Dead and Kicking

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Dead and Kicking Page 6

by Roberts, Wendy


  “How’s Zack’s foot?” Mom asked.

  “It’s broken but he needs to have a splint on it for a couple days. They won’t cast it until the swelling goes down.”

  “That settles it, then: You need to be back home to take care of him.”

  Mom’s voice was firm but Sadie detected a touch of disappointment in her tone. Maybe Aunt Lynn was right.

  “He’s a big boy,” Sadie said. “Besides, I set him up on the sofa at home because I have to go and tend to a job. Are we still on for dinner? I’ll cook.”

  “What about Zack?”

  “I’ll make extra and bring him a plate later.”

  “Well, okay,” Mom said, sounding pleased with the arrangement. “You don’t have to cook but we’ll see you at five. If you’re sure it doesn’t cut into your work schedule . . .”

  Sadie assured her it wouldn’t, although she had no idea if that was true. With the promise to see her later, Sadie disconnected just as she merged onto 405.

  It wasn’t long before she was alongside the Bellevue Square shopping center, but it took a lot longer before she found a parking spot for her massive van. Finally, Sadie decided to park in a loading zone and hoped she wouldn’t be towed.

  Grabbing her black canvas bag, she entered the shopping center. She walked past the center court beneath a pianist playing a soothing classical tune. The baby grand piano was located on a landing midway up a curved staircase leading to the upper mall.

  “Not exactly Wal-Mart, is it?” Sadie muttered to herself with a giggle.

  She’d been told to be discreet so she had her hazmat suit in her small duffel bag as well as the camera she needed to take photos of the scene. She followed the directions she’d been given and found herself traveling a short hall between Nordstrom and the Greek Kitchen restaurant. Just past the washrooms there was a door simply marked OFFICE. She stepped inside and gave the petite Asian receptionist her name.

  Sadie didn’t have time to take a seat before the head of security, Earl Farina, came into the waiting room to get her. He was older than Sadie expected, probably sixty with doughy round features, a billowy bullfrog neck, and a thousand freckles dotting his face and arms where they protruded from his starched short-sleeved dress shirt. He brought Sadie into a small windowless office in the back and got right down to business.

  “It’s just like I told you on the phone,” he said, taking a seat behind the desk. He pointed to a chair across from him for Sadie. “Some homeless dude named Boom Boom got into one of the boutiques that was under construction and I guess he OD’d or something.”

  “And nobody noticed he was there for how long?” Sadie asked, sitting forward in the stiff black office chair.

  Earl shrugged. “He could’ve been in there a week or even two. I ain’t no CSI guy.” He guffawed loudly at his own joke but when Sadie’s own face remained impassive, he continued. “You see, the construction on the store was finished. They were just waiting delivery of the last fixtures and some of those were on back order, so it had been a while since anyone went inside.”

  “So the body was discovered when they were ready to install the fixtures?”

  “Yup. He was tucked into one of the fitting rooms, curled up on the bench where he’d prolly gone to sleep and just never woke up.”

  “I don’t get it. Wouldn’t the smell alone have alerted people about—”

  “The unit was totally sealed off. We do that when there’s construction. Otherwise the noise and paint smells travel all over the mall, and Bell Square shoppers don’t like that.”

  The sneer on his face said that he didn’t care much for Bell Square shoppers, and Sadie was betting the feeling was mutual. She dug out her standard contract and Earl hustled off to make copies of the document. Once the paperwork was taken care of, Earl brought Sadie out into the mall.

  “Most of these stores have a separate entrance for the staff down a locked hall,” he said, walking her past a long corridor of stores until they came to an unmarked door. “Here are your keys. This one for the hall and this other is for unit one-twelve, where you need to go.”

  Sadie took the keys and put them in her pocket.

  “I ain’t going in with you ’cause I’ve already been in there once when the workers found the mess and a second time to let the cops inside. I still can’t get the smell out of my sinuses.” He wrinkled his pudgy nose. “Now listen, I know you gotta do what you gotta do, but I don’t want you carting in and out anything that would make things look suspicious, you understand. The manager will have my ass if word gets out about what you’re doing in here.”

  “I’ll take a look, and after I do my initial walk-through, I’ll let you know how we can work that,” Sadie promised.

  Sadie opened the unmarked door and then meandered down the long hall until she reached unit one-twelve. She opened her tote bag and donned the disposable hazmat suit over her clothes and slipped paper booties over her shoes. Protective headgear and a respirator followed. Lastly she snagged her camera from her bag. Once inside the boutique, the smell of decomposition was a pungent fog. It wormed its way through her respirator and into her sinuses but Sadie hardly noticed.

  She pushed her way through the heavy plastic that sealed off the entrance. The plastic sheets were put up to keep the drywall dust and paint smells from traveling beyond the boutique under construction. The plastic served the dual purpose of preventing the pungent decomp smell from drifting out of this small room and out into the upscale mall beyond.

  Sadie took her camera and began her shots from the rear space that would undoubtedly eventually be a cramped storage and staff room. Beyond that back area was the storefront. It was a large open room with walls painted a bright shade of fuchsia broken up by wide bands of canary yellow. The combination hurt Sadie’s eyes. Metal clothing racks were bolted along the walls at five-foot intervals. If there’d been clothing actually hanging from the racks, they would’ve been a complete write-off due to the smell. No amount of discount would convince a woman to buy a sweater that smelled like eau de rotting corpse.

  At the long left wall, Sadie turned and faced the row of a half dozen changing rooms. The doors to the rooms alternated yellow and fuchsia. They were built so that the walls of the fitting rooms stopped a couple feet from the ceiling and a few inches from the floor. Even though the brightly colored doors of all the rooms were closed, Sadie took one look and knew exactly which one had held the corpse. Above a yellow painted stall there was a cyclone of black flies circling overhead.

  Sadie took a few photos of the entire room and a couple close-ups of the bank of changing rooms, and then she walked over and opened the door she’d chosen, confirming her educated guess. A sticky puddle of body decomp fluid was on the floor under the fitting room bench. On the bench was a patch of sloughed-off skin that had most likely slid off the body when the medical examiner moved the corpse. Sitting in his own mess was a scrawny man with a gaunt, pale face and greasy dreadlocks.

  “Mr. Boom Boom, I presume,” Sadie said, speaking loud enough to be heard through her respirator.

  The man blinked in surprise and then nodded.

  “Man, I ain’t never been this wasted,” he drawled.

  Sadie chuckled to herself. “Hate to break it to you, but you aren’t stoned. You’re dead.”

  His mouth opened and closed a couple times but he didn’t speak, so Sadie continued.

  “You’re in the Bellevue Square mall. I’m told you slipped inside this place and decided to spend the night here but you didn’t wake up.”

  “You’re sure I’m dead?”

  She waved away the thick cloud of flies and nodded. “Yup. Whatever you took last finally took you.”

  “Well, ain’t that just the shit.” He shook his head sadly.

  “So then is this heaven or hell?”

  “Guess that all depends on how you look at it.”

  He looked down at his grubby hands as if the answer were there. “So you’re dead too? And we’re
ghosts?”

  “You’re dead and a ghost. I run a trauma clean company and I’m here to clean up what’s left of you.”

  His brow furrowed. “Then how can you talk to me?”

  “I can see and talk to the spirits of the dead.”

  “Wow!” He shook his head again. “Ain’t that just the shit.”

  “Right.” Sadie raised her camera and took a couple of pictures of the room, carefully zooming in on the patches of sloughed skin that soaked into the wall and bench. Both would need to be cut out and replaced. Sadie smiled to herself when Boom Boom actually seemed to pose for the camera and offer her a wide, toothless grin.

  “I’m taking pictures of the room for the insurance company,” Sadie explained. “You won’t show up because, well, you’re just a spirit now.”

  He looked decidedly unhappy about that.

  “On the bright side, I can help you move on to the next dimension, if you’re ready.”

  “How do I know if I’m ready?” He looked at her skeptically.

  Sadie shrugged. “Do you feel ready? Is there something left for you to do? Want me to contact your next of kin, or something?”

  “Geez, Rosie!” he replied, excitedly clapping his hands.

  Sadie wasn’t sure if he was having a narcotic-induced flashback or if he really had thought of something he needed to accomplish before going over to the other side.

  “So-o-o-o?” she asked, impatiently drumming her gloved fingers against her thigh.

  “Rosie,” he repeated, and a bright smile lit his pale face.

  “This Rosie—is she a girlfriend or something?”

  “A good person. Heart of gold. I need you to let her know what happened to me and give her my stuff.”

  “Okay. What message do you want me to tell her, and where can I find her and your stuff?”

  “Rosie is the redhead who works at Orange Julius here in the mall.” He waggled a finger at Sadie. “She’s special, that Rosie. Real nice. If I wasn’t so messed up I would’ve made a play for her, but between the bottle and the needle, I never had a chance.” He shook his head slowly from side to side, and the realization of all that he missed because of his addiction shone in his eyes. “Life’s a bitch.”

  “Yeah,” Sadie agreed. “So Rosie was your friend, and I should just tell her Boom Boom has passed on?”

  “And give her my stuff,” he repeated. His face crumpled with emotion and a slow tear leaked from the corner of his eye. “She was the only friend I had in this whole world. Everyone else around here, well, they’d just call security any time they saw me here in the mall. Not Rosie. She just asked me to try to come around when she was working on her own or when the other girls were on their break, and when the mall wasn’t so busy. That way I didn’t draw attention to myself. Then she’d always make me the biggest, sweetest drink she could and give it to me free along with a hot dog. She’d give me the drink with the works, even the vitamin boosters to help me be healthy. She didn’t mind that I had no money to pay. She always said, ‘Boom Boom, one day you’ll get a fresh start and then you can pay me back.’ ”

  “That was really nice of her.”

  “I let her down,” he said sadly. “And, you know, it wasn’t just the food, though I sure appreciated that, but she was nice too. She didn’t just give me a hot dog and drink so I’d go away. She’d talk to me like a real person. I’d tell her a story about my life before the drugs took me. About how I was a pretty boy and in all the magazines, and she’d smile and say she could still see how I was handsome and sexy in my time.”

  Sadie looked at Boom Boom’s haggard, emaciated face and his blackened, snaggled teeth, and she had a hard time picturing this man as anything but a bum.

  “Did you say you wanted me to give her something too?” Sadie asked, trying to hurry things along.

  “Yes. It’s very important.” He nodded enthusiastically and then narrowed his eyes. “Can I trust you?”

  “Of course,” Sadie said, a tad offended.

  “You sure? Because I only got but one thing of value left in this whole world and I want Rosie to have it.”

  “I swear if you tell me where it is, I’ll bring it to Rosie,” Sadie vowed. “Answering last wishes is kind of what I do.” And then because that sounded like she was some kind of morbid fairy godmother, she added, “Usually, it just means passing a message to a loved one, but I don’t have a problem giving Rosie whatever possessions you have.”

  “That’s good ’nuff for me,” Boom Boom said. He proceeded to give Sadie detailed instructions about where she could find the very important belongings.

  Once Sadie had assured him again that she’d be sure to do as he asked, she reminded him that it was time to move on.

  “You think that other world is better?” he asked wistfully.

  “I’m sure of it,” Sadie said with all the confidence she could muster. “Now, if you just relax and let yourself go, I think you’ll find that—”

  She stopped short because already the shape of Mr. Boom Boom was beginning to fade.

  “O-o-oh-h-h,” he cried softly. “It’s my mom. She came for me.” He lifted his arms in the air, and even as he did so, his limbs became a sheer film.

  Boom Boom’s essence was almost entirely gone when there was a brief shimmer around his edges. Then his body entirely dissipated. The shimmer meant he’d totally gone over. Sadie’s lips broke into a wide grin behind her respirator and she felt an immediate boost of energy. It was a rush. A surge of sun-laced adrenaline that reminded her of why she loved helping others go over to other side. When it happened, it just felt so very right. In her core she knew that this was what she’d been called to the planet to do.

  Just as quickly, though, Sadie’s up feeling came crashing down. She thought of her dad. How could she ever experience that same kind of thrill if she helped him go over while knowing she’d never see or talk to him again?

  Anxious to obliterate that thought, Sadie snapped the remainder of her pictures and then stepped outside of the boutique and into the back hallway, where she peeled off her hazmat suit. She tucked the gear into a trash bag and then into her canvas bag and headed back to the security office. She reported back to Earl Farina, informing him of the steps she’d need to take in order to clean the boutique.

  “Damn. Sounds like that’s a lot of stuff you’ll be dragging in and out of the mall,” he said, his voice sharp with annoyance like this was all happening to him. “Obviously, we can’t be having you bringing things like air purification equipment into the center while people are shopping.”

  “I can come after hours, provided someone’s around to let me in,” Sadie offered.

  “We’re open until nine but there’s security in the mall twenty-four/seven. Are you able to come after nine o’clock?”

  Sadie said she was, and she waited while Earl made calls and arrangements with the night security staff so that they’d be aware to allow her inside after hours.

  “It’s all set,” Earl said, getting to his feet and ushering Sadie out of his office.

  “Thanks. I’ll let you know once the job is completed,” Sadie said. “Like I told you earlier, there are a number of steps that I need to go through with a decomp scene, so it won’t all be done in one night; however, I can definitely arrange to have the majority of the equipment removed and the cleaning of bodily fluids done tonight after hours.”

  “Good,” Earl said. They were at the exit of the security offices now. “Anything else you need?”

  “Yes. Can you tell me which way I might find an Orange Julius?” Sadie asked.

  “I love those damn drinks myself,” Earl said, and he pointed down the hall. “You want to hang a right at the end of this leg of the mall, and you’ll see it plain as day.”

  Sadie thanked him and walked on. She found the Orange Julius easily enough but the brunette working the counter said that Rosie wouldn’t be in until six and would work until closing. Sadie didn’t mind. It would give her enough tim
e to swing by the bus depot. She had to get to a locker there and remove whatever junk Boom Boom wanted to pass on. She’d hand it over to the girl at the end of the evening just before the mall closed, and then she could bring in the equipment necessary for the rest of the fitting room job. It would be a long night.

  She got behind the wheel of her van and called Zack to see how he was doing.

  “My ankle hurts. That’s how I’m doing,” was his curt response.

  “It’s supposed to hurt. It’s broken,” came Sadie’s equally abrupt reply. She softened a bit and added, “Do you want me to stop and pick up anything for you on the way home?”

  “Vodka.”

  “I’m pretty sure getting drunk isn’t going to solve your pain problems,” Sadie said. “It’ll just make you sick. I left the bottle of Advil on the end table on your right. Take a couple more if you need it. Do you want me to come home and get you fresh ice?”

  There was an uncomfortable pause. Sadie heard him turn up the volume on the TV. She knew Zack was hurting but she couldn’t help but be miffed that he hadn’t asked about the mall job.

  “You don’t have to check on me,” Zack grumped. “Just go and be with your mom or try to work things out with your dad. Leave me alone.”

  “I’ll still have to come by and get the stuff I need for the mall job,” Sadie reminded him. She waited to see if he’d ask about the job. Nothing. She sighed and then added, “I guess I should check in at my mom’s house first, and I’ll come by and see you later.”

  Sadie got the impression Zack just wanted to be alone in his misery. That was fine with her because if he was crabby, she didn’t want to be around him anyway. She may be great with the dead but she was discovering that she wasn’t cut out for nursing. Thinking of nurses made her think of Paula.

  “By the way, have you talked to Paula again? How is she taking the whole baby mummy thing?” Sadie asked.

  “I’m guessing as well as anyone who found out their crazy mother kept a mummified infant in her haunted house,” he snapped.

  “She knows the house is haunted?” Sadie quickly demanded, not sure what Zack would’ve told Paula about that situation.

 

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