Uncharted Territory (An Angela Panther Mystery Book 3)

by Carolyn Ridder Aspenson

  "You keep thinkin' that."

  "What's that supposed to mean? Is something else gonna happen to Mel? If you know something you'd better tell me." I narrowed my eyes at her. "And don't give me any of that rules crap."

  "I don't know nothing. All's I'm sayin' is never say never."

  "I don't believe you."

  "That ain't a first. You didn't believe me when I said we found you on a tree stump either."

  "You didn't find me on a tree stump."

  "See, you still don't believe me."

  "Good grief." I sipped my coffee and felt a twinge of guilt when my mother's eyes followed the cup to my mouth. I put the cup in the sink without finishing the rest. "I wanna run a few things by you. If you don't have anything better to do, that is."

  "Nope. I'm all yours. Buddy's with his daughter, they're checking on her kids, and June and Johnny went to Nashville. Whatcha got?"

  "What about Frank Sinatra? Mother Teresa? Ronald Reagan? JFK? Any of them available or are you just stuck with your boring, living daughter?"

  "Pfft. Only one a those I wanna hang out with is Frankie, but he's a popular guy, so his calendar fills fast."

  "I'd love to hang out with Ronald Reagan. He seemed like a genuinely nice man."

  "Reagan might be fun. He was a looker back in the day, but I don't much care for politics and I hear he likes to talk about them a lot. Plus he's got that monkey with him now and people tell me it picks its nose and flicks the boogers at them. That's rude." She zoomed around the room, and then back to me. "You sure you don't want me to check on The Cheater? I can pop in there real quick, throw a few things around if you want." She bobbed her head up and down. "I won't break anything." Swiping her hand in the shape of a cross over her chest, she added, "Promise."

  "There will be no trashing of Nick and Carrie's house. Got it?"

  "That's too bad. I'm itchin' for some excitement."

  "Well, how about this?" I filled her in on Mel's and my discovery about the girl in the white gown.

  "Huh. That's interesting."

  "Well?" I asked.

  "Well what?"

  "Do you think that's what she is? In a coma or something?"

  She twitched up her shoulders. "How'm I supposed to know? I ain't the psychic. You are."

  "Psychic medium, but you're the one with celestial superpowers. You knew Dad was going to die, remember?"

  She shook her head. "Your father, that was different, and I wasn't supposed to tell you about that."

  "You didn't."

  "Nah, but I made it pretty obvious. Got myself in a bag full a trouble for that, too."

  "Sorry about that."

  "Ain't your fault. Some of the rules they got up there are pretty stupid, you ask me. Not being able to tell your own flesh and blood their dad's gonna kick the bucket. That's just wrong. A mother spends her whole life protecting her children, making sure they grow up safe and happy and then she dies and suddenly she's gotta keep important stuff private? That's a bunch of crap, you ask me."

  "Well I appreciate the hints you gave me, though this whole talking to the dead thing? It would have been nice if you'd have given me a heads up before you kicked the bucket. It might have been a little easier on me that way."

  "No one's perfect."

  "That's true. So do you know anything about the girl? Anything that won't get you in trouble with them?" I pointed to the kitchen ceiling.

  "Let's just say the powers that be got their lips zipped about this one. Gettin' information from them is like tryin' to squeeze lemon juice outta an onion." She pushed her cheeks up, squished her eyes together and focused on my coffee cup. The cup scooted across the counter, stopping just near her. She stuck her head into the cup—or more like through it, and shook it back and forth.

  "Stop that," I said, grabbing my cup.

  "Uno di questi giorni, Angela. Uno di questi giorni."

  When frustrated, Ma threw out an Italian phrase. That one I knew well. She'd used it a lot. "One of these days, what?"

  She stuck her tongue out at me.

  I rolled my eyes and harrumphed. "So you don't think you can get any info on the girl for me? Seriously?"

  "Already tried and got nothin'."

  "What about the whole teleporting thing, or the near death experience thing? Is there any truth to that stuff?"

  "Oh, yah, there is. It ain't just something on those space shows ya know. People make pit stops in Heaven all the time, but if it's not their time, they get sent back. Most don't remember, and I don't think they're 'posed to either, but I guess sometimes it happens."

  "What about the teleporting, or whatever it's called? Is that real?"

  "The mind can do a lotta stuff. More than you know. Some people, they can be two places at once, and others, they can only leave their body when they're sleeping, but yah, it's possible. Wish I coulda done it. I coulda got a lot more done if I coulda been two places at once."

  "Ain't that the truth."

  We both shrugged.

  "So it's possible the girl in the gown is in a coma or I don't know, asleep indefinitely and she's leaving her body." I said that more to myself than my mother. "If that's what she's doing, then how'd she find me? And why can I see her?" I rubbed my forehead. "I don't get it."

  "Me neither. But I guess I can keep tryin' to find out."

  "I'd appreciate that."

  "Not as fun as messin' with The Cheater, but not every celestial sleuth job'll be fun, I guess." She stuck out her bottom lip. "But it keeps me busy."

  "I'm glad you're not bored hanging out in Heaven with all those boring dead people, Ma." I winked. "Okay, so what about you and Tevin? Did you learn anything from the park?"

  "You betcha I did." She whirled around, spinning in circles, making me so dizzy I had to look away. "I learned how to make a dunk shot, that's what I learned." She moved to the center of the kitchen. "Here's all you gotta do." She bounced an invisible ball, and then lifted her knees to run—even though she wasn't touching the ground, then shot up into the air, arms raised, and stuffed the invisible ball into an invisible basket, her head pushing through the kitchen ceiling. "Easy peasy," she said, floating back down. "I coulda played with Michael Jordan, with that kinda move."

  I golf-clapped. "You coulda beat Michael Jordan. Pretty impressive." And it was. Ma hadn't been able to move like that for the last ten years of her life, so seeing her move freely like that brought me joy.

  "Your Auntie Rita and me are gonna have us a little basketball competition. She thinks she can beat me, but I got a secret weapon."

  "What's that?"

  "Tevin. He can't remember who he is, but he's got the game down." She dribbled the invisible ball some more, lifting her knees and smacking the invisible ball over and under them. "He taught me this, too."

  I laughed. "That's easy. Especially since you don't have a ball."

  She pursed her lips. "That don't mean it's easy." She continued bouncing nothing between her legs. "It just means you gotta use your imagination. If you got one a those, which I don't think you do."

  "I most certainly do." I stood and bounced my own invisible ball between my legs, tossing it up and around my back, too. "Oh yeah. Watch this." I was proud of my newfound talent and tossed the imaginary ball behind my back again. "See."

  Ma harrumphed. "You don't do it good like me."

  I sat back down, marginally winded from my basketball performance. If that little effort could tire me, I needed to hit the gym or jogging trail more. "You're just jealous because I can lift my legs higher than you."

  She wiggled her eyebrows. "And I bet Jake likes that."

  I held up my hand. "So not goin' there."

  We both laughed.

  "So aside from your newly discovered basketball talents, did you learn anything? Anything to help trigger Tevin's memory?"

  She tipped her head to the side and raised a shoulder. "Nope. Nada. There were some boys there, but Tevin didn't recognize any of them, and none of them even
mentioned him. It was a little sad too, seeing as he just died and all. I figured at least his friends would talk about him or something. Not that I coulda understood that jive talk anyway."

  Jive talk?

  "Maybe it wasn't his friends. Maybe they go at a different time."

  "That's what I said, so we're thinking we might mosey on over there again today, but not until later. But I'll tell ya, if they do talk about Tevin, I probably won't know."

  "Because of the jive talk?"

  "It's like they're speakin' some foreign language. Don't understand a single word." She smirked. "Like this." She shook her head a few times and puckered her lips. "Nigga axe befo' or dat be gankin' my bud." She raised a finger. "And this. 'Em jakes, they be all jacked 'bout what went down wit dat wanksta, but da po po be all 730 thinkin' dat asshole flew."

  "Ganking my bud? Is that dirty? It sounds dirty."

  "Beats me. Like I said, it's a foreign language."

  "Why didn't you ask Tevin what they were saying?"

  "Ya know, I didn't think of that."

  "Seriously? Then how do you know they didn't even mention him?"

  "'Cause they didn't say his name."

  "Seriously?" I threw my hands in the air.

  "What?"

  "You go to the park to find out if the kids there know Tevin and know anything about what happened to him and when you couldn't understand them, you don't think to ask the one person who could tell you what they were saying? Some celestial sleuth you are."

  "Tevin was upset and I didn't want to make it worse. I figured if they said something important or something about him, he'd a told me."

  I grabbed my phone. "Repeat what you said, please. I'm texting Aaron. Maybe he's up on the latest gang lingo."

  "It's jive."

  "Jive died in the seventies, Ma."

  "It did?"

  "Yes, it did."

  "Well how should I know that? I didn't like that disco music anyway."

  I held my phone up. "Repeat it, please."

  She did.

  Aaron called immediately. "Where did you hear that? Did you go to the park? I told you not to go to the park."

  "No, I didn't. My mother and Tevin did. She doesn't think any of the kids mentioned Tevin, but she doesn't know for sure because she can't figure out what they said. I thought I'd text you and see if you knew."

  "Can your mom describe the kid who said it? What was he wearing? Was he tall, short? Long hair, shaved head? Any tattoos or noticeable birthmarks?"

  "Tell me what it means first."

  "If they're talking about Tevin, which I'm guessing they are, then they're saying he didn't jump and the cops are clueless."

  "Holy crap." I put my phone on speaker. "I just put you on speaker. Can you repeat that for my mother?"

  He did but prefaced it with, "That's really messed up."

  Ma's eyes popped. "Holy manoly. Tevin's mom was right. He didn't jump. We gotta tell him."

  "Angela, can she describe the kid who said that?" Aaron asked.

  "You betcha," Ma said. And she did.

  "Have you pulled up anything on Bach? Maybe that's him?"

  "He's not showing up but I'm still checking a few things."

  "So what happens now?"

  "Now we go to the park and have a conversation with the boys."

  "Great. I'll meet you there. What time?"

  "This is something the police need to handle. You don't need to be involved."

  Ma and I both sulked. "But you might need my mother to point the kid out. We can help."

  He blew out a dose of air. "These kids aren't like the kids you know. They're dangerous, and I'm serious when I say I don't want you going to the park."

  "But—"

  He cut me off. "No buts. Stay away from the park. I'll call you if I find out anything." With that, he hung up.

  "Well crap."

  "What's he think's gonna happen? They're gonna pop a cap in ya or something?"

  "Pop a cap in me?"

  She nodded. "That's jive talk."

  "You mean gang slang."

  She flicked her hand. "You say tomato, I say tomahto. I'm gonna have Josh check that world wide webernet of his and see if he can help me learn that language. If I'm gonna be a celestial super sleuth I gotta learn to understand all kinds of crazy talk."

  "It's called the Internet and I'd prefer you not have Josh search gang slang for you."

  "Why not?"

  "Because."

  "Because why?"

  "Just because, okay? There's a lotta stuff on the Internet, Ma, and I don't want him seeing something he shouldn't be seeing, all right?"

  "Geesh, you woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

  "No, I woke up on the couch."

  "Ya know," she said. "Just 'cause that cranky detective—"

  "He's not cranky."

  "Seems a little on the cranky side to me." She shrugged. "Just sayin'."

  "Fine. Go on."

  "Like I was sayin' before you rudely interrupted me." She paused, waiting for me to say something again, but all I did was twirl my hand in the air, urging her to continue. "Just 'cause he don't want you at the park don't mean he don't want me at the park."

  I nodded slowly. She was onto something. "Yeah. You could see if that boy is there, and point him out to Aaron." I realized what I said wasn't possible so I corrected myself. "Or you could tell me and I could tell him."

  "But he don't want you at the park."

  "Crap. You're right."

  "Seems I'm always right, huh?"

  I chose to ignore that comment. "Hold on, lemme think."

  "There ya go, workin' without tools again."

  "Ha. Ha." I rolled my eyes and then jumped in my seat. "Aaron said he didn't want me at the park, but he didn't say I couldn't be in my car near the park."

  She shook her head swiftly. "Nope. I didn't hear nothin' about you not coming near the park."

  I tapped my finger on the counter. "So you could go to the park, check out the kids and see if one of them is that boy and tell me, and I can tell Aaron." I pointed a finger at her. "I think that could work."

  Ma twisted up the left side of her mouth. "But how you gonna tell the cranky detective?"

  "He's not cranky, Ma. He's just trying to protect me."

  "Maybe. But he's cranky and he don't gotta be. Probably needs a little bit a the big nasty with a pretty Asian woman, you ask me."

  "Sex is not the cure-all for every emotion, Mother."

  "Then you ain't doin' it right and I feel sorry for Jake."

  "Anyway," I said, avoiding that sensitive subject and starting an argument with my mother. "I can text Aaron what you tell me. It's not that complicated."

  "That'll work."

  "Lemme text Mel and see if she wants to come."

  "Good idea, 'cause you got less of a chance at being mugged if there's two of you."

  Ma was on a roll. "Thanks for that."

  I clipped off a quick text to Mel. "Ma found out something about Tevin. Going to the park so she can find out more. Wanna go for a ride?"

  She texted back within seconds. "Abso-freaking-lutely. Dropping the rugrats at day camp now and will come over."

  "See you in a bit." I put my coffee cup in the sink. "I gotta get dressed."

  "You oughta do something with your hair, too." Ma said. She made a circling motion with her hand. "It looks like a rat's nest."

  I patted my hair. "Is it that bad?"

  "I think I mighta saw a bird fly up in there with a worm a few minutes ago." She snickered. "In the graying part."

  "Funny. Real funny.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER we were parked a block down from the basketball court. We'd passed Aaron and two uniformed officers talking to a group of boys, and Ma popped out to snoop. Mel and I chatted while waiting for an update.

  "So, what's up with the job?" I asked.

  "It's looking good. I did a phone interview and
submitted samples of my work. The recruiter seems to think I'll get it." She flipped her straight, black hair behind her shoulder and tucked it behind her ear. "If I get it, I'll have to go to training for a week which means The Cheater and his ho will have the kids that whole time."

  "You know they're welcome to stay at my place."

  "I know but with all the ghosts you've got coming around, I'm not sure that's a good idea."

  "That's a good point."

  "And I don't even know if I've got the job yet anyway."

  "But you said the recruiter thinks you'll get it?"

  "Yeah."

  I bounced in my seat and squealed. "That's so awesome." I reached out and wrapped her into a hug, because she was one of the few people I didn't have touch issues with. "So where's the training? I hope it's some place amazing like Hawaii."

  "I wish. It's actually in Chicago, your old stomping grounds. Some place called Schaumburg. Ever heard of it?"

  "It's in the same area where I lived. The Chicago area has phenomenal food. If you get the job I'll give you a list of places to eat. When will you know?"

  She smoothed the wrinkles in her red capris. "The recruiter seems to think we'll get an offer in the next day or two."

  I bounced in my seat again, this time clapping my hands. "This is so exciting. You're gonna be an amazing editor. What kinds of stuff will you edit? Like magazine articles or something?"

  "Mostly business documents. Manuals, training materials, marketing stuff, that kind of thing. Not all that exciting, but it could lead to other opportunities. And I can still do my freelance work, not that I do much of that now, but they don't mind if I do it so I figure I'll try to get more of that, too."

  "That's really great." Mel was smart and though I knew working full time would be tough on her, it would help rebuild her self-esteem which tanked when Nick cheated. "You'll get the job, I know it."

  "If I do, we are so goin' out to celebrate. I need a girls' night out big time."

  "Deal."

  Just then Ma appeared in the backseat. "He's there."

  "Ma said she thinks Bach is there." I pulled my phone from the drink holder between the two front seats. "I'll text Aaron now."

  Ma said the boy who'd made the comments about Tevin had on a red tee shirt, black shorts, and a black and red baseball cap, turned sideways.

  "It's not a regular baseball cap though," she said. "Josh told me it's a flat bill. The front kinda looks like a duck's mouth. They oughta call it a duck bill, you ask me."