Cid (Cid Garrett P.I. Book 1) Read online

  Cid

  A Cid Garrett P.I. novel

  by Alexie Aaron

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ~

  Copyright 2016 – Diane L. Fitch writing as Alexie Aaron

  ALSO BY ALEXIE AARON

  HAUNTED SERIES

  in order

  The Hauntings of Cold Creek Hollow

  Ghostly Attachments

  Sand Trap

  PEEPs Lite Eternal Maze 3.1

  PEEPs Lite Homecoming 3.2

  Darker than Dark

  The Garden

  Puzzle

  Old Bones

  Things that Go Bump in the Night

  Something Old

  PEEPs Lite Checking Out 9.1

  PEEPs Lite Ice and Steel 9.2

  The Middle House: Return to Cold Creek Hollow

  Renovation

  Mind Fray

  The Siege

  NOLA

  Never Forget

  The Old House

  Restitution

  A Rose by Any Other Name

  The Long Game

  CID GARRETT P.I. SERIES

  Cid

  CIN FIN-LATHEN MYSTERIES

  Decomposing

  Death by Saxophone

  Discord

  The Wages of Cin

  Unforgivable Cin: An Opera in Three Acts

  I dedicate this to the readers who

  requested more paranormal investigations, Cid style.

  And to my family, whose support is amazing

  and appreciated.

  Table of Contents

  Hidden Meadow

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Alexie Aaron

  Hidden Meadow

  The soft arborvitae branches caressed the sides of Cid’s truck as he drove, slowly making his way up the drive. He slowed further as he approached the split in the lane that he had been warned about. Jesse had told him to take the road on the right. This would free Cid of the evergreens and give him an unobstructed view of their summer project: Hidden Meadow.

  The mammoth stone-and-brick mansion stood atop a large hill. From where he sat, the house looked as if it had grown out of the ground. Nature had stepped in when the owners had checked out. The woods had sent, first, an army of brush and brambles before it marched its seedlings in. There was little meadow left. Only the height of the mansion saved it from disappearing entirely.

  Cid stopped the truck and looked down the hill. The long, hedged drive looked more like a lumber chute. Cid feared that a summer downpour would turn the lane into a river, taking anything that was caught on it to the bottom of the hill, across the road, and into Lake Angeline. He would suggest a wide, curving drive be cut into the hillside and the arborvitae taken out and replaced with terraced plantings. The water could be managed with proper excavation. But that wasn’t why he had been asked to spend the summer. His job was Hidden Meadow itself.

  The mansion had been built in 1905 as the summer home of the son of a lumber tycoon. While the forests were being destroyed in the north, Kip Archer enjoyed the calm gentility of sitting on his wide veranda with his rich cronies, smoking cigars and sipping gin drinks. It was his oasis, where he didn’t have to hear the sounds of saws, axes, and the mill as it changed the once beautiful giants of the upper Midwest into lumber. His wife Suzette, or Suze as he called her, had taken full advantage of the large building to put distance between her closeted husband and herself.

  Jesse said that the house was really two houses attached by a massive entry, ornate ballroom, and hotel-size kitchen. Suze took care of the running of Hidden Meadow while Kip decorated it with his collections of china, porcelain and jade. Once the offspring had been produced, each turned a blind eye to how the other chose to enjoy their evenings.

  According to the book Kip’s House by one of his lovers, Guy Gillette, it was a happy house. Suze chose her staff carefully and overpaid them to keep them from leaving and gossiping. The “Roaring Twenties” came and went, but Hidden Meadow hung on to the gin-and-tonic lifestyle until the last of the heirs blew through the remaining Archer fortune. This was according to Fond Memories written by third-generation butler Edward Tully.

  After that, Jesse said the house was sold to various Hollywood producers. But the cost of its upkeep soon depleted their bank accounts, and for fifty years, Hidden Meadow stood empty. That was until it was bought by a dot-com billionaire. Jesse wasn’t forthcoming about who this was. All he said was, “We report to Miss Kiki Pickles; she’s in charge of the renovation. She will liaise between all the various contractors and the principal.”

  Kiki waited in the construction lot. The replacement carpenter was expected any moment now. She didn’t want the man to have to waste time looking for her, so she chose to wait for him there. Kiki reseated her ball cap on her head, pulling her long black braid through the opening in the back. She would have cut her hair long ago if it weren’t for a bet she had with her sister; the first to cut their hair off would have to acknowledge at the family Christmas party that the other was the most beautiful twin. It didn’t matter that they were identical. What mattered was winning.

  She shielded her dark brown eyes from the sun with an expensive pair of Wayfarers that her boss had given her. He didn’t like the squint lines that were developing from Kiki staring into the sun. Kiki humored him and took the glasses. She didn’t care if she had squint lines or not. Kiki was the most un-body-conscious person of her crowd. As long as her pits didn’t smell and she didn’t have to buy a larger size pair of jeans, she did little to maintain her killer cut body. Her job did that for her.

  A covered truck with Illinois plates drove into the lot. Kiki jumped down from the tailgate and directed it into a space.

  Cid turned off the truck, pocketed his smart phone, and opened the door.

  Kiki was puzzled by the handsome man who walked towards her with an outstretched hand. Jesse had described the contractor as being a four-eyed nerd who has been spending too much time holding a camera for a cable paranormal show. This tall, dark-haired, and tan man she would have cast as a Hollywood stunt double, not a nerdy ghost hunter.

  “Cid Garrett,” Cid introduced himself, shaking the strong hand that was held out to him.

  “Kiki Pickles,” she said and released his firm grip.

  Cid smiled and took off his sunglasses and wiped his brow. When he smiled, Kiki fell into his warm brown eyes.

  “It’s pretty warm already. How is it inside?” he asked.

  For a moment Kiki forgot language. There was a pounding in her ears. It could have been the patio guys packing the earth, or her heart, but it distracted her from the business at hand.

  Cid patiently waited for his new boss to answer him. She was an attractive woman whose name, Kiki Pickles, didn’t fit. Maybe she was in witness protection?

  “The house is warm, especially the attic. We’re hoping once Walr
us can get the central air ducts installed, we’ll be able to camp out in the house instead of taking the long drive to the interstate to find a reasonable room. The plumbers have the sanitation all sorted, so you can use the bathrooms. The electric has to be brought up to code, but it is sufficient enough to run machinery.” Shut up Kiki and breathe, she commanded her body.

  Cid quickly filed the information and got ready for more.

  “You’re not what I expected,” she blurted out.

  Cid winced. Surely he hadn’t gotten too soft. “If you would like to recheck my references, I’m sure this will…”

  “That’s not what I meant,” she said quickly. “I actually didn’t mean to speak at all. It’s just, Jesse told me you were… different.”

  “Ah, that was before I got my Lasik surgeries. I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face without my glasses. I actually got lost in a daylight snowstorm because I didn’t have my glasses on,” he confessed. “People would see the lenses and that’s about it.”

  “So this whole handsome hero look is new?” she asked.

  Cid blushed.

  “First I have to deal with your friend Jesse who is a Viking god and now…”

  “Superman?” Cid said with his face scrunched up. “I’ve been called it before.”

  Kiki nodded. “That’s it. Well, Clark, grab your gear. We have a contractor meeting in the main hall. I’ll introduce you around.”

  Jesse Holden was examining the chandelier two stories up when Cid walked in behind Kiki. He tapped on the ceiling and shook his head. “Boss, I’m thinking the safest thing would be to take this down before it falls down. We can work on the wood rot and then rehang it once it’s refurbished and the new wiring is ready.”

  “Where would we put it?” Kiki asked, worried that the magnificent crystals and elegant chains would be damaged if it were set in a box.

  “I could build a cage so it can be hung inside, covered with a tarp, and moved as necessary,” Cid offered. He drew a quick sketch in his pocket notebook, ripped out the page, and handed it to her.

  “Looks good, Clark.”

  Jesse looked down at Cid. He had changed since their days working for Heritage Homes. Gone was the stoop-shouldered, bespectacled, shy carpenter. Jesse worked his way down the scaffolding, careful to test each board before putting his full weight on it. They’d already had a near accident when a board cracked in two. Fortunately, the worker was light on his feet and grabbed onto the pipe frame as the lumber fell twelve feet to the floor. The funny thing was, Jesse had used the scaffolding the day before and all the wood was solid. He’d jumped up and down on each piece to make sure.

  Cid smiled as Jesse walked quickly over to him and patted him on the back. “Good to see you, Cid. Did you have any trouble with my directions?”

  “No, found the place the first try,” Cid said. “How’s the folks?”

  “My stepmother has joined that Red Hat Society, which my father calls the Red Hot Gossips. She’s gone all the time, and he’s enjoying having the house to himself.”

  Jesse ran his hand through his thick head of blonde hair that had so many cowlicks, no part ever stood a chance. It just stuck up in all directions, straight like a confused scrub brush. His hazel eyes and freckled nose gave him the innocent boy-next-door look. Today, he was sporting a two-day beard. Kiki had already given him a new nickname. He was now Scrub. So far, none of the other workers had heard it, and he hoped that she would drop it. He didn’t think that Scrub sounded too professional.

  “Clark here…”

  “Cid,” he corrected.

  “Clark,” she insisted, “is going to build a cage to hang that monster in, Scrub.”

  “Jesse.”

  “Scrub,” Kiki said again. “I’d like to get that taken care of as soon as possible, so direct Clark to where we have the good lumber stored. And, Scrub, while you’re at it, call and see if you can get him a room over at the Rancho-clean-toileto,” she said and walked over to consult with two other contractors.

  “We call her Boss,” Jesse started, “so she calls us whatever crosses her mind.”

  “I don’t care as long as she remembers I’m Cid Garrett on payday,” Cid said.

  “She will. Follow me to the lumber yard. I already have you booked into Highway Ranches with the rest of us.”

  Kiki watched the two tall men leave the hall. In her line of work, she didn’t need distractions like Cid and Jesse. Her defense mechanism was giving them absurd nicknames. One simply didn’t have romantic thoughts about Clarks or Scrubs.

  He watched them from the staircase. Every day more and more workers filled his home. The noise was becoming a problem. He wanted to scream and break things when the high-pitched machinery was used. He wouldn’t dare break any of his things; his things were much too precious. But the boards and bones of the workers, he didn’t care about. If they didn’t stop the racket soon, he would, and he didn’t care who he hurt in the process.

  Chapter One

  The chandelier took eight men to lower and rehouse it in the sturdy cage Cid had constructed. He remembered all too well when the chandelier crashed in Roustan Rose, and this one was four times bigger and made of crystal. If it fell, it would probably take two or three workmen with it. Cid put the protective outer panels on the cage and helped to wheel it into a corner far from the chaos of the renovation.

  Cid had found everything he needed in the eight-car garage. He suspected that the original crate might have been stored in the attic of the building, but if wood rot had gotten to the ceiling joists, then he was sure the crate would have been compromised too.

  Jesse continued on with his wood rot inspection, leaving Cid to get himself oriented to the house before he sat down with Kiki and discussed what his role in the renovation would be. He decided to start with Kip’s side of the house. He walked from the hall into an ornate living room. Most of the furniture had been sold to creditors, but a few original built-ins gave Cid an idea of what Kip was like. Artsy seemed too common a word for the owner of the delicate carved doors to what must have been a liquor cabinet. Next to it was a humidor. He stood back and smiled at the little carved birds that were perched on martini glasses, and on the humidor, these same birds were smoking cigars.

  “He’s funny,” Cid said aloud.

  “Oh he was a joker, such a zest for life,” Kiki said behind him.

  “I was trying to get a feel for the house. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “No, not at all.”

  “How do you know he had a zest for life?” Cid asked.

  “I’ve read his diaries. I’d suggest you reading them, but they tend to bring out latent homophobe feelings in the knuckle-dragging set.”

  Cid frowned at her.

  “Clark, I wasn’t calling you a homophobe,” Kiki said quickly. “No offense?”

  Cid smiled. “No offense.”

  “So are you gay?” she asked.

  “No,” he said simply. “One of my best friends has two gay godfathers. They are lovely people and have accepted me and my pedantic ways. If they’re Cid-ophobes, they have kept it to themselves.”

  Kiki laughed. “They sound great. Tell me something about yourself. Pretend we’re on one of those five-minute dating interviews.”

  “I’m Cid Garrett. I used to be as wide as I was tall with Coke-bottle lenses on my glasses. I learned to find solace and adventure in books until I started working with my best friend Ted Martin. He’s a partner in the Paranormal Entity Exposure Partners. I still read, but my adventure is living with Ted, his wife Mia, their family, and resident ghost Stephen Murphy. Yes, I believe in ghosts. Because of my earlier sight handicap, I have super hearing. So if you want to keep a secret, you need to be a hundred yards away from me. I’m taking a break from PEEPs to help you and Jesse out down here.”

  Kiki smiled.

  “Your turn,” Cid insisted.

  “Huh, I didn’t know I was playing. Okay, here goes. I’m Kiki Pickles, one half of a pair
of identical twins. My sister’s name is Mimi. I’ve always been interested in renovating buildings, houses especially. I started working summers with my uncle in San Francisco. He would buy old apartment buildings and flip them into condos. I know how to do, and have done, every job I ask my workmen to do. I like to read, but my genre is lurid mysteries with a lot of smut in them. I’m convinced, in a previous life, I was a gangster’s moll. My sister and I can communicate with our minds. She and I didn’t speak until three; we didn’t have to. My parents are very intuitive, so no one really talked at home.”

  “What does your sister do?” Cid asked.

  “She teaches third graders. Do you have siblings?” Kiki asked.

  Cid frowned but answered, “An older sister who wishes I was never born.”

  “Huh, that’s a story for brew time.”

  “Brew time?”

  “Back at the Rancho, we congregate around the horseshoe posts and drink beer. Not everybody comes, just the misplaced misfits. Scrub usually turns up. Walrus and Gut too.”

  Cid closed his eyes. “Walrus would be the plumbing contractor with the long mustache, but Gut?”

  “Oh, you haven’t met Gut yet? He is very aptly named.”

  “I’m going to continue my tour.”

  “Want a guide?” Kiki asked.

  “I don’t want to interrupt your day.”

  “I was just going to yell at a few guys. You’ve saved Holy Shit and What the Fuck a dressing down.”

  Cid sent a thankyou prayer to heaven that he’d gotten off easy being tagged with Clark.

  Jesse inched through the space above where the chandelier had been hung. It was just off the third floor bath. He entered through the linen closet. He moved along, slowly testing the wood, looking for rot. He turned off his flashlight at one point and looked up. There was the culprit. A small knothole in the roof planking had opened up. The snow and ice of winter must have worked under the shingles. The heat of the house rose up and turned it to water. It ran down one of the joists and along one of the two supports for the chandelier. They were really lucky that the other support wasn’t damaged, otherwise the magnificent light would have fallen long ago.