by Alexie Aaron
“The three stooges?” Mia asked, referring to the shadow men.
“They didn’t come back,” Mike reported.
“I have Jake monitoring the feeds,” Cid said.
Mia stroked Audrey’s back until the investigator fell asleep.
“Where did you learn that from? Angelo?” Mike tested.
“No, I have a young son, Mikey. Audrey fell asleep on her own. When is the last time she slept?” she asked.
Mike glared at Mia for her calling him Mikey. He knew it was her passive aggressive way of saying back off.
Audrey raised her head, yawning. “I’m sorry. That’s never happened before.”
“I used to fall asleep all the time in class,” Mia admitted. “It was the only safe place.”
Cid walked out with Jake on an iPad. “Mia, Murphy, please tell us what you found.”
Mia told her story and nodded at the book still in Burt’s hands. “Burt and I will read the book. Audrey, we’ll give you any names he may have mentioned for you and Jake to research. Mike and Cid, we need to secure this building. I think the snow may be isolating us, but we must make sure all the windows and doors are locked. If the monsters find a way out, Murphy and I will do our best to keep them from exiting Roustan Rose.”
“Mia, you mentioned that the people waiting were breathing and Herbert Morrison bled. Are they alive in there?” Burt asked.
“If they are alive, then what happened to them when the monsters came?” Audrey asked.
Mia studied her face a moment before she spoke, “There is so much that I don’t know. With each investigation, we learn things. What we learned when we dealt with Jerry’s fantasy world, we were able to use in order to achieve an edge on Renee. But what did Renee teach us?”
“That we’re in over our heads,” Burt admitted.
“That perhaps what you and Murphy thought of as alive, wasn’t,” Mike said. “I think that Herbert Morrison doesn’t exist. He and the others are manufactured bait.”
Mia slid her glove off. “What’s this then?” she asked, holding out her bloodstained fingers. “Herbert Morrison cut his hand to show me he was alive.”
Audrey turned and ran to the sink. She threw up. Burt moved quickly to hold her hair back and comfort the ill investigator.
Mike glared at Mia.
“We have a blood testing kit in the truck. I could go out and get it?” Cid offered.
“The snow is too deep,” Mia said.
“I’ve been shoveling a path every hour. I’ll be right back. We could also test the pages of the book.”
This brought a whole new set of heaves from sensitive Audrey.
Mia angled her head.
Mike watched her watch Audrey.
“No,” she said under her breath. With her newfound abilities, it would only take putting her hand on Audrey’s abdomen to confirm her suspicions, but she would wait. The investigator was upset. Adding another helping of concern to Audrey’s plate wasn’t going to do her any favors.
“What’s going on behind those eyes?” Mike asked.
“I’m just thinking. Truth is, I’m as puzzled as the rest of you. If the people Murph and I saw are real, then they wouldn’t be able to sustain the continuous monster attacks. Morrison kept talking about a cycle. I assumed he was talking about a day. But…”
Cid arrived back with the Phenolphthalein test kit. He swabbed Mia’s fingers and stuck the swab in the solution. It turned bright pink. He repeated the procedure on several pages of the book. They too tested positive for human blood. Mia picked up her clothes and headed to the bathroom to wash herself clean of the blood. She tossed her gloves in the trash. When she exited the bathroom, she found Murphy standing guard at the door. Mia put her hand on his arm. “Thank you.”
“I didn’t want you to have any unwelcome surprises,” Murphy said.
“I didn’t. How are you holding up?” she asked.
“I feel something trying to pull me, but I just move outside and connect with the air or snow and I feel stronger.”
“Good. You let me know when this gets to be too much. Nothing is worth losing you, nothing,” she said. “Now, I’m going to look into what we can whip up for a late night dinner. Between Cid and me, we might be able to produce a feast of some kind. I’m hungry.”
“You’re always hungry,” he teased.
Chapter Nineteen
Ted moved quickly through the journal. He asked for the corresponding packets of papers, and Orion handed them over without question. There was no bruising of ego. Orion knew that Ted was in charge when it came to this investigation of Richard Thorn. Audrey had told him that Mia said Ted was a genius. He thought it was just love talking until he saw for himself how quickly the man digested the material before him.
Ted stopped and sighed. He closed his eyes and seemed to shiver.
“Something wrong?”
“Thorn was a genius but was born too early. He didn’t have the materials we do now. The crudeness of his machines may be partly to blame for what happened to Dr. Rose’s patients. I think we can forgo the medical papers, there is no undoing what the sadistic bastard has done. What I need to find is how he created the interdimensional jail and how the locks work.”
Orion took the medical papers away and brought Ted back the files that contained the latter works of Richard Thorn.
“Do you need a break?” Orion asked.
“Coffee, I need coffee,” Ted said.
“I’m not sure that…”
The sudden entrance of a small gargoyle bearing a pad of paper and a large pen between his talons stopped Orion from talking. “Coffee service,” he said.
Orion smiled. He would tell Ted later about how the gargoyles loved coffee. They even had their own Starbucks installed on the street level.
“I’d like a strong brew, three espressos, eight sugars, and four ounces of whole milk,” Ted said.
“Do you want the milk foamed?”
“Are you insane? Heat the milk and the sugar together and…” Ted used his hands to show that he wanted the milk/sugar mixture to be added slowly to the coffee.
The gargoyle watched him, nodding. “Right away, sir.” He turned to Orion.
“Black coffee will be fine,” he said.
He received a look of disappointment as his reward for being easy. The gargoyle left. Ted got up and stretched, being careful not to come into contact with anything. Before he sat down, the gargoyle had returned with a large coffee carafe for Ted and a sturdy mug. He also had a cup of black coffee for Orion which he set down with a clink.
He addressed Ted, “If you need more, just call for me.”
“Your name?”
“Jeff. It’s not my name, but it’s easier,” the creature explained.
“Thank you, Jeff,” Ted said.
Jeff stood there.
Ted poured himself a mug and sampled it. “Perfect,” he said.
Jeff left.
Orion sipped his coffee, amused. “You know, in all my hundreds of years here, I have never been served coffee.”
“It’s because I’m Mia’s husband,” Ted said, opening up a packet of papers.
“No. It’s something different. Either it’s your mutual love of coffee or your gigantic brain, but you have bonded with these creatures. They like you. Theodore, they don’t like anyone. They won’t even let Angelo in the door.”
“Gee, now I’m starting to like them more.”
“Angelo still bothers you?” Orion asked.
“Yes, but not as much as Mike does.”
Orion waited, sensing Ted needed to get something off his chest.
“Mia doesn’t flirt with Angelo,” Ted said.
“You and Mia are alright, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“You could ask her not to flirt with Mike,” Orion suggested.
“Well, now you’ve caught me in a lie. She doesn’t actually flirt. It’s just the two are thick as thieves. He baits her, and she rises to the bai
t, and then slams him with an insult. I’m jealous.”
Orion laughed. “Would you like me to talk to her? Mia doesn’t realize that she’s behaving wrongly. She really is a numbskull when it comes to relationships. To her, she’s playing with Mike. She has no intention of ever becoming intimate with him. You also have to give the poor guy credit. He hasn’t pounced on her. Had he, she would have made him eat his teeth.”
Ted grinned. “She would.”
“When you were a child in elementary school, was there ever a girl your age that you couldn’t resist tormenting?”
“Yes.”
“Mike’s like that for Mia. She didn’t have any friends in school. Aside from Whit and Tom later, Mia navigated thirteen years without a friend. No siblings, and her parents were absent. Ralph tried, but Mia needed the interactive-play kids have with other children. I think that’s the basis for her continual relationship with Mike Dupree.”
“Why can’t she have this with me?”
“She loves you. She doesn’t want to be bitchy to you. Mia will argue with you over something she believes in, but she’ll never hurt you just for the sake of being mean.”
“Ah. But why does Mike put up with it?”
“He’s got her permission to be mean back. He knows that Mia wants nothing from him. She’s one of the guys, except she’s not a guy. He feels protective of her, and I know that if you weren’t in the picture, he would make a run at her, but I don’t think he could sustain her like you do. She loves you so deeply, we all thought it was the curse.”
“You seem to know a lot about relationships.”
“I’ve been around for five hundred and two years, Ted. I’ve noticed a few things. When I found out that Mia was my granddaughter, I started to watch her. Not in a creepy uncle way, but study her when we were together. She and I have some similar traits.”
“The way you tilt your head when you’re studying something and how you wave your arms when you’re talking excitedly,” Ted said. “I notice things too.”
Orion laughed.
“Time to get back to it,” Ted said and picked up the next scientific paper to read.
“Theodore, you can ask her to leave Mike alone. You’ve earned the right. Just remember, if you’re taking away something, you’re going have to give her something in return.”
Ted thought about what Orion had just said for a moment, then he compartmentalized it and moved on to the problem at hand: how to keep the monsters in Thornrose and out of Roustan Rose.
~
Mia took over the console, insisting that Cid get some sleep. Burt and Audrey had already camped out in the front parlor. The plans for the carriage house had fallen through when they couldn’t get the pilot light to light on the furnace. Mia could hear Mike pacing outside the room. Mia clicked into his earcom, “What’s the matter?” she asked.
“What, no over?” he spat.
Mia chose her words carefully. “Mike, would you like to have a private conversation with me?”
“Yes, but I would also like to see your face while we’re talking.”
Mia bit her lip. Mia had sent Murphy to watch over the others. It was just her and Jake in the command center. But Jake was here. She typed some instructions to Jake, and when he responded, “You want me to be your tia,” she knew that he understood that he was to be her and Mike’s chaperone.
“Come on in, and shut the door after you,” she said.
He walked in and closed the door gently. “Is Murphy here?”
“No, he’s guarding the others. Why?” Mia asked, turning around.
“What I have to say to you doesn’t need to be gossiped. Murphy is as bad as Ted is.”
“I believe you’re right,” Mia said. She patted the rolling chair next to her. “Sit down, please.”
“I miss us,” Mike confessed.
“I beg your pardon?” Mia asked confused. “Us?”
“Before I ratted you out to Ted over the Dark Web stuff, we were tight.”
“Tight?”
Mike searched for better words, “We were trusted friends.”
“I still consider you my friend, Mike.”
“But you don’t trust me.”
“No, I do not.”
His face fell. “I never figured you for a one-error-you’re-out type of girl.”
“I’m not. I just have been going through my own personal hell lately, and I don’t feel like sharing, if that’s okay with your majesty?”
“Ouch.”
Mia took a deep breath. “Did your mother go through menopause?”
“Yes.”
“Did she have mood swings?”
“My mother became three people, God love her. My mother, my friend, and I’ll kick your ass to Nebraska if you continue to treat me like you do your friends.”
“I’m struggling to hold on to Mia while I continue to change. I lost the demon in me, making me meek. Then I get a blood transfusion, and all of a sudden I’m so super aggressive, I want to bench press Ted. I worry that I’m going to wake up with arms like Ed. This doesn’t happen over the course of days; I get this in hours. I’m dealing with all of this trapped in the house with my best friends. I’m this close to snapping. I’m in no shape to talk about us.”
Another man would have left Mia sitting there, but Mike wasn’t another man. “Mia, the situation we are in, presently, has nothing to do with you.”
“I killed Fluffy.”
It took Mike a moment to get the Harry Potter three-headed dog reference. “Fluffy was going to kill us all. I don’t care what your CI said. Keeping us PEEPs alive was a great reason for killing Fluffy.”
“You know what I wish?”
“What?”
“That, if the universe doesn’t want me fucking things up, put a sign on the door or a real guard at the gate. How the hell am I to know the real reason Renee Roustan was allowed to kill people every generation?”
“You don’t have to convince me. My mother started all this. I should have gone with her when she was looking for a place to live. I was hoping she would end up with the Seeleys.”
“I think she likes her privacy,” Mia said. “I also think she’s thinking of the future. Your future.”
“The last thing I want is this monstrosity.”
“She probably sees it as an investment. Mike, why do you want to remain tight with me?”
Mike swallowed hard.
“Is it because I’m a great reason not to move on with Meg?” Mia asked. “No woman is going to put up with the stuff we do together. I’m surprised that Ted has thus far.”
“It’s not Meg. That actually is looking pretty good. She’s on an extended, mandatory winter vacation with her family. I need you, Mia. You’re the only friend that I can be me with. Burt has grown tired of the bad boy. Audrey shuns me. Cid’s Ted’s man, and so that leaves you and Murphy.”
Mia smiled for the first time since he walked in. “I get you. I’m not afraid of calling you on your bullshit. I don’t want to cry on your shoulder. I want to drink whisky with you.”
“Exactly. You’re my overly-endowed man friend.”
The middle monitor lit up displaying Jake as Bugs Bunny wearing a mantilla.
“I take it, I crossed the line?” Mike said to Jake.
Bugs Bunny fanned himself and nodded.
“Fine. I’ll watch it.”
The screen went dark.
“Ted says I’m cruel to you,” Mia said.
“You are, but I can take it. What’s going on with you and Burt?”
Mia angled her head and looked at Mike. He felt her greens eyes bore into him. He knew she could read his mind if she wanted to, but instead, she stared at him a while.
“Are you afraid that Burt is replacing you as my father confessor?” she asked.
“Well, yes.”
Mia shook her head. “He’s not strong enough for that. I can’t tell him how I’m so upset that I’m going to outlive my husband and child and have him say…”
“Tough, love them while you have them,” Mike said.
“Exactly, he is sensitive and caring. Who needs that?”
Mike started laughing. “You are a cruel, cold bitch, but I still love you.”
Mia smiled. “Are we good?” she asked.
“Yes. I feel so much better.”
“Good because you and I have to go and change the batteries, and I don’t need an emotional wreck on my hands.”
“Bitch.”
“Jake, you have the com,” Mia said, getting up.
The screen lit up with Jake once more representing himself as Marvin the Martian.
Mia handed Mike a canvas bag with half the batteries while she slung the rest over her shoulder in her pack. “Come on, let’s get this out of the way. I’m craving some of the spumoni we still have left.”
“You’re going to get fat.”
“You may be right. Now that the demon’s gone, who knows what my metabolism will do?”
Jake watched the two investigators leave the pantry, and then as they moved through the mansion, he watched them on the cameras as they worked. The two exchanged barbs and, at one point, almost came to blows over the proper way to reseat one of the new cameras. Mia ended up letting Mike do it, and he screwed it up. She tried and came away with the same result. She pulled another older camera from her pack, and they replaced the new one on the tripod.
“We’ll leave it for Cid to figure out,” she said, pocketing the new camera.
“Saint Cid,” Mike corrected.
“Oh not you too,” Mia said. “I thought that name died with Dave leaving us.”
“I think he has a point.”
“Cid is a wonderful, sensitive man with high moral fiber.”
“Well, gee, I thought that was me,” Mike teased.
“Ah, no.”
“See, by your own words, he’s a saint.”
Mia open her mouth and almost said otherwise. Instead she smiled widely.
“What’s that smile about?” Mike asked suspiciously.
“I was thinking about the trouble he and Ted would get into as kids. He’s no saint.”
Mike frowned. He thought Mia was going to say something more personal. They finished the job and arrived back in the kitchen just as the others were waking up.