Closer to the edge
Chapter two-something new
Over the next few days, Jo had begun realizing that there was no logical explanation for what was happening to her. Gus had looked up a lot of what was going on and it seemed more and more logical that the illogical was happening to her. She eventually decided to accept it and believe it.
“Okay,” Jo said as she sat down in front of Shawn’s desk. “If I’m reliving these past lives, why? Why now?”
Gus shrugged.
“There’s no time limit. It could just happen at any time. Or there’s a reason which isn’t known yet.”
Jo nodded.
“What we need to do is research,” Shawn said leaning back in his chair and tossing a plush basketball into a net which was hanging on the wall. “We need to find out who you were before. The names that Tanner had said…Ingrid Matthews, which is your name now…Jo Reyes right?”
Jo nodded.
“And a Stella…Stella Gates,” Gus chimed in.
“Okay let’s get working here,” Shawn said as he swiveled around in his chair and brought up his Alienware Laptop. Gus was looking at him with a weird expression on his face. Shawn slowly looked up and caught Gus’ gaze. “What?”
“Nothing I’m just surprised you’re doing actual work,” Gus said with his lip twitching.
“We’re just researching it,” Shawn said dismissively typing.
“Same thing,”
“Work…research-er, I’ve heard it both ways,”
Gus shook his head but Jo giggled and came around behind Shawn to look at the screen. First Shawn typed in Jo Reyes.
An article dating back to the 20’s popped up and an image of a young woman in a flapper dress and headband with feather below the article. Jo gasped. The young woman looked EXACTLY like her. Shawn began reading the article aloud:
“26 year old Jo Reyes was gunned down by the well-known mafia mogul Frankie “Four Fingers” Mancini. Frankie was ruthless and feared around Santa Barbara in 1922. Reyes had apparently done some bad deals with Frankie and her body was discovered on April 12th, 1923, almost one year after her disappearance and murder. She had been shot numerous times and her body was discovered at La Purisima Misson state historic park west of Los Olivos. It was apparent that her body was just dumped. DNA was found on her body tying her to Frankie and on May 1st, 1923, Frankie Mancini was arrest for her murder. He died at the age of 81 in 1970 at Santa Barbara maximum security prison.”
“It’s uncanny,” Gus commented. “She looks like you!”
“Yeah,” Jo said biting on her bottom lip. “That guy Tanner said that Jo Reyes never existed. So why was he lying?”
“I don’t know but let’s keep looking,” Shawn said as he typed in Ingrid Matthews next. Jo’s heart was hammering loudly in her chest right now.
No Article came up. Jo breathed a sigh of relief at that. Why she thought there was something to be found on this girl she was now…but nothing. Good. Sanity was still present.
The next name Shawn typed in was Stella Gates.
An article popped up that looked like it had been taken in the 80’s. A young woman’s photo came up next. Again, Jo gasped. She looked like her also. But she had long black hair. The same photo she’d seen in that weird daydream (was it a daydream?) at the bar.
Jo turned her eyes off the article and turned around. This was too weird for her and she shut her eyes.
“Shawn, just gimme the gist of the article,” she said.
“Okay,” Shawn said as there was a brief pause and silence before he answered. “It appears Stella Gates went missing back in the 80’s. No one knows where she is or why. The case is still opened on her disappearance. Police suspect she’s dead and that someone had taken her. Neither her or her supposed kidnapper have been heard from since.”
“That’s creepy,” Gus commented.
“Yes it is,” Jo added.
“Okay,” Shawn said running his hands over his face. “So we know that Jo Reyes was murdered and Stella is missing.”
Jo froze. She realized that she had been calling herself Jo all along because she refused to believe she was anyone else BUT Jo…but now, it weighed on her that she could very well be this Ingrid girl everyone thinks she is.
“So that means that my real name is indeed Ingrid Matthews,” she said slowly.
“Of course,” Gus chimed in. “Who did you think you were?”
Jo shrugged and shook her head in a manner which meant never mind. She was gonna have to start calling herself Ingrid now because that’s who she was apparently. The other two names weren’t hers. Those people weren’t her.
“Okay,” she said taking a deep breath. “So what now?”
“Well,” Gus said pulling up another screen. “According to this article on Stella, she has some family here in Santa Barbara. A relative. But they’re in the Asylum.”
Jo nodded.
“Well I think we should go there and see what information we can get,”
Gus nodded and grabbed the car keys.
“I also think we should involve Jules and Lassie in this,” Shawn said. “Just so they have our backs.”
“Good thinking,” Jo said.
***************************************************************************
Gus pulled his blue Echo into one of the guest parking spaces in the parking lot. The three of them climbed out and were met by Lassiter and O’Hara who pulled up next to them.
“So what are we doing here Spencer?” Lassiter asked irritably.
“We’re here Lassie because there might be someone inside who can shed some light on what’s going on with Ingrid,” Gus said frowning at him.
“Proceed,” Lassiter said as his whole demeanor changed then.
Wow he was certainly a puzzle. Jo thought. no. I’m Ingrid. Ingrid now.
Jo was dressed in a pair of jeans and a cute white gypsy style blouse with spaghetti shoulder straps and it was made up of lace. On her feet were dark brown calf boots. Her dark streaked blond hair was fluffed around her shoulders. She still kept the small diamond nose stud in and her earrings were soft drop silver ones. A cropped denim jacket was over the blouse. She caught Lassiter’s gaze flickering over to her before settling a head of him as the five of them entered the Santa Barbara State Asylum.
It was a large white building shaped like a flat C. It reminded her of the old Linda Vista hospital that was said to be haunted. A shiver passed up her spine. It was still creepy. Lassiter and O’Hara turned to them.
“What is the name of this person,” Lassiter demanded.
“Um a Rachel Gates,” Gus chimed in and Lassiter turned to the receptionist behind the desk, flashing his badge.
“Rachel Gates,” he grunted.
The receptionist told them the room number and they headed over to the elevator. Ingrid took a deep breath but felt her heart racing madly in her chest as they piled into the elevator. The doors slid closed and it began ascending to the 4th floor.
The elevator jerked violently to a stop causing Ingrid to stumble backwards. Her back was thrown against Lassiter’s chest. Her boot caught the front edge of his black shoe. She heard him let out a hiss but she felt his hands on her shoulders setting her back on her feet properly.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized quickly as she felt her cheeks flushing pink.
“It’s fine Miss Matthews,” he grunted as she felt the weight of his hands lift off her shoulders as the doors whiffed open. “I think we’re gonna take the stairs going down. That thing is a death trap.”
She couldn’t agree more. They followed the instructions of the receptionist and eventually reached 402. Shawn eased into the room and they found an old woman sitting in a wheelchair watching a rerun of some 50s program.
“Miss Gates?” Shawn prompted still moving slow as though she was some kind of feral animal. “Hi. I’m Shawn Spencer and this is Gus. Can we talk to you?”
Jo was touched at how gentle Shawn was being with Rachel. She turned to look at them.
“Did you bring me candy?” she asked them in a paper thin voice.
“Um,” Shawn hesitated. “I don’t but Gus does.”
Gus made an impatient click noise but he reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of candy offering it to the elderly woman.
“Rachel, may we talk to you?” Shawn repeated as he took a seat on the bed. Gus sat next to him while Lassiter and O’Hara remained standing. Lassiter folded his arms over his chest. Ingrid saw the old woman’s eyes slide onto her and a look of fear and shock passed over her face.
“Stella? Did you come home?” she asked reaching for her.
“Um,” Jo paused unsure. “I’m…” her voice trailed off but Shawn cut her off.
“Yes Mrs. Gates. Stella’s here too. We need to talk to you,” Shawn interjected patiently. “Can you tell us about the night that Stella disappeared?”
Jo was at a loss for why he would say that but then she understood. If it got the old woman talking, perhaps they’d learn something about what was happening and what happened back then.
Jo slinked back to stand next to Lassiter as the old woman launched into the story.
“Oh it was a terrible night,” Rachel said shaking her head. Her hair was wispy and silver and thinning out. She had crisp blue eyes and weathered skin. She was dressed in a soft floral house dress and soft pink slippers. “Stella was supposed to come home after school. When she didn’t, we were worried. We called the police. They found her backpack and everything still inside, but no sign of Stella. At first, we thought it must’ve been her new boyfriend that kidnapped her. But we just don’t know.”
“Mrs. Gates, may I ask who you are in relation to Stella?” O’Hara asked gently.
Rachel’s eyes landed on the female detective.
“I’m her mother,”
**************************************************************************************
After they left the asylum, Jo was feeling more and more confused at this point. According to her ‘mother’, the night Stella ‘disappeared’, her and her boyfriend had had an argument. Several hours after that, Stella had gone missing. The police at that time suspected the boyfriend but no evidence had come up to really tie him to the disappearance. The whole family had been distraught and confused. Her mother had slowly shown signs of dementia as she grew older and was convinced that Stella was home already watching TV. Of course that wasn’t the case. The family had felt it was for the best if Rachel had gone into an asylum. She’d even attempted to stab someone who she claims ‘talked about her daughter the wrong way’. Rachel had just gone crazy.
“Wow. That was creepy,” Shawn commented shivering.
“You’re not kidding,” Jo muttered under her breath.
Shawn and Gus gave her a sympathetic look as Lassiter now stormed over to the dark blue Ford Crown Victoria and paused by the driver’s side panel and whipped his jacket halves back as he placed his hands on his hips exposing his badge and the holster under his arm.
“So what that nutjob is saying is that she basically thinks you’re this ‘Stella’ person,” Lassiter said turning his eyes onto Jo, who locked gazes with him. “Stella vanished without a trace and the police that investigated her case turned up no evidence. I find that hard to believe.” He grunted shaking his head. “There had to be some evidence left behind.”
“I agree,” O’Hara agreed shaking her head. She put on a pair of dark lensed sun glasses. Her hair was twisted into a bun and was held in place by two chop sticks. “It just doesn’t make any sense. How could you not find any evidence and if the boyfriend was ever questioned, where is his report and testimony? I think we need to check into this more.”
“Good idea,” Shawn said clapping his hand once and pointing his hands outwards to O’Hara as he pointed at her also with his index fingers on both hands. “Gus and I have something we’d like to check out as well.”
“No we don’t,” Gus said frowning and shaking his head.
“Yeah buddy we do,” Shawn insisted. “Remember? I said we had to check out that thing before?”
“Nope,” Gus said shaking his head and looking at the others.
“Gus don’t be a pickle in a cucumber bunch,” Shawn said.
“Shawn you said nothing about checking anything out,” Gus insisted frustrated. “What are you talking about? We have nothing.”
“I can’t do this with you right now,” Shawn said as he grabbed Gus’ arm and began leading him away. “We’ll be in touch when we’re done with our little checking up situation!”
he called over his shoulder as the two of them began bantering back and forth as they climbed into the blue Toyota Echo. Jo stood there, amused and confused to say the least.
“Well, looks like I’ll need a ride,” Jo said shrugging and turning to the two detectives.
“We’ll drop you off,” O’Hara said cheerfully.
Jo smiled at her gratefully and turned her eyes back onto Lassiter.
Lassiter was silent for a moment before he grunted and motioned for her to get in. He held open the back door behind the driver’s side seat and Jo slid in. She tucked her legs in and he closed the door for her. As soon as he got in, he started the car and rolled down the windows. He put the car in drive and pulled away from the Asylum.
The cool Santa Barbara breeze blew her hair back as she inhaled deeply. She had no memory of this woman claiming to be her mother. No memories of her childhood. Nothing. It was frightening no knowing who you really were. Lassiter stopped for a red light. Jo looked out the window. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot across her skull and she cried out, digging her heels into her forehead. Flashes of light went off before her eyes.
she saw herself dressed in an 1880’s dress, probably during the wild west era. She was walking along on the wooden sidewalks when a man approached her. Lassiter. He was dressed in a silver vest, a white shirt and a matching silver jacket over that typical of men’s clothing during that era. She stopped and smiled at him. She looked different though. She had long curly blond hair in ringlets and a headband, red with a feather attached to it. She looked like she had worked in one of the saloons. He came up to her and kissed her on the cheek. The reaction between them led her to believe they were dating. Lassiter offered her his arm and they continued walking.
A few moments later, the scene shifted and she saw the same setting again, but this time, things were bad.
she saw herself standing in front of the gallows with Lassiter standing with a noose around his neck. He looked livid and angry and was saying things but she couldn’t hear them. She was sobbing and pleading with the town sheriff but it didn’t seem to do any good. The sheriff nodded and the trap door dropped. Lassiter’s noose tightened around his neck.
The flash vanished and Jo sucked in air loudly as she felt her hands bracing against the front seat.
“Ingrid?” she heard an alarmed O’Hara’s voice.
After a few moments, she finally managed to calm her breathing down and raised her eyes to see O’Hara and Lassiter peering at her anxiously over the shoulder of their seats.
“What happened, Miss Matthews?” Lassiter grunted quietly his ice blue eyes locked on hers.
Jo took a deep breath and proceeded to tell them what she’d seen. As soon as she’d finished, Lassiter immediately scoffed. Clearly he didn’t believe in this sort of thing, which made it hard for Jo to relay information to them and keeping them updated.
“I’m telling you it was like some kind of vision,” she insisted frowning. “I don’t know what’s going on Detectives but clearly something important or significant is happening and I don’t have any control over it.”
“It’s preposterous though,” Lassiter scoffed rolling his eyes scornfully.
Jo tilted her head.
“What’s preposterous? The idea of actually dating me?” she asked him sounding hurt and affronted.
That seemed to flabbergast him and he quickly backpedaled.
“N-No,” he stammered looking at her clearly flushed with embarrassment. “That could see a vision of the past or whatever the hell you called it.” He said waving a hand dismissively.
Jo just shook her head.
“You seem to go along with Shawn and he’s psychic,” she argued arching an eyebrow at him.
Lassiter sneered.
“I do not believe that dimwit is psychic but that’s an old argument,” he said and then exhaled. “But I will make a promise that I will find out what’s going on.” He said gently touching Jo’s knee once before turning around and facing the front again.
Jo just folded her arms over her chest and shook her head as she looked out the window. She chewed on her bottom lip. It was hard dealing with a skeptic in all this. O’Hara seemed to have more of an opened mind about things. So at least she had her and Shawn and Gus to go to. But for some reason, she was finding that she really wanted Lassiter to believe her.
Suddenly the flash was back and she saw herself dangling from the gallows. The rope was tight around her neck. She leaned forward and began making choking noises. The flash kept going off and she saw her body convulse slightly as it dangled, the rope tightening even more around her neck. She raised her fingers to her neck, as though clawing at an invisible rope. She felt the car pulling over again and doors opening. Her door was yanked open and someone leaned in and gently placed two hands on the side of her face. Suddenly, at this persons touch, the flash vanished. Jo’s eyes landed on Lassiter’s ice blue ones. His face was contorted into an expression of fear, concern, and worry.
Jo leaned forward slightly and began coughing.
“Are you all right?” he grunted. “What happened?”
Jo just coughed and wheezed as though she’d really been hung. Suddenly she heard O’Hara gasp.
“Carlton! Look at her neck!”
She felt Lassiter gently ease her back against her seat. She felt him gently sweep her hair back exposing the side of her neck. Jo felt a strange shiver running down her spine at his touch but by the look on his face, something was clearly on her neck.
“What is it?” she asked in a strained voice.
O’Hara reached into her purse and pulled out a compact mirror. Jo quickly opened it and looked into it. Around her neck was a ring. A red ring. From a rope.
**************************************************************************
Sitting on a gurney, a doctor applied some ointment to the burn and applied a gauze bandage around her throat. Lassiter and O’Hara were talking to the doctors. She knew the doctors were more than likely trying to think that SHE was the one who did this to herself…but they can’t account for the fact that Jo was in the backseat of the detective’s car the entire time…and there was no rope present.
Once the doctors left the detectives, Jo looked up and spied Lassiter’s face. O’Hara gently touched her arm and said that she was going to start the release forms. The hospital couldn’t keep her being there wasn’t really any signs of anything medically wrong, except the bruising and burn around her neck.
Lassiter stood in front of her and hefted the hems of his slacks so he crouched down in front of her. He let his elbows rest on his thighs as he clasped his hands between his knees as he regarded her. She knew by his expression that he seriously didn’t believe what had just happened.
“Don’t bother,” she muttered. “I did this to my self am I right?”
“How could you?” he grunted shaking his head. “There was no rope in the back of the car and O’Hara and I saw you with our own eyes. I don’t like not having the facts or anything, but we’ll have to figure this out.”
Jo scoffed and rolled her eyes. She suddenly saw Lassiter raise his hand. She froze, her heart hammering loudly in her chest. She somehow sensed that he wasn’t going to hit her or anything. She wasn’t worried about him in that sense. She gently felt his index finger and thumb gently touching her neck. Her bandage had slid down and revealed a bit of the burn and bruise. She felt him gently slide the bandage back up to cover it.
He cleared his throat, obviously embarrassed by what he’d just done.
“I’m not crazy, detective,” she said quietly. “Something is going on here.”
She felt him gently pat her knee before standing up right again.
Hopefully answers will become clear soon. She was starting to fear that she really was crazy.
********************************************************************************
Back at Henry’s, Jo took a step into the beach front house. Behind her, Lassiter and O’Hara began filling him in on everything.
Jo took a step forward again. Suddenly, the walls started to change. They started peeling away with a bluish light, transparent almost. A house reconstructed itself in the very spot where Henry’s house was. Jo stood there, shaking as she watched people dressed in what appeared to be puritan clothing. She saw herself dressed in these clothes standing in front of a fireplace stirring a cauldron over the opened flames. There were two girls sitting at a table eating what appeared to be stew. They were laughing and playing. Jo’s eyes darted to the front where the door opened and a man entered. He too was dressed in the same period clothes. Lassiter.
He went over to Jo and kissed her on the cheek. He then went over and ruffled the hair of the youngest girl and then kissed the older girl on the cheek too.
“Ah my Lizzie,” he said softly coming up behind Jo. “Did thoust have a good day?”
Jo just watched herself smile and leaned back against Lassiter’s chest.
“I did,” she answered. “Did the council review our request?”
“Yes they have,” he said sadly shaking his head.
“Unfortunately, our request has been denied. They say that it’s not possible for us to be married. They are basically going to shun our children and myself.” He swallowed hard, causing his Adams apple to bob. “You are to be hung.”
Jo watched herself freeze and a look of utmost horror and shock passed over her face.
“H-Hung?” she stammered out clearly distraught.
Lassiter stepped over to her and threw his arms around her and pulled her close. She saw herself hold onto Lassiter for dear life. She saw tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Yes,” he said pressing his face into her hair. “They claim you made a deal with the devil and you are nothing than a sinner. Us living together only added onto their decision.”
Jo watched herself become overcome with grief and sobs. She watched the house suddenly fade, as though it had been a memory of the past. When it finally disappeared, Jo stood in Henry’s living room blinking. She realized that Henry had been talking to her.
“Ingrid?” he prompted gently touching her arm. “Are you alright?”
Jo blinked a few times and then forced a smile. She couldn’t tell him. But when Shawn and Gus came back from whatever they were doing, she would tell them. The more people were on her side, the better. She was just grateful that she had some new friends now that cared about her. But why was she seeing flashes from the past? And were those flashes telling her something? That she was destined to end up with Lassiter? Or was there tragedy looming a head of her yet to come?
You must login () to review.