Crossroads

by Alexie Aaron [Aaron, Alexie]

  Nanny walked down and handed Mia a large towel. “You better go and take a hot shower. I’ll watch the boys.”

  Murphy made a move to leave.

  “Not so fast, Stephen,” Nanny said.

  “Now you’re in trouble,” Varden said. Adam nodded.

  “A gentleman should not be spanking a lady’s backside.”

  “She was out of control.”

  “She was having fun. Lazar wasn’t in any danger.”

  “She broke Mike Dupree’s ribs once when she was having fun.”

  “He probably deserved it. I’ll give Mia a time-out, but you’re going to have to sit on the naughty step.”

  “But…”

  “Stephen…”

  “Yes, Nanny Berta.”

  Ted walked up the steps, tired from working all day on Ed’s house.

  Varden met him with a hug. His eyes were bright. He had something important to tell his father.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Mommy is having a time-out. She made Lazar eat potato peels, and then Uncle Murphy tossed her in the creek to cool off. He’s on the naughty step.” Varden pointed inside.

  “How was your day?” Ted asked, sitting down next to his son.

  “Adam and I helped in the workshop. How was your day?”

  “I helped put in a floor. Adam is going to have a great room to share with his little brother. It’s going to be nice having him live so close.”

  “I have a friend, and Brian has a friend,” Varden said smiling.

  “Mommy needs a friend right now. I’ll go and see if I can cheer her up.”

  Varden kissed Ted on the cheek. “You’re a good friend to Mommy.”

  Ted would miss it when his son thought it wasn’t cool to kiss his dad. Brian had already started shaking his hand. Thank goodness for his baby daughters.

  Ted found Mia on the lounge chair on the third-floor patio. “I heard you’re on a time-out.”

  “I’m not exactly sure why, but I am,” Mia said. “And it’s bliss. Come and kiss me.”

  Ted swept her up into his arms and kissed her tenderly.

  “You smell like sawdust. I love that smell.”

  Ted sat down, still holding his wife. He cradled her and told her about how bossy Cid was. “I thought Ed was going to toss him in the creek.”

  “That I’d pay money to see,” Mia said. “Paula said I was her friend today.”

  “That’s nice.”

  “I don’t really know how to have a female friend.”

  “Audrey is your friend.”

  “We were work buddies first. Paula is my first female friend from scratch, ever.”

  “You’re my first female friend,” Ted said. “You wouldn’t yell at me for not measuring twice, would you?”

  “Oh no. Do I have to make Cid eat potato peels too?”

  “I’d appreciate it, but you’re in enough trouble already.”

  “Lazar is such a baby.”

  Ted laughed. “He’s kind of like your little brother, isn’t he?”

  “He acts like he’s my father. My father doesn’t even act like my father,” Mia complained. “If I didn’t promise to tuck Noah in tonight, I’d fly us to the border.”

  “Why are you tucking Noah in?”

  “Burt is taking Paula out.”

  “On a date?”

  “She shaved her legs.”

  “Oh…”

  “I need a date really bad.”

  “Me too,” Ted said. “How about we go downstairs and simulate dating.”

  Mia purred.

  ~

  “I hope this place is alright,” Burt said as the host pushed in Paula’s chair.

  “It doesn’t have a placemat you can color on. It’s perfect,” Paula said.

  “Ted takes Mia to Taco Bell.”

  “That suits them though. I’ve never met people as energetic and…”

  “Immature?” Burt offered.

  “Yes, but not when it comes to the family. Look at how many people they either support financially or emotionally. Susan is always talking about the Martins.”

  “Mia’s helping me out, letting me live in her home gratis, but I’m going to be moving to a cottage I can afford soon.”

  “We all have one or more times in our lives when we have to accept help from someone. I believe that you’ll, in turn, help someone out, and then that person will help someone out. It’s a chain of goodwill,” Paula explained.

  “So, you don’t see me as a loser?” Burt asked.

  “No. It must be difficult working in such a competitive field.”

  Burt smiled. He liked Paula.

  “I’ve decided to keep the money, Ted and Mia found, that Derek hid. I hope you don’t think less of me,” Paula said.

  “He put that aside for you and Noah. It’s yours. You may want to consult Jake on how to ease it into your hands so the Feds don’t confiscate it.”

  “What is Jake? Is he a program?”

  “You’ve met Murphy?”

  “Yes, he’s a good ghost and protector of PEEPs.”

  “Jake is a ghost who chooses to live amongst the circuits of the PEEPs computer system. He died helping a family out with a flat tire when he was killed. Instead of going into the light, he went into a utility line and eventually found his way to us.”

  “How marvelous!”

  Burt looked at the enthusiasm Paula had for most everything and found it charming. They shared a bottle of red and ate and shared stories. There was a lot of laughter. While they were waiting for their dessert, Burt asked Paula about her rental.

  “Sheriff Braverman has contacted the Marshals, and they are supposed to release it to me next week. Mia promised to help me repair the damage Macario left.”

  “We all will help, since we were the ones in the house when he went berserk,” Burt said. “It was necessary to tire him out so Mia and Murphy could handle the situation on the other end of the tether.”

  “She really puts herself in scary situations, doesn’t she?”

  “Yes. I think I’ve taken her for granted. Mike Dupree, the other founding partner, says she’s an adrenaline junkie, but I’m starting to see it as, if there was someone else to do it, she would let them. Mia is very special and has very special skills.”

  “I think her best attribute is her ability to accept everyone as they are,” Paula said. “I also think that’s important. Of course, I may be a little biased with Noah.”

  “Noah is a gentle, caring creative force,” Burt said. “He’s also very easy to teach.”

  “Ah, that’s because the subject you’re teaching him is something he wants to learn. If it weren’t for Brian, who has found a way to get through to my child, Noah wouldn’t really care about the basics like reading, writing, and math.”

  “Tell me, how did Brian get Noah to care about math?”

  “He mentioned that if Noah was going to be a world-famous artist, he was going to need to practice. Practicing takes a lot of materials. Materials cost money, and he would have to sell his art at a price to support the practicing. If he didn’t know how to add and subtract, he would be taken advantage of and live in… what word did he use… yes, penury.”

  “Penury.”

  “Noah and I had to look it up in the dictionary. I thought it was a town south of here.”

  “Oh, Peoria,” Burt said and then chuckled. “His big words he gets from listening to Cid.”

  “What an interesting compound they have,” Paula said. “Cid, Lazar, and now Ed and Judy. Plus, there are always other interesting people milling around. I haven’t figured out Altair yet.”

  “He works for Mia’s grandfather in France. He came to lend a hand after her accident.”

  “Burt, tell me about your family,” Paula requested.

  Burt did and told a few stories about college. “There is someone who I helped with one of my earlier experiments in para
normal research living here now. His name is Scott Hogan. He is going to teach history at the high school. His frat house had a poltergeist problem.”

  “Frat house. Was he rich?”

  “No, a sports hero, but to give him credit, he did study and ended up the valedictorian of his class.”

  “How did he end up here?” Paula asked.

  “Mia says his grandparents have a house here. One of those brownstones. I haven’t reached out, so I only know what Mia has told me.”

  “You should put that on your calendar. You use researchers from time to time, don’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Seems to me, in your line of work, a history teacher may be a good asset.”

  “You’re very wise.”

  Paula smiled. She liked this man, maybe too much. Her phone buzzed. She looked down at her multimedia message and saw a picture of Noah in bed smiling, surrounded by stuffed animals. The caption said, “Tucked in.” She showed it to Burt. “Mia follows through.”

  Burt didn’t say anything.

  “It’s not always good with you and Mia is it?”

  “Two rams butting heads,” Burt said.

  “Do you still love her?” Paula asked.

  “I’m not sure you could call it love. I care what happens to her. Once I threw her husband out a window because he was treating her poorly. I’m not sure why I did that?”

  “You maybe have taken on a protective role.”

  “I’m not sure. Once upon a time, we were together and then had trouble working together. I didn’t notice she was changing, and her needs changed too. I had an illness of the mind, and soon, there was no more relationship. She moved on to that pain in the ass Whitney, who she had a childhood crush on. That was hard. I think I would have been nicer to her had she’d been miserable like I was.”

  “I find your honesty so refreshing,” Paula said, leaning in. “I can tell whatever chemistry she had with Agent Martin is long gone. Burt, we don’t always choose well in love. We don’t look around and see what pain we may be causing someone else. Mia watches you when you’re not looking. She is aware. She moved on, but she’s still in love, maybe not romantically, but love still the same.”

  “I may have taken advantage of that love. I’m not proud of that,” Burt said.

  “Mia wants you to be as happy as she is. Ted is strange, not as handsome and romantic as you are, but he suits her.”

  “Wait, you think I’m handsome?”

  “Yes.”

  “Romantic?”

  “Yes. I’m even willing to overlook the chemistry between you and my new best friend to try and build a relationship with you.”

  Burt put his hand on Paula’s. “I would like that.”

  “Good.”

  Chapter Thirty-two

  “The holes make no sense,” Mia said. “I looked if there was ever any gold or copper in northern Illinois and came up with nothing.”

  “They are as long as a grave but not as deep.”

  “Do you think they would have gotten deeper if you had left them alone?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Mia flew Murphy over the river. She saw the depression of where the wheels of the SUV were. She landed.

  “Let’s retrace their steps,” Murphy said.

  “This place looks so different from when I was here last.”

  “How long ago?”

  “Ten years minimum. Where are the trees? There used to be these giant pines,” Mia said.

  “They cut them down and cleared them out.”

  “Had they been diseased?” she asked.

  “No. According to Burt’s research, the lumber company followed a map. They found the trees marked with blue.”

  “I looked that up. Blue is the marking for cut trees, orange to leave them, black to cancel, and red they use for property lines,” Mia said.

  “Big John maintains he communicated with a Ranger Monroe. There is no Ranger Monroe. Monroe, however, is the name of the family who leases this land to the preserve.”

  “Huh. Let’s say that, for whatever reasons, someone wanted this area cleared of these old giants. Why do people remove trees?”

  “To farm, but this land is too wet. It’s really too wet to build on unless you find a way to drain it.”

  “They didn’t cut all of them down, just the… sentinels,” Mia said. She ran over to one of the stumps. “Look at how deep those roots go.” Mia took off her glove and placed it on the tree. “Nothing, the spirit of the tree is gone.”

  “Why did you call it a sentinel?” Murphy asked.

  “When I was visiting the Neyers, they had this Roman centurion who stood guard or sentinel. When I thought back and remembered these trees, the word came to mind. They were guarding something. I guess I assumed it was the lost civilization at the heart of the circle.”

  “Circle?”

  Mia grabbed Murphy and flew straight up. “Look where the stumps are.”

  “You’re right it’s a circle,” Murphy said holding on for dear death. “Look there’s a community well in the middle.”

  “How many other wells?” Mia asked, dropping back down.

  “Ten.”

  “Why would you need ten wells when you have a community well? I’m going to check with my father, but I believe ancient communities had a lot more to do than dig unnecessary wells.”

  Mia walked over to the mound of stones. “This, I feel certain was the community well. It’s been filled in. When I visited here before, spirits climbed out of here.”

  “Mia, what if the wells aren’t wells at all but passages? What could be living under here and kept under control by the trees?”

  “Demons. Low demons,” Mia said. “But the ghosts I saw were men armed with spades and pitchforks.”

  “But not all of them,” Murphy pointed out.

  “Three were dressed funny.”

  “Funny how?”

  “Like old-timey criminals,” Mia said.

  “What do criminals and demons have in common?”

  “Evil things…” Mia scratched her head, thought of trivial things, and then settled on, “Gold! But there are no veins of gold here. It’s impossible.”

  “Where did all those gold coins come from that showered down on Takemi?”

  “Udo’s vaults.” Mia’s eyes got wide. “Could this all be explained by greed?”

  “Let’s say there were these colonists who dug a well and went too deep. Maybe they found a passage and followed it unwittingly to a vault.”

  “The demons would have attacked them and filled in the well,” Mia said. “That explains the twelve but not the three.”

  “Maybe some of the gold was in their dwellings. The three convicts escaped from, maybe, a canal crew and hid out in the old huts. They found one of the other wells, that I think are passages, and followed it down to the vaults,” Murphy theorized.

  “They were killed too,” Mia pointed out.

  “But over the years, the convicts may have reasoned out that the trees controlled the demons, and if you draw the demons away from here, then they could rob the vaults. It would explain why the funny-dressed man attacked Stephanie who was trying to stop the last of the sentinels from being cut down.”

  “But a ghost from that era would know nothing about marking trees and drawing maps. A living being has to be in control of this operation,” Mia said. “I’m not sure that the trees would keep demons in. They are pines. Maybe the roots sealed the passages so humans couldn’t get to the gold.”

  “I know we’re just guessing, but some of it is making sense,” Murphy said. “Who would know about demons of this age?”

  “Tree-planting demons? What about your Mother Nature?” Mia asked Murphy.

  “Maybe, but what about Mbengar?”

  “I’ll find a way of contacting him. He may know the history of the area before the angels fell. You see if you can speak to Mother Nature, and
see if she has any idea of what and who we may be dealing with. We need to meet with Burt. We have to have the human element investigated.”

  “Agreed. The question I have is, why dig the shallow graves?” Murphy asked. “That’s a lot of energy for no apparent reason.”

  “I think we better move on this quickly. Low demons aren’t to be trifled with.”

  ~

  Ed looked at Altair. “You want to visit the future.”

  “Yes, this Sunday. Place: Quentin’s lakeside mansion, time: just after the christening.”

  “Why?”

  Altair told him of Mia’s suspicions.

  “Fine. I will need a favor in return.”

  “I have been watching over your wife.”

  “You have been sitting and reading books, gossiping with my woman, while the rest of us have been laboring.”

  “I’m an archangel. I don’t labor.”

  “I’m a god, and I put in a toilet.”

  “I see your point. What’s your favor?”

  “I need you to help me move the stuff off the island through the portals. You are the only one strong enough.”

  “What about Enos?”

  “Birdman, bah.”

  “He’s a nice kid.”

  “Yes, he is. Birdmen can’t use my portals without losing energy. It’s the way the portals are constructed, to protect me in my journeys.”

  “Fair enough. First the christening, and then I’ll be your beast of burden.”

  ~

  Burt called a PEEPs meeting. Audrey and Mike were in the process of traveling home to Illinois and couldn’t attend. Mia, Enos, Murphy, Ted, Cid, and Jake were in attendance. Stephanie Gilbert was not invited to attend but would be updated on PEEPs progress later by Burt.

  “This is a real head-scratcher,” Burt said. “Normally, there is a clear picture to what the haunt is all about. Here, we have two things going on. We have weak ghosts from an early settlement and stronger ghosts from a more recent time. Were they warning Stephanie to stay out of their territory? If they were, then why are they digging up the ground south of the river?”