Given Enough Rope (Haunted Series Book 20)

by Alexie Aaron

  “What do you want?” she said to the darkness that moved quickly towards them.

  “I didn’t do this. I watch but can’t stop the inevitable.”

  “What is the inevitable?” Burt asked.

  “Everybody dies,” it said and dissipated.

  “What was that?” Mia asked.

  “I didn’t get a good enough view; your butt was in the way.”

  “Oh!” Mia stepped away from Burt and turned around. Her face was red as a raspberry.

  Murphy rushed in, axe in hand.

  “Sorry, you’re too late for the party,” Mia explained. “The guest of honor has been and is now gone.”

  Ted followed out of breath. “What happened?”

  “We were visited by…” Mia looked over to Burt, and he shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not sure what. Couldn’t be demon, no odor. It was a black mass that filled half the bathroom. I’m going to call it the Black Watcher.”

  “Might be a little racist,” Ted said.

  “K. How’s the Dark Watcher?” she asked, looking from Ted to Burt and finally centering on Murphy. “It was solid. I couldn’t see through the darkness. It’s possible you may be able to. Go to the truck and have Jake run back the camera feed. To see if it showed up in the restaurant before it entered the bathroom.”

  Murphy stayed put.

  “I’m not ordering you. It was a suggestion. I know you’re my boss,” Mia said.

  “No. I think I should stay with all of you. Something isn’t right here.”

  “I feel it too,” Ted said. “And I’m a lug when it comes to being sensitive.”

  “Let’s all go back to the command center. Burt, you have to take it easy for a while. I’m not a miracle worker. Nature has to heal you,” Mia said. “I basically apply a cosmic bandage.”

  They walked out of the bathroom, each having a hand on one of Burt’s elbows just in case he got dizzy. They sat him down in the first booth.

  Ted reached over the bar and recovered what he originally came out for.

  “I’ve got the pineapple and more ice,” Ted said, holding up the washbasin full of ice and fruit.

  “That reminds me,” Mia said and trotted into the kitchen and over to the refrigerator. She pulled out the plates of food Dash left for them. “I’m ready,” she said, coming out of the kitchen with the meals on a server’s tray.

  “Mia, I put out three recorders,” Burt said as Murphy helped him to his feet.

  “We’ll collect them on our way out,” Mia said. “We should talk to Dash about getting us a back door key. It could save us so many steps. I wonder how they got away with only one customer exit?”

  “Is your leg bothering you?” Ted asked, taking the tray from her.

  “No, but I’ve gotten way out of shape. I’m as strong as a walking donut hole.” Mia quickly put her finger to Ted’s lips, “Don’t say it!”

  “Say what?” Ted asked innocently. “That donuts holes are my favorite?”

  Mia withdrew her hand from his mouth.

  They made their way slowly to the front of the restaurant. Mia picked up the recorders, pulling a fresh one out of her pocket and leaving it where Burt had been attacked. She turned the restaurant’s lights back to afterhours lighting and locked the door behind them.

  The night air was still warm. There was a cool breeze which had wound its way through the buildings from the lake. Jake activated the automatic door and had extended steps which surprised Mia.

  “Where did these come from?” Mia asked.

  “I forgot that Cid had them installed,” Ted admitted. “He said he was tired of lifting your big butt up and down.”

  “Jake, where is our lie detector?”

  Jake displayed several torture devices from the middle ages.

  “Okay, he didn’t say that, but he was thinking of you and Audrey.”

  “I think I married the wrong friend,” Mia said, walking by her husband to help Burt get comfortable on the lounge chair.

  “Don’t be so hard on the kid. He has a lot on his mind,” Burt scolded Mia.

  “He knows I’m teasing him,” Mia said, handing him her iPad. “I have a lot of our competitors on here. I’ve been looking at ways to improve our broadcast.”

  Burt perked up. He liked that Mia was more vested in PEEPs. “Before I forget, I’d like you to do the next Dark World web series, but I understand that I have to talk to Alan first.”

  “Oh that. That was more Bev protecting me, or making money off of me, than me. Does that make any sense?”

  “Knowing Bev, yes. I noticed that you still call Sabine your cousin even though you and Bev are not related.”

  “So the gossip got all the way to you. Yes, she isn’t technically my cousin, but we are related here.” Mia patted the place over her heart.

  Ted listened to their conversation while he loaded the micro recorder’s data into the computer. Time had mellowed the two’s temperaments since Mia and Burt were lovers. Now, they had an easy friendship. Burt still seemed to take more of the leader role when dealing with Mia. This was something Ted knew from experience that bothered his wife.

  Mia came back and sat down. She unwrapped her plate and started to eat.

  “Is everything alright?” Ted asked, turning his chair.

  “Yes, sorry for the silence, but I’m trying to work out what’s going on here. At the moment, I’m starting to think that more than a few patrons of McNally’s woke up when they started digging here. But I can’t quite figure out what. I’m going to suggest Sabine and Ira go OOBing tomorrow and see what they can ferret out.”

  “What about Murphy?”

  “I think my dear friend may be a bit distracted.”

  “What’s distracting him?”

  “Murphy’s father disappeared after leaving their house to have a drink at bar named McNally’s, and Fergus all but confirmed that Kevin Murphy’s bones lie in that bar beneath us.”

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Mia left the command truck to freshen up in the construction trailer’s bathroom just as the sun rose. The sun sliced through the skyscrapers and hit Mia full in the face, making it difficult to see. She put her hand over her eyes and jumped backwards as a figure stood in front of her. “Waaah!”

  “Horse feathers! I didn’t mean to scare you!”

  Mia squinted. “I’m sorry, the sun’s in my eyes.” Mia moved to the side of what she assumed was a female by the voice. Between the blue dots, Mia saw a very vital, plumpish, middle-aged woman staring down at her. “I’m Mia...”

  “I know who you are. You may not remember this but I chased you around a Wyoming dig trying to get a leg bone you decided to use as a good golf club.”

  “Peter Rabbit?” Mia asked as memories filled her head.

  “That’s what you called me.”

  “When my father told me you might be available, I didn’t recognize your name. Come on in, get a cup of coffee, and meet Burt and Ted,” Mia said.

  Barb followed Mia up the steps and through the door, cut into the larger sliding door. It took a moment to adjust her eyes. She was looking into a state of the art computer station with four active screens. The man sitting at the console stood and extended his hand.

  “Barb Peters, my husband Ted Martin.”

  Ted felt the strong grip of the woman and returned one in kind.

  “This is our command post. Ted monitors all our camera feeds, earcoms, and computers,” Mia explained. “Excuse the mess, but we had a hell of a night. My boss Burt was attacked in the restaurant.”

  “Oh my,” Barb said.

  “But I’m fine now,” Burt said, walking out of the back. He yawned and wiped his hand on his trousers before shaking Barb’s offered hand. “Burt Hicks.”

  “Barb Peters, archeologist. I understand from Charles that you suspect you have a pre Great Fire building under this construction site.”

  “Ira Levisohn intends to take a core sample this morning when he arrives,” Burt explained. “Ted, how’
s the sampler coming?”

  Ted pointed at the sampler made to Ira’s specifications. It was four, six foot sections of PVC. One was connected to a hollow metal screw and had a detachable bar that would aid in turning the device. The other sections would be added as they dug deeper. “I was waiting for Ira before I finished this. I think that an inner clear plastic tube is necessary.”

  Barb looked at the sampler. “Not necessarily. As long as each inch of soil is examined as you unload it. Sure it would be nice to see the layers, but I can work without it,” she told him. “Nice spur of the moment design. I’m anxious to meet Ira.”

  “I think you’ll be impressed. Ira, or Inky as he likes to be called, is sixteen years old. He’s a math major headed for Cambridge.”

  “And he hunts ghosts. God loves a fool, and so do I. Well, who’s going to show me the site?”

  “Mia, do you feel up to it?” Burt asked. “I’m a bit woozy.”

  “I’d love to. Let me use the bathroom first, and I’ll be with you in a jiffy. Ted, offer our guest a cup of coffee,” Mia said before she exited.

  “Would you like a cup of coffee? I have normal coffee and a mixture they call Ted’s Java Jolt.”

  “Java Jolt?” Barb asked, intrigued.

  “Ms. Peters, it could give you a heart attack,” warned Burt.

  “As long as it doesn’t grow hair on my knuckles, I’m game. Pour me a cup, Ted.”

  “Murphy!” Mia called.

  “Yes,” Murphy said from behind her.

  Mia put her hand on her heart. “That’s the second scare I got this morning,” she explained. “I wanted to warn you that I’m going to be showing the archeologist Barb Peters the site.”

  “I’ll follow you around.”

  “Thank you. Maybe don’t manifest until I know she’s going to take the assignment.”

  “I wasn’t born yesterday,” Murphy said gruffly.

  “Sorry, I’m just nervous. You see, she’s a friend of my fathers and…”

  “You want to impress her.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “And then the little tyke followed me into the old volcanic steam vent calling, ‘Wait, Peter Rabbit, wait for me!’ And that’s how I got my nickname PR,” Barb finished as Mia climbed into the command post.

  “I’m ready when you are, PR,” Mia said.

  “That child is an absolute delight,” Barb said, following Mia out the door.

  “What do you think?” Ted asked Burt.

  “She’s pretty lively for an archeologist, but I like her,” Burt said.

  “Jake?” Ted asked the large eyeball.

  “According to the press clippings I found so far, Barbara Peters Ph.D. is fearless. She’s responsible for suggesting to unearth the rest of the Easter Island Statues. To quote her after receiving many objections, ‘If the damn things fall over, pick them up. It’s not like they are made of glass.’”

  “How did you come to determine that there is a building under here?” Barb asked.

  “A ghost told me,” Mia said.

  “Is he credible?” Barb asked.

  “I just met him, but my gut says he’s got nothing to gain by lying to me.”

  Barb nodded. She looked at the walls of the excavation where the cement mold had been removed. “Look at all that crap. Not a natural layer of soil or rock in fifteen feet. Before I came, I looked at the soil survey, and then at several geologists’ reports. There is a strong possibility that there may be some pockets of limestone here. If they had a sudden large amount of water in this area and it worked its way through the crust…”

  “Sinkhole. But wouldn’t they have tried to rescue whomever was in the building?” Mia asked.

  “We weren’t there. The sides could have fallen in, and to the people looking down, it could have looked like the building just disappeared. We won’t know if the victims suffocated or were crushed until we dig. I’ve already got my team standing by. Can you give us protection from any spirit backlash?”

  Mia stared at Barb.

  “I’m an archeologist; I’ve seen what a few angry spirits can do, Mia.”

  “Murphy!” Mia called.

  Barb clapped her hands together when the ghost of a farmer stood before her holding an axe. “You’re incredible. I take it you know how to use that axe, sir.”

  “Barb, this is Stephen Murphy. He died on our… his farm,” Mia quickly corrected and continued, “post-Civil War. He and I have been friends since I was fourteen.”

  “Lucky girl. Whenever I came across ghosts, they were more afraid of me than I was of them. Come to think of it, the same goes for most of the men I came across too,” Barb said and roared with laughter.

  Murph liked this woman. Her mannish laugh was infectious.

  “People call me Murphy.”

  “People call me ‘that noisy broad,’ but I prefer Barb.”

  “Barb, like on a fishing hook?” Murphy asked.

  This caused more laughter. “That’ll do Murphy, that’ll do fine. Come, let’s explore, shall we?”

  Cid slowed the van to a stop. Mason jumped out and opened the gate. Cid drove in, followed by a dust-covered truck hauling a trailer with a backhoe on it. Mason closed the gate and ran to help the driver find some stable ground on which to park.

  After, Mason headed to the trailer where Burt seemed to be holding court on the deck. Ted had put up a marquee to shade the bruised leader from the sun. There was a woman Mason didn’t recognize dressed in tan work clothes. She had wild salt and pepper hair that a brush would never be able to tame. Murphy had manifested and seemed to be sharing a laugh with the newcomer.

  “Here comes our computer and coms guy, Mason Callen,” Burt said to the woman. “Mason, this is Barb Peters. She’s the archeologist who is going to help us determine whether there is a building under this lot, and if so, she’ll be in charge of the excavation.”

  Mason reached forward and shook the archeologist’s hand. “Pleased to be meeting you,” Mason said. “I think I let one of yours in the gate.”

  Barb turned around and waved a very tall Ka’igwu man over. “Nietzsche Big Tree is my O.I.”

  Burt ran through all the acronyms he knew but couldn’t find one suitable for O.I. “O.I?” he questioned.

  Nietzsche, who heard the question as he approached, looked at Barb and shook his head. “Sir, O.I. stands for obligatory injun. Every archeological dig has one,” Nietzsche said dryly. “Barb, I brought the backhoe and the ground penetrating radar. What are we looking for? Burial chamber, dinosaur…”

  “Irish pub,” Barb answered.

  “This will be my first Irish pub excavation,” Nietzsche said, looking around him.

  “What’s the matter?” Barb asked.

  “I was looking for the bone thief.”

  “Mia’s in the trailer,” Burt told him.

  “Did someone call my name?” Mia asked, walking out the door. She locked eyes with Nietzsche. “It can’t be?”

  “It is.”

  “Chacha!” Mia said, ran over and hugged the man. “PEEPs, Chacha is my oldest nemesis. He kept most of the bones away from me in Wyoming.”

  “Nietzsche, that is a very unusual name,” Cid said walking up, taking the time to shake Barb’s and Nietzsche’s hands.

  “My parents were over-schooled layabouts with too much time on their hands. They named their children for their favorite philosophers and writers. My sister was named Goethe. We called her Gert,” Nietzsche explained. “I taught Mia when she was this high,” he said, holding his hand three feet from the ground, “to pronounce my name by pointing to my knees and then saying ‘cha.’ I expected Kneecha, but the runt called me Chacha Big Knees instead.”

  “Hey, at least you got a middle name,” Mia pouted.

  “I told you, runt, that the Big in Big Tree wasn’t my middle name.”

  “I know,” Mia said. “Your middle name is Bossy Pants.”

  Nietzsche growled at her.

  “Children…” Barb
warned halfheartedly.

  “Look at you, who knocked you up? Another bone thief?” Nietzsche asked.

  “Nope a geek,” Ted said, joining the group with Ira in tow. He and Ira were introduced around.

  “This is the boy who designed the soil sampler?” Barb asked, looking up at Ira.

  “Guilty.”

  “You said he was sixteen.”

  “I am sixteen,” Ira told her.

  “Big Tree, another one of your bastards I presume,” Barb said with a twinkle in her eye.

  “Kid, ignore her. She maintains that if a child has black hair, brown eyes, and is tall as a tree, they must be a bastard of this Big Tree.”

  “These are my kind of people,” Mason whispered to Cid. “No worry about being politically correct here.”

  “Evidently,” Cid said, ill at ease.

  “Burt, can I borrow Ira until my team finds their way here. I’d like to get started with the radar…”

  “Sure, go ahead, just don’t break him. Mia promised to bring him home in one piece.”

  “Where’s the fun in that?” Barb asked, putting her arm around Ira, leading him to the excavation. “Your people are survivors. Surely you can handle a day with Nietzsche and me.”

  Burt waited until he had everyone’s attention before giving them their morning orders, “PEEPs, there will be a meeting when Mike and Sabine arrive. Until then, Mason, you’re on com. Ted, continue to go over the tapes. Mia, you and Cid check out the restaurant before Dash’s people go on duty. Murphy, please be within earshot for security. That’s it. I’m hitting the sack in the trailer.”

  “He’s in a good mood,” Cid remarked to Mia.

  “I guess it takes a hit on the back of the head to bring out good ole Burt,” Mia said. “Or, I think PR has enchanted him.”

  “PR?”

  “It stands for Peter Rabbit, evidently my name for Barb when I was a tot. I only remember patches of my time in Wyoming, but I do remember Nietzsche chasing me all over my father’s dig calling me bone thief. I wish I could remember more of my life before I had to go to school.” Mia sighed.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t think Amanda was as horrible as I remember.”