by Alexie Aaron
“What happened to you?” a male voice said behind him.
“Basketball,” was all he said, but it seemed enough. Cid turned and didn’t see anyone except a tall blur, but since he didn’t have his glasses on, that wasn’t unusual.
“Not your sport evidently,” the man commented. “Have you tried the ancient sport of reading?”
“Comic books,” Cid said as he wiped the thick lenses.
“Tried anything without pictures?”
“No,” he admitted.
“When you get cleaned up, meet me in fiction. I’ll find you a great book, without pictures.”
Cid nodded and heard the swing of the bathroom door. He put his glasses on and began to scrub some of the bloodstains off his T-shirt.
Cid stopped and headed for the young adult section. The memory that had been consuming him was now giving him clues to the book.
Young Cid sniffed and wandered the maze of books guided by the hand-lettered signs. He strolled through biography, reading the names of presidents and inventors off the books. He turned just in time to see a hand place a book on the arm of a dusty but comfy chair. He walked over and picked up the book. He read the title and turned to thank the man. He saw his shadow moving in the next section. “I don’t have a library card,” he called after him.
“A comic book reader with no library card, imagine my surprise. Read it here. You’re a bright boy; it shouldn’t take you long.”
“Thank you, sir,” Cid said and sat down in the chair and opened the book. He turned to the title page and read, “The Forgotten Door.”
Cid stopped in his tracks and said, “The Forgotten Door!”
He was shushed, but it didn’t bother him. He raced to the computers and typed in the title, wincing as he had to drop The. He stared at the result. The Forgotten Door ~ Alexander Key.
“It’s here,” he said aloud and was again shushed. Cid grabbed the tiny dull pencil out of the holder and the piece of recycled paper and jotted down the number. He raced around until he found the section and sped along the aisle, almost knocking over a pregnant lady who was reaching for something on the bottom shelf. His manners won over his zest and he asked, “Can I get that for you?”
The woman looked up in surprised. “Yes, A Wrinkle in Time,” she supplied smoothing her hair. “It’s for my son.”
“Good choice,” he said. He retrieved the book and left her standing there with the book pressed to her chest.
She couldn’t wait to get outside to call her girlfriends on her cellphone to tell them about the handsome man she met in the library.
Cid found the book and reached out for it slowly. He didn’t want to be wrong. He wanted this to be the book so bad that maybe it was better not to know for sure.
“Read it, son, it’ll change your life,” the man’s words echoed in his memory.
Cid pulled out the book and ran his fingers down the spine. It looked different, but it would have been reprinted a number of times by now. He opened the book and read. He almost shouted with joy that he had found it. He remembered the shushers and decided he would celebrate later. He put the book back on the shelf. He pushed the paper with the title and author’s name on it deep into this pocket. He would order the book when the investigation was over with. “Audrey!” he remembered and raced over to where she was working.
She saw him arrive, and he was breathless. “It looks like you’ve had quite an adventure. Did you see a ghost?”
Her innocent question didn’t demand an answer, but he answered her, “A long time ago in a library like this, I think I did see a ghost, and he recommended a great book.” Audrey watched his face change as he spoke, “It changed my life.”
“Care to elaborate?”
“It started me reading. I read everything in the local library, and my mother took me to the big one in the city, and I devoured everything there.”
She nodded and turned back to her microfiche screen. “I think that books are important. They take us places we never imagined going before. I’m glad they led you here to Illinois.”
“Why?”
“This way I won’t have to carry that stack of copies by myself to the theater.” She pointed to the mountain of paper on the desk next to her.
~
Juan Carlos sat looking at the reports on his desk. He glanced at his security chief nervously pacing the floor. “Sit, DJ, you’re wearing out the carpet.”
“I feel so responsible. I hired him. He looked good on paper, and his background check didn’t show anything detrimental to his working for the company or for the theater.”
“Are you sure this is our saboteur?”
“He’s one of them. I’m sure it took more than one to operate this holographic system the PEEPs technicians described to me. He had the opportunity and was here in the time period when the wall stunt needed to be activated. He also was the only one on my staff I wasn’t able to reach to tell of the schedule change. Oh, he’s the one, but the question is why?”
“He has no connection to me that I can see, or to my fiancée.”
“No. He’s a local. I could look deeper into his family’s background. Should I bring him in and confront him?”
“Let’s watch out for him. He’s not on my payroll anymore so I can’t call him in without letting him know of our suspicions. We should talk to Mr. Dupree and his team. See if their researcher can find a connection.”
Audrey and Cid arrived to find the van gone and, with it, the night shift of Ted and Mia. Mike asked them to sit for a mini meeting before the day’s tasks were handed out.
“We can cross headless Harriett off our list,” he said once they all were sitting at the conference table. “Her name actually was Mandy according to Mia.” He went into describing the crossing over and suggested that Cid and Audrey view the video on the incident. “Mia regrets not getting more information out of her, but she didn’t want the ghost to miss her ride to the hereafter.”
“So we can check her off our lists, along with the bloody Bogie. Mia feels the ghosts in the audience are benign. The thing under the stage so far hasn’t threatened anyone.”
“Except for me and Mia,” Cid interrupted. “It’s got a bad feel to it. I think we are lucky to experience it before someone innocent is harmed.”
“I have a meeting with Mr. Carlos this morning. I’ll try to get a feel for what he may want us to do about it. Does he want his theater torn up in order for us to act on a hunch?”
“If you put it that way, he’s going to say no,” Cid complained.
“What way do you want me to put it?” Mike questioned. “This is all the information we have.”
Cid swallowed hard. “Perhaps Murphy and I can nose around down there in the light of day.”
Audrey raised her hand.
Mike nodded at her.
“Sorry, but I did come up with some interesting evidence that may shed some light on what closed this theater originally. Maybe we can find a connection to the thing down there. I wanted to wait until we were all together, but I’d be happy to repeat it again to Mia and Ted later,” she offered.
“I’d like to hear it,” Burt said. “But let’s get Murphy.”
The sound of metal sliding on concrete let the group know that Murphy was already there.
“Murphy’s present,” Cid announced. “Sorry, dude, I didn’t know this was a formal meeting or I would have called you.”
A tiny tap let Cid know that Murphy understood.
“Okay, how about the information?”
“The last burlesque show to play this theater had Cherry O’Kelly as the headliner, along with Marvin the Magnificent, The Amazing Paradise Pups, Lou and Larry – they were comedians, they could be our clowns in the audience, there weren’t any pictures of them – and a bevy of beauties, no credits given,” she listed.
“Who ran the dog show?” Burt asked, jotting down the other names.
Audrey thumbed through a few notes and read, “Carl and Connie Miller.
They were a husband and wife team. They originated in Florida.”
“Okay, they were the last group of performers. What happened?” Mike asked.
“A fire. A big fire. It started in the offices. The whole front of the building was engulfed. The smoke was so thick that many of the performers never got out.”
“Mia said that’s how the dogs met their end,” Cid told them. “They smelt smoky to me.”
“Cherry O’Kelly was found in her dressing room. She didn’t burn but was dead from the smoke. Lou and Larry were found in the theater. They found the remains of an unnamed woman in the wreckage of the offices. The only structure to survive from the front of the building was the elevator.”
“You would have thought that there would be more casualties. What about the audience?” Burt asked.
“The fire broke out in the morning before the first matinée on Saturday,” Audrey read from her notes. No one noticed the fire until the ticket taker, a Mrs. Milroy, arrived and opened the front door. She sounded the alarm, and by the time the fire department got here, the smoke had already claimed its victims.”
“What about the other performers?” Mike asked.
“I continued to do a search. I could find no mention of Marvin, but the Millers joined a traveling circus, using the same name but obviously new dogs.”
“Speaking of dogs,” Burt turned to where he had last heard noise from Murphy. “Did you manage to round up the pups?”
Murphy tapped a negative response out.
“I don’t think the dogs will present a problem to anyone. No one but Mia and Murphy can see them. Aside from a smoky odor that accompanies them, they are undetectable. And before you ask, Mia let the dogs out,” he said and tried not to say it but blurted out, “who who, who who who.”
The small group laughed. Murphy was puzzled but let it go.
“What about the hoaxes?” Cid asked.
“I’m going to ask about that when I talk to Mr. Carlos. I wonder if there is a connection?”
“If there is, I’ll find it,” Audrey said confidently. “Do you think I could be in on the meeting?”
“I don’t see why not. Cid and Burt, if you could look over the notes Ted left and put fresh batteries in the cameras, Audrey and I’ll head up and talk to the big cheese.” He stopped. “Murphy, back up the boys. I’m worried about the entity under the stairs. I don’t want Burt and Cid to be cornered.”
Murphy tapped out his reply. Cid translated, “He says he’s got our backs, boss.”
Mike smiled. “Okay, team, let’s get something accomplished.”
Murphy spotted the black poodle sniffing around the stairs. He smiled. He knew if he captured the leader, the rest would come along peacefully. He moved quickly, but the dog was all too aware of him and ran into the theater. By the time Murphy moved through the door, he was nowhere to be seen.
Chapter Nineteen
Ted looked down at Mia. She was sleeping on her back. Her blonde hair fanned out away from her face. He leaned down and kissed her lips.
She opened her eyes and kissed him back. “What a wonderful way to wake up,” she said and wiggled closer to him.
“I should have let you sleep, but I couldn’t resist kissing you. You looked so angelic lying there.”
“Angelic, me?”
“I admit it’s a new look for you but…”
Mia kissed his words away. She pulled him over her and opened herself up to him. They joined and made love slowly. When Mia touched Ted, she felt somehow complete. As if he were her split-a-part that finally found his way home. They moved together in a rhythm that first addressed their love and then their need. The crescendo of their love left them both panting and laughing.
Ted eased off her and pulled her into a close cuddle. “I never dreamed it could be like this.”
“Me either. I’m so glad you didn’t give up on me, Teddy Bear.”
“I’m glad you came to your senses. I mean, here I was your perfect man, and you didn’t even see me.”
“I knew you were there but didn’t have my head together enough to realize what I was seeing,” Mia said, playing with the curls at the back of his neck.
“I’m a very lucky man, Mia. I know you could have loved someone else but chose me instead. I don’t take that for granted.”
“Actually, I couldn’t love anyone else. I have felt a fondness before, I’ll not discount my past, but what I feel for you goes beyond affection. I live and breathe you,” she said softly. “You see me for what and who I am. In the last year, I’ve gone through some changes, some of my own, some brought on by others, but through it all you’ve been there, holding me, catching me when I fall, and calling me on my bullshit when I get too full of myself. It’s funny to say this, but by binding myself to you, I have never been freer.”
Ted was silent a moment. “I am feeling so much right now that I am lost for words.”
“You’re never lost for words,” Mia teased. She put her hand on his forehead. “Nope, no fever, although you are rather hot…” she said and reached for him.
He kissed her deeply and let her take control of his body. He enjoyed her explorations and taking the lead. Together they gave and took until they were sated.
Ted pulled the sheet up over their sweaty bodies and closed his eyes. Soon he was falling asleep next to the woman he had and would always love.
~
“May I look at the dossier?” Audrey asked after sharing her information with Juan Carlos and his security chief.
The man handed her the folder, and she ran her finger along it, searching for information that would somehow link to a theory she had. She flipped past the college transcripts. She stopped as she read a copy of an application to Northwestern. Audrey grabbed her briefcase and pulled out a stack of photocopies from the library.
“What are you looking for, Miss McCarthy?’ Juan asked.
She lifted a finger and flipped the page and smiled. “Sorry, I think I found it. Good thing that you guys don’t skimp when it comes to background research. The key is here in awards.” She tapped the college application. “It says here that this individual won his elementary school’s talent show. His act, magic.” She handed DJ the photocopy and explained, “I did a search for local magicians while I was waiting for my associate to return, and I found this.” She explained, “It’s a copy of the notice the elementary school put in the local paper about their talent show, entitled, ‘Local Magician Takes the Prize’. It says here, he was assisted by his brother John. I believe there is a John Marvin here. Isn’t he the technician that showed Ted around the first day?”
“Marvin is a common name. I never thought the two were related,” DJ admitted. “Sorry, Mr. Carlos, I failed you there.”
Juan waved off the apology. “Tell me more.”
“When we discovered the phony ghost writing, I remembered a few old magic tricks I got one Christmas as a child. One of them was disappearing ink. A mist of water would bring back the writing. Of course our trickster had a more elaborate set up. Obviously something not out of a child’s kit, but it got me to thinking. The first thing I did was check out your magician. He’s clean and hadn’t even arrived in town yet. Then I began to think that maybe one of the chorus girls wanted Amber’s spot and used to be an assistant to a magician. That’s why I did the search at the library, along with an extensive one on this theater. I came up empty or so I thought,” Audrey said, tapping the paper. “Marvin the Magnificent.”
“There’s that name again,” DJ groaned.
“I thought it was his first name,” Mike admitted.
“According to the clips I found, his specialty was teleportation tricks. I assumed he would use the many trapdoors to his benefit. But then I got to thinking… I don’t know if any of you gentlemen saw The Prestige? I did because I’m a big fan of magic. In it one of the magicians was actually two identical twins.”
“I’m sorry, Miss McCarthy, but you’re losing me,” Juan said.
“S
orry. We know that Marvin the Magnificent wasn’t a casualty in the fire that closed The Jewel all those years ago. Two of our investigators have found that the theater has an entity that could be dangerous. It showed up after the hoaxes started. We think his remains are buried in an old well that happens to be under one of the main silent traps. What if there was an accident and one of the Marvins fell to his death? The other wouldn’t have wanted to be found out as a cheat so he would’ve covered it up.”
“If I understand this, you think that Jeff and John Marvin know of their ancestor’s body and are trying to shut down the theater. Why?” Juan challenged.
“That, you would have to ask them. You may also have to dig up the floor and extract the body, if there is one.” Mike pointed out, “This is just a theory.”
“But why would Marvin the Magnificent hide the death of his twin when he, by all accounts, quit magic after the fire?” Juan asked, not expecting an answer.
“But what if it wasn’t an accident?” DJ asked. “Seems to me we have quite a few ghosts here. How about the headless chorus girl?”
Audrey raised her hands. “I guess, but there is one way to find out. Bring in the Marvins and ask them some questions.”
“We didn’t file a report on the damage they caused to the wall, so we have no legal leg to stand on boss,” DJ mentioned.
“Or, you could have us work on it, on our end,” Mike suggested. “Let’s leave John in the dark and watch him. Perhaps we should announce that we are going to do an excavation of the well. See what he does. It’s a little Scooby Doo, but it may work.”
Audrey looked at Juan who glanced at his security chief. “DJ, it’s up to you. I will put this ball in your court. I have a show to put on, without a choreographer it seems.”
