by Alexie Aaron
Mia rushed into Ted’s arms, and the two clung to each other, drawing from each other’s strength and love.
“We met an angel,” Ted whispered, awestruck by the event.
“Yes, we did,” Mia said. “Now let’s get out of here before we are revisited by Roumain or anyone else wanting a piece of us. Shit, we forgot Murphy. Roumain can still get to Murphy.”
“No, Mia, he falls under friends.”
“Does he?” she asked.
“Mia, I’ve gotten used to making friends with your lovers.”
“Murphy and I never…”
“There was a shared kiss or two. You were lovers,” Ted said. “But it doesn’t matter. Mia, you’re with me. You and I have made promises to each other, and no man, ghost, demon, or angel will be able to tear us apart.”
Mia shivered as the shadow of a large flying bird momentarily blocked the sun. She noticed that Ted hadn’t include birdman in his vow. She feared the birdman noticed it too.
Chapter Fifteen
Mike walked into the meeting to see Alan had already arrived. Mia seemed to have a lot more pep. She had Brian on her hip while she passed out folders. She looked over at Mike and gave him a wide, happy smile. “Coffee?” she asked.
“Please.”
Burt waved him over to where he and Alan had been studying some papers. He walked by Cid and Ted who were both busy at the keyboards, answering emails and updating the website. Jake popped up on a monitor dressed as a dog urinating on a replica of Mike’s car. “You’ll get yours, young man,” Mike said. He looked over Burt’s shoulder and nodded at the corrections he had asked Alan to make.
Mike sipped his coffee, happy that Burt or Cid probably had made it. Ted’s coffee was giving him high blood pressure, or so he told the doctor that week. The toll of Murphy’s bell directed his gaze outside. He turned and watched Audrey pull the rope once more. Had he driven past her? If so, how had he missed her? She walked smartly towards the farmhouse and dropped off something she was carrying and then walked happily towards the office. She must have been in the woods when he drove by. He worried that he rudely passed by the researcher without waving.
“Earth to Dupree,” Mia said, amused.
“Mmmek,” Brian said, reaching out to him.
“I don’t get it,” Mia said. “The kid says everybody’s name but can’t lower himself to say mama or dada.”
“Mmmek,” Brian said again.
Mike lifted the baby up and wiggled him in the air. “It’s because his parents are so boring.”
Brian made smacking sounds with his lips. Mike’s face lit up. He kissed the child.
“Careful, Brian, you could catch something. You don’t know where those lips have been,” Ted said.
Mia smacked him on the back. “Ew, did you have to go there?”
Ted just laughed.
Mia waited for Mike to tire of Brian and traded him for a cup of coffee. She looked outside and saw Susan Braverman drive up. “Ssssuz is here,” Mia said, walking towards the door that seemed to open by itself. Mike realized that Murphy must have arrived seconds before.
Mia left with Brian. Audrey walked in, brightening her surroundings with her colorful summer outfit and bouncy red hair. “Hello, Mike!”
“You’re all sunshine and marigolds today,” he observed.
“I’m just excited by this project,” she said. “How are things with you?”
“A bit boring. My girl is on a retreat with her accounting pals. I’m bored and more than ready for an investigation.”
“This one is going to be a tough one,” she warned.
“They’re all tough ones. How’s Mia?”
“She’s recovered,” Ted answered for her and added, “And amazing.”
Mike laughed. “Yes, she is.”
He took a sip of his coffee and kept an eye on the windows. Mia appeared to launch herself off the steps of the porch. She ran over, and Murphy opened the door for her.
“Thanks, Murph.”
Burt clapped his hands together. “Okay, you have two minutes to refill your cups before we start.”
Mike smiled. Burt seemed to have recovered too. He seemed so at ease with the group. Gone was the tension between him and Mia. Audrey and he still bristled a bit, but the whole group seemed to accept his leadership of PEEPs.
He sat down next to Mia, hoping she would protect him from any Murphy monkey business.
“The cool kids are here. Time to start,” Mike said, grabbing her hand in his.
“The only cool one here is you, Mike, but thanks just the same.”
“No really, in the paranormal investigation world, Mia, you’re a cool kid.”
“Cool beans,” she said.
He let go of her hand and pick up his cup, sniffing it first.
“I think it’s okay. Murph’s been pretty quiet since the elephants left,” she said with a tinge of worry in her voice.
“Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s temporary,” he said.
Burt stood up and waited for the two techs to turn around and scoot their chairs to the conference table.
“We’ve been given a gem to investigate,” he started. “I asked Audrey to head the investigation, but she declined. She’s going to be too busy continuing on with her survey of the mall for the veterans. She is also going to be doing double duty on research. The next investigation is of the Double Tree Mall.”
The lights lowered, and three monitors lit up with photos of the mall. Mike was impressed. He saw Ted and Cid watching the display from their iPads, so it had to be Jake controlling the video portion of Burt’s talk.
“In its heyday, this was an upscale retail mall. The Double Tree was at the start of its Back-to-School sales when tragedy struck.” Burt went on to tell the story of the missing choral group. Jake flashed pictures of the chorus on the screen and then individual pictures of the teens. “Trevor Hines and Chris Boss’s bodies were found hanging from the tree in the center court. The coroner’s report said that both boys died of broken necks. They were alive when those ropes went around their necks.”
Burt let the information sink in for a moment before he continued, “The other five teens, Julie Sparger, Virginia Dubas, Dale Calhoon, Douglas Wright and Colin York were never heard from again. Until last week. Jake, run tape.”
Mike was blown away. “That’s being filmed by who?”
“I had on a GoPro camera,” Cid said. “But that’s not what I saw.”
“Go on,” Mike encouraged.
“With my super hearing, I heard the song “Desperado” being, first, sung by Julie Sparger and then by my mother as she sang along to the Eagles in our kitchen when I was a young boy. It was so real, I could hear my Fruity Pebbles popping.”
“He was O U T out,” Audrey commented. “The security guards had to drag him away.”
“According to Father Alessandro,” Burt interjected, “The haunt is very similar to being seduced by sirens.”
“But only Cid heard it,” Audrey told the group. “Father Alessandro didn’t elaborate on his explanation.”
“Audrey’s a bit miffed by the priest’s riddle-filled explanations,” Cid said.
“I could talk to him if you like. I’m headed into the city tomorrow for a fitting with Ralph’s designer. I could try to get a better read on the situation,” Mia offered.
“Thank you, Mia. I’d appreciate it,” Audrey said. “I have some questions that need answering.”
Mia’s eyes opened wide as Audrey handed her several sheets of paper.
Burt waited patiently, something that Mike wasn’t exactly surprised as much as pleased about. The meeting reminded him of the pre-Hollow days when the only tension in the room was brought on by Mike’s ego.
“You’re not the only one to see the chorus,” Burt continued. “I talked to Mary Greer, the head of acquisitions for the veterans group, and she mentioned that she’d seen a group of five shadows moving through the mall a number of times.”
“It sounds
like we have an opportunity to catch them on film, perhaps with larger cameras,” Mike said with care. He didn’t want to be appear to be critical of Cid’s use of the GoPro.
“There’s more. Audrey…”
“The mall is infested with birds and rodents. The center courtyard’s skylight either fell in from a heavy snow before the millennium or the tree pushed through it. Either way, it looks more like a forest glade than a retail resting place. Also, the security team that took us around mentioned a foul-smelling store.”
“Sewer backed up?” Mike asked.
“That’s what Cid and I thought, but the bathrooms work everywhere else according to them.”
“Could be bats,” Mia offered. “If the skylight is open, then bats could have come in. I think we should be prepared just in case.”
“Or something more sinister,” Cid said. “Father Alessandro alluded to Audrey and myself that before the mall was built, an old prison was torn down and…”
“You son of a bitch. You moved the cemetery, but you left the bodies, didn’t you?” Jake quoted Poltergeist using Craig T. Nelson’s voice.
“Really?” Mike asked.
“Again, Father Alessandro didn’t exactly say that but…”
Mia and Ted smiled at each other. They were used to the old priest’s way of conversing.
“Mia, see if you can get more info if you can,” Burt instructed.
Mia jotted down some notes. Mike smiled. Normally Mia just doodled. He hadn’t really seen her handwriting before. It was all spikey, tall letters but squashed together. She put a hand over her paper and hissed, “No cheating, Dupree.”
This caused him to laugh.
“Children,” Burt warned. “I thought I said you two couldn’t sit next to each other.”
“Sorry,” Mike said.
“I’d like to get more research finished before we go in. Also, we have a large area to cover. I may look into bringing in some ringers to help out.”
Mike felt Mia freeze beside him. He spoke up, “Burt, let’s not go overboard. The costs or favors involved are really going to eat into our profits.”
“I hear what you’re saying, and I won’t do anything without consulting the people these favors would impact the most,” he assured him.
Mike nodded.
“Thanks,” Mia whispered.
“In the meanwhile, we have blueprints to study and intel to collect. Also, Ted, could you see if you can get a better range on the earcoms? This place is indoors and mostly a Wi-Fi dead zone.”
“Let’s meet up in a few days and see if we can pin down a start time,” Burt said and lifted his hands. “That’s all I have. Anybody have any new business?”
There was none, and the meeting finished.
Mia popped up and announced, “There are some refreshments over at the house.”
Mike waited for the others to make their way over to house before he cornered Mia who was fussing in the small refrigerator under the kitchenette counter.
Mike squatted down and asked, “Can I help?”
Mia looked beyond him to see that the room behind them was empty and said, “Do you think you could spare some time for me tomorrow? I’m in the need of a father confessor.”
“I’ll clear my schedule.”
“Thanks.”
He stood up and held a hand out, and Mia accepted the help up.
“My leg is healing, but my muscles have gone to crap. I think I need to start running again.”
“I thought you would get plenty of exercise with Brian?”
“He’s not mobile yet. If I don’t get back into shape soon, he’ll run me ragged.”
“I recommend long walks instead of running. Sure, it takes longer, but it’s easier on the joints.”
Mia nodded.
They left the office and took their time walking over to the house. Mia looked around for Murphy and thought she saw him on the hillside. It was only a fleeting image, but there was no mistaking the brief shine of the axe head. Murphy had been acting strange since she returned from N’awlins with Ted. She would need to talk to him soon. However, today she was going to enjoy a house full of corporeal beings and the food she and Cid had prepared between them.
~
Orion was replacing a volume on medicinal herbs when Angelo strode into the research room. His body language telegraphed he was in a bad mood long before his voice confirmed it.
“Orion, Audrey McCarthy requested that you call her. Something about researching an old prison,” he said gruffly.
“I’ll give her a call. What’s got your feathers ruffled?”
“I’ve had it with humans.”
“Oh come on, surely not all humans…”
“They are …”
“She is?” Orion ventured.
“She is never going to talk to me again,” Angelo blurted out.
“I take it, it’s Mia you are talking about?”
“It could be some other woman.”
“No. It’s common knowledge that your Achilles heel is your very human feelings for Mrs. Mia Cooper Martin.”
Orion’s use of Mia’s married name reminded Angelo that he wouldn’t get much sympathy from the little man, but Orion did have an open mind. “I’ve botched things good. Not only for myself but pretty much for any entity that has feelings for Mrs. Martin.”
“Oh dear. From what I’ve observed of Mia, she doesn’t like being in the limelight, and she doesn’t appreciate being hit on. She’ll flirt, but when things get serious, she closes up shop and runs back home where she belongs. I believe I remember her saying that she doesn’t get why she gets all this attention from well… us.”
“She’s powerful.”
“And pretty,” Orion said, baiting the large birdman.
“She needs protecting.”
“She has a protector and a husband. Not always one in the same.”
“I think I may have caused a distance between Stephen and her.”
“I’m sure it was on purpose.”
Angelo closed his eyes before speaking. “Mia opened up her mind to me to share an experience, but while I was in there…”
“I don’t like where this is going,” Orion mumbled to himself.
“I sought out a few memories, and then I couldn’t stop. I sorted through her life memories…”
“Especially the ones involving Stephen Murphy,” Orion said and sighed.
“Not only those.”
“Let’s skip to the end please. Tell me, what did you do with this information?”
“I told her that, from all the evidence that I found in her mind, I determined that she didn’t love her husband, and that she was in love with Stephen. Also, that Judge Roumain was inside of Ted when they conceived Brian.”
Orion groaned. “You stupid fool. You were in her mind, not her heart. And how did you know about Roumain?”
“I could see him. Roumain was there just behind Ted’s eyes.”
“How did that conversation end?”
“Mia wouldn’t let me take her home. She walked off after telling me that I was wrong and she did love her husband even though there was no evidence that the Cooper curse had set in.”
“Do you know what happened after?”
“I gather Ted came for her. I saw them the next day touring a graveyard.”
“Did you talk to them?”
“No.”
“Well, my friend, evidently you missed a major life event. I only have this new entry to go by, but it speaks volumes.” Orion took out the entity book, flipped to Judge Roumain and tapped the last entry and read, “Sariel garnished a promise from Judge Roumain: ‘I will promise on the sword of Sariel not to interfere in the lives of Mia, her husband, child, her future children and her friends.’ If you are still one of her friends, then you don’t have to watch your back around Roumain until you die.”
“Sariel? How did he become involved?”
“That we would have to ask Mia, which I am going to do when I see her n
ext. You haven’t tossed me on your funeral pyre along with Stephen and Roumain have you?”
“No. Why?”
“Angelo, you are a noble warrior and an adequate librarian, but you suck at women. You questioned her love for Ted. You seeded her mind with doubt. You basically called her a liar and made her distrustful of her own feelings. She is not going to want to spend any time with you. Roumain, well, that’s finished. Murphy now, they’ve been friends for years, so that relationship might survive. But from now on, Mia is going to be suspicious of any male she hasn’t already vetted as a non-suitor.”
“Not you too?”
“I admit to not being interested in Mia carnally, but I would like her as a friend. She is the future. A multi-genetic being with Sariel at her beck and call. Mia was powerful before, but now… As Mia would say herself, ‘Whoa!’”
Chapter Sixteen
Ted and Cid dropped Mia and Brian off, promising to pick her up after dinner. They were going to the Rosemont Convention Center to see a trade show. Mia, who hated to drive in the city, was fine with it.
After the fitting, Ralph insisted that the grand-godfathers needed time with Brian. He was planning on meeting Bernard at the art museum with Brian. They were determined to give the baby an early infusion of culture. Mia insisted he take the stroller. “Brian can get heavy after a while, and you can’t have your back go out before the big day.”
Once he saw how fashionable the gift from Audrey and Matt was, he was happy to stroll with Brian.
“I swear, did you think I would bring the farm stroller to the city?” she asked, insulted.
The aforementioned cart was a hand-me-down from Ted’s sister. It had seen plenty of years, but it also, had plenty of years left in it. Mia liked it because she could haul a bale of hay and Brian at the same time.
“Frankly, yes. Now you take your time, and take the good father out to lunch,” he said, jamming a fifty in Mia’s pocket.
“I can afford to take the guy to lunch,” Mia said proudly.
“Taco Bell is not lunch,” Ralph insisted. “We’ll expect you for dinner. Bring Mike along if you can. Bernard is making his lasagna, and I don’t want too many leftovers.”