as it gave me a chance to look at the other experts.
The first was a young woman in her 20s with purple hair who was busy recording something on her phone. She ignored us.
“That is Pippi. She has 5 million followers. She originally made makeup and fashion videos but ever since her mother’s death, she has taken an interest in the supernatural. I think Lord Vishnu wants her because of her social media reach.”
Sitting on the other side of the room was a middle aged woman with platinum hair. She was sitting cross legged on the sofa and in deep meditation.
“That’s Susan India, the famous psychic and energy healer. She claims to be able to channel spirits and guide them to the next world. She also has almost a million followers.”
I turned to him. “And how many followers do you have, Jimmy?”
He smiled. “Not a lot. But then I haven’t spent much time promoting myself. I have a day job, this is just a hobby for me.” He shrugged.
An assistant came into the room. “Lord Vishnu would like to speak to all of you in private. And we plan to start recording TV interviews after that. Jimmy, Royce, I know you just arrived. Do you mind freshening up? At least wash your face and comb your hair so you look presentable.”
Jimmy took me to the bathroom where I stared into the mirror. A pale looking woman stared back at me. She was applying makeup and completely ignoring me,
I had not seen my own face in a mirror for 7 years. Every time I looked in a mirror, I saw her. Or worse, hell like worlds where the undead and demons roamed freely.
I washed my face and pretended my comb my hair while Jimmy went to the toilet.
You left a place, said the mirror to me.
And a hand came out of the mirror and fixed my hair in one place.
The woman in the mirror then winked at me and vanished. The mirror just showed an empty bathroom now. No reflection of me, just an empty room.
It never got less creepy, no matter how many times I saw it.
I went back into the waiting room to find it empty. I could hear laughing and chatting from 2 nearby rooms.
One of the doors opened and the social media star came out. She looked at me with barely hidden contempt. “Oh, it’s you.”
And went back to ignoring me.
The other door opened and the psychic woman came out. “Lord Vishnu is such a delight. I’ve never met such a charming and delightful man.”
The social media star, what was her name, Peppi? Pippi? She smiled too. “Agreed. The media coverage of him is so negative. Just goes to show the Main Stream Media can’t be trusted. They say he is sleazy and corrupt, but I found him very intelligent and brave.”
“Yes. And it doesn’t help that the media is so negative on his mission to open the spiritual world to the public. I’m glad I agreed to work with Lord Vishnu on this great task. Blessings.”
Jimmy came out of the bathroom too. He had applied hair gel and put on a tie. “I’m glad you find it useful. Between the 4 of us, we can solve the mystery of this haunted house.”
“What, with this hobo?” said Pippi, looking at me. “He looks like he just came back from selling The Big Issue.”
I felt like I had been slapped. I had, in fact, been homeless and half insane just a few months ago. My “gifts” with the supernatural world had driven me crazy and I had spent years sleeping rough and talking to myself. I thought I had recovered though. The clothes I was wearing were the best my local charity shop could provide but they were still good quality.
Jimmy looked embarrassed. “Let’s not be rude. Royce here is an investigator in the supernatural. Amongst us, he is the only one with proper investigatory experience. His insights will be very useful.”
Pippi looked like she didn’t believe him; Susan, the psychic, was trying her best to look busy like this was too embarrassing for her.
That’s when the door opened and a man built like a bear came out.
“Meester Royce,” he said with a thick Russian accent. “Come with me, please.” He took me to a different room to the one the women had gone into.
#
The room was very dark. My eyes slowly adjusted and I saw a man sitting ahead of me.
Surrounded by a dozen mirrors, all facing me.
The bodyguard stood between me and the man.
“You veel not approach Lord Vishnu Nath and you veel stay where zou are at all times. If you try approach him, I shoot you. You got that?”
“I’m sure he got that, Vlad,” said a deep voice. “Pardon the extreme measures, Royce, but I know of your reputation.”
“I didn’t know I had one. I just started my agency a few months ago and haven’t had a single case since then.”
The man, who I assumed was Vishnu, laughed. “And yet, you have a reputation. From when you were homeless. I see Ms Pippi out there correctly figured you out, in spite of your efforts to appear normal.”
So it was one of those interviews. “Trying to rile me up, are we? Have something to hide, Lord Vishnu?”
He ignored me. “What do you think of my mirrors? I’m told you are scared of them, though my source wouldn’t tell me why. What do you see when you look into the mirrors, Royce? Your sins, perhaps?”
I ignored him. “Where is Lisa Thurmann?”
Though I couldn’t see his face, seeing as it was covered in darkness, I could feel the surprise on his face.
“Who?”
“The producer. The one who came here to interview you.”
“Oh her. Out and about. I saw her a few hours ago. She’ll meet us for dinner.”
He had lied. Which meant he knew she was dead.
He waved a hand like she wasn’t important. “Why are you here, Royce? To create trouble?”
“You invited me.”
“I didn’t. The TV channel invited you. I found out too late to stop you from coming. Let me repeat myself: Are you a troublemaker, Mister Royce? Will I have to keep an eye on you?”
I got up to leave. The bodyguard reached for his gun but I ignored him. “So much for your charms, Lord Vishnu,” I said and left.
Outside I met Jimmy. “Fascinating man, isn’t he?” he said to me with an honest smile.
I shrugged and moved on.
#
The bodyguard then kept following me around so I couldn’t go anywhere till dinner. The TV crew had no interest in interviewing me so I spent my time sitting on the couch alone. Everyone else seemed happy though. I could sounds of laughter and enjoyment.
At 8 pm, the TV crew left. Seemed they wouldn’t be spending the night. That caused me a bit of a surprise as I had assumed they would be staying the night with us and recording what happened here. But it seemed I had missed something.
I was invited for dinner, a bit hesitantly, by the bodyguard. I found the others already there. They hadn’t waited for me and had already started eating. I didn’t complain and sat down to eat in the corner.
The conversation was about ghosts and the supernatural. Then, it turned to mirrors, which really brought my interest. Susan, the psychic, asked Lord Vishnu, “Why do you have so many mirrors in the house? Is it true you have been collecting haunted mirrors?”
Vishnu paused. “Yes. I have always believed mirrors collect the psychic energy of the people they are around. That’s why old legends warned of supernatural creatures like vampires fearing mirrors.”
He looked at me briefly, but no one else noticed.
“I have collected 15 mirrors. All from houses where a murder happened right in front of the mirror. I am trying to see if the mirrors have any psychic residue of the murder on them.”
“That is awwweeesoommee!” said Pippi. Even Susan was impressed.
Jimmy, I was surprised to see, wasn’t. He looked confused.
“We’re already investigating a haunting house. Won’t adding haunted mirrors confuse the issue? I mean, if we find psychic phenomena, how do we know if it’s the house or the mirrors?” said Jimmy. “Or something else?”
A great point, I thought. Vishnu completely ignored him.
I picked up a water glass when I saw a reflection of a woman in it.
Check these mirrors.
I thought to myself: “The damn bodyguard won't let me.”
Leave him to me.
If someone had been looking at me carefully, they would have seen my shadow shrink and vanish from my body. They would’ve felt my aura grow darker and my eyes become thinner. But no one ever noticed me.
I felt myself being kicked out of my body. My body was replaced by the tall woman in my mirror, but other people around me wouldn’t notice. They would continue seeing the “normal” me.
The pale woman walked out of the drawing room and the Russian bodyguard followed her. He was threatening and intimidating her, but intimidation did not work on my shadow.
She was the one who scared others.
Sometimes, I wondered why she even stayed inside of me and didn’t take over. That had been my original fear and she had even hinted at it. That she would take over my body and I would be lost. But for reasons unknown to me that had not happened. Yet.
The Russian bodyguard had finally had enough and grabbed the woman by the arm and started screaming at her. “I think I told you to stay in the room?”
She just smiled at him. I could see his blood go cold.
She whispered something in his ear, and he started shaking. “Tell me where the mirrors are,” she whispered in his ear.
After shaking from fear a little, he finally told her.
“There are only four real ones. And they are in the rooms of the four guests who will be sleeping here tonight. That’s all I know,” he whispered, a wet spot forming in his trousers.
“Thank you,” she said. “And now, go back and forget all this.”
Without looking at him, she started walking to the bedrooms and I got control of my body.
Your job now. Find out what’s wrong with the mirrors.
I entered the first room and saw the mirror. It looked like an 18th-century mantelpiece and very expensive. Wouldn’t have looked out of place in the museum. But other than that, it was a normal mirror. I looked into it and saw the same hellish places I always saw.
What was I supposed to look for? I knew I didn’t have time and that the guests might come back any time.
I went into the second room and found a cheap plastic mirror. Their reflection showed a large desert world with a harsh red sun. There were giant worms in the desert eating humans. It was a world I had been to and never wanted to visit again.
Again, normal for me. What was special about these mirrors? I couldn’t see anything related to killers.
The third room had a mirror similar to the second one. Another hell world.
It was in the 4th room that I got my shock. Not from the mirror which was unremarkable.
No, the reflection.
I could see my own face.
I almost fell to the floor in shock. I hadn’t seen my face for 7 years. Was that how I looked like?
I touched the mirror. Other than the fact I could see myself, I saw nothing special about the mirror. I was about to investigate more when I heard a loud angry sound behind me.
“Excuuusssee me. But this is my room?”
It was Pippi, the social media star. “Your room is on another floor? Like, get out?”
Lord Vishnu came in as well, his bodyguard missing. He was all smiles like he was my best friend. “Come here, Royce. I got you the fanciest room in the house. With the fanciest mirror. From 16th century France.”
He took me to the room with the expensive mirror and left in somewhat of a hurry. Was he scared?
Jimmy knocked on my door. “Me and the girls were planning to spend the night looking for signs of the supernatural. Susan wants to meditate to look for ghostly auras while Pippi and me want to set up my electronic gear to scan for abnormal readings. Do you want to join us? You can help either Sara with her psychic investigation or us with our more scientific one.”
He smiled, waiting for me.
“No thanks. I’m just going to bed.”
His jaw dropped so much I thought it would hit the floor. “Aren’t you interested in the ghosts in this house?”
He didn’t say it, but I could hear the implied complaint. What are we paying you for?
“There are no ghosts in this house, Jimmy. Your research was correct. This is a normal, boring house.”
“Oh,” he looked crestfallen. “Sad. So nothing supernatural, eh? How did you figure it out so quickly? And what about the mirrors? Are they haunted?”
“I’m not sure about the mirrors yet. The house isn’t haunted but that doesn’t mean it’s safe. Make sure all three of you lock your rooms tonight. If possible, stay in one of the bigger rooms with an en-suite bathroom, and don’t leave the room till morning.”
His face went white and he tried to say something, but I cut him off. “Sorry, I can’t tell you anything more. Promise me you will keep the doors locked.”
“I will, and I will tell the others too. Thanks for the heads up. And all of us will stay in the same room and keep it locked. See you tomorrow. You will tell me what’s happening tomorrow?”
“I think it will become clear tonight.”
As he left I locked my own room and started looking at the strange mirror. I turned the lights way down and kept staring at it as if forcing it to release its secrets.
But the mirror kept quiet.
I fell asleep staring at it.
#
I was woken up by a scream a few hours later. The clock said it was midnight.
I opened my door to see Lord Vishnu, his bodyguard and a few of his staff running. I followed them to one of the larger bedrooms.
“What’s happening?” asked someone.
“Screaming. From this floor. We came to investigate,” said another.
Lord Vishnu tried the door from which the screams had come but it was locked. From the inside.
I felt my insides go weak. I hoped it wasn’t the room Jimmy was in. “Break the door!” I said.
The staff turned to look at me. “Sorry, but you aren’t the boss here.”
“Do what he says,” said Vishnu. “Now!”
4 of us pushed at the door till it broke open.
Inside was a sight I would never forget no matter how long I lived.
3 dead bodies—Jimmy, Susan and Pippi. Their heads had been chopped off and thrown carelessly around.
There was no one else in the room.
Just a ghostly mirror staring back at me.
Covered in blood and gore.
“Out!” said Vishnu. “This is a crime scene now. I will call the police.”
Even as he said it, I could see a slight smile on his face.
#
The police arrived in a few hours, which was surprisingly quick seeing as how we were on a remote island. Everyone was ordered to their rooms while forensics went over the room.
Not having anything to do, I went to sleep.
My dreams were disturbed and violent. I dreamt of a man whose face was covered in a white burial cloth hacking me to death. I heard screams and blood, and then the whole thing repeated.
Until I was woken by a knock on the door. It was one of the servants, a middle aged man.
“The police would like to talk to you now.”
“Good. Am I the first?”
“No, sir. You are the last. We were all interviewed last night before going to bed. They didn’t interview you as we knew you would not know anything.”
That was a bit presumptuous.
“The police are leaving and wanted to have a last chat with you.”
“Leaving already? Surely, there would be more interviews and investigations?”
“Not really, no. Lord Vishnu convinced them it was a suicide/murder. That fellow, Jimmy, seems he was mentally unhinged. He had some financial problems. We have proof. Lord Vishnu is convinced he killed the women and then himself. Probably tried to rape them too.”
“Wait a minute! No murder weapon was found in the room. Or did he use his nails to decapitate them?”
“I don’t know sir, and I don’t care. If you go out that way,” he said, pointing at a side door that led out to the pier where the boats were kept, “the police officer will see you there. Good day, sir.”
There was so much I wanted to say but he was gone.
Leaving me fuming and angry.
That corrupt bastard had bribed the police to look the other way. Suicide indeed. I was going to scream at the police. I had no friends at the press but I was going to camp outside the newspaper’s office till someone spoke to me.
I was seething as I walked to the pier, to find only one policeman waiting for me. A young man, couldn’t have been a few years in the force. They were going to palm me off to some junior hack who would try to blow me off.
“Listen you,” I started but he put a hand over my mouth and gave me a piece of paper.
Keep quiet. Vishnu has recording devices everywhere on the island. Turn over
I turned the paper over.
Follow this policeman and don’t say a word until he tells you to.
This was…strange.
The policeman waved me to follow him and I did. We went to a tiny unmarked boat on the pier and got on. He bent down and turned on a machine that started making an irritating low humming sound.
“Signal jammer,” he said. “Don’t want no one listening in.”
Then he dialled a phone and gave it to me. As the phone was ringing he got off the boat, leaving me alone.
Someone answered the phone. “You know who this is, Royce. I’m from the Department.”
“You asshole,” I said. “You took a bribe and removed the police, didn’t you?”
6 months ago, I had been homeless and almost crazy. I had still solved a few supernatural cases but had gotten no credit for them. People were blind. They refused to see the horrors that walked and killed right amongst them.
But someone noted my actions and I came to the attention of a secret government department called just The Department, who were tasked with protecting Britain from supernatural threats. They didn’t like a random homeless guy doing their job for them, so they reached an understanding with me. They got me a house and an office, and in return, I would have to keep them updated about any supernatural threats to the country. And do odd jobs for them.
“How much did Vishnu pay you?” I said, my blood boiling.
“Nothing. But I did pull the police off the case. Because there is no evidence against him. He was with a dozen of his staff when the murders occurred. Plus, there are security cameras in the hall and they confirm no one entered or left the rooms after the 3 dead people. So murder/suicide is the only logical explanation.”
I let out an angry breath and he continued. “Hey, listen, I believe you. I know Vishnu killed them. The man is a bastard and we’ve had our eyes on him for a long time. But we can’t get him.”
“Why not?”
“You think we haven’t tried? Do you know why he resigned from the parliament?”
“He tried to buy the clothes of a rape victim?”
“Nope, we made that up. We also paid one of his secretaries to claim he molested her. We made it clear we wouldn’t stop unless he resigned.”
“He knew about you?”
“Of course.”
That was surprising to me. The Department, while it wasn’t Top Secret, was secret enough that a random Lord shouldn’t have been aware of it. They didn’t appear in any government reports and other than the Prime Minister and the heads of other security organisations, no one knew about them.
“Yes, he knew about us. And we of him. He called us fascist pigs, a secret government within the government, both of which are true.” The man laughed drily. “He resigned under pressure from us. But he didn’t stop his experiments.”
“Experiments?”
“Your ‘Lord’ Vishnu has had an interest in the supernatural since he was a child. And strange things have happened around him. When he was barely out of university, a well known billionaire gave him all his iron mines and conveniently committed suicide a few months later. It was surprising as Vishnu was an unknown immigrant from India with no background in running mining industries. After that, he went from success to success, with anyone opposing him going crazy or dying. You know how people can be convinced to go crazy, don’t you Royce?”
He was talking about the fact my own contact with the supernatural world had driven me crazy and homeless for many years. At least I wasn’t homeless anymore.
“So why this murder? This whole haunted house schtick?”
“The house is no more haunted than the busy shopping mall near my home in central London is. No, Vishnu is carrying out some sort of experiments there, but we can’t figure out what. That’s why he had to get him out of the government; he had started using the government’s resources to look for forbidden knowledge. But we don’t know what he was looking for.”
I knew. I told him about the mirrors. “I see. You think he used some sort of magic or demons trapped in them to kill the 3 people?”
“4 people. He has killed 4 people. Including the TV channel’s producer.”
There was a silence. I could hear a light wind blowing behind me in the calm sea and the weather starting to get warm. I could still see the policeman blocking the way to the boat, humming some old Beatles song. Don’t know which one, never could remember.
The voice on the phone came back. “The producer. Yes. Our records show she is still on the island. Are you sure she is dead?”
“As sure I am alive.”
“I see. Vishnu didn’t tell the police about her, so he must have buried the body on the island somewhere. Not even the 1st time he’s done it. Anyway, time is running short. I called you for a specific reason. We want you to find out how Vishnu killed the 4 people. And then deal with him with extreme prejudice.”
“Extreme prejudice?” Sounded like a military term. Our friend was ex-military.
“We can’t arrest Lord Vishnu. We would be laughed out of court. But neither can we let him get away with murder. Listen, if he’s a threat, just leave, and we’ll find someone else to take care of him. But you do need to find out how he’s killing people. I can't risk sending my agents in blind.”
“Won’t he and his staff just vanish me?”
“No. His staff are good, honest people. We checked. Many worked for the old owners and got transferred when Vishnu bought the house. You only have to worry about his Russian bodyguard, a nasty piece of work.”
“So, my job is to find out how he killed those people?”
“Yes, and if you can, deal with him. Don’t act squeamish, I know you’ve made people vanish before. It’s how you came to our attention. A lot of our suspects end up dead or missing when you were in the area.”
Yes, those were my dark days, when my shadow took over and went on killing sprees. Sometimes, it was justified as when we were dealing with demons and the like. Sometimes, not so much. Like when she let out a dozen zombies from a hell world to take care of a few gangsters trying to kill me. It was a pain cleaning up that mess and sending the zombies back.
I was in control of my shadow now. She only came when I asked her or when I was in extreme danger. I thought I had her on a leash. She also thought she had me on a leash.
“I will see what I can do. I…”
The next part was embarrassing. I didn’t know how to say it so I just stood stupidly with the phone to my ear.
“Yes? What were you saying?”
“I’m a bit short of…I know you paid me…”
“I understand. The TV channel paid you five grand. That will pay off your debts. I’ll throw in the ten grand you would have gotten if you had done the interview. Meanwhile, consider working for us fulltime.”
“Thanks, but no.”
He cut the phone.
I would never work for him fulltime. I knew that from day one. No matter how bad it got, even if I became homeless again.
I had to follow the voices in my head. Not just my shadow, but the phantom phone that rang anytime, and also the other ghostly beings that came to me for help. I knew I had to be independent so I could drop everything on a moment’s notice to act. No desk job would allow me that freedom.
Anyway, I had taken the case from the murdered producer. She had come to me for justice. It was time to give it to her.
It was time to confront Lord Vishnu.
#
Vishnu was surprised when he saw me walking back. “I thought the police arrested you or something? My servants saw you being taken on their boat. You are not welcome anymore here, dickhead. The TV show is cancelled. I’ve kicked out all the other TV fools.”
“No. I’m here for the reward.”
“Reward?” He was surprised.
“You promised a million pounds to anyone who could prove the supernatural. And I’m here to prove the murders were committed by a ghostly or demonic being.”
He smirked with contempt. “And how will you do that?”
I had no idea. “Let’s start with the mirrors. I want to look at all four.”
The bodyguards brought the mirrors into the big drawing room and locked the door. Clearly, he didn’t want the other staff to know what we were doing. Which was good, as it showed they were innocent.
Vishnu crossed his legs and smiled at me as if challenging me. “Right, sir. All yours.”
I looked at the 4 mirrors, and my eyes immediately went to the only one that showed my face.
The other 3 showed strange hell like worlds, like always. I knew if I stared into them long enough I would see strange creatures in the sky and under the sand, I would see poisonous man eating plants, and I would see hordes of hungry flesh eating ghosts. I also knew if I stared long enough, those creatures would notice me and start moving towards the mirror. My shadow usually protected me by taking over the reflection, but she was a problem of her own. Pale, vampire like, she lived in another of these hell worlds that looked exactly like ours, except it looked like it had been hit by nukes.
The 4th mirror showed my image. I hadn’t had time to investigate it much before I had been interrupted by the social media star.
I looked at the mirror and my reflection looked back at me.
But something was wrong.
What was it?
I moved my hands across the mirror and moved my face from left to right. The reflection did the same.
I heard Vishnu and the bodyguard laugh behind me. Clearly, they thought I was silly.
I didn’t know what to do next. Should I pull a Groucho brother routine where I pretend to hide from my own reflection?
I started to feel a little frustrated and mentally asked for help.
Look carefully.
I did. At my face. At my eyes. At my hair.
And slowly, it hit me.
That was how I looked more than a decade ago. The reflection had a young face with natural black hair and shiny teeth.
I doubted a man who had spent the last seven years homeless looked like that.
I hadn’t seen my reflection for 7 years but I did know I had grey hair and uneven teeth. My skin was cracked and uneven and there were a few wrinkles, though I was barely middle aged.
The reflection was too perfect.
It was how I imagined myself looking.
It was how I wanted to look when I walked into bars and tried to stand next to attractive women and talk to them. It was the face I dreamed I had, a face people would like talking to. And not the face that made women walk away in disgust.
The demon had tricked me. And tricked me so well. If it had shown me my real face, I might have looked carefully. But as it was, a part of me must have known it was fake. Which is why I had tried to look elsewhere and pretend there was nothing wrong with it.
Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You are still in danger.
I looked back at Vishnu but he was just sitting there bored.
Not him.
I looked back at the mirror and the reflection was smiling at me. It clapped its hands and mouthed Well done old chap.
And then a hand shot out of the mirror and grabbed my throat.
And it squeezed.
The world started going black.
I could see spots in front of my eyes. I could see the world spinning. A voice in my head told me to just stop. What was the use of fighting? I should just give up and the pain would stop.
What do you have to live for anyway, the voice said. It’s not like you have a wife waiting for you back home.
They weren’t my thoughts but it still hit hard; and I let go. The reflection was right, what did I have to fight for? No wife or girlfriend, and no chance of getting one. No stable job, spending months without a single client.
Then I saw her.
The murdered woman. Whose case I had taken. Looking at me with haunted eyes.
“Sorry pal, but I can’t die until I have solved the case. Malky, help!” I screamed.
Malky was the name of my reflection. She said it meant insane in her language.
I found myself pushed out of my body and Malky took over. She broke the reflection’s wrist and pushed the hand back into the mirror. Then she punched the mirror a few times till it smashed.
There. I want payment now.
Malky sometimes asked me for payment when she had to fight demons for me. It involved either letting her use my body for a few days, a thing I didn’t really like. I had no idea what she did with my body as I was trapped in the mirror universe while she controlled my body.
There was another way I could pay her, though.
I turned back to Vishnu. “There you go. Proof of the supernatural. You saw the hand come out of the mirror and try to kill me.”
He was a bit angry and spoke with barely suppressed rage. “You smashed the mirror.”
“If you knew this mirror was haunted, why buy the other 14?”
“But I didn’t know it was haunted. I often buy allegedly haunted items that turn out to be duds. This time, however, I knew that I had something good. I bought these 15 mirrors together and I knew at least one of them was the real deal. But which one?”
He crossed his legs and sat back. I stared at him. I knew he was itching to boast how smart he was. I wasn’t wrong. He continued speaking when I didn’t say anything.
“The mirror would only activate under special circumstances. I had to find which of the 15 mirrors was real. So I put them in different rooms and invited ghost hunters to sleep in the rooms. I knew the real mirror would activate and kill if it was left alone with someone psychic.”
“You murdered 15 people? You bastard!”
He shook his head with contempt. “No. I only murdered 12, you idiot. It was hard, as the mirrors didn’t always work and I had to move the mirrors around. Some people refused to sleep alone, so I wasn’t always sure which mirror was the one that killed.
Last night, I would have found out which was the real mirror depending on which one of you died. This time I made sure the 4 of you didn’t know each other from before and would sleep in separate rooms.
Then the 3 other idiots decided to move the mirrors to one room. Which got them all killed, but at least now I was sure it was one of these 3, but which one?
Thanks for showing me which mirror was the real one, Royce. And though you have damaged it, you have only damaged the external glass, not the spirit that dwells in it.”
“Why do you even care about the spirit? And was the whole haunted house thing fake?”
“Of course it was. I wanted gullible idiots who knew a little about the spirit world, but not enough to realise they were walking into a trap. So I made up a story about a haunted house and gave the people a bullshit story to put them into a psychically open state so they would attract the spirit.”
“You still haven’t told me why?”
He was bored and turned to his bodyguard. “Kill him.”
I needed to stall for time. “Actually, I know why.”
He raised a hand to slow his bodyguard. “And do tell us why.”
“An unknown student from India suddenly gets given an iron mine, and then becomes a billionaire. Anyone who opposes you dies or vanishes. You have been messing with the spirit world from childhood, haven’t you? You were a pro before you even came to Britain.”
He nodded. “Well done. Daddy dearest was the priest and spiritual healer for our village. He was an expert in removing ghosts and demons from possessed villagers. This was the 60s, you know, people still believed in such things. But Daddy was the real thing. He spent his whole life helping others, even as we starved.
I, on the other hand, saw no reason why I would banish ghosts when I could use them instead. I captured and tortured a few ghosts and made them find hidden treasure for me. That gave me enough money to come to Britain. I had to leave India in a hurry as father had disinherited me and the villagers were becoming restless.”
He smiled. “And the rest, as they say, is history. Came to Britain, managed to convince that old fool to hand over his mine by getting a ghost to possess and hurt his daughter. Of course, I drew the attention of some special groups that investigate the supernatural, so I’ve always had to be a step ahead. I thought becoming a Lord by bribing the idiots in government would make me untouchable but all it did was attract more attention.”
“What I still don’t get is, why? You have a billion pounds, so why are you still hunting ghosts?”
He shrugged. “The people I killed, the ghosts I trapped and tortured, they all want revenge. I need a demon to protect me. But it doesn’t matter to you.”
He spoke to the bodyguard again. “Kill him. Cleanly. It’s time for my meeting with a TV channel, I don’t want blood on my suit.”
“With pleasure, boss.”
The bodyguard started walking towards me.
“Malky!” I shouted. “Food! Yum yum!”
It sounded silly but Malky heard me.
Yes, they are delicious but I have a hundred other spirits here waiting for revenge. I will rip both of these slowly and sell them piece by piece. Gimme a sec.
Just as the bodyguard reached me with a rope, Malky took over. She grabbed the bodyguard and threw him into the mirror. Then the same with Lord Vishnu.
If someone had been watching they would have seen the 2 people vanish into the mirror, like a magic trick. But it wasn’t a funny trick.
Both of them looked surprised to be in the mirror world but had no idea how to get out. They banged on the glass and tried to smash it, but it was impossible to escape the mirror world until you knew a spirit there. One that didn’t want to eat you.
Malky left my body and walked into the mirror, winking at me as she left.
You know what to do.
I found a few bedsheets and covered the mirrors with them. Hopefully, the servants wouldn’t notice. I had seen them avoid the mirrors—only the bodyguard would touch them.
Besides, it wasn’t like they would be able to do anything even if they saw anything in the mirror. It was just to help their sanity in case they heard screams or blood dripping from the mirror.
I left the room and locked the door behind me and put the key in my pocket.
There were no servants around so I slipped out of the house and made my way to the police boat.
On the way, I saw the dead producer waiting for me in the garden.
“Congratulations. I have solved your murder and punished the guilty. You really need to leave now, before you attract attention.”
She gave a silent smile of thanks and vanished.
And so ended the Case of the Murder in the Haunted House. Another case I would get no credit for. At least the money I got would tide me over a few months.
I would buy new clothes. And maybe even get a few real clients. I prayed to a god I knew didn’t exist. “Please, God, can I have some living and rich clients this time?”
But no one replied, which for someone like me, used to hearing voices in my head, was actually a good thing.
The End
Keep reading if you want to know more about how this story came to be! And some background on Detective Royce
About this story:
Thanks for reading the story. Phew, that was long, wasn’t it? I didn’t want it to be this long— at almost 10,000 words it is too long for a short story and entering novella territory. At one point, I thought of expanding it into a full length novel, which wouldn’t have been that hard. All I had to do was expand the side characters and give them more to do. But I just want to write short stories for now, as I have a million ideas!
Royce is one of my favourite characters. If you have my free book “Chilling Ghost Tales” which you can get by subscribing to my substack, it has 3 of his stories, including his origin story. At that time, I called him Malk and his title was the Mad Detective.
I’ve renamed him Royce, and this story is set a few months in the future when he is no longer homeless and crazy. But he still hears voices, and these voices are sometimes right but sometimes manipulating him.