by Alexie Aaron
“Father Santos? He didn’t say you two had been in contact.”
“He’s a man of the cloth, he wouldn’t, would he?”
“Go on, Whit, I’m listening,” Mia encouraged.
“I had trouble with the world being out of my control. And then when this paranormal world added to it, well I lashed out. Tom says I was out of my nut down there in the caverns. I didn’t want to be that man. That angry man. So I focused on myself. I am sorry, I didn’t think I could explain this to you so I took the coward’s way out and didn’t. Then I heard you were playing house with that PEEPs fellow and seemed happy so I stayed away.”
“That PEEPs guy’s name is Burt. He accepted me for who I am and understood there was a lot about myself I didn’t understand yet. He’s kind and understanding.”
“What happened to the two of you?”
“I did. He did. Maybe we rushed things. We were great lovers, but we don’t share the same philosophy on a few things. There is caring and friendship, but working together is tough on him right now. He is going through stuff, and I’m too bossy. So we’ve become chalk and cheese.” Mia hopped off the truck and turned away.
“There’s more, Mia, right?”
Mia shrugged her shoulders. She was not going to bring up her continued feelings for Whit. Whit the betrayer. Whit the tease. Whit the crush. “Maybe, but not right now.”
Whit reached for her and turned her around. He stared down at her and asked softly, “All I ask is for you to give me a chance to make amends. Don’t shut me out. I’m sorry. I see that I’ve been a regular bastard. I wish I could take it all back, rewind the last few months. But that’s not going to happen is it?”
Mia looked up at him and saw the boy that had dusted off her knees when the bullies at school had finished with her. She saw the sincerity of his apology. “Give me time, Whit. Don’t expect too much from me. Let me bury my dead too.”
He nodded and took a step back. “I’ve got to get going. Tom is going to have a shit-fit if I am late relieving him. But I want to talk more. I want more of this. And yes you can have Murphy as a chaperone. I like the guy. I just wish I didn’t have to compete with him.”
Mia smiled. “Thanks for the date. Next time you choose the venue.”
Whit’s face broke into a wide smile. “Hey, Murph, she wants another date!” he called into the forest and was rewarded with the faint sound of axe on wood. “See, Murph agrees.” He kissed her on the cheek and strode off to his sheriff’s vehicle.
Mia watched him drive away. She collected all the bits and bobs that hadn’t made it into the basket. Her phone rang, playing the theme from Ghost Busters. Looking at it she saw that it was Ted. “Perfect timing,” she said before answering, “Hello Ted, what’s up?”
“Minnie mouse, we’ve got a situation here and frankly we’re screwed,” Ted started.
“Spill it.” Mia put the phone on speaker as she hopped into the bed of the truck and began to clean up the checkers and other detritus from her recent tirade. Ted related what had happened earlier and outlined the circumstances of the investigation.
“Biker bar?” Mia asked making sure that she hadn’t heard wrong.
“A place called Lucky’s down on Route 66. The place has been deserted since the sixties when two rival clubs tore the place apart and several dudes bit the dust. The property was picked up for a song. It was auctioned for back taxes. New owners tried renovating, until all hell broke loose.”
Mia shook her head. “When will they learn?”
“I know, but you have to excuse them. They do not live by the ghostie handbook as we wizards do.”
Mia laughed. She smiled as a curious Murphy moved within earshot of the phone. “So you’re calling because…”
“Because, Burt’s over his head, Mike wants you here and Beth, well, Beth likes hanging with another doll. Someone to talk pantyhose with.”
“Pantyhose? Ted, you’re an ass. So did you take a vote?”
“Three for, one against.”
“You don’t have to tell me the lone naysayer’s name.”
“Psychic are you?”
Mia just laughed. “I don’t want to be where I’m not welcome. Hell of a trip to have the door slammed in my face.”
“Majority rules, we want you here. Bring Murph too. I think we are outmuscled here.”
“Muscles and Murphy, what an interesting combo,” she said watching Murphy imitating Popeye.
“I likey the trio of Muscles, Murphy and Minnie Cooper. Make a good band name. So I can tell the PEEPs…”
“Hang on, I have to ask the axe man.” Mia looked at Murphy. “Wanna go for a ride?”
He rolled his eyes, imitating a creepy doll of their earlier acquaintance, and nodded.
“Murph’s in. I’ll leave as soon as I can.”
“Cool, I’ll text the info to your phone. Help us Obi Wan…” Ted trailed off for effect and ended the call.
“Well, Murph, I guess it’s you and me and Route 66. I hope you don’t get car sick,” Mia said as she trudged through the brambles until she came to the mausoleum that Ted had helped her construct over Stephen Murphy’s grave. She bent down and opened the keypad and disengaged the alarm before reaching into the marble-lined space and extracting the iron axe head that had accompanied the farmer in life and held his soul to earth in death. She looked over her shoulder and stared up at him. “You’re sure? These are dead bikers, maybe Hell’s Angels.”
He just smiled.
Mia took that for a yes.
Chapter Three
Driving the old Route 66 south, also known as the Mother Road, took Mia through some small towns. She had loaded her truck with supplies and clothes while she made arrangements for someone to watch April’s place, in case she would be gone longer than expected. April was interviewing with a startup retailer that needed an experienced customer service person to head their department. If successful, she would be moving to Seattle. Mia would miss the neurotic woman that had accepted that Murphy wasn’t going anywhere. April even sat and watched PBS shows with the farmer. His favorite was Antiques Roadshow. Whit teased that he was going to buy the farmhouse. Maybe he would. Mia didn’t know if this was a good thing or a bad thing, yet. All would be revealed when fate showed its hand.
Her pseudo godparents Ralph and Bernard had enjoyed the evening at the opera with her and Whit. Ralph was not shy in his approval of the tall, handsome former classmate of Mia’s. Bernard held his cards close to his chest. Both men were professionals in their fields: Ralph in theater set design, and Bernard as the head of Culture at the Field Museum of Natural History. Bernard had risen through the ranks to his present position. At the moment, he was very busy with the security management of the Field Museum. His job description didn’t normally deal with day to day security issues, but he had offered to oversee the department when the colleague in charge was called away on a family emergency. He asked Whit to come by when he was next in Chicago to look over the layout of the museum to see if the younger man could find any flaws in the present security. Mia smiled, thinking how Whit’s ego was expertly massaged by a pro.
Mia closed the gate after exiting her peninsula sanctuary. She voice dialed Whit’s number and left a message on his voicemail that she would be out of town for a few days on PEEPs business and that she was taking Murphy with her.
Exporting a ghost out of its defined habitat wasn’t a normal occurrence for Mia, who normally shunned the whole interaction with most supernatural beings. Murphy was different. He had been a friend since Mia was a teen. Recently on a previous investigation, the PEEPs team experimented with the theory that if you moved what kept a ghost earthbound, you could take them out of their normal haunting grounds. In Stephen Murphy’s case, his haunt was the farm he had built and cared for with his own two hands until his untimely death by a fallen tree. It was the axe head, the wood long rotted away, that kept Murphy attached. All Mia had to do was recover it from Murphy’s hidden grave and take it to whereve
r she wanted him to appear. It was an exhausting journey for Murphy, but eventually he was able to stabilize himself and come to Mia’s aid when she needed him the most.
The experiment had been a success and Murphy, bored with his existence, found he enjoyed the outings but preferred to be returned to his farm after each excursion where he could tend to his trees.
The route she drove was quiet. It was too early for earthly denizens to be walking about, and very few spectral beings haunted the major route. The exceptions were found by the memorial crosses and flowers set on the side of the road to honor the person who perished there. The ghosts that lingered there were young people, too many of them were angry. Mia drove past quickly with Murphy rubbernecking beside her. Passing graveyards was always a hazard for Mia. This trip, with Murph beside her, she felt safe. The small county cemeteries seemed tranquil as if the denizens there were at peace. This was a good sign.
They arrived at the motel Ted had told her about in the text message he left. Mia spotted the PEEPs vehicles at the tail end of the one story structure. Now to figure out which of the four rooms Burt wasn’t in. Mia parked her truck and locked it after securing the axe head in the glove box. She walked slowly towards the building. The doors were numbered, but Ted hadn’t given her a number. It was early, and all the drapes were closed tightly against passersby. She would have hung back in the truck and waited, but she had to pee. She figured that the men would have Beth in one of the middle rooms so that took two of them out of the picture. Mia stood in front of rooms twelve and thirteen. Beth wasn’t superstitious so she timidly knocked on room thirteen and waited.
She was rewarded with the door opened wide by Burt. He was bruised, battered and his nose looked broken. He squinted at her from under swelled eyelids. “Come in, you’re late. Coffee is on the table.”
Struggling between running to the truck and running into his arms, Mia chose to walk calmly in and sit down. “Ouch, do you need some ice, pain reliever, both?” she asked her former lover.
He winced and handed her a cup which she filled with brew from the ancient Mister Coffee machine which was a staple of the PEEPs team when they were slumming it in one star motels.
“Wasn’t sure if I was needed to drive so I held off,” he explained. “The ER doc gave me something potent.”
“Well, I’m here, I can drive. Where’s the meds? And for cripes sake sit down before you fall down.” Mia got up and followed Burt’s hand wave to the tiny bathroom where a prescription bottle sat precariously on the edge of the chipped but clean porcelain sink top. She looked at the dosage and added a pill as they never got Burt’s weight right. Or he lied to the triage nurse. She picked up a bottle of water Burt had previously opened and walked back and handed him the meds.
He looked at the three pills in her hand and smiled. “Trying to dope me up?”
“Yes, I always do this before robbing my johns,” Mia teased.
He sighed and took the pills, downing them with the remainder of the water. Mia sat down and drank her coffee in silence. She didn’t know how to behave. They had had fights before and enjoyed make up sex, but in this case there was no fight, just silence. They simply had parted. “Awkward silences are so…”
“Awkward,” he finished and tried to smile.
“What happened to your beautiful mug?” Mia asked.
“Ted didn’t tell you?”
“Ted’s not into specifics these days, said something about a bar fight?”
Burt winced again and took a moment to form his thoughts before speaking to the one person who understood, but didn’t necessarily condone his actions. “I got too close when I was filming a few entities having a brawl over at Lucky’s. It’s a tavern down the street.”
“I heard it was a biker bar where several deaths occurred. Deaths caused by brawling, I believe.”
“Beth?”
“Beth.”
“I suppose Mike’s been chewing your ear too?”
“No. Beth called my cell and kept me awake on the drive down. I also heard about Vegas and the wild goose chase that was.”
“Publicity. All they wanted was publicity. There wasn’t anything going on that couldn’t be explained by natural occurrences. Mike diplomatically handled that one. I felt like punching the security guy in the nose for wasting our time.”
“All this anger isn’t like you,” Mia paused. She had almost slipped and used bebe, a pet name she had for him. “You seem to have left your authentic self tied, gagged and left for dead somewhere.”
“Cute, Mia, cute.” Burt took a drink of his coffee, enjoying the caffeine chaser to the pain meds. “I am just trying to make a living doing what I do best. Someone has to be the adult here. Someone has to…”
“Have the big ego? That’s Mike’s job,” Mia pointed out. “I hear the lad’s been taking over the mister sensitive job that you vacated. He is one confused man.”
Burt laughed. Mia’s tact needed honing, but her honesty was refreshing. Mia finished her cup and poured more coffee into it. “God, you make good coffee.”
“One of my many talents. Mia, I don’t want you here,” he said bluntly.
“I know, but you were outvoted.”
“PEEPs can’t be crying to you or your friends each time we hit a challenge.”
“True.”
“You have your life and your own challenges to deal with.”
“Yes.”
“Why are you being so agreeable?”
Mia smiled and rolled her eyes. “You haven’t said anything that I don’t agree with.”
“Oh.” Burt thought a moment and continued, “You aren’t a team player…”
“I have to call bullshit on that one. I have been part of this team or Father Santos’s team for a while now.”
“You don’t take orders…”
“Not when they’re fucking stupid. Or going to get me killed. Or there is a better way. True, I don’t work well with others, but I haven’t had a lot of experience with others, which you know all about. I have never stepped into anyone’s limelight. I have taken no pay from helping out. I am not trying to take anyone’s team away from them. I have risked myself to help you out!”
Burt raised his hand, but Mia was on a roll. “You came into my town and incited a riot. You and your feckin amateur ghost hunters stepping in, where you were way over your heads, reminding everyone how strange Mia Cooper is. I take a chance, and it’s been good, or I thought it was good until I was left on the side of the road with a sign reading bossy pants around my neck. Well thank you very much, Burt Hicks, thank you so fucking much.”
“Your language,” Burt warned.
“I’m not in company, I’m not on camera, and they are just words used to embellish or portray an emotion I’m feeling.” Mia got up and brushed past him and stopped at the door. She turned and said, “You screwed me and then left me when I showed a little initiative. You insecure bastard, you ruined something we had with your precious ego. You should be thanking me for coming to help you out here. But instead you shun me. Well thank you very much. If you see Ted, tell him I’m at the diner up the street getting some breakfast.” Mia opened the door and let it slam after her.
Burt didn’t try to go after her. He wasn’t sure he wanted to. Instead he poured another cup of coffee and sat there and waited until his team checked in.
~
Stephen Murphy’s time spent observing April gave him an edge with Mia. He knew when she came storming back to the truck not to say a word. Not that he had the energy to do so anyway, but their lines of communication were mostly mimed actions or looks. The communication enhanced by intersecting ley lines was something different, something yet to be resolved. Murphy just sat in the truck looking out the window as Mia got in, started it and slammed it into gear. Mia headed over to the diner they passed on the way in and parked the car before speaking.
“Don’t you dare say a word. If I hear a peep, I’m going to throw your axe in the back of a bus full of Red H
ats headed for the casino, do you hear me?”
Murphy wasn’t sure was a Red Hat was besides a hat that was red, but he sensed he would be uncomfortable, so he nodded in assent.
“Good. Damn, why can’t you be flesh and blood, you’re the only male that has any sense. Come on, let’s get something to eat.”
Murphy smiled quickly, hoping Mia didn’t take offense. He’d like nothing better to still be flesh and blood, but destiny had taken that away from him a long time ago. Still here he was going on an adventure with the foul-mouthed, cute, petite blonde girl that he had a yen for. Sometimes, one had to count the blessings they had even if they were little ones. He would break her of the habit of cussing. It weren’t ladylike. But her being corporal and he spirit was a problem that would separate them until her natural time. He was determined that Mia Cooper would not ascend until he was at her side. He knew she wouldn’t stay earthbound with him - it weren’t her way. Until then, he was satisfied with looking after her as she lived her strange life.
The aroma of coffee and pancakes greeted Mia as she entered the restaurant. The diner was a listed building. It had been on that site since the thirties according to the plaque on wall. The interior was buffed and polished. The booths and stool tops were the only things that were new. The old scarred tables were topped with glass to preserve the scratches of GIs leaving for war, the carved hearts of teenagers, and the wear of the years. There were a few postcards slipped between wood and glass. The waitress behind the counter waved her over and had a steaming cup of coffee set before Mia when she sat down.
Mia smiled at the middle-aged woman dressed in the pink and white uniform. Her name tag proclaimed her as Sally. She also was aware of a similarly clothed woman standing near the waitress, one that only she and Murphy could see. Her name was Mildred. She held a pad of paper ready to take their order.
“What’s yer pleasure?”