Moonrise Diner Read online

  In Amanda's experience this created the perfect paranormal recipe for spirits of the dead to be unable to cross over. Searching out Lucy's ghost seemed the only way to gain the information she and Phillip would need, and perhaps to bring a killer to justice and put an end to Lucy's wanderings.

  The diner was now a severely neglected building, the wind and blowing sand having peeled most of the paint off the sign and the gray, weathered wood siding. There was a rusting nineteen forties pick up truck, the tires missing, sitting on blocks under all four wheels, beside the crumbling restaurant.

  She traced the image of the diner on the screen with her index finger and sighed. At times like this she wished the man who once was her favorite uncle, something until this moment she had forced herself to forget, had stayed as she remembered him...before...a sob escaped her lips then she began to weep uncontrollably.

  ***

  Phillip stood in the lobby facing the street watching two tumbleweeds being pushed along by the constant desert wind. There were no signs of the old man or woman he was alone. Dressed in tanned walking shorts, a navy blue golf shirt, and white Nikes, he had a pair of sunglasses raised high on his forehead.

  "Hey, Amanda, ready to go?"

  "Hi, Phillip," Amanda said, stepping off the last step of the staircase onto the worn oriental carpet.

  Having changed into her exploration garb she spun around showing off her white walking shorts, mustard yellow blouse and white open toed sandals. "What do you think?"

  Her unpleasant mood when she last saw Phillip had disappeared. A good cry so often cleared out the cobwebs in her head. She hated being used it ruined her day. It wasn't his fault her uncle molested her, Phillip had treated her like a princess, he deserved better treatment.

  Phillip turned toward her smiling like the Cheshire cat. What was he up to now?

  "You look good enough to take out on the town." He cocked one eyebrow. "Especially in this town."

  He was joking of course, but she didn't really care where they went provided they did it together. "Oh, Mr. Swann, you say the naughtiest things."

  He chuckled. "OK, Ms. Dark, let's go to the old diner and look for some clues. What do you say?"

  She swallowed a sudden lump fear in the back of her throat. "Sounds like a plan." She walked to stand beside him as he offered the crook of his arm. Grinning at him she ran one hand around his offered arm.

  ***

  Amanda played the stream of white light emitted by the heavy-duty flashlight gripped in her sweaty, pale hand over the inky dark interior of the deserted roadside diner. Her heartbeat hard in her chest, her dry mouth had a slightly metallic taste. Her tongue flicked over her lips.

  She wondered where the ghost was hiding. It could be anywhere, in the walls, in the floor, in the kitchen cooking eggs. She swallowed a chuckle. This was of course impossible. The power and water had been shut off after her uncle died.

  It had taken an hour to walk to the diner at the edge of town near the highway. Her feet hurt and she was thirstier than she had ever been in her life, but Phillip seemed as fresh as when they set off. He wanted to continue so she reluctantly agreed. Why couldn't they have brought the car?

  When they arrived outside the diner the sun had dropped to near the horizon. It would be dark in an hour. The doors and windows of the diner were boarded up, but together they managed to pry ones off the front door to get inside. Not that it was all that difficult since the wooden boards and the wood door were dry and badly rotted by the desert conditions over the past two decades of neglect. Once inside they had to use flashlights in order to see.

  "We don't get a lot of customers these days," said woman's voice coming from the their right.

  A six-foot section of counter—a section of which appeared to be have crumbled away due to rot—and six rusted round steel stools in front were all that remained of the original lunch counter. The fabric of the booths seats beside the boarded up windows across were dusty and ripped, the stuffing hanging out in great clumps, as if torn apart by wild animals.

  The voice continued, "Not since they built the bypass."

  "The bypass was built in 1962," whispered Phillip in Amanda's ear.

  Amanda realized the voice must belong to Gib's first wife.

  "Uhhh, Lucy? Is that you?" Swinging her flashlight beam she discovered a woman standing behind the counter, a waitress dressed in a pink uniform skirt and matching blouse. Her fiery red curls were partially covered a little white trimmed pink hat, in one hand she held a green and white order pad, in the other hand a glass carafe filled with black coffee. Steam actually rose from inside the carafe.

  The waitress — obviously a ghost as evidenced by her ivory, pale complexion and unblinking stare—wore a sardonic smile on her bloodless lips and her pale green eyes reflecting curiosity.

  "Yes, are you two cops or sumthin'?" Lucy's ghost didn't wait for a response instead she grunted then took a step farther down the dusty counter away from them. She poured a measure of coffee into a dusty white china mug on the counter.

  Amanda assumed Lucy could see whoever was seated at the counter but she couldn't. It was an odd restriction of her gift, something she had experience a few times before, certain ghosts left behind echoes of the host after the spirit itself crossed over. It happened maybe one in a half a million times, so while it wasn't that common she had seen it before.

  Lucy's ghost recognized these echoes and thought they were as real as herself. Ghosts were unable to discern echoes from other ghosts. This particular echo must have been a customer of the diner.

  "Why don't you cops move along and stop bothering old Barney and I. " 'Aint that right, Barney?" Lucy winked at the empty stool in front of the counter.

  "Uhhh, Lucy—" began Amanda.

  Lucy's ghost set the carafe on the counter and turned to silence Amanda with a glare and Phillip who both had their flashlights trained on her. "Do I know you people?" Amanda shook her head. "Then how do you know my name?"

  Amanda hesitated. It was a good question and one that deserved a response. "Well, you see I'm Gib Darks' niece—"

  Lucy's features were suddenly split by a wide grin and she rushed to stand in front of Amanda the ghostly figure now sparkling under the light from the two flashlights.

  "You're, Mandy?" Lucy spoke excitedly. "Well, why didn't you say so when you came in?" Lucy turned to look at the pass bar beyond which was the kitchen. "Hey, Gib, Mandy's here!"

  Amanda froze, her hands trembled causing the flashlight beam to shake, and her heart beat rapidly in her chest. The swinging door separating the counter from the kitchen hung at an angle on one hinge. He'd have to pass through the wall...

  A sudden wave of dizziness gripped her. Reaching out to grip the edge of the counter in order to steady herself made the beam of light to wave about wildly. Phillip's flashlight also swung about crazily so she knew he was experiencing the same thing as her.

  The feeling quickly passed but from the corner of one eye Amanda saw the diner had started to physically change. Amanda's heart skipped a beat. The diner was transforming, some how reverting to a past time when the diner was new.

  "Impossible," she whispered under her breath.

  The weathered gray wall, the paint peeling from the crumbling plaster farthest away, straightened and became smooth then changed from gray to a mint green. Next the section of the counter that had been missing reappeared as if from nothing.

  The white-gray speckled linoleum tiles on the floor looked freshly waxed. The light fixtures lining the ceiling changed from broken and rusted to gleaming stainless steel with glowing blubs. The light fixtures now too looked to be newly installed.

  As the wave touched the stools in front of the counter they began to change from rusting relics to shiny new under the glow of the lights. Even the seat fabric of the booths against the windows and the stools, now a shiny aquamarine color, appeared to be brand new with not one tear or mark.

  Like a fast moving tsunami the changes sp
read across the diner racing toward them unrelenting and undulating as if alive. As the wave of change was about to engulf them Amanda closed her eyes and held her breath.

  Nothing happened for several seconds, but she was too afraid to move.

  "Hey, Mandy, what's wrong?" Uncle Gib?

  The soft burr of an air conditioner motor sent a gentle breeze of cold air over her. When they first walked in the musty collapsing diner had been too warm and too humid. After releasing the air from her lungs she sucked in a breath of the cool air. It felt so good.

  Opening one eye she saw a much younger version than she remembered of her Uncle Gib coming toward her through the now brand new swinging door from the kitchen. With his square jaw and dark wavy hair he looked as real and solid as if he were still alive. The man was grinning.

  Sucking in another breath she closed her eyes again as she struggled to steady her nerves. The transformation of an environment had never happened during a paranormal investigation, it was too incredible, too unbelievable to be real, but it was real.

  How is this possible?

  She opened both eyes to find herself looking into the coal black pupils of the man who molested her. This man was her Uncle Gib.

  ***

  Seated at the lunch counter, her bottom resting on the soft cushion, Amanda sipped from the clean glass of water held in her trembling fingers. Phillip sat on the stool beside her sipping water from an identical glass filled with clear water. Her scream of shock still seemed to echo off the restaurants' walls.

  Lucy and Gib stood leaning back against the waist high fridges beneath the service counter built into the wall behind them. To their right, in the wall, was an opening with the stainless steel pass bar where prepared food was placed awaiting pick up by a waitress. Three heat lamps ran along the top edge of the opening shining down on the pass bar to keep the orders warm until they were picked up.

  As if Amanda's aunt and uncle weren't in the room, Phillip asked her to explain the transformation of the diner's interior, but she was unable to offer any explanation since she'd never seen this happen before. It surprised her he was able to see it happen too. This was way beyond her experience or expertise and, she was afraid to admit, it frightened her.

  The diner now looked brand new as if they had been transported to 1957 no longer in 2014. Time travel was impossible so she concluded this was some sort of paranormal event unlike anything she'd ever witnessed.

  "Ummm," she began her voice tentative, "Uncle Gib did you build the diner?"

  Uncle Gib focused his black eyes on her and nodded. "Yes, me and Lucy did all the work ourselves with our own two hands." His eyes were humorless and his tanned forehead was marred by a frown.

  After the diner was regenerated (Amanda decided the word regenerated best described what they'd witnessed) Gib and Lucy became fully human again, but in their younger bodies. They looked as real and alive as Amanda and Phillip; even their cheeks were flushed as if they had blood in their veins.

  Amanda's well-tuned sense for all things paranormal told her when they left the diner it would revert to its former dilapidated condition. She wished she had an explanation for all this that made some sense.

  My gift really messes with my head some days.

  Fortunately she'd seen enough weird things on this job that one more strange unexpected happening eventually seemed actually normal on some level.

  "I'm so sorry, Uncle Gibb," she said finally able to look her uncle in the eyes.

  Gib shrugged but both he and Lucy didn't look happy. "You scared away all our customers," blurted Lucy. "We have bills to pay ya know."

  Gib shifted his gaze to his wife and placed one hand on her shoulder. "Take it easy, honey. Mandy's always been high strung."

  As if struck by a bolt from a blue sky an idea suddenly struck Amanda. "If this is the fifties then I haven't been born yet. How would you know what I'm like?"

  Gib winced. Grinning sheepishly he said, "I don't know, Mandy. I have access to all of the memories from my corporeal existence. Even..." his voice trailed off as his cheeks flushed crimson.

  A familar tingle of anger swelled in Amanda's belly but she forced it down. Anger would only lead to more pain, now that she had him in front of her she might finally get the answers she'd been seeking all her life. "Yes, of course...I'm curious about your death and Lucy's—" She stopped uncertain if she should break the news of Lucy's murder to the victim.

  Lucy slammed a fist into Gib's shoulder causing him to wince in pain. "How does she know about that?" Gibb shrugged.

  I guess she knows already. "It's OK, Lucy," Amanda said, "I found an envelope containing a letter Gib wrote in my father's files after he died." She eyed her uncle who appeared very much alive. Death seemed a debatable concept right now so she decided not to tell Lucy about Gib's suicide. She sensed Lucy didn't know everything about her husband, which actually made sense since she died before Gib crawled into a whiskey bottle, and before he molested Amanda.

  "Anyway, regardless of our present circumstance I know, Lucy, you were murdered based on the contents of Uncle Gib's letter. He claims he was an undercover operative for the Arizona State Police and someone was sending him a message by killing you."

  Gib nodded his head dropping to his chest. "She's right." His voice was barely audible.

  Lucy's pale features twisted in anger as she raised her fist and hit him in the shoulder again this time harder than before. "You son of a...you used me...Milt killed me didn't he?" Gib groaned and wrapped his injured arm with his left hand. "Didn't he!" Lucy arms were at her sides with her hands curled into fists.

  Gib nodded but remained silent.

  "Uhhh, who's, Milt?' asked Amanda. She thought about asking about the gangsters mentioned in the trial transcript but she wanted to hear this first.

  Lucy looked at her. "Milt was his partner on the police force. I've never met anyone so jealous as that pig." She shuddered. "An awful man, crude, drank too much...he craved violence ya know?"

  "Was this before or after you started the diner?' asked Phillip.

  Lucy stepped away from her cowed husband crossing her arms over her chest. "Not that it matters now, but Gib started this diner to escape his old job as a cop." She shifted her eyes to glare at Gib who avoided her. "We were tired of the danger, the late nights, no days off, his crazy partner...all of it. Frankly, if Gib didn't leave the state police we were through."

  "Where can we find this Milt?" asked Phillip.

  Gib looked at Amanda through bloodshot eyes. "Milton Spender lives in a nursing home in Phoenix." Her uncle looked so sad she couldn't help up feel sorry for him. Before she dealt with the problem with Lucy she needed to air some family laundry.

  "Uncle Gib..." she began the old dark fear rising from within her closed her throat. Pushing her fear aside she continued. "Uncle Gib, why did you molest me?"

  He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his white cook pants while avoiding her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Mandy. I was drunk. I had a problem." He hesitated. "I told your father what happened promising never to return to Boston." He locked eyes with her, his filled with tears. "I know it's not an acceptable excuse but please, please forgive me. I've loved you like the daughter I never had since I first saw you at the hospital when you were born."

  His eyes pleaded with her for forgiveness. Slowly the fear that had consumed her life, the shame that permeated her soul since she was twelve years old began to recede. After more than two decades a terrible burden lifted from her shoulders.

  She looked at Phillip hoping he might help her to decide, but since he didn't know how badly her uncle hurt her until this moment he couldn't really help. He hadn't lived this terrible secret. He gazed at her with sad eyes, a weak smile on his lips. While she sensed Phillip's sympathy only she could decide.

  "Alright, Uncle Gib..." Her words caught in her throat and a shiver ran down her spine, but she pushed herself through the fear. "I'll...forgive you..."

  A sudden feeling of pure j
oy shot from her toes to her head. Her words had set her free from of the past. Her paranormal senses tingled signaling she had done the correct thing by forgiving someone who so impacted her life.

  Gib buried his head in his hands and began to sob while Lucy stroked his back. She looked at Amanda. "Thank you," she said softly.

  Turning away Phillip wrapped her in his arms, pulled her to him and stroked her shoulder. She rested her head against his chest feeling the steady beating of his heart against her.

  "We have to visit this, Milton Spender," she said. "Lucy needs our help."

  Phillip chuckled lightly. "That's my girl always thinking of others." He released her and grasped her shoulders with both hands gazing into her eyes. "How're you doing?"

  "I've never felt better in my life," she said and meant it.

  ***

  Upon driving through the iron gates of the retirement community where Milton Spender lived, Amanda saw nothing like the retirement homes she'd seen before, or even imagined a retirement community could be. The sprawling perfectly manicured facilities had to be exclusive to the very, very rich. No one of middleclass means could afford such a place so how a retired cop would be living in such a community?

  Designed around a massive park with sprawling flower beds of roses, gardenias, and mature Rhododendrons covered with red, white and yellow flowers bordered tennis courts, an Olympic sized pool, and even a full eighteen hole golf course. The magnificent grounds reminded Amanda more of a five star resort than a place where old folks went to die.

  Amanda forgot to ask Uncle Gib about the gangsters, but decided it was too thin a line to follow since Lucy and Gib seemed adamant Milt Spender was the killer. Still something niggled at the back of her mind telling her something wasn't right, but she couldn't put a finger on what was bothering her.

  After parking under the breezeway covering the entrance, Amanda with Phillip by her side entered the lobby through the twin glass doors after a female valet took the keys for their rental car saying she would park it for them.

  The lobby smelled of lemon floor polish with gleaming marble tiles covering the floor finally ending at the massive reception desk. Behind the desk sat a man with slicked back black haircut close to his large head, wearing a white nurses uniform. As they approached the desk Amanda spotted a nametag over his left breast pocket that read, C. Reddick.