riptide_asylum (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
riptide_asylum) wrote2008-12-21 10:26 pm
riptide_asylum) wrote2008-12-21 10:26 pm
Entry tags:
"Where the Ghosts Are" (Out of the Dark, 1987)
Title: Where the Ghosts Are
Rating: PG (there's mention of slashy things, but blink and you'll miss it)
Summary: Something spectral is afoot in the gardens of the old Geller house, and the Riptide Detective Agency's determined to get to the bottom of it.
Cody could still taste the salt baked on Nick's skin.
They'd spent the morning playing volleyball in the hot July sunshine, sand scorching their feet, sweat and tanning oil slick on their bodies as they pounded Eddie and Cantrell into the sand, two sets to one.
Then Murray'd hit them with this case, out of the blue, given them an hour to shower and change, and just as the spray hit his face, Cody had heard the shower door open, then latch again. Nick's skin, hot against his own. Feet interlaced. Barely enough room for two grown men. Cody merged onto the 101, Pacific Coast Highway, heading south from King Harbor along the water towards Palos Verdes. He took one hand off the wheel to rub his shoulder with a grimace. Nick had clenched his teeth on Cody's shoulder as he came and Cody was sure it would leave a mark.
Glancing at his partner, Cody caught Nick watching him with a half-smile, and he knew they shared the same thought.
Sexy bastard.
Regretfully, Cody pulled his mind away from the way he'd rather be spending the afternoon, and considered the case Murray had waylaid them with. One of his friends from MIT had a great-aunt Matilda, down in Palos Verdes who was convinced she was seeing ghosts. Matilda wanted the Riptide Detective Agency to show up and listen to her story. Apparently, she was the black sheep of the family and although she held the pursestrings for a great deal of the family's money, Murray's friend had explained that he and most of his relatives considered this particular great-aunt to be, well--
"Totally nutso? Or just sort of, you know, eccentric? There's a big difference." Nick's voice recalled Cody to the present. He checked the side mirror as the Jimmy threaded its way through traffic, the midday stream that would be heavy for anywhere other than Southern California. Cody lookedat Nick as his friend continued.
"I had an uncle who thought he was Goldie Hawn."
Murray balanced on his elbows between the two seats, leaning forward. "Oh that's terrible, Nick. Did he get any help?"
"Nah, he had a better voice than she does. He got a contract in Vegas for three shows a night and a marriage proposal from a senator."
Cody smirked at Nick. He'd never heard of that particular uncle before, but he let Nick have his fun. As soon as Murray started, he'd known they'd wind up going out to hear Great-Aunt Matilda's story, but Palos Verdes was only a half hour away, and the whole thing sounded like a wild goose chase, so he figured there was a good chance they'd be back onboard the Riptide by mid-afternoon, latest.
---
Rancho Palos Verdes had the good taste not to advertise the cumulative wealth of its inhabitants. Well, not in any conventional way.
The meticulously sculpted and perfectly manicured rolling green lawns setting each house back from the road were flanked by subtle collections of shrubs, native grasses and the occasional wildflower. Nothing flashy, but all of it perfectly symmetrical and pleasing to the eye.
Which, in Southern California, was what gave the whole game away.
Also, I wouldn't really call that a house. Cody peered through the windshield of the Jimmy as it idled in front of a set of closed wrought-iron gates. A mansion, maybe.
The intercom outside his window emitted a gentle hiss, and Cody cleared his throat. "Uh hi, yes, we're from the Riptide Detective Agency, and we're here to see, uh, Matilda Geller?"
The intercom fell silent. As Cody watched, a small brown lizard scuttled through the roadside underbrush, disappearing behind an ornamental flowering cactus. The silence lengthened.
"Hello? Matilda Geller's expecting us?"
Murray tapped him on the shoulder before pushing his way between the front seats, lying awkwardly across Cody's lap to yell out the window. "Buzzy? Buzzy, it's Bozzy!"
The intercom crackled to life. "Bozzy?" A tinny voice asked. "Why didn't you say so? We've been wondering where you'd gotten to!"
Cody looked over at Nick. Bozzy?
Nick gave a silent half-shrug and shook his head.
The iron gates parted and slowly opened without a sound.
"Be right up, Buzzy!" Murray yelled. Cody winced. "Oh, sorry, sorry Cody." Murray wriggled backwards through the seats, trying to find purchase on the back bench seat. "I just get so excited about seeing Buzz--uh, Bernard again--I think I might be stuck on--something here's not--" Nick gave Murray a hand, stabilizing his shoulder and unhooking his tie from the gear shift. He sunk back with a bounce. "I can't wait for you guys to meet Buzzy, and we get to help his sweet old aunt, too! Hey! Maybe she'll give us a reference! Isn't this great, guys?"
"Yeah, Murray, it's great." Cody put the Jimmy in gear and started up the driveway with a heavy sigh.
Nick looked at him out of the corner of his eye, but said nothing.
The Geller mansion stood three stories tall, an architectural marvel of stucco and wrought iron. Done in the Spanish style, the main house was a vision of balconies and shutters and pale stucco, topped with the mandatory red-tiled roof. The picture was completed by a waist-high wall of blinding white sculpted columns, running from the edge of the red brick driveway to the house and up the front wall to the second story, where a large balcony overlooked the ornamental garden and fountain below. A perfect Medici villa, a few minutes and many tax brackets away from downtown Pedro.
"Hey Murray, what'd you say your friend Buzzy does again?" Nick stood staring up at the house, hands on hips.
"Oh! Buzzy's an aeronautical engineer. Works on contract, helps NASA out from time to time, when one of their unmanned lunar modules needs commands for a new task, or if it fails during one of the existing routines."
"Oh yeah," Nick replied, "I hate when that happens."
"Listen, you guys," Murray stopped them, palms outstretched. "You should probably let me do the talking. I've known Buzzy and his family for years, and he's always been self-conscious about his great-aunt's behavior. He's very protective of his family's name and image."
Nick and Cody both nodded, and they made their way to the massive oak front door. "Oh!" Murray spun around. "And call him Bernard. Very few people get to call him 'Buzzy'. It's kind of, you know, a family-only thing." He turned back around and rapped smartly on the front door with a knocker shaped like a screaming peacock.
Nick looked at him with a dour expression. "Whatever you say...Bozzy."
The front door swung open before Murray had a chance to respond. A tall, good-looking muscular guy came rushing out. He grabbed Murray's outstretched hand and pulled him into a hug. Nick and Cody stood by while the two of them greeted each other with enthusiasm. The greetings went on for awhile, and included references to physics, all-night study sessions and something called The Omega Project. Cody shifted from one foot to the other and cleared his throat.
Murray rounded on them, his arm still slung around his companion's shoulders. "Guys, I'd like you to meet Bernard Geller. Buzzy, this is Nick Ryder and Cody Allen, my partners at the detective agency."
The round of handshakes and greetings were much more formal this time. "Please, call me 'Buzzy'. Everyone does."
Cody noticed Murray's expression falter just a fraction as his friend continued. "God, it's so great to meet Bozzy's interns! How do you guys like the detective business so far?"
There was a moment of awkward silence.
Nick recovered first. "Well Buzzy, I have to tell you, it's great being Bozzy's intern. You know, it's really refreshing to work for a guy who's so honest and forthright." He shot a glare in Murray's direction.
Nick elbowed Cody in the side. "Yeah! Um, Buzzy, it's great. Really, just...great....being an intern." Cody plastered on what he hoped was a convincing smile.
The interior of the house was no less grand and imposing than the exterior. As the four of them passed through the high-ceilinged foyer, Cody noticed a number of sculptures and paintings mounted in the haphazard way that indicated the presence of a great deal of money.
"Do you guys want the tour?" Buzzy called over his shoulder. "Or do you just wanna go straight back and meet with Batwoman?"
"You mean your great-aunt Matilda, right, guy?" Nick asked.
Buzzy smirked and punched Murray in the shoulder. "One and the same. But she's been 'Batwoman' for as long as I can remember. The old girl's got more than a few bats in her belfry, if you know what I mean. Frankly, she's an embarrassment to the family."
"We'll bear that in mind." Cody watched Nick's eyes carefully. If he went for Buzzy's throat in here, replacements for a great many expensively shattered things would get billed to the agency.
They wound through a number of corridors and doorways, all sumptuously decorated in LA Basin gaudy rich. Cody remembered seeing houses like these when he was a kid, and his parents had dragged him to charity events at the homes of his father's well-off clients. The rich and pompous liked their lawyer on hand to manage the donations as they came rolling in. And if the lawyer appeared with a picture-perfect wife and son in tow? All the better.
Cody shivered, even though the house was hot and stuffy. A few seconds later he felt Nick's hand on his back, and shot a thankful glance over his shoulder.
They emerged behind the house and skirted around an ornamental pool and grotto to where the immaculate landscaping ran all the way down to meet the steep cliff-face that bounded the western edge of the property. Just beyond the cliff, an expanse of sea and sky bore down with a relentlessness that defied perspective. Cody inhaled deeply, the smell of the ocean overlaid with eucalyptus.
"Hey, are you guys coming, or what? She's over here." Buzzy pointed them towards a smaller building set back from the main house. In marked contrast from the coastal Spanish villa style of the mansion, the tiny bungalow in front of them would have been equally at home along the side of 101 or in the middle of east L.A. It was a picture-perfect California ranch house.
All of which changed when the front door opened.
"You must be the Riptide Detective Agency. Well. You'll be on time if you don't let Bernard chew your ears off. Bernard, go! Scoot! Scram!"
The woman standing before them was as old a person as Cody could conceive of existing. She was wrinkled, powdered and be-stockinged in the classical manner of great-aunts everywhere. Despite the heat of the day, Matilda wore a shawl tightly pulled over her floral polyester dress. Fluffy white hair was pulled into a messy bun, and haphazardly decorated with brightly colored ornaments in the shape of birds. The net effect was of a walking 1940s yard sale.
And she honed in on Nick like a heat-seeking missile.
Murray stepped forward and stuck out his hand. "Ma'am? I'm Dr. Murray Bozinsky, a friend of Buzzy's? And might I say what a pleasure it is to meet you at last. I've heard---"
Matilda stepped forward and grabbed Nick's arm, pulling him into the house. "Thank goodness you're here, young man! We don't have much time! It'll be dark soon, and they're coming!! Which one are you? Are you that Bozzy fellow?"
Nick gave her his widest grin. "Nick Ryder, ma'am. Pleasure to meet you. These are my associates, Cody Allen, and, um, Bozzy."
Cody and Murray gave gentle waves, but Matilda's grip on Nick's arm never faltered. "I'm so glad you're here, Nick. Please, call me Matilda."
They stepped into a modestly appointed living room, complete with a tray of iced tea on the coffee table. Matilda ushered Nick into a chair, pouring him a glass of tea. Nick shot Cody a smug glance. Cody helped Murray to tea and they found seats in two chintz armchairs.
"It's just that no one will believe me! I see them, three or four nights a week, but before I can get my shotgun--"
"Whoa, whoa, Matilda!" Cody held his hands out. "I'm sure there's no need for shotguns. After all, wouldn't the bullets go right through?"
The old woman stared at him as she would a beloved but not particularly bright child. "It's the noise. The ghosts don't like the noise." She stared at him a second longer before turning back to Nick. "I don't know what they're after! There's nothing here in the house for them to steal. It's all in a safe deposit box in Glendale!"
Cody resisted the urge to put his face in his hands. This tiny, fragile old lady would be easy pickings for any predators, spectral or otherwise. He glanced at Murray, sunk deep in the overstuffed chair next to him.
"What do these ghosts do, Mrs. Geller?" Murray pulled himself to the edge of the chair, fixing his glasses and sipping at the tea.
"Well it's funny that you ask that, because they don't seem to be stealing anything, and they don't seem to be threatening, you know, like the kind of ghosts you see on TV? But they travel in packs, you see, and, well, this might sound like the ravings of an old woman, but, I think they come here to swim."
The three detectives exchanged glances, the only sound in the room the clink of melting ice cubes.
"They...they swim, Matilda?" Cody's heart sank. He doubted they'd be getting paid on this one.
"Not all of them, no, Bozzy, but--"
"It's Cody."
"It's strange, is what it is. They seem to come out of nowhere, and they all seem to be moving towards the pool."
"Mrs. Geller," Murray tried, "are you sure about the pool? Because the body of research in this area suggests that ghosts actually are, well, it's almost like they're allergic to bodies of water. You see, traditional lore indicates that specters generally appear in the immediate vicinity of the place they--um, the place where the original, uh, person--"
"Died?"
Murray sat up straight and swallowed hard, his adam's apple bobbing quickly.
"Young man, that's what I'm trying to tell you!" Matilda leaned forward, stabbing the air in front of Murray's face with a gnarled and crooked finger. "They did die here! All of them!"
Cody exchanged a worried glance with Nick. This was not what they'd signed up for.
Matilda nettled, pulling her shawl closer around her. "None of you know the history of this place, do you? This house was built in 1868 by Josiah Aberdeen, a prospector who came out in the original gold rush. Well, he hit it big all right, and with the proceeds of his claim, he brought his young fiancee out from Boston. Amelia Whitworth. Apparently she was quite beautiful. Anyway, Josiah built the house exactly to her specifications, leading a crew of local men and overseeing all the work himself."
Cody frowned. "They had wrought iron gates in 1868?"
Nick and Murray both gave him exasperated looks.
Matilda narrowed her eyes. "The original house, the one Josiah built, burned to the ground, Cody. The night before their wedding, Josiah discovered that Amelia had been unfaithful to him with one of the laborers. He flew into a terrible rage, running from room to room, dousing the place with lamp fuel. Then he lit it on fire. Apparently the whole thing burnt in less than twenty minutes."
Murray was on the edge of his seat, mouth open. He pushed his glasses back up. "But Matilda, how does that explain the ghosts?"
Matilda took a ladylike sip of tea from her glass. "Well, Josiah doused Amelia with the fuel, too, locked the little tramp in her room. Then he went and rounded up the laborers, shot a few, and herded the rest into the ground floor. Locked them in. Everyone died in the blaze."
Murray's jaw could not have been further open without major surgery. "Everyone...died....here?" His voice came out in a squeak.
Matilda sipped more of her tea. "Yup. The site of the original house was--"
"Where the pool is, right?" Cody smiled ruefully as Murray gasped next to him, fingers at his lips.
Matilda set her glass on the table with a thump. She pursed her lips at Cody angrily. "Young man, I know what I've seen. And I'm telling you, the ghosts go directly towards the swimming pool."
Murray held up his hand, as if he was back in school. Cody frowned and pushed it down onto his knee. Murray started at the contact, then rallied. "What happened to Josiah?"
"According to eyewitnesses, when the fire reached her room, Amelia screamed as if the Devil himself were taking her, and her screams woke Josiah from his madness. When he saw what he had done," she shrugged, "he threw himself over the cliff."
An uneasy silence descended on the room.
Finally, Nick put a comforting arm around the frail old woman. "Well Matilda, now the Riptide Detective Agency is here, I guarantee you we'll get to the bottom of this ghost business. If there are ghosts here, we'll go talk to them, see if they wouldn't be happier ghosting someplace else, you know?"
Matilda smiled, patting Nick's cheek. "Oh thank you, Nick. So the three of you will stay here tonight?"
"Tonight?" The three detectives spoke in unison.
"Of course. The ghosts always come on Wednesdays. That's why I insisted we talk this afternoon. I wanted you to have plenty of time to prepare." She blinked rheumy blue eyes at them innocently.
Cody frowned, looking from one of his partners to the other. Nick shrugged. He was in. And one look at Murray told Cody that there was nothing their resident horror-film enthusiast would like more than a spot of ghost-hunting. He hung his head in defeat.
Nick put a comforting hand over Matilda's. "We're in, Matilda, we'll stay here tonight and see what we can do about your ghost problem, okay?"
The old woman smiled. "Oh that's so very kind of you." She coughed delicately. "I uh, I haven't inquired about your rates, though. I'm not sure if I can afford your skills."
Nick grinned. "Let's worry about that later, Matilda. For now, let's just concentrate on getting those ghosts out of your pool, okay?"
Matilda returned his smile, clutching his hand in her own. She sighed happily. "You're such a nice boy, Nick. Why can't Bernard be more like you?"
Cody gritted his teeth. They had a long night ahead of them.
---
After they left Matilda's cottage, they returned to the Riptide so that Murray could collect his ghost-hunting equipment. Up until then, Cody knew he had some ghosthunting equipment, but they'd carted an incredibly large amount of electronics back to Palos Verde in the back of the Jimmy.
"Nick, I bet she can't even pay us," he hissed, unspooling a length of fishing line across the redwood deck surrounding the pool.
Nick held the other end of the line, anchoring it around the trunk of a nearby palm tree. "Cody, what is with you? She's an innocent--" he lowered his voice with a quick look around "--defenseless old woman who needs help. If she thinks she sees ghosts--"
"Calendar-using ghosts, Nick."
"If she thinks she sees ghosts," Nick continued quietly, "then we're going to check it out for her. Maybe she does, and maybe she doesn't. If she does, and we see these ghosts, we'll have a little talk with them."
"Nick," Cody began.
Nick squatted on his haunches, the fishing line forgotten in his hands. "If she's..." He looked down at the deck. "If she's seeing things, and we don't find anything, then at least we'll make sure she gets the help she needs. Regardless of whether we're paid for it." Nick took a deep breath. "She reminds me of my grandmother, all right?"
Nick finished tying the fishing line, and stood up, catching his eye. Cody finished tying his own end and walked over to put a hand on his best friend's back, pulling in close. For Nick, this case had become personal. And what was important to Nick was vital to him.
Nick nodded his thanks.
Cody walked over and put a hand on Nick's shoulder, and after a quick look around, drew him close, resting his other hand lightly against Nick's stomach. After a few moments, Nick put a hand over Cody's and met his eyes with a question. Cody smiled and gently pressed his forehead to his partner's, then angled in for a kiss.
"Guys! Guys! Check this out!" Murray hurried out of the house, arms full of gadgets, a long black electrical cord trailing through the grass as he came. "Guys!"
The two of them broke apart with guilty reluctance.
Cody caught Murray with one arm before he encountered one of the strands of plastic filament he and Nick had just spent the last hour criss-crossing the pool area with. Murray spun around with the force of his thwarted progress, nearly dropping some of the electronics he carried. Nick scrambled to take some of them off him, lightening his load.
"Oh. Oh! Thanks, Nick." He looked around, beaming excitedly. "Oh, the trap's done. Boss! Totally boss! Here, I brought an extension cord--" He nodded at a bright orange cord and indicated Cody, who looked to Nick for guidance. Nick shrugged and shook his head. Cody gently detached the cord from Murray's tangle of equipment.
"Thanks, Cody. And if we just plug in the ambient motion sensor here, and focus it on the filaments--" Murray set his load down and picked a black oblong out of the mess, throwing himself flat on the deck and fishing a smaller black box from the pile. He laid it on the ground and pressed some buttons. A green button lit up. "Hey, most of these came out level--Cody, could you go and just--" Murray gestured vaguely, and Cody picked his way gingerly between the lines of fishing wire, stretched taut across the gleaming blue water. At Murray's hand signals, Cody bent and adjusted the lines.
"So anyway, while I was setting up some of the surveillance equipment--a little lower, Cody...no, more....more....stop stop stop! Right there! I was setting up the surveillance equipment, and I got onto the county records system? Down at the courthouse? No, the next one, Cody. That one, yes. Higher. Hi--stop! Perfect!"
"Murray," Nick tried.
His partner looked up from where he was lying on the grass. "What?"
"The courthouse? The county records system?"
"Oh! So I ran the records for this property, and I found out that not only is Matilda's story true, about Josiah building a house here in 1868, but also that the records show it did burn down. But that's not the important part. Higher, Cody. No, higher. Little bit more. The important part is that it turns out that Buzzy's family are Josiah's descendents! He married another woman, and the house has been in their family ever since! Isn't that interesting?"
Cody picked his way back through the fishing line forest. "Yeah Murray, that's real interesting. But what does it have to do with our ghosts?"
"What? Oh." Murray pushed his glasses back up on his nose. "I'm not sure, actually. But it's kind of interesting, don't you think?"
Cody glanced at Nick before answering. He put one hand on Murray's shoulder. "It sure is. Now let's get the rest of your equipment in place and grab some dinner. We have a long night ahead of us."
---
Night rolled in off the ocean, cooling the rocks and trees made dessicate by the heat of the day. Small, scuttling rodents and birds of prey emerged from their slumber and began to hunt, backed by a chorus of insects. Wind rustled the eucalyptus leaves where they hung, many feet above where Cody waited, listening to Nick's breathing coming through loud and clear over the earpiece he wore.
The three of them had rigged the whole estate with audio, video, and motion monitoring devices. Nick and Cody were stationed near the pool, concealed by the landscape's well-manicured foliage, while Murray had set up a command post inside the house, downstairs off the kitchen.
They waited for close to six hours before anything interesting happened.
Cody leaned against the strong, solid trunk of the eucalyptus, staring up into the night sky, thinking how much he wanted to be back on board the Riptide, Nick's skin soft against his own, everything else hard as a rock. He was lost in contemplation of that picture, only part of his brain still alert, surveying his surroundings, when he heard the first splash. The images dissolved like so much mist at dawn. "Nick?" he whispered.
"Yeah, I heard it too. You see anyone?"
"No," Cody replied. "No one." He scanned the darkness, eyes wide but unseeing in the moonless night.
There came the telltale twangs of taut fishing lines being cut, then a second splash joined the first. Cody saw a vague shape drift across the deck, next to the water. All he could see was a shadow that might or might not be a person, moving stealthily. Cody rubbed his eyes. A second shadow joined the first, and the two became even more person-shaped as he stared. "Nick?" Cody hazarded.
"Yeah, I see--"
There was a thump and then silence.
"Nick! Nick!" Cody hissed into the darkness, pulling the tiny gadget from his ear, shaking it. "Nick!" He listened again. Nothing.
With a muffled curse, Cody ripped the earpiece, wire and all, out of its mooring, jettisoning the battery pack into the bushes as he ran. Nick was on the other side of the pool, and Cody headed that direction at speed, his brain on fire, unable to stop hearing that thump, the awful silence where Nick's voice should have been. His feet raced to keep up with his brain, then something broadsided him. Something cold and clammy, but unfortunately very solid.
He teetered for a moment, then fell in the pool.
The water was warmer than he thought it would be. That was a plus.
Sputtering, Cody surfaced and stroked hard for the side, throwing one arm heavily over the concrete lip. A hand dropped onto his shoulder and he yelled.
"Ssh! Are you all right?" Cody blinked chlorinated water out of his eyes, dimly making out Nick's face a few feet above his own. Nick shook him. "Cody! Answer me!"
In the darkness, pool water stinging his eyes, Nick's face seemed to float above Cody in the night. He could just make out a patch of dried blood at Nick's hairline. Cody struggled to focus on him, fought to hang onto the sight.
"Cody? Cody!"
Nick reached down and, putting an arm around Cody's back, pulled him out of the pool, laying him out on the deck, hands and eyes checking him for damage. "Cody!"
"Nick! A ghost threw me in the pool!" Cody lay on the redwood planking, breathing heavily, feeling the full weight of his waterlogged clothing, night air chill on his skin.
Nick looked down at him with a worried expression. "Cody? You okay, man?"
"I'm fine, Nick. Fine. But the ghosts--"
Nick's hands knotted in the front of Cody's wet sweater and he shook Cody roughly. "That was no ghost that hit me, Cody. That guy was real. And while you lie here going nutso, he's getting away. Snap out of it! I think they're heading for the house. I'll take the path by the cliff, you check the treeline. Come on!"
And with that he was gone, loping away into the darkness.
Cody struggled to a sitting position, still breathing heavily. The night pressed in around him as he fought to catch his breath. The image of Nick's concerned face swam in front of him. Intense blue eyes.
Blood, at his temple.
Nick was hurt.
Cody was on his feet in a heartbeat. He ran through the darkness, towards the house, staying close by the tall trees. His breath sounded unnaturally loud in his ears and the cool night air knifed through his wet clothes. But Cody's attention was consumed by one thought: finding Nick. He scanned the treeline, automatically slipping back into territory assessment, an old skill that had kept them both alive when more than ghosts dogged their heels.
He rounded a bougainvillea bush, the branches slapping at his wet jeans--and nearly ran smack into a shapely blonde in a long white nightdress. They both yelled.
Cody waited a moment to catch his breath, then took a step towards the woman in front of him. She raised her hands defensively
"Who are you? We've got to get to the house!" Cody panted.
The woman kept her hands up, as if warding him away. "Wait! You don't understand! They've taken the old woman! They've captured her! She and your friend are in great danger!"
Cody stared at her. In the darkness, he had trouble making out her features. All he could really tell was that she was young, blonde and beautiful, and that her nightdress was too flimsy and sheer to do her much good against the cold sea air. Yet she didn't appear to notice. His eyes tracked down her slender frame, then quickly back up. "Where's Nick?" Cody asked.
She stared at him. "You need to hurry. They have your skinny friend and the old woman!"
"Murray? And Matilda? Where?" Cody looked towards the house, as if he might make out their two figures from there. "And who are you?"
The young woman took a step back along the path towards the pool. "My name's Amy. I'm Bernard's sister. Now go! You must hurry before he kills them! He's going to burn the house down! Hurry!"
Cody spun and stared at the house again. "Who's going to burn the house down?" But the sound of wind and surf breaking at a distance was the only answer he received. "Amy?" He spun back around.
She was gone.
Wide-eyed in the darkness, Cody surveyed the garden around him, seeking any telltale sign of the direction Amy had taken. Nothing. It was like she'd disappeared into thin air.
The wind rose up again, whistling through the trees, coming in off the ocean, near the house. But this time it carried the telltale scent of smoke.
Cody ran hard through the darkness, cannoning into Nick where he stood outside the wide glass patio doors. "Nick! Are you okay?"
"Yeah, man, I'm fine. It'll take a helluva lot more to keep me down than some asshole with a weak left hook. I'm telling you, Cody, these aren't ghosts. These are just some guys who really want people to think they're ghosts."
Cody could tell the hit was harder than Nick was letting on, but he gripped his friend's arms happily. "Of course they are, buddy. Never doubted it for a second."
It was too dark for Cody to be certain whether Nick rolled his eyes. "Uh huh. Look, we got problems, Cody: Murray's not answering his radio."
Cody nodded rapidly. "That's right! Amy said he and Matilda have been captured! And that someone's going to burn the house down!"
Nick tilted his head to one side. "Amy? Who's Amy? And the house already burned down, pal. Remember?"
Cody pointed behind him, into the darkness. "She was right there, by the trees. Long blonde hair, nightgown."
Nick raised his eyebrows.
"Anyway, the important thing is that we have to find Murray and Matilda!" Cody tried the patio doors, rattling them in their frames. "Locked!" He turned to Nick, who shrugged.
"Stand back."
Cody did as he was told, and Nick shattered one large pane of the doors with a well-placed kick before stepping into the darkened house. Cody followed, one hand at the small of Nick's back. The smell of smoke was stronger now they were inside.
"I guess your friend was right," Nick whispered. "That doesn't smell like a Sunday barbecue to me. We've gotta find Murray and Matilda and get out of here. Let's check Murray's command room first."
Cody nodded, his hand still on Nick's back. The two of them hurried through the ground floor, sweeping past priceless paintings and furnishings. The house was quickly filling with smoke, and they coughed as they made their way through the huge formal dining room and grand entrance hall. They gave up all attempts at stealth as their deck shoes squeaked across the glassy marble floor of the hall. Murray had set up all of his monitors in a tiny pantry at the end of a short corridor leading from the kitchen, and the two of them broke into a run as they approached the door. Thick black smoke seeped out from under the bottom of it.
Nick tried the knob. Locked. The two of them pounded on the door, calling Murray's name. All they heard in response was muffled cries and finally one loud thump. The two of them looked at each other and stepped back. Nick put a hand on Cody's arm, but Cody stepped in front of him with a grin. "My turn, buddy. You got the last one."
Nick smiled. "After you. But hurry. I don't like this."
The unfamiliar voice took both of them by surprise. "You don't like this? How the hell do you think I feel, my family's house overrun by low-rent PIs who are too nosy to stay out of things that don't concern them?"
Turning, Cody saw that their way back to the kitchen was blocked by Buzzy, holding a monogrammed handkerchief over his nose and mouth, and a gun on him and Nick. Behind him were two men dressed in fatigues. Cody groaned. "Those weren't ghosts your great-aunt saw, those were you and your friends, running around at night playing some sort of weird game."
Buzzy shook with anger. "Government contracts aren't a game, beach bum! Do you have any idea of the money that's involved here? Do you have any concept of how much you three and that old bat nearly cost me?"
Nick stiffened, fighting back a cough at the gathering smoke. "Look, Buzzy, no matter how much money it is, it's not worth killing your great-aunt over, is it?"
Clicking the safety off and dropping the handkerchief, the arrogant young man smirked. "Two birds with one stone. A fat government contract in my lap, plus the old bag finally out of my way and out of my house. Although now I think about it, it's actually five birds with one stone, including you guys." Buzzy smiled an oily grin. "Damn. I always was an overachiever."
A muffled series of thumps came from behind the door, followed by a frenzied rattling of the knob. Buzzy grimaced, waving his hand in front of his face. The smoke seemed to be getting to him too. "Oh come on. Can't the old woman even die right?" He turned to ask a question of one of his companions and Nick jumped. Cody followed a second behind, aiming for the larger of the two camo-suited ghosts.
They crashed to the floor in the narrow hallway, a tangle of anger and struggling bodies. Cody's lungs burned from the smoke, but he wrestled hard with the guy underneath him. His opponent was skilled and big however, and Cody took two hard shots to the jaw before hearing the door open behind them.
"Bernard? What's the meaning of this?" Matilda stood in the doorway, Murray lurking behind her, pale-faced and weary, smudged with soot. They both had cloths fixed over the lower halves of their faces.
Nick turned at the sound of her voice, and Buzzy made his move, spitting wetly before head-butting him savagely. Nick fell to one side of the corridor, his face a mask of pain.
Buzzy struggled to his feet. "Must you always interfere, Aunty?" He raised the gun.
Matilda walked calmly over to him, pushing the gun to one side before kneeing him in the balls. He crumpled with a squeak. "Yes, Bernard, I must."
Nick recovered sufficiently to retrieve the gun from Buzzy's clenched fist, pushing himself to his feet, coughing as the smoke continued to fill the tiny corridor.
Cody looked down. With their leader stricken, the two men raised their hands in meek surrender.
Nick stood and put his arm around Matilda, grinning over her shoulder at Murray. "Come on, let's get out of here before we all burn to death." He gestured with the gun for the two camo-ghosts to head for the kitchen and followed them, one arm around Matilda, gun at the ready. Murray trailed close on his heels. They each, in turn, stepped over Buzzy's whining, fetal form, until it was just Cody and Buzzy left in the hallway. With an aggravated sigh and a cough, Cody pushed himself to his feet and began dragging their assailant along the carpet towards clean night air and jail.
---
The next afternoon, the Riptide Detective Agency were anxiously awaiting their guest of honor. The table was laid for lunch, they were all showered, brushed and decently appointed, and the only thing missing was Matilda herself.
After they'd gotten out of the burning house the night before, Murray had used part of his electronic monitoring array to summon help in the form of the Rancho Palos Verdes fire department. However, by the time the firefighters had arrived, flames had consumed most of the ground floor of the house, and had spread to the second story. The mansion, along with a good portion of the surrounding landscape, was a total loss. The fire crew had dutifully wetted down the area, preventing the flames from spreading to the neighboring mansions and causing a major financial disturbance.
Matilda Geller's unassuming bungalow sustained no damage.
But now, despite Nick and Cody's efforts to draw him out, Murray sat alone at one end of the long salon table, clearly despondent, having dismissed his heroic use of the equipment with a sad wave. Nick looked at Cody, and they both slid down the booth to sit closer to their partner.
"Come on, Boz," Cody said. "None of what happened was your fault. You had no way of knowing what a louse Buzzy was."
Murray didn't look up from the tabletop.
Nick turned and glowered at Cody, who gave a small shrug. "Murray," Nick began, "if you hadn't gotten us into this case, who knows how much longer Buzzy and his men would have been able to fake data, and make off with valuable NASA equipment. Or how much longer he would have gone on tormenting his great-aunt, you know?" He put his hand on Murray's. "It really worked out for the best. I'm just sorry you had to find out about your friend this way."
Murray looked up at Nick. He sighed. "You know guys, I don't know what feels worse, that I was so wrong about Buzzy, all those years, or that I almost got us all killed taking that case! We were all nearly burned up by a guy I've known since--"
"Hey Murray," Nick said with a lazy smile, "almost doesn't count, okay? That was far from our closest call on a case and besides, we all made it back. That's what counts. If you ask me or Cody, we'd take that case on again, any day."
Murray brightened a little, then frowned again. "I can't believe I never figured out what Buzzy was doing! I mean, I've known him since Stanford! We were in the dorms together! We worked on projects together! What if he was falsifying his data all that time? How could I have been so blind?" Murray shook his head sadly, and Nick moved his hand to Murray's shoulder, squeezing gently.
"Murray, try to remember the good times you guys had together. The decisions Buzzy made later had nothing to do with you. They were his problems, not yours. You just tried to be a good friend to him."
Murray smiled half-heartedly. "Thanks, Nick."
Cody smiled. "Besides, there's still a chance Matilda will pay us! I mean, we did solve her ghost problem for her," he said in answer to Nick's questioning glance.
Murray grinned broadly. "Yeah Cody, I guess we did solve it. Pretty boss."
"Ahoy maties! Come open this door for an old woman!"
The three of them got up from the table, and Cody jogged up the stairs. Nick and Murray followed.
Out on deck, Buzzy's great-aunt stood dressed in an overcoat and flowered hat. "You look lovely, Matilda," Nick said, kissing her cheek. "But isn't it a little warm for those?"
"Currently, yes. But in half an hour, I will be safely ensconced in our cabin aboard the QE2! Setting sail for exotic parts unknown! And I believe our first stop is Seattle, which is chilly this time of year."
"A half hour?" Murray asked. "Boy, that doesn't leave us much time to eat. We were hoping you'd stay for lunch."
"No time, Bozzy, no time. Customs. Immigration. Passports, things like that. But I promise to send postcards," she said, pinching his cheek.
"Well I hope you have a lovely trip, Matilda. Wherever you wind up going." Cody tried for an ingratiating smile.
Matilda raised her eyebrows. "I'm sure," she said. "Anyway, my cab is waiting at the top of the slip."
She hugged each of them in turn, and Nick jumped down onto the pier to help her off the boat.
"Oh Matilda," Cody said, "whatever happened with Buzzy's sister, Amy? She made it out of there okay, right?"
Matilda paused with her hand on Nick's shoulder, turning back to fix Cody with a steely glare. "Young man," she said, "Bernard was an only child." She continued up the steps. Just as the hatch slammed closed, Cody heard her mutter: "Thank goodness for small mercies."
The three of them watched her stride purposefully up the slip to where her yellow chariot awaited. They waved until it was out of sight.
"Nick," Cody began.
His friend laughed as he climbed back on-board. "You with your mystery blonde again," Nick said. "Come on, man, are you sure you didn't just....think you saw a girl? You know? A blonde in her underwear in the garden--"
Cody gave him a look and Nick smirked.
"Wait a minute," Murray interrupted with a hand on Nick's shoulder. "It's not unheard of that in an--an emotionally charged situation like we had last night, that the emotion itself went, well, went quantum and actually manifested itself--"
"Murray," Nick tried.
"No, hear me out, Nick." Murray turned and stalked across the deck of the Riptide, illustrating each point with his slender, graceful hands. "There have been documented events where the only possible explanation is that energy outside the conventionally measurable spectrum have convened into the shape most readily identifiable to the closest witness to the energy, the--"
"A blonde in her underwear, huh?" Nick asked Cody.
Cody smiled and looked out at the ocean. "Yeah," he said, "something tells me we're definitely not getting paid on this one."
The other two laughed. "Come on," Nick said, putting an arm around each of his partners' shoulders. "We have a lot of lunch to get through."
Rating: PG (there's mention of slashy things, but blink and you'll miss it)
Summary: Something spectral is afoot in the gardens of the old Geller house, and the Riptide Detective Agency's determined to get to the bottom of it.
Cody could still taste the salt baked on Nick's skin.
They'd spent the morning playing volleyball in the hot July sunshine, sand scorching their feet, sweat and tanning oil slick on their bodies as they pounded Eddie and Cantrell into the sand, two sets to one.
Then Murray'd hit them with this case, out of the blue, given them an hour to shower and change, and just as the spray hit his face, Cody had heard the shower door open, then latch again. Nick's skin, hot against his own. Feet interlaced. Barely enough room for two grown men. Cody merged onto the 101, Pacific Coast Highway, heading south from King Harbor along the water towards Palos Verdes. He took one hand off the wheel to rub his shoulder with a grimace. Nick had clenched his teeth on Cody's shoulder as he came and Cody was sure it would leave a mark.
Glancing at his partner, Cody caught Nick watching him with a half-smile, and he knew they shared the same thought.
Sexy bastard.
Regretfully, Cody pulled his mind away from the way he'd rather be spending the afternoon, and considered the case Murray had waylaid them with. One of his friends from MIT had a great-aunt Matilda, down in Palos Verdes who was convinced she was seeing ghosts. Matilda wanted the Riptide Detective Agency to show up and listen to her story. Apparently, she was the black sheep of the family and although she held the pursestrings for a great deal of the family's money, Murray's friend had explained that he and most of his relatives considered this particular great-aunt to be, well--
"Totally nutso? Or just sort of, you know, eccentric? There's a big difference." Nick's voice recalled Cody to the present. He checked the side mirror as the Jimmy threaded its way through traffic, the midday stream that would be heavy for anywhere other than Southern California. Cody lookedat Nick as his friend continued.
"I had an uncle who thought he was Goldie Hawn."
Murray balanced on his elbows between the two seats, leaning forward. "Oh that's terrible, Nick. Did he get any help?"
"Nah, he had a better voice than she does. He got a contract in Vegas for three shows a night and a marriage proposal from a senator."
Cody smirked at Nick. He'd never heard of that particular uncle before, but he let Nick have his fun. As soon as Murray started, he'd known they'd wind up going out to hear Great-Aunt Matilda's story, but Palos Verdes was only a half hour away, and the whole thing sounded like a wild goose chase, so he figured there was a good chance they'd be back onboard the Riptide by mid-afternoon, latest.
---
Rancho Palos Verdes had the good taste not to advertise the cumulative wealth of its inhabitants. Well, not in any conventional way.
The meticulously sculpted and perfectly manicured rolling green lawns setting each house back from the road were flanked by subtle collections of shrubs, native grasses and the occasional wildflower. Nothing flashy, but all of it perfectly symmetrical and pleasing to the eye.
Which, in Southern California, was what gave the whole game away.
Also, I wouldn't really call that a house. Cody peered through the windshield of the Jimmy as it idled in front of a set of closed wrought-iron gates. A mansion, maybe.
The intercom outside his window emitted a gentle hiss, and Cody cleared his throat. "Uh hi, yes, we're from the Riptide Detective Agency, and we're here to see, uh, Matilda Geller?"
The intercom fell silent. As Cody watched, a small brown lizard scuttled through the roadside underbrush, disappearing behind an ornamental flowering cactus. The silence lengthened.
"Hello? Matilda Geller's expecting us?"
Murray tapped him on the shoulder before pushing his way between the front seats, lying awkwardly across Cody's lap to yell out the window. "Buzzy? Buzzy, it's Bozzy!"
The intercom crackled to life. "Bozzy?" A tinny voice asked. "Why didn't you say so? We've been wondering where you'd gotten to!"
Cody looked over at Nick. Bozzy?
Nick gave a silent half-shrug and shook his head.
The iron gates parted and slowly opened without a sound.
"Be right up, Buzzy!" Murray yelled. Cody winced. "Oh, sorry, sorry Cody." Murray wriggled backwards through the seats, trying to find purchase on the back bench seat. "I just get so excited about seeing Buzz--uh, Bernard again--I think I might be stuck on--something here's not--" Nick gave Murray a hand, stabilizing his shoulder and unhooking his tie from the gear shift. He sunk back with a bounce. "I can't wait for you guys to meet Buzzy, and we get to help his sweet old aunt, too! Hey! Maybe she'll give us a reference! Isn't this great, guys?"
"Yeah, Murray, it's great." Cody put the Jimmy in gear and started up the driveway with a heavy sigh.
Nick looked at him out of the corner of his eye, but said nothing.
The Geller mansion stood three stories tall, an architectural marvel of stucco and wrought iron. Done in the Spanish style, the main house was a vision of balconies and shutters and pale stucco, topped with the mandatory red-tiled roof. The picture was completed by a waist-high wall of blinding white sculpted columns, running from the edge of the red brick driveway to the house and up the front wall to the second story, where a large balcony overlooked the ornamental garden and fountain below. A perfect Medici villa, a few minutes and many tax brackets away from downtown Pedro.
"Hey Murray, what'd you say your friend Buzzy does again?" Nick stood staring up at the house, hands on hips.
"Oh! Buzzy's an aeronautical engineer. Works on contract, helps NASA out from time to time, when one of their unmanned lunar modules needs commands for a new task, or if it fails during one of the existing routines."
"Oh yeah," Nick replied, "I hate when that happens."
"Listen, you guys," Murray stopped them, palms outstretched. "You should probably let me do the talking. I've known Buzzy and his family for years, and he's always been self-conscious about his great-aunt's behavior. He's very protective of his family's name and image."
Nick and Cody both nodded, and they made their way to the massive oak front door. "Oh!" Murray spun around. "And call him Bernard. Very few people get to call him 'Buzzy'. It's kind of, you know, a family-only thing." He turned back around and rapped smartly on the front door with a knocker shaped like a screaming peacock.
Nick looked at him with a dour expression. "Whatever you say...Bozzy."
The front door swung open before Murray had a chance to respond. A tall, good-looking muscular guy came rushing out. He grabbed Murray's outstretched hand and pulled him into a hug. Nick and Cody stood by while the two of them greeted each other with enthusiasm. The greetings went on for awhile, and included references to physics, all-night study sessions and something called The Omega Project. Cody shifted from one foot to the other and cleared his throat.
Murray rounded on them, his arm still slung around his companion's shoulders. "Guys, I'd like you to meet Bernard Geller. Buzzy, this is Nick Ryder and Cody Allen, my partners at the detective agency."
The round of handshakes and greetings were much more formal this time. "Please, call me 'Buzzy'. Everyone does."
Cody noticed Murray's expression falter just a fraction as his friend continued. "God, it's so great to meet Bozzy's interns! How do you guys like the detective business so far?"
There was a moment of awkward silence.
Nick recovered first. "Well Buzzy, I have to tell you, it's great being Bozzy's intern. You know, it's really refreshing to work for a guy who's so honest and forthright." He shot a glare in Murray's direction.
Nick elbowed Cody in the side. "Yeah! Um, Buzzy, it's great. Really, just...great....being an intern." Cody plastered on what he hoped was a convincing smile.
The interior of the house was no less grand and imposing than the exterior. As the four of them passed through the high-ceilinged foyer, Cody noticed a number of sculptures and paintings mounted in the haphazard way that indicated the presence of a great deal of money.
"Do you guys want the tour?" Buzzy called over his shoulder. "Or do you just wanna go straight back and meet with Batwoman?"
"You mean your great-aunt Matilda, right, guy?" Nick asked.
Buzzy smirked and punched Murray in the shoulder. "One and the same. But she's been 'Batwoman' for as long as I can remember. The old girl's got more than a few bats in her belfry, if you know what I mean. Frankly, she's an embarrassment to the family."
"We'll bear that in mind." Cody watched Nick's eyes carefully. If he went for Buzzy's throat in here, replacements for a great many expensively shattered things would get billed to the agency.
They wound through a number of corridors and doorways, all sumptuously decorated in LA Basin gaudy rich. Cody remembered seeing houses like these when he was a kid, and his parents had dragged him to charity events at the homes of his father's well-off clients. The rich and pompous liked their lawyer on hand to manage the donations as they came rolling in. And if the lawyer appeared with a picture-perfect wife and son in tow? All the better.
Cody shivered, even though the house was hot and stuffy. A few seconds later he felt Nick's hand on his back, and shot a thankful glance over his shoulder.
They emerged behind the house and skirted around an ornamental pool and grotto to where the immaculate landscaping ran all the way down to meet the steep cliff-face that bounded the western edge of the property. Just beyond the cliff, an expanse of sea and sky bore down with a relentlessness that defied perspective. Cody inhaled deeply, the smell of the ocean overlaid with eucalyptus.
"Hey, are you guys coming, or what? She's over here." Buzzy pointed them towards a smaller building set back from the main house. In marked contrast from the coastal Spanish villa style of the mansion, the tiny bungalow in front of them would have been equally at home along the side of 101 or in the middle of east L.A. It was a picture-perfect California ranch house.
All of which changed when the front door opened.
"You must be the Riptide Detective Agency. Well. You'll be on time if you don't let Bernard chew your ears off. Bernard, go! Scoot! Scram!"
The woman standing before them was as old a person as Cody could conceive of existing. She was wrinkled, powdered and be-stockinged in the classical manner of great-aunts everywhere. Despite the heat of the day, Matilda wore a shawl tightly pulled over her floral polyester dress. Fluffy white hair was pulled into a messy bun, and haphazardly decorated with brightly colored ornaments in the shape of birds. The net effect was of a walking 1940s yard sale.
And she honed in on Nick like a heat-seeking missile.
Murray stepped forward and stuck out his hand. "Ma'am? I'm Dr. Murray Bozinsky, a friend of Buzzy's? And might I say what a pleasure it is to meet you at last. I've heard---"
Matilda stepped forward and grabbed Nick's arm, pulling him into the house. "Thank goodness you're here, young man! We don't have much time! It'll be dark soon, and they're coming!! Which one are you? Are you that Bozzy fellow?"
Nick gave her his widest grin. "Nick Ryder, ma'am. Pleasure to meet you. These are my associates, Cody Allen, and, um, Bozzy."
Cody and Murray gave gentle waves, but Matilda's grip on Nick's arm never faltered. "I'm so glad you're here, Nick. Please, call me Matilda."
They stepped into a modestly appointed living room, complete with a tray of iced tea on the coffee table. Matilda ushered Nick into a chair, pouring him a glass of tea. Nick shot Cody a smug glance. Cody helped Murray to tea and they found seats in two chintz armchairs.
"It's just that no one will believe me! I see them, three or four nights a week, but before I can get my shotgun--"
"Whoa, whoa, Matilda!" Cody held his hands out. "I'm sure there's no need for shotguns. After all, wouldn't the bullets go right through?"
The old woman stared at him as she would a beloved but not particularly bright child. "It's the noise. The ghosts don't like the noise." She stared at him a second longer before turning back to Nick. "I don't know what they're after! There's nothing here in the house for them to steal. It's all in a safe deposit box in Glendale!"
Cody resisted the urge to put his face in his hands. This tiny, fragile old lady would be easy pickings for any predators, spectral or otherwise. He glanced at Murray, sunk deep in the overstuffed chair next to him.
"What do these ghosts do, Mrs. Geller?" Murray pulled himself to the edge of the chair, fixing his glasses and sipping at the tea.
"Well it's funny that you ask that, because they don't seem to be stealing anything, and they don't seem to be threatening, you know, like the kind of ghosts you see on TV? But they travel in packs, you see, and, well, this might sound like the ravings of an old woman, but, I think they come here to swim."
The three detectives exchanged glances, the only sound in the room the clink of melting ice cubes.
"They...they swim, Matilda?" Cody's heart sank. He doubted they'd be getting paid on this one.
"Not all of them, no, Bozzy, but--"
"It's Cody."
"It's strange, is what it is. They seem to come out of nowhere, and they all seem to be moving towards the pool."
"Mrs. Geller," Murray tried, "are you sure about the pool? Because the body of research in this area suggests that ghosts actually are, well, it's almost like they're allergic to bodies of water. You see, traditional lore indicates that specters generally appear in the immediate vicinity of the place they--um, the place where the original, uh, person--"
"Died?"
Murray sat up straight and swallowed hard, his adam's apple bobbing quickly.
"Young man, that's what I'm trying to tell you!" Matilda leaned forward, stabbing the air in front of Murray's face with a gnarled and crooked finger. "They did die here! All of them!"
Cody exchanged a worried glance with Nick. This was not what they'd signed up for.
Matilda nettled, pulling her shawl closer around her. "None of you know the history of this place, do you? This house was built in 1868 by Josiah Aberdeen, a prospector who came out in the original gold rush. Well, he hit it big all right, and with the proceeds of his claim, he brought his young fiancee out from Boston. Amelia Whitworth. Apparently she was quite beautiful. Anyway, Josiah built the house exactly to her specifications, leading a crew of local men and overseeing all the work himself."
Cody frowned. "They had wrought iron gates in 1868?"
Nick and Murray both gave him exasperated looks.
Matilda narrowed her eyes. "The original house, the one Josiah built, burned to the ground, Cody. The night before their wedding, Josiah discovered that Amelia had been unfaithful to him with one of the laborers. He flew into a terrible rage, running from room to room, dousing the place with lamp fuel. Then he lit it on fire. Apparently the whole thing burnt in less than twenty minutes."
Murray was on the edge of his seat, mouth open. He pushed his glasses back up. "But Matilda, how does that explain the ghosts?"
Matilda took a ladylike sip of tea from her glass. "Well, Josiah doused Amelia with the fuel, too, locked the little tramp in her room. Then he went and rounded up the laborers, shot a few, and herded the rest into the ground floor. Locked them in. Everyone died in the blaze."
Murray's jaw could not have been further open without major surgery. "Everyone...died....here?" His voice came out in a squeak.
Matilda sipped more of her tea. "Yup. The site of the original house was--"
"Where the pool is, right?" Cody smiled ruefully as Murray gasped next to him, fingers at his lips.
Matilda set her glass on the table with a thump. She pursed her lips at Cody angrily. "Young man, I know what I've seen. And I'm telling you, the ghosts go directly towards the swimming pool."
Murray held up his hand, as if he was back in school. Cody frowned and pushed it down onto his knee. Murray started at the contact, then rallied. "What happened to Josiah?"
"According to eyewitnesses, when the fire reached her room, Amelia screamed as if the Devil himself were taking her, and her screams woke Josiah from his madness. When he saw what he had done," she shrugged, "he threw himself over the cliff."
An uneasy silence descended on the room.
Finally, Nick put a comforting arm around the frail old woman. "Well Matilda, now the Riptide Detective Agency is here, I guarantee you we'll get to the bottom of this ghost business. If there are ghosts here, we'll go talk to them, see if they wouldn't be happier ghosting someplace else, you know?"
Matilda smiled, patting Nick's cheek. "Oh thank you, Nick. So the three of you will stay here tonight?"
"Tonight?" The three detectives spoke in unison.
"Of course. The ghosts always come on Wednesdays. That's why I insisted we talk this afternoon. I wanted you to have plenty of time to prepare." She blinked rheumy blue eyes at them innocently.
Cody frowned, looking from one of his partners to the other. Nick shrugged. He was in. And one look at Murray told Cody that there was nothing their resident horror-film enthusiast would like more than a spot of ghost-hunting. He hung his head in defeat.
Nick put a comforting hand over Matilda's. "We're in, Matilda, we'll stay here tonight and see what we can do about your ghost problem, okay?"
The old woman smiled. "Oh that's so very kind of you." She coughed delicately. "I uh, I haven't inquired about your rates, though. I'm not sure if I can afford your skills."
Nick grinned. "Let's worry about that later, Matilda. For now, let's just concentrate on getting those ghosts out of your pool, okay?"
Matilda returned his smile, clutching his hand in her own. She sighed happily. "You're such a nice boy, Nick. Why can't Bernard be more like you?"
Cody gritted his teeth. They had a long night ahead of them.
---
After they left Matilda's cottage, they returned to the Riptide so that Murray could collect his ghost-hunting equipment. Up until then, Cody knew he had some ghosthunting equipment, but they'd carted an incredibly large amount of electronics back to Palos Verde in the back of the Jimmy.
"Nick, I bet she can't even pay us," he hissed, unspooling a length of fishing line across the redwood deck surrounding the pool.
Nick held the other end of the line, anchoring it around the trunk of a nearby palm tree. "Cody, what is with you? She's an innocent--" he lowered his voice with a quick look around "--defenseless old woman who needs help. If she thinks she sees ghosts--"
"Calendar-using ghosts, Nick."
"If she thinks she sees ghosts," Nick continued quietly, "then we're going to check it out for her. Maybe she does, and maybe she doesn't. If she does, and we see these ghosts, we'll have a little talk with them."
"Nick," Cody began.
Nick squatted on his haunches, the fishing line forgotten in his hands. "If she's..." He looked down at the deck. "If she's seeing things, and we don't find anything, then at least we'll make sure she gets the help she needs. Regardless of whether we're paid for it." Nick took a deep breath. "She reminds me of my grandmother, all right?"
Nick finished tying the fishing line, and stood up, catching his eye. Cody finished tying his own end and walked over to put a hand on his best friend's back, pulling in close. For Nick, this case had become personal. And what was important to Nick was vital to him.
Nick nodded his thanks.
Cody walked over and put a hand on Nick's shoulder, and after a quick look around, drew him close, resting his other hand lightly against Nick's stomach. After a few moments, Nick put a hand over Cody's and met his eyes with a question. Cody smiled and gently pressed his forehead to his partner's, then angled in for a kiss.
"Guys! Guys! Check this out!" Murray hurried out of the house, arms full of gadgets, a long black electrical cord trailing through the grass as he came. "Guys!"
The two of them broke apart with guilty reluctance.
Cody caught Murray with one arm before he encountered one of the strands of plastic filament he and Nick had just spent the last hour criss-crossing the pool area with. Murray spun around with the force of his thwarted progress, nearly dropping some of the electronics he carried. Nick scrambled to take some of them off him, lightening his load.
"Oh. Oh! Thanks, Nick." He looked around, beaming excitedly. "Oh, the trap's done. Boss! Totally boss! Here, I brought an extension cord--" He nodded at a bright orange cord and indicated Cody, who looked to Nick for guidance. Nick shrugged and shook his head. Cody gently detached the cord from Murray's tangle of equipment.
"Thanks, Cody. And if we just plug in the ambient motion sensor here, and focus it on the filaments--" Murray set his load down and picked a black oblong out of the mess, throwing himself flat on the deck and fishing a smaller black box from the pile. He laid it on the ground and pressed some buttons. A green button lit up. "Hey, most of these came out level--Cody, could you go and just--" Murray gestured vaguely, and Cody picked his way gingerly between the lines of fishing wire, stretched taut across the gleaming blue water. At Murray's hand signals, Cody bent and adjusted the lines.
"So anyway, while I was setting up some of the surveillance equipment--a little lower, Cody...no, more....more....stop stop stop! Right there! I was setting up the surveillance equipment, and I got onto the county records system? Down at the courthouse? No, the next one, Cody. That one, yes. Higher. Hi--stop! Perfect!"
"Murray," Nick tried.
His partner looked up from where he was lying on the grass. "What?"
"The courthouse? The county records system?"
"Oh! So I ran the records for this property, and I found out that not only is Matilda's story true, about Josiah building a house here in 1868, but also that the records show it did burn down. But that's not the important part. Higher, Cody. No, higher. Little bit more. The important part is that it turns out that Buzzy's family are Josiah's descendents! He married another woman, and the house has been in their family ever since! Isn't that interesting?"
Cody picked his way back through the fishing line forest. "Yeah Murray, that's real interesting. But what does it have to do with our ghosts?"
"What? Oh." Murray pushed his glasses back up on his nose. "I'm not sure, actually. But it's kind of interesting, don't you think?"
Cody glanced at Nick before answering. He put one hand on Murray's shoulder. "It sure is. Now let's get the rest of your equipment in place and grab some dinner. We have a long night ahead of us."
---
Night rolled in off the ocean, cooling the rocks and trees made dessicate by the heat of the day. Small, scuttling rodents and birds of prey emerged from their slumber and began to hunt, backed by a chorus of insects. Wind rustled the eucalyptus leaves where they hung, many feet above where Cody waited, listening to Nick's breathing coming through loud and clear over the earpiece he wore.
The three of them had rigged the whole estate with audio, video, and motion monitoring devices. Nick and Cody were stationed near the pool, concealed by the landscape's well-manicured foliage, while Murray had set up a command post inside the house, downstairs off the kitchen.
They waited for close to six hours before anything interesting happened.
Cody leaned against the strong, solid trunk of the eucalyptus, staring up into the night sky, thinking how much he wanted to be back on board the Riptide, Nick's skin soft against his own, everything else hard as a rock. He was lost in contemplation of that picture, only part of his brain still alert, surveying his surroundings, when he heard the first splash. The images dissolved like so much mist at dawn. "Nick?" he whispered.
"Yeah, I heard it too. You see anyone?"
"No," Cody replied. "No one." He scanned the darkness, eyes wide but unseeing in the moonless night.
There came the telltale twangs of taut fishing lines being cut, then a second splash joined the first. Cody saw a vague shape drift across the deck, next to the water. All he could see was a shadow that might or might not be a person, moving stealthily. Cody rubbed his eyes. A second shadow joined the first, and the two became even more person-shaped as he stared. "Nick?" Cody hazarded.
"Yeah, I see--"
There was a thump and then silence.
"Nick! Nick!" Cody hissed into the darkness, pulling the tiny gadget from his ear, shaking it. "Nick!" He listened again. Nothing.
With a muffled curse, Cody ripped the earpiece, wire and all, out of its mooring, jettisoning the battery pack into the bushes as he ran. Nick was on the other side of the pool, and Cody headed that direction at speed, his brain on fire, unable to stop hearing that thump, the awful silence where Nick's voice should have been. His feet raced to keep up with his brain, then something broadsided him. Something cold and clammy, but unfortunately very solid.
He teetered for a moment, then fell in the pool.
The water was warmer than he thought it would be. That was a plus.
Sputtering, Cody surfaced and stroked hard for the side, throwing one arm heavily over the concrete lip. A hand dropped onto his shoulder and he yelled.
"Ssh! Are you all right?" Cody blinked chlorinated water out of his eyes, dimly making out Nick's face a few feet above his own. Nick shook him. "Cody! Answer me!"
In the darkness, pool water stinging his eyes, Nick's face seemed to float above Cody in the night. He could just make out a patch of dried blood at Nick's hairline. Cody struggled to focus on him, fought to hang onto the sight.
"Cody? Cody!"
Nick reached down and, putting an arm around Cody's back, pulled him out of the pool, laying him out on the deck, hands and eyes checking him for damage. "Cody!"
"Nick! A ghost threw me in the pool!" Cody lay on the redwood planking, breathing heavily, feeling the full weight of his waterlogged clothing, night air chill on his skin.
Nick looked down at him with a worried expression. "Cody? You okay, man?"
"I'm fine, Nick. Fine. But the ghosts--"
Nick's hands knotted in the front of Cody's wet sweater and he shook Cody roughly. "That was no ghost that hit me, Cody. That guy was real. And while you lie here going nutso, he's getting away. Snap out of it! I think they're heading for the house. I'll take the path by the cliff, you check the treeline. Come on!"
And with that he was gone, loping away into the darkness.
Cody struggled to a sitting position, still breathing heavily. The night pressed in around him as he fought to catch his breath. The image of Nick's concerned face swam in front of him. Intense blue eyes.
Blood, at his temple.
Nick was hurt.
Cody was on his feet in a heartbeat. He ran through the darkness, towards the house, staying close by the tall trees. His breath sounded unnaturally loud in his ears and the cool night air knifed through his wet clothes. But Cody's attention was consumed by one thought: finding Nick. He scanned the treeline, automatically slipping back into territory assessment, an old skill that had kept them both alive when more than ghosts dogged their heels.
He rounded a bougainvillea bush, the branches slapping at his wet jeans--and nearly ran smack into a shapely blonde in a long white nightdress. They both yelled.
Cody waited a moment to catch his breath, then took a step towards the woman in front of him. She raised her hands defensively
"Who are you? We've got to get to the house!" Cody panted.
The woman kept her hands up, as if warding him away. "Wait! You don't understand! They've taken the old woman! They've captured her! She and your friend are in great danger!"
Cody stared at her. In the darkness, he had trouble making out her features. All he could really tell was that she was young, blonde and beautiful, and that her nightdress was too flimsy and sheer to do her much good against the cold sea air. Yet she didn't appear to notice. His eyes tracked down her slender frame, then quickly back up. "Where's Nick?" Cody asked.
She stared at him. "You need to hurry. They have your skinny friend and the old woman!"
"Murray? And Matilda? Where?" Cody looked towards the house, as if he might make out their two figures from there. "And who are you?"
The young woman took a step back along the path towards the pool. "My name's Amy. I'm Bernard's sister. Now go! You must hurry before he kills them! He's going to burn the house down! Hurry!"
Cody spun and stared at the house again. "Who's going to burn the house down?" But the sound of wind and surf breaking at a distance was the only answer he received. "Amy?" He spun back around.
She was gone.
Wide-eyed in the darkness, Cody surveyed the garden around him, seeking any telltale sign of the direction Amy had taken. Nothing. It was like she'd disappeared into thin air.
The wind rose up again, whistling through the trees, coming in off the ocean, near the house. But this time it carried the telltale scent of smoke.
Cody ran hard through the darkness, cannoning into Nick where he stood outside the wide glass patio doors. "Nick! Are you okay?"
"Yeah, man, I'm fine. It'll take a helluva lot more to keep me down than some asshole with a weak left hook. I'm telling you, Cody, these aren't ghosts. These are just some guys who really want people to think they're ghosts."
Cody could tell the hit was harder than Nick was letting on, but he gripped his friend's arms happily. "Of course they are, buddy. Never doubted it for a second."
It was too dark for Cody to be certain whether Nick rolled his eyes. "Uh huh. Look, we got problems, Cody: Murray's not answering his radio."
Cody nodded rapidly. "That's right! Amy said he and Matilda have been captured! And that someone's going to burn the house down!"
Nick tilted his head to one side. "Amy? Who's Amy? And the house already burned down, pal. Remember?"
Cody pointed behind him, into the darkness. "She was right there, by the trees. Long blonde hair, nightgown."
Nick raised his eyebrows.
"Anyway, the important thing is that we have to find Murray and Matilda!" Cody tried the patio doors, rattling them in their frames. "Locked!" He turned to Nick, who shrugged.
"Stand back."
Cody did as he was told, and Nick shattered one large pane of the doors with a well-placed kick before stepping into the darkened house. Cody followed, one hand at the small of Nick's back. The smell of smoke was stronger now they were inside.
"I guess your friend was right," Nick whispered. "That doesn't smell like a Sunday barbecue to me. We've gotta find Murray and Matilda and get out of here. Let's check Murray's command room first."
Cody nodded, his hand still on Nick's back. The two of them hurried through the ground floor, sweeping past priceless paintings and furnishings. The house was quickly filling with smoke, and they coughed as they made their way through the huge formal dining room and grand entrance hall. They gave up all attempts at stealth as their deck shoes squeaked across the glassy marble floor of the hall. Murray had set up all of his monitors in a tiny pantry at the end of a short corridor leading from the kitchen, and the two of them broke into a run as they approached the door. Thick black smoke seeped out from under the bottom of it.
Nick tried the knob. Locked. The two of them pounded on the door, calling Murray's name. All they heard in response was muffled cries and finally one loud thump. The two of them looked at each other and stepped back. Nick put a hand on Cody's arm, but Cody stepped in front of him with a grin. "My turn, buddy. You got the last one."
Nick smiled. "After you. But hurry. I don't like this."
The unfamiliar voice took both of them by surprise. "You don't like this? How the hell do you think I feel, my family's house overrun by low-rent PIs who are too nosy to stay out of things that don't concern them?"
Turning, Cody saw that their way back to the kitchen was blocked by Buzzy, holding a monogrammed handkerchief over his nose and mouth, and a gun on him and Nick. Behind him were two men dressed in fatigues. Cody groaned. "Those weren't ghosts your great-aunt saw, those were you and your friends, running around at night playing some sort of weird game."
Buzzy shook with anger. "Government contracts aren't a game, beach bum! Do you have any idea of the money that's involved here? Do you have any concept of how much you three and that old bat nearly cost me?"
Nick stiffened, fighting back a cough at the gathering smoke. "Look, Buzzy, no matter how much money it is, it's not worth killing your great-aunt over, is it?"
Clicking the safety off and dropping the handkerchief, the arrogant young man smirked. "Two birds with one stone. A fat government contract in my lap, plus the old bag finally out of my way and out of my house. Although now I think about it, it's actually five birds with one stone, including you guys." Buzzy smiled an oily grin. "Damn. I always was an overachiever."
A muffled series of thumps came from behind the door, followed by a frenzied rattling of the knob. Buzzy grimaced, waving his hand in front of his face. The smoke seemed to be getting to him too. "Oh come on. Can't the old woman even die right?" He turned to ask a question of one of his companions and Nick jumped. Cody followed a second behind, aiming for the larger of the two camo-suited ghosts.
They crashed to the floor in the narrow hallway, a tangle of anger and struggling bodies. Cody's lungs burned from the smoke, but he wrestled hard with the guy underneath him. His opponent was skilled and big however, and Cody took two hard shots to the jaw before hearing the door open behind them.
"Bernard? What's the meaning of this?" Matilda stood in the doorway, Murray lurking behind her, pale-faced and weary, smudged with soot. They both had cloths fixed over the lower halves of their faces.
Nick turned at the sound of her voice, and Buzzy made his move, spitting wetly before head-butting him savagely. Nick fell to one side of the corridor, his face a mask of pain.
Buzzy struggled to his feet. "Must you always interfere, Aunty?" He raised the gun.
Matilda walked calmly over to him, pushing the gun to one side before kneeing him in the balls. He crumpled with a squeak. "Yes, Bernard, I must."
Nick recovered sufficiently to retrieve the gun from Buzzy's clenched fist, pushing himself to his feet, coughing as the smoke continued to fill the tiny corridor.
Cody looked down. With their leader stricken, the two men raised their hands in meek surrender.
Nick stood and put his arm around Matilda, grinning over her shoulder at Murray. "Come on, let's get out of here before we all burn to death." He gestured with the gun for the two camo-ghosts to head for the kitchen and followed them, one arm around Matilda, gun at the ready. Murray trailed close on his heels. They each, in turn, stepped over Buzzy's whining, fetal form, until it was just Cody and Buzzy left in the hallway. With an aggravated sigh and a cough, Cody pushed himself to his feet and began dragging their assailant along the carpet towards clean night air and jail.
---
The next afternoon, the Riptide Detective Agency were anxiously awaiting their guest of honor. The table was laid for lunch, they were all showered, brushed and decently appointed, and the only thing missing was Matilda herself.
After they'd gotten out of the burning house the night before, Murray had used part of his electronic monitoring array to summon help in the form of the Rancho Palos Verdes fire department. However, by the time the firefighters had arrived, flames had consumed most of the ground floor of the house, and had spread to the second story. The mansion, along with a good portion of the surrounding landscape, was a total loss. The fire crew had dutifully wetted down the area, preventing the flames from spreading to the neighboring mansions and causing a major financial disturbance.
Matilda Geller's unassuming bungalow sustained no damage.
But now, despite Nick and Cody's efforts to draw him out, Murray sat alone at one end of the long salon table, clearly despondent, having dismissed his heroic use of the equipment with a sad wave. Nick looked at Cody, and they both slid down the booth to sit closer to their partner.
"Come on, Boz," Cody said. "None of what happened was your fault. You had no way of knowing what a louse Buzzy was."
Murray didn't look up from the tabletop.
Nick turned and glowered at Cody, who gave a small shrug. "Murray," Nick began, "if you hadn't gotten us into this case, who knows how much longer Buzzy and his men would have been able to fake data, and make off with valuable NASA equipment. Or how much longer he would have gone on tormenting his great-aunt, you know?" He put his hand on Murray's. "It really worked out for the best. I'm just sorry you had to find out about your friend this way."
Murray looked up at Nick. He sighed. "You know guys, I don't know what feels worse, that I was so wrong about Buzzy, all those years, or that I almost got us all killed taking that case! We were all nearly burned up by a guy I've known since--"
"Hey Murray," Nick said with a lazy smile, "almost doesn't count, okay? That was far from our closest call on a case and besides, we all made it back. That's what counts. If you ask me or Cody, we'd take that case on again, any day."
Murray brightened a little, then frowned again. "I can't believe I never figured out what Buzzy was doing! I mean, I've known him since Stanford! We were in the dorms together! We worked on projects together! What if he was falsifying his data all that time? How could I have been so blind?" Murray shook his head sadly, and Nick moved his hand to Murray's shoulder, squeezing gently.
"Murray, try to remember the good times you guys had together. The decisions Buzzy made later had nothing to do with you. They were his problems, not yours. You just tried to be a good friend to him."
Murray smiled half-heartedly. "Thanks, Nick."
Cody smiled. "Besides, there's still a chance Matilda will pay us! I mean, we did solve her ghost problem for her," he said in answer to Nick's questioning glance.
Murray grinned broadly. "Yeah Cody, I guess we did solve it. Pretty boss."
"Ahoy maties! Come open this door for an old woman!"
The three of them got up from the table, and Cody jogged up the stairs. Nick and Murray followed.
Out on deck, Buzzy's great-aunt stood dressed in an overcoat and flowered hat. "You look lovely, Matilda," Nick said, kissing her cheek. "But isn't it a little warm for those?"
"Currently, yes. But in half an hour, I will be safely ensconced in our cabin aboard the QE2! Setting sail for exotic parts unknown! And I believe our first stop is Seattle, which is chilly this time of year."
"A half hour?" Murray asked. "Boy, that doesn't leave us much time to eat. We were hoping you'd stay for lunch."
"No time, Bozzy, no time. Customs. Immigration. Passports, things like that. But I promise to send postcards," she said, pinching his cheek.
"Well I hope you have a lovely trip, Matilda. Wherever you wind up going." Cody tried for an ingratiating smile.
Matilda raised her eyebrows. "I'm sure," she said. "Anyway, my cab is waiting at the top of the slip."
She hugged each of them in turn, and Nick jumped down onto the pier to help her off the boat.
"Oh Matilda," Cody said, "whatever happened with Buzzy's sister, Amy? She made it out of there okay, right?"
Matilda paused with her hand on Nick's shoulder, turning back to fix Cody with a steely glare. "Young man," she said, "Bernard was an only child." She continued up the steps. Just as the hatch slammed closed, Cody heard her mutter: "Thank goodness for small mercies."
The three of them watched her stride purposefully up the slip to where her yellow chariot awaited. They waved until it was out of sight.
"Nick," Cody began.
His friend laughed as he climbed back on-board. "You with your mystery blonde again," Nick said. "Come on, man, are you sure you didn't just....think you saw a girl? You know? A blonde in her underwear in the garden--"
Cody gave him a look and Nick smirked.
"Wait a minute," Murray interrupted with a hand on Nick's shoulder. "It's not unheard of that in an--an emotionally charged situation like we had last night, that the emotion itself went, well, went quantum and actually manifested itself--"
"Murray," Nick tried.
"No, hear me out, Nick." Murray turned and stalked across the deck of the Riptide, illustrating each point with his slender, graceful hands. "There have been documented events where the only possible explanation is that energy outside the conventionally measurable spectrum have convened into the shape most readily identifiable to the closest witness to the energy, the--"
"A blonde in her underwear, huh?" Nick asked Cody.
Cody smiled and looked out at the ocean. "Yeah," he said, "something tells me we're definitely not getting paid on this one."
The other two laughed. "Come on," Nick said, putting an arm around each of his partners' shoulders. "We have a lot of lunch to get through."