Audra Comes to Town

It was half past noon on Monday when Special Agent Audra Wheeler of the FBI stepped into the apartment of Gwyneth Miller. She'd been in Savannah the prior week but, as a native New Yorker, she was sure that she would never get used to the stifling Georgia heat.

She noted that the air conditioner was not on as she walked across the living room, listening to the muffled sounds of country cops inevitably messing up Gwyneth's room which was now an official FBI crime scene. Gwyneth Miller was the fifth victim of a suspected serial killer of the specter variety, who had a thing for dark haired, dark eyed women sleeping alone. As she stepped into the crime scene Audra activated the specter shield she wore around her left wrist to block any specters from getting within five feet of her.

She'd spent nearly four years on special assignments with the FBI investigating specter crimes and bringing them to justice. The biggest problem with catching a criminal specter was that they never left any physical evidence; no DNA, no fingerprints, no calling card, no expository note, and no obvious motive.

In this particular case, all of the hunches that Audra had to go off of were of a personal nature that she was still not entirely comfortable sharing. To her knowledge, this would be the first and only specter that had crossed the line into murder and then into serial killing. This particular specter had taken her from Boston to New Jersey, then Charlotte, Savannah, and finally the small town of Specter, Georgia.

She walked into Gwyneth Miller's bedroom and immediately noted the scent of candles and perfume. Audra suspected that maybe this woman had, in fact, had a visitor the night before and, perhaps, this would not fit the profile of her four previous cases.

She quickly scanned the room and made note of the cheap, feminine décor. Audra cringed, turning her attention to the body of the victim. Gwyneth was lying in bed, on her side with her hands near her throat, which was singed with strange burn marks. Her fingernails had scratched at her throat as well, peeling away some of the skin. These were the telltale signs of the specter that she was following, but most disturbingly, this victim, like all the others, looked a lot like her sister.

"Shit," Audra said. She looked over at the side table and took in the large purple candle. "What is this?" She leaned in close.

"A candle from the Daylight Candle Shop."

Hearing his voice, Audra took a shallow breath before quickly letting it out. She turned as he strolled through Gwyneth Miller's bedroom door and walked towards her. He wore laid back local Southern clothes; faded jeans with a slightly tattered t-shirt and baseball cap, but there was no mistaking the city attitude in his walk.

When Audra had received the initial fax of a possible fifth victim, she'd read Ethan Cole's name on top of the report file with disbelief. Now that he was in front of her, she was wary. His New York City swagger was enough to make a nun forget her vows just long enough to break them four or five times. Audra quickly contemplated the precious few times she'd crossed the line with her ex-partner before he'd been transferred to the American South.

He was six-foot two and maybe two hundred pounds of muscle. Audra remembered the feel of his baby-smooth chocolate skin and the taste of his beautifully full lips. He was six years older than her twenty-seven, but it looked good on him.

She turned her attention away from his large hazel eyes back to the candle and examined the tiny instruction card next to it.

"May love's embrace meet me at dawn's face." She snorted as she became painfully aware of how close Ethan was standing next to her. She had to mentally and physically resist the draw of his cologne as it invited her to lean into him. "The Daylight Candle Shop," she confirmed.

She had already known there would be no evidence of the killer at the scene but she'd asked for nothing to be touched, not even the body, before she arrived and took a look around. Audra listened to an initial report which surmised that the victim most likely died of asphyxiation from a suspected crushed esophagus, somewhere near dawn of the previous day, Sunday. She said a prayer for Gwyneth and then left without another word to anyone.

Ethan followed her out of the apartment building.

"Hey, Audra. Wait up."

She turned as she stepped outside and he closed the space between them. She ignored the oppressive heat for a moment to address him.

"I'm going to go over to the library and question the people she worked with."

"I already did that," he said.

"Well, I'm going to do it as well," she replied, making it clear that the investigation was now hers to control.

"Okay, but listen. This town is full of – "

"Specters? Yeah, I know." Audra rolled her eyes at the thought of an entire town, in southern America of all places, which was home to people who had passed away. Ethan placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned to walk to her car, pulling away from his touch in the process, shutting out the wave of feelings that screamed for her attention.

"Don't worry, I won't go around zapping your ghostly citizens." Her specter zapper was safely tucked away in her gun belt, just to the rear of her handgun. "But, you might want to warn the Daylight Candle Shop that they're next on my list."

"Come on, Audra," Ethan pleaded. But she didn't slow down. "Go easy with this case. Gwyneth was the past sheriff's daughter. She was well liked and even loved for that. This town has come to peacefully co-exist with the specters. Don't go shaking your FBI trained bias where it doesn't belong."

"I don't have time, Ethan."

She hopped into her car and drove the three blocks from Gwyneth's apartment to the town's public library. Audra found it hard to believe that people still went to the library, but when she walked in she noted that it was indeed full of people, mostly students. Most of them sat at computers playing games while listening to headphones.

She walked up to what appeared to be an empty reference desk and was unsettled by the appearance of a specter that looked the part of a college kid with coke-bottle glasses and severe acne.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed as her specter shield pushed him from his seat. "What is that?" He looked at her dubiously, taking in her specter zapper and badge right away. She deactivated her specter shield knowing that it would be impossible to get around with it on in a town full of ghosts.

"You here about Gwyn?" His voice was the usual hollow, otherworldly echo that was associated with specters still mastering speech without a voice box.

His glasses slipped down his nose in classic geek-gone-wrong fashion. Audra shook her head at the absurdity; it wasn't like he needed them. He pushed his glasses back up his nose and she could tell he became more uncomfortable with her disapproving glare as he retook his seat.

"What do you know about it?" she asked curtly.

"She didn't come into work this morning. Gwyn never missed a day," he told her.

Audra looked around as if disinterested as she listened to him. She took note of several young people hanging in a group with specters telling tales of their day. She spotted several other specters dotting the library in various stages of manifestation.

She could tell the newbie specters by their classic opaque ghost-like appearance. She never really minded those. In fact, she felt a great deal of sympathy for them, coming to terms with the fact that their lives were really over. It was the specters that had mastered every aspect of appearing normal, the ones that hid in plain sight pretending to be alive she didn't trust.

"He called Gwyn's apartment when she didn't show up this morning but didn't get an answer. Then he asked her super to check in on her. That's when he found her. They just told us not too long ago."

"Who called the super?" Audra asked.

"Management." The specter shrugged and pointed to a door along the far wall.

"Thanks, uhm?" Audra looked at him questioningly.

"Benjamin," he supplied. "Benjamin Conner."

"Thanks, Ben." She turned on her heels and headed towards the manager's door.

She caught sight of a woman who appeared to be in her late thirties, crying alone down an aisle. She paused en route and turned to walk towards her. The woman looked up to see her coming and quickly dried her red-rimmed blue eyes and cleared her throat. She pushed her flat blonde hair behind her ears and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Hi, I'm Agent Wheeler. I'm here about Gwyneth Miller. Did you know her?" Audra asked.

The woman sniffed and nodded. "I'm Katherine Taylor. We worked here together for the last six years," she said. "She was such a nice girl. She'd never hurt a fly. I can't believe anyone would..." She trailed off into more tears.

"Do you know if Gwyneth was seeing anybody?" Audra asked.

"No." Katherine shook her head. "She was seeing some loser about a year ago but kicked him out. She's been alone ever since."

"Do you know why?"

"He was cheating on her."

"What was his name?" Audra pressed.

"Michael Robertson, or Richardson, or Richards…" Katherine tried to remember.

"Do you know if Gwyn was associating with any specters?"

Katherine sniffed. "No, her father used to be the sheriff here. He made it clear that he didn't like the specter invasion. Other than going to the college she was pretty loyal to his point of view."

"Where is her father?"

"He passed away about six months back," she said and shook her head.

"I see," Audra said and fished a card from her jacket pocket. "If you can think of anything, anything at all, please don't hesitate to give me a call."

"Sure." Katherine took the card and walked away.

Audra continued on her way to the manager's office. She had to pause and duck into an empty aisle as a flashback took her over. She tried to focus on the books in front of her, fighting to remain present but couldn't.

She was fourteen again, in her older sister Kendra's house. She heard a commotion that made her get up from the television and walk towards her sister's bedroom.

"It's okay," Audra told herself in the present as she watched herself headed towards that door. "You're not there anymore." She felt the flashback fade away and she took several breaths to steady herself. Shaking off the moment, she continued to the manager's office.

When she got to the door, she heard hushed, muffled voices. She tried to make out what they were saying but couldn't. She knocked, and the voices stopped. The door was opened just wide enough for a tall, dark, and handsome man to peek his head out. Audra noted that his hair was disheveled, as if he'd raked his hands through it several times. His eyes seemed bloodshot and there was a faint hint of liquor on his breath.

"Yes?" he queried, his dark eyes looking her over quickly.

"Hello, I'm Special Agent Wheeler. I'm here to talk to you about Gwyneth Miller." She pointed to her badge for emphasis.

"I'm outta here," a ghostly, feminine voice from inside of the room said before a young girl with black and purple hair pushed her way past the man and maneuvered around Audra.

Her shoulder came so close to Audra that if she had been living she might have bumped Audra's shoulder. As she was a specter, her shoulder vanished and reappeared as the rest of her cleared Audra and she hurried on her way. Audra watched the girl questioningly.

"My daughter, Amanda," the man supplied, tucking in the tail of his shirt and straightening his tie. "I promised to do something remotely father-like and I had to back out because of the… situation," he explained, extending a hand. "Charles Stuart. Come on in."

Audra stepped into the office that seemed to be in a state of organized chaos. She couldn't discern any kind of order but he probably knew exactly where everything was.

"I am sorry about Gwyneth," Audra began as she took a seat in front of his desk and waited for him to have a seat as well.

"So, Detective Wheeler, how may I help you?" Charles asked.

"Agent Wheeler," she corrected. "I just need to know what you can tell me about Gwyneth. Do you know if anyone would want to hurt her?" Audra asked. "Maybe someone with a grudge against the old sheriff."

"Gwyn? No, I don't know anyone that didn't like her. She was the quiet type. But very pleasant, great with the library patrons. Most people really, genuinely liked her," Charles said.

"Do you know if she was seeing anyone?"

"No we didn't talk about anything more than her schedule on most days. She was a very dependable employee." He sighed.

"Did Gwyn ever socialize with specters?" Audra watched him for a reaction.

"I think in the last six months Gwyn really kept to herself. Her father dying kind of took her by surprise. Cancer," Charles explained.

"I see. Can you think of anything that may have seemed out of the ordinary?" Audra asked. "Anything that may have been different in the last few days?"

"Well, the last day she was here she seemed in an awful hurry to leave. Like she had somewhere important to go. I remember wondering if she'd met a new guy or something," he said.

"Do you know where she would have gone?"

"Not a clue,"

"Did she have a computer?" Audra asked.

"Yes, the one at her desk."

"Where is her desk?" Audra hated it when questioning felt like pulling teeth.

Charles showed Audra to Gwyneth's computer and she took a seat, quickly powering it up.

"The password is library." Charles supplied. "I need to get back to my office."

"I'll let you know if I need anything else," she told him and closed her eyes against the onset of another flashback, in continuum.

She watched her fourteen year old self open her sister's bedroom door and flip on the lights.

The computer beeped in the present and she opened her eyes. The flashback passed and she focused on the computer, going to the web browser and checking the history. She noted that in the last four hours of her last day at work, Gwyneth Miller had searched for and visited the Daylight Candle Shop's website. The final page in her history was on the big purple candle called the Dry Spell Reliever.

Audra shook her head and took down the address.