by Agatha Ball
I could see that Ralph was reliving some glory days in the dreams Tango was spinning. The thought of having something to bang on with a hammer was like a siren's call.
"I'd need all the help building these things that you'd be willing to give."
"I like this guy..." mused Ralph, nodding approvingly.
"You could have both," Echo offered, his voice pitching up into the range of a kid about to complain that this wasn't fair, which I could see was a big turn off for Ralph.
Laying down the law, Tango stated, "I'm not going to do all that work for the benefit of a rival operation. Mine is an exclusive deal."
The two offers hung in the air for just a moment.
"I'm going with the showman," Ralph announced, putting out his hand. "Sold!"
Echo was so angry, if looks could kill, Tango would be dead. But Tango was grinning to beat the band. And, gotta say, Ralph's smile was almost as big.
"What do you want to buy first?" Ralph asked as excited as a five-year-old on Christmas morning. "What are you building?"
Granny cleared her throat, interrupting the men and bringing them back to earth. "Sorry to bother you all, but I do actually have something I need to discuss."
"Apologies, Cindy," said Ralph, gruffly. "Business and all."
"Of course," she said, putting on the charm like there was nothing she liked better than to be ignored by the person she was trying to buy a building from. "I am just here to clear out those items that were left in your storeroom so you don't have to deal with them. They'll be welcome treasures for the historical society."
"I want to buy all the artifacts, too," piped up Tango, shooting his hand up.
Granny was shocked. "Excuse me?"
Tango whipped a wad of cash out of his pocket and peeled off a one-hundred dollar bill. He handed it over to Ralph. "I want to buy it off of you."
Ralph slowly took it, and then apologized to Granny. "He's paying me, Cindy..."
Granny blinked, but didn't make a counter offer. "Whatever you think is best, Ralph. I hope you will treat those objects with respect," Granny chided Tango.
He held up his hands. "These are valuable artifacts. We think they may be related to the ghost and want to have a chance to sift through them before they are carted away. After we get what we need, I'll make sure to donate them to the historical society." He squinted. "I assume it will be tax deductable..."
"Well... thank you," she said, softening just a little. She leaned over conspiringly. "Do you really think the hardware store is haunted?"
"I dunno," said Tango, turning to Ralph. "But I'm thinking now would be a great time to see the space and feel if there are any vibrations!"
"Could I at least see the site so that if someone asks a question, I can answer it?" whined Echo.
"Sure," Ralph sighed, hauling his bony frame off his stool.
"I said exclusive," Tango reminded him.
Ralph shook his head. "I don't do any exclusivity until I see that first group come through. You might be all smoke and mirrors. Especially since you're talking a lot about smoke and mirrors," Ralph informed him. He then pointed at his aisles filled with tools and supplies. "But no upstairs tours without purchase."
Tango exclaimed, "But I just paid you for the stuff!"
"And it is going to take a lot more than $100 if I have to hire someone to haul it down!"
Granny tactfully decided not to volunteer.
"FINE!" Tango stated, stalking over and picking up a hammer. "I'll take one of these."
"And I'll take one of these!" Echo stated, picking up a saw.
Ralph rang them both up. I noted a little hint of a smile. "Anything for you, Cindy?" he asked casually.
"I'm buying the place, so I think I'm set."
"Fair enough." He got his bony body off his stool and started shuffling toward the wooden staircase. "Up there. I'll flip the lights on for you." He unclipped the chain blocking off the staircase, which seemed to take years to do.
We all trooped upstairs. Everything seemed exactly the way it had been before.
Tango shivered with excitement and then turned to me. "Okay, Paige. Tell me exactly what you saw."
I pointed toward the window by the fire escape. "Ralph had just wound the wire around the latch, but then when I was standing here, the wire came undone and popped open."
The two boys went rushing over. Granny leaned over to me. "Who's going to tell them this is an old building and probably just shifted?"
But the guys were too involved to notice us. Echo had pulled the ghost box out of his messenger bag. He had it pointed at the window and all the green lights were flashing. "There is DEFINITELY something here," he said as all the green lights change to red. "A vortex or something."
"Or something is right. Probably a box of magnets on one of those shelves," Granny muttered.
She walked over to the pile of stuff and picked up one of the albums.
"Don't touch it!" Tango said, snatching Echo's ghost box and coming over.
"Hey!" Echo called.
"There is definitely paranormal activity around this pile..." Tango mused. He shoved the ghost box back at Echo, then pulled his phone out of his pocket and started taking pictures. He stared closer at whatever he had just photographed. "Oh man... Orbs!" he called to Echo.
Echo peered at the screen, unable to contain the thrill of this moment beneath any sort of professional exterior. "I think you're right..."
"That's just a bunch of dust motes I kicked up," Granny muttered at me. She pulled out the photo album and then smiled as she wiped the cover. "Oh! It's the Tierneys!"
"Did any of them die in a tragic accident?" Tango asked, forgetting his phone to get closer to the objects.
Granny waved him away. "No. And don't go looking to capitalize on people's pain. It ain't right."
It was like he hadn't even heard her. "I should hold a séance," Tango mused.
Echo was fit to be tied, although more because he hadn't called out dibs first than professional outrage. "Well, if you hold a séance in here, I'll just find these Tierney's old house and hold a séance there, calling the ghost home instead of to a hardware store."
Tango looked at him like Echo had slapped him. "How dare you!" Tango exclaimed.
"Watch me!" Echo replied.
"You'll scare away the spirits."
"You'll scare away the vortex!"
Suddenly, Ralph's voice called from below. "I don't care what you do, just stop scaring away my customers!"
Chapter Nineteen
The next evening, the signboard outside of Trevor's saloon had the notice that they were having a séance in the actual place of a live poltergeist sighting. And there was a crowd gathered around the front door, shifting anxiously to get in on the new tour.
Nate rolled his eyes as we walked past. "Those two guys will stop at nothing to one up each other," he commented.
I had the night off and we were trying to figure out whether to go to Yvonne's Café for a quiet dinner or head up to the Halloween festival for junk food. I mean, the answer is always junk food, but I think maybe the universe was staging an intervention.
"We should totally go, shouldn't we?" I asked, calling his bluff.
Nate smiled. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."
"I mean... for research," I added, pretending like we needed a justification. "Just to see what damage Granny is going to have to repair when she buys the building."
"TOTALLY," said Nate. He placed his hand on his heart, honoring the great sacrifice we were making. "For Granny."
We both laughed and then lined up behind the group to get a ticket from Madison. She had traded out her sexy-pirate outfit for a sexy witch. But let me tell you, it didn't matter how much lace and sparkles she strapped around herself, no disguise could hide that she was a horrible human being.
"Did they ever figure out how all that stuff appeared in the middle of the storeroom?" Nate asked as we moved one more up in line.
"If you ask
me, Tango probably planted it to get the rumors started that something was going on."
When we got to the front, Madison looked at us smugly. "Coming to enjoy the best tour in town again?" she asked. "I really should get a pull-quote from you." She held up her hand like she was reading a headline. "How about: 'Founder and Girlfriend Secretly Ditch Their Family and Best Friend to Come on the Best Tour on the Island!' It has a nice ring of truth."
Suddenly, Lottie bounced up. "They're here to keep me company, Madison," she replied, giving Nate's arm a squeeze and our nemesis a sickly sweet smile. "Trevor personally invited me."
Madison's face bunched up. I know she wanted Lottie as far away from her boyfriend as possible, but in the same breath, knew Lottie could make or break their enterprise with the swipe of a pen. Switching into marketing mode, she managed to choke out, "I'm so glad you're here, too. Writing another article?"
"Always!" Lottie replied. "I'm thinking about covering customer service at small businesses and the little touches people do here in Seaside to make people feel welcome."
Madison darkened, getting the jibe, but bit her tongue. "Well. That sounds like a great spin. If you'll excuse me, I need to make sure I provide some of that customer service we at Trevor's saloon are so famous for."
As she walked away to gather up more money, I muttered under my breath, "They are definitely famous for something."
Lottie turned to Nate and me. "Sorry. Didn't know if you needed saving or not."
"Always happy to have a knight in shining armor defend our honor," Nate laughed. "What are you doing here?"
Lottie brightened. "My article was a huge hit. The edition completely sold out. So, the editors asked if I'd do a follow up."
I tried to act innocent and not blurt out that Tango and Echo had bought every copy they could get their hands on. Those two, in trying to cover things up, had created a monster.
But speaking of dueling ghost hunters, Tango sidled up beside me. Out of nowhere with not so much as a hello, he stated, "I'm going to tell them you were the witness."
"Don't you dare," I replied. "I paid to go on your tour. I'm here as a civilian."
He shook his head like he couldn't believe I would decline this opportunity for fame and his fortune. "Do you understand the power you hold in your hands? You saw a poltergeist and don't even seem to appreciate how huge that is."
"I saw the building shift and a wire pop off," I informed him.
"Skeptics are good. But don't be so skeptical that you keep your mind closed to the wonders of our unseen world."
"UGH!" I replied.
"Don't deny your gift..." he urged, backing away and whispering, "don't deny it..." He then turned to the group and gave his normal intro, stating that this was a super secret tour with a onetime only séance. I wondered if any of them would come back tomorrow to find out that it was happening again.
We headed up the street to the hardware store. A guy on the tour jumped out at his girlfriend to scare her, and her delighted shriek made us all laugh. I could practically imagine Echo's disapproving look at the shenanigans.
Tango took out his keys and opened the door to Ralph's hardware store. It was bathed in a black light that made all the sawdust on the floor glow.
"Right this way..." Tango said, ushering us in.
We climbed up the stairs to the storage room and a table had been set up with all the artifacts in the middle. Spooky music played and there was a hiss of atmospheric fog from a smoke machine. Battery operated candles sat on the storage shelves. The theatrics were a bit over the top. I picked up a little antique metal car that was tucked between cardboard boxes and put it where it was a little more visible. What good is a pretend ghost-child if you hide the props? Somehow, Tango had timed the soundtrack to have a creepy kid's laugh ring out right at that moment. I gave Nate a mock shiver, and then playfully wiped my fingers on the sleeve of his jacket.
"Ghost cooties..." I informed him.
To which he then took his arm and rubbed the invisible ghost cooties on my back. "EW!"
Tango interrupted us. "Now, if everyone would gather with me around the table, we'll see if we can contact the spirits who left these gifts of their lives past for us."
He stepped around behind the table, but suddenly there was a cracking sound. The plank beneath Tango gave way and his foot busted through. Desperately, he reached out and grabbed the closest thing to him, a set of shelves filled with heavy stock. It tilted and crashed down over him, burying him beneath.
Chapter Twenty
The room descended into chaos. Nate rushed over while I ran to the wall and flipped on the light, bathing everyone in the harsh glow of the overhead fluorescents.
"He's breathing..." Nate said. He turned to one of the guys. "Help me get this off him."
As they worked on pulling off the shelving, Lottie whipped out her phone. "The ambulance is on its way," she said, hanging up.
"I'll go down and meet them," I offered.
"Actually, could you get everyone out of here?" Nate asked. His eyes shifted nervously toward the gaping hole in the floor as he lied, "I don't know how much room the EMTs are going to need to work."
I realized we had no idea how stable this building was. Last thing we needed was to make the headlines because the hardware store had collapsed.
I turned to everyone on the tour. "Follow me."
Everyone seemed completely onboard with that idea, and they filed out behind me to wait outside. The cool night air was welcome to the staleness of that storeroom. A couple of the girls were crying softly from the shock.
But Lottie was on it. She took control of the situation. "If you'll all follow me to the saloon, I'm sure that Trevor would be happy to comp you all a free drink!" Lottie turned to me and whispered, "He'll comp them a drink, right?"
"Remind him that if he is able to counter all the impending bad word-of-mouth with a beverage, he'll be getting off cheap."
Lottie nodded in understanding, then turned back to the group. "Let's go! I don't know about you, but I sure could use a stiff one!"
There were chuckles of identifying laughter. Honestly, watching how well she did in a crisis, I could totally see why Nate had liked her. She was able to disarm everyone and unite them and even get them laughing a little about the whole horrible situation. I, personally, wished I could have joined them all for that beverage.
But instead, I folded up my arms to keep warm as I waited for the ambulance. It was there just moments later. Tim and his crew came running out with their backboard and gurney.
"Right this way," I said, opening the door for them.
There was a decrepit, ancient freight elevator and after a little trial and error, we were able to get it to work. By the time we got upstairs, Tango was awake but woozy.
"I think the shelf may have broken his leg," Nate said as the guys rushed over to check Tango out.
Tim came over to talk to us while his fellow EMTs took Tango's vitals and worked out how to get him onto the backboard with the least amount of pain.
"Is he going to be okay?" I asked.
Tim nodded as he pulled out a clipboard and clicked his pen. "We'll get him patched up. Just so we can tell the doctors, what exactly happened?"
"I guess it was just a rotted floorboard," Nate stated. "With the added weight of everyone up here, it just cracked. And then he reached out to catch his fall and pulled the shelf over on himself."
"Heck of an accident," said Tim, shaking his head to take notes. "Gotta get an inspector in here to figure out if it was just the board or if there is larger structural damage." He then half-joked, "We should also probably have Stan and Fred check it out to make sure the floorboard wasn't sawed or whatever conspiracy they'll come up with this week."
As soon as Tim said it, though, I thought back to the little saw that Echo had purchased in the hardware shop. He wouldn't have sliced through the floorboard, would he? Their professional rivalry wouldn't have caused him to stoop that low, would it ha
ve?
I glanced over and my eyes fell upon the board. A chill ran through my blood. The wood wasn't splintered. There was a clean cut.
Chapter Twenty-One
The next afternoon, Tango hobbled into Bitter Beans on his crutches.
"Tango! Glad to see you on your feet!" I said. "How are you feeling?"
"Lousy," he spat back. So much for my attempt to be a normal, compassionate human being around him. Tango scanned the room. "Do you know where Echo is?"
"He and Johnny sometimes stop by before his shift," I informed him.
"I know," he said.
"Well, that's not creepy at all," I stated, unable to keep the sarcasm from dripping from my voice.
"You have free coffee refills," he pointed out, like I was some sort of an idiot. "Of COURSE Echo is going to come here. He's a frickin' mooch."
"Speaking of," I said, hoping to give him the hint that he needed to buy something or leave, "what can I get you?"
Disinterested, he scanned the board. "Give me four shots of espresso over ice."
"Um... you sure your doctor would approve that much caffeine? You seem a little amped up already." He threw hate daggers with his eyes my direction. I held up my hands in defeat. "Just don't need your heart to pop before your tour tonight." As I fired up the espresso machine, I thought to myself that outcome would involve him actually having a heart. But I kept it to myself. "So, hey, you and Echo have a pretty intense rivalry."
The muscles of his jaw clenched.
But I wasn't done poking this bear. "They say that hate and love are different sides of the same coin. You two have a history together or something?"
"You wouldn't understand," he said, leaning his crutch against the counter to get his wallet out of his pocket.
"Try me."
He fiddled with the dollar bills and threw them on the counter. "We were partners once. Back in high school."
"Huh," I said, trying to imagine these two dorks running around in their trench coats, hunting down ghosts before they were even old enough to drive.
