Crossroads

by Alexie Aaron [Aaron, Alexie]

  “We had already decided together that we have enough natural children. I’m sure a few children who need us will find their way to our home,” Ted said. He turned to Mia. “I know you knew this, and I’m not angry that you’ve fallen into bad habits about keeping things from me. I am aware of my chatty nature, so I’m partially to blame. But don’t ever fear I will look at you as anything less than my hero, my lover, and my wife. I’ve seen you settle all your suitors down and send them on their way. Murphy will never leave, but somehow it gives me comfort. I’ve been fortunate to have made two best friends in my life, and I know how important it is to have one.”

  “Two? Cid and whom?” Mia asked.

  “You, Minnie Mouse.”

  Baxter walked quickly out of the room and shut the door. He knew where this was headed, and he didn’t want to impede nor witness what would happen next.

  He found Quentin and Charles in the library drinking expensive bourbon.

  “How’d it go?” Charles asked.

  “Better than I expected. Ted is a unique person. I think the universe found the right mate for Mia,” Baxter said.

  “I think they found each other,” Quentin argued. “I’ve not been around as long as you, Baxter, but from what I’ve seen, there’s an energy that, if paid attention to, will lead you to your heart’s desire.”

  “Where is your heart’s desire?” Charles asked.

  “I’ve gone through a few changes. Don’t worry, I’m exploring my options,” Quentin said.

  “Are you always this happy?” Charles asked.

  “Are you always this grumpy?” Quentin shot back.

  “Yes.”

  Both men laughed. Baxter could see a bit of Fredricka in each man. There was a quickness in their eyes, an intelligence that drew in all the clues to make sense of the complex world each inhabited.

  Baxter closed his eyes a moment and thought about the other woman who tied these men together. Mia was like a portrait of a woman of advanced age. The artist painting the portrait must first find the child and then take her through the journey of her life with each wrinkle and faded lock that is painted. In Mia’s case, they weren’t laugh and age lines but emerging traits of the species she was cobbled together from. For a time, the dark overbalanced the light, and then the opposite happened.

  All during these turbulent times, Mia held on to the dream of a life with Ted, her children, and her friends. She had to fight and become something she never expected to be in order to achieve this dream. Along the way, she saved those she could, survived those she couldn’t. And finally, stood at the crossroads.

  “Baxter?” Quentin’s voice broke through his thoughts.

  “I’m sorry, did you say something?” Baxter asked his friend.

  “Where are you?”

  “Lost in thought.”

  “Let us be your compass and help you to find your way out of them,” Quentin suggested.

  “I was thinking of crossroads.”

  “Ah,” Charles said. “The choices we make in our lives.”

  “If you look at crossroads from a cartographer’s point of view,” Quentin began, “you no sooner pass a crossroads when another presents itself.”

  “Is it that simple?” Baxter asked.

  “The decisions aren’t,” Charles said. “I’ve studied lost civilizations, some destroyed by the leaders taking the wrong path. These powerful people were too stubborn to realize that they, at any time, could have stopped and gone back and taken another route. A route that would have given them and their society hundreds of years to continue.”

  “I’m not grasping what you’re saying,” Baxter admitted.

  Charles took a deep breath. “What I’m saying is that, in life, you don’t have to wait for another road to present itself. You can build your own. Maybe it’s a U-turn, maybe it’s a parallel path that you have to build a bridge to reach. You don’t have to wait for a momentous event to make a change. It can be as simple as accepting you’ve made an error, accepting the consequences, and doing better the next time.”

  Baxter studied the man before him, a man who had spent his time in the dirt. He wasn’t simply exposing the past; he was learning from it.

  ~

  Mia and Ted walked the beach in front of Quentin’s mansion, sometimes stopping to physically connect with a hand touch or verbally with an observation or a laugh.

  “Do you miss living by the water?” Ted asked.

  “No. It’s nice from time to time, but I love the scents that waft in from the hills and forest. There is too much energy at times with water. Too much reflection…”

  “I admit that, most times, I don’t see beyond the problem I’m working out. But when I pull myself up from the depths of my contemplations, I want to see you,” Ted said.

  “Teddy Bear, I do believe the older you get, the more romantic you are.”

  “Don’t tell the guys. I’ll never live it down.”

  “It’s our secret,” Mia said, hugging on to Ted’s arm. “I want to go home.”

  “Your wish is my command.”

  Chapter Forty-four

  Mia sat next to Ted, with Cid to the other side of him. They were studying the feeds coming in from the cameras that Cid and Enos had worked so painstakingly on. Charles insisted that they treat this haunt like they would any other investigation.

  “I don’t approach a dig site any differently than the one before,” Charles had told Burt. “Even if I have more knowledge of the culture which I am examining, I grid it out. I’d like you to do the same.”

  “I’m concerned by the amount of familiarity our team has with Amanda,” Burt confessed.

  “Use your A team.”

  “Mia is understandably sitting this one out.”

  “Why?”

  “Charles, to put this frankly, your wife, in life, with her mercurial nature all but destroyed your daughter. The Mia I first met was like a worn piece of linen. She was more of a ghost than the creatures we were investigating. Just as Mia managed to add substance to her life, Amanda tore it all away. The truths of the past have dug in and caused a brittleness in an otherwise strong foundation which Mia needs in order to survive. I can’t speak for Mia, but I will counsel her to stay out of that condo unless Amanda asks for her.”

  “How can you feel this strongly about my daughter and yet let her go?”

  “I wasn’t the right partner for her. The woman who has grown and blossomed has done so because Ted accepts and exalts the changes in her. His ego doesn’t have to be stroked. He knows who he is and, better yet, who he is with Mia. He is not only a confident man but a man who doesn’t need to be first. Yet Ted can be the alpha male when called upon. He’s gone through an incredible journey too. I watched her sometimes from a bitter seat, and I’m not comfortable how I’ve acted towards your daughter. But I was right to step away. In doing so, she was able to soar.”

  “It’s a time for honest truths, and I think Mia needs to hear Amanda’s.”

  “Charles, I’ll give you the benefit of my experience. Ghosts aren’t normally as evolved as Stephen Murphy is. Some don’t remember who they were in life, let alone how they died.”

  “If Amanda has returned to the condo, she’s aware of who she was,” Charles argued.

  “We’ll see,” Burt said. “I’m going to send Mike in with me filming and Murphy protecting. If we find it’s a safe enough environment for you, we’ll leave you and Amanda alone. Ted and Jake will monitor for your safety.”

  “I thought the super said that the condo was wrecked,” Mia said, looking at each camera feed.

  “Charles picked everything up while we were putting cameras in,” Cid told her. “Jake, show her the candid shots.”

  Jake displayed the stills of areas where Amanda, or whoever, was most active. In every destroyed room, there were books involved.

  “She’s looking for something. I think she started in her office. Notice there are piles
of books and open folders. There is some sense of order. But as you get to these other rooms, the anger and frustrations shows.”

  “Charles had to pull Horton Hears a Who out of the drywall,” Cid said.

  “Who interviewed my dad?” Mia asked.

  “Interviewed? Burt talked to him,” Ted said.

  “No, interviewed him on camera,” Mia clarified.

  “No one.”

  “I think Mike should do a standard pre-walkthrough interview. And I want him to ask him…” Mia typed in some questions. “Have him ease them in whenever it’s possible. I suggest interviewing him in the kitchen. Amanda left the kitchen alone.”

  “Let’s run it by Burt, but I think you’re on to something,” Ted said.

  Mike looked at Mia’s notes that Cid had brought in to him. He nodded and gave her a thumbs up through the kitchen camera. Mike hadn’t really said much to Mia since the christening, and that was just to give her a chaste peck on the cheek. He had avoided Mia like the plague since they had wrapped the investigation with the Wheels Up group. There wasn’t any real reason, except he didn’t want to deal with Mia’s crap while Gates was around. Instead of sitting down with Mia after, to unravel what was real and what was suggested by the strigae, he left the country and followed Gates while she worked.

  He heard from Burt that Burt had decided to turn down the movie deal. He suspected that Mia had put a kibosh on it. It wasn’t the only thing that Mia was messing up for the partners. Mike had been approached by Arlo Wilson, the star of Wheels Up, the day they finished filming in Chile.

  “Dupree, if you find a way of getting the fabulous Mrs. Martin to work for me, I’ll sign you to a very lucrative contract.”

  Mike hated that his career seemed to hinge on Mia’s participation. When he complained to Burt, hoping for commiseration, he was baffled by his friend just shrugging it off.

  Now Mia was giving him notes on the interview he was going to do with her father. If it wasn’t for their upcoming appearance at Comic-Con, he would take her aside and tell her just what he thought about her idea of team participation.

  Charles walked in. He was the real Indiana Jones, not an Arlo Wilson imitation. Mike seemed to remember the man as being more distracted. Today, Charles seemed hypervigilant. Mike reached out a hand, and the older man shook it.

  “It’s good to see you. How was Chile?” Charles asked.

  “We were in a pretty remote area, so I’m really appreciating being back in Chicago. When are you headed back to New Mexico?”

  “When it cools down,” Charles said. “I’ve got a team from the college to help this September. My foreman needs some time to finish his home, and I’m enjoying being with my family.”

  “Are you staying here?”

  “No, out at the farm. I have the top of the carriage house right now. Enos has moved into the aerie full time. It’s not that I mind sharing a bathroom with anyone, but the guy has so much hair product that I can hardly fit into the shower,” Charles teased, knowing Enos was in earshot.

  “Very funny, Dr. Cooper,” Enos said, carrying in a light. “Ted says the kitchen is a bit dreary. I’m going to set this up. Burt will be in soon.”

  “Where’s Murphy?”

  “Here,” Murphy said behind Mike, causing him to jump.

  “Damn it, you did that on purpose.”

  “Just trying to get you used to real ghost hunting, not chasing Hollywood phantoms,” Murphy said. “What can I help you with?”

  “I’m just counting heads,” Mike commented.

  Murphy looked at him a moment before he faded away. Was it Mike or did the ghost have a smirk on his face?

  “Dupree, Blue Leader is on his way in. When he gets settled, let’s do a com check,” Ted said in his earpiece.

  Burt walked in. He was wearing what looked like to Mike like a recently pressed shirt. He was confused by this Burt. Was it his time away from the group or had everyone upped their game?

  Burt reached over and shook Charles’s hand. “I’m going to be turning over the direction to Ted. He has Mia and Enos’s eyes on the camera feeds. But if you feel you’re in danger, at any time, tap your earcom or call for Murphy.”

  “Location check,” Ted said.

  “Mike Dupree in the Martin kitchen.”

  “Burt in kitchen.”

  “Charles in kitchen.”

  “Mia and Enos fighting over the last cupcake in command post,” Mia chimed in.

  “Enos in command post, licking frosting off my fingers.”

  “Cid patrolling sidewalk in front of Martin residence.”

  “Ted in command post, ready when you are.”

  Burt picked up the camera and pointed at Mike.

  “Welcome to the Paranormal Entity Exposure Partners investigation of Dr. Charles Cooper’s residence, Chicago,” Mike said, smiling into the camera. “I’m Mike Dupree, and today, I’m here with Dr. Cooper who has had a significant incident he would like us to look into.”

  Charles walked into the frame and offered Mike his hand for the camera. The two shook and sat down at the kitchen table.

  “I thought, before we walked through the residence, we’d sit down and gather some information from you, Dr. Cooper.”

  “I’m an open book,” Charles responded.

  “What are you a doctor of?”

  “Archaeology. I’m on a summer hiatus from the University of Chicago. I start back for our New Mexico Zuni reservation dig this September.”

  “How long have you been back in town?

  “I’ve been back in Illinois a few weeks but only in the condo to check on the damage I was alerted to.”

  “Then you’re not staying in the condo?”

  “No. My half-brother has been kind enough to put me up while I’m in the city.”

  “Why aren’t you staying here?”

  “I think the place is haunted.”

  “Has it always been haunted?”

  “No, this is a recent occurrence. I called PEEPs immediately, and Burt Hicks has been very obliging to put me at the top of the list.”

  “Why is that?” Mike asked.

  “My daughter is Mia Martin, one of your investigators.”

  “Why didn’t you just have Mia check the place out?”

  “She’s just come off maternity leave. I didn’t want to distress her with the situation.”

  “What is the situation?”

  “I believe the place is haunted by my recently deceased wife and Mia’s mother.”

  “Oh dear. How can you be sure it’s her?”

  “I can’t be, that’s why I called in PEEPs.”

  “Is it possible this is a hoax?”

  “If it is, I would like to catch whoever trashed the place.”

  “Is it true you have, in the past, kept artifacts in the home?”

  “My wife brought some materials back to study and show on her blog.”

  “Are you aware of what we like to call ghostly attachments?”

  “I think that’s when spirits attach themselves to an object that was significant in their life.”

  “Maybe one of the artifacts came with a hitchhiker?”

  “If so, wouldn’t it have shown up before now?” Charles argued.

  “According to my experience, it could take some time, or stay dormant until something or someone wakes it up.”

  Charles nodded thoughtfully.

  “Do you still have artifacts here?”

  “I don’t, but I haven’t been through my wife’s things since her passing.”

  “Dr. Cooper, where did your wife die?”

  “Here in Chicago.”

  “How did your wife die?”

  “We brought back a large artifact. In the movement of the artifact, my wife was accidently crushed,” Charles said evenly.

  “How horrible.”

  “She should have been more careful. She should have followed the protocol, but
she was excited to finish the job at hand,” Charles said.

  “I’m sorry for your loss.”

  “Thank you.”

  Mike turned the camera. “What we have here is a building which has shown signs of recent paranormal activity. Is it the ghost of Amanda Cooper? Or perhaps a spirit attached to an artifact the celebrated anthropologist brought back with her.”

  “And cut,” Ted said.

  Charles got up and walked straight out of the house and into the command post. “Mia, may I speak with you, please?”

  Mia nodded and squeezed Ted’s shoulder to let him know she was alright.

  “Where did Mike get the information about the artifacts Amanda stole?”

  “From me.”

  “Don’t you think it makes her look bad?”

  “She stole them. And I think he asked the question without eluding to them being stolen. I think he did a great job.”

  “Mia, I will not have you dishonor your mother’s memory because…”

  “Because she got herself killed after leaving you for dead? Gee, I don’t remember Mike asking you that?” Mia spat.

  “It’s Amanda.”

  “We don’t know it’s her, or anything paranormal for that matter. There are no readings to substantiate your claims. Let PEEPs do their work. These guys are the best out there. They will get to the bottom of this. The hard questions will probably not make it out of editing anyway.”

  “Then why did he ask them?”

  “I wanted you to think about the possibility that it’s not her. Or if it is, why is she here? Besides ending the world, what was her last project? Did she leave something unfinished?”

  “She was blogging.”

  “She had to be doing more than that. The Amanda I grew up with always had a paper she was working on. I think if you’re hell-bent on it being her here, then that paper is the key to everything.”

  Charles looked at Mia and realized she could be right. “When did you get so smart?”

  “It runs in the family. Speaking of family, I’m going over to Ralph’s to check on the girls. Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.”