"Right." Hernandez rubbed his lower lip with his thumb. "Pellis, I need you to get to Caroline's Black's residence and stay with her. If Grant did see Mr. Black talking to this suspect, then this could get a lot stickier than I first suspected."
"You suspected her father had something to do with her attack?"
I am surprised. How could he have already come to this conclusion?
Hernandez looks around as if he fears he will be overheard. "Pellis, you can't repeat this. Not yet."
She leans in closer, as do I.
"When we arrived at Miss Black's house last night, her father had his entire legal staff in her living room. When I asked one of them what they were doing, he said Gerome called them in to go over the sale of the apartment as soon as possible."
Pellis ducks her head back but keeps her features even. "They were in his daughter's apartment…discussing selling it out from under her?"
"It wouldn't be out from under her if she were dead, now would it?" Hernandez looks at his clipboard. "Mr. Black also tried to insinuate Mr. Grant had something to do with the attempted rape, like setting it up. But there's no evidence of that. Daniel Grant's record is clean with no priors. The only thing he's apparently guilty of is doing a good act."
"Never goes unpunished," Pellis echoes my thoughts from before. "So how did you know he was missing? Because he never showed up this morning?"
I put a hand to my chest. This morning? I am shocked it is the next day…the next afternoon.
"We found his car on 85 north. It looked as if he'd been rear ended. Found blood on the steering wheel. All of his possessions were still inside, keys in the ignition. His phone was gone, and so was he. They're towing it into the lab, but right now we're not sure where he is. What I am sure of, is whatever happened to Caroline Black last night has larger reaching arms than an attack in an alley." He looks around again. "Go do what I said. I'll smooth things over with the captain and I'll forward you what I have so far. I'll call and make sure someone takes a good look at Black's financials and his LUDs. Just get over there and stick with Caroline. And keep your phone on you."
Pellis turns and half jogs toward her car.
I look from Hernandez to Pellis. Several seconds tick by before I run after Pellis. I need to see Caroline.
I need to warn her. Somehow.
6
I sit in the front seat with Detective Pellis as she drives. She is a wonderkind of modern conveniences. A phone sits bracketed to the dash, a small laptop in a similar, larger bracket beneath it. She drives with her left hand as her right hand types on the keyboard. She listens to speed metal.
There is a God.
I try engaging in conversation, but she doesn't hear me. Once I try to put my hand over hers while she types, but it passes through hers and into the laptop. The machine goes dead. Pellis curses but continues to drive.
We reach the building I escaped from last night. Pellis flashes her badge and is given entrance. I glance back to see a valet place orange cones around her car, as if this is something he has seen before.
The elevator man is different and escorts us to the penthouse. The doors open and the same car-sized floral arrangement greets us. Pellis pauses in front of it and sneezes.
"Damn flowers," she mutters as she goes around it and bangs on the door. "Miss Black?"
Several agonizing seconds pass before the door opens and Caroline is there. She is beautiful. She wears a large, thick black sweater with a scarf around her neck. Her jeans fit her legs perfectly. I look down. She wears bunny slippers.
I love her.
"What is it?" She looks Pellis up and down. "Who are you?"
Pellis holds up her badge. "I'm Detective Pellis. I work with Detective Hernandez. I need to talk to you."
"Sure." Caroline stands back.
Pellis strides through and I realize striding is the only way this woman walks.
I barely run through the door before she closes it. I realize my existence is little more than a large question mark hovering over my head. My hands pass through people and computers. I do not want to test whether or not I can pass through doors. I've been able to keep a full on freak-out at bay. Walking through a door could trigger a melt down.
"What's this about? Did you find my attacker?"
Pellis strides around the apartment. She checks the kitchen, the curtains, and moves down the hall.
"What are you looking for?"
"Are you alone?" Pellis asks as she strides back to us.
"Yes. I called in sick to work. I…just couldn't go in after what happened last night." She crosses her arms over her chest.
"Have you called anyone?"
"Well yeah. I've been trying to call Daniel, but he's not answering his phone. I've left like, a million messages. Did he show up this morning and talk with the sketch artist?"
"Miss Black—"
"You know I called there and no one would tell me anything."
"Miss Black—"
"Is that why you're here? Did something else happen?"
Pellis holds up her hands. "Miss Black…please. Sit down."
Caroline looks scared as she sits on one of the sofas. I move to the window. It overlooks the city. Much of it is covered in clouds. The drizzling rain runs down the glass in rivulets. "What…what's wrong?" She asks.
"Hernandez asked me to watch you." She swallows. "They found Mr. Grant's car on the interstate this morning. He was on 85 north, heading out of town."
"What? Was he in it? Where is he?" Caroline stands and I turn from the window to watch her reaction. My heart soars at her concern. I was, for a time, not a ghost to her.
"Please, sit back down." When Caroline sits, Pellis continues. "The car was found abandoned. Hernandez is at the apartment Mr. Grant lived in. But so far, no one's seen him."
Caroline stares at her. "He…he's missing?"
"I'm afraid so." Pellis sits on the opposite sofa. "Miss Black…did you know your father was talking to lawyers last night?"
"They were here when…when Dan and I got here." Her voice cracks and her resolve breaks. She puts her hands to her face as she cries. "Oh God…where is Daniel? Where was he going?"
"He called Hernandez last night. It was after midnight. And he said…he was worried about you. He said you and he were both in danger."
"From what? The attacker? Oh God," she says as she reaches out to Pellis. "Do you think the attacker found him? Tracked him down?"
"We're not sure." Pellis licks her lips as I move around the sofa. I watch the two of them as I try to remember where I woke. I don't know if that's where my body is… I'm still coming to grips with not being in my body.
Of being a real ghost.
I regret not watching more ghost movies, or reading more on the subject. I use the word to describe my living invisibility, never realizing it was a very real condition.
"What do you know?"
Caroline's voice brings my attention back to now. I want to be found. I need to be found. I need to…
Stop the man in the Mercedes from hurting her.
Pellis moves her hands over her thighs. I start thinking it's a nervous habit. "Miss Black…do any of your father's friends drive a Mercedes? A black one?"
"Uh well, yeah. My mom does and dad's PA does."
"PA? Personal assistant?"
"Mr. Jones. That's the only name I've ever called him."
"Was he here last night? With your dad?"
I watch Caroline start to answer. She stops and frowns. "No he wasn't. Which is strange since he's always with my dad, especially with everyone else here last night."
"Did he ever join in?"
"No..no. Everyone left not long after Dan left." Tears came again. "Detective, you've got to find him. He's a good guy. Do you know how rare that is?"
Rare? I form the word on my lips. A surge of emotion overwhelms me. I touch Caroline's shoulder—
She jumps and nearly comes off the couch.
"What's wrong?" Pellis as
ks.
"I just…it felt like someone touched me. On my shoulder. Daniel kept touching my shoulder last night. I thought it was his way of checking on me, making sure I was all right."
She feels me.
She feels my touch!
I try again.
My hand passes through. This time she rubs her shoulder as if experiencing a chill. I look at my hand and wonder what made the difference. Was it the emotional connection? I look for something else to touch because I don't want to make her uncomfortable. There is an envelope on the coffee table. The address is to occupant. I try to remember the emotion I felt when I touched Caroline. I felt…sad. Sad because she believed I was a rare person. I was sad because she was sad.
In that instant the envelope flew across the coffee table and hit the window.
Pellis and Caroline stand up. Their eyes lock on the motionless envelope on the carpet. I look at my hands. I didn't touch it. I only…wanted it to move.
And it flew.
I see a plate on the counter behind the couch. I recall the feeling again, one of sadness, and I want the plate to move.
It does—rather spectacularly. It sails across the kitchen and strikes the refrigerator. Both women yell. Caroline runs from the couch and stands at the edge of the kitchen. "What…what's happening?"
Someone pounds on the door. I jump as Pellis pulls her weapon and strides to the entrance. I join Caroline as she moves to watch. Pellis peers through the hole and stands back. "It's not someone I recognize. He's wearing a black suit. Caroline, ask who is it."
I was never one to believe in fortunes or foresight, but as I watch Caroline take a step to the door in slow motion, a gray nothingness overwhelms me. Abruptly I see the monochromatic sky. Water drops strike my face and my toes are cold. Pain shoots through my head as I find myself in Caroline's apartment again. She is in mid-stride and I know…I know the door is danger.
I run to at, at it, through it, and stop on the other side. I have no time to worry about how it feels or doesn't. I turn to see a man in a black suit standing just outside the door. His hair is dark and he isn't carrying a briefcase. There is something familiar to his stance. Something dark…
I hear screaming.
I hear someone yelling.
I hear…me.
He turns as the elevator doors open and two uniform officers step through.
I see his face…
The man in the black Mercedes. Mr. Jones.
"Ah…gentlemen. May I help you?"
"We're here to see Miss Caroline Black."
Everything slows down again. I see Mr. Jones reach into his suit jacket. I see the weapon. The officers will be too slow to react. He will kill them, maybe the way he killed me.
The officers flank the car-sized flower arrangement. They reach for their weapons as well.
Too late.
Everything is too late.
My emotions shift as I stare at the arrangement.
It flies with incredible speed at Mr. Jones and knocks him into the double doors but they don't open. I run through them again toward the fogging window on the other side. Pellis and Caroline stare at the door.
The how and why no longer matter to me. There is an eminent threat to both of them. I run my index finger over the damp glass as fast as I can.
"What the hell is that?" Caroline shouts.
The doors vibrate. I hear shots fire.
"Caroline, behind the couch!" Pellis orders as she aims her weapon at the door.
As Caroline runs around the couch she stops at the window, her eyes wide. "Detective!" She points at the window.
Both women stare at my message.
But they understand it.
RUN!
"Is there a back way out of here?" Pellis asks.
"Yes. Follow me."
I watch as they run down the hall past the kitchen. The door crashes open and Mr. Jones runs in. He is wet from the flower arrangement and he is limping. But he carries a gun. I see the two guards on the floor. Unmoving.
Mr. Jones looks to his left and his right. He sees the message on the window as condensation make the letters run.
I see more breakable things in the kitchen and hurl them at him. He ducks behind the couch, but I know several hit their mark. He curses, pops up and fires his gun. Three shots.
There is no one there.
I hurl a trashcan behind him, and strike him in the back. Paintings and pictures fly off the wall and all of them target him. He ducks as he backs out of the living room into the hallway. I run out of projectiles, so I move the doors shut.
As they slam I turn and run down the hall. I don't know where they went. But I'm happy they're gone.
I run back to the living room to the door and hear Mr. Jones through the doors, talking to someone. "She got away…probably out the back. Hell if I know. When the hell did you install some kind of defense system in her apartment…"
I move through the door. He stands by the elevator, waits for it to open.
I put my hand through the button panel. We both hear a click and the light goes out. He presses the button several times. "Looks like the elevator's out." He turns back to the living room.
I slam the doors.
Mr. Jones lowers the phone. "What the fuck is going on?" He screams. "Who ever you are I swear I'll find you and kill you."
"You already did," I say aloud.
I am shocked when he hears me.
Mr. Jones takes a step back, his weapon up. He aims it at the door, at the wall, and at the two inert officers. "Who's there?"
"A victim."
"A victim, eh? Well you're going to be a victim soon as I find you, you son of a bitch."
"Why did you try to rape Caroline?"
He doesn't answer right away, so I wait. I know I can hold the doors closed. How long can he commune with the dead?
Mr. Jones bangs on the elevator doors. He turns to the apartment doors but I push larger pieces of the broken arrangement at him. He stumbles head first into the door.
"I'm waiting." I stand close to him.
He laughs. "You're not going to get me to admit to anything."
I wish he saw me.
I wish it with all my heart.
He gets up and starts to walk through me. He stops. His eyes widen. He raises a finger and points…
…at the elevator.
I turn and see my reflection staring at him from the polished gold doors. I look terrible. Blood covers half my face. The other half are bruises. My clothes are torn. Mud covers me.
"I killed you…" he says. "You're not here. I dumped you into that ditch."
"Why did you try to rape Caroline?"
"Oh no. This is a trick!" He shoots the elevator. Holes appear in my chest. "You're not real!"
"Why did you try to rape Caroline?"
"Shut up!"
"Why?"
"I said shut up!" He fires again, and again, and again. Finally his gun clicks.
But I am still there.
"Why?"
Mr. Jones laughs. "You stupid bastard. You had to get in the way. Just had to be a hero."
"Why?"
"Because he pays me to get rid of problems, kid. He paid me to get rid of you."
"Why?"
"Because you were going to identify me. And you stopped me from killing that bitch!"
The truth.
I see the apartment door open and the nozzle of a gun slip through the crack.
"Why?"
"Because he wants her inheritance. The bastard's broke. She dies then he can use it."
Broke? "Who?"
But Mr. Jones never answers me. The gun fires twice and strikes him in the back. He falls at my feet. I watch the door as Mr. Black steps through. He wears a gray suit and black gloves. He looks around the small room, sees the two officers and smiles.
I recognize the gun.
It's Detective Pellis's gun.
7
I don't want to face the implications of the gun. B
ut they stare at me from Mr. Black's gloved hand. A cell phone rings. He pulls one from his pocket as he stands in the center of the carnage. "Black…" his expression shifts from smug satisfaction to irritation. "They what? How could they find him? Jones said he hid the kid's body…"
Kid's body?
My body?
"All right. Things are settled here. That half-ass bastard can take the fall. Give me a few seconds while I set things up here." He disconnects his call and tucks his phone into jacket pocket. He kicks Jones's body. Mr. Mercedes. "Shit head. They found the body, you moron. You never could do anything right." He steps inside the apartment and leaves the doors open.
They found my body. I believe I should feel some sort of excitement at this fact. It won't rot out in the elements. Nor will it be consumed by wildlife. But my immediate thoughts move back into the apartment to look for Detective Pellis.
And Caroline.
Mr. Black makes noises in the kitchen. He discovers a bottle of cleaner and paper towels and uses them over several surfaces. Perhaps he believes it will erase his own fingerprints. But nothing erases the blackness from his soul.
I walk slowly past him, past the kitchen down the hall. I step through the doors to look inside of each room. I don't want to see her. But I have to. I need to see what he did to her. And to the detective. I don't know if I can look at her body and not cry. I've never been a crier. But at this moment my eyes burn and tears pool along my lower lids. How can a father kill his own daughter? What's wrong in a universe where such people continue living while the innocent die?
I put my hand on the last door on the right and push through.
"Oh my God…Dan?"
Her voice shatters the illusions in my mind. I rush forward into a stairwell and look down. I see blood smears along the side of one wall a floor down just as Caroline appears on that floor. She looks up at me. "Caroline?" My voice doesn't echo inside the infinite staircases below.
"Yes! You've got to come help me. He shot Detective Pellis and he almost shot me. Can you come help?"
Caroline's voice doesn't echo either.
I put my hands to my face and pull down. This causes my tears to flow but I don't care. I have to go to her. I have to tell her. I walk the stairs down, three sets of six until I round a corner and see Pellis lying headfirst on one set of stairs. Blood pools on the lowest level. She is on her side, her arms above her head. Her eyes stare straight ahead.
Ghosted Page 3