Mind Fray

by Alexie Aaron

  Mia was tossed on the bed, and Ted said, “You were mentioning you were having trouble with your breasts?”

  Mia wasn’t able to answer as Ted’s mouth came down on hers hard. They were soon swept away, making love.

  ~

  Cid looked down at the text Ted sent him.

  Spending some alone time with Mia, back home tomorrow.

  “Well, it looks like it’s just you and I, Maggie. Mom and Pop are…” Cid stopped and pondered. “Let’s just say, we have the house to ourselves.”

  Maggie looked up at the tall man and tried using mind control to make him walk over to the refrigerator, pull out a package of bacon and fry it.

  Instead Cid grabbed her leash and said, “Let’s go out for a run.”

  Maggie was at cross purposes. First, she was vastly disappointed she didn’t have a mind control ability, and second, she really did like to run. So she sat still while he attached the lead. They walked out the back door and took a moment to take in the scenery before the two of them took off at a light run towards the path to the hillside. They passed Murphy who followed them, interested in what the hurry was.

  “Just getting some exercise,” Cid called out, seeing his puzzled expression. He added, “Mia and Ted are spending the night in town, I think.”

  Murphy stopped and went back to his young trees which were enjoying the cooler weather of the evening. He had nursed these gifts from PEEPs from seedlings. He felt that most of them would now survive on their own. Sure a few would be lost to ice storms or deer, but the majority would rise to rival the hardwoods of the area. Being a ghost meant he would see them reach their peak, as he had the other old trees of the area.

  He stopped fidgeting with the pruning. The realization hit him. He would be here when Mia, Ted and Cid passed. He hated to think of the loneliness that would follow the natural loss of his friends. Would he follow them into the light or would he continue as he had been, nursing the trees of his farm?

  ~

  “What brought this on?” Mia asked, wrapped in a plush white terry robe. She had exited the bathroom to find a full dinner laid out on the room service cart.

  “Crossings always make me horny,” Ted said.

  “That’s very interesting considering our line of work,” Mia commented. She climbed in bed and laid back a moment, reliving the spontaneous afternoon of sex that had sated her.

  “Aren’t you hungry?” Ted asked, lifting the silver lid, exposing the plump filet of beef smothered in mushrooms.

  The aroma reached Mia’s nose, and she sat up quickly. She neglected her robe, and Ted whistled.

  “If you’re going to get any eating done, you’d better close that robe, Mia, temptress of the terry cloth,” he said, crawling into bed beside her.

  Mia smiled as he brought his lips down to hers gently. He covered her and then reached under her and pulled her to him. “You are the most beautiful woman in the world. I can’t believe you chose me.”

  “I’m the luckiest woman alive, or dead for that matter. Ted, you are and will always be the best thing that ever happened to me and our child,” Mia said, patting her stomach gently.

  Ted, who was never at a loss for words, did his best to be quiet, setting his hand on top of hers.

  “He’s so lucky to have you for a father,” Mia continued. “What fun it is going to be growing up in the Martin East household.”

  “Martin East?” Ted asked, his lips twitching, amused.

  “Your parents live west of us so I thought we’d be Martin East or the East Martins or…”

  “How about the Ted Martins, or is that too old fashioned?”

  “Murphy would approve,” Mia said.

  Ted shook his head. “I’m a very understanding man, Mia, but I will have no talk of Stephen Murphy right after I’ve ravished my wife.”

  Mia sat up and teased, “Oh ho ho ho, you’ve shown your true colors, Ted the Tyrant. I’m going to have you flogged.” She reached around and smacked him on his towel-covered butt.

  Ted reached and tickled Mia until she cried uncle. She snuggled up to her husband and said, “Teddy Bear, you know I never get tired of being with you.”

  “That’s a good thing, since I traded good merchandise for you,” he said. “Now let’s eat this fine meal before it gets cold.”

  Chapter Four

  Murphy heard the approach of a heavy truck coming up the driveway. He moved quickly to ascertain whether the driver was friend or foe. He was surprised to see the county code office truck being driven by a young woman. He waited until she had parked the vehicle before ringing the bell for Cid to return.

  Marta Steensen heard the bell as she climbed out of the county vehicle. She looked over and was puzzled by the apparent automatic nature of the large brass bell. She pulled on her green county hat and reached for her tool belt. She buckled it tightly before adding a few additional devices to the multitude of apparatuses already secured there. She stomped some clinging mud from the last jobsite off her work boots before proceeding up the driveway.

  “Be right with you,” a male voice called.

  She looked in the direction of the sound and saw a dark-haired, tan man running down the hillside led by a large, brown mixed-breed dog. Marta smiled. This must be the homeowner, but he didn’t look like a Ted. She would have given him the name Tor or Aksel. He carried his height and muscular body well. She tucked in the tail of her shirt and wiped the sweat off her hands.

  “You must be here to inspect the electricity?” the man asked her.

  Marta, pleased that the homeowner didn’t look around for a more traditional inspector, aka another male, held out her hand. “Marta Steensen.”

  Cid gripped the young woman’s hand, introducing himself, “Cid Garrett, I’m the contractor. I live with the Martins,” he explained. “This is Maggie. She is a bit over friendly and a bacon addict.”

  “Mr. Garret…”

  “Call me Cid.”

  “Fine, Cid, show me the way.” Marta flipped the top sheet of her work order over and began to make notes as they walked.

  Cid watched the tall woman out of the corner of his eye. She had to be over six feet tall. Her brown hair was tucked up in her hat. He had to fight the urge to take off her hat and release the thick locks of hair. He stumbled over a rock and had to fight his curious nature in order to watch where he was going.

  “I see that the second story has already passed inspection on the 23rd.”

  “Ted, the homeowner, wanted the extension finished upstairs first. They have just learned they are to become parents, and Mia, his wife, seems to be attached to the porcelain throne most of the time.”

  Marta laughed. “Sorry, I’m not laughing at poor Maya…”

  “Mia,” Cid corrected.

  “Sorry, Mia. Again, no offense. I just went through all of that with my older sister Asta. She delivered a healthy baby boy just a few days ago. She was a very sick girl the first trimester though.”

  “So if you’re not laughing at the queen of vomit, what are you so amused at?” Cid asked.

  “You. You’re talking to me like we’ve known each other for years.”

  “And you find this funny?”

  “No, refreshing. Most men I’ve run into, who aren’t taken aback that I’m a female doing what they think is a man’s job, are intimidated by my height and just talk to me in caveman.”

  “Caveman?”

  “Grunts and one word answers,” she explained.

  “Oh, caveman. That’s a new one. I’ll have to share that with Audrey.”

  Marta’s face fell. She had scanned the man’s left hand and found no wedding ring, but this talk of Audrey meant he was seeing someone. How could she think otherwise? He was a handsome, tall man with an open personality, of course he was taken. She tucked her hormones away and got down to business.

  Cid watched her as she examined the wiring, and he took the compliments on the well-wired extension with grace. She took copious notes and asked to see
the original blueprint along with the electrical schematic of the extension.

  “It’s in the PEEPs office. I’ll be right back.”

  Marta looked at the covered outlets in the floor and wondered why there were so many of them. The hairs rose on the back of her neck, and she whirled around expecting to see someone standing there. The empty room did nothing to ease her concern. She walked over and looked outside through the spaces where windows would be hung. “Hello?” she asked. “Can I help you?”

  Murphy stared back at her, very aware that although she couldn’t see him, she was sensing his presence. Cid was returning from the office so Murphy disappeared.

  “I brought all I have just in case you wanted to recheck the upstairs too,” he said, watching the puzzled expression on her face.

  “Were you just here?”

  “Ah, no, I was in the office. Why?”

  “I don’t know. I felt like I was being watched.”

  Cid looked around for evidence of Murphy but didn’t see him. He suggested, “Perhaps Maggie?”

  “Maggie? Oh, the dog, gee, maybe. You see, I have this overactive imagination. I thought I felt a presence in this room. I felt it earlier when I drove up the driveway.”

  “Are you a sensitive?” Cid asked. “If so, we have a part-time vacancy available…”

  “You’ve got to be… Oh, PEEPs. You’re that PEEPs. I thought you were maybe a Peeps distributor.”

  “Now you’ve lost me,” Cid admitted.

  “The marshmallow candy…”

  “Gotcha, Peeps,” Cid said. “So, you thought you were being stalked by marshmallow chickens?” he asked, teasing her.

  “No, I,” she started, and her face flushed. She took off her hat and fanned her face with it. The long brown hair fell across her shoulders, bringing a sense of femininity to her work attire. “Oh, great, now you’re staring,” she complained and turned around.

  Cid couldn’t help admiring her boyish hips. He didn’t know he liked flat behinds until that moment. He swallowed hard. “Sorry, I’m being rude. I just can’t get over how beautiful you are,” he stammered.

  Marta was mortified. It was bad enough that she was attracted to the attached contractor, but he was coming on to her. She’d been the other woman in a relationship before and was determined to nip this in the bud. She whirled around, and he was standing inches from her. She stared into his brown eyes and was lost. She remembered stammering something unintelligible.

  Cid felt a subtle prod in the middle of his back. He would talk to Murphy later about his cupid activities, but right now all he wanted was to kiss the code inspector. He did.

  Marta felt his soft lips on hers, and she grabbed his shoulders, meaning to push him away but instead brought him closer. Her lips were betraying her resolve. They opened, and the kiss deepened. She caught herself before she let her hands move down his back. She pulled away stammering, “What, what about Audrey?”

  Cid, pulled from the fog of his first kiss, repeated, “Audrey?”

  “Yes. I’m not the type of girl that breaks up couples.”

  “Audrey isn’t my girlfriend. She’s a colleague,” Cid explained. He took a step back to clear his head. “I’m sorry. I really don’t know how to behave around a beautiful woman. I’m a nerd,” he explained.

  “Don’t lie to me, with your looks…”

  “Wait,” Cid said, pulling out his wallet. “Until I had my eyes fixed, I looked like this,” he said, handing her the picture he kept there as a reminder. “Blind as a bat.”

  “Oh wow, coke-bottle lenses,” she said. “Wait. I have something to show you too.” She pulled out her iPhone and scrolled through her pictures and settled on one. “This is me in high school,” she said, turning the phone around. “They called me The Tower.”

  Cid looked at the women a full head taller than the group that she was pictured with.

  “I didn’t date until college, and that was just with jocks. I don’t like jocks.”

  “I’m not a jock.”

  “I know, you said you were a nerd.”

  “Yes. And a pedantic putz according to Mia.”

  “Pedantic putz I could get used to,” Marta said thoughtfully.

  “Can I kiss you again?” Cid asked boyishly.

  “If you pass this inspection. I don’t want my loins influencing the result,” she said half joking.

  Cid thrust the diagrams in her hands and took three obvious steps backwards.

  This caused Marta to laugh. She noticed the blush spreading across the handsome man’s face. She was in trouble. She really liked him. Marta concentrated on the job at hand and checked out a few things. “Why all the outlets in the floor?”

  “The owners want to grow herbs year round and figured that the deciduous leaves may block most of the early sunshine. So growth lights will be used.”

  “Herbs as in…”

  “Basil, Oregano,” Cid said and continued to list fourteen others.

  “Stop. I was just making sure hemp wasn’t the main crop,” she said.

  “Are you the pot police?” he asked.

  “No, just wouldn’t want you to be involved in a little home industry that would land your pretty behind in jail. You wouldn’t fair well.”

  “Miss Steensen!” Cid said shocked.

  “Was it the pot remark or the pretty behind one?” she asked amused. She glanced sideways at Cid.

  “I feel so cheap. I’m going to be in the office if you need me,” he informed her as he turned heel and walked off. He called over his shoulder, “Stop looking at my ass.”

  Marta laughed. She really liked this Cid Garrett. She put her mind back to her reason for being there. “First the wiring, next the stud,” she said.

  Murphy looked on, satisfied with himself. He knew Cid was going to kill him, but that didn’t worry Murphy because he was already dead.

  Chapter Five

  “I think that Madison haunt is an interesting one. Audrey, I agree with Mia that we need you to scour the internet and reference libraries to see if you can get a handle on the history of their and the surrounding houses. Check out this Peter Zimmer too,” Burt suggested. “Perhaps there’s a police record somewhere…”

  The theme to Dragnet blasted out of the computer speakers.

  Burt winced and looked at Ted who was looking at something Cid was writing on a piece of paper.

  “Ted, could you put Jake on ice, please? Just until after the meeting,” Burt begged. “He’s giving me a migraine.”

  Forty-two cures for migraines flashed on the three giant monitors behind Burt.

  Mia stifled a laugh. Mike nudged her. She nudged him back, and soon the two were pushing at each other.

  “Children!” Burt admonished. “You two. Mia, move over there. Audrey, scoot over, and, gentlemen, what is so interesting on that piece of paper?” Burt said, snatching it from under Cid’s hand. He scanned it and tried not to smile but couldn’t stop it.

  Mia reached up and snatched it from him and, after one glance, handed it back to Cid. She didn’t make eye contact with the mortified investigator. She didn’t know who Marta was, but Mrs. Marta Garrett sounded interesting. It was in a big heart with lots of little hearts and flower doodles around it. Mia found it sweet. She wondered what happened to Internet Sandy. She glanced at Burt, and he twitched his mouth a few times before getting his laughter under control.

  “As I was saying,” Burt continued. “According to her husband Max, Kim Madison is being haunted by what appears to be a man who was caught peeping in the bathroom window of her childhood home.”

  “I’ll check that out too,” Audrey said, making a note. “It would help if we had someone in the police force…”

  The Dragnet theme sounded again. This time the monitor showed the County Sheriff’s department logo, the Illinois State Police logo and the municipality of Amber Woods, Indiana, police logo simultaneously.

  “No! No hacking,” Burt said. “Ted, explain it to to…”

&
nbsp; “Jake, his name is Jake,” Ted said and got up and walked over and began typing out commands. There was a battle between the video flashes of question marks, white chickens, computers behind bars, and the frantic keystrokes of the tech. Finally the machine settled down. Ted wiped his forehead and walked back and eased into his chair.

  “He understands?” Burt asked.

  “He’s always understood. He’s just trying to help,” Ted said with a tired voice. “We do need to find some kind of position for him to fill. This way he won’t be so eager to breach the FBI database and send us all to jail.”

  “Surveillance,” Mia blurted out.

  “Explain,” Ted asked.

  “Why not let Jake have control over curly and the video feeds. This way he can make sure we aren’t being watched by…”

  “Ghosts,” Murphy voiced from behind Mia.

  “Yes, and people who are way too interested in what we are doing. Jake could be our advance warning device, er, person… no, computer, shit,” Mia said, holding her hands up. “You get the idea?”

  “He’s been very helpful with research,” Audrey chimed in.

  “I agree with Miss Mary Sunshine,” Mike said. “The guy has a handle on the net. We just have to limit his hacking, and I think he would make a great researcher when we’re not physically investigating. While we are, he can have our backs. He did a great job, I understand, during the Wheaton investigation.”

  “He was brilliant,” Mia commented.

  “He was that,” Burt had to admit. “When Ted was taken, he not only raised the alarm but brought Curly out as an offensive blocker.”

  “Saved my bacon,” Mia said, remembering the small centipede-like machine acting as a cobra, striking out at the ghost who tried to harm her.

  Upon the center screen, a Kewpie doll’s head was centered with a Photoshop-blush spread across its plastic face.