The Haunted

“My guess is that he’ll fail the psych test,” Rodriguez said reassuringly. “And we have him dead to rights on trespassing and threatening an officer. He’s not getting out anytime soon. Don’t worry about that.”

Julian nodded, answering the rest of the questions he was asked. But he did worry, and after they were gone, after he was given a business card and a case number and told that he could pick up a copy of the report at the police station tomorrow, he stood in the front yard, looking at the house, trying to assess how secure it was against intruders, wondering whether he should keep some type of weapon handy. He wasn’t a gun guy, but having a baseball bat next to his bed or beside the front door couldn’t hurt.

Thank God Claire and the kids weren’t here.

Still, he wasn’t sure how he could keep this from them, or whether he should, and, instinctively, he glanced around. Had anyone else on the street noticed? If any of their neighbors were home, they certainly had. But it was the middle of the day and most people were at work, and the sirens and police cars hadn’t drawn any attention. He was most likely safe. Besides, after last night’s entertainment, the neighbors with whom they would have been likely to socialize were probably planning to keep a safe distance from his family and their house.

Julian walked back inside, his eyes drawn to the dining room window. Eventually, he decided, he would tell Claire. But not right away, not after what had happened last night. She needed some breathing room, some time to adjust. A one-two punch like this would just knock her flat.

He was too jittery and wound up to stay seated in front of a computer for the rest of the afternoon, and he scarfed down his sandwich, gulped down his Coke, then called Claire and told her he would be out for the next few hours, running errands. He wanted to tell her not to come home, to stay away, some primitive part of his brain believing that even with the would-be attacker arrested and in jail, their house was still not safe. But he said nothing to her about it, just said good-bye and hung up.

He actually had no errands to run, no place to go, nothing to do, so he drove over to Rick’s print shop. As he’d hoped, his friend was between jobs, sitting in the office watching TV and waiting for customers, and he looked up when the buzzer sounded over the door and Julian walked in. “Dude!”

“Hey,” Julian said, already wondering whether he’d made a mistake in coming here.

“Want me to print up some flyers for an exorcist? Friend’s discount.” He laughed, but there was an uneasiness in the laughter, and it was all Julian could do to force a smile.

Rick stood, shutting off the TV. “Seriously, is that why you’re here? Because of what happened last night?”

“No. Because of what happened today.”

Rick’s eyes widened. “Are you shittin’ me?”

Julian looked at him. “Yes. Yes, I am. I’m shitting you. You are emerging from my asshole even as we speak.”

“You know what I mean.”

“That’s such a stupid phrase.”

“Give me a break. I just wanted to know if you were bullshitting me. Is that better?”

“It is, actually.” Julian allowed himself a small smile, but it faded fast. He took a deep breath. “A guy with a knife tried to break into my house at lunch.”

“Holy fuck!”

Julian ran through the whole story. “They’ve arrested the guy. He’s in jail.”

“For how long? And what’ll he do when he gets out?” Rick leaned forward. “Do you think this is connected to the ghost?”

Julian sighed. “I don’t know. Everything’s just a big goddamn mess. I haven’t even told Claire about it yet. Not sure if I’m going to.”

“You want my advice? Don’t. She was genuinely freaked-out last night. Something like this …”

“I was thinking that, too. But she has to know. I mean, what if they release the guy and he comes back and tells her—I don’t know—that he’s a new neighbor or something. She needs to know enough to protect herself. And Megan and James.”

“You’re right, you’re right.”

“But maybe I should wait a few days. Maybe this isn’t the right time.”

“Your call, dude.”

It was irresponsible of him to be here. He had work to do and a deadline to meet. But he did not want to go home, and he was glad he’d come to the print shop. It felt good to be hanging with Rick, relaxing, and he ended up staying for most of the afternoon.

Claire and the kids were home when Julian returned, and somehow having them in the house made everything seem more normal, made the craziness of last night and earlier today seem like they had happened in some other place at some other time. Both Megan and James were in the living room when he walked in, Megan lounging on the couch watching an obnoxious sitcom, James on the floor, playing with his DS. Claire was in the kitchen, cooking something that smelled delicious and that turned out to be jambalaya. She still looked worried, but she smiled at him when he entered the kitchen, and he gave her a quick peck. “Everything all right?”