“The team has done some pre-scouting a few times. The camera crew has scoped it out too. They’ve already laid a few cables for later, when we’re taking pictures and may need light or electricity. There are cameras mounted everywhere, and everything is being watched on monitors.”
“If you think it’s okay...” Madeline said.
“I’m sure everything will be fine. Really, Madeline.” Jake’s response was in between a sneer and a retort, and Madeline wondered why he was treating her with contempt.
“Whatever you say. I have some notes to go over and want to unpack my gear before I get started,” she said.
“You saw the room you can use as your bedroom. Feel free to keep your clothes and such in there, but I would keep anything of value in this room as we have security guards here,” Jake said.
“Sure thing.” Madeline nodded as she gathered up her purse and briefcase and found her suitcase. As she wheeled the suitcase through the long, narrow hallway, she realized she was walking away from people and comfort and facing the dismal atmosphere of the hospital on her own.
Her footsteps, though padded because she wore sneakers, and the squeaky wheels on her suitcase sounded dramatically loud in the empty hallways. She wondered if she should tape the noise for some kind of effect one day and decided against it. There were enough Hollywood movie people around to deal with that kind of thing.
Madeline found the room that was to be her bedroom, although she couldn’t imagine ever sleeping in it. She hoped she would be too busy to ever have to return.
She sat down on the creaky cot and stared at the yellowed walls. Cobwebs were thick at the higher points of the ceiling, though a team of PAs had come through the area to do a half-assed cleaning attempt. These somewhat tidied rooms were equivalent to the trailers of movie stars on a real movie set. This was where she was supposed to get changed and mellow out and find her happy place.
Somehow visions of her happy place didn’t quite come to mind as she stared at the yellowed, cracking walls.
Taking a deep breath, she tried to steady her nerves and patience for the grueling couple of days ahead. She was thrilled to be in California, to be on a world-renowned ghost hunt on TV, yet she was filled with anxiety. Apprehension, trepidation... words that were her closest friends. She wondered if she would ever stop being a worrywart and an overanalyzer.
She didn’t know why Jake had invited her on this expedition. It seemed like everything she did annoyed him, yet he wanted her, not one of the guys, to explore the scary tunnels with him.
Maybe he thought it would make good TV. Big, strong Jake leading mousy, plump Madeline through a maze of forgotten tunnels. Jumping at every sound, flinching at every flicker of light. Who was she kidding? He hadn’t picked her for her brain. She knew that much. It was so he would look good next to her. One thing she knew about Hollywood, about men, was that it was all about him. Self-Absorption 101.
She couldn’t believe that just a week ago, she had been in Hermana, trying to get new material at the Kelly Proctor house. And now here she was at some abandoned asylum in California, taping a TV show.
She shouldn’t have been surprised. Her life always seemed busy with unexpected opportunities. One minute she was starting the new year with visions of a long, boring winter, and now, she was practically a jet-setter.
Madeline opened up her suitcase and pulled out her sketchpad and pencil crayons. She figured she might as well try to follow Adele’s instructions to sketch something every day. Something she felt. She closed her eyes and thought about how she felt.
Cold.
Nervous.
Agitated.
She opened her eyes again and set to work creating a whirlwind of colors. Blue and red with shades of gray danced on the page. As her pencils drew swirls of colors, they created shapes. Barely discernable bodies with liquid limbs seemed to float in the fog.
One face stood out from the rest. From him, long, phallic lines of orange and red colors branched out. The bright blue eyes were unmistakable.
She had drawn Jake in with the rest of the images.
Her fingers found more pencils and sketched in his cheekbones and full, red lips. His dark hair curled loosely around his face.
When she was finished, Jake looked both dangerous and sexy.
Madeline stared at the picture. She could imagine kissing those lips. Or maybe the lips of a man like Jake. She couldn’t imagine she and Jake could ever put their differences aside long enough for a sexual encounter.
She closed her sketchpad and hid it at the bottom of the suitcase. She rearranged her clothes and tried to figure out what to wear. After all, she was going to be on TV in front of millions of people.
Her heart beat faster at the thought of it. Maybe some TV exposure would give her books a much-needed push. Even if less than one percent of the show’s audience bought a book, she would make more money than she’d ever thought possible as a lowly writer.
But she was just dreaming.
Bestsellers happened to fiction writers, not to mere ghost hunters such as herself. Even though this was sunny California, the building was cold and damp. She changed into jeans and a sweater and put on her fleece jacket. There were no mirrors, so she dug through her purse to see if she could find her little makeup mirror. At last she found it, and she checked her face as best as she could.
Satisfied that she didn’t look too awful, she snapped it shut and took a deep breath. It was going to be a long night, and she hoped she was up for it.
Chapter Ten
Be prepared for the unexpected.
Jake and Madeline slowly walked through the tunnel, their camera lights barely illuminating the darkness. It was so chilly that their breath hung in the air in front of them even when they weren’t talking.
“I’m glad I dressed warmly,” Madeline said as she pulled her coat tighter with her free hand. Her other hand held a video camera on infrared.
“Shhh...” Jake said. Madeline kept her mouth shut and continued to follow him. She was glad she had chosen to buy a pair of thick rubber boots lined with fleece. The water they waded through stank horribly, and she could feel the chill of it through her boots. She would throw them out before she returned to Hermana.
They continued on, knowing there were cameras set up all the way down the hallway. As they passed each one, the red light would blink on as the motion sensor detected them.
Back in the cafeteria, a few members of the crew were watching them on monitors. One of the PAs, Karen, spoke into Madeline’s headset.
“Do you see anything?” Karen asked.
“No,” Madeline responded. “There’s nothing to report yet.”
“Shh,” Jake said angrily. He shot her a dirty look, and Madeline was quiet again. There was a steady dripping noise from somewhere in front of them. She hoped nothing would drip on her. Even through her occasional peeks through the viewfinder, she could see bugs scurrying along the walls as the vibrations of their footsteps rumbled through their world. Some of the bugs were rather large. Long and skinny with spindly legs. Others were large beetles, and still more were spiders.
Madeline shuddered and tried not to think about bugs. Bugs above her, beside her, all around her. She took a deep breath and tried to push them from her mind. She instead tried to see Jake’s tall, broad form in the darkness before her. He walked purposefully, his video camera in hand. Like Madeline, he stole looks through the viewfinder but mostly concentrated on walking. They came to a turn.
Jake stopped and paused. Madeline was going to ask him what they should do but stopped herself. He’d choose a way or he’d ask for her help.
Jake indicated they would go left. Onward they sloshed, trying to move quietly.
They were walking away from the dripping now, which soothed Madeline. But just as she relaxed, a loud scream pierced the air from somewhere down the hall, through the walls, before them.
The sound echoed through the tunnel with an ear-splitting shrillness. A screa
m slipped from Madeline’s own lips. Jake turned around, his eyes flashing in the darkness.
“Holy fuck,” he said. She didn’t know if he was swearing at her or at the noise. “What the fuck was that?”
“A scream,” Madeline said.
“What was it? Come on.” Jake walked quickly down the tunnel.
“Uh, don’t you think...?” Madeline said.
“I don’t think anything,” Jake said. “We need to go where the noise is. There’s obviously something going on.”
Madeline’s headset crackled. The PA was hysterical.
“I can’t believe it,” she was crying.
“What is it?” Madeline asked.
“Sherry. She’s dead.”
“What?” Madeline couldn’t believe it—and who was Sherry? “Who’s dead?” Madeline asked. Jake stopped walking and turned to look at her.
“Sherry. She was running the cameras in another room. I went in to check on her, and she’s dead.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.” The PA dissolved into sobs.
“We have to go back,” Madeline said to Jake. “Someone is dead.”
“We can go this way. The scream came from over this way, so we’ll keep on going.”
“The scream was the PA, not Sherry,” Madeline said.
“And that’s where we’re going.”
They arrived at the end of the tunnel and opened the trap door. As they climbed up the stairs to the next floor, they entered a room where most of the film crew were standing. Eric and Diana were there as well.
Jake approached the circle of people and saw the heavyset girl lying on the ground, her headphones knocked around her neck.
He pushed people aside until he reached Sherry. He kneeled and stared at her body. “I don’t want to touch her. Is this how she was found?”
“Uh, no...” A young woman stepped forward. “I went in to check on her, and she was lying on the ground. I turned her over and that’s when I saw she was...”
“I see, so she’s already been moved,” Jake said.
“Okay.”
He turned Sherry over so she was lying on her back. Sherry’s eyes were closed, and she looked as though she were sleeping.
“I don’t see any blood or even bruises. No scratches.” He went over to her table, where a monitor and a laptop were set up alongside a bowl of wrapped chocolate.
“She likes her chocolate,” Karen said. “She always has—had to have her chocolate.” She sobbed into her hands, and Diana put her arm around her.
“There, there.” Diana looked at Jake and Madeline.
“I guess we should call the cops,” Diana said.
“Great. Now we have to interrupt filming.” Sam sighed as he looked at the room full of people. “I mean, I’m sorry Sherry’s dead, but she was having heart problems. Maybe she just got freaked out.”
“Heart problems?” Jake asked. “Maybe the chocolate killed her.”
Sam pressed the buttons on his cell phone in frustration.
“Can’t get a signal down here. I’ve got to go outside and call the cops. Christ.” He stormed out of the room as everyone looked at one another in silence.
“Let’s cover her up,” Madeline said as she looked around for a blanket. She finally found a large black cloth by a pile of video tapes and tripods. “This should do,” she said as she draped the cloth over Sherry. “There’s nothing we can really do for now.”
She looked around the room. Jake stared at her and then at Sherry. At last he spoke. “We should get back in there.”
“Pardon me?” Madeline asked. “A woman just died here. How can you want to just go back to work now?”
“I’m sorry, Madeline, but we came here for a reason. What’s going to happen? She’s dead. We can’t bring her back, so we might as well keep going.”
“Oh my God...” Madeline said as she followed Jake back down into the tunnels.
“I don’t mean to be harsh, Madeline, but we didn’t know her. Lots of people there did, but those people weren’t us.”
“Still...”
“Her friends are with her. People that knew her. That’s gotta be okay.”
“I know. You make sense.”
“Guilt will kill you, Madeline. You didn’t do anything wrong, and you’re not doing anything wrong except for going forward with your original plan.”
“I know. I’m fine. Let’s do this.”
They continued back down the tunnel, cameras in hand, ears wide open for any unusual sounds. They returned to the passage and started down the other arm of the tunnel.
A steady scratching noise filled the air. At first it was soft, but it gradually grew louder.
“What is that?” Madeline asked. “Do you hear it?”
“Yes,” Jake said as he cocked his head toward the sound. “It’s getting louder, I think.”
“So we’re getting closer to it.”
He stopped and held his hand out for her to stop. “Or it’s getting closer to us,” he said.
The scratching noise was growing louder. Madeline imagined some sort of giant alligator walking through the tunnel, its nails grinding on the stone walls as it tried to get a good grip. One bite from its mighty jaws... Madeline shuddered and tried to push the thought away.
She really had to get her own grip. How would there be an alligator under a building?
Urban legends about pet alligators being flushed down the toilet only to grow into huge monsters flittered through her mind.
The scratching became louder.
It could be a rat, running along the tunnel walls. One helluva big rat, with tiny, gleaming eyes and pointy teeth.
“Jake?” Madeline asked. “What do you think it is?”
A rush of cold air breezed through the hall and knocked Madeline back as it passed her. She held the slimy walls for support and nearly lost her balance, but the idea of falling into the sludgy water gave her the strength to hang on. Jake teetered under the force as well.
The scratching noise was nearly deafening in the hollow tunnel, but they still couldn’t see its origin. More wind swept through with icy fingers, gusting forcefully. Madeline once again tried to use the wall for balance. Jake put one hand on the wall and one on the ceiling for support.
“Something is coming,” Madeline cried out. Her heart was racing; the noise, the chill, the vibrations around her filled her with trepidation. What would the results of these clues be?
A burst of white light filled the tunnel, racing from one end to the other, hot and bright as a meteor. It emitted a shrieking, whistling howl as it screeched beyond them and disappeared.
Then the tunnel was dark once more.
The only sound was the steady drip-drip-dripping Madeline had heard all night. “Do you think we caught that?” she asked.
“It’s hard to say. You just never know what is going to get picked up.”
Madeline walked along, her legs trembling, fearful of more sudden noises. The realization it was the middle of the night in Hermana was beginning to dawn on her and more so on her legs. All that lugging and carrying all day long. The airport lines and waits. Sitting on the plane. Driving to this place for two hours. And now trudging through tunnels and getting the hell scared out of her.
She’d wanted adventure, and she was getting it.
She looked over at Jake, but it was hard to read his face in the dim glow of their cameras. “What is that dripping?” she asked. “We must be getting closer by now.”
Jake nodded and continued on.
“We’ll just go to the end and call it a night.” Madeline sighed. “It does end, doesn’t it? I mean, you’re sure about that?” she said sarcastically.
“Yes, it ends. I’ve been down here before. Not my favorite place in the world. Maybe you should light some more of that incense.”
Jake stopped so Madeline could find her incense sticks. She lit one and held it in one hand while the other steadied the video camera.
“Now
our TV audience will think there’s ectoplasm in the tunnel,” Jake said with a wink to one of the cameras mounted on the nearby wall.
“There’s still the dripping sound to contend with,” Madeline said to the same camera as she came upon it. “No incense is going to influence the outcome of that.”
Jake grinned at her and held out his hand. She passed the incense to him, and he held it ahead of him for a while.
“Yes, it does cut the stench somewhat, but now I’m worried the perfume in the incense will make me sick. My allergies,” Jake said.
Madeline laughed. “You’ve got to be joking. You can wallow around in this moldy, bacteria-infested virus bowl and feel hunky-dory, but a bit of incense will bring you down?”
“Not all incense.”
“You’re probably used to the cheap stuff at the dollar stores and such. That stuff will make anyone sick. Too many chemicals and fillers. If you use the real deal, it’s not so bad. Most of it.”
“You know what? I like the smell of those apple pie air fresheners. I just want to eat apple pie the minute I smell it. And then five minutes later, I come down with a migraine. Imagine that,” Jake said.
“My, but you are a delicate flower,” Madeline said with a grin. “Is this incense bothering you?”
“Not really. It’s mellow. Not perfumey or harsh. I quite like it.”
“It’s a lavender blend. It’s supposed to be soothing and can help connect to the spirit world. I brought lots. I was surprised I didn’t get stopped by security for dealing or something.”
“Maybe they could smell the lavender.”
“Still,” she said, “lots of dealers put the pot in with herbs to try to keep the dogs from smelling it. It doesn’t always work.”
“Can you imagine how disgusting that pot would taste?”
They walked on, following the dripping noise as thoughts of perfumed pot and flashing lights ran through Madeline’s head.
Poor Sherry, Madeline thought. Sadness gripped her. What killed her? Did she really just keel over and die? Or did she see a ghost?
Aquarius: Haunted Heart Page 10
