The Screaming Lady, A JEZ Ghost Negotiator Mystery

Chapter Eight: GOING THROUGH THE CLUES

Jessica, Elizabeth and Zakary decided to make a trip to Remy's Diner that evening; and see if they could flush the Screaming Lady out, maybe they could make a connection and see if some of their assumptions were correct.

From the information they collected, they were assuming that the Screaming Lady was Rosie Blanchard's Great Grandmother; Gerald's Blanchard's Mother. Rosie Blanchard's Great Grandmother was placed in a mental institution after the death of Gerald's twin sister and lived the remaining years of her life there, she passed away at approximately the same age as the Screaming Lady looks to be. The period clothing that the Screaming Lady is wearing would be indicative of the time that she would have lived. One question that needs to be answered is: why would she be here, in Remy's Diner?

Another crucial clue to this mystery is embroiled in the water pipe repair project that occurred five years ago. The road crew had found a small cavern and had admitted finding a small set of bones, even though they could not determine, or would not say, if they were human or not. The disturbance of this cavern, which would serve as a grave, could be the grave of Gerald's twin sister because she was never found after being sucked into the sinkhole in the street right in front of what is Remy's Diner today. Question is why is her mother hanging around?

Rosie said that her great grandmother, when she was institutionalized, was said to just scream instead of talk. This would explain the screaming, so it begs to question: is she really trying to run everyone off? or is she trying to communicate and getting frustrated because all that comes out is screams?

But why all the door slamming and the dish throwing, etc.? Is she mad? Is she sending a message? Is she trying to get someone's attention?

They seemed to have more questions than answers.

The three arrived at Remy's, right as the sun was going down, Remy was sitting in his usual place behind the bar, the cash register was to his right. He had his reading glasses on top of his head, and a sleepy look in his eye. Remy perked up when he saw the three walk in the Diner.

"Good evening Mr. Remy, we have not had the pleasure, my name is Zakary, very nice to meet you, the girls have had some very nice things to say about you" Zakary said as he extended his hand.

Remy shook his hand over the counter and sat back down. He asked, "Do you need me here for this Ghost session?" Looking around nervously, then back at the three.

Elizabeth spoke up this time, as Jessica was over in the far booth setting up some equipment to see if she could get their meeting on video and recordings tonight. "Mr. Remy, I think we will be fine on our own tonight, but I do very much appreciate you offering, we may need you tomorrow, though, we will let you know. We have some theory's that we would like to test tonight, so it may get a little rowdy and we do not want anyone in harm's way." She smiled as if she had just told a small joke.

Remy just looked at her, nodded, he got up from the stool he was seated upon and walked leisurely through the swinging door leading to the kitchen. He called back over his shoulder, "You kids be careful" a few minutes later they heard the backdoor open and close with a thump and lock.

Zakary smiled glanced out the window at the sun setting, and said, "Looks like it is showtime. I am excited to meet this little lady that I have heard so much about."

Jessica and Elizabeth stopped what they were doing, the both looked at Zakary, then at each other, rolled their eyes, then continued on with their tasks.

Jessica finished setting up all the equipment with Zakary's assistance. They had set up four very sensitive video cameras at various angles in the Diner, so that they could catch every area of the Diner, no matter where she showed up. She also set up an EVP Recorder to record anything they may be missing with eyesight and they had an EMF Meter to track the sneaky stuff, lastly, an Infrared Thermometer to measure the temperature shifts in the room once she appeared.

All three were in position, they dimmed the lights, just enough so that they could see, but not enough to attract attention from any passersby on the street that may be curious and want to look in the windows. Remember, this was a small town, and word spread fast about things going on; JEZ did not want to chance of "lookie loo's" coming around and getting in the middle of their session with Screaming Lady. The town folk say they are scared of her, but when curiosity calls, you just never know?

About forty-five minutes after they had set up, she made her appearance. Jessica immediately hit the power for all the equipment to begin recording, and as she did all of the equipment was lifted into the air and crashed down onto the ground in a soundless crash.

In a very strained voice, Zakary whispered, "Looks like she is camera shy."

Jessica once again, looked at Zakary and rolled her eyes and said, "Keep her busy, I will see if I can get a mental connection with her." She was not talking to either one in particular, so Zakary and Elizabeth looked at each other and both shrugged their shoulders. They both walked over to a booth, where they had set some playing cards and sat across from each other, they started as if they were playing cards fending off the shivering as the ice was forming on the windows. Zakary, whose vantage point was facing the Screaming Lady, watched her intently, as she was staring at them with her head lolled to the side as if her neck was broken and she could not hold her head up.

Jessica closed her eyes and opened her third eye, she reached out, her mental reach acted like tentacles on an octopus; reaching, touching, feeling, finding. She first found Elizabeth and Zakary and mentally told them to stay calm, which they responded with mental 'yes'. Elizabeth had her back to the Screaming Lady, so she kept her eyes on Zakary to gauge what was going on in the room. Zakary gave Elizabeth a reassuring glance and a wink that calmed her instantly.

Jessica continued to search until she found the blackness of the Screaming Lady's consciousness, it was a solid, thick black wall. Jessica ran her third eye feelers all up and down the wall to see if there was a crack, an opening, something that would allow her in. The wall was covered in black slime and crawling with ants, roaches, and beetles. Worms and small snakes were slithering all over the surface of the wall as if they too were looking for a way in. Jessica hated the feel of the wall and swore she would take three showers in a row after she completed this.

The smell in the Diner once again was rancid, like rotten flesh and wet earth, in addition to being freezing cold.

As Jessica was probing the consciousness and memory wall of the Screaming Lady, the Lady took her interest off of Zakary and Elizabeth and whirled around to face Jessica and SCREAMED.

Zakary jumped up and said, "Wow, you have some lungs on you, No, No, No; Lady, here, stay with me. Look at me."

With that, the lady just turned her head around, so that her body was facing forward toward Jessica and her head was now facing backward toward Zakary, and she SCREAMED again. Zakary thought, good thing we brought the earplugs. He said, "nice parlor trick, bet that gets you invited to a lot of parties." He smiled.

Elizabeth had slid out of the booth and now stood up next to Zakary, she took a deep breath and said, "We are here to help you, we want to help you find your daughter."

At that the Lady stopped, she righted her head and body and was facing Zakary and Elizabeth. For a quick moment she looked absolutely normal, like a normal mortal lady standing in front of them, flesh and blood; her face was sad and pleading. Then in a blink, she was gone.

Jessica loudly exclaimed, "Dang it!"

Zakary and Elizabeth, both still with their earplugs in, asked at the same time, in a very loud voice, "WHAT?!"

Jessica made the motions for them to take their earplugs out of their ears, they both laughed and took out the plugs.

Jessica said, "right after Elizabeth said that, which was genius by the way, a crack opened in her mind wall, and I was able to get in, but then she was gone."

Elizabeth smiled, a little proud of herself, regained her bearings and asked, "well, so, you were able to get in, even if it was just a moment, what did you see?" Zakary nodded, "yeah, sis, what did you see?"