CHAPTER 11: LAWRENCE’S HOUSE

Gina POV

“I'm going to help you but first I need to know what your name is?” I whisper at the woman as I turn the faucet by the sink on. "My name is Amanda Hanson and why are you whispering?” She says to me. “Because none of them know that I can see ghosts. They might think that I am a freak if they hear me talking to myself.” I say.

“Right. Good point.” Amanda replies. “Do you know where he lives?” I ask her. “Yeah. I can show you his house. But I think he has a meeting this afternoon. I don’t know about what.” Amanda replies. “Okay, so I'll have someone follow him. Just to observe what he is up to.” I say as I switch the faucet off again. I walk out of the bathroom. The guys are still in the living room arguing with each other and Amanda is nowhere to be seen.

“I keep telling you, take the plea deal and this will all blow over soon. You will only get ten years." Lawrence says to Marcus just as I walk into the living room. "Why should he? He is innocent. If you would just do your job then you would have noticed that the video was fake but no you are a lousy lawyer. You are looking to make easy money out of Marcus that’s all. Seriously I don’t know how you got your license but just know this, I am on to you pal.” Mateo replies as he glares at Lawrence.

“Karakizos you and your father think you are all that. You guys are always up in my business so fuck you.” Lawrence yells at Mateo. Mateo goes and he wants to punch Lawrence in the face but Marcus stops him. “That is enough. I don’t like it when someone disrespects another in my house. Please leave.” Marcus says to Lawrence as he points to the front door. “Gladly. You just call me when you have made up your mind about the case.” Lawrence says as he grabs his bag and he heads to the front door.

“I won’t change my mind. I'm going to prove that I am innocent. I don’t care if you are with me on this or not.” Marcus yells back at him. Lawrence walks out by the door and he slams it shut. I run to the window that looks over into Marcus’s driveway. Lawrence is heading towards his car that is parked across the street. I turn around and I grab my purse.

“Pavlo I need you to follow him and see what he is up to. I'll take the case files to go through them later.” I say to Pavlo as I look at him. "Yes, boss. I will call you if I find out anything else." Pavlo says as he packs up his stuff and he leaves. I look back out of the window just as Pavlo gets into his car. Lawrence has just started his car and he is driving away with Pavlo following him.

I turn around and I pack up all of the case files to take with me. Marcus takes my hand in his making me look up at him. “I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have snapped at you.” He says. “It’s okay. Can we just forget about it?” I ask him. “Yeah sure. So I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner with me tomorrow night? As friends I mean. And I know you Gina. I know that you were lying to Lawrence when he asked you out on a date." He asks me. "Yeah, you know me too well. Is your number still the same? I will call you and let you know?" I say and his smile falters a bit.

“No I had it changed but I don’t have a phone because they confiscated all of my communication devices.” He says. “Here take mine. I'll be here all day.” Mateo says as he hands me his business card. “Karakizos Attorneys?” I ask him. “Yeah. It’s my dad’s firm. I work for him.” Mateo replies. “Your dad is Constantine Karakizos?" I ask him. "Do you know him?" Mateo asks. "No, but I think that my dad knew him." I reply. I can remember my dad mentioning Constantine Karakizos a few times when I was younger.

“So you will let me know about dinner?” Marcus asks me and I nod at him. I grab my purse and the files before I turn around and head out the door. “It was nice seeing you again Marcus. Have a nice day.” I say as I walk out of the door. “You too.” Marcus says as he stands by the door and watches me leave. Just before I get to my car, someone grabbed me from behind and swings me around. I see that it is Marcus. Before I can say anything, he smashes his lips on mine.

The kiss goes on forever. I can feel all of the emotion that he is putting in this. It's like he is hungry and I am his buffet meal. My knees almost give out from under me when he puts his hands on my waist and he squeezes my hips making me gasp and it also allows him to invade my mouth with his tongue. He finally breaks the kiss and puts his forehead against mine. “I'm sorry but I couldn’t let you just walk away. I had to kiss you again. Please have dinner with me tomorrow?” He asks. I look into his eyes and it is like I am melting away.

"After that mind-blowing kiss, how could I say no," I say making him smile again. "Be here at 7 pm." He says. “Got it. Now I have to go and snoop around a weasel’s house.” I say. “Lawrence’s house?” He asks. "Jip," I reply. “How do you know where he lives?” He asks me. I can’t exactly tell him that a ghost will show me where he lives so I come up with another excuse. “I have my sources.” I say as he takes his hands off from my waist. I turn around and I see that Amanda is standing next to my car.

“Get in the car.” I whisper to her. I get in and start the car before I look at Marcus who is now standing by the door. I wave at him just as Amanda talks to me. “So what's with you and pretty boy over there?” She asks me. “We were high school sweethearts but I broke up with him before I left for college.” I say as I drive out of Marcus’s driveway. “Why did you break up with him?” Amanda asks. “it’s a long story. So where are we going?” I ask her. “West Los Angeles.” She says as she puts her finger on my portable GPS and an address comes up on the screen.

I will never get used to ghosts and the way that they use electronics. “I can’t believe we have to go to that neighborhood.” I say as I speed up. “Yeah. It's a long drive so you can tell me that long story.” Amanda says. “I am a sucker for romance stories.” She says. I look at her. “Let’s make a deal. You tell me first how you met Lawrence and how he killed you because I need to know everything and then I will tell you about Marcus and I. Deal?” I say to her. “Deal.” She says.

She starts telling me that she had met Lawrence at a bar 5 years ago. “We began going on a few dates at first. He had just moved to LA. He was single and so was I and we hit it off. He was so sweet you know. He treated me like I was the only woman in the world.” She says. “Three months after we met, he asked me to move in with him so I did. Two months after that he asked me to marry him and I said yes because I was so in love with him. We married a month later. And that is when things started turning ugly.” She says as she looks at me.

“How ugly?” I ask her while I keep my eyes on the road. “He started being very controlling over me and he didn’t want me to see my brother or my friends. He made me push them away.” Amanda says. “And what about your parents?” I ask her. “My parents died when I was 15 years old. So it was just me and my brother. My brother is older than me by five years so he took care of me. He was the one that warned me against Lawrence because he didn’t trust him at all and I was too in love with Lawrence to see it. That was the main reason why I stopped talking to my brother.” Amanda says. She stops talking and she looks down at her hands.

“Anyway, after Lawrence and I got married, I started feeling sick. I was vomiting constantly but I brushed it off thinking that there was a stomach bug going around. I woke up one morning and I saw myself lying on the bed. I knew then that I had died. Lawrence was poisoning my food for days.” She says as she starts crying. “Do you know what type of poison he used?” I ask.

“Arsenic.” She says. ‘That fucking asshole’ I think to myself. My knuckles are turning white because of the grip that I have on the steering wheel. “What was his motive?” I ask her. “He took out a life insurance policy on my name.” She says.
Money. This was about money. “I wasn’t the first one that he did that too and I was also not the last.” She says as she wipes the tears from her eyes.

“So tell me about you and pretty boy?” She asks me. I guess she is done talking about Lawrence for now so I let that topic go. I start telling her about Marcus and me and the reason why I broke up with him. "I think that you two are still in love with each other. I saw the way that you were kissing." She says.

I know that she is right. I still love Marcus. “Maybe. But I don’t think that things will ever be right between us.” I say. “You’re a detective. I think that you should look into that photo that she had sent you.” Amanda says. “I can’t. I don't have it anymore." I say as we pull up to Lawrence's house. 3 women are sitting in his yard. I know that they are Lawrence's other victims. "We're here. You were right. This place is a shithole." I say as I look around. "Wait until you see the inside of the house." Amanda says.

I get out of the car and I walk into his yard. The women stare at me with their eyes wide open. I think they can't believe that I can see them. "So you are the ghost whisperer that Amanda told us about?" One of the women say. "Now I know where you disappeared to earlier." I say as I look at Amanda.

"I couldn't help it. I was so excited that someone can help so that we can finally move on." Amanda says as she smiles at me. I reach for the front door and I see that it is locked. “Locked. I will have to try the backdoor." I say.

“Are you four the only victims?” I ask as I walk around to the backdoor. "No. There is one more. She is following Lawrence now." Amanda says. I look at her. "What? We needed someone to keep tabs on him while you are here." Amanda says. I reach the backdoor and I check to see if it is locked but luckily it isn't. I go inside to look around and that is when a foul stench hits my nose. The place is filthy and there are dirty plates and beer bottles all over the kitchen counters and sink.

“Damn. I'll have to bathe myself in sanitizer tonight. How does he bring women here to this dump.” I say as I look around. “He doesn't. He owns a small condo in the city where he takes every woman he meets to. That is where he does his things. He would take the bodies from there and come and dump them here. Our bodies are down there." Amanda says as she points to the basement door. I open the door and I see the stairs leading down to the basement. I walk down the stairs and I switch on the light. There is nothing but junk in here. Amanda and the others point to a wall that looks like it has been boarded up.

I walk towards the wall and I knock on it. "This is hollow inside," I say. I feel around the wall hoping to find an opening. My fingers hook onto the small opening on the left side of the board and I have to use some of my strength to pull it open. Once I got the board off and put it aside I see 5 female bodies lying in the small space behind it.

"Shit. I will have to call the police." I say as I take out my phone. "When they answer, tell them that you want to speak to detective Luke Hanson." Amanda says. "Hansen?" I ask her. “My brother. He is an LAPD detective and he has been after Lawrence for years. He is the one handling our missing persons' cases." Amanda says.

I dial the LAPD number and it connects. “Los Angeles Police Department.” The operator says on the phone. "Hi, can I please speak to Detective Luke Hanson. I have information about a case that he is working on.” I say. “One moment please.” The operator says as she puts me on hold.

A few seconds later a man answers the phone. “This is Detective Hanson. To whom am I speaking with?” He asks. “My name is Gina and I hear that you are working on a case that involves Lawrence Smith.” I say and there is silence on the other side of the phone.

"Okay, can you come down to the station and tell me everything that you know?" Luke asks me. “I think that it is best if you come and meet me at Lawrence’s house in West LA.

“He doesn’t own a house there. I checked.” Luke says.

"Maybe it's under another name. But I need you to come over here because I found five female bodies in his basement." I say.

“Give me the address.” Luke says and I give him the address. “I'll be there shortly.” He says before he hangs up the phone in my ears. “Okay then. Is your brother always like that?” I ask Amanda as I put the phone back into my pocket. “No. He changed after I went missing.” Amanda replies.

Just then another ghost appears right in front of me. “We have some more time. Lawrence just left the bar and he is going over to that strip club called The Lounge." The woman says as she looks at the others and then at me. "Hi, I'm Sylvia. It is so nice to meet you." She says. "Sylvia we need you to keep an eye on Lawrence for a little while longer because my brother is on his way over here.” Amanda says to her. “Right. I'll let you all know when he leaves that strip club.” Sylvia says before she disappears again.

“Now we have to show you his secret room where he keeps his computer.” Amanda says.