It was their first quiet night in what seemed like weeks. Klein had given Alexa a clean bill of health only a few days before, although he had mentioned some odd hormonal differences in Alexa's most recent blood panel as compared to one's taken just after her powers had come in.
He wouldn't speculate on what the differences might mean but had suggested they keep an eye on her hormone levels and asked her to call him if she felt 'off' or had any symptoms of something wrong.
Alexa shrugged it off. She felt fine. Lane was tossing a salad, humming a spritely tune while Alexa checked the roast. They didn't often have nights 'in', doing mundane things like actually cooking dinner at home.
"This is terrific," Lane commented. Alexa gave him a questioning look. "No, I mean... this.," Lane went on. "Us. Here in the kitchen, making dinner together."
"At least we don't have to worry about Lois Lane in the kitchen," Alexa said with a chuckle.
"She could at least boil water and make coffee," Lane said. "Plus she could follow a recipe, assuming it wasn't too involved and she didn't have anything more pressing to do."
"Yeah, there was that one Christmas… I admit, that was surprising," Alexa said.
"Excellent recipe book," Lane said. "I heartily recommend it. Maybe we can do something like that this year, invite everybody…"
"Are you volunteering?"
"It really is a great recipe book," Lane said as he dug into his salad. "Plus we have two ovens. How sweet is that for cooking for the holidays?"
A woman's scream closely followed by a 9-1-1 call intruded – an elderly woman apparently being attacked in her home. Lane took off to handle it, leaving a disgruntled Alexa behind.
-o-o-o-
By some miracle, Superman arrived at the scene just in time to catch the woman as she dived out an upper story window of a brownstone not far from where the Staffords had been living. He could see flashing arcs of light inside the room the woman had been trying to escape. The light reminded him of the energy that had surrounded Bob Stafford before he ended up stuck to a steel girder. But the effect couldn't have been Deathstroke – he was currently being held in a special anti-magnetic cell somewhere on S.T.A.R. Lab's lower levels.
"Are you okay?" Superman asked. She didn't seem to be badly hurt – some cuts from going through the glass and a few might need stitches, but he was more worried about her mental state.
"Can't you see them?" she asked, pointing to the arcing lights. Suddenly the room above went dark. "The ghosts… they want me out of my house…"
"Who called 9-1-1?" Superman asked of the growing crowd as people came out of their own homes to see what was happening.
"I did," a thirty-something man said. "Tom Blanton. We live right over there. That's Mrs. Avery. We heard her scream, saw the lights… We kinda thought her place might have been on fire."
Superman looked over the building with his special vision. "There's no sign of fire," he assured them. "But it looks like somebody else may have been in the house."
A police car rolled up. Superman explained the situation to them. The officers checked out the house while an aid car took Mrs. Avery to the emergency room to be tended to. "The ghosts… they want me out of my house…" she kept repeating to the paramedics.
"She did see something scary enough to make her jump out of an upper-story window," Superman assured them.
-o-o-o-
"Anything more on that woman who claims that ghosts chased her out of a window?" Alexa asked.
Lane shook his head. "I know she saw something, there's about a dozen witnesses to something happening in the house. But CSU didn't find anything beyond evidence that someone may have broken into the house. So it's possible that whoever broke in made that light show and did the other things that scared her so badly."
"But why?"
"She listed her house this morning. Sold almost before it hit the market," Lane said. "At a fraction of the tax value."
"So, somebody wanted her house badly enough to risk killing her?" Alexa asked. "Unless… let's check the zoning on that neighborhood."
"You're thinking there's something in the works that the homeowners don't know about?" Lane asked.
"I'm thinking that convincing the locals to sell because the neighborhood is haunted would attract less police interest that a lot of suspicious fires."
-o-o-o-
The next morning brought more questions than answers. Inspector Henderson had left word for Lane and Alexa to meet him at the home of Mrs. Avery's neighbors, Tom and Jani Blanton.
He was waiting for them. "Yesterday evening we got a call from that they had come home from work to find their house had been vandalized. Normally the local precinct would just write up a report; tell everybody to keep an eye out for gang activity and break-ins, do additional drive-bys for a few days."
"So why are you here?" Alexa asked.
"This one was weird enough to spook the local guys into calling for a second opinion," Henderson said. "I assume you're wearing your amulets and they're charged?"
That's when Alexa noticed he was wearing his ring. She pulled out her necklace and showed him the blue stone.
"Good," Henderson said then lead them into the house and back to the kitchen. The back wall was covered in 'satanic' symbols drawn crudely in black and red paint. There was a black candle on the floor and black wax spatters as though something had blown out the flame hard enough to splatter. An old looking book was next to the candle.
"Satanic symbols... black mass candles... an incantation book...?" Alexa said.
"A supposed necromantic grimoire," Henderson said. "You can buy them at occult stores. They promise anyone can conjure a spirit from the other realms. But what they really conjure is cash for the author, headaches for people like me, and worse for the unfortunate people who don't realize they might have gifts and open a gate to someplace they really don't want to visit."
"You think that happened here?" Lane asked.
"Something happened here," Henderson said. "The Blantons say they saw their pot and pans whizzing around the room. They also saw a woman who they described as being covered in flour, who looked perfectly substantial, until she walked through the wall. Missus Blanton also claims that last night she felt someone watching her and her husband while they were in bed. She thinks it was the woman who walked through the wall."
"They think they saw a ghost?" Alexa asked.
"Not at the top of my list of possibilities," Henderson admitted. "Which is why you two are here. Maybe you can see something, sense something that will give us a less 'otherworldly' explanation."
Alexa inspected the kitchen and beyond with enhanced senses. She could tell the lock had been jimmied and someone in the kitchen had been sweating profusely. There was a tang of utter terror in the sweat. She could smell other fear, a woman, probably Mrs. Blanton and a man, probably Mr. Blanton. But neither of them had been as terrified as the sweaty man had been.
"By chance, have the Blanton's had an offer recently to buy their house?" Lane asked.
"Yes," Henderson said. "I'm told Missus Blanton is ready sell right now, with or without her husband's consent. In fact, Mister Blanton described her actions as 'possessed'. A colleague of mine is interviewing her now. We're both hoping to come up with a more mundane explanation than Mister Blanton's possession theory."
"I'm afraid I'm not going to be much help," Alexa said. She related her findings. "And I don't see anything here that could explain flying pots and pans. I figure if magnetism was involved there'd be traces of whatever made the field. Deathstroke is still locked up so it wasn't him. Besides, just scaring people was never his style. Plus, last time I checked, aluminum doesn't fly with magnets."
Henderson sighed. "I was really hoping you'd come up with something. Look, I hate to do this to you two, but my people have their plates full with something else right now. If I send you whatever I have on this, could you follow up on it?"
"What's going on that police can't handle police matters?" Lane asked.
"Maybe, someday, I'll get authorization to tell you," Henderson said. "But not today."
-o-o-o-
Henderson faxed over a police artist sketch of the flour covered woman and summary of the interview with Missus Blanton. One item caught Alexa's attention: according to Mrs. Blanton, the mysterious woman had been murdered in the house. The sketch showed a plump woman of indeterminate age. There was something sad and world weary about her.
Alexa started searching for a name for the mysterious woman while Lane researched the 'facts' on ghosts.
After a few hours Perry came by their desks. "Does my heart good to see my two top investigative reporters hard at work on their stories."
His smile faded as he looked over Alexa's shoulder at her computer screen. "'Prohibition Agents Raid Brownstone, Discover Stiff in Basement.' What's that got to do with smuggling microchips out of the country?"
"I've put that story on hold, chief," Alexa said. "Inspector Henderson asked us to look into a murder."
"Okay, that sounds like page one," Perry said. "But, I assume there's a good reason the police aren't looking into it?"
"Well, we're not exactly sure when it happened, except it was sometime after 1898."
Perry stared at her.
"Someone died in the Blanton's brownstone, Chief. I'm compiling a list of everyone who owned it, then cross-referencing the names with the morgue files."
"And who are the Blanton's?"
Lane answered. "A couple in the same neighborhood as the woman who jumped from a window claiming ghosts wanted her out of her house. They came home and found someone had apparently conducted a Satanic ritual in their kitchen."
"Jumpin' Judas!" Perry said after looking of Alexa's list. "You've got a rogue's gallery of fiends, cutthroats and murderers there!"
"And those were the good tenants," she responded.
Perry looked over to Lane. "Well, at least I have one reporter taking care of current business. How are you coming on the Morton bribery case?" He peered at the book in Lane's hands. "'How to Raise the Dead'?! Don't tell me. You're trying to resurrect the person who was killed in that townhouse."
"Now there's a thought," Lane said.
Alexa gave him a dark look before crowing, "I found her!"
On the screen was a newspaper headline: MOBSTER'S WIFE SLAIN and the sub-head KATHERINE BANKS FOUND DEAD IN THEIR BROWNSTONE. Accompanying the story was a photograph of the woman in the sketch.
"Name's Katherine Banks. Wife of a crime lord, since retired," Alexa continued.
"How was she killed?" Lane asked, moving over to read Alexa's screen.
"Blow to the head."
"When?"
"Five years ago."
"Any suspects?" Perry asked.
"Hubby, naturally. Only he had an airtight alibi. He was in jail."
"Anything else?" Lane asked.
"She was covered with flour," Alexa said.
"Flour?" Perry repeated.
Lane held out the book he'd been going through. "Listen to this… Seems a murdered spirit can only be freed from the place it haunts if the killer is found."
Jimmy hurried over to them, waving a sheaf of documents. "I got it! I got it!"
"Tuna on rye, right?" Perry asked.
Jimmy looked crestfallen. "Uh, I'll call the delivery place, Chief..."
Perry threw his hands up, shaking his head. "Does anybody still work here?!"
Jimmy slid past him to Lane and Alexa. "The old lady, Missus Avery, sold her brownstone to Bismark Development Company." He checked the other papers in his hand. "The buyer listed in the papers on the other place is Hawkins Investment Associates."
"So they're two completely different buyers," Lane observed.
"They could be dummy companies controlled by the same person. Keep digging," Alexa instructed.
"The key to this is Katherine Banks' murder. We have to find out more about it..." Lane stated. "Maybe... from the best source possible."
"Uh, Henderson only wanted us to look into this because his people have better things to do," Alexa reminded him. "Besides, we don't know if we're looking at a haunting or a hoax. And if it is a haunting… No. Uh-uh. Way too dangerous."
"Maybe the Blantons might want to help," Lane suggested. "After all, Katherine Banks is apparently haunting their house."
-o-o-o-
Henderson arranged for one of his colleagues to meet them at the Blanton's brownstone near sundown. Henderson had agreed with Alexa that trying to contact a ghost was a bad idea for amateurs to even think about.
Aforementioned colleague was a dapper little man with glossy black hair who introduced himself simply as 'Ray'. With him was an attractive young woman who he introduced as Blanche.
"And what do you do when you're not out ghost hunting?" Alexa asked as they stood on the front porch waiting for the Blantons to arrive.
Ray chuckled. "I am the Great Count Kamorovski," he said, putting on thick Slavic accent and bending into a deep bow. "I'm a stage magician," he said in his normal voice.
"I hate magic," Lane muttered.
Ray chuckled. "You're one of those who can't stand not being in on the illusion." He leaned close to Lane. "Why do you think I became a magician?"
"But you chase ghosts."
Ray shrugged. "Mostly I figure out how it could be done without resorting to the supernatural. Occasionally we run across one that's not as obviously an illusion or a hoax."
"And if it isn't a hoax?" Lane asked.
"Then Blanche and I do what needs to be done, if we can."
Finally, the Blantons arrived. Jani Blanton looked worried and more than a little frightened. Tom Blanton just looked tired.
"Look," Tom started. "I don't know what you people think you can do for us. Right now I'm really tempted just to sell the place and run, but…"
"But if news gets out the place might be haunted, or that there was a murder here only five years ago, the value of the property will tank," Ray said.
"There was nothing in any of the disclosures that anyone had died violently here," Jani said. "We never would have bought the place if we'd known that."
"You may have a case against the sellers for not disclosing that bit of information," Ray said. "And I'm surprised none of your neighbors bothered to tell you about it. But first, let's see what we can do about the current problem."
Inside the house Blanche walked slowly around the living room. Finally she stopped not far from the door to the kitchen. "Here," she said quietly. "She was found here."
Ray instructed Lane and Tom to bring in six chairs from the dining area. He arranged the chairs in a circle around the spot Blanche had indicated.
"What, no Ouija board, no fancy equipment to prove there really are ghosts?" Tom asked.
"We don't need fancy equipment to know that something happened here," Ray said. "And I've no interest in collecting evidence on the existence of ghosts, demons, devils, or angels."
Ray instructed them to take seats and join hands while he marked off a circle on the floor that enclosed the chairs. Alexa couldn't make out what he was saying as he marked the circle but she could almost see a flicker of energy enclosing the circle when he was finished.
Ray sat next to Blanche. "Katherine Banks… If you're here, we want to help…"
The room got cold and there was a rumbling sound. Alexa tried to pin point where the sound was coming from but it seemed coming from nowhere and everywhere. Then woman's figure appeared out of the shadows, a plump woman wearing an apron. Her expression was one of suspicion and hostility.
"Why? Why do you care what happened to me?" the woman asked.
Jani and moved to get up but Lane and Ray kept hold of her hands to keep her from leaving the circle.
"Because... we sense you're a good person who was treated badly," Ray said. Alexa thought he sounded a little strained, as if he hadn't actually expected Katherine Banks to actually appear.
"Katherine, please believe us. No one is here to hurt you or ridicule you or make light of the terrible thing that happened to you," Ray went on. He seemed to be regaining his composure. "We sincerely want to help."
The woman' expression became more at ease. "I think you do."
"Tell us about your life. The newspaper had so little," Lane said.
The woman seemed to focus on him. "Uh..."
"Just the interesting little details that'll help us get to know you," Lane coaxed.
"I don't think there are any," Katherine Banks said. There was a forlorn note in her voice.
"Of course there are," Ray said sympathetically. "We know you could cook..."
"That's true. And clean. And bring my husband's slippers. I did everything for him."
"Did he mistreat you?" Lane asked gently.
"He did... awful things. Things that made me feel cheap and used and unwanted... One thing in particular that..." Banks' voice trailed off.
"Can you talk about it?" Lane asked.
Banks shifted to look at Jani. "First tell me about you and Tom."
"You're changing the subject," Ray pointed out.
"Ghosts can do that," Banks said sullenly. "They can also disappear."
Jani took a deep breath. "Well... Tom and I were just married. And... well... all I can say is... we're very happy. At least we were. This was our dream home, we wanted to start a family here."
Banks snorted. "I've seen more on tombstones."
"Katherine…" Ray started.
"Katie. My friends call me Katie." Banks said.
"Katie," Ray amended. "We're here to help you. Tell us what happened the night you..."
"Were murdered? It's okay," Katie said. "I'd just finished... giving a cooking lesson."
"You gave cooking lessons?" Lane asked. He sounded intrigued.
"I'd taught a secretary at my husband's firm... Lilah Monroe... How to prepare aiguillettes of pheasant with juniper berries. I came out here into this room...." she shrugged. "The next thing I knew, I was stuck in the kitchen wall for... how long have I been dead?"
"Five years," Ray answered.
Five years?!"
"Katie..." Lane interrupted gently, "What was the thing you were going to tell us about? The thing your husband did to you?"
Banks shook her head. "No. I can't… Please don't ask me!" Then she shouted "George Bush!"
Lane stared at her.
Banks tilted her head as if listening for something. "My master's calling."
"George Bush is your master?" Alexa asked.
"No, president! My master's calling! Herbie freed me. I can't betray him. I have to go!" Then Banks simply vanished.
They all stared after her for a long moment.
Finally Alexa found her voice. "What just happened?"
"I think that was the ghost of Katherine Banks," Lane said. "But who's Herbie?"
"The person she believes freed her," Ray said.
"Wait... Freed her from the kitchen wall? Then this 'Herbie' must be the one who left all that stuff in the kitchen to scare them outta here," Alexa said.
"We need to find this Herbie," Ray stated. "He's started something he has no clue about."
"Well, if I were him, I'd be on my way out of town," Lane stated.
"I doubt it would help. She can track him across the universe if she wants."
"But what about us?" Tom asked. "I mean, she can walk through walls. What if she comes back?"
"Legend has it that spirits such as this will move on once their murder has been solved, if not avenged," Ray said.
"So we just have to figure out who killed her when the police never solved the case?" Tom asked in obvious disbelief.
"It's possible they solved it but didn't have enough evidence to do anything about it," Alexa suggested. "Look, you probably don't want to stay here tonight…"
"We're staying with some friends across town," Jani told them.
"I have a hunch this Herbie person may try to contact you," Alexa said. "If he does, call us, any time, day or night. Or if other weird things happen." Alexa wrote down her cell phone number along the Lane's number. "I figure we're going to be pulling an all nighter on this anyway."
Ray opened the circle and Alexa felt the energy dissipate. She doubted Tom or Jani felt it.
On their way back to their car, well away from Tom and Jani, Alexa stopped Ray. "What really happened back there?"
"I don't know," Ray admitted. "Blanche and I went over that house with a fine-tooth comb before you arrived today. I'm told Bill Henderson had Supergirl check the building over yesterday. I would swear in court that there was nothing on this property that could create the effect we saw. So unless someone has perfected a transporter, or this Katie has access to a dimensional portal, I cannot rationally explain at this time what we saw in there."
"So she might really be a ghost?" Alexa asked.
"The manifestation possessed a lot of energy," Blanche said softly. "Far more than I'd expect from a disembodied spirit, even an angry victim of violence. That was a very solid manifestation."
"So, if that wasn't a ghost, what was it?" Lane asked.
"That's what Blanche and I need to figure out," Ray said. "But it wouldn't hurt to figure out exactly what did happen to Katherine Banks five years ago, and who did it."
-o-o-o-
The graveyard shift in the Planet's newsroom was only lightly staffed. Graveyard was generally a quiet time – the European markets were just stirring, most people in the Americas were in bed.
The crew gave Lane and Alexa a wide berth as the pair sifted through the stack of documents that had been sent over from the MPD.
"Investigating officer's statement?" Lane asked.
"Blunt force trauma to the back of the head," Alexa answered. "M.E.'s report indicated death was almost instantaneous."
"So, Katie never saw her attacker," Lane said, looking through the file. "Last entry was two years ago."
"A murder case is never officially closed, but when the trail turns cold…like old soldiers, it just fades away." Alexa tossed the report she'd been reading back onto the pile. "The CSU report has almost nothing. The murder weapon was found at the scene next to the body – a cast iron skillet from the kitchen, no usable prints. The angle of the attack indicated the perp was somewhere between five-six and five-ten, probably right handed but that's iffy because the perp probably used both hands to swing it."
Jimmy bounded him. Alexa gave him a sour look. No one should be that energetic at this hour. "Darndest thing. Guy got killed tonight. Ask me how," Jimmy said much too cheerfully.
"Am I gonna regret this?" Alexa asked.
"Witness swears lawn tools flew through the air by themselves and impaled him."
Lane and Alexa looked at one another. "Sounds mighty ghostly," Lane commented.
"And getting more dangerous," Alexa observed. She turned back to Jimmy. "You have the victim's name?"
"Yeah. Mahoney. Mink Mahoney."
"That rings some bells," Lane said. Mahoney's name had come up in his investigation into City Councilman Morton's alleged corruption. An investigation he needed to get back to as soon as the matter of Katherine Banks was handled.
"I ran him through our morgue," Jimmy went on. "He's a trigger man for the most powerful crime family in the city. Excuse me, 'alleged' trigger man, since he always walked away clean."
"Until now," Alexa pointed out.
"Got another name for you. Herbie Saxe."
"HERBIE?!" Lane and Alexa both said.
"You know him?"
"His name gets around," Lane explained.
"He's got a bunch of dummy companies he uses for real estate scams," Jimmy said, checking his notes. "He bought Bertha Avery's townhouse under Bismark Development and he tried to get that other one using Hawkins Investment."
"Jimmy, this crime family Mahoney worked for.... What kinda things're they into?" Alexa asked, a suspicion growing in her mind.
"They build mini-malls n' stuff, after grabbing up the best property in the area in some pretty questionable deals."
"Sounds like Herbie was tryin' to sell 'em that block," Alexa said.
Lane spotted something in the pile of reports. "Hon', here on page 16C. It's a supplemental report. Wasn't filed with the original. Did you know that…"
Suddenly, there was a howling wind that blew the reports off the table and around the newsroom. The overhead lights rocked in the wind. Then, suddenly, the wind stopped.
"Help me find 16C! It's the answer to this whole thing!" Lane ordered, dropping to his knees to sift through the papers that now covered the floor.
Alexa's phone rang.
"Herbie Saxe just called me," Tom Blanton said as soon as Alexa answered. "He said Katie Banks had gone off the deep end and wanted to bond with Jani. And now she's gone, disappeared…"
"I'll get Tom and look for Jani," Lane offered, "you look for Herbie." He spotted the paper he'd been looking for and handed it to Alexa. "Nickels to navy beans, that's Katie's killer."
-o-o-o-
Superman set Tom Blanton on his feet just outside the front door to the brownstone. The door was standing open. And unearthly cold rolled out from the room beyond. Superman could see that the furniture inside was covered with frost. Jani was floating in the middle of the room, primping herself in a mirror that was also floating.
Superman stepped into the room.
"Who the heck are you and what are you doing in my house?" Jani demanded, only the voice didn't sound like Jani. "There you are, Tommy. I've made a lovely dinner for my man."
"It's time to leave Jani's body, Katie," Superman said.
"I wouldn't give me orders, big boy," Katie said." See, I can actually make this little girl die by shutting down her system any time I want to." She pirouetted in mid-air before settling to the floor. "I like her for a home, but I can find others. There's that cute what's-her-name who turns cards on a quiz show. I could do that if I was still dead."
"You are dead, Katie," Superman said. "I know Herbie betrayed you, but this just won't work."
"Tommy will learn to love me, won't you Tommy?"
"I want Jani back," Tom managed to say.
"That simpering little wuss?" Katie demanded. "You want her back?"
Suddenly, Jan's body flew toward the wall. Superman super sped to stop her before she hit, grabbing her shoulders.
"Lemme go! I swear I'll kill her!" Katie screamed.
Superman kept hold of her. "We know who killed you, Katie. It was right there on page 16C. The one Lane found before you blew it away. The thing you couldn't bring yourself to tell anyone was that your husband had been having an affair almost from the day you two were married."
"I don't want to hear anymore!" Katie screamed, trying to break free.
"You never knew who it was, did you? And being cooped up in that kitchen wall, you didn't know your husband remarried right after your death," Superman said. "Right after he sold your house."
Jani started singing to drown out Superman's voice.
"He married her, Katie!" Superman yelled over the noise. "She was a stripper named Lilah Monroe."
"Lilah wasn't a stripper!" Katie protested "Lilah was a struggling secretary. My husband felt sorry for her. I felt sorry for her. I even gave her cooking lessons."
"Your husband begged you for a divorce, didn't he?"
Katie started to sing again.
"But you wouldn't give him one. You suspected he was in love with someone else, so you vowed to stay married just to punish him," Superman persevered over the noise. "You didn't know you were giving cooking lessons to your husband's mistress! She hated you and wanted you out of the way. Hadn't she just left your house the night of the murder? I think she came back and…"
"It's not true! I couldn't be taken in like that. Not by Lilah."
Supergirl walked in accompanied by a heavy set man in a cheap suit and a forty-something woman. The woman looked as though she'd fallen on hard times but you could still see traces of the beauty that she once was. She also stood five-eight in heels.
Katie stopped singing to glare at Lilah. Her eyes flashed green.
"The truth, Lilah," Supergirl instructed. "Just the way you told me."
"Don't say it Lilah!" Katie ordered.
"I did it!" Lilah screamed. "I killed Katherine… Katie, I'm sorry!"
"I don't care! I'm not leaving!" Katie announced. Jani's body began to convulse as Katie fought to remain.
"Katie...," Supergirl said earnestly, "Jani said that you were a wonderful person. But nothing about your life was fair. Obviously, you're meant to be in a better place..."
"But I like it here," Katie stated. "And you don't have a choice."
Superman kept his voice low and controlled. "From what I understand, Katie... You don't have a choice. Your killer's been found."
Suddenly, Katie was standing next to Jani, who crumpled to the floor. Tom was beside his wife in an instant.
"Sorry, kids," Katie said to Tom and Jani with a shrug. She turned to Superman. "You'll make sure all those people get their homes back? Herbie's a scumbag, but I never meant to hurt anybody." She glared at Herbie and Lilah. "I'll be waiting for both of you on the other side." Then she simply faded out.
Herbie smiled wanly. "While we're in prison, it's nice to know we have something to look forward to."
Lane heard police sirens coming closer, then the sirens stopped. A short time later, two uniformed officers arrived, accompanied by Ray and Blanche.
"There was a call that something really weird was happening here," Ray explained.
"Well, Ms. Monroe would really like to tell the police about a murder that happened here five years ago," Supergirl said. "And I'm sure Mister Saxe would be overjoyed to tell Metropolis's finest all about how he convinced people their houses were haunted so they would sell to him at way below market value."
As she spoke, Blanche walked slowly around the room. Finally she moved back to where Ray was waiting. "I don't feel her here," Blanche said quietly. "But I didn't really feel her here before, either."
"Has she passed beyond?" Ray asked, keeping his own voice low.
"Maybe, I don't know," Blanche said. "It's possible the entity found someone or something else to inhabit. They're both well warded, so we don't need to worry much on that score," she added, gesturing to Superman and Supergirl. "It's possible the entity has passed beyond, at least beyond our jurisdiction."
"You keep calling her an 'entity'," Supergirl observed. "You don't think that was Katie Banks' spirit?"
Ray shrugged. "I don't know what that was that possessed Jani Blanton. But that wasn't a ghost."
"Ghosts" was written by Michael Gleason.
