by Alexie Aaron
Elaine called and didn’t receive an answer. “He’s not at home, although I don’t remember seeing him leave. Could be he is visiting another resident,” she offered.
Mia thanked her.
“I’m going back up to Sissy’s,” Audrey said. “I want to show her what I’ve found and ask her a few more questions. Remember they were there at the New Year’s Eve party. Perhaps some of McConaughey’s clippings will help her to remember the night.”
“Sounds like an excellent idea. I’m going to check in with Ted and then go over and spend some time at Ralph and Bernard’s. I am supposed to be house sitting, but I have a feeling that tonight I’ll be roaming these halls instead of sleeping in Ralph’s guestroom.”
Murphy settled into a corner and watched as Benny lumbered down the hallway of the second floor. He pushed his head through the wood of the doors looking for something. Murphy stepped out of the shadows and greeted the ghost as if they were old pals. Benny put a finger to his lips and shook his head.
Murphy flipped his hand out as if he held a knife and Benny nodded. So Benny was looking for, or was avoiding, the thin ghost. Murphy wanted to ask him who his boss was but didn’t want to jeopardize their tentative friendship or put Benny in danger. Whoever had a hold on this spirit was strong.
Benny moved closer and bent down close to Murphy’s head and whispered, “Your lady friend is in danger.”
Murphy nodded and took off in search of Mia.
Benny watched the ghost leave and pondered how he had become such good friends with the bouncy redhead.
Chapter Eleven
Murphy popped up, axe in hand, in front of Mia, scaring the crap out of her.
“Bloody hell, Murph, are you trying to give me a heart attack?” Mia said, attracting the unwanted attention of the cleaning crew in the lobby.
“You’re in danger,” Murphy said.
“From what?” Mia questioned.
Stephen couldn’t answer her because Benny wasn’t that specific.
The elevator stopped on the fourth floor. Audrey backed up as the door opened, making room for whoever had called the lift. The hall was empty, and no one got on. She reached over and pressed the button to close the doors. They slid shut, and the elevator once again rose, headed for the sixth floor.
The doors opened, and Audrey stepped out. A draft of cold air followed her, and she turned around. She didn’t see anything behind her. The doors were beginning to shut. Audrey felt a hard shove, and she fell forward into the elevator. The doors closed on her ankle gently before bouncing back open. Audrey crawled forward and managed to get on her feet when the doors tried for a second time to close. She reached out to open the doors when her fingers were slapped away by an unseen hand. She saw the eighth floor button light up, and the elevator started to rise.
She touched her com and cried, “Something’s got me in the small elevator going to the eighth floor!”
Ted typed fast and put an alert out connecting all coms. “Audrey’s in trouble in the elevator heading for the eighth floor.”
Mia, who was trying to explain to Murphy that she was fine, started off towards the large elevator. “Murph, Audrey’s in trouble on the eighth floor.”
Murphy moved quickly to the outside of the building where he didn’t have to deal with the iron in the steel supports and headed upwards.
The doors opened on eight. Audrey felt a hand grab her by the hair and pull her out of the lift. She stumbled along, dropping papers out of the file folder as the entity pulled her towards the stairs to the roof.
Cid and Mike, who were interviewing Sissy and Naomi in their sixth floor apartment, excused themselves and ran out of the apartment heading for the stairs. They didn’t want to call for the elevator, fearing it would impede the progress of any help that was taking the large lift upwards.
Burt politely declined the offered tea from the ladies of the third floor. He waited until they had shut the door before taking off running towards the elevator. Both elevators were engaged. He banged a fist on the wall in frustration. Audrey was in trouble, and he was too far away to help her. Calming himself, he prayed that the other members of the team would get to her in time.
Murphy floated across the roof intending to enter the building through the access door when it opened. He could see Skinny holding a fistful of Audrey’s hair, pushing the frightened woman through the door ahead of him. Audrey, who had had enough of being brutalized this way, started screaming and kicking. She flailed around with her arms, trying to disengage the entity’s hold on her hair.
“Let her go!” Murphy demanded.
Skinny, surprised by the axe-wielding farmer, shoved Audrey hard to the ground in front of him. He took out his knife and threatened, “One step closer, and I’ll slice off her head.” To show his commitment to the violence, he pulled up her hair and sliced off a chunk of the curls.
Audrey screamed as her hair was yanked and then scattered on the roof around her. “You fucker!”
A very surprised Mia, who never heard her friend use such language before, ran out of the roof entrance and dove forward, concentrating on making her body connect with the ghostly flesh of the knife-holding ghost. She hit him hard, bringing both of them to the grainy surface of the roof.
Audrey scrambled backwards, not able to see anything but Mia on the ground.
“Get out of here,” Mia screamed at Audrey.
Audrey got to her feet and ran, touching her com yelling, “Mia’s alone up here and needs help!” She barreled down the steps and fell into Mike’s arms crying, “You’ve got to help her!”
Cid passed the two of them on the stairs and ran out onto the roof.
Mia was on her back battling something above her when Cid heard a mighty CRACK!
Murphy, well aware that Mia was in the way, missed Skinny on purpose, moving him away from Mia before he raised his axe again.
Mia, sensing that Murphy was having difficulty getting a clear shot, rolled to her left, trying to get out of Murphy’s way.
The farmer swung his axe again, this time connecting with the ghost’s shoulder, separating the knife-holding appendage from the rest of the entity. Mia scrambled over and picked up the knife, got to her feet, ran over and tossed it off the roof.
Murphy took another swing at the ghost, bisecting him at the waistline. The hooligan shook his remaining fist at Murphy before he dissipated.
“Don’t worry, Ted, Murphy’s got this under control,” Cid reported, walking over to help a very winded and cold Mia into the building.
“How’s Audrey?” she managed, breathing hard.
“Alive, thanks to you and Murphy,” Cid said. “She’s scared. Mike’s got her.”
“I’d be scared if Mike had me too,” Mia joked.
“Hey now, I can hear you,” Mike said irritated.
“PEEPs, report in,” Burt demanded over the open com.
“Mia Martin on the roof with Murphy and Cid, over,” Mia said, giving Murph a victory sign.
“Mike on the eighth floor with Audrey picking up papers, over.”
“Ted sitting in the command center with my feet up, pondering if it’s too early to order pizza, over.”
~
“Why attack Audrey?” Burt asked the group.
“We had just obtained information on the Masters diamonds, and I was on my way to sort them out when I was kidnapped. Whatever it was…”
“Skinny, the hooligan from the Seeley apartment,” Mia filled in.
“He got on at the fourth floor.”
“Seems odd that a ghost has to call the elevator,” Mike said.
“There’s a lot of steel which is made with iron in an elevator door,” Cid informed him. “The whole building is made of steel. Murphy is having trouble navigating. It’s a power-draining maze in here.”
“Murph, can I speak for you?” Mia asked, looking at her friend standing a few feet away from the conference table. He nodded and Mia continued, “He was warned that one of us female
s was in trouble. He had just located me when Audrey was taken. He had to go outside the building in order to get to her in time.”
“Why was Audrey alone?” Burt asked.
“That was my fault,” Mia admitted. “I should have gone with her.”
“Why?” Audrey asked. “I was just going to the Seeley apartment. We weren’t investigating at the time.”
“If we are in this building, we are investigating,” Burt reminded the group. “I found out the hard way what investigating alone gets you. Mia, you don’t have to fall on your sword. Thank you and Murphy for putting yourselves out there to save our colleague. Murphy, is the ghost gone now?”
“He’s shaking his head no,” Mia interpreted. “Skinny’s probably recharging. It will take him a while.”
Murphy pointed to the floor.
“Wouldn’t now be a good time to investigate the lower floor?” Mia suggested.
“Yes, I think so. Cid, bring the multi-spectrum camera. Mike and I will head down there. Mia, if you could follow us after escorting Audrey upstairs?”
Mia nodded. Audrey seemed a bit miffed, but Mia would let her talk it out after the group disbanded. “Audrey, put on a coat. We have something to do before we go to the fourth floor.
Ted looked up from the keyboard and motioned for Mia.
“I checked out the tape of the roof fight, and you tossed something over the east side of the building. Does that help?”
Mia smiled. “It saves me looking on the north, south and west side.” She walked over and asked, “Can you let me in the truck? I need the large box of kosher salt.”
“I’ll watch the console,” Audrey offered. “Take your time, wink wink.”
Ted and Mia walked out through the small rear exit. Ted unlocked the back and raised the door. It was cold inside, but it was private. Ted picked her up and embraced her. They found each other’s lips and kissed long and hard.
Ted broke off and looked down at her. “I’m not going to lie to you and say that I didn’t worry about you on the roof, or in this building for that matter,” Ted said.
“I wasn’t in any danger because I could see the guy. Audrey, however, was at a distinct disadvantage.” Mia walked over to the supply bin and extracted the economy-sized box of kosher salt.
“Why do you need such a large box?” Ted asked, handing her a PEEPs backpack to put it in.
“I’ve got an idea on how to disable the hooligan called Skinny. If I can find the spectral knife and encase it in salt, perhaps I can slow the ghost’s recharging time,” she answered. Mia placed the box inside and hefted the pack onto her back. She picked up a large flashlight before reaching for her husband and kissed him once more.
“What’s that for?”
“Luck. I’m going to need it if I’m going to find an invisible knife in the shadows with night quickly falling.”
“That sounded very poetic,” Ted said. “And so he let her go, with her box of salt, on a mission to find the spectral knife.”
Mia curtseyed.
“It’s friggin’ cold out here,” Mia complained as she climbed the green dumpster.
“Do you really have to do that?” Audrey said, holding her nose.
“I’ve looked everywhere else. I didn’t know when I tossed the knife that the lid to the trash bin was open.”
“What if the entity already retrieved his knife?”
“I don’t think so. Murph did a number on him. He’s in limbo right now fighting to reform without his power supply.”
“I don’t understand.”
Mia jumped down into the bin and turned on the flashlight. “If Murphy’s axe helps him draw power, then let’s assume that the switchblade is Skinny’s energy conduit. Damn, I’m glad it’s too cold for rats. There is … wait. Well, I’ll be damned. Here,” she said, tossing out a white trash bag of clothing.
“Now is not the time for shopping,” Audrey said as she glanced through the bag of soot-covered clothing. “Oh. It appears that you’re not the only one that has been climbing through the chimneys.” She pulled out a long-sleeved shirt and denim work pants. “We can rule Harvey and Howard out. These things are small enough for me to wear.”
She heard a muffled curse from Mia. After a few more curses came an exclamation of joy. “Eureka!” Mia scrambled out of the trash bin. She jumped to the ground and opened her backpack with one hand.
Audrey watched as she slid something out of her clasped hand into the top of the salt box. She closed it and shook it. “There.”
“Care to explain?”
“Oh, I found the knife, and now it’s surrounded by salt. Let’s see how brave the hooligan is without his knife. You were saying something while I was neck deep in Styrofoam takeout?”
“Judging by the size of the clothes, we can rule Mr. McConaughey and Howard Duff out.”
Mia watched as Audrey held up the sooty trousers. “We are looking for someone my height with much smaller hips. A little dude or thin-hipped dudette.”
“We have to find a way to get a look at Edward Jones,” Mia said, scraping something foul off her boots.
“What about the third floor women? Don’t exclude them because they’re female,” Audrey insisted. She handed the pants and shirt to Mia to examine.
“Audrey, these clothes are from a discount store. Can you see any of those society women wearing something like this, let alone walking into a box store?”
“Good point. What about Mrs. Abrams? She’s small and quite strong. She could have faked her attack.”
“Perhaps, but I think I’ll keep to my sexist theory. I’m ready for my guess. It was Edward Jones in the chimney with a map,” she said, pulling a forgotten piece of blueprint out of the pocket of the pants.
Burt and Mike squeezed behind the large, rusted oil containers and worked their way to the place where Murphy had aided Benny with the bricks.
“It’s the safe Murphy told Mia about. Why would anyone put a safe here? It stands to reason that these tanks were set here to maintain the supply of oil for the original furnace,” Burt said.
Mike pulled down on the lever. “It’s locked.”
“Did you really think it wouldn’t be?” Burt said amused.
“You never know. I once called a locksmith when I lost Ma’s keys, only to find out after the guy arrived that the back door was unlocked, an expensive lesson to learn. Do you think Murphy could look in here?”
“Negative,” Cid’s voice drifted over from where he was filming. “Iron. Mia may be able to oob small enough…”
“No. Too dangerous,” Burt dismissed. “Besides, there wouldn’t be any light inside for her to see anything.”
“I’ve got a question. What happens when the resident loses their combination? There must be a master list kept somewhere?” Mike asked.
“I doubt it. That would be a major security issue, but I’ll ask Mr. Stewart when we go up. Murphy said the large ghost was very interested in the safe. Said he was looking for his bones,” Burt told them.
“That just put a chill down my spine. You’re trying for the Bella Lugosi award for this investigation aren’t you, Burt?” Mike complained.
“It always comes down to bones in this job, Mike. We should just hope it isn’t our bones in question.”
“That’s it, you get the award.”
“Leave the shoes and take these.” Ted pushed a PEEPs tee and sweatpants at Mia. “I’ll hose the swill off these in the utility sink over there.”
Mia extracted the salt box from her backpack and set it next to the keyboard on the command console table. “Put some duct tape around this, please?” she asked.
“I’ll make it a priority,” Ted said absently as he held the odorous boots away from him.
Audrey followed Mia into the women’s locker room and waited for her to shower.
“You know,” Mia said as she washed the grime and clinging odor off. “This is my second shower today. My hair is going to… Oh sorry, Audrey.”
Audrey
had forgotten about her shorn locks until that moment. She walked over and looked in the mirror. Gone from the right side of her head were the long spirals of red hair. She looked like a confused punk. She pushed the left curls behind her ear and winced. It wasn’t any better. In her angst she didn’t hear the shower stop, and when Mia gently took her hands away from her face, she was in full meltdown.
“Here let me,” Mia said gently. “Sit down over by the lockers. Mia followed her, digging through the pack she carried. “Trust me,” Mia said.
Audrey sat there while Mia combed her fingers through Audrey’s remaining locks. She twisted and tugged until she had achieved a braid, securing the errant short curls with tiny ghost and skull barrettes. “There, go take a look. If you hate it, Ted will loan you one of his hats.”
Mia unwound the towel, pulled on her clothes and stuffed her soiled wear into the garbage bin after emptying the pockets. She mourned the loss of her coat and would have to make do with a doubled hoodie until she could get to Ralph’s.
Audrey looked at her hair and thought she looked like a tween. Hairdressing wasn’t one of Mia’s fortes, but she didn’t want to hurt her friend’s feelings. “It will do until I can get to a hairdresser.”
“Oooh, I have an idea. Let’s go to the salon Bev uses. If they can keep her looking twenty years younger, surely they can give you a style that you can live with until your hair grows back.”
“Too expensive for me.”
“We’re going to charge it to PEEPs,” Mia said.
“We can’t.”
“We can,” Mia insisted. “If Burt is going to treat us like irresponsible girly girls, then by golly, it’s irresponsible girly girls we will be.”
Mia walked out into the lobby and asked Elaine to inform the Seeleys of their arrival while Audrey waited at the elevator. She was pleased to see Albert had returned.
