The Siege (3 page)

Murphy nodded and frowned.

“I know that’s no way to treat a lady,” Dave said.  “I cut mine in half, put brown sugar on top and broil them for a few minutes.  Richie, you remember, tall and crazy… Well, he waits until the grapefruits are over ripe, and then we take turns tossing them to each other in the street.  When they crash, they explode!  I remember one time I hurled one at him. He missed catching it, and it smashed right in front of him.  It covered him in juice and rot.”

Murphy continued to listen to the sensitive as they moved down the stairs.

They didn’t hear the door unlatch, nor feel the icy cold fingers of the pranksters as they moved out into the hall.

Chapter Two

Mia gathered up a plate of treats and penned an IOU to Cid before leaving his apartment.  Maggie, sated by the leftover pulled pork Mia found in the small refrigerator, followed Mia down the stairs.  She stopped and perked up her ears.  She whined to alert Mia something wasn’t right.

Mia stopped moving down the stairs and surveyed the large interior of the converted barn.  She scanned the workshop below and over to where Murphy had his television and chairs set.  She regretted not illuminating the whole space when she was at the top of the stairs.  The shadows cast by the large
works in progress
chilled Mia.  Ted’s latest foray into robotics unnerved her.  The large arms that would be programmed for labor-saving tasks were too lifelike.  One looked like an arm pushed up in protest, fist clenched in anger.  Another had a digit raised.  Perhaps Jake had already infiltrated these machines.  She counted the bots and determined that there was one too many shadows on the cement floor.

“Come out, I know you’re there,” she bluffed.  She sat down on the step and watched as a very thin specter moved towards her.  Maggie moved up the stairs and stood between her mistress and the thing that all but crawled up the steps.

Mia watched as the creature tried its best to manifest.  She moved her hand carefully into the pocket of her maternity pants closing her fingers around the small container of salt that she always kept with her.  The ghost managed to form a face that looked up at her with deep sadness.

“You don’t have much energy, so say your piece.  I can hear you,” she said softly.

“Lost, so lost.”

“Did you miss the light?”

“No light, only darkness, lost so lost.”

Mia studied the face and could barely tell that it was male.  It had deep hollows instead of eyes, an open maw instead of lips and teeth.  This was a very old spirit.  Perhaps someone had disturbed its rest.  It must have awoken to a strange world in which it had no place.  Perhaps he died unnoticed in the woods and had no one to say words over his grave.  This was a sad occurrence but not that unusual.  Her aunt Bev talked about the havoc that was wrought when they undammed a river. When the river moved unhampered down its original course, emptying the once beautiful manmade lake, spirits of those that died in the lake rose.  “They were angry, confused, but mostly angry.”

Could this be the case?

“Where have you come from?”

The ghost tried to make a limb out of the remaining energy and pointed south before it disappeared altogether.

Maggie barked in relief.

Mia rose slowly, bothered by two things: one, the lost soul; and two, that it was able to get to her so easily.  Murphy was away.  Gone was the security of his watchful presence.  She, aside from Maggie, was alone in the hollow and very vulnerable.  This spirit would have to build energy to communicate with her again, but what if something stronger presented itself?  “Oh, Stephen, how I have taken you for granted,” Mia voiced.  She took a firm hold of the banister and continued her descent while planning on putting in some safeguards at the farmhouse, or maybe just a safe room?

~

Ted handed Cid the last of the spray bottles they filled.  He would, in the morning, pick up a large pressurized sprayer, but in the meantime, he hoped that the small portable misters would curtail some of the vicious activity around the investigators.  He sat down and typed in the code that would return the control of the command center’s computers to him.  Jake did a fine job for the short term, but Ted felt better behind the keyboard for any time longer than twenty minutes.

“Command center is online,” he said into the microphone.  “Location check. Ted and Jake in the PEEPs truck, over.”

“Mike and Audrey in the kitchen,” Mike informed him, adding Burt’s mandatory
over
quickly.

“Burt, Dave and Murphy in the four car garage, over,” Burt chimed in.

“Cid on the way to the kitchen, passing through the dining, whoa!”

“Are you in trouble, over?” Ted asked.

“Sending film, over,” Cid said.

The large monitor lit as the Bluetooth connected.  Ted viewed the feed and couldn’t help but be impressed by the latest spectacle courtesy of the poltergeists.  Eight Queen-Anne-style chairs twirled in a circle, the seats pushing outwards similar to the swing ride at a carnival.  The only exception was, there were no happy kiddies safely belted in their seats.  Instead, antique vases and bric-a-brac wobbled precariously as the momentum angled the chair seats higher.

“All PEEPs members to the dining room,” Ted commanded.  “We have expensive breakables in danger, over.”

Murphy arrived just ahead of Mike and Audrey.  He quickly removed the heavy Chinese vases as the merry-go-round presented them.  An Austrian shepherdess flew off.  Mike dove for it and caught it three inches from the tile floor.  Audrey, a former shortstop from the Catholic All Star Slow Pitch League snagged two John Lotton Glass paperweights with each hand.  She rolled them on the plush carpet, so she could prepare herself for the Tiffany lamp, whose colorful glass and lead umbrella shade did little to slow it’s progression to the ground.  She regretted her enthusiasm the moment the weight of the heavy art piece ripped at the muscles of her shoulder.  She didn’t have a chance to swear, as the effort left no wind in her body.  She barely eased the lamp to the floor before she collapsed, withering in pain.

“Investigator down!  Call the EMTs, over,” Mike ordered, getting to his feet.

Murphy rescued a Frederic Remington horse and rider three inches from bashing in Mike’s skull.

“Thanks, Old Man, I owe you,” Mike said.

Cid put the camera down and plucked an empty chair from midair.  He set it down and continued to dismantle the spinning hazard, chair by chair.  Dave slid into the room in time to catch a Waterford teapot.  Burt arrived puffing.  He ran and picked up the camera to continue to film, opting to let the others deal with the rest of the antiques and chairs.  When the chaos had settled, he returned the camera to Cid.

“Don’t you
ever
stop filming,” he scolded.  “We need footage. The homeowners are insured.  These things are replaceable.”

Cid dropped the camera off his shoulder and pointed to Audrey on the ground.  “She’s not.  Those paperweights are one-of-a-kind.  That lamp will never be made that way again.  Don’t tell me about footage.”  He shoved the camera back at Burt.  “I quit.”

Cid ignored Burt’s shock and pushed past Mike, who was trying to stop him, and gathered Audrey tenderly in his arms.  He lifted her off the ground, carefully stepping around the scattered treasures before walking out the front door.  Through the open door, the remaining investigators could hear the approaching siren of the paramedics.

“Before you say anything,” Burt warned, looking at Mike.  “He’s not serious.  He’ll be back.”

“I won’t,” Dave said.  He looked over at Murphy and asked, “Coming?”

Murphy picked up his axe and followed the short sensitive out of the room.

“What the fuck is wrong with everyone?” Burt asked Mike.

Mike returned the breakables to where he imagined they belonged before turning to answer, “You.  Burt, you almost trampled Audrey to get to the camera.  This is not who we are.  Paranormal Entity Exposure Partners was founded to explore and help.  That’s what I want.”

“There are two people in this partnership.  I should have some say over the direction of the group,” Burt spat.  “You’re nothing but an overaged pretty boy.  I do all the work in this partnership.”

“Now there is only one person in the partnership. I’m done,” Mike said.  “I’ll wait until after this haunt is in the can, but I’m done.  It’s not fun anymore.”

“It’s a job, not a hobby…” Burt started.

“It was a fun hobby that became a job.  You’ve changed, or I never knew who you were in the first place.  We have been through so much.  Did none of the good stuff rub off on you?  I love helping the lost.  Sure, we’re dodging a few fireballs along the way, but for the most part, we’re having a good time doing good things.  Mia Cooper Martin has shown me that a ghost isn’t something to be taunted, filmed and left.  It
was
a person.  It has people waiting on the other side.  Now these poltergeists are another matter.  Historically, they are drawn to an area by teenage angst, but I fear we’re making them worse.  It’s the tension between us that is fueling these assholes.”

Burt looked at him a moment and asked acidly, “Are you finished?”

“No, but I think you’ve stopped listening, so yes.”

“We’re all tired.  I want to see how much footage I can rescue before we investigate further.  I suggest we call it a day,” Burt said and turned heel and walked off in the direction of the kitchen.

Mike just stood there a moment.  “He didn’t hear me,” he said.

“No, but we did, over,” Ted said in his ear.  “Cid rode with Audrey to the hospital.  Why don’t you take Dave home? I’ll stay and watch the house tonight, over.”

“Alone?” Mike said, dropping the
over
- he thought it was stupid in the first place.

“Mia’s on her way with the truck.  We’ll put out any fires.”

“Burt’s not going to be happy to see her here.”

“He’s not going to be here much longer.  He’ll clear out as soon as he hands the camera over.  He’s on the morning shift. Jake says he’s approaching, over.”

Mike sighed as the communication was cut off.  He pulled out a chair and sat down.  Looking around the room, he didn’t see the accumulated wealth of the house.  He saw that this was someone’s home, a home worth fighting for.  He would stay as promised until PEEPs had sorted this all out.  After that, it wouldn’t be PEEPs any longer, at least not for him.

~

Mia waited at the end of the street until Burt’s car passed.  She turned on her lights and pulled back out into the street.  The neighborhood was a pricey one.  She admired the homes that were already decorated for the holiday season and pondered whether she and the guys should do more than just decorating a Christmas tree this year.  Murphy had scouted out the hillside and found one that was in a clump of older furs.  The removal of the small tree would help the others to grow.

Murphy made his feelings known that if they took a tree, they had to plant a tree; those were the rules.  Mia nodded and had ignored the urge to say,
Yes, Daddy.
  She was happy with the balance she and Stephen had found.  Part of her would always be attracted to the ghost and him to her, but when Ted came along, she found more than attraction, she found true love.  The Cooper curse may have put a better shine on Ted’s tennis shoes in her eyes, but she still had reason, unlike her father and aunt, so she wouldn’t suffocate Ted with her love.

Ted was standing outside the truck when she drove up.  He walked over and opened the door.  He leaned in and gave her a long leisurely kiss.

“Wow,” Mia said when he finished.  “What did I do to deserve that?”

“You came when I called.  I needed you, and you came without question.”

“Gee, I kind of feel like a dog or something?” Mia said, scrunching up her face.  “But if your kisses are the treats, I’ll be your bitch.”

“You’re too sweet to be a bitch, Minnie Mouse.”

Mia patted her stomach. “I hardly feel Minnie these days.”

Ted lifted her chin.  “I love you for carrying our child, who is going to be enormous.  You’re going to pop soon.”

“Gee, thanks for the warning.”

Ted helped her out of the truck, and before he let her climb into the command center, he lifted her up.  He did his best, but Mia could tell her extra weight was a challenge for the wiry technician.  To give him credit, he didn’t mention it.

“Where’s Murphy?” she asked.

“He went home with Dave.”

“The peninsula?”

“No and yes.  Dave quit. He’s going to grab his gear and come and bunk with us a while.  I didn’t think you’d mind.  Mike drove the two of them.”

“Mike let Murphy in his car?  Now that’s one for the record books.  Did you say Dave quit?  Why?”

“Well, you can either hear it exaggerated from my lips… or I recorded the whole thing.”

“You went to all that trouble for me?”

“No, I left the mics on and well…”

Mia hugged her husband.  “Eavesdropping didn’t make the seven deadly sins, but I would be wary of doing too much of it.  Glenda says, ‘You don’t really want to know what people think about you, do you?’”

The two of them walked over to the console where Jake gave Mia an enthusiastic welcome.  The three monitors were filled with pictures of balloons.  Their vibrant colors tested the expensive equipment.

“Hello, Jake, I missed you out at the farm,” Mia said honestly.  She turned around and looked up at Ted and said, “I missed you most of all.”

“I think there is a story behind that comment.  Let’s deal with one story at a time.  This story is called,
Burt, the asshole
.”

“You know, we really need to stop picking on the man,” Mia said, trying unsuccessfully to find truth in her own words.

“Watch the tape, and we’ll talk later.  I’m going to take Curly for a walk.”

“Be careful, I smelled a faint whiff of skunk as I got out of the car.  If that machine scares a skunk, then it’s a tomato juice bath for the two of you.”