Things that Go Bump in the Night (Haunted Series)

by Alexie Aaron

  “Forgive me for being late, gentlemen. Please sit,” he said in heavy Latin-accented English. “Amber kept me on the phone longer than expected. She is upset over Marc not wanting to step foot into this building until the ghosts are vanquished.”

  “Mr. Carlos,” Mike began. “We won’t take up too much of your valuable time. We have a few problems with the contract, the nondisclosure area to be precise.”

  Juan looked over at the attorney and then back at Mike. “Go on, please explain.”

  Mike discussed the nature of their group and that they would be showing evidence on the cable show. “I fear that this would go against the agreement.”

  Juan’s face brightened. “I see the conflict. Basically, I would prefer if you would not use my name or the faces of my associates – blur them if you have no other choice – in the show. And that anything that would disparage my business practices be kept out of the show.”

  “That’s different. We have no problem with that, but it needs to be spelt out.”

  Juan looked at his attorney. “You’ll take care of this immediately?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Juan got up and smiled at Mike and Burt. “Then if you will excuse me, I have to find another choreographer.” He walked out the door, followed by his security duo.

  “He’s not what I expected,” Mike said, forgetting the lawyer was still in the room with them.

  “No one does,” the lawyer said as he opened his laptop and began typing. “I’ll have the changes for you in a minute.”

  “Have you worked for him long?” Burt asked.

  “I worked for his father when I was a young man, and I watched Juan grow up. His adopted parents doted on the boy, but I assure you he isn’t spoiled. And I will warn you that he is tough. Juan’s goals are to eclipse his father’s wealth. In his case, it will take some doing. Juan Jr. refuses to deal in the drug trade or use muscle to push his way forward.”

  “I find that quite admirable,” Burt said. “It’s tough out here in the real world. I wish him well.”

  The lawyer nodded. He continued typing. The whirl of a printer warming up surprised both Mike and Burt. The man got up and opened the credenza and extracted a new contract. He handed it to Mike to read, pointing out the changes. Mike, ever his mother’s son, decided to read the whole thing through, making sure nothing was added he hadn’t seen before.

  The attorney sat back and asked, “Tell me, Mr. Hicks, what do you hope to accomplish here at The Jewel?”

  “Amber, a former employee of ours, would like us to investigate the claims of the ghosts in this place, and I believe we are to do our best to hustle them out of here so the review can go back into full rehearsals.”

  “I assure you that the place is haunted. I myself have had the discourtesy of being in the presence of a headless woman on this executive floor of the theater. The first time you see her it is a fright. After awhile you feel sorry for her, stumbling around looking for her head,” the man sympathized.

  “I gather the head is the nasty part.”

  “So, I’ve heard. A real harpy.”

  Mike looked up from the papers. “Burt, it looks good to me. Let’s sign this puppy and get to work.”

  Burt walked over and signed the contract. Mike followed, and the attorney witnessed it.

  “Forgive me for being prosaic, but I wish you happy hunting,” he said and packed up his laptop.

  Chapter Twelve

  Burt and Mike arrived at the command truck to find Cid arguing with the air in front of him.

  “What do you mean you saw Mr. Sulu? You’re telling me that George Takei is in the theater?”

  Mia stuck her head out of the truck and interpreted, “He’s trying to tell you that someone who looks like Mr. Sulu, you know Star Trek…

  Cid gave Mia a blistering stare. “I know Star Trek.”

  “Well, he’s just saying that…”

  “If I may,” Mike interrupted.

  “Go ahead, professor,” Mia said.

  “Thank you. Murphy must have run into Juan Carlos Jr. He’s Japanese, well actually Columbian.”

  “Professor, I’ll take it from here,” Burt said and explained, “Juan is adopted. He has Japanese heritage. Murphy, you’ve been watching too much television, and you need to do an HR course on not judging a book by its cover.”

  Murphy dropped his axe, put his hands together and mimed opening a book. He glared at Burt and sniffed.

  “Murphy says, he assures you Juan is Japanese on the inside as well as the outside, and if you would like him to open him up to show you…”

  “NO!” Burt said shocked. He caught on quickly that Mia was teasing. He wasn’t too sure about Murphy.

  “Come on, Murphy, I’ll explain to you. We are all in a great melting pot…” Mia said, drawing the ghost aside.

  Burt and Mike watched the woman stroll away, not bothered that no one else could see whom she was talking to.

  “I have a question, Cid. How did you know what Murphy was talking about?” Mike asked.

  “He came over whistling the theme from Star Trek and made the sounds Sulu made when he was working. I almost had it figured out when you stuck your nose in.”

  “Amazing. It’s that super hearing of yours,” Mike said impressed. “Speaking of super ears, where’s that eavesdropping bastard?”

  “Behind you,” Ted said.

  Mike jumped in the air. “Effin hell, Ted!”

  Burt turned his head away to hide his amusement. He had seen Ted sneaking up on the lead investigator and didn’t say a word.

  “You’re learning that sneaky stuff from that clown Murphy,” Mike complained.

  “You see, we pick up from each other. We are all in a great melting pot…”

  “Go to hell, Ted.”

  “After you, Mike.”

  “Boys, let’s be professionals,” Burt warned, hating to break up the fun. “We’ve got to have a planning meeting. The Jewel is a maze below stage, and the first and second floors are going to be difficult to film.”

  Ted put his fingers in his mouth and whistled. Mia turned around. Ted waved her and Murphy back.

  Audrey hopped off the loading dock and wandered over. “I’m not sure I’m in love with this line of communication,” she grumbled.

  “Just until we get everyone on com,” Ted explained. “Sorry, it was a bit rude wasn’t it?”

  Audrey waved it off. She picked up the end of the long folding table and with Cid’s help moved it over under the awning and set it up. Mia pulled some chairs out of the back of the command vehicle, and soon they had their conference table set up. They all took a seat with the exception of Murphy who drifted between Mia and Ted.

  “I would like to hand this investigation over to Mike to manage,” Burt said. “I’ve still got a lot of cleanup to do with the Rosemont Hotel footage. I’d like to hang back and just be an investigator/cameraman if I can.”

  Mike nodded. “If no one has any objections. Murphy, put your hand down.”

  Mia spun around, and Stephen winked at her. She looked back at Mike. “How’d you…”

  “Common sense,” he answered. “Okay, I’d like to attack this investigation this way. First, we wire the hot spots. Second, we interview as many of the witnesses, on camera, as we can get. Thirdly, I’d like to do something Ted and Mia suggested. Let’s put on a performance and catch the ghostly audience members – I understand that there are quite a few – watching the performance. And of course, we need to identify the dangerous ones and get their back story before we deal with them. I’ve had an offer of an additional investigator that I’d like to talk to Mia about first before accepting,” Mike said.

  “Is there any reason you can’t ask me in front of the team?” Mia asked.

  “I don’t want to put any pressure on you to agree,” Mike said.

  “Go ahead,” Mia said.

  “We’ve worked with her before…”

  “Amber, I have no problem with Amber,” Mia sa
id cutting Mike off.

  “No, we are going to work with Amber, but she is our client.”

  “Not Beth?” Mia said, her stomach twisting.

  “No. Actually, it’s your aunt, Beverly. Gerald asked us to take her on, and in doing so, we would be clearing our debt of favors.”

  “Why would Bev want to work with us?” Mia questioned.

  “I think it’s more a case of keeping her busy and out of trouble. Plus, I think she’s embarrassed about what happened at your place, and she wants to make it up to you,” Mike informed her.

  Mia wrinkled her face. “She wants to make it up to me by invading my turf?” She looked at Ted.

  “It’s your choice, Minnie Mouse, no one is pressuring you,” he said.

  Mia looked at the team and considered all that Bev had to offer. Murphy shook his head slowly and then hunched his shoulders. “I guess it’s going to be alright. But I don’t want her treated any different. The broad can roll cables with the rest of us.”

  Mike smiled and Burt sighed. Mia had taken one for the team, and they appreciated it.

  ~

  “Why is it always left up to us to forgive?” Audrey asked as she walked beside Mia into the building. Mia wanted to give Audrey the tour before she would have to be in the dark, in front of the camera.

  “In your case, you are compassionate and can look forward to your great rewards,” Mia answered. “In my case, I’m used to it. I’ve been trained to ignore hurtful comments. My mother doesn’t mean them, supposedly. I forgave the taunts of my peers, partly because I could see their point. I was, am, a freak. But don’t misunderstand me, Audrey, I’m not a victim. And my life has turned out to be a rich, full one. So if I give Bev another chance, please, don’t think less of me.”

  Audrey grabbed Mia’s arm and stopped her. “I understand what you’re saying, Mia, and I don’t think less of you. I’m trying to rise to the high road you travel.”

  The two women exchanged meaningful glances. A bond was forming between them. It was no longer fragile, but it still was young. It would take many misunderstandings before the two of them would be totally at ease with the other.

  “Do you smell smoke… No dogs… Smoky dogs?” Audrey asked.

  “There’s a cage full of toy poodles at your feet. Don’t say anything, but I’m going to let them free when we are finished here, somewhere away from the road. Perhaps release them in a daycare center or a hospice.”

  “I like the idea of the hospice,” Audrey said. “Why did you choose those two places?”

  “No, you tell me why,” Mia said as she knelt and put her face to the cage Audrey could only imagine.

  “Small children could see them. They haven’t yet been convinced that they can’t see ghost dogs,” Audrey said. “Put my hand near them, please. I want them to know my scent,” she said. She knelt down and felt the slightest tingle on the tips of her fingers. “A hospice because perhaps the people exiting this world can also see them, for they are looking for their lost loved ones to show them the way. Although, I worry about the smoky smell. It could cause worry.”

  Mia looked over at Audrey, clearly pleased. “Trust your instincts, they are sound.”

  “You should get Murphy a dog.”

  “You’re the second person to mention that. Let Murphy get his own dog,” Mia said standing up. “Come on, I want to introduce you to three quarters of a magician’s assistant.”

  Audrey swallowed hard. “So, the girls weren’t hysterical?”

  “Nope.”

  Mia walked over and took Audrey into the chorus girls’ dressing area. “Sit here and be still.” Mia pulled out a vanity chair and turned it around, offering it to her. “She’ll be along soon.”

  “How do you know this?” Audrey whispered, sitting down.

  “You don’t have to whisper. She has no head so no…”

  “Ears,” Audrey finished.

  “The young woman is looking for her head. She will move throughout the theater until she finds it. Sooner or later she will come through here.”

  “How do you know she was a magician’s assistant?”

  “That’s just a guess, I may be wrong. I just thought about how would a young woman lose her head in the theater? Guillotine trick gone wrong perhaps?”

  “Gross. There’s always murder,” Audrey suggested.

  “Yes, a bloody crime of passion. But do you know how much energy it takes to sever a human head? I can’t even separate a drumstick off a roast turkey,” Mia confessed. “Murph could do it with his axe…”

  Audrey’s stomach turned.

  “But the force of his axe messes up the white meat and destroys the cutting board. Why are you so pale?”

  “I thought, oh never mind.”

  There was the sound of hangers moving, directing the female investigators to the wardrobe.

  Out of the closet came a headless woman.

  Mia stood on her chair to get a better look as the woman stumbled towards her. “It has been cut clean through, no jagged edges,” she told Audrey.

  Audrey took a few stills of the apparition.

  “Look at the costume. It’s expensive beading. Ralph taught me how to tell the good stuff from the bad. See those teardrop crystals. Those are heavy. I wonder how she kept the costume up when she was performing.”

  “Well, she is rather endowed.”

  “Endowed?” Mia questioned.

  “She has big breasts. Are you sure she’s a magician’s assistant? Don’t they have to curl up and get squashed into fake bottoms of trunks and…”

  “Thanks a lot, you killed the magic for me. Yell spoiler alert next time.”

  Audrey laughed in spite of herself. The situation was creepy insane. Mia was on a chair, literally breathing down the neck of the entity, crushed that Audrey told her how the vanishing acts were done.

  The body moved away from Mia, bounced off a few walls and then disappeared.

  “She lost energy. Next time she’ll appear in the hall, I bet,” Mia guessed.

  “I got a few clear pictures of her. Maybe we can track down the costumer. If it’s expensive, chances are that there will be a mention in an archive somewhere,” Audrey informed Mia.

  “Damn, you’re good at this. Let’s see if we can hunt down her head. I heard it appears on stage.”

  “Shouldn’t we stick to the script, and you show me the rest of the theater?”

  Mia looked crestfallen.

  “And,” Audrey said quickly, “If we see a certain head along the way…”

  Mia hopped down from the chair and almost skipped out the door. “Follow me. The swanky dressing room awaits.”

  The chief of security for The Jewel walked outside and introduced himself to the investigators. “Darren Joseph, just call me DJ,” he requested.

  “You look familiar,” Mike said.

  The tall black man explained that he had originally set his sights on a NFL career as a guard but was sidelined with a broken clavicle in his rookie year. “I went through hell trying to heal and win my place back on the team, but it wasn’t to be. Instead I decided to use my size for the game of protecting the rich and stupid.”

  “I sense a story to go with that attitude,” Mike said.

  “Oh, I got the stories, but I also have signed too many nondisclosures to tell them,” he said raising his arms. “About your vehicles, I arranged for the Joliet police to make their presence known here. They’re going to drive by, take a few breaks here, anything to keep the scavengers away from your stuff. Although, I suggest you lock or chain anything valuable up if you’re not going to be in the vicinity. It’s pretty quiet here during the week, but on the weekend, man, you wouldn’t believe the pedestrian traffic. Between the Rialto Square and the casino, there is a constant parade of out-of-towners, and with any large group of gamblers, there’ll be a few individuals who have other ideas of recouping their monetary losses. So far it’s been pick pockets. No muggings, thank god. But you’ve got a lot of expensive equi
pment to pawn. I’d be careful leaving any cameras lying around unattended.”

  “We appreciate the warning,” Mike said, happy he didn’t drive his new car here. It was secured in Ted’s garage.

  “I’m down a man or I’d loan him to you. Jeff quit this afternoon.”

  “Sorry to hear that.”

  “Can’t be helped. Some people just can’t understand that dead is dead. It can’t hurt you.”

  Mike wanted to correct him that not all ghosts are friendly harmless souls, but he also knew that wasn’t his place. Besides, they needed all the help they could get if this investigation got messy.

  Burt watched Mike’s conversation with the guard from the camera Ted had set up to watch the entrance to the alley. He was on console duty while Ted and Cid placed the cameras inside. He was amazed by the advanced technology Ted had added. PEEPs had come a long way from the two camera setup they used to work with. He and Mike were quite fortunate that Ted had wandered into one of their investigations in Wichita all those years ago and made a few suggestions. Mike, quick to spot talent, had asked if he wanted to hang around. It wasn’t long before Ted had brought some of his own designed equipment into the group. They were very lucky to have him.

  “So you said the guy was sitting where?” Cid asked as he anchored the tripod.

  “About six seats from you. I’d attach two cameras: one to get a close-up of the dude and another down the row in case he’s joined by anyone,” Ted suggested.

  “Just how many ghosts do you think the renovation has woken up?”

  “It’s hard to tell. Until Audrey gets more information on the history of this place, we really don’t know what’s possible. For instance, was there a fire here? A mass murder, did the roof collapse, tornado?” Ted listed. “There are a lot of possibilities. We’ll know in the next few days what we’re dealing with.”

  “I’ve got this great idea,” Cid said as he collected his odds and ends before moving on to the next camera. “What if we sold paranormal insurance to contractors?”