by Alexie Aaron
“Then?” Mia questioned.
He looked her over. “There’s a lot of then. Let’s take this one step at a time.”
“I only have ten minutes.”
“Let them wait. I’ll call over and tell them I need more time.” Dash ran the water and stuck Mia’s head under the faucet.
The team was assembled in the trailer when Mia and Dash walked in.
“Sorry we’re late. It’s my fault,” Mia said, sliding into the chair Mike saved for her.
Burt couldn’t be mad at her if he tried. Mia looked like his graphic novel version of her with the addition of the baby bump. He suspected Dash had helped with her hair and wardrobe. But Dash was the client, and he if needed extra time to dress Mia in one of his staff’s black stretchy t-shirts, black leggings and combat boots, who was he to complain. Her hair was swept up into a ponytail that cascaded down her back. He noticed Ted staring open-mouthed and realized his was open too. He blushed and started talking, “We were just catching Sabine and Mike up on what happened while they were gone,” he explained.
Mia nodded and settled back to listen.
Jake’s eyeball persona developed a heart in the pupil. Mia scrunched up her face, embarrassed.
“Ira, I’d like you to work with Barb until Sabine and Mike finish with today’s walk-through filming. Then you two could spend some time looking around in a bilocated form?” Burt suggested. “Jake will monitor your vitals.”
“I’d like that,” Ira said to Sabine who nodded in return.
“Cid, I’d like you to run the camera today. I’m a bit battered,” Burt admitted.
“In your opinion, can I open this evening?” Dash asked Burt.
Burt looked over at Mia. She stared at Murphy. He nodded.
“Yes, ghost-wise I think you’re covered, but after talking it over with Cid, I feel that Burt’s attacker is flesh and blood, and I have no clue who it could be. Have you received hate mail of any kind?” Mia asked. “The reason I ask is that, aside from attacking Burt and shoving him in a stall in the ladies’, there was no other crime. Nothing, to our knowledge, was taken. Whoever it was, seemed to know how to stay out of the cameras. Perhaps a disgruntled employee?”
“My employees are overpaid and love me,” Dash said. “I did get a less than enthusiastic reception from the neighbors when I opened the bar.”
“But there is a bar down the street?” Ira questioned.
“But not this kind of bar…” Dash said, hoping the team would pick up on his unspoken words.
“He means a bar catering to gays,” Mason told Ira.
“Oh. Okay,” he responded.
“How did they show their disappointment?” Mike asked delicately.
“Letters. Graffiti and my car windows were smashed.”
“Do you still have the letters?” Mike asked.
“No, I gave them to the police. I haven’t received any more since the police got involved. They put an extra car on patrol, and aside from the paranormal activity, no one has lashed out since. I think it’s because we keep the velvet rope peeps under control. Aside from some loud laughter, the neighbors have little to complain about,” he said with confidence.
“Maybe Burt interrupted a burglary,” Sabine suggested.
“But why put him in the bathroom?” Mia questioned.
Sabine raised her hands and said, “People are strange.”
“They are…” Mia said, her voice drifting off.
“I smell a rat,” Mason said. “If I were robbing the place, I would have avoided the battery charge of clunking Burt over the head.”
“How’d he get in?” Dash asked.
“If it were me, I’d wait in the ladies’ john until you folks left and then prowled around,” Mason said.
“Gee, it’s nice we have our own felon to consult,” Mike said dryly.
“And I’m not charging you a premium for it,” Mason fired back.
“Boys,” Mia warned.
“The boy makes sense,” Dash said. “Melinda, the sous chef, manages the ladies’ and usually checks the place for cleanliness before she leaves. The kitchen closes before the bar. Our cleaner takes care of it first thing when he comes in. The boys’ now, I check before leaving. It’s a dirty job that I refuse to lose a good employee over.”
Sabine looked confused. Mia sent her a memory of Brian being distracted while he was aiming for the toilet from his little stool. Sabine smiled and sent back, “Girls are so much easier than boys when it comes to toilet time.”
There was a banging on the door. Cid opened it up to find an excited Barb.
“Pardon me, but you guys have to see this.”
“Mind telling us what and where?”
“Where is the pit, what is a surprise,” Barb said.
The PEEPs followed her out of the trailer and down to the dig site. Murphy grabbed ahold of Mia’s arm in the guise of helping her, but she knew he was nervous.
Nietzsche stood by a tarp-covered excavation. Barb waited for them to get sorted before nodding to her O.I.
Nietzsche took off the tarp and exposed the find. It looked like it had grown out of the side of the excavation. It was made of cast iron and painted with lead paint.
“It’s a sign of some kind,” Mike said, squatting down. “It says, McNally’s.”
Murphy’s grip tightened on Mia’s arm. She patted it, looking over at Ted for help. He moved to Murphy and said, “Hang on, dude, we won’t know for sure your dad’s bones are in there until we go in,” he said.
Sabine looked at Murphy, down in the hole, and then back up at Murphy. “It could just be the sign.”
Barb shook her head. “The sign is attached to the roof ridge of a building. PEEPs, you’re looking at history here. That is, if the rest of the building isn’t crushed. This could be the first complete building discovered in the ground of this city. I’ve called in the cavalry and got permission from the university to hire on laborers. Mr. Renee, you have a priceless artifact on your property.”
Murphy released Mia’s arm. He didn’t see the bruise he left. Mia quickly covered it with her hand. He moved to the other side of the excavation where three ghosts sat staring.
“Imagine that, McNally’s, a priceless piece of art,” Fergus said.
“No, eejit, she said artifact,” Roy corrected.
“What’s an artifact?” Grady asked the other two. They didn’t know.
Murphy approached them. “I’m Stephen Murphy. I work for PEEPs. How can we be of help?”
Chapter Twenty-three
“Well, this is the little lady’s Stephen Murphy,” Fergus told the others. She thinks he’s Kevin’s son. But look at him…”
“I am looking at him. He looks like the Callen side of the family alright, but much older than Kevin,” Roy said. “How old were you when you died?”
“Thirty-three, I think,” Murphy answered.
“How old were you when your father…”
“Disappeared,” Murphy blurted out, then growled, “Five.”
“All those years without a father has made you cranky. Putting up with that woman with her shrewish mouth…” Roy said, wrinkling his nose.
“Don’t talk about my mother that way!” Murph barked.
Mia moved quickly, but Cid, who had heard what she heard, caught her arm and held her back. “He’s not going to appreciate you coming to the rescue.”
“You’re right,” Mia said.
Ted put on his tri-spectrum glasses and saw what he was used to identifying as Murphy standing over three seated entities. “Is that our wrecking crew?” he asked.
“Yes,” Mia fumed.
“They’re picking on Murphy,” Cid explained. “But he’s calmed down now.”
Roy held his hands up and said, “I meant no offense, but the Catherine Murphy I knew was a mean woman.”
“If you were collecting money from Saint Mary, Saint Mary would be a mean woman too,” Grady pointed out.
“How’d you die little Stevi
e?” Fergus asked.
“A tree fell on me.”
“Hell of a way to go.”
“How’d we die?” Grady asked. “I don’t remember.”
“Beats me. One minute, I’m drinking with the boy’s dad, and the next, I’m following Roy’s big arse up and out of the ground,” Fergus said.
“How about you? How’d you die?” Murphy asked Roy.
“Earlier in the day, I felt a tremor. The dirt clods on the floorboards were jumping. But it stopped. I went out and collected some rents, and then when I came back, the place was filled. I put the rent packets in the safe, came out, and then nothing. I’ve been wracking my brain, but there’s nothing there.”
Grady started to say something, but a look from Roy stopped him. “Don’t you dare.” He turned back to Murphy. “After the nothing, I sees Grady, and he owes me big, so I chase him and ended up out here. There were all these strange machines. I tried to go back down, but I couldn’t get by those strange barrels.”
“So you got out first,” Murphy told Grady.
“I did, didn’t I?” Grady put his thumbs in his waistband and puffed out his chest. “I was knocked silly by all those noisy machines, but the men working around them seemed like regular guys. I tried to go home, but there’s nothing I remember out here. I gets to thinking that maybe I’m dreaming and to just go with it. So I let go and found myself inside the bar over there. I goes to take a drink, and my hand goes through the feckin bottle. I wasn’t really thirsty, but damn, I tried again, and I could actually lift the bottle. Then this arse comes in and scares the crap out of me. I dropped the damn thing. He starts on me about the money I owe him, and this fancy man yells, startling us, and I find myself back in the pit again. But this time, Roy’s paws aren’t around me throat.”
“When did you figure out it wasn’t a dream?” Murphy asked.
“I wasn’t hungry. We never had enough to eat, and I’ve been hungry since I was a wee one. Didn’t matter when we did have enough nickels to rub together, I still was hungry. I’m not hungry now.”
“I have to admit to being disappointed,” Fergus said. “Me mam said, Fergus, you mend your ways or you’ll soon be speaking with the Devil. Unless Roy’s the Devil, then I think she was telling me fibs all along.”
“You didn’t see a light?” Murphy asked.
“No, just them street lamps,” Fergus answered.
The other two shook their heads.
“Maybe you have unfinished business,” Murphy suggested.
“My only unfinished business is to get the four dollars this hoyden owes me,” Roy said.
“No, not that kind of business. Business of the soul.”
“You’re sounding like Father McKinney,” Grady complained. “Take me to the nearest priest, and I’ll confess all my sins if it will get that devil off my back.” Grady pointed at Roy.
“I could bring a priest to you,” Murphy offered.
“Not just yet,” Fergus pleaded. “Let us stay, and help our friends out of the ground.”
“It ain’t up to me. It’s up to the light. If it comes, you better get on it or you’ll be stuck.”
“How come you’re still here?” Roy asked suspiciously.
“I have unfinished business,” Murphy lied.
“Huh,” Cid said.
“What’s the matter?” Mia asked.
“Murphy just lied. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him lie before.”
“I have,” Mia said. “This time though, his lie had a purpose. He doesn’t want them getting the idea they can stay around and haunt this neighborhood. These hooligans would be very difficult to wrangle once they are set loose on the city.”
“Isn’t it still up to them?” Cid asked.
“Yes, but they will have to know the cost of staying and the punishment for hurting the living. I’ll take care of that when the time comes. Right now, I have a feeling the universe needs them here. Why? I don’t know, but they are part of a puzzle that we better figure out. They can do something other ghosts can’t do.”
“What’s that?” Ted asked.
“Smell. Unless they are really powerful, ghosts can’t smell or eat, at least not on this plane of existence.”
“Mia!” Sabine called.
“Excuse me,” Mia said and walked over to where Sabine was. “You called?”
“Look over there in the corner by the broken wood forms. What do you see?”
“Shadows and something pretending to be a shadow. It’s thicker. I think it’s the Dark Watcher. I have a suggestion. Why don’t you and Ira OOB and see if he can see you?”
“Why do you call it a he?”
“Laziness, I call most things I can’t understand he,” Mia admitted.
Sabine shook her head in amazement. “Mia, you live and work surrounded by males.”
“Audrey normally keeps me sane, but today, I have you,” Mia said and hugged her cousin.
Ted watched his wife and Sabine. He leaned in and whispered to Cid, “I wonder what happens when two sensitives touch like that?”
“Ask Mia later. I imagine less than we think is happening.”
“Probably,” Ted said. What Ted was thinking was, what happens when a male and a female sensitive make love? He could not imagine anything better than he felt being with Mia, but what if the two of them could reach another plane at the same time? Mia could read his body, and he suspected she used it to enhance their time together. He would love to return the favor, and the pleasure.
“Ted. Ted. Ted,” Cid said and finally hit him on the arm.
“Waaah,” Ted said coming around. “What did you do that for?”
“You were in your head again. Burt wants you to set up Sabine and Ira to bilocate. Mason is going to watch so he can take your place if needed.”
“Fine.”
~
Tom waited beside Lazar for Dieter and Mark to come out of the locker room. Both men had caught the end of the practice. Mark was a natural running back; he was muscled and low to the ground, but Tom suspected, when Mark’s height kicked in, he’d be a better tight end. Dieter was amazing. He had the discipline to run the routes and his large hands cradled the football like a baby. Tom would mention that perhaps he should bring it into his chest more to protect it as he started running with it. He knew that Susan, his mother, was secretly training Dieter. He’d tell her what he saw and see what she could do.
Dieter and Mark walked out chatting together. Both boys became alarmed seeing the deputy standing there and ran to the car.
“What’s wrong?” Dieter asked.
“Nothing. As far as I know, your mom, dad and Brian are fine. My mother Skyped with Brian this afternoon. He’s been staying in Ted’s old room. He told Mom that his grandparents were perplexing, whatever that means.”
“I’ll be sure to ask him when I talk to him next. Can I ask then, why are you here?”
“I have a favor to ask…” Tom looked at Mark and added, “of both of you boys.” He went on to explain who Edwin Gifford was and why he thought something untoward had happened to the ghost. “Mia thought maybe you may be able to pick up a trail if there was one. If not you, perhaps Mark.”
“Lazar, would I be able to go with Deputy Braverman?”
“I don’t see why not. Mark, you better call your mother and ask. Tell her I’ll be along for the ride.”
Tom wasn’t expecting this, but he could understand that it was Lazar’s job on the line if anything happened to Dieter.
Lazar followed the cruiser to Bea White’s house. He parked his car in the street. Tom waited until he joined them to ring the bell.
Bea opened the door. “Any news?” she asked Tom.
“No, but I brought some help. Bea this is Dieter, his friend Mark, and my friend Lazar.”
“Nice to meet you all. I’ll leave you to it,” Bea said and walked into the kitchen.
“Where are we going?” Dieter asked.
“I thought we’d start in the attic,” Tom s
aid.
“I’ll wait for you down here. Maybe I can spot something amiss,” Lazar said.
The three bounded up the stairs.
Lazar walked around the living room. He ran his hand over the maple wainscoting. He bent down to examine a few sections and moved on.
“How long has it been since your accident?” Bea asked from the kitchen doorway.
“It wasn’t an accident. It was a bomb, and it has been two years,” he answered politely.
“My fiancé lost his arm in a farming accident. He had a hard time adjusting. No one thought of getting him someone to talk to. He wouldn’t talk to me. He just sat in his parents’ parlor and wasted away.”
“I’m sorry for your loss,” Lazar said. “Things are better now, not perfect, but better. As long as I can be employed and take care of myself, I’ll be right as rain.”
“Where are you working now?” Bea asked.
“I’m the asylum keeper at the Martin farm. I keep an eye on things and Dieter while the Martins are working. I do just about everything.”
“I watched over Mia for a while when she was her son Dieter’s age.”
Lazar stopped and smiled. “What a wonderful coincidence.”
“It is, isn’t it? I ran a boarding house on 3rd Street. Mia was my only young person boarding there. The rest of my boarders were old men with no one to watch over them. Mia was an emancipated minor, but she did need watching.”
“I bet she did.”
“I take it you know she’s gifted.”
“Yes, and I know the farm is haunted.”
“Phew! One never knows how much to say. This town runs with every piece of information. They exaggerate the hell out of it, and it returns with not what you said at all.”
“Most small towns are like that.”
“I found out Mia was different when Mr. Williams died. She and I were in the front parlor. I was trying to teach the poor thing to knit so she could pass home economics. She looked behind me and said, ‘Mr. Williams died. He says thank you for your care, and he will see you in heaven.’ And she went back to her knitting as if nothing happened. I ran upstairs and found that Mr. Williams had died in his sleep.”
