by BL Maxwell
“Let’s see the rest of it,” Jason said. Jimbo and Dean had yet to comment at all.
Travis hit play once again, and clip after clip showed barstools being knocked over when no one was near, glasses pushed off the bar and breaking on the floor. Several customers flinching away from what must have been a blast of air. Yep, there was a lot of activity. This wasn’t a repeater, there was a ghost. Possibly two.
“Fuck,” Jimbo mumbled, and we all turned to look at him. “What? This shit never gets easier for me.”
“We know,” Jason and I said at the same time, making us laugh.
“What do you recommend I do?” Travis asked, not paying attention to us.
“We’ll set up our equipment, and see if we can get the ghosts to interact with us, or at least let us know they’re here. Hopefully it won’t take us long to determine if they’re really trying to get your attention, or if they’re just messing with you. If they’re trying to get your attention, we’ll try to work with them and find out what they want. If they’re messing with you, we’ll see if we can get them to move on,” Jason explained. He was so fucking good at this shit, and I’d never appreciated it as much before as I did on every case we now went on.
“What if they decide not to show themselves?”
“Don’t worry, Travis, if they’re here we’ll get their attention.” Jason glanced at Jimbo who rolled his eyes and looked away.
“Why don’t we start bringing in our equipment?” I asked.
“Sure, you three bring everything in, and I’ll map out the best places for our cameras and other equipment and we’ll get busy on it.”
The three of us walked down the stairs and out to the street. The warm night air was the perfect temperature. Even though it was the beginning of fall, it was still warm enough during the day to use the air conditioner. But the nights . . . I wanted more nights like this.
“Does it all go in?” Dean asked, anxious as ever to find out what we’d see tonight.
“Yes, I made Jason take some stuff out. He’d packed enough for something much bigger than this place. We should be good to go with what we brought. Jimbo, I wanted to ask you something. Do you think you should open yourself up? It doesn’t seem like the spirit is a threat. Maybe we can find out more if they’re drawn to you.”
“I’m not sure, Wade. Like we talked about earlier, if there are other spirits nearby, they’ll be drawn to us. I don’t think we’re ready for that.”
“I suppose you’re right. We’ll see what happens first and if the spirits are unwilling to connect, we’ll see what Jason thinks. I don’t want to put us in an unsafe situation if it’s not necessary.”
“You saw what can happen when I dropped my shields. If there’s not a reason to do it I’d rather not.” Dean lay his hand on Jimbo’s arm and his head on his shoulder.
“I don’t want you do to anything you think would possibly have a bad outcome. Come on, let’s get the rest of the shit back to Jason. We’ll do just fine without unleashing your beacon on the local spirits.”
“Thanks, Wade, I appreciate that.”
“Come on, big guy, let’s get set up,” Dean said, and picked up one of the cases.
“Only two more nights after tonight,” Jimbo mumbled.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be here to protect you.”
“Me too,” I said, and gave him a playful shove.
“Whatever, asshole, let’s get this done.”
Chapter Fifteen
Jason
As soon as the guys left, Travis turned to face me. “Son, I’m counting on you to figure out what’s going on here. I don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable while they’re here. And lately the ghost, or whatever it is, has been less careful and more bold. I’ve lost some of my best employees over this, and I can’t afford to lose more.”
“I understand, we’ll do our best to figure out what’s going on. And if it’s not willing to play nice, we’ll ask it to leave. Well actually, we’ll force it out. But once we have more information, we’ll know exactly what we’re dealing with.” I heard the guys on the stairs and turned to look in that direction.
“I hope you’re right, I’ll leave you to it. If anything happens and you need me, feel free to call. Otherwise I’ll see you bright and early.”
“Hey, we brought it all in. Where do you want it?” Wade asked, and I waved to Travis as he left the way they’d come in.
“Let’s set up in the room the monitors are in, that way we can use the cameras that are already here, and we’ll have it all covered.” The three of them trailed in behind each other toward the smaller room. Wade wasted no time setting up the laptops, and I took the case that held the motion detectors and moved to put one at the top of the stairs, and another near the entry door facing the staircase.
“Where do you want the cameras set up?” Wade asked when he was done with the laptops.
“Let’s look at what’s already covered and fill in any gaps. I want to make sure the bar is completely covered, and the area where Travis saw the woman.”
“What do you think of setting up some stools and maybe some glasses on the bar? We can see if the ghost will take the bait.”
“That’s a great idea.” I kissed him on the cheek as he walked by and scooped up a walkie talkie. I sat at the monitors and guided him where to place a few more cameras. He put one on the end of the bar so we could see it at that level and placed a couple of glasses and a bottle of beer on the bar as well.
“How’s that?” he asked through the walkie talkie.
“Looks great, if anything moves, we’ll see it.”
Jimbo and Dean put a camera at both ends of the upstairs area, and a motion detector where Travis said he’d seen the woman. It didn’t take long at all and in a few minutes, we were all back in the control room. It was getting close to midnight, and time for us to get to work.
“Okay, we’re almost ready for lights out. How about if Wade and I go downstairs first; we can try to make contact and see if Wade picks up on anything. Once we’re done, you two can decide if you want to go down and try the same thing. But it’s up to you. I understand if neither of you want to go alone.”
Their eyes met, and Dean nodded before Jimbo spoke. “I know I’ll probably regret this, but Dean really wants to spend some time downstairs.”
“Aw, that’s so sweet,” Wade said with a big grin.
“Shut the fuck up, Wade,” Jimbo said with no heat, but a lot of annoyance.
“Nope. Now, let me show you where everything is, and we’ll go downstairs and get this party started.”
It was such a simple setup it only took Wade and I a few minutes to walk them through it. And since both of them had gone with us on other jobs, they had a simple understanding of how it all worked. “That’s it. You think you can handle it?”
“Yep, we can sit here and watch you two get glasses flung at you again.” Jimbo crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.
“There will be no glass throwing here, and I’d appreciate if you didn’t mention it again. I don’t think they need any new ideas.” I pointed at the monitors and hoped Jimbo understood and kept his thoughts to himself. “Turn off the lights, we’ll use flashlights if we need to. Wade, get the EMF and a recorder. We’ll go see what we can find out down there.”
“Got it, let’s go.”
We shut the door behind us and walked toward the stairs. “You ready for this?” I smiled over at Wade.
“Yep, come on, let’s see what the ghosts want to show us.”
We stopped at the top of the stairs, and I looked down into the dark area below. I gripped the handrail with one hand, and Wade’s hand with my other, as we walked down side by side. Even though we’d just been here a short while ago, it felt different under the cover of night.
“They know we’re here,” Wade whispered.
We continued down until we were at the bottom. “I feel them, I know there’s more than one but I’m not sure how many more.”
“Jason, something feels really wrong, but I’m not sure what it is.”
Wade had the EMF and he waved it around as he slowly moved in a circle; it crackled and hummed, and when he pointed it toward the bar, it went off even more. “Come on, babe, time to get to work.” He winked and walked toward the imposing bar.
Chapter Sixteen
Wade
“I know you see us, and I can hear you. Why are you here?” I didn’t want to waste time. They were very aware of us. I’d heard the whispering as soon as the lights went out. The bar was old, but I wasn’t sure the ghosts were from that time period. The whispering stopped, and the silence was nearly deafening. I strained to hear anything at all, but after waiting a moment I decided to move closer to the bar.
“Wade, stop.” Jason put his hand on my arm and pointed at the glasses we’d placed on the bar. One of the glasses started to rattle. We both froze and watched for what would happen next. A blast of air on my neck made me jump, and spin around to see who was there.
“Did you feel that?” Jason looked from me to the bar but shook his head in answer. “It felt like someone blew on my neck. I hate that sneaky shit.”
“Do you see anything?”
I looked around the restaurant; it was one big room, so there weren’t many places for a spirit to stay out of sight, but they were good at hiding.
“No, but I still hear them whispering. They know why we’re here, but they’re not sure what we want from them.”
“We’re here to talk to you. The people that work here don’t want to be afraid to come to work anymore. If there’s something we can do to help you move on, we’re here to help. But we need you to communicate with us if you can,” Jason said into the room.
“Can’t trust you, can’t trust you, can’t trust you,” repeated over and over and grew louder and louder.
“You can trust us, we’re not here to destroy you, or purge you from this place. We just want to come to a compromise with you, so that the people here aren’t scared to death every time they work.”
“This is our home; we don’t care if they feel safe or not. We were here first. No one wanted us, but now we have a home,” the disembodied voice whispered more softly, and I had to strain to hear.
“The owner doesn’t want you to leave. In fact, I’m pretty sure he sort of likes the notoriety of having a haunted bar. But you cannot break things or try to make contact with patrons. It’s dangerous and someone could be injured.”
A shimmering appeared next to the bar where the glasses had been set and I stepped toward it. A man dressed in what looked like 1800s attire appeared, and next to him a boy of about eight, in the same period dress. They didn’t move for a moment, but the man looked between Jason and me.
“I think I know who’s been knocking over the glasses and blowing on people’s necks.” I looked directly at the spirit of the boy; he smiled and ducked his head.
“Sorry, Luke enjoys his jokes. But he never meant any harm,” the man spoke, but his lips never moved.
“Hello, Luke,” I said, and knelt to put him at ease. He peeked at me and grinned. His dark hair swept across his forehead, and if I didn’t know better, I would have sworn he was alive.
“Wade, they’re scared.” Jason patted my shoulder as he moved closer to me. “We won’t hurt you.”
“We just want peace. This is the home we ended up at years ago. I was here first then Luke came a while later. I’m not sure what happened to either of us to bring us here.” His lips still didn’t move, but he met my eyes as he spoke.
“They want to stay. There’s a man and a boy. This is their home.”
“Then they can stay. We won’t do anything to remove them. But maybe they can keep their presence a secret from the staff and customers?”
I looked to the man and he nodded. Luke waved to me as they faded away.
“I don’t think they’ll be any more trouble,” I said to Jason.
“Let’s sweep down here, then we can go upstairs and see what we find up there.”
This part of my ability was what I loved. Helping spirits who didn’t want to harm anyone but were confused about what their existence now was. I was curious about them both and realized I hadn’t gotten the man’s name. It didn’t matter, though, I’d make sure Travis understood them. And I knew Jason would help too, in any way he could.
Chapter Seventeen
Jason
Wade amazed me. While his abilities were still new to him, he had accepted them and learned to use them very effectively. With Janis’ help to guide him, he’d grown into a very competent medium. That word surprised me. I hadn’t thought of it before, but that’s what he’d become. He could see and communicate with the spirits we tried to help. And I was the lucky guy who knew him better than anyone else. He was amazing, and I loved him more and more each day.
“We’ll talk to Travis and explain to him. Maybe the ghosts can have the place after everyone leaves. Or if Travis feels the need to interact, he can contact us. It doesn’t seem like they have any bad intentions.”
“They don’t. It was all very innocent. A little boy named Luke that just liked to play. He wasn’t trying to hurt anyone.”
“I don’t sense any others down here. What about you?”
Wade closed his eyes and opened up his senses. He was silent for a moment before his eyes fluttered open.
“No others, just the two at the bar, but they’re not going to cause any trouble.”
“That’s great. Why don’t we head upstairs and see if we get as lucky with the ghost Travis saw?”
Wade held the EMF out as we both walked slowly up the stairs. So far it didn’t seem like there was another ghost to be found here. I didn’t sense anything other than the two spirits we’d just left. As we got to the top of the stairs, Wade slowed and came to a stop.
“She’s here.”
I looked around but didn’t see anything. The EMF crackled to life, and Wade didn’t lower his eyes to look at it. He was focused on the same spot Travis had said he’d seen the woman. I tried to sense her, but so far, I hadn’t felt anything out of the ordinary.
“Hello, I’m Wade, and this is Jason. We just want to talk to you.”
Wade waited for a response that I had no way of knowing if he got or not. He glanced at me, and back to where he’d been focused before.
“What is it?” I whispered, when he didn’t say anything.
“She’s pissed. Something bad happened to her here, she hasn’t said what it is. But she says she has a right to stay here if she wants to and we can fuck off if we think she’s going to leave as easy as the others did.”
“Why are you mad?” I walked closer to the area Travis had shown us, and I didn’t need a device to tell me there was a cold spot here.
Wade stayed where he was at the top of the stairs and made no move to follow me.
“Jason, stop where you’re at. He doesn’t want to hurt you or make you leave. We’re both trying to help you and the owner come to an agreement where you can stay if that’s what you want. But you cannot mess with the living that come here to work or for a night out. They are no risk to you. Why would you want to scare them?”
Wade was perfectly still for a moment and I imagined him carrying on a conversation with someone I couldn’t see or hear. But I knew she was there.
“What happened to you?” he asked.
I moved away from the area where the cold spot was centered and stepped back to where Wade stood.
“I’m sorry to hear that, but the people who work and visit here had nothing to do with it. I know for you it seems like it happened yesterday, but it was years ago. Most of them wouldn’t even remember it.”
“What happened?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking, but Wade held a hand up for me to wait.
“She doesn’t remember, she worked here, but one night someone hurt her. She only knows that from listening to what the other girls said afterward. But she has no memory of it. She’s tried to leave
but can’t.”
“Can we help?”
“We can try. We might need Jimbo for this, and he’s not going to like it.”
Wade looked at me then and the side of his mouth raised slightly. I couldn’t stop my eyeroll; he enjoyed messing with Jimbo so much. He knew he wouldn’t be too excited about helping yet another ghost cross over.
“Go ask him, I’ll stay here.”
The room Jimbo and Dean were in was just off this one, so it only took a second for Wade to open the door. I heard the groan from Jimbo all the way out where I stood, and I imagined the spirit was just as amused as I was.
“You know what we’ll need, get the sage, we’ll need to cleanse the area. It should give her an opening to leave on her own,” Jimbo said as he rummaged around in one of the bags we’d brought in.
I heard Wade speaking but I wasn’t sure what he’d said. All three of them walked out of the room. Jimbo was holding a bundle of sage, and a lighter. Wade walked past him to where the spirit must have been.
“What if we help guide you to your friends and family who have already crossed over? Would you be willing to leave then? Jimbo, you’re not going to like this, but I think it might be the only way to convince her she’s not alone and it’s okay to cross over.”
“Fuck, what are we talking about, Wade?”
“You’ll need to open your beacon, but only in a controlled manner. Exactly the way Janis has been training you. The beacon will guide her loved ones here, and they’ll lead her to the veil. Her confusion and anger have left her unable to cross, so we’ll need to guide her.”
“I’m not sure I’m ready,” Jimbo said, and stepped closer to Dean.
“You’re ready. I can feel it, Jimbo, you can do it,” Wade said, and held his hand out to me.
“Jimbo, he’s right. You’re ready.”
He looked between the two of us, and without thinking, he lit the sage.
