“Sounds good to me. I’d like to go down and record my experience while it’s still fresh anyway.”
I offered him a hand and pulled him up on his feet. I felt bad about leaving; I’d just asked Sabrina Elizabeth those questions and hadn’t given her much time to respond. I guess she’d just have to wait.
She’d been waiting this long already. Hopefully she wouldn’t mind a few more minutes.
Chapter Ten—Midas
“Joshua just recorded an incredible experience, Midas. He saw a shadow entity on the top floor, and he’s got it recorded on the thermal camera. If I were you, I’d go upstairs and check it out. Things are hot up there,” Sierra said as she wrapped her familiar blue sweater closer around her.
“Great. Are they ready to swap out?”
She shook her head. “Oh, they aren’t up there now. It’s clear if you want to go.”
“Why aren’t they up there? Where did they go?” What the heck was my team doing? I felt like I was losing control of everything.
“They went next door to Building Two. Something about checking out Sabrina Elizabeth’s room. Cassidy is kind of obsessed with finding her. It’s time for y’all to switch off anyway.” Sierra sipped from her water bottle and went back to watching the monitors.
“I was saving that building for tomorrow, but I guess that’s okay. Things are dead down here, and there’s not much to see so far. Do you have eyes on them?”
“Yep, they just walked in now. You want the volume on?”
“Sure.”
Sierra turned up the volume while Helen and I lingered over her shoulder. Helen had proven to be fearless, but I wasn’t joking—nothing was moving down here.
“Dead is right. I really wanted to see something too,” Helen pouted.
“Still, I wish he would consult me before he makes these kinds of decisions,” I said. “Josh can be a bit reckless.”
“He’s reckless? What about her? I mean, she is still quite new at all this, and yet she doesn’t mind walking into potentially dangerous situations. She doesn’t have all the training she needs,” Sierra added defensively. Despite their current situation, she was still defending Josh.
Helen caught her breath. “Did you see that? It looked like somebody passed in front of the camera. The one downstairs next door.” Without a word, Sierra rewound the tape about 30 seconds, and sure enough we saw it too.
I grabbed the walkie-talkie. “Josh? We caught something on the camera. There’s movement between you and the staircase. See anything?”
“No, but thanks for telling us. We’re going to do some EVP work in here before we head upstairs. Did Sierra tell you what I saw—what Cassidy and I saw?”
I stared at Josh’s face and said, “Yeah, she said you guys saw something. Helen and I are heading up there now.”
“Roger.”
Armed with a camera, a digital audio recorder and Helen’s K2, we walked up the steps as Sierra whispered behind us, “Be careful.”
“Gotcha,” I whispered back. Why were we whispering?
“What?” Sierra called.
“You said, ‘Be careful.’ So I said, ‘Gotcha.’” I paused on the third step.
“I didn’t say anything, Midas.”
Helen and I looked at one another, and she laughed nervously. I felt just as nervous—and I’d been doing this for years. “Wow,” I said.
Without another word, we walked upstairs to see what we would experience. Maybe nothing as shocking as Josh and Cassidy had, but there was no doubt something wanted to be seen. Something was going on up here. I lifted the camera and began to slowly sweep the hallway. I remembered that this new rig had a thermal setting. Why hadn’t I been using that? I flicked the button over and watched the room go dark on the screen. I adjusted the colors quickly and scanned the area.
“Hello? I’m Midas, and this is Helen. We’re here to talk to you.” Nobody answered, and we didn’t hear the footsteps like Josh and Cassidy did.
They left the shadow detector up, and the lights were scattered across the hallway walls. “Josh had his encounter here, or was it here? I think it was here. Hmm…interesting. Let’s walk room to room and see what we can turn up.”
Helen nodded, and we walked into the first room. “I don’t see anything unusual on here,” she said. “It’s a point two. Nope. Now it’s flat.”
“Okay, that’s normal.” We walked from room to room but still couldn’t scare up a ghost or even a snicker.
“I guess you and I drew the short straw tonight, Midas. I hope I’m not bad luck.”
“I don’t believe in luck, and even if I did, I would never consider you bad luck. That’s just the way it is; sometimes you have experiences, other times you don’t. Most of the time you don’t. We’ve been lucky the last few investigations we’ve been on.”
“I see. Well, this is definitely an unusual investigation. To be at the scene where a serial killer once stalked his victims has to be very rare.”
“What do you know about Dr. Long, Helen?” I clicked on the digital recorder, hoping we might pick up something during our conversation. Sometimes voice collection worked that way, although I didn’t understand why. I suppose much like living people, the dead didn’t like you talking about them negatively either. Hmm…I wasn’t usually one for provocation, but it might just work here.
“I’m asking because I heard he was a hack.” I made a rolling motion with my finger, asking her to play along.
Her eyes widened with delight because she knew exactly what I was doing. “Oh! No doubt that was the word on the street. Nobody wanted to hire him, not a real hospital, and if it hadn’t been for the fact that he bankrolled the medical clinic, he wouldn’t have even been allowed to work there.”
We waited but heard nothing at all. I decided to try going even harder. “Maybe he strangled those women because he wanted to have a sense of power over them. You know, like a coward would. I doubt he was any better than those bastards who came looking for sex. And he was probably short too.”
Helen nodded. “In those days, you didn’t have to have true medical skills. I mean, what did they know about medical care? We’ve advanced so much since then. Besides, Dr. Long was nothing more than a pimp. Can you believe he forced all those women to work as prostitutes? It’s unseemly. No wonder they ran him out of town.” And then the door slammed.
“Ooh, Helen, I think you struck a nerve with someone. Were you anywhere near that door?”
“Of course not. I’m over here. You saw me. Play back the film and see if we got anything.”
I did, but I hadn’t seen anything while we were talking except the door closing on its own. We tested it, and it was doubtful that it would have swung closed by itself. It was a heavy door, and there were no open windows, no drafts. That was one good thing about the thermal: the color schemes made it easy to pick up even the smallest living thing. Or dead thing.
“Let’s take this party into the hallway. I think we’ve got his attention now. Keep talking, Helen.”
“Okay. Some people say Dr. Long was not only a poor doctor but had a propensity to…”
I opened the door and stepped through, and suddenly Helen’s voice sounded like it was coming from underwater. It was the weirdest sensation. I paused and was about to turn back and ask her what was going on, but then I noticed that I wasn’t standing in the hallway anymore. At least not this hallway. I was somewhere else.
There were wooden floors, paneled walls and dull lamp lights shining from a rough-hewn table that leaned up against a wall. My camera was gone, and as I looked down to see where I could have dropped it, I saw no sign of any equipment. Had I walked down this far? I didn’t think I was close to the wall at all, but I was apparently close enough to have stepped into Mark McGinnis’ experience.
Okay, Midas. Breathe. Take it all in and breathe. Don’t let fear overwhelm you. This is what you live for.
I quickly recalled the details of Mark’s story and remembered his description of
the terrified feeling he’d had when he realized there was someone behind him. I turned around carefully, but I was alone in the hallway. However, there was someone nearby. I could hear her voice as she whispered to me from one of the side rooms.
Midas. Midas, I’ve been waiting for you, Midas. Come and see me. The voice didn’t sound seductive at all, and it was barely human. There was a deep guttural rasp to it that let me know I was not listening to any mere mortal.
“Who are you?” I heard a rustling, like someone was folding tissue paper, and a shadow crossed the doorway. Whoever she was—or was it even a she?—wouldn’t come out so I could see her. Clearly the intent was to draw me into that room, but for what purpose? Stay in control. Keep calm. You’re an investigator! “Who are you? Tell me now.”
The voice giggled and hummed a strange tune. Then it spoke my name again. Midas, Midas. I need you, Midas. In a rush of words it said, IWantToDoSuchBadThingsToYou!
“I demand you tell me your name! Now! Tell me now!” I was surprised by the desperation in my own voice.
And then it wasn’t in the room. I felt breath on my ear, and it said, I’ll tell you now. I jerked around, but there was no woman there. Instead there was a shadow, a tall, dark shadow. And the harder I stared at it, the more definition he took on. It was like he was growing stronger, feeding on the attention. That was very disconcerting. And then his voice changed. It wasn’t a whisper but spoken words. He wore a black suit, a black hat, a heavy mustache and dark brown muttonchops. He was as pale as a sheet of paper, and his eyes were full of hatred.
“The doctor will see you now.” A dark hand shot out toward me, grabbing for my throat, but I bolted away and ran like a lunatic down the hall. I couldn’t go back the way I came—I didn’t have a clue how I got here! Just like Mark, there was only one place I could go.
And that was down.
And down I went.
Chapter Eleven—Cassidy
We started our investigation in Building Two and hadn’t gotten any response, but it wasn’t long before we heard Sierra screaming at us on the walkie-talkie. “He’s gone! He’s gone!”
Next thing we knew, Midas was flying down the stairs in a panic, and that totally freaked us out. He was usually calm, cool and collected and never freaked out during an investigation. I mean never. Granted, this was only my third one, but he just didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would go running down the stairs away from the danger. Running toward it? Yes, absolutely. He blew past us, and Joshua shouted at him, “Hey, dude! Where are you going? Midas!”
I touched his arm and hoped to grab him as he ran past me, but he was moving too fast. However, my touch seemed to be enough to shock him out of his fearful sprint because he stopped. He completely stopped and then passed out.
“Oh my God! He’s down. Midas? Midas? Can you hear me?” Joshua was beside me and tapping Midas on the jaw. Midas was out a few seconds and then began to stir. His hands reached up for me, and I talked to him, trying to keep him calm.
“Midas, it’s me, Cassidy. And Joshua is here too. You took off running. How did you get in here?”
Sierra and Helen poured through the door, and pretty soon we were all surrounding our fearless leader, who now lay on the ground. Midas wasn’t having any of it. He got to his feet, and he was wobbly, but at least he got up. He ran his hands through his dark hair and then put them over his eyes as he tried to collect himself.
“That was the weirdest thing I have ever experienced. Helen, we definitely stirred up the doctor.”
She patted his back and said, “I knew we would. I just knew it! Let’s get you to the other building so you can sit down for a minute and have some water. I think you’re all right.”
Joshua joked, “Yeah, you move fast for an old guy.” Midas put his hands on his knees and eased up straight. “What’s up with you running down the stairs?” They had a good laugh about it, but I could tell Midas was still shaken up. We walked next door, and Helen offered him some water while we reviewed the tapes. Sierra was right—Midas had completely disappeared off the film. One minute he was there, and the next he was gone. I’d never heard of anything like this.
Midas said, “Guys, I think that’s enough for tonight. I think we’ve stepped into something way more intense than any typical haunting. The fact someone can move from one spot to another without anyone noticing disturbs me. There is something going on here. I think we need to regroup, save our energy and focus on tomorrow night’s investigation.”
“Not until you tell us what happened. You can’t keep that to yourself,” Joshua insisted.
“One minute, I was investigating the upstairs hallway in Building One, and then as I stepped into the hallway something changed. I could still hear Helen, but she sounded like she was further away, and then I didn’t hear her at all. I looked back to see if the door closed again, but the thermal was gone and I was not where I had been. It was damn strange.”
I sat beside him. “Did you see a girl with blond hair?”
“I didn’t see any girls or women. I saw a man with dark brown hair wearing a black suit. He was trying to lure me into one of those rooms—stalls, I think you called them—but the voice didn’t sound right. It sounded…inhuman.”
“Oh, great.” Joshua said that whenever he got news that an investigation was leaning toward anything but a residual haunt.
Sierra sighed in relief. “Stopping for the night sounds good to me. Between that shadow thing crawling on the floor and you disappearing before my eyes, I might just lose my mind. I’ll go gather all the tapes, and we can sort through them later.”
“I’ll spring for pizza if anyone is up for a late-night snack. I’d like to comb through these things before we come back here tomorrow. Anyone game?”
Helen piped up first. “Count me in. This is exciting. This is the most excitement I’ve had since my trip to Egypt.”
“Me too, obviously,” Sierra said.
I guessed I’d be the buzzkill tonight. “I wish I could, guys, but I think I need to go home. I might better serve the group if I paint. I can’t force a vision, but maybe Sabrina Elizabeth has something else to share with me. I hope that rain check still applies?” I asked Midas hopefully.
“Of course it does. What about you, Josh?”
He was busy working on some piece of equipment and removing batteries for charging. He didn’t look at us but shook his head. “No, I think I’m spent.” Sierra sighed sadly but said nothing else about it.
“Okay, let’s go. Helen, we’ll see you at my place.” Midas sounded tired. I began to wonder if I’d made the right call.
We loaded up everything we needed and left the buildings as we found them—strange, dark and creepy. The drive home helped me calm down, and I needed to be Zen if I was going to “tune in” to the other side. I didn’t turn on any music; I didn’t want anything else to influence what I was about to do.
Thirty minutes later, I was standing in front of Sabrina Elizabeth’s painting. I supposed the place to start would be her hair. I hadn’t quite captured the brightness of it. I dabbed yellow, white and gold on my palette and worked the colors together until I had the shade I wanted. I added a few strands to drape over her shoulder. She had been so young, so hopeful.
When I felt satisfied with my touch-up, I added some blue to her eyes. They were dark and sparkling. I rubbed white along the rims of the eyes to enhance her fearful expression. As I studied her eyes, my hands began to shake so much that I had to put my brush down or I’d screw up my work. And then an unnatural, palpable fear overwhelmed me.
“No, not like this,” I whispered, “not here.” I didn’t want to step into the vision at this particular spot; once had been enough. I closed my eyes, and suddenly I was sitting in a chair. I felt tired. My mouth was dry, and my eyes burned.
*****
I held Bear’s hand and rubbed it lovingly. It felt stiff and cold, but he was still alive. He’d lost so much blood, and I knew it was a miracle he’d survived th
is long. It had been two days since he’d been brought to Dr. Long’s medical clinic. His leg looked like something you would retrieve from the butcher shop. Some of the cotton boys told us he had caught it in the dog press, whatever that was, but the details were not clear and nobody knew why he had been at the mill so early that morning. It had been a stroke of luck that he’d been found before he bled to death, but his leg would never be the same. How could it be?
I sat beside him the whole time, but never once did he wake up. Never once did he look at me or speak to anyone. And I was so exhausted I was practically falling out of the chair. I must’ve dozed off because when I woke up Shannon was there, looking sad and sympathetic.
“Come home, girlie. Come home and have something to eat and rest. You’ll do no good for him if you die too.”
Dr. Long hovered in the corner of the room. He and his male nurse were busy preparing some type of concoction to apply to Bear’s many wounds. Another nurse tore strips of fabric to use as bandages. It would be time to change them soon. Maybe then he’d wake up!
The doctor had barely spoken to me, but what could he say? I was grateful for his silence in Bear’s presence. If he did speak about the other night, what would I say to him? Would Bear hear him?
Indeed, the past two days had me wondering if I hadn’t dreamed it all. But even as I entertained that idea, I knew it had been no dream. Although the doctor didn’t talk to me, I believed that if given a chance he would do it again. Make no mistake about it, he was a predator like a tiger. And if I left Bear, what would happen to him? Would the doctor harm him? Would he kill him? If what Shannon said was true, that the doctor wanted to possess me, then I couldn’t doubt that at all. The truth was my energy had left me. I was barely able to stand up and couldn’t remember when I had eaten last.
“I’m not leaving Bear. He needs me.”
Shannon squatted beside me. It was so strange to see her wearing such a nice dress, buttoned all the way up so it covered her throat. I wondered if I would see handprints—his handprints—if she unbuttoned it. Instinctively my hand flew to my own throat, but I said nothing. She pretended not to see it and gave me a sickening smile with her yellow teeth.
Ghosted on the Gulf Coast (Gulf Coast Paranormal Trilogy Book 1) Page 31
