The Grey Ghost

by Nicholas Cara

  “Oh stop it you big lug,” Kate chided smacking Patsy in the arm. “I’m just glad both of you are OK. I don’t know what I would do if I lost…lost someone else,” Kate said as she reached for a tissue from a box on a nearby table.

  Rolling over to her, Joe put his hand on her shoulder as she wiped her eyes. “Poor girl. She must’ve been worried out of her mind to sprint all the way over here like that. To think something happened to one of us so soon after her dad… her dad” Joe thought catching himself as he looked up at her. There again was that feeling Joe had a few minutes ago at the back of his mind. There was something he couldn’t quite wrap his thoughts around.

  Before he could say anything, Patsy chimed in. Always the jokester, Patsy tried to break Kate from her melancholy. “Hey, we’re both fine, just some bumps and bruises thanks to this big ghosty, Woooo; right Joe, never better?

  When Patsy had mentioned the ghost, a sharp look crossed Kate’s eyes, which she directed at Joe.

  “Boy oh boy if those eyes were knifes I’d be a real ghost right now…” Joe thought seeing the glare.

  “Kate, let’s get out of here. We can give you a ride home, save you from that march back to campus,” Joe said.

  “Joe we got to get on that…thing,” Patsy interjected not wanting to say too much.

  “I know Patsy and the picture show is right at the exit off of Trumbull right? We can hit the Mahoning, drop Kate off and zip right on the Trumbull back here. It will take us 10 minutes tops out of our way. I don’t want to make the poor girl hoof it all the way back to campus. Is that fine Kate?” Joe replied reaching for Kate’s hand.

  Looking down at Joe and then back at Patsy, Kate responded, “Sure that will be swell. They are closing the campus down for the evening classes anyway. Would you get the car? It’s a madhouse out there.”

  “Sure Kate. Meet me out front.” And with that Patsy started walking toward the exit. As he headed toward the door, he reached into his coat for a cigar only to find it had broken and smashed. Cursing, Patsy threw the ruined cigar in the trash bin next to door and stormed out.

  Seeing Patsy throw away his cigar struck Joe as he watched his friend leave. Joe winced, the back of his mind still scrapping along for an answer he just couldn’t put a finger on….

  “WHAT WHERE YOU THINKING!” Kate hissed as she looked at Joe, her low voice sounding very menacing. He had never seen that look in her eyes, at least not toward him.

  “I haven’t helped you all these weeks so you can be some big hero you numbskull!” And with that Kate smacked the early edition of the Vindicator in his lap. “Are you trying to get yourself killed? It’s enough that I have to worry about you as a cop out there, but now I have to worry about this?”

  “Why are you so angry? You never worried about me this much before,” Joe asked getting annoyed with the yelling.

  “You bet your badge I did! I’ve worried every time you went to work, every time you showed up late to a date!” And now with this I can’t,” Kate continued.

  “What’s this? My leg? What? Go ahead and say it! I’m just some clown they parade out there, is that what you’re saying now? Well forget that sister! I’m holding my own out there leg or no leg,” Joe grumbled back getting more upset.

  “No you big dummy. This has nothing to do with your stupid leg!” Kate yelled, getting immediate looks from the others in the waiting room. Seeing this, Kate walked over to him, kneeled down and grabbed his hand. “It’s because I can’t lose you too! I can’t be alone like that and I worry so much now about you out there. It’s worse than it ever was before. After Dad, I just won’t make it….” she said softly lowering her head, fighting back tears.

  Each tear that fell down her cheek washed away the rest of her eyeliner and whatever was left of Joe’s temper. Looking down at his girl, Joe picked up her face to look at his. “I’m…I’m sorry Kate. I shouldn’t have yelled. This is just… new…I guess to me. But you have to understand if I can help someone, I have to. It’s just the way I’m wired. He’s that man you say you love and he’s not going anywhere.”

  Grabbing hold of him, Kate squeezed with all her might and simply said, “I know, but don’t think that’s going to make me worry any less.”

  “I know but…” Joe said as he started to tell her to trust him, but was stopped short when he felt a hard lump push against his right side as Kate squeezed him. The feeling of that flat object in his coat pocket immediately connected the scattered pieces of the puzzle he had been internally grappling with.

  “Lanky…Squeaky Voice…Kate’s Father…”

  “The Bomber…Wiggy Gregs…”

  “Patsy’s Cigars…”

  Kate noticed Joe stopping his sentence mid thought, looking quickly around to see what had distracted him. Seeing nothing obvious, Kate looked back at Joe, just in time to see him smack himself in the forehead.

  “I’m such an idiot. How couldn’t I connect that?” he yelled at himself.

  “Joe what’s wrong? What are you talking about?” Kate asked simply confused by his actions.

  Without a word, Joe reached into his jacket pocket for the cigarette case and looked at it. Rubbing his thumb over the marks on the case, he slowly shook his head exasperated with himself for taking so long to make this connection. Holding the case up to Kate so she could see the front of it, Joe asked, “Kate, are you seeing what I am?”

  “What?” Kate responded confused at his question. “It’s just the initials D.M. scratched to that piece of junk I found.”

  “The letters are not D.M.,” Joe replied taking the case and rubbing it hard against his coat. When he brought it back up Kate noticed that a lot of the scuffs and grime on the backing were now gone, especially a long pile of junk that had been going across the center they had assumed connected the D in the initials.

  “Kate’s that’s not a D…it’s a G. See…turn it around as if you were reading from the opening upward. The initials read W.G. Do you know what that means?” Joe asked glancing out the window when he noticed Patsy pulling up to the entrance.

  “No Joe, I have no idea what that means,” Kate replied slightly distracted and annoyed at Patsy for honking at them from the entrance of the hospital. However, Patsy’s impatience vanished from her thoughts after hearing Joe’s response. Raising her hand to her mouth, Kate slowly reached out to Joe’s chair to steady herself from the shock of his revelation.

  “Kate, it means I think I know who killed your Father…” Joe replied.

  The worn tires of the scuffed police cruiser squealed as Patsy made a late turn onto the Mahoning Bridge. Quickly righting himself in the center of the lane, the repetitive thumping sound of the wheels’ rotation over the grated sections of the road quickly started to reverberate in the car as they approached the Curtain.

  “I still can’t understand how you make that connection,” Patsy said looking over at Joe in the passenger seat.

  “Come on Patsy, think about it. We’ve been working on the professor’s case for weeks and nothing. Why? Because we were focusing on the behemoth that sent me flying off the porch,” Joe squinted trying to see the road ahead of them as the windows of the car suddenly clouded when they entered the Curtain. “I mean that made sense a few weeks ago. You’d think a guy that big would stick out like a sore thumb and the fact we’ve got bupkis so far means three things…1). He’s smart; really smart…2). He’s scaring people quiet or 3). All of the above. Either way, he’s not going to be an easy find.”

  “I hate the fog on this stupid bridge,” Patsy started complaining craning his neck forward.

  “But think back to this morning,” Joe quickly continued. “How big do you think that one guy was? Easily could’ve been the same guy from the house. And remember there were TWO perps in Kate’s house when I got there. The first one was a novice. All I had to do was yell at him and he sounded like he was going to mess himself. Sound familiar?”

  “But Joe, could these really be the same guys?” Kate said si
tting forward from the back seat.

  “I think the cigarette case you found near your house with those initials W. G. or let’s say Wiggy…Gregs… almost cements it, hon. I mean come on, how many Goon Laurel and Hardy acts can be running rampant in this city?” Joe said looking back at her.

  “Sadly, you might be surprised in this crazy city, but there’s one big problem partner,” Patsy replied exiting the bridge onto Maple Avenue.

  “What?”

  “That cigarette case isn’t going to be much use as evidence since you’ve been keeping it in your pocket all these weeks,” Patsy said with a glance at Joe. “I bet we can’t even get a good set of prints on it now.”

  Looking down at the case which Joe had emptied; moving the magical cloth into his pocket fold earlier, he grimaced shaking his head in agreement. He might have been carrying the biggest piece of evidence in Kate’s father’s murder around with him for weeks and had not even known it. He’d been so wrapped up in his own problems and events that he had lost sight of everything else, even justice for Kate’s father.

  “I know bud, but you just give me 10 minutes with this Wiggy and he’ll be singing for us, case or not,” Joe said smacking his fist.

  “Hey get in line pal. If he’s at this rat hole, the first thing coming out of his mouth is why he’s not still riding his dime upstate. Last I saw of that punk he was being led away in an orange jumper so if he’s out and had something to do with the professor, I tell you son, there might not be a lot left of teeth left in his mouth for him to sing anything,” Patsy replied biting down on a new cigar fresh from his glove box stash.

  The trio sat in silence as the cruiser zipped along Maple Avenue until Patsy noticed kids playing in a yard and slowed down. Apparently, the self-imposed lockdown the city was experiencing hadn’t reached the suburbs, which caused Patsy to think twice of his reckless abandonment behind the wheel. Cruising through the neighborhood, they rounded on the Pirret Street Market and continued down the road until they saw a familiar form walking down the sidewalk. Pulling to a stop next to the walker, Joe leaned out of the passenger side window and called out.

  “Excuse me miss, but we’ve had a report of disturbances in this area. We are going to have to search those packages of yours.”

  “Oh you can search them, but you better be ready to cook them yourselves then when you two get home then,” Vera replied to the car. “Katy dear, my hands are full if you’d please…”

  Joe took the rap on the back of the head with a smirk as Kate started to exit the car.

  “Here Mom let me help you with those,” Kate said grabbing one of the bags from Mrs. Bevine.

  With one of her hands now free, Vera was able to loosen the newspaper she had tucked under her arm.

  “I hear now that you boys are causing a great deal of commotion downtown.”

  “No more than usual Ma, but now apparently we have to find a way of dealing with a ghost problem. Boo!” Patsy called out over Joe, laughing at the headline.

  Smiling at Patsy’s bravado, she replied, “Well you two be careful out there and Patsy I’ll talk to Father Noga about some holy water for your little ghosties. Now get out of here you two and stop harassing little old ladies so they can get this poorman steak ready for your father.”

  The imaginary smell of the onion soup-slathered meat drifted into Joe’s nose and his mouth began to water. It then dawned on him they had missed lunch during all of the excitement and if he wasn’t hungry a minute ago he definitely was now.

  “Dinner should be ready around five o’clock as always and of course Patsy dear, you are more than welcome to a plate if you’d like,” Vera finished starting to continue her walk home.

  “Mom, we are both going to be late tonight,” Joe responded disappointedly as he heard his stomach grumble in protest. “We were just dropping off Kate and are headed back into town. We’ve got a lead that we have to hit quickly and it might take a while.”

  “It might be about Dad…” Kate started explaining to Vera.

  “It might be, but either way, we are going to be late,” Joe finished quickly not wanting to spill the details out in the open.

  “OK, well I’ll keep two plates in the ice box for you two,” Vera said nodding. “You two boys just be careful out there with all of these nuts and ghosts running around.”

  “Don’t worry Ma. I’ll take really good care of your little guy here. I won’t let any scary specters get him,” Patsy laughed grabbing Joe by the shoulders.

  “Buddy, those are going to be the least of our worries,” Joe thought back.

  “I know you will Patsy dear. I don’t feed my poorman’s steak to just anybody,” Vera said.

  Reaching out and grasping Kate’s open hand, Joe looked up at her and said, “We’ll talk when I get back OK? There’s some stuff that happened we really have to go over…”

  Looking down at their hands, a small bit of anger crossed her face again as she looked up at him. Pushing it aside for the time being, Kate simply responded, “Just get back safely you knucklehead… that goes for you too Patsy!”

  “Aw-shucks she does care!” Patsy laughed putting the car into gear as he pulled away from the curb. U-turning on Maple, Patsy headed away from the market and took Shields Avenue, a side road that followed along the western edge of the Scar. About 10 minutes later, he finally veered right onto the Trumbull Memorial Bridge and started to head back into town. With most city residents still held up in their homes and apartments from the excitement of that morning, traffic on the bridge was almost non-existent now. Seeing the cleared road, Patsy gunned it to make up some time to the theater district. Looking up ahead of them, the duo couldn’t miss the line of black clouds approaching from the East. The darkness of the approaching front was quickly broken by multiple flashes of lightning as they and the weather both headed toward the city.

  “Well that sounds fun… just great…” Patsy grumbled under his breath as a rumble of thunder echoed around them. “Hey, maybe the thunder and lightning will scare away all the little ghosties…” he quipped, turning the wipers on as small droplets of rain started hitting the windshield.

  “I doubt that buddy, I seriously doubt it,” Joe thought darkly as they approached the oncoming storm.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Rain pelted the streets of Capstone City, as well as the police cruiser. A steady cascade of droplets, hard enough to rattle the metal awning of the closed drug store where they parked, rang a symphony of chaotic rhythms. Joe tried to ignore it. However, the sound of the rain coupled with the howling wind, which moaned as it weaved its way through the city high rises and burrows around them, made it nearly unbearable. Even secured in the interior of the cruiser, Joe felt the biting wind help his soaked clothes lower his body temperature even more as his teeth’s chattering added to the storm’s turbulent score. Sipping his now lukewarm coffee did very little to slow his involuntary shaking as he tried to sit in silence watching for any activity in the alleyway.

  Next to him sat Patsy, equally soaked, who seemed to somehow be coping with the elements better than he. A few extra layers of girth from a couple extra servings of potatoes at the Bevine’s dinner table seemed to be acting as a brilliant survival strategy at the moment. Both Joe and Patsy had been caught on the street returning to the car as the rain, which had seemed to subside, started to drop by the bucket load on their heads. Joe had left his wheelchair outside of the car in the elements trying to hop into the car quickly to avoid the battering rain. Joe doubted now though he had done himself any real good by abandoning the chair outside, which was now on its side, having been blown over by the wind.

  The apartment proved to be a good lead from the start. The building’s super had informed them he saw Wiggy earlier that day around his apartment. The apartment, which sat on the building’s first floor, was accessible from the street and had a light on in the lone window. Unfortunately, a quick kick to the cheap door revealed only an empty one bedroom littered with trash and an
illuminated cracked lamp. Searching the room revealed a plethora of empty take out boxes, movie posters, and theater equipment. It seemed that Gregs was not only an avid movie goer, but a packrat of junk from the theater; as broken projectors, bent reels and ripped film taken straight from the neighboring theater’s dumpster sat piled up in a corner. Not wanting to be in the filthy rat nest another minute, the duo decided to wait in their car to see if Gregs came back.

  “Man it’s like this car is made of Swiss cheese,” Joe heard Patsy complain as he saw the big guy start rubbing his arms, finally relenting to the cold. Taking notice of his watch creeping nearer to 6:30 p.m., Joe stared out of the car at the entrance of the alley. According to the posters, the final picture show should be letting out around now. The chance Patsy and Joe had taken hoping Gregs had followed his old M.O. was either going about to pay out or roll snake eyes in front of them. With the mess of theater equipment littering his apartment, it wasn’t past the realm of possibility that Gregs had vanished into the neighborhood hideaway across the block; the Tinselcity movie theater.

  “The ticket kid said the last show should be letting out around now before any of the night shows started, so if he’s in there he should be coming out soon,” Patsy grumbled gnawing on his unlit cigar. “What kind of nut would actually run the cartoons and serials with half the town shut down? Who would go to the pictures with looneytoons like those two this morning mucking the city up?”

  “People like to escape from the real going ons of this crazy world I guess Patsy. Not the worst idea if you ask me, sometimes this place, it’s just for the dogs. And as for opening anyways, I remember the guy who runs this joint. He’s quite a piece of work. The anything for a buck kind of guy if you know what I mean... hold the phone… here comes a few popcorn eaters now,” Joe pointed out noticing the exit doors starting to open.

  Craning his neck, Joe watched the weekly serial, which for the exception of the early news bulletin was meant mostly for kids, empty quickly. Hyped up on candy the little ones sprang from the exit followed closely by a few adults. Most of the adults likely were parents since Joe saw them calling out after the rain soaked tikes, beckoning them to open umbrellas. Sitting in silence both Joe and Patsy’s hopes started to fade as the exiting crowd quickly slowed to a trickle. The complete night an apparent waste, Joe slapped the front dash in disgust. Rubbing his now slightly bristly chin, Joe turned his attention to Patsy still scanning the crowd through the now slowing rainfall.