“You can pick locks?”
He flashed a wicked grin. “Greene. Lucas Greene.”
Less than a minute later, Lucas turned the knob and threw the door open. I raced ahead, but he pulled me back. “Wait!” Lucas growled. “We don’t know what other tricks this guy has up his sleeves.”
Begrudgingly, I let him go into the apartment first. My motley crew of the dead weren’t as patient. Gwen surged past us, Sturgeon right at her heels. Even Hayward raced ahead. Flapjack was the only one who stayed close to me.
“Franklin! We know you’re in here!” I called out as we fanned into the living room.
The inside was much like the exterior of the building: dated and ran-down.
Just off the living room were a dining nook and a galley kitchen. Past that was a small hallway. Lucas jerked his head, indicating for me to follow, and we crept through the kitchen and into the hall. One of the bedroom doors was ajar and when I pushed it open, I would have laughed if the situation hadn’t been so dire.
It looked like the hokey psychic’s tent at a traveling fair. Black-out curtains hung from the windows, leaving glow-in-the-dark stickers and a lava lamp to provide the only light. Still, it was enough to see a crystal orb and what I assumed was a scrying mirror placed on a table draped in gaudy, royal-blue crushed velvet.
“Classy.” I wrinkled my nose. I couldn’t imagine anyone actually overlooking the appearance of the place long enough for a séance or palm reading. Or whatever the heck it was that Franklin was doing.
Lucas went to the accordion doors blocking a small closet and flung them open. It was stuffed with boxes and clothing. No sign of Franklin.
“Where is he?” I asked under my breath, turning in a slow circle.
“Scar, I think we should leave.” Flapjack peered out into the hall. “I don’t like the feel of this place.”
“We aren’t leaving until we know what’s going on,” I replied.
“I know,” Lucas said, thinking I was talking to him.
Before I could explain, Sturgeon’s voice called out from somewhere deeper in the apartment. “Down here!”
I pivoted back toward the door and pointed down the hall. “Sturgeon just yelled for us.”
“Come on, Flapjack,” I said as Lucas bounded back out of the room. My once-fuzzy companion muttered something under his breath and followed after him.
Sturgeon stood at a closed door, his silvery face drawn. “Brace yourself.”
“What is it?” I asked.
Lucas yanked open the door, revealing a steep flight of stairs down to another level. No light, of course.
“Oh, good. A creepy basement. That’s what we were missing,” Flapjack quipped.
“What’s down there, Sturgeon?”
He opened his mouth, ready to offer an explanation, when his eyes bulged. He clawed at his throat, like his air supply had been cut off, which, of course, was ridiculous. He didn’t need air. But the frantic look in his eyes and jerking movements of his hands couldn’t be ignored.
“Sturgeon! What’s happening?” I reached out, forgetting that I couldn’t touch him until my hand was almost on his arm. There was nothing I could do to help him.
He yanked one hand away from his throat long enough to gesture wildly at the door. “Go!” he wheezed. “Find. Gwen.”
My heart slammed into my chest. “Lucas, go! Something’s wrong! We have to find the others!”
Lucas pulled the Taser from his hip and barreled down the stairs. “We just want to talk,” he called out into the darkness.
“Flapjack, go find Hayward!” I ordered, not waiting for his argument before descending after Lucas.
Another door blocked the way at the end of the stairs. Lucas reached for his side and produced a flashlight. Seconds later, a high-powered beam flooded the small space with light. “What is this? Some kind of panic room?”
My stomach curled into a tight knot. Something told me that whatever was on the other side was nothing like the silly props we’d found upstairs. The air was charged with something that made all the hairs on my arms stand up.
Lucas tried the doorknob. “It’s locked.”
“Can you kick it in? Pick it? Something! We have to hurry,” I told him. Flapjack was no longer at my side. I hadn’t seen Hayward or Gwen. And for all I knew, Sturgeon was still choking at the top of the stairs.
Lucas didn’t answer me. In a calm manner that was equal parts comforting and infuriating, he went to work on the lock, just as he had the one on the front door. There were three locks total. The fact that whatever was behind it was so heavily guarded didn’t do anything to assuage my fears. Every second ticked by at an agonizing crawl.
Finally, Lucas huffed and the last lock sprung. He jerked the metal door open and light poured into the small outer chamber from the room beyond. I wanted to shove him forward, to yell and spur him on faster, but was too terrified to speak.
“Lady Scarlet!”
My heart jumped. “Hayward!”
I spun around and found Flapjack and Hayward behind me. I’d never wanted to hug a ghost so badly in my life. “What’s going on? What did you see?”
A loud crash sounded before they could answer.
“Scarlet! Look out!”
Lucas ducked back into the small chamber and a split second later, glass shattered. “He’s throwing dishes or jars or something!”
“Have either of you seen Gwen?” I asked Hayward and Flapjack.
They both shook their heads.
“I think she’s in trouble. Sturgeon too.”
Hayward puffed out his chest, adjusted his top hat. “That will not stand!”
Without another word, he flew through the door.
“Go away!” a high-pitched voice squealed.
“That was Franklin!” I told Lucas. “Little worm. He’s not going to get away with this.”
“We don’t even know what this is, Scarlet.” Lucas flinched as another glass slammed into the wall and broke.
“Well, I’m not going to stand here and wait anymore. I’m going in and finding out!”
Lucas grabbed for me, but I swerved and zipped past him. “Scarlet!” he hissed. “This guy is obviously unbalanced. And possibly undead. Is it really wise to—”
“Franklin, what are you—” I stopped short, as I realized what I was looking at.
The large room was set up like a laboratory, but instead of bright, fluorescent lights, the space was illuminated with sacs of light that glowed in jewel tones, blue, purple, green. Each pool of light trapped a ghost inside, like some sort of pod.
The air in my lungs evaporated as my eyes found familiar faces; Myra, Quinton, Ruthie, and … Gwen.
“Oh my gosh. What is this?” I covered my mouth to contain a sob.
Gwen pounded on the walls of her container, screaming, though I couldn’t hear a word.
“Lady Scarlet!”
My gaze pinged toward Hayward’s voice, and a roar broke free. “No!”
Hayward was frozen in place, light pooling at his ankles, rising quickly. Soon, he would be trapped too. Just like the others.
“You shouldn’t have come here, Scarlet.”
The cold voice belonged to the man in the center of the room.
“Franklin.” I narrowed my eyes at him and mustered every ounce of bravado I could find. “I don’t know what the hell happened to you, but you can be damn sure that I’m not leaving until all of these ghosts are freed.”
He responded by hurling a glass bottle at my head. I side-stepped it and bumped into Lucas, who was once again at my side. He raised his Taser. I glanced at him, wondering exactly how much of the horrific scene he could even see. Would he see the ghosts trapped? I doubted it. But whatever he saw, it was clear from the set of his jaw, he knew it was deadly serious.
Franklin laughed as he considered Lucas’s weapon. “If you hurt me, you’ll never get your little friends loose. So, I suggest you listen up.”
My stomach rolled as my eyes
zoomed to Myra. She’d been missing the longest. She was despondent, her eyes unfocused pinpoints. What was he doing to her? To all of them?
“I figured you’d eventually put the pieces together and find out what was happening. So I created a contingency plan.”
I glared at him. “I’m not here to make a deal. You’re going to let them go, and you’re not leaving here a free … whatever you are.”
Lucas stepped forward.
Franklin laughed and I realized how flimsy my threat must have sounded. It was clear that he was playing in a whole different league than me. “Oh, Scarlet. Your threats don’t mean much. Not anymore. You can’t banish me away from you this time. I have my body again. And as long as I have a steady supply of ghosts, I’ll keep it. Forever.”
A chill ran down my spine. “You’re feeding off of other ghosts?”
Across the room, Hayward made a gurgling, choking sound. The light was almost to his chin. “Hayward!”
“Don’t worry about me, Lady Scarlet. Save the—”
The light sac sealed around him and the rest of his words were muted. Panic surged through me so hard I nearly threw up. I screamed and hurled myself toward Franklin. “Let him go you leech!”
“Scarlet!” Lucas and Flapjack yelled in unison.
I reached Franklin before they could reel me back. My hands wrapped around his throat and a sick glee took hold as fear entered his beady eyes.
“Scarlet! If you hurt him, we won’t get them back!” Flapjack cried out.
“Tell me how to let them free!” I demanded, squeezing tighter as Franklin began to flail.
Lucas pried me off of him and pushed me back. “Scarlet, stop it! You’re going to kill him!”
“He’s not even alive!” I argued, my fingers itching to claw at the squirming monster again.
Lucas ignored me as he fought with Franklin, managing to twist him around and pin him face-first against the wall, his arms at odd angles behind his back. “Tell us what she wants, or I can promise this is going to get a lot more uncomfortable,” he growled down into Franklin’s ear.
“The orbs! It’s the orbs!” Sturgeon shouted.
I whipped around and saw him fly into the room, frantically pointing at Hayward and I realized what he was talking about. There, in front of Hayward’s metaphysical cage was a small stone. I hadn’t noticed it before, but now it was obvious, glowing and pulsing a lava red.
“That’s how he’s caging them?” I said, noticing an orb in front of each trapped ghost.
Sturgeon nodded as his brow furrowed in concentration. He levitated the orb in front of Hayward and with a jerk of his head, sent it soaring into the wall. It shattered into hundreds of pieces and the light pinning Hayward fizzled and then vanished.
“Nice work!” I hurried to Myra and smashed her orb at my feet. The trap relented but she didn’t move. “Get her out of here, Sturgeon!”
Franklin wailed. “No! Stop it!”
Ignoring his cries, I continued down the line, destroying the orbs as Lucas held him against the wall. One by one, they shattered and the bubbles faded, freeing another ghost.
“Get out of here! Run as far away as you can!” I screeched at them.
Sturgeon reached for Myra and then for Ruthie once she was free. He took them each by the wrist and they fled. Quinton bolted as soon as I freed him, Gwen moments later. She called out for Quinton but he was already gone. Her face crumpled and she went to stand with Hayward who was speaking with Flapjack. I couldn’t hear what they were saying; their voices were drowned out by relieved ghosts calling their thanks, orbs smashing against the wall, and Franklin’s hysterical pleas for us to stop.
“A real special kind of sicko, huh? Torturing the dead?” Lucas called out above the noise, once the last orb was broken. He released his hold on him and Franklin crab-walked to the nearest wall, flattening himself against it. His face was drained of all color as his chest heaved.
I turned to Hayward and Flapjack. “You two, search the rest of the house. Make sure we aren’t leaving anyone behind.”
“Yes, my lady!”
“What he said.”
They left and I lunged at Franklin. “How dare you!”
He panted, each breath ragged. “It was the only way, Scarlet! No one else could help me. Then, I met a voodoo priest. He helped me.”
“Why here in Beechwood Harbor? Just to get back at me?”
His face went purple. Somehow, he was running out of air, even as his chest continued to rise and fall. “You banished me! Do you know what that’s like for a ghost?”
I barked out a sharp, hysterical laugh. “You can’t be serious! Do you not see what you were doing to these ghosts? How many have you destroyed?”
“They were ghosts no one wanted around! I put out an ad for my services. When I find someone, like Dr. Barnes, who wants a ghost gone, I take them with me. They stay here. They don’t feel pain!”
“That’s disgusting!” I clenched my fists, eager to get another crack at him. “And my friends were not unwanted.”
He looked down at his feet. “When I saw that you were helping them, I got angry. You refused to help me, but there you were, holding meetings, helping any ghost who asked. Why not me?”
I threw my hands up. “Because all you wanted was your old life back! You didn’t want to move on or learn how to be a ghost! When I told you that I couldn’t help, I meant it. You were asking for the impossible. Or, at least, what I thought was impossible. You obviously found a loophole, but I would have never helped you with something like this. It’s—it’s sick!”
“I—” his words choked off. No longer powered by his ghost-fueled generators, Franklin slowly faded. Turning from a corporeal body to the ghost version I was familiar with in a matter of seconds. The clothes and spectacles he’d been wearing as a human slid to the floor and pooled at his once-again silvery legs that were clothed in the slacks and cardigan sweater I remembered.
“This time, I’m not taking any chances,” I said, reaching for an orb that sat on his desk. It wasn’t lit up red like the others. I figured it was waiting to be used and stepped forward, waving it in his face.
“No!” he screamed. “Anything but that!”
“Then leave this town,” I hissed, inches from his face. “Never come back. And if I catch wind of any more of these shenanigans, I’ll personally put you in one of these orbs and throw you into the ocean!”
“Ye—yes, Scarlet. I—I promise.”
He vanished with a loud pop, leaving me and Lucas gaping at one another.
“You believe him?” he asked after a moment.
“I don’t know. But it gives me some time to learn how this thing works,” I replied, slipping the orb into my pocket.
A lopsided grin tugged at Lucas’s lips. “You were bluffing?”
“That’s what Bond would do, right?”
Chapter 23
News of Drea’s arrest reached us a couple of weeks later, courtesy of Gwen, who had resumed her regular fly-by visits a few times a week. I knew it would take some time to get back to the way it used to be between us but we were working on it. Everyone, in fact, was a little shaken following the confrontation at Franklin’s house of ghosty horrors. I’d visited the ghosts as my overbooked schedule allowed, and there didn’t seem to be any permanent effects. Myra regained her ability to speak and move, though from Gwen’s reports, she wasn’t doing much of either.
Kimberly listened to the ghosts accounts and I got the sense that she was sorry she’d missed out on all the excitement. In the weeks since her death, she’d come quite a way from the shallow, self-absorbed woman I’d met several months before. She was barely recognizable as the snob who’d barely uttered a hello before burying me in a dumpster full of bridal magazines and fabric swatches. We still weren’t destined to be BFFs, but my tolerance level for her had increased. I didn’t feel the urge to heave a beleaguered sigh every time she came floating into the room.
So, when she arrived at
the shop on the day I’d heard of her sister’s arrest, I was relieved when she informed me that she’d already heard the news and that she was okay with it. The family lawyer had brokered a deal with the DA and Drea would serve a few years in prison and then be required to give back via community service. Despite Kimberly’s original fire-and-brimstone approach to her unintentional murder, she’d softened since finding out it had been at her sister’s hand.
Still, I suspected she wasn’t likely to visit her anytime soon.
“What’s next then? Now that this is all sorted out?” I asked her, while Lizzie was busy taking inventory in the cooler.
She sighed. “I don’t know. I thought I’d be ready to cross over by now, but I’m starting to think that it might be nice to hang around a little while longer.”
“Just as long as you don’t mean here here,” Flapjack chimed in.
Kimberly shot him a glare. “Oh, shut up. You’ll miss me once I’m gone.”
“Where are you going to go?”
She fluffed her hair. “I might go down to California and see what it’s like being a beach bunny. At least there will be some good man candy to ogle.”
I laughed. “Sounds like a plan.”
“The start of one at least.” She dropped her eyes to her hands. “Before I left, I wanted to let you know that I really do appreciate everything you did for me.”
“And here I thought that thank you wasn’t in her vocabulary,” Flapjack said.
“Shh! Scat, cat!” I said, flapping a hand at him.
Kimberly met my eyes and smiled. “I mean it, Scarlet. Thank you.”
Tears blurred my vision and I quickly blinked them away. “You’re welcome, Kimberly. I’ll be around if you ever need anything.”
Flapjack scoffed.
Kimberly and I laughed and then she gave a slight wave and floated back toward the front doors.
“See, Flapjack, it always comes around full circle.”
He circled in the dapples of sunlight in front of the window and curled up. “If you say so.”
Toward the end of his stay in Beechwood Harbor, Lucas was called back to L.A. to participate in the final stages of the planning meetings. Logistical boot camp, he’d called it, as his main job would be getting his new underlings in line. He’d stayed loyal to the show for several years, but the lower-level positions tended to roll over each season. Onto greener pastures … or, greener basements?
Ghosts Gone Wild: A Beechwood Harbor Ghost Mystery (Beechwood Harbor Ghost Mysteries Book 2) Page 17