Sweep - Stakes

by Sara Bourgeois

  "She's coming,” I said.

  "I can handle this," Meri answered. "I told you that."

  "But this isn't our house,” I said. “We don’t have dominion here.”

  Before he could answer, the apparition appeared at the end of the hall. Your classic woman in white ghost aside from the eyes and mouth. That gave her a far more horrifying visage.

  "What do you want?" Remy asked plainly. "If you're going to go toe to toe with three witches and a familiar, you'd better be prepared."

  The moaning got louder to the point where for a second, I thought I was going to have to cover my ears with my hands. She began to slowly drift down the corridor toward us. I had to say drift because she had no feet nor did her body move in such a way as to indicate walking. The edge of her white gown dragged over the floor and left a faint trail of white mist behind it. Her eyes opened wider as did her mouth. Each moan expanded her gaping maw.

  "Oh, shut up,” Meri said as the woman got nearer. "We're totally not impressed."

  That stopped her in her tracks.

  "Meri?" I half-asked, half-scolded. "Do you think that's the best approach?"

  "Look," he said. "She stopped, didn't she?"

  "I'm not sure if that's because she's going to listen to you or she's mounting some sort of attack."

  The specter opened her mouth again. It was a wide, cavernous abyss that looked as if it could swallow the world whole. I'd thought she was just going to stand there like that or possibly begin sucking in everything around her like some sort of spiritual black hole. Instead, she started to scream.

  "Oh, my gawd. Shut up,” Meri said.

  His voice was far quieter than the screaming, and yet we could still hear it. He cut through her cacophony without even flinching.

  Again, it stopped her in her tracks.

  My ears rang and I could feel a headache creeping around the periphery of my brain. If she started that racket again, I knew I was in for a migraine at the very least and possibly broken eardrums at the worst.

  It was hard to read the look on the ghost's face since she had no eyes, but it appeared she was considering her options. We were overjoyed when she dispersed. A few seconds after she faded into the shadows lurking at the end of the hall, I expected her to come roaring back. She didn't, and I concluded that she'd decided to save her strength for another day. A day when she might possibly get me alone. Where the idea that she was after me came from, I didn't know. But I was sure of it.

  "All right, let's do this," Annika broke the silence as we all waited for what came next.

  Landers's office was locked, but a little of Remy's magic and the door popped right open. The inside was like every other council person's office. There was a small area right inside the door for the secretary to work and beyond that was a short hallway to the main office.

  We walked inside and flipped on the lights without giving it a second though. Annika went to work going through the secretary's computer while Remy shuffled through the standing file cabinets. I made my way into the back office and sat down at Landers's desk.

  There was a stack of files on her desk. Each one was from a different business, but the contents of the folders were different for each one. A couple of the files were for the town's restaurants. They contained the passing health inspection certificates. The folder for Nailed It had a few photographs of the parking lot and some noise complaint reports taken when Thorn was still sheriff.

  The folder that really got my attention was the one for Coventry Eternal Rest Funeral Parlor. It was the thickest folder by far, and I had to wonder if the fact that Landers had used a red folder had any meaning. There were several requests for documentation inside. About half of them had the requested documents paper-clipped to them, and the others didn't. At first I thought the ones that didn't were just newer and the owner hadn't gotten around to it yet. But they were all at least six months old. Some of them did have second and third request letters clipped to them. Each request was a different color. The initial was printed on white paper, but the second was on yellow. The third requests were printed on orange paper. These requests were for things like "environmental compliance reports" and "storage licensing requirements". I had to wonder what was going on at the funeral home that he didn't want to submit those reports to the town council. It kind of made my stomach turn, so I didn't dwell.

  Further down in the file, I found a letter from the funeral home director's brother who also happened to be his lawyer.

  The letter began with him just inquiring into the nature of the requests for documents. But it quickly went off the rails when the brother admitted that he'd sent previous letters asking the same thing and received no response other than more requests for documents. I flipped through the folder and confirmed there were more letters on the attorney's letterhead. By the end of that particular letter, he was threatening to sue the council if they did not stop harassing his brother. He went on to state that Theodore, the funeral director, was suffering health issues due to the stress put on him by the council.

  I got out my phone and quickly took a photo of every document in the file. At first I wasn't sure what a funeral home would have to do with the death, but an idea dawned on me while I sat there trying to make a connection. A funeral director would be able to make a death look like a vampire. They had those needle things to drain blood. It was so gross, but it made perfect sense.

  "You guys!" I called out. "I found something."

  "What is it?" Annika called from the other room.

  I heard her get up from the secretary's chair about the same time Remy closed a file drawer. I took the file out and showed them.

  "That makes what was on those papers outside make more sense, I guess. It was blank versions of these forms. What do you think this means?" Remy asked, and I realized we’d gotten caught so off guard by the vampire council that I’d entirely forgotten about the papers Remy chased down the block.

  "Think about it,” I said. "Who else, besides maybe a creepy witch, would be able to make a death look like a vampire did it."

  "Oh, gawd”,” Annika said. “With those huge needles and the thing that pumps the blood. You’re right.”

  “What do you guys know about Theodore?” I asked.

  “Probably not as much as you were hoping”,” Remy said. “He’s not a witch, and none of the witches go to him for funerals. He strictly works with humans.”

  “Hmm”,” I said. “I wonder how he would know about vampires then? That could very well be his alibi. He’d have to know about what we were doing in order to have pulled this off, right? Otherwise it was the biggest coincidence ever."

  "He works with the dead,” Annika said. "Maybe he's not a witch, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know things. He's old and has been in the business for a long time. Someone like that has to have seen some things. Plus, his brother has done work for witches."

  "We've broken in there once,” I said. "I'm sure we can pull it off again."

  "Yessss,” Annika said. "Now we're talking."

  We put everything back the way we found it, turned out the lights, and locked Landers's door on the way out. The icy chill didn't return when we stepped outside of the office into the hall, so it seemed the ghost had given up for the night.

  The elevator was waiting for us when we pushed the button, and I was feeling amped about the clue we'd found as we stepped on. Unfortunately, on the way down, I started to get the same bad feeling I had on the way up. The panic didn't return, but something was off. I'd never seen the ghost anywhere but the top floor of the courthouse, so it had to be something else.

  We found out exactly what it was when the elevator doors opened, and Deputy Lundgren was standing there waiting for us. "What's the meaning of this?"

  His tone indicated he was ready to go in for the kill. I'd liked him much better when he was still kind of a bumbling kid who didn't know the ropes yet.

  "What's the meaning of what?" Remy spoke first.

  "I got a
call in from dispatch. Someone saw the lights on in this place, and because of the murder, they thought they'd better call it in,” he said. "So, what are the three of you doing in here?"

  "I don't know what lights you're talking about,” I said. "But we're going down to the archives. You know? Where Remy works. That's what we're doing in the building."

  I hoped it worked. Someone had once told me that the best way to avoid trouble when you were somewhere you weren't supposed to be was to act like you were actually supposed to be there. Remy had every authority to be in the archives whenever he wanted. That's why he had a key. I didn't think anyone, including the council, would object to him taking whoever he wanted down there. Remy had an exemplary character and record, even with the dark days.

  "Then why was the elevator coming down?"

  "Because we weren't paying attention when we got on," I answered. "It took us up first, so we had to ride it back down."

  Did I like lying to the police? No. Did I keep in mind that sometimes witches had to do things a little differently? A little outside of mere human morality? Yes.

  "Oh," Lundgren said.

  “Probably just a glitch in this old building. Maybe someone needs to call the elevator inspector.”

  You could tell he didn't believe us, but you could also tell he didn't know what else to say. I'd been holding the door open with my hand, but I was done with our little conversation. I had to keep up the act that Lundgren was putting us out for no reason.

  "Have a good evening,” I said as I started to pull my hand away.

  In return, Lundgren's hand shot out and kept the door from closing. "Did you happen to see anyone else in the building?"

  "Nope. No one else,” I said. "Building's clear, Deputy."

  "All right,” he answered in a voice steeped with reluctance.

  We all just stood there for a moment while Lundgren decided if he was going to let us go. Eventually he released his grip on the door.

  "Have a good evening then." He tipped his hat to us.

  "Thank you, officer." We all said in unison as the doors closed.

  We really didn't need anything down in the archives, but we had to wait a while to leave. I suspected that Deputy Lundgren had parked himself outside the courthouse waiting to see how quickly we left.

  Thankfully, Remy had some soda and snacks in the little break room area of the archives. We hung out for about a half hour while Remy went through his database to see if he could find any traces of other vampires living in Coventry.

  At least one of us had something important to do. Annika and I kept ourselves busy by going through old newspaper articles from back when Coventry had its own small press.

  "Everything seems to point toward them all being gone,” he said. "I mean, we didn't even know that Julian was living here."

  "Let's just get out of here and see what we can dig up at the funeral parlor,” Annika with a snort because she couldn’t help but chuckle at her own joke.

  "Oh, you're hilarious."

  Chapter Six

  When we arrived at the funeral parlor, there was a light on inside. “Guess we’re going to have to come back later,” I said. “I hope nobody planned on getting any sleep tonight.”

  “What would anybody be doing in there so late?” Remy asked.

  “I don’t know. No one was here at night when we came before. Maybe he’s working. I know the witches saved people from the zombies, but did anyone die for real? Anyone permanently?” I asked.

  “It could be. He could be doing anything,” Remy answered.

  “Like trying to clean up the evidence of a murder,” Annika quipped.

  “Maybe we should come back another time,” I said. “There’s no car here. I don’t think the person inside is planning on leaving tonight.”

  “No, wait,” Remy said.

  Sure enough, a car pulled up in front of the funeral home. I hoped that whoever it was couldn’t see Remy’s car. We were in the dark with the lights off, but I was worried it wouldn’t be enough.

  “Let’s do a quick spell to make sure whoever that is doesn’t see us,” I said.

  The three of us murmured a little spell we knew to keep whoever was in the car from seeing us. It wasn’t much, but we didn’t need much. The darkness was already cloaking us well.

  A minutes later, the lights went out inside and Theodore came out and got into the car. When his ride pulled away, we made our move.

  I could immediately tell the air inside the funeral home was different than the last time we’d been there. It wasn’t just me that felt it either.

  “What do you think’s causing that?” Annika asked. “You guys are picking up on it too, right?”

  “I think it’s a restless spirit,” Remy said. “What do you think, cat?”

  “Well, human… it doesn’t feel demonic, but I am definitely picking up on something confused and possibly angry.”

  “I wonder if there is a body in here somewhere?” I mused.

  “But as far as we know, nobody has died, right?” Annika asked.

  “I mean, how can we know for sure?” was my response. “People did die from the zombies. We just dealt with ghosts. The wife died of something else, but she took her husband with her.”

  “Yeah,” Remy said. “And our family isn’t going to bring anyone back whose spirit already moved on.”

  “You think that’s why the ghost is here?” I asked. “Maybe we need to get some witches here to help?”

  “It might have been someone who died outside of Coventry too,” Remy said. “I’m sure the funeral home services the surrounding area too. Not all of the small towns have their own.”

  “So what do we do first?” I asked. “Look for clues about Councilwoman Landers or see if we can figure out who the spirit is?”

  “Maybe the ghost will leave us alone,” Annika said.

  Crash

  Or not.

  The sound came from the viewing room. “Well, either that was a huge coincidence, or the spirit is telling us it’s not going to leave us alone,” I said.

  “Why aren’t they just manifesting?” Annika wondered with a hint of annoyance.

  “Maybe they can’t,” I offered. “Perhaps they don’t have the strength.”

  “As much as it’s not what we’re here for,” Remy began, “why don’t we check the basement and see if there is anyone in storage?”

  “Maybe if we check the spirit will be happy,” I said.

  A light thump came from around the corner. It happened to come from the location of the stairway to the basement.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” I said.

  We left the hallway area where we’d been congregated and headed down the stairs. For a brief moment, we’d considered using our phones’ flashlights instead of turning the lights on, but Meri was the voice of reason.

  “We’re underground, wieners. No one will be able to see the light from outside.”

  Of course, no one considered the small windows that sat just below the ceiling but above ground. It was amazing that we’d ever solved one murder given how easily we overlooked such a crucial detail, or how effortlessly we could be goaded by Meri calling us wieners.

  Once downstairs, we flipped on the light in every room. Not because we needed them all, but because none of us knew which room would have a body. One of them was a large storage area, but it was all supplies. The second was the room where they did the body preservation, but there was no body storage in that room either. The third looked a little like a salon. There was a bench with makeup and hair products. It was a bit sad thinking of that last time that each person had their hair and makeup done for their families, but I wouldn’t let myself dwell on that. I knew they were moving on to somewhere else.

  The final room was where we found what we were searching for. A large room with white subway tiles lining the walls and even larger white tiles on the floor. The back wall held a drawer storage. One step into the room and the air temperature dropped twent
y degrees from the hallway. The scent of antiseptic burned my nose.

  “I guess we look in each drawer,” I said. “Remy you take the left, Annika you take the right, and I’ll take the middle.”

  “What should I do?” Meri asked.

  I began to answer before I realized he was just being snarky. “Make sure no one sneaks up on us,” I said flatly instead.

  “Whatever.” He sauntered off to the hallway.

  I had to wonder if he was putting on a brave face. It was unusual for him to be afraid of anything, but we all had our fears.

  We found her in under a minute. I should say Remy found her. Landers was in one of the drawers he was opening. The sight shocked us a little for sure. Why was she in the Coventry funeral parlor instead of at the county medical examiner?

  “Well, I wasn’t expecting that,” Remy said.

  “I know. What is she doing here?” It was more of a rhetorical question.

  “She should be at the coroner’s office,” Annika said what I’d been thinking.

  “Huh,” Meri said as he peeked in from the hall.

  Again, I found myself taking photos. And again, it wasn’t that I wanted pictures of a dead councilwoman on my phone, but I had to have proof she was there. It would be too easy for someone to just say she was never at Coventry Eternal Rest Funeral Parlor.

  Something loud fell over down the hall. It sounded like it came from inside one of the rooms.

  “Think the spirit is trying to tell us something again?” Remy asked. “Or did the cat knock something over?”

  “Wasn’t me,” Meri said from the hall. “I think I know where it came from, though.”

  Remy closed the drawer that held Landers’s body, and we filed out into the hallway. Meri walked across to another door. One that I hadn’t noticed before.

  “What do you think’s in there?” Annika asked.