by Reid, Terri
“So, what do you need in order to search it?” Mary asked.
“I’d need a request from his family,” Chief Chase replied. “So if you can convince them that you’re not nuts, we’ll take it from there.”
The chief stood up.
“Once we get their permission, how long will it take you to get the equipment to search the mine shaft?” Mary asked, standing and looking across the desk at the chief.
“We can get a water department sewer camera out on the property within thirty minutes,” she said.
Mary nodded. “Thank you,” she said. “And if I were you, I’d let the water department know that you’re going to be needing them this afternoon.”
“If you’re able to get permission that quickly, Mrs. Alden,” the chief said, “I’ll go out to the property and operate the camera myself.”
“Make sure you wear boots,” Mary said as she and Bradley left the office.
Chapter Thirty-seven
“You sounded pretty sure in there,” Bradley said as he put the key into the cruiser’s ignition.
Mary nodded, settled into her seat and put her seatbelt on. “Yeah, I did, didn’t I?” she replied. “I sure hope I didn’t just put my foot in my mouth.”
Bradley shrugged. “It’s been in there before,” he teased. “You’ll get over it.”
“Oh, thanks for the vote of confidence,” she replied.
“Hey, I’m still here with you,” he protested. “I didn’t jump up and run out of the office when she thought you were crazy.”
“No, you didn’t,” she agreed, and then she sat up and looked over at him. “But you stayed pretty quiet.”
He nodded as he put the car into drive and pulled away from the curb. “Yes, because I knew you could handle yourself, make your point, act like a professional and make me proud,” he said. “And you did. I figured anything I said would either detract from what you were saying or make it look like you needed my defending. You didn’t. You were amazing.”
A little flabbergasted, Mary sat back in her seat and was silent for a few moments. “Well, thank you,” she finally said.
Smiling, Bradley turned to her. “You’re welcome,” he said. “By the way, you’re sexy when you’re in charge.”
Her smile grew into a grin. “Wow, I need you to work with me more often.”
Laughing, he pulled to a stop at an intersection. “So, what’s next, partner?”
She pulled a notebook from her purse and gave him an address on the other side of Galena. “We need to end up there,” she said. “But first, we need to drive over to High Street to see if Steve will come along with me to convince his son to give us permission.”
Bradley turned left, drove up the hill to High Street and then turned left again to go back to the location where Mary and Mike had seen Steve several days earlier. He parked the car in the lot next to the Galena Historical Society, and they both got out and walked to the curb. “He was in this area,” she said.
She looked up and down the street, but she couldn’t see him. Finally, she stepped out onto the street and looked down the hill. “Steve,” she called, looking down the hill and waving. “Steve Sonn, is that you?”
Bradley looked around. “Can you see him?” he asked.
Mary looked over her shoulder at him. “No, I can’t, but I thought I would look a little less crazy if I pretended I saw someone I knew,” she said.
Bradley nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense,” he said, and then he walked over to Mary, leaned over her, looked in the same direction and called out. “Steve. Hey Steve, do you have a minute?”
Mary smiled at him. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” he replied.
“Are you looking for me?” Steve asked, appearing a few feet behind them.
Mary put her hand on Bradley’s shoulder and turned him, so he could see Steve.
“Whoa,” Bradley said, stepping back instinctively and then lowering his voice, “I understand why you couldn’t eat those ribs now. This guy’s in bad shape.”
“Steve,” Mary said. “I need your help.”
“What can I do?” he asked.
“In order to do a search to find your body, I need to convince your son, Gregg, to call the police and request the search,” she explained.
“Greggie?” he asked, shaking his head. “I don’t know. I don’t want to bother him, disturb his life.”
Frustrated, Mary took a deep breath before she spoke. “Steve, you came to me because you wanted to be found, and the only way we can get you out of that hole is if your son requests that we search the property again,” Mary said. “So, you have a choice. Help me talk to your son, or always have him wonder if his dad walked out on him.”
“But what if he doesn’t believe us? What if he hates me?” Steve cried.
“Then we’ve both done all we can do,” Mary said. “But I think we have to try, for both of you.”
Chapter Thirty-eight
A few minutes later, the cruiser pulled up to a modest residential home on the west side of Galena where a man and his son where in the front yard tossing a baseball back and forth. Mary recognized the man as Steve’s son, Gregg.
Seeing the cruiser, Gregg held the ball in his glove and turned to his son. “Hey, Stevie, why don’t you run inside to Mommy and see if she’ll make us some lemonade, okay?”
“Kay, Dad,” the six year-old replied.
Turning towards the cruiser, Gregg walked towards the curb. “Hi, can I help you?” he asked.
Mary and Bradley got out of the car and introduced themselves.
“So, I don’t understand, why are a Freeport Police Chief and a private investigator here in Galena?” he asked.
“We have some information about your father,” Mary said.
She hadn’t expected the shocked look on his face. “My father?” he gasped as he sat down on the lawn. “Did you find him? Where has he been?”
Mary knelt down next to him. “Gregg, actually, I need your help to find him,” Mary said. “I need you to call Chief Chase and ask her to search your old property.”
“We searched the old property,” he insisted. “Why should we look again?”
“Because they missed it,” she said. “They missed the abandoned mine shaft he fell down.”
Gregg shook his head. “No, he didn’t fall down a mine shaft,” he said. “He left us. He was angry with me, something I had done, and he just left us.”
“Oh, Greggie,” Steve said. “I was never angry with you. I would never leave you.”
“Gregg, your dad wasn’t mad at you,” Mary said. “He loved you. He never would have left you.”
Gregg looked up at her, confusion and anger on his face. “How the hell would you know?” he asked. “You’ve got a lot of nerve to come to my house and act like you know what he was like.”
“I don’t know what he was like,” Mary said. “But I do know what he wants now, and he wants someone to find his body.”
He stared at her. “What did you say?”
Mary sighed. “I said he wants his body to be found,” she said. “And yes, I know that makes me sound like some kind of a nut. And I can’t help that.”
Gregg started to stand up and move away from her. “You need to leave,” he said. “You need to leave, or I’ll call the police.”
“Okay, Steve, I need some help here,” Mary said.
Gregg stopped. “What did you just say?”
“I asked your dad to give me some help here,” Mary said. “He came to me asking me to help him.”
“Lady, you are crazy,” he said, hurrying towards his house.
“Tell him his favorite book was Curious George, and he made me read it to him every night,” Steve said, appearing next to Mary.
“He said your favorite book was Curious George,” she called after him. “And you made him read it to you every night.”
Gregg stopped and turned. “What?”
Mary shrugged. “Curious George,” she said.
He came closer. “How did you do that?”
“I wish I could tell you,” Mary said. “For some reason ghosts are drawn to me.”
“My dad’s a ghost?”
“Yes, he’s been a ghost for about twenty years,” Mary said. “He didn’t leave you. He fell down a hole. He tried to get back up, wanted to get back to you and the rest of your family.”
“What if I don’t believe you?” he asked.
“Well, the only way you can really find out if I’m a fake is to call Chief Chase and search your old property,” she said. “If they don’t find anything, then you can ask her to arrest me. And believe me, I’m sure she would be delighted to do it.”
He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and called the non-emergency number for the police department. “Hi, this is Gregg Sonn,” he said. “I’d like to speak with Chief Chase.”
Chapter Thirty-nine
Steve’s former house was located up on Prospect Street. It was surrounded by about two acres of land that were partially wooded. Mary and Bradley pulled up just behind the vehicle belonging to the Galena Police Department. Chief Chase stepped out of it and walked to Bradley’s cruiser. Mary stepped out to greet the Chief. “Hi,” she began.
The Chief shook her head. “No, you listen to me,” she said in a lowered voice. “I don’t know what you did to convince that poor man to do this, but believe me, if we find a mine shaft, and if we send that camera down and find nothing, I’ll not only bring you up on charges but I’ll also charge you for the time and equipment used on this wild goose chase.”
Mary nodded. “Fair enough,” she said. “But you’ll have to stand in line. Gregg Sonn has already threatened to file a complaint with you.”
Chief Chase just stared at Mary for a few moments, not saying a word, and then she shook her head in disgust and walked away.
Mary felt Bradley’s arm around her shoulders and appreciated the squeeze of comfort he gave her. “So, great day to be a ghostbuster, right?” he asked with a tender smile.
“Just make sure we have enough money in the account for bail,” she replied. “I might need it.”
Bradley turned her towards him. “But Steve’s body is down there.”
She nodded. “Well, it was…twenty years ago,” she explained. “Hopefully rain, flooding and erosion haven’t carried it away somewhere.”
Leaning forward, he placed a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll make sure I have our lawyer’s number on speed dial,” he whispered.
She giggled. “Thanks.”
Mary watched as Chelsea Chase knocked on the door, presented a warrant to the current homeowners and explained the situation. Gregg Sonn stood next to her, introducing himself to the woman on the other side of the door. A moment later they were being ushered through a gate in the fence and into the manicured backyard.
“Wow,” Gregg said. “It sure has changed since we lived here. I can barely recognize it.”
“Crap,” Mary muttered.
She walked away from the group, following the circumference of the back yard. “Um, Steve, it would really be nice for you to show up now,” she whispered.
“Okay, Mrs. Alden,” Chief Chase called, her arms folded across her chest. “Where’s the mine shaft?”
“Just give me a minute,” Mary called back, hoping her cheery façade fooled someone in the group.
“Steve,” she whispered harshly. “I need you now!”
Appearing next to her, Steve looked around the yard. “Wow, this is nice,” he said. “This is really nice. I had hoped to do something like this, but I never got around to it.”
“Well, really, I’m sorry,” Mary said. “But I’m about to be led off in handcuffs if you don’t tell me where the hidden mine shaft is.”
Steve looked around again, turning one way and then the other. “Things have really changed since then,” he confessed. “And it was such a long time ago.”
“You’re not boosting my confidence level,” she whispered to him and then turned to the waiting group, smiled and called out, “Just getting my bearings.”
Steve walked to the very back of the yard where an older fence covered in overgrowth separated the yard from the edge of the bluff. “It’s through here,” he said, his voice filled with excitement. “I was doing some work on the grade. I remember now.”
Walking to the old gate, Mary started to pull away the vines.
“What are you doing?” Gregg asked. “No one ever went out there. Dad said it was off limits.”
Mary stopped for a moment and looked over her shoulder. “He was working on the grade,” she explained. “That’s why he went out here.”
Gregg shook his head. “We never looked out here for him,” he said. “He always said it was too dangerous.”
“For the kids,” Steve said. “But I needed to make the repairs.”
“It was too dangerous for you kids,” Mary repeated. “But he needed to repair some things.”
Coming up alongside her, Bradley caught hold of the old gate and, pulling with all his strength, yanked it free from its foliage moorings so they could pass through.
Steve was already on the other side walking the edge of the bluff. Moving to the edge of the property line, he looked out over the view of downtown Galena. “I was here,” he said softly. “I remember there was a light breeze and I was enjoying the view. Then I stepped back…”
Mary pointed to the area just behind Steve. “The mine shaft should be right there,” she said, moving closer to Steve.
“Oh no you don’t,” Bradley said, catching her arm and pulling her back. “We don’t know how compromised this area is, so let’s not step before we check it out.”
He turned to one of the men from the Water and Sewer Department. “Do you have anything I can use to prod the ground?” he asked.
“Yeah, I got a two by four in the back of the truck,” he replied. “I’ll get it.”
A few minutes later, with the long two by four in his hands, Bradley punched down against the ground. The first two hits were against solid ground.
“Doesn’t look like a mine shaft to me,” Chief Chase said.
The third hit nearly threw Bradley off his feet as the end of the board disappeared underneath the sod. He turned to the other chief. “Third time’s the charm I guess,” he said.
Chapter Forty
Within twenty minutes, the rigging had been set up over the mine shaft, and the fiber optic camera cable was being slowly lowered into the darkness. The monitor displaying the camera’s findings showed nothing but limestone with clusters of roots growing out of them. The operator would call out the major depth milestones.
“Twenty feet and nothing,” he called.
“It was deeper than that,” Mary said, peering at the screen with her fingers crossed. “Keep going.”
“Thirty feet,” the operator called. “And we’re getting pretty close to water.”
“Want me to call the lawyer now?” Bradley whispered.
Mary shook her head. “No, he’s down there,” she said. “We have to find him.”
“Thirty-five feet,” the operator said, looking up from the rigging. “I don’t see nothing down there but mine shaft and water.”
“Steve, help me find you,” Mary murmured.
“Mary,” Steve called from the inside of the shaft, his voice echoing on the stone for Mary’s ears only. “Tell him to come down another two feet.”
“Could you just lower it down another two feet?” Mary asked.
The operator looked over at the chief for guidance, and she nodded as she rolled her eyes. “Why not?” she said. “We want to be sure that we gave her every chance to prove her theory.”
Shrugging, he lowered it a few more feet. “I just got rock,” he called out.
“Move the camera to the right…no, no, the left,” Steve called. “About a foot over.”
“Move the camera over to the left,” Mary said. “About a foot over.”
“Lady, there
ain’t going to be nothing…” he began as he slowly moved the camera around. “Well, holy cow. We got ourselves a shelf, just like you said.”
Mary took a deep, shuddering breath of relief. “Can you widen the viewer now?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, I’m doing that now,” he said, eagerness in his voice. “Okay, what have we got here?”
He looked into the monitor, then paused and sat up. “Chief, I think you need to look at this,” he said.
“He found me,” Steve said, appearing next to Mary. “He found my body.”
Chief Chase hurried over to the monitor and studied it for a moment. She gave Mary a puzzled look but then turned her attention to Gregg. “I believe we’ve found the remains of your father,” she said softly. “Would you care to look?”
Tears forming in his eyes, he hurried over to stare into the monitor. “He didn’t leave us,” he whispered, looking over his shoulder at Mary. “He never left us.”
“He did all he could to climb out,” Mary said. “He wanted to get back to you. But he only got as far as the shelf.”
“Could you tell him I love him?” Steve asked, placing his arm around his son’s shoulders.
Gregg’s eyes widened, and he tentatively looked around. “I love you too, Dad,” he whispered before Mary could say a word. “I love you, too.”
Chapter Forty-one
Bradley placed his arm around his wife’s shoulders and walked her back to the cruiser. “That was amazing,” he said. “I loved the look on Chief Chase’s face when she looked through the monitor. It was a cross between disbelief and horror.”
Mary looked up at him and smiled. “Well, now she has to believe in ghosts,” she said. “That can be a little disconcerting.”
He unlocked the car and opened her door. “Is there anything else we have to do here?” he asked.
She shook her head as she climbed into the car. “No. After Gregg told his dad he loved him, Steve was more than happy to move on,” she said. “And the police department will deal with removing his earthly remains.”
