“Being in a hospital for a little over a month where I had to get new skin surgically implanted onto eighty percent of my arms wasn’t exactly a walk in the park.”
“I wouldn’t imagine so.” Devon watched as Roland reached for the door to the stairwell, “You have to take the elevator. They haven’t replaced the stairs yet.”
“That’s not a fire hazard at all, is it now.” Roland muttered, “You’re sure no boogiemen are going to mess up the ride?”
“Seeing as I’m the only boogieman left, I believe you will be just fine.” Devon smirked.
“I don’t know about that.” Jake side-eyed the spirit teasingly, “I was once told the only spirits that hung around had unfinished business and would eventually turn vengeful.” He pushed the brass number five and leaned back against the wall.
“Oh, I’m vengeful alright.” Devon put on a mock serious face, “I’ve spent the last month screwing with Vanhousen.”
“You have not!” Jake shouted excitedly.
“I have been his personal nightmare since the day he started up working again.”
“Damn, I am going to miss you.” Roland chuckled from his corner of the elevator.
“Where are you two moving to?”
“You say that like we’re moving in together.” Jake had an ornery glint in his eyes.”
“Well, I mean, after all that smooching in the face of death and all… I just assumed…” Devon awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck as the group stepped out of the elevator.
“Be nice to the guy, Jake.” Roland turned to look at Devon, “He’s moving in with me. I’ve got a place back in California.”
“With no stairs!” Jake chimed in happily as he opened the door to his room and motioned the two in.
“He’s got a publishing deal up and everything.” Roland was beaming at Jake “Wrote a whole book while babysitting my morphine’d up self in the hospital.”
“It wasn’t like I had anything better to do while you slept twenty hours a day.” Jake was now putting the last of his things into the duffel bag he had borrowed from Roland, “We fly out this afternoon.”
“Don’t you think you’ll miss this place?”
“No.” Jake glanced to his ancient computer, “I won’t miss that beast either.” He sent a warm smile over to Devon, “Though, I will miss the bartender.”
“Speaking of!” Devon walked over to the bedside table and pulled open the drawer, “I snagged you a parting gift for old time’s sake.” He handed over a bottle of Patron.
Jake moved over to hug the ghost, “You should have started talking to me sooner. We would have made great friends.”
“You would have been way too freaked out.” Devon glanced over to Roland who had gone quiet, “Are you alright over there?”
“Mm, yeah.” Roland was rubbing the palms of his hands together, “Are you going to stay here or move on? I did promise to help all the spirits in this hotel before I left.”
“Oh, I see. You’re here to kick me out of your dimension.” Devon winked to let the man know he was kidding.
“Not at all.” Roland replied awkwardly, “I am just offering my services should you want or need them. You are more than welcome to hang around as long as you want to.”
“You don’t know what is on the other side, do you?” Devon had taken on a nervous stance.
“I haven’t got a clue,” Roland allowed one corner of his lips to turn up, “but even if I did, I wouldn’t ruin the punch-line.”
“I might as well find out then, huh.” Devon shoved his hands in his pockets and kicked at some invisible dirt on the floor, “I bet this hotel goes totally out of business anyhow.”
“Yeah, now that Jake’s spilled the beans on the shady underbelly of this place, I bet it becomes a macabre museum or something.” Roland glanced to Jake who was silently watching the conversation from the corner.
“I never was one for museums.”
Devon nodded as he looked up into something that neither Jake nor Roland could see. Smiling in a way that made the corners of his eyes crinkle, Devon nodded again and turned back to Roland.
“The punch-line is a good one.”
Without another word, the spirit faded from sight.
Glancing over to Jake, Roland noticed that he was wiping his eyes on his sleeves.
“Are you alright?”
“I think so. That was just… really abrupt.”
“He has been ready to go for a long, long time. I am glad he moved on smoothly.” Roland wrapped an arm around Jake’s shoulders, “Is there anything else you want to do before we go?”
“Nope.” Jake stuck the bottle of liquor into his bag, “Are you ready to go to the airport?”
“Yes.”
Roland leaned sideways and kissed Jake’s temple as the two made their way out of the Moorsfield Hotel for the last time.
Epilogue
A bell tinkled over Roland’s head as he used his back to open the door into the book store that currently housed his lover. Bypassing the moderately long line of people waiting to meet Jake, Roland winked at the blonde in question before setting a cup of coffee in front of him.
“I thought you might need this to keep yourself warm.”
“Thank you, but October in California isn’t exactly frigid.” Jake took a sip and wrinkled up his nose, “What is this?”
“It’s a gingerbread latte.” Roland took a sip of his own, “Why?”
“It’s autumn, why didn’t you get me a pumpk…”
“I’m gonna stop you right there. You know how I feel about those abominations.” Roland replied as he casually took a sip of his own drink.
“Whatever, you weirdo.” Jake looked up to the girl who was next in line, “Sorry about the interruption. This is…”
“Roland?!” The girl inquired breathlessly as if she was trying to hold back a shout, “Are you the Roland mentioned in the dedication for inspiring this book?!”
“In the flesh.” Roland smirked, “Well, most of it anyhow.”
“Wait… this is real?!” A masculine voice piped up from farther back in the line.
“It sure is.” Jake gave in and answered, “It happened just six months ago.”
“So, you really almost died?!” The girl in the front of the line inquired quietly as if she wasn’t sure if she was overstepping her boundaries.
“Should I show them?” Roland muttered down to Jake who sighed and ran his hands over his face mock-dramatically.
“You might as well get it over with.”
Roland set his coffee down on the table and started to roll up the sleeves of the loose, thick-knit sweater he was wearing to expose his forearms. Once they were completely uncovered, he held them up to show the crowd the patchwork of skin that made him look a bit like a rag doll. The new skin was slightly pinker than the rest of Roland’s skin and the seam-lines of the grafts had a reddish tint to them and were raised slightly at the edges.
The crowd had fallen completely silent as they stared down the man that they had thought was a fictional character until this moment.
“Well, this got awkward real fast.” Roland muttered down to Jake, “It’s your turn to save me.”
“If I remember correctly, I was the one that already saved you about a million times. You still owe me.”
“Can you come over to my house?!” Another woman shouted from the back, “I know it’s haunted! Maybe it’s worth another book!”
Jake chuckled as Roland’s face darkened with embarrassment, “Alright, everyone! Let’s get back to the signing. I don’t want anyone to miss out because the store is closing in half an hour. Roland isn’t taking any jobs until he is completely healed so, if you would please keep your questions on the subject of the book or me, I would really appreciate it!”
Sighing with relief, Roland sat down next to Jake to wait out the end of the signing that, in a surprise turn of events, now involved his signature as well.
~~~
“Home, sweet
home.” Jake sighed and flopped onto the couch, “You should gate-crash more of my signings. You are excellent for publicity!”
“I don’t know about that.” Roland sat down so that Jake could rest his head in Roland’s lap, “It was pretty funny, but I’m not exactly a charming ambivert like you are.”
“By the way, did you remember to call Janette back about that case she mentioned? I also hope I wasn’t out of line turning one down for you.”
“You were definitely not out of line. I really appreciate that you handled the situation for me. I could already read she was lying and just wanted us to come to her house, but I didn’t know how to reply without offending her.” Roland rubbed at his eyes, “I never meant to be in the spotlight. Also, yes, I did call Janette back and I’ll have to fly out sometime next week.”
“I’m happy you’re able to work again, but it is a bummer for me.”
“You could come too, you know. Quit your day job and become a paranormal investigator with me. You’re pretty handy in a pinch.”
Jake rolled his eyes, “And quit my lucrative job sitting around for hours on end with a numb ass signing copies of my own book? I don’t know if that’s worth it. We’ll have to discuss wage and benefit opportunities.” Jake had an ornery twinkle in his eyes.
“You don’t even get paid for the signings, dear,” Roland leaned forward and pecked Jake on the lips, “and everyone just brings in the copies they bought off of the internet. If you want to talk about wage, however, how about I let you live and travel with me, totally free of charge. As for benefits, I think you already know what the benefits are.” Roland wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“You suck and I’m definitely not dedicating my next book to you… but I do believe you have finally offered up a wage and benefit plan that surpasses the one I have now. I’ll take it.”
“Hey, be nice! If you join me again, you may be able to write another best-seller!” Roland sent Jake a teasing look.
Jake teasingly sighed as he finally relented, “You literally know already that I’m not going to let you go alone. You need me to solve the mystery for you.”
“I certainly do.”
“Also to let you know when you’re talking to a dead person, apparently.”
“Okay!” Roland threw his hands up in the air, “That wasn’t my fault! He was incredibly corporeal as you well know!”
“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask you why that was.” Jake sat up across Roland’s lap so he could more clearly see the man’s face, “The spirits up in room four-fifteen could hardly even show themselves to your psychic side, but I was able to actually hug Devon. He was fully solid and felt just like any other human.”
“It all had to do with the location of his body.” Roland adjusted his position to wrap his arms around Jake, “His corpse was tangled up in copper pipes and they were working as a conductor for the energy that made it possible for him to manifest so thoroughly. By the time his body was removed, he was the only spirit left in the building so he could draw as much energy as he needed from the electricity without causing disturbances; not to mention that he had twenty-four years to practice.”
“How do you think he kept his mind together for so long?”
“I’m not entirely sure on that one, but I believe it had something to do with him still having a purpose. He kept doing his job which he seemed to actually like pretty well. That may very well have helped him maintain his original personality.”
“I see.” Jake nodded along, “Last question.”
“Go on.”
“You mentioned that you had previously heard Walter’s name. Did you ever figure out where? I’m certain you would have remembered if Vanhousen had told you directly.”
“Ah, yes. I had read the name once before. It took me almost three months to realize it, but it was on some of the paperwork on Vanhousen’s desk in the basement that I rifled through. I let it slip by as it didn’t seem important at the time. It really should have been a massive tip-off that I wasn’t supposed to talk to him.”
“Well, we all make mistakes. At least yours ended up without any new deaths once you got in the building… you know, aside from the man who deserved it.”
“Yeah.” Roland ran a hand over his chin.
“So, that’s it then? There’s nothing left to do but move on to another mission?”
“Well, there is one more thing.”
“What is that?” Jakes eyebrows lifted.
“This.”
Leaning forward, Roland pressed a passionate kiss against Jake’s lips; knowing that he would never again make a decision under the assumption that there would be more time. He had learned his lesson the hard way but, as Jake wrapped his arms tighter around Roland to deepen the kiss, the medium realized that he wouldn’t want it any other way.
The Moorsfield Hotel Page 14