The Haunting In Gotham [Alice]

[John Constantine]

John Constantine's only case this entire month had come from a strange woman who liked spinning. Apparently, she had a haunted house. Constantine had been a little bit reluctant to take on the case. His last experience with haunted houses wasn't very fruitful. Still, this young woman had been kind enough to leave him a decently sized retainer, and he'd come down to Gotham as soon as was possible for him. He had to wait a couple of days in order to finish another, short-notice job, which involved an exorcism. It was messy business, but now he was free to come down to Gotham, perhaps the darkest city he knew. He'd been told to give some leeway for his client to get to the house, which was what he was doing, right now, in a hotel room, loading the Hellblazer with specialised shells and waiting for a phone call.

[Alice Challen]

Alice had rushed home as soon as she got the call. She'd been a bit busy in the morning. It had been time for her to dispatch a few targets but finally the deed had been accomplished. She made her way inside the building, beyond grateful that it was still daytime. The weird occurrences mostly happened at night. She unlocked the door and quickly changed outfits, slipping into another blue dress. She didn't want any questions about why the previous one was covered in blood.

She set her dress in the wash and dialed Mr. Constantine's number, letting him know that she was ready to let him in.

[John Constantine]

The phone rang, almost making John drop the shell he was loading. He scraped the last few iron filings into it as he picked up the phone. "This is Constantine."

[Alice Challen]

"Hello, Mr. Constantine! This is Alice!" she chirped. "Thank you so much for coming all the way out to Gotham City! And I'm so very sorry I couldn't see you earlier! I had something I needed to take care of; but, I'm home now and can let you inside whenever you're ready!"

[John Constantine]

"That's alright." John loaded all the shells into the Hellblazer and gave it a menacing cock. "I'll be over in a couple of minutes." The house was only a five-minute walk from his hotel. He put down the phone and left the room, walking down the street with his shotgun concealed under his coat.

Only a few minutes later, he knocked on the door of the house.

[Alice Challen]

Alice was eagerly waiting by the window, watching for his arrival. She saw him approach and was at the door before he knocked. She opened it. "How good of you to come, Mr. Constantine!" she said excitedly with a quick curtsey. "Please do come inside!" she invited.

[John Constantine]

John nodded his head and smiled. "Thank you." he said, stepping inside. He took a quick look around the hallway. "So, this is where the haunting takes place?"

[Alice Challen]

"You're welcome!" she said cheerfully, spinning in a quick circle. Alice eagerly bobbed her head up and down. "Yes, it is but I'm not sure how much really happens in the hallway," she explained. She tried to recall any strange occurrences that specifically happened here. Most of them occurred in the rooms, basement, and attic. She pointed to one of the clocks. "Well there's that clock there." She sighed. "Stopped at 3:13 again like all the others." She skipped to one of the rooms and quickly returned. "And here are the pictures of my parents I kept hanging up. They kept falling down at the same time every night," she added, holding up three framed pictures for him to see. It was difficult for her to hold them herself. They were quite big. The glass was cracked in all of them. One had a picture of her parents together. One was a picture of her when she was five with her parents. And the last picture was a picture of the three of them together at a party when she was 13. They had died about half an hour after the picture was taken.

[John Constantine]

John leant forwards to examine the stopped clock. "Have you checked the gearing? This could be a mechanical problem." he said. He didn't want to jump to conclusions too early. It was the pictures that were the kicker for him. He put that detective mind of his to use, looking for links in the strange events. "Three pictures...all with parents..." he murmured, going over the evidence again and again. "Could it be possible that your parents' spirits are trying to leave you a message?"

[Alice Challen]

"Trying to leave me a message?" she asked, confused. "But why would they do that now? They died eight years ago," she explained. "And could their spirits even be here? They died in France. It's true that the police never figured out who poisoned them but I can't imagine they'd want me to know who did it even if they did know. They were very kind people who always wanted to protect me. They wouldn't want me to get involved with murders and things," she assured him.

Which of course was exactly what she was doing. She knew they'd be upset if they were alive to see her but the government was ruled by money and corrupt people. The law couldn't touch the worst criminals. They needed to be punished by vigilantes so that innocent people like her parents could be spared. Killing was necessary for the greater good. She was sure of it.

"And originally I thought the gears might be the problem but it's not just this clock. The one in the kitchen and the ones in all the other rooms stop at the same time. You can try rewinding it and it will work fine again until 3:13."

[John Constantine]

"Well, here's your first lesson in the paranormal." John took another look at the clock. "In a few cases, spirits will be bound to an object they treasured in life. Could be anything, like a family heirloom." he turned to her. "If that's the case, it may need to be exorcised. Do you have anything like that?"

[Alice Challen]

Alice shook her head. "No, we don't really have a family heirloom but..." She hesitated. "Well my father always really liked the story of Alice in Wonderland. I was named after that Alice," she said a bit nervously. "The book was a present from his father in Britain and that book belonged to his father before that. But...I wouldn't really consider that an heirloom. It was just an old book that both my father and grandfather loved." She ran to her room and brought out an old leather bound book, clutching it tightly to her chest. It was her treasure too. She tentatively held it out to him. "But I really don't think my parents are involved."

[John Constantine]

"Why not? It makes sense." John took the book and held it up to the light. "All those pictures were of you with your parents. The clock might be...the clock might be pointing you to the third picture. Would I be right in saying you were thirteen when it was taken?"

[Alice Challen]

Alice nodded her head. "Yes, I was thirteen here," she said pointing to the third picture. "When they died," she added dryly. She didn't like remembering that. It was so unfair. They had done nothing wrong. But then the world wasn't fair.

[John Constantine]

"Right. So..." John was getting nowhere fast. He had the links, but needed something to tie them together with. "...you say they died after this picture was taken? Maybe..." he had an answer, but he didn't know if she wanted to hear it. "...maybe whoever killed your parents is coming for you next."