by Alexie Aaron
“I’ll put on a fresh pot of coffee after I help Dave settle in. I’m thinking a midnight feast is in order.”
“I’m in,” Mike said. “I’m also going to stay the night. Mia said I could use their room.”
Cid left him to his phone call and greeted Maggie who was dancing by the door. “Hello, I understand we have a new roomie?”
“Are you really talking to the dog?” Dave said from his perch on the staircase.
“I find Maggie a very good conversationalist. She understands bacon and bacon,” Cid joked.
Each time the word bacon was mentioned, Maggie danced around.
“I could use some bacon. And a beer. Lots of beer. Burt has lousy beer.”
“How old are you?”
“Are you really going to card me? What are you, a narc?”
“No, but…”
“Alright, I’ll have a soda. I suppose you don’t have a joint on you…”
Cid stiffened up.
“I was just razzing you, dude,” Dave said getting up. “Now show me where to chuck my stuff.”
Cid grabbed one of Dave’s satchels and started walking up the stairs. He passed Dave and said, “I think we’ll put you in the far bedroom at the back of the house. You have a wonderful view of the hillside.”
Dave smirked. “Are you really giving me the tour?”
Cid was taken off guard. He wasn’t used to being around argumentative young people. Ted would yank his chain a bit, but this kid made Cid feel out of touch with the world. “Listen,” Cid said, looking down at him. “I’m just trying to be nice. Are you sure you want to fuck with me?”
Dave took in the muscled man that towered over him by a foot and decided to hold his tongue. “No offense, but you have to lighten up.”
“No offense, but you have to stop poking the tiger.”
Maggie whined.
“Now you’ve upset Maggie,” Cid scolded. He bent down and petted the dog until she settled down.
“For a badass dude, you’re mushy,” Dave commented.
Cid was conflicted. No one had ever called him badass before. He chose to ignore the comment. “No smoking inside or within twenty feet of Mia. Before you say anything, you’re not exactly in any position to complain.”
“You’ve got that right. I’m at the mercy of the Martins. If my mother finds out I quit…”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“Are you kidding? One for all and all for one. Damn the man.”
“Empire Records,” Cid said, identifying the quote.
“And a hundred other places,” Dave added.
Cid opened the door of the room. The lights clicked on automatically, blinding both of them.
“That’s got to go,” Dave said, blinking away the blue dots.
“Ted gets a little carried away. Mia hates the sensors.”
“I don’t blame her. But I’ll take care of it. I normally like to live in very dim light with the exception of my reading light.”
“Computer game habits,” Cid said. “Me too.”
“Finally some common ground. Saint Cid has a human side.”
“Did you really call me Saint Cid?”
“Yup, deal with it,” Dave said, dropping the bag he was carrying with a thump.
“What do you have in there?”
“School books. I’ve got a lot of ground to make up.”
“If you need any help…”
“Listen, Cid, no offense, but if you’re going to lose the Saint Cid moniker, you’ve got to stop being so damn helpful. People are going to walk all over you.”
“I doubt that. I’m going to be downstairs. Mike’s staying over. I’ll have something for you two to eat in a half an hour.”
Dave smiled. He bit back the comment that was forming in lieu of getting something to eat. All Burt had was frozen shit. Saint Cid was going to cook for him, and that meant he would be eating like a king. “I appreciate it.”
Cid left the room and walked down the hall to the staircase. He stopped and looked back at the guestroom and was rewarded with the door shutting. He shook his head, not understanding what Mia saw in this kid. Maggie licked his fingertips. He crouched down and accepted her comfort by letting her lick his face.
~
Audrey opened her eyes and took in the unfamiliar surroundings. The hospital the EMT took her to was local to the haunt but out of her neighborhood. Matt sat dozing in the chair by the bed. She didn’t remember him being there when she fell asleep. Cid had been the one to hold her left hand while the emergency resident examined her. The painkillers were just starting to take the edge off when she received the bad news. Her act of heroism, with the saving of the expensive lamp, had broken her clavicle and dislocated her right shoulder. She burst into tears. Cid had tried to comfort her in his awkward way.
“I called your mother and father. They’ll be here soon,” he told her.
“It’s so late.”
“Your dad insisted. I called Matt too. I hope you don’t mind. I found his number on your phone,” Cid explained.
Audrey briefly wondered how Cid got beyond the password but pushed it away, grateful for his interference. “Thank you. I’m sorry for the tears, but I’m so tired…”
“You’ve been burning it at both ends, haven’t you?” Cid guessed.
“Yes. I’m halfway through an evaluation for the old cereal factory. The community wants to buy it and convert it into a youth center.”
“Can I be of help?”
Audrey brightened. “Actually, you can. I’ll pay you for your time. I got as far as the east building in my evaluation. I still have two more buildings to do. I could give you instructions of what I’m looking for…”
“I’ll come in tomorrow when you’ve had some rest, and we’ll discuss it.”
“But how will you do this and PEEPs…”
“Oh, I quit.”
“I thought I heard something like that, but I was in and out of it at the time. You didn’t…”
“Yes, I did.”
“Because of me?”
“Partly. I’ve had enough of the Burt train.”
“You’re not the only one,” Audrey confided. “Take some time and think it over…” she said, her voice trailing off as the sedative worked its way through her system.
“You rest. I’ll stick around until your people show up. I’ll stop by tomorrow, and we’ll make plans for the factory.”
Audrey nodded.
She pulled out of her memories into the present and managed to croak, “Matt.”
Matt’s eyes snapped open. He got up and moved to her quickly. The doctor in him had taken over. He looked over her dressings and adjusted the sling before he spoke a word. “What were you thinking?”
“Just now? I don’t think this is the place…” Audrey teased.
“No, Cid said you caught a heavy lamp.”
“Yes, I misjudged the weight of it. When they say leaded glass, they mean it. Ouch, what are you doing?” she asked as he probed her ribs.
“I’m just… Hell, Audrey, you scared me to death.”
Audrey pushed the pain away to try to comfort her boyfriend. “Sorry, but part of the job I guess. This is my first paranormal injury. Did I ever tell you how I impressed the gang by fighting with a puppet?”
“I heard it was a full length marionette.”
“Well, it had an attitude,” Audrey joked.
Matt pulled out his phone.
“Am I boring you?”
“No, I promised to call your parents when you woke up. I sent them to the cafeteria.”
“Before you call them, come closer.”
Matt leaned in, and Audrey, instead of giving him a kiss, whispered, “Morphine. Where’s my button for the pump?”
He kissed her anyway. He then set the button in her hand and suggested, “Before you go to la la land, let your parents see you.”
“Call them, and tell them to hurry,” she said clenching her teeth.
&
nbsp; He nodded and dialed the phone.
~
Burt arrived back at the peninsula and set his gear bag down before going back outside for the bag of quarter pounders with cheese he’d left on his front seat. He looked over at the open door of the guestroom and walked over to see if Dave was still up. An empty room greeted him. It looked like Dave had cleared out, leaving the drawers open and the closet door ajar.
“Damn,” he said. Burt was hoping to talk some sense into the young sensitive. You didn’t simply quit a job, even an unpaid internship. Well, his loss. He wouldn’t be getting a good reference from PEEPs. He’d call Mrs. Hult in the morning and explain why her son wasn’t finishing his internship. He wasn’t that upset by Dave’s defection. He didn’t really like the young man’s attitude. Sensitives were rare, but he heard that Beth was working with a good one. He’d just give her a call in the morning.
~
Mike savored the pasta forkful by forkful. He didn’t even count the calories he was ingesting. The red wine Cid found in the cellar wasn’t bad. Mia didn’t drink wine, and Ted seemed to buy the bottles with the funniest names or labels. This one identified with a forgotten sibling. It warmed his stomach and went well with the marinara-based sauce on the dish. Dave had taken his plate to the living room where he had turned on a late show after grunting his appreciation.
“I know it wasn’t that long ago, but I don’t remember being that young,” Mike confessed.
Cid, who’d had enough of Dave’s attitude, just shrugged his shoulders. He sat down and took a long sip of the wine before starting on his meal.
“Your body language tells me that you’re not appreciating the kid right now.”
Cid looked around Mike to make sure Dave was out of earshot before speaking, “He just rubs me the wrong way. We butt heads.”
“You’re no different from Mia. When she and Dave were working on saving our asses in that school we were trapped in, she told me she almost broke a rule and killed Dave. I wonder about Mia’s rules sometimes…”
“She makes them up as she goes along,” Cid commented. “She’s really a good person at heart. However, I’m so glad she’s over that overly hormonal stage. I thought for sure that I’d wake up hogtied and castrated one morning. That’s when I started locking my outside door.”
“Ted gets along with Dave, doesn’t he?”
“Yes, and so does Murphy. I think they are more accepting than myself. I didn’t realize I was a snob until Dave showed up,” Cid confessed. “You know what he calls me?”
“Saint Cid,” Mike answered and poured himself another glass of wine.
Cid looked at him amazed. “I never thought of myself that way.”
“You wouldn’t. You see, Cid, you’re a natural nurturer, and everyone that meets you loves you. Before you say it, I know it wasn’t that way when you were residing behind coke-bottle lenses. But now, you’ve taught Mia how to cook, you built them the house extension; and you’re one hundred percent loyal to Ted. You’re a saint. Don’t change, I confess to liking even the pedantic side of you. My mother wants to trade sons, and I suspect Bernard and Ralph want to adopt you.”
Cid blushed. “I’m not perfect.”
“No one is, but you’re pretty damn close. Enjoy the attention while you get it. Us has-beens sure wish we did.”
“I don’t think you’re a has-been.”
“Tell my agent that. Anyway, the kid probably feels a bit jealous and so is picking on you,” Mike observed.
“I don’t think it’s that. He called me a narc.”
“That’s an old term.”
“Still means the same.”
“True.”
“Want to give me what brought on that comment?” Mike asked, reaching for the grated parmesan. He spooned it over his second serving of pasta while Cid told him about the beer and the pot. “Burt’s beer does suck. The man is so cheap that he buys generic beer. Who the fuck makes it? I bet there isn’t a hop in the brew.”
“The kid’s not twenty-one. He shouldn’t be drinking…”
“I get your point. How old is he?”
“Nineteen, twenty soon.”
“Jesus, I thought he was older. I think there is some loophole that the kid can drink at home…”
“With his parents,” Cid chimed in.
“Oh, you’re right. Personally I think it’s stupid, the age thing, but we can’t have third graders running around with vodka-spiked fruit punch, can we?”
“I’m not a goody-two-shoes. I rebelled. I ran away from summer camp,” Cid said proudly.
Mike laughed and waved his fork as he spoke, “You don’t have to tell me. If you hung around with Ted, then you were breaking the law on a regular basis.”
“It’s just, being referred to that way rankles me.”
“I’d ignore it, and he’ll move on. Bullies usually do.”
“You think Dave’s a bully?”
“No, but he is a button pusher. You deal with both the same way. You should know this; you’ve had psychology courses.”
“I think, when you’re faced with it one-on-one, it’s different than observing it,” Cid admitted.
“Thanks for this wonderful meal and a place to lay my head,” Mike said, lifting his glass in a salute.
“I take it things went downhill after I left.”
“You could say that. Although, the poltergeists settled down.”
“Murphy said you quit.”
“Yes, in a way.”
“I thought partners couldn’t quit.”
“We can dissolve the partnership. Ted’s a partner, although Burt seems to forget that. We had the partnership papers redone after Audrey joined up. Alan helped put the deal together. Legally, I and my mother own PEEPs. Burt and Ted are secondary partners.”
“Really?”
“Yes, my mother invested a large sum in the group on those conditions. Ted didn’t want the partnership unless he too could invest, but at the time, he wasn’t flush with cash. Ma gave him equal partnership with Burt on the condition that he continue to invent devices for PEEPs’ usage. She said his genius was good as currency.”
“She’s a smart woman.”
“That’s what she keeps telling me.”
“But then why does Burt act like the boss?”
“I suppose because Ted and I let him. He handles all the management stuff I hate, and Ted’s got better things to do with his time.”
“So when you said you were done with the partnership, you weren’t leaving us…”
“I guess not. If Burt doesn’t straighten around, then Burt’s the one leaving. He takes nothing with him but half the proceeds on the first two years investigations. He’ll probably have to leave the peninsula too. Although Mia has a big heart, she’d probably let him stay on indefinitely.”
Cid sat back in his chair. “Knowing all of this, I’m flabbergasted that Mia lets Burt treat her so poorly.”
“Mia ignores it for the benefit of the group. She believes Burt is redeemable. Probably some misplaced guilt over having been in a relationship with him.”
“When Ted told me that she and Burt were an item, I thought he was lying to me. The cop what’s-his-name… Whitney. Yes, her childhood crush, I could see that, but Burt?”
“Why not Burt? He used to be open, enthusiastic, optimistic, giving, supportive, inventive, I’ll gloss over the bedroom stuff, but I heard he wasn’t a disappointment there. He nurtured Mia, brought her into the group. Their relationship didn’t last too long. I think the asshole’s ego got in the way. I think he broke it off. Mia took up with Whitney immediately which pissed off Burt. And then Ted stepped in and took her away.”
“He did that, didn’t he?” Cid said proudly.
“Oh, I think that Mia and Whit was a limited engagement, but I am still surprised by Ted. Not that I don’t think she made the right choice, mind you, but Ted was a dark horse.”
“He loved her from the moment he saw her,” Cid confided. “I used to hat
e her before I met her. How dare she choose that cop over my friend! I thought she was this gold digger who slept with whoever had more to give her. I was wrong.”
“You sure were, otherwise I would be Mr. Cooper-Dupree.”
Cid looked at Mike to see if he was serious.
“Not really, but if she were a gold digger, then she would have seen that I was the best catch.”
“You mean your mother’s money?”
“No, my good looks. Can you imagine what our kids would have looked like?”
Cid started laughing. Mike joined him.
“It’s a good thing that Mia isn’t swayed by looks alone, because I think genetically she made the right choice. That kid is going to have an interesting face, but he’ll be talented in more ways than either parent,” Cid said confidently.
Dave stood a few feet down the hall listening. He came just in time to hear about Mia’s former lovers. He thought that Mia and Ted had always been together. Even when he was observing them from his drug-hazed perch on the roof of Lucky’s, he could see the attraction. But no one asked him. They just thought he was a dumb kid. He cleared his voice and strolled into the room. “That was the best meal I’ve had yet. You should exchange your apron for a chef’s hat, Cid.”
Cid got up only hearing the word apron. Mike got between the two. “I think he was giving you a compliment.”
“You don’t have to defend me, old man,” Dave said a second before Mike turned around and punched him.
Dave fell like a length of pine. Maggie walked over, and instead of licking the face of the fallen teen, she cleaned the plate that fell to the floor with him.
Chapter Four
“It wasn’t fully formed and only had the strength to manifest for a few minutes,” Mia said. “But it did unnerve me.”
“I’m not leaving you alone again. Either I or Murphy is going to be with you until you’re back one-hundred percent.”
“Ted, I’m pregnant, not a cripple,” Mia argued. “I just think that if we are going to live out there, we should have a safe room or exit strategy just in case.”
Ted and she were walking to the front of the house to retrieve Curly from the foyer. He had run through all of the rooms twice with Ted and Mia watching the feeds for anything that needed their immediate attention. The poltergeists, having no one to impress, had ceased their assault of the home for the time being.