Modern Pantheon: Ghost

by Grayson Barrett

  Chapter 16

  Daniel quietly shut the door behind us, leaving us free in the hall. Lara and I didn’t speak until we were on the elevator and the doors were closed.

  “What do you think?” she asked.

  “It’s looking more and more like James’s wife Kelly all the time,” I said, only partially sure.

  “There’s still no proof that she knows magic,” Lara said

  “There’s no proof that she doesn’t. Anyone can use it, and she’s seen the ghost firsthand. Maybe she’s one of the lucky few that figured out the rules on her own.”

  “Unlikely. The probability of that happening is very low,” Lara said.

  “Yeah, but there’s also the chance that James taught her a thing or two,” I said.

  “And risk execution?” she said.

  Having met James, I wouldn’t put it past him. But I didn’t want to argue with Lara so I instead said, “Probably not, I suppose.”

  “I’m not saying it couldn’t have been her,” Lara said. “I just think we don’t have the whole story yet.”

  “Which means,” I said as the elevator beeped, and opened into the lobby, “that next step is finding Kelly, who’s been missing since the day of the murder.”

  “What about her sister,” Lara said. “Err, what’s-her-name.”

  “Katherine,” I clarified with a sleepy nod. “You think she knows something?”

  “Maybe she can help us find Kelly.”

  “I doubt it,” I said. “Not if she was trying to get that information out of Daniel herself. Not to mention, I chased her fifty floors down a stairwell with my angry face on.”

  “True,” she commented, tiredly. “But I’ve got no better ideas and we know where she is.”

  I shrugged in agreement as I said, “You know how to get to the address Daniel gave us?”

  “Yeah, I passed by it a few times before, and I’ve always wanted to check it out,” she said. “I guess now is my chance.”

  I followed her out, scratching my head at why she’d want to go to Katherine’s place until I remembered he offered us her work address, which was a massive flower shop.

  The two of us walked to the car and got in.

  "There's something Cameron said earlier that got me to thinking," Lara said.

  "What's that?"

  She put in the key, but faced me without turning on the car. "Last night, as more people saw the ghost, it got more powerful."

  "Yeah," I said.

  She waved her hand, palm up as if to express that I'd missed something obvious.

  "Lara, I'm too tired for games. What is it?"

  "More people believe in this ghost, so it gets more powerful," she said, as if that explained it all.

  "Yeah, I get that."

  She shook her head. "I'm explaining this all wrong. You summoned the ghost last night - how did you do that?"

  "Simple," I said. "People already believe that it exists; I just had to focus all the beliefs by giving the ghost a specific place to be."

  "Okay," she said. "But why does the ghost already exist?"

  "Because people believe in it."

  "And since belief powers magic, that means the ghost is a spell," she said.

  "Obviously, but¬-" All at once, the pieces fell into place, and I stopped in disbelief.

  "Just because the people casting the spell aren't mages, doesn't mean their beliefs don't hold power," she added. "Its believers are casting a combined spell."

  I thought about it, but it didn't make sense. Magic follows a specific set of rules. In that sense, it's no different from physics. One major rule that every mage learns early is if two mages try to combine a spell, it will simply fail. A combined spell working is about as foreign a concept to me as rubber that conducts electricity. The universe simply doesn't work that way.

  "That's impossible," I said. "Isn't it?"

  "There's no other explanation," she said smugly.

  "But if two or more mages ever try to cast a spell together, it fails. It's one of the basic laws of magic."

  "Apparently not," she said.

  "But that's-" I said, trying to make sense of it.

  "Weird," she finished for me, as she turned on the car.

  I could get used to a car like this, I thought as I got into the back of the Mercedes and let the seat encase me.

  I still didn't know what to think about the ghost being a combined spell. I'd have to file away that information for later.

  Soft seats, Quiet Engine; it’s so much better than being toted along in her pint-sized minimobile.

  “We’re there.”

  “Huh?” I said, gazing around.

  She opened her door and got out, leaving me in a sticky haze. I rubbed my eyes a few times as I looked around. The parking lot was gone, replaced by – wait, had I fallen asleep? But I was looking forward to the ride!

  I shoved the door open and tried to make out like I knew what was going on as I stood up in a completely different parking lot.

  “You’ve got a line of...” she said rubbing one side of her own mouth before giving a quick point at mine.

  Blinking, I wiped my hands quickly across my face, feeling a wet spot by my mouth. Smooth, Thomas...

  I looked around and tried to catch my bearings. Apparently, my exhaustion was more gargantuan than I thought. The city was gone – hidden behind some hill in the distance. A greenhouse the size of a couple of barns sat not far away. A strip mall sat across the street, but the rest of the land was a blocked off swamp.

  “Err, thanks,” I said as I fell in beside her and walked toward the glass building. Through the tinted glass, I saw enough flora to fill my apartment fifty times over.

  On my way through the front doors, I shook my sleepy head as I noticed something that perked me up immediately. “I don’t think we’re the only ones looking for Katherine.”

  “Hmm?” Lara said without slowing.

  “I’ve seen that car before. The ASH license plate?” I said. “Over there,”

  I nodded my head toward the car, but I didn’t look. Casually, I walked inside. Only when I had a pane of tinted glass between us did I chance a look his way. Although obscured slightly, I noted a fairly nondescript man yelling animatedly into a cell phone.

  “He doesn’t look happy,” I said.

  “Who do you think he is?” Lara asked, peering at the nearest plan and shooting subtle glances toward Ash.

  “He’s been following me since I first met Cameron at the manor. Never saw him leave the car, though. I think he’s one of Lance’s men – Cam told me about him, too.”

  “Cam? What, are you two best buds now?”

  I rolled my eyes silently as I walked in and glanced around, keeping especially watchful for the employees. A couple of middle-aged ladies who looked nothing like Katherine were by the register, chatting without enthusiasm in the lull between customers. Other than that, the place was empty, for the most part. The plants made seeing the place difficult, so I couldn’t make out more than a couple customers, and didn’t see any other employees.

  “He’s coming inside,” Lara said.

  I walked over to a row of ferns and waited behind it, thinking. “Why would he follow us inside?”

  She shrugged, but then met my gaze with concern. “You think he wants to meet us?”

  I stepped behind the ferns. “You look for Katherine – she might recognize me. I’ll try and make a friend.”

  She nodded and walked deeper into the greenhouse. Behind the leafy cover of several racks of ferns, I stared toward the door. Sure enough, Ash stepped in a minute later and gazed around skittishly. He wore a jacket, which seemed ordinary enough. What caught my eye, however, was the way he kept his hand hidden in the breast pocket. Determined, he strode inside. The man looked around, but didn’t meet my gaze through the shrubbery.

  The fern rack stretched only a couple table-lengths long. We’d taken the most obvious path, leading deeper into the greenhouse. He inadve
rtently began following our tracks. From what I could tell, he hadn’t noticed us.

  Would he recognize me, I wondered? He’d followed me for a long time, but most of that time was at night and from a distance, or while I was in my car. I turned my back partially away from him, facing the wall of ferns as he approached.

  I became acutely observant of the paperclip focus wound around my middle finger, and the fact that I hadn’t even tested it yet. What was I thinking? What if I messed up the equations?

  But my worry was for naught; Ash didn’t even glance my way as he passed within three feet of me, heading deeper into the greenhouse. I took the chance to step out behind him, and still within arm's length said, “Looking for somebody?”

  Ash spun, whipping his hand around and toward me. The paranoia that took root in me was all that saved my neck. The blade he sliced through the air cut where my throat had been only a second before. Lucky for me, this man was far from a trained professional – the way he took a wide, careless swing was as clumsy as if done by a fifth-grader.

  By reaction, equations of pressure and wind came instantly to the forefront of my mind as I thrust my hand toward Ash’s shoulder. “Ventus Pulsis!”

  Simultaneously, Lara shouted, “Levitas!” from deeper in the foliage.

  The force of my blast hit his shoulder like a wrecking ball. Ash spun, nearly lost his footing, and turned back toward me with renewed vigor. The thin knife gleamed under the light of the sun shining through the windowed roof.

  It wasn’t supposed to be like this! I wanted to talk to the guy, not dual him to the death. I could blast him again, this time putting oomph into it, but then what? I’m no murderer. Nor was I naive enough to think that a full-out brawl with lethal weapons would end with in a mere knockout. And what if the cops came? I had to see this through to the end – not get arrested and probably assassinated in my cell.

  “Thomas!” Lara said, chucking an empty ceramic pot at Ash’s back as she stepped into view. She didn’t take even half a second to aim, or even to open her eyes. Nevertheless, it shattered against the back of Ash’s neck, and he stumbled forward.

  Ash stumbled toward me, and I slapped my fingers around his wrist. Then, I thrust my knee into his gut, or tried to, anyway. My knee hit his upper thigh, which felt a lot like a concrete slab.

  Judging from biceps alone, I couldn’t take him in a fight, especially since his hand had the knife. Thinking quickly, I focused my thoughts on the knife, hoping it was one of the metals I knew. I threw my willpower into the blade as he twisted his hand down and around, leaving me completely open for his next strike.

  Sometimes, you fight to the end. This wasn’t one of those times – I already assessed that Ash was stronger than me. Trained fighter or not, he could take me down. That’s why I stepped quickly sidestepped behind the rack of ferns and upended the entire thing onto him.

  Ash barked out a grunt of rage. Not pain, I noted, as he flung the rack aside with one hand like the cheap shelving it was. I lifted my hand, calling power into my ring.

  This is it, Thomas. It’s him or you – make the decision.

  I hesitated for just a second, standing with my palm held toward his chest, when I heard a firecracker and the sound of shattering glass.

  “Stop fighting!” a woman screamed with a shaking voice. In the movies, all guns sound like cannons. The gun that the woman held was small, and the sound matched. Still, I didn’t like the way she held the weapon unsteadily in both of her hands, aimed at the pair of us.

  All three of us simply stopped dead as glass shards sprinkled down onto Ash and me. One hand was already raised toward Ash, so I carefully raised the other like a surrendering prisoner.

  The gunslinger looked immediately familiar – she was Katherine, the woman from last night. The woman we’d come to question. A green bandana covered most of her curly hair, matching with the green apron donned by all the employees. Her eyes were lined with stress, but her mouth was rigid and pressed together with fearful determination.

  At the register up front, one of the elderly women went perfectly still. The other also raised her hands in surrender.

  That’s the way we stood for ten long seconds, Katherine with her gun, and us with our statue impersonations. Since no one else volunteered, I spoke up first. “Katherine?”

  She responded by jerking the gun toward me. “Who are you?”

  I straightened my back involuntarily. “Thomas Amberose – Private Investigator. I’d give you my card, but I’m kind of afraid to move.”

  The humor of the situation struck me, and I smiled wide.

  Humor? Get a hold of yourself, Thomas. This case is driving you crazy.

  “What do you want?” she asked.

  “To solve the murder of Emmitt Cane. At the moment, however, I think you should worry more about what he wants.” I gestured my finger toward Ash.

  She turned the gun back to him. “What do you want?”

  “Erm–” Ash began.

  “Katherine, is it?” I chimed in, seeing the man’s reluctance to do or say anything. The gun jerked back to me, and I had to suppress the urge to squirm. Believe it or not, I’ve never had the deadly, black eye of a gun looking at me before. “We – Me and my associate Lara Mercer over there – promise to protect you, but please, lower the gun.”

  “What about him?” I sighed as the gun aimed back at Ash.

  Lara glared over at Ash and said, “Drop the knife and go.”

  Drop the knife? No, I put my magic into that!

  “No, keep the–” I said rapidly, but cut myself short and scowled.

  Holding his hands up, Ash didn’t let the blade fall as he backed slowly away. Not turning around, he left as wordlessly as he had come.

  Lara walked cautiously toward Katherine, who slowly brought the gun to her side. I went to the window immediately to ensure that he actually left.

  “Who are you people?” Katherine asked as I watched him go.

  “Like Amberose said, I’m Lara Mercer of Mercer Investigations. We need to go. Now. It’s not safe. Do you mind coming with us?”

  “Okay,” she said, her voice breathy. But as I turned back around, I could easily make out the exact second the color returned to her face. Her shoulders became rigidly tense and her hand tightened around to the gun. “No – what do you people want with me? You’re the one who–”

  Lara cut her off and pointed to the door Ash left from. “That man came to kill you.”

  “We can protect you,” I pleaded. “Please.”

  “You were at the party last night. Why should I trust you?” Katherine said.

  “The truth is, I thought you were involved in a recent murder. There was a gh– a thing that killed Emmitt Cane.” I said, stopping myself before admitting it was a ghost. As far as I knew, Katherine was entirely removed from the magical world, which meant she’d likely think I’m crazy if she heard the truth. “I think that your sister is somehow involved in the murder. If she is, she could be in a lot of danger.”

  “A thing?” she said, questioningly. The gun dropped a few inches. Instead of aiming at my chest, it was at my hips. Great. “What kind of thing killed Emmitt Cane?” she demanded.

  “I...”

  “Tell me,” Katherine demanded, her gun rising to my chest again as she looked at me with renewed fear.

  “A ghost,” I admitted finally.

  The terrified woman didn’t react. “If you find her, than what?”

  “If she’s in danger, we’ll protect her,” I said. And if she’s the killer, well, that’s a different story.

  She stood there for another few seconds. A worried glance at Lara revealed Katherine’s unease, for she hadn’t moved an inch since she’d first raised her hands. Was she seriously considering using her gun, I wondered. “Look, if you want us to leave, we can. I promise you, though, that we’re on your side.”

  “Follow my car,” Katherine said finally, lowering the gun to her side and walking toward the fro
nt entrance.

  The two women were still staring, white-faced from the register. I thought Katherine was just going to leave until she stopped in the doorway, turned around and blushed sweetly at one of the elderly women. Still holding the gun she made what might have been an innocent, palms-out gesture had she been unarmed. “Sorry for the trouble, Mrs. Trundle. I’m going to need the rest of the day off.”

  Mrs. Trundle’s mouth moved, but no word came. Apparently, she wasn’t used to seeing guns in the workplace.

  “Sorry,” Katherine said. Then she led the way out.

  A second later, Lara and I hurried after her. She got into her car, we got into ours, and we both drove out of the parking lot.

  Katherine’s anxiety was reflected in her driving; she wasn't using blinkers, and often meandered over the lines. She took a random turn here and there as we followed, and neither Lara nor I could tell whether she had a destination in mind until she pulled into the parking lot of a coffee shop only a few miles down the road. Turning in to the first open space, we parked beside her, but she was already rushing inside.

  “Public place,” Lara said. “Smart girl.”

  She was already sitting at a table in the center of the room as we walked in. Glancing back and forth to her and the counter, I hesitated. I never just waltzed into a place without ordering something. It’s rude. Lara saw my hesitation, rolled her eyes, and pulled me forward.

  The pastel brown room had a few other couples chatting, while others used laptops. We were definitely not alone. The table was only wide enough for one, but I pulled a chair over from the next table and squeezed in next to Lara.

  “What, exactly are you two after?” Katherine started us off.

  “Exactly what we told you before,” Lara said. “To find out the truth behind the murder of Emmitt Cane.”

  “I didn’t have anything to do with that,” Katherine said firmly.

  Lara’s jaw was actually clenching as she spoke. “We know, but we think that Kelly Freidman does. She’s been missing, and we would like to know where she is.”

  “Why? And who killed Emmitt Cane?” she asked.

  “We’re not sure,” I answered. “But whoever killed Emmitt is still out there. He’s probably the same one who sent the ghost after Daniel last night.”

  “I thought that might have been you,” she accused, a glint of fear in her eye.

  “Is this before or after the ghost tried to kill Thomas?” Lara hissed with venom.

  The two women’s stares could have broken glass, so I figured now would be a good time to step in. “Do you know where Kelly is?”

  Katherine’s flaming eyes turned to me, but the look faded into dismay. “No. She... no.”

  Lara leaned forward and harshly said, “If you have any–”

  I held a ‘stop right there’ hand in front of Lara. “Please, Katherine.” I interrupted my step sister. Then, softly and with a consoling tone, I added, “We’re trying to help.”

  Katherine looked back and forth, but when her eyes settled on me, I could see her lips twitch in fear and sadness. “I didn’t even know that Emmitt Cane had died until Daniel told me last night. I can’t see how Kelly is involved in any of this,” she said, shaking her head in denial and clearly on the verge of tears.

  I took a breath and decided to shift the conversation back a few steps. “Katherine, you didn’t seem surprised to hear a ghost killed Emmitt. Why is that?”

  Katherine gazed timidly at me. “I...” she paused, unsettled by the conversation. “I didn’t believe it actually existed until I saw it for myself. I thought Kelly was just being crazy or something. She told me someone sent a ghost to kill her. I’ve been thinking this whole thing is a trick of some kind, right? A joke?”

  Beside me, Lara gave a sigh of annoyed disapproval. I knew it was just the stress and lack of sleep getting to her. I was sure Lara honestly wanted to help. Lara, however, was never good under pressure, and never one with an abundance of tact.

  “I’ll let you come to your own conclusions, but let’s just assume the ghost is real. This ghost can’t act alone, however. It can only appear when called upon. It’s only a tool. A weapon. This means that a ghost wasn’t after Daniel last night, but a person. Do you know anyone that would want to hurt your sister?”

  Katherine shook her head, but looked wearily down into her lap. I hoped to give her a few seconds to think, but Lara was impatient. “Come on. There has to be someone.”

  Katherine looked rattled, and I knew Lara’s abrupt tone didn’t help.

  “You can tell us,” Lara said, as calmly as an cobra about to strike.

  All the rapport I built up with Katherine had vanished, and once again she was on the defensive. I knew what I had to do, and didn’t like it one bit. Turning to Lara, even putting my hand on her bare shoulder – she still wore last night’s dress – I said, “Lara, do you mind getting us some coffee, please?”

  Her muscles beneath my hand tightened as she turned slowly toward me. Then back to Katherine who was red in the face again. I thought she was about to explode. To lash out at me. Instead, she forced out one word. “Cream?”

  “Yes, please.”

  “Nothing for me,” Katherine said.

  Through clenched teeth and badly hidden rage, she said, “Fine.”

  The two of us sat as Lara got up and headed to the counter.

  “Sorry about that,” I explained. “Lara means well. She’s just...” I trailed off, unable to find a suitable word.

  “...passionate.” Katherine finished.

  “Yeah. Under a lot of stress. Anyway, it would really help us out a lot if you could steer us in the right direction. Do you know anyone that would want to hurt Kelly?”

  “I do.” Katherine took a deep breath to collect her thoughts. “Kelly was having an affair on her husband. A few days ago she called me and told me that her husband’s brother, Daniel Cane, saw her with her boyfriend in a restaurant. That was...” she put her head down. “That was the last time we spoke, in person.”

  “In person?”

  “She also told me she was going to the cops. That her boyfriend had been murdered, and she planned to turn Emmitt Cane in. She seemed scared, though, and told me she sent me a letter, and that I’m not to open it unless I didn’t hear back from her.”

  “Did it arrive?” I asked.

  She nodded. “It didn’t make sense.”

  “Neither do ghosts,” I said with a friendly shrug.

  “She said in her letter that... That Emmitt Cane can...”

  “Cast spells? Perform Magic?”

  That took her by surprise. Her mouth stopped working for a few seconds. “Well, yeah.”

  “It’s true. Go on.”

  “She said that she meant to run off with Jackson – that’s the boyfriend she was having the affair with. I don’t know his full name. But that Emmitt Cane... um... it’s really weird talking about this. The letter said Emmitt Cane killed Jackson.”

  Her voice cracked as she grew more and more upset, so I helped her along by saying. “Did Kelly’s letter say how?”

  “It said that when the two of them were, um, together, and that a...” she paused, “a...”

  “A ghost?”

  She gazed up at me. “Yeah. A ghost killed him.”

  So the ghost killed her lover. The legend of Gregory Scythe goes that he’s out to protect his daughter’s honor. It made me wonder if Jackson was the intended target, or if Emmitt sent it after Kelly only to have it kill her guy instead. Either way, if Kelly didn’t have a motive for killing Emmitt before, she certainly did now. Not that I’d say that to her sister.

  Lara came back and set down a cup of tan liquid in front of me. “Does Kelly have a safe house? A phone number? Any way we could contact her?”

  Katherine shook her head. “Her phone’s been off for days. Sorry, but I don’t know.”

  I nodded, but I still didn’t know how this all connected. “Unless there’s anything else you c
an think of that may help me, I guess that’s all. You’re sure you don’t know where your sister may be hiding?”

  “No, I don’t,” she said firmly. “What about me? What happens now? Why was that guy even after me?”

  Good question, I thought. As far as I currently knew, Katherine was innocent of this whole thing. She had a sister who went missing. So what? Why send a hit man after Katherine over that? Had I simply not asked the right question?

  Lara pulled a card out of her purse and set it on the table. “The best way to stay safe is to avoid your house and work. Skip town for a few days. We’ll call you when it’s over.”

  “What?” Katherine said, fear in her eyes.

  I shrugged. “I hate to say it, but Lara’s right. I still don’t know why they’re after you, but that’s probably the best way.”

  “And avoid using your credit card. They’ll track that. Take out your cell phone battery, too.”

  “What?” Katherine said, her jaw dropping slightly. “Who are these people? Can’t I stay with you?”

  “We’re going after the bad guy. You’d be safer on your own.” Then, I offered my hand, and the friendliest smile I had in me. “Thank you for the help,” I concluded, lamely.