The Siege (2 page)

Mia slid off her glove as she approached the door.  She pressed her thumb to the pad quickly.  A click sounded, alerting her to the lock disengaging.  She opened the door and once again was blinded by the overhead lights turning on.

“Hells bells,” she complained as she fought the blue dots that drifted before her eyes.  She stepped aside as Maggie bounded in.  The dog wasn’t often allowed into the PEEPs office.  The sensitive equipment wasn’t large-dog-friendly.  Mia scanned the sleeping monitors, satisfied that Jake was with Ted in the mobile command center and not spying on her.  Mia moved to the small kitchenette and frowned when she opened cabinets to find that the really good snacks had been appropriated for the present investigation.  All that was left were healthy things containing enough grains to seed the back forty.  The refrigerator’s offering was meager at best.  Mia closed the door with a slam.

Maggie trotted over with a look of concern.

“I’m alright, girl. It’s just that we may have to continue our search.  No bacon here for you or treats for me.  We have one last hope, but it means we have to be stealthy.”

Maggie only understood
no bacon;
the rest was just biped gibberish.  She did, however, recognize the twinkle in the little blonde’s green eyes.  It meant mischief was afoot.  She followed the woman up the interior stairs.

Mia sighed with relief as she turned the knob of Cid’s apartment.  He may lock the door on the outside but found no need to bar entry to anyone who had permission to enter the office or workshop.  Cid too had been victim of Ted’s motion-controlled lighting.  The small apartment blazed with light.  Mia held her tongue; she had run out of obligatory curse words.  Looking around, she smiled as she saw that Cid had taken the time to decorate his space.  The décor was a cross between college castoffs and recycled pallets topped with box store cushions.  Mia smiled, seeing that Cid had adorned his walls with snapshots of his friends and family.  Mia stopped and studied Cid’s family a moment, pondering if they realized what a remarkable son they had.  “Of course they know,” Mia answered aloud.  “Parents know before the child
begins
to suspect.”

Maggie studied Mia a moment. Did she say begin or bacon?

~

Cid pulled his eyes away from the viewer and looked around the room.  Murphy had given him the ability to see him, but that didn’t translate through the digital camera lens.  All the viewer showed was Dave floating in a push-me pull-you motion towards the second story window.  Cid could now see their greatest asset, the ghost of Stephen Murphy, holding on to Dave’s legs, pulling with all his might.

Ted slid into the room and dodged empty cardboard bobbins and rollers to make his way across the wrapping room’s floor.  He grabbed onto Dave’s waist and gave a mighty tug.  The invisible forces that held on to the investigator let go, sending Dave, Ted and Murphy head over heels to the far side of the room.  The room was filled with laughter.  It sounded like a canned, sixties laugh track.  Cid angled his head and swore he could hear the static of an improperly tuned-in television set.

“A little help here,” Burt called out.

Cid turned around, quickly focusing the camera to film the lead investigator, armed with only a long cardboard tube, defending himself against a monster made up of gift boxes.  The monster stood seven feet tall, its head just missing the ceiling by inches.  It, likewise, wielded a cardboard tube, lunging and parrying like Errol Flynn Junior.

Ted picked up a hatbox lid and shouted, “Duck!”  He spun the lid in Frisbee fashion into the midsection of the monster.

The monster buckled, and the boxes fell to the ground.

“Team out!” Burt ordered. “Help them.” Burt pointed to Mike and Audrey who had lost the war of the ribbons and were now encased in a cocoon.  Mike managed to guard Audrey’s neck with his arms while tucking his head down to avoid the strangulating fibers from cutting off his air supply.

Ted picked up the investigators by the shoulders while Dave struggled with the weight of their combined legs.  They pulled the multi-body cocoon out into the hall where Ted began frantically cutting the two free of their colorful bonds.

Burt stood his ground waving the empty tube as Cid backed out of the room, still filming the reassembling box monster.  As soon as Cid cleared the doorway, Burt ran out, slamming the door after him.

Cid set the camera down and worked alongside Ted to free Audrey and Mike.  He saw that Murphy had taken up a guard stance at the door, moving his axe from hand to hand, but he looked like he’d rather be elsewhere than in a house rampant with poltergeist activity.

Ted’s phone sounded.  He grabbed for it before the musical homage to Mia could be heard.  “Mia, what’s wrong?”

“Whoa, nothing’s wrong.  You sound out of breath,” she observed.

“I’m rather busy…”

“Spill it,” Mia ordered.

“Poltergeists have taken over the wrapping room,” Ted said and went on to explain the situation they had just barely gotten through.  “There doesn’t seem to be any way of controlling them. Hell, we can’t even slow them down,” he confessed.

“Have you tried salt water?” Mia asked through a mouthful of pilfered blueberry scones.

“No,” Ted admitted.

“Just take a pound of Morton’s and a gallon of warm, not hot, water.  Mix them together and divide the mixture amongst three, maybe four, spray bottles or, better yet, put the whole mixture into a bug sprayer…”

Burt watched Ted nod his head.  He normally would have been put out by Mia’s interference, but he had to admit it was a bad call not including the sensitive in this investigation.  Although they were armed with the inexperienced Dave, sensitives couldn’t really see the energy-driven poltergeists any more than the non-sighted could.  But Mia had an instinct and calmness about her that was special.  When it came to paranormal investigation, she not only
thought
outside of the box but lived there.

He was about to have Ted ask her to join them when the techie turned off his phone and shoved it in his pocket.

“Well?” Burt asked expectantly.

“She wants me to pick up milk on my way home,” he said.

“That’s all?” Burt interrogated.

“Oh no, she’s got a recipe for keeping the little buggers in there quiet for a while.  We simply douse the area with concentrated saltwater.  Spritz them like some cat owners do to their pets when they misbehave.”

“That’s cruel,” Audrey said.

Burt looked down at her.  Welts from the tightly-wound ribbon were forming on her face and arms.  “I’m surprised that you’re siding with the poltergeists.”

“Oh no, we can nuke the little shits as far as I’m concerned, but to spray water in the face of a cat… Come on, that’s mean,” she said, trying to disengage herself from Mike, whom Cid still hadn’t unwrapped totally.

Burt, who had faced a bellyful of nasty cats at his Aunt Alice’s when he was young, wisely chose to keep his mouth shut.

“Hold still,” Cid ordered.  “I’ve almost got the two of you apart, and I don’t want to cut you.”

A series of thumps on the wall, followed by painful crashes were heard from behind the closed door.

“They’re ripping the place apart.  Ted, you and Cid better mix the saltwater pronto,” Burt ordered, extending a hand to help Audrey to her feet.  He looked at Mike and suggested, “You better have someone look at that nose.  It looks broken.”

A look of pure horror filled Mike’s face.  His hands went to his face, and he felt every inch of it.

Audrey smacked Burt on the arm.  “Mike, your face is fine.  Burt’s just having you on.”

Mike dropped his hands and glared at Burt.  “What’s up with you?  You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“What’s not to enjoy?  We have a filmable haunt.”

“We’re getting our asses kicked in there.  No telling when it’s going to spread from this room to the rest of this house.  Our clients aren’t going to be happy if their mini mansion gets destroyed.”

Audrey looked at the two senior investigators.  Mike and Burt were the founding partners of the Paranormal Entity Exposure Partners, lovingly referred to as PEEPs.  It was as if they had switched roles.  Burt, the dour, had become lighthearted while Mike, the face, was actually concerned with the bottom line.  Was it the absence of Mia that changed the dynamic or was it something else?

“They called us in to investigate more for publicity than actually solving the problem,” Burt said.  “A new mini mansion with high end decorating isn’t exactly the place you would normally find ghosts, is it?”

“But they have a paranormal problem,” Audrey emphasized.

“If they didn’t want the publicity, they would have hired us and paid us to keep it quiet,” Burt explained.

Mike nodded, rubbing his chin.  “Still, we have a big problem in there.  Poltergeists don’t simply take off when we ask them to.”

“Audrey, you need to do a hush-hush investigation on the members of this household,” Burt instructed.  “I’m betting it’s the twins; it’s always twins at the root of things, in my experience.”

“There are six people in this house,” Audrey reminded him.  “There are twin tween girls, two boys on either side of the angst age, and the parents.  That’s a lot of energy for one house, even as large as this, to deal with.”

“Go to their schools, talk to their teachers, their classmates, on camera of course.”

“Whoa, Burt.  According to the signed contract, we don’t have permission to invade the public areas of this family,” Mike warned.

Audrey looked over at Burt who was silent.  A noisy thump inside the room brought him out of his thoughts.

“I think we should find a way to get this information.  Perhaps you could drum up a codicil to the contract for the homeowners to sign,” Burt said, looking at Mike.

“Are we changing focus?  We’re ghost hunters, paranormal investigators, not CNN.  Let’s see if we can get the information in-house.  Ask Mia if she would sit down with…”

“No Mia,” Burt said firmly.

“I’ll talk to the kids,” Audrey offered.

“No offense, Nancy Drew, but there is only so much you can pick up on.  You’re the best researcher ever, but Mia can…”

“Mia’s out.  Find another way,” Burt said firmly.  He turned around and walked down the hall towards the stairs.

Mike looked at Audrey and said, “I don’t like the sound of that.”

“You mean the exclusion of Mia?”

“You noticed?”

“I think that he’s trying to work Mia out of the team altogether,” Audrey speculated. “He’s using her present
condition
as a testing ground.  If he can get the results with placid Dave, why deal with our lovable but opinionated Mia?”

“It’s not going to happen. I won’t allow it.”

Audrey looked at Mike and saw a leader emerging.  True, he was still the egotistical bachelor who had a penchant for inappropriate comments, but a different individual was showing himself.  A team leader.  Was he always this person?  Audrey wasn’t sure.  She would have to consult Mia next time they got together.

“Mia is PEEPs.  Sorry, it’s taken me this long to see the light.  The day I met her, I knew that she was so far above anyone I had ever met, talent wise.  That scared me.  I knew she could replace me in a heartbeat, but she had no intention of doing so.  She knows her purpose and doesn’t seek out the limelight.  Sure, her personality is rough around the edges, but that’s her charm.  Mia pulls us together and makes us better.”

“Burt’s fooling himself if he thinks he can replace Mia with Dave.  If she goes, so do Murphy and Ted.  Cid will leave, and I’m not too sure I want to stick around either,” Audrey confessed.

“Before we jump ship, let’s give Burt a chance.  Maybe he’s just protecting her.”

Audrey raised an eyebrow.

“Come on.  We need to give Burt a chance before we break up PEEPs.”

“You mean?”

“Oh, if Mia goes, I’m the first out the door, I assure you,” Mike said.  “Now, let’s concentrate on how we can root out the cause of this poltergeist feeding frenzy.  You use your detective skills, and I’ll use my charm.  Together we may accidently figure this out.”

Mike held out his arm to Audrey and guided her down the hall.

Murphy looked over at Dave who emerged out of the shadows looking quite dejected.

“Did I turn invisible or something?” he asked the ghost.

Murphy shook his head and patted his chest.

“Yeah, you’re right. They didn’t remember I was there, just like you.  Am I doing that bad of a job?”

Murphy shook his head.  He put two fingers to his eyes and pointed to the room still shaking his head.

“Yeah, me too.  How do you fight something you can’t see?”

Murphy set his axe down and raised his hands and formed fists.  He turned and threw a comedic punch in all directions.  He pretended he was struck several times, never landing a punch.

Dave forgot his misery and started laughing.  He now understood how important Murphy was to Mia.  Mia told him that Murphy helped her to understand that ghosts were just dead people.  They had the same egos and expectations as a live person, except they got lost along the way.  “Treat them as you would a live person.  You don’t talk to everyone you see on the street.  You don’t have to engage with every spirit.  Some don’t even see you.  They are all up in their own problems.”

“It’s terrifying at times seeing spirits when others don’t,” Dave had confessed.

Mia suggested spending some time with PEEPs to gain experience.  “You don’t have to become a paranormal investigator. I’d rather you didn’t if I were to be honest.  There is so much more a talented guy like you can do,” she had told him.  “You can take these experiences out into the world and perhaps succeed in a
normal
profession.”

He nodded, lost in the memory, unaware that Murphy was staring at him.  He looked over and said, “Sorry, dealing with my own demons.  How about you and I taking a walk?  They have some evergreens that smell like grapefruits.”

Murphy looked perplexed.

“Grapefruit, you know, what Cagney smashed into Mae Clark’s face.”