Beyond Dead Read online

  Pete’s expression froze. “Who’s Madame Zorina?”

  “Oh. Right. Didn’t I mention that?” I asked, giving myself a very hard mental slap. Dying had just killed my memory. And my common sense.

  Pete drew the word out. “No …”

  “Oh. Okay,” I said, feeling my brain scrabble over itself to find an escape route from the conversation that wouldn’t incriminate me. “Well, she’s a medium. On my first day with Fenton, I had a message for her and she asked me where Jim was. That’s all.”

  “What did you tell her?”

  I shook my head and tried very hard not to look guilty. “Nothing. That I didn’t know who Jim was. I just delivered the message and left.”

  “Okay. That’s good.” Pete nodded. “That was well handled but Fenton should never have put you in that position. And Jim wasn’t his life name so it wouldn’t have mattered that she knew it anyway.”

  “How do you know that?” I was surprised Pete had known him well enough to know that. I hadn’t gotten that impression from him at all.

  “We used to work together.” Pete hugged the clipboard to his chest and narrowed his eyes at me. “What’s with all the questions?”

  “Just curious.” I shrugged with as much nonchalance as I could muster and examined the brickwork on the front of the theatre. Sabrina had said the key piece of information could come from anywhere. Maybe it would come from Pete. “Y’know, the police still don’t have a suspect for his murder. Since you knew him so well, is there no one you can think of?”

  “Bridget …”

  I could feel his stare burning into the side of my face as I continued to admire the theatre’s façade. “I know you said everyone loved Jim, but he must’ve had some enemies.”

  Pete’s voice dropped low. “Bridget … why are you asking?”

  I turned to face Pete and gave him a kernel of truth. “Because the police have no suspects other than me. And because if Jim was killed for his area it might be nice for me to have a little bit of a prior knowledge as to who might be waiting for the opportune moment to stave my skull in.”

  “Bridge, you’re newly dead. As long as you do what you’re supposed to the only time you’re unsupervised is when you’re in the bathroom.” Pete placed his hand on my shoulder and gave it what I assumed he thought was a reassuring squeeze. “You’ll be fine, okay?”

  No. It was not okay but I nodded anyway. “Sure, Pete.”

  “You’ll be fine with this too.” He gestured to the theatre but I assumed he meant Jeremy Thomas Leith inside. Pete folded the assignment sheets, secured them into the provided envelope, sealed it and signed the seal. “Just don’t give anyone your life name.”

  “What happens if you do it accidentally?” I accepted the clipboard from him and took my time with my signature on the seal to avoid Pete’s intense stare drilling into me.

  “Don’t do it accidentally, Bridget.” He took the clipboard back from me. “The repercussions are harsh.”

  “How harsh?” I turned my face to the sun and closed my eyes, letting the heat slowly seep through me.

  Pete took hold of my upper arm and shook it gently to make me look at him. “Harsh.”

  Well, shoot.

  Chapter Nine

  Sabrina and I stood a short distance from the main doors of the fort. “Are you sure you know where we’re tunnelling to?” I glanced around again to check the rest of the group was occupied with tunnelling practice.

  Sabrina frowned. “Why are you whispering?”

  “We’re about to do something illegal. I feel that necessitates whispering.”

  “What makes you think this is illegal?”

  “Do you mean other than the fact you suggested it?”

  Sabrina rolled her eyes at me. “Yes. I mean other than that.”

  “I don’t know. It just feels illegal.” I checked around us again. I couldn’t help it. “Like speeding.”

  Conveniently, it had turned out to be surprise exam night at our GA meeting. The plan was Eleanor would individually tunnel everyone in turn to an unknown location roughly twenty miles away and we had to tunnel back to the fort. If we managed it then she’d award us our provisional licences. According to the rules, we had to clock up over two hundred separate trips to get our full licences.

  Sabrina had volunteered us to go first so we could sneak out unnoticed to visit Barry while Eleanor tested the rest of the group. Thankfully we both passed. We were supposed to be using the rest of the evening to tunnel around the fort’s grounds for practice. Sabrina figured that Eleanor would be too busy testing everyone else to notice we weren’t there.

  Sabrina closed her eyes and took my hand. “Would you just trust me?”

  “You realise, in my experience, only untrustworthy people say that?”

  “Shhh.”

  I relaxed when I felt the pressure bearing down on me and let it pull me along. The texture of the floor changed from spongy grass to unyielding pavement. The sea breeze morphed into still air and car fumes. Gradually, the general sounds of city life drowned out the incessant cries of the seagulls. I opened my eyes and the “medical facility” stared back at me.

  I turned to Sabrina. “I ask again. Do you know where we’re tunnelling to?”

  We’d landed in front of a Travelodge in the middle of a busy city centre. Based on the accents of passing pedestrians I was guessing somewhere in Scotland. That had to be easily over two hundred miles.

  “This is it.” Sabrina was pale and shaking; her hand felt clammy in mine. With clumsy fingers she unwrapped a chocolate bar. At least she’d brought provisions.

  “This is a hotel.” I pointed to the Travelodge in front of us to be clear we were looking at the same thing.

  “I google mapped it. This is it,” she said around a mouthful of chocolate.

  “What do you mean you ‘google mapped it’? I might not be all that techno savvy but I’m pretty dang sure that google maps don’t list ghost medical facilities.”

  Sabrina gave me a flat stare. “I found the address in Barry’s file and google mapped that.” She actually didn’t call me an idiot in words but her tone screamed it loud and clear.

  “Oh. Right. Okay. Well, do you have his room number?”

  “Not exactly.” Sabrina gave a one shoulder shrug, cast a furtive look my way and then took another bite of the chocolate bar.

  “And by ‘not exactly’ you mean …?”

  She winced. “No.”

  I nodded. “Right. Of course not. So, we’re going to – what? Knock on every door until we get to Barry?” In response Sabrina offered me the full wattage of her smile. I rubbed my forehead with the back of my hand then adjusted my fringe. “Great. And when we find Barry?”

  “I was going to go with ‘Hi Barry, my name’s Sabrina. I’m doing a survey of the newly deceased. Could I ask you a few questions?’.”

  I stared at her in disbelief. “Guess we better get to it then so they can hurry up and arrest us and we can live out our afterlives haunting some castle in the highlands.”

  “That’s the spirit.” Sabrina patted me on the back and laughed at her own joke. “Spirit. Get it?”

  I watched her walk ahead of me towards the hotel. “I can’t believe this is my afterlife.”

  The foyer was filled with couples and business people checking in and out and generally milling around. A young couple headed directly for us. Sabrina waved her hand in front of the girl’s face as they passed. The couple carried on oblivious.

  “Okay.” Sabrina stared after the couple. “I’m assuming there are some alive people here mixed in with the dead.”

  I scanned the foyer trying to distinguish the alive from the dead. “I don’t understand. How can they live here together? Why would they live here together? How is this a medical facility?”

  “I don’t know.” Sabrina shook her head. “To all of your questions.”

  I pulled Sabrina to the side of the foyer and out of the general thoroughfare. “I tho
ught your precious files had all the answers.”

  “About people, not regular stuff.” Sabrina waved her hand around as if to indicate our current situation was “regular”. “How about we smile at everyone but don’t speak unless spoken to?”

  “Limit our felonies?” I nodded. “Good plan.”

  “Let’s cover all our bases. First let’s check the computer system to see if Barry is registered. It’s doubtful, I know, but I figure the dead are likely staying in unoccupied rooms so I’ll get a list of those as well while you distract the receptionist.”

  “Okay.” I dodged another happy couple and headed across the floor to the reception desk with Sabrina in tow. “But if I go down for illegal haunting, I’m taking you with me.”

  Sabrina made a shooing motion at me and scrambled over the almost chest-high counter.

  “Very ladylike,” I called after her. “And very covert. I’m sure no one noticed.”

  “Just …” Sabrina pointed at the receptionist, who was hovering to the right of the computer.

  The receptionist wore the navy blue skirt suit and patterned red and navy scarf of the hotel uniform, with her hair neatly pulled back into a ponytail. Her foundation was about three shades too dark and a couple of millimetres too thick.

  How was I supposed to distract her? A middle-aged balding man in an ill-fitting grey suit approached the desk, wheeling his small suitcase behind him. The receptionist printed off his bill, he signed it, thanked her and left. She filed the signed receipt in a drawer underneath the counter and reached for the pen. I saw my chance. I nudged the biro and her hand stilled, hovering in the air over the space where the pen had been. She frowned and reached for it again. I rolled it a little further away. She pulled her hand back, took a brief, confused look around then reached for it once more. I rolled it again, this time letting it fall onto the floor on my side of the counter.

  The receptionist stared at the place the pen had been. Frowning, she walked towards the break in the counter and past Sabrina. The receptionist came out in front of the desk, and as she bent down to retrieve the pen I kicked it away. She straightened up and stared at the pen. Checking around to see if anyone was watching, maybe suspecting someone was playing a trick on her, she walked slowly to the pen.

  “How you doing?” I called to Sabrina.

  “Er.” Sabrina’s head ducked down behind the computer screen. “Keep her busy.”

  The receptionist’s foot was inches away from the pen but she was looking around the foyer as though she had forgotten about it. I tried to follow her gaze to see what held her attention. Then, without warning, her foot shot out and pinned the pen to the floor. A huge smile erupted over her face.

  “Oh, you were distracting me?” I wagged my finger at her. “That was good. You got me.”

  “Chelsea?” A boy in his late teens and a hotel jacket a little too big on the shoulders stared at her. “What are you doing?”

  “Oh, I was, I was just,” she stuttered, her face reddening, “stopping the pen from rolling away.”

  “It’s a level surface, Chels.” He motioned to her foot still trapping the pen. “How far do you think it’s going to roll?”

  “Uh-huh.” She nodded but didn’t move her foot. “Right.”

  “Okay, I’m done,” Sabrina called.

  “Are you …” The boy’s eyes flicked from the pen back up to Chelsea’s face, his lips spreading into a smile. “Are you going to pick it up?”

  “Uh-huh. Yep.” The receptionist slowly bent down to pick up the pen without removing her shoe.

  He watched her, bemused. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m just a little tired, I think.” The receptionist turned the pen over in her hands.

  “Only an hour or so left for you. You should get an early night,” he called over his shoulder as he walked away.

  “I will do.” She smiled and turned back to the counter. The second her attention was elsewhere I tugged the pen out of her hands and let it drop to the floor. The girl stared down at the pen in wide-eyed disbelief.

  “That’s called haunting, y’know.” Sabrina spoke directly into my ear and made me jump so badly I missed the receptionist retrieving the pen and scuttling back to the counter. I didn’t miss her vehemently tossing the pen in the bin, though.

  “I can see why it’s illegal.” I clapped and danced a quick jig. “That was so much fun.” I stopped jigging and coughed, affecting my serious voice at Sabrina’s stern expression. “Any luck with Barry?”

  “Unsurprisingly, not registered.” She turned and walked towards the bar area to the left of the reception desk. “How about we check the bar, restaurant and gym next and if we haven’t found him, then …” Sabrina mimed knocking on a door.

  “Okay.” I followed her across the reception area towards the bar. “Though I’m still a little foggy on how this place is classed as a ‘medical facility’.”

  “Yeah, I’m not really seeing that either.” Sabrina shook her head then tightened her ponytail, twisting the short strands around her fingers. “Unless they run experiments here.” The way she pronounced “experiments” conjured images of ghost versions of Doctor Frankenstein.

  “Let’s just not go there,” I said.

  The bar was softly lit with heavy lace curtains blocking out most of the evening light. Booths with red leather interiors lined the right and left walls while a small sea of tables claimed the space between. Less than a third were occupied, and most of those by businessmen either working through stacks of documents or reading newspapers. The bar counter was directly in front of us.

  Sabrina searched the patrons’ faces. “Do you see him?”

  “Why are you looking?” I scanned the table row by row so I wouldn’t miss any. “You don’t know what he looks like.”

  Sabrina shook her head, her short ponytail barely swinging with the motion. “You have no idea how detailed the files are.”

  “Well, that’s incredibly creepy. Oh! There, in the corner.” I pointed to the furthest corner of the bar where I’d spotted Barry sitting on his own. There were sheets of paper spread all over the table, which he shuffled slightly when a waiter brought him a drink. Barry gave the waiter a brief response and shake of his head to whatever the waiter had asked.

  I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. I turned to Sabrina and closed it with a click.

  Sabrina’s attention was wholly fixed on Barry. “You’re sure he’s dead?”

  “Well, not now, no.” I gestured to the waiter who’d spoken to Barry and was now talking to another patron. “But he has to be dead or you wouldn’t have found his file. Right?”

  Sabrina hesitated. “Yeah.”

  “And anyway,” I said, watching the waiter move back to the bar carrying a tray of empty glasses, “if these files are oh-so-detailed, how come it doesn’t say who killed him?”

  Sabrina hesitated again. “His file was restricted access.”

  I sighed. “Okay, what are you not telling me?”

  “Sometimes files have restricted access because the individual is …” Sabrina winced. “Still alive.”

  “And you’re only telling me this now?”

  She jabbed an accusatory finger at me. “Well, you said he was dead.”

  “No, I said Madame Zorina said he was dead.”

  Sabrina’s eyes flicked to the waiter. “Well, if he were dead that waiter shouldn’t be speaking to him, right?”

  “Right. Unless the waiter’s dead as well. Or a medium.”

  Sabrina shook her head as if to clear it. “Okay, there’s an easy way to solve this. He couldn’t see you when you haunted him last time, right?”

  I hesitated. “Right.” I didn’t like where this was going.

  “Okay.” Sabrina began weaving through the tables towards Barry, leaving me scrambling to follow.

  “It’s Barry, isn’t it?” Sabrina stood in front of Barry’s table, smiling widely as if she’d just recognised an old friend.

  “
Yes, yes it is.” His eyes searched her face. “I’m so sorry, your name has just flown straight out of my head. Too much last minute cramming.” He tapped his temple and smiled politely at her.

  Sabrina laughed and waved away his apology. “It’s Sam. We met last year at that thing.”

  Barry stole a quick look at me, I assumed to see if my face could jog his memory. “What thing?”

  “The one with the god awful buffet.” Sabrina clicked her fingers as if she were trying to remember the name of the function. “What was it called now?”

  If Sabrina had told me this was her plan, I’d have abandoned her. I’d seen this done on TV so many times, and every time it struck me as the stupidest, most unrealistic trick ever. This type of thing would never work in real life.

  “The ITC conference?” Barry offered to my amazement.

  “That was it. I go to so many.” Sabrina rolled her eyes as she sat down. “This is my assistant, Patricia. She’s been with me for over a year now. Thought it was about time I got her out of the office.”

  Barry nodded in greeting and I sat down, trying not to look as uncomfortable as I felt.

  He gestured between us. “Can I get you ladies a drink?”

  “No thanks, Barry, we’re actually just on our way out.” Sabrina said quickly before he could catch the possibly dead waiter’s attention. “Just wanted to stop by and say hi, see how you were. How’s Porscha?”

  “She’s fine, thank you.” A huge content smile spread across his face and my heart clenched a little at the sight. “We’ve just got engaged.”

  “Oh wonderful!” Sabrina exclaimed. She reached out and her hand rested briefly on top of his as she gave it a quick squeeze. It didn’t slip through it like when I’d touched him at his reading. “Congratulations. Have you set a date yet?”

  “Thank you.” Barry blushed a little. “And no, not yet. I think Porscha wants a summer wedding, though, so it’ll probably be next year now.”

  Sabrina clasped her hand over her heart. “Oh, how lovely. So, will we see you at the conference tomorrow?”

  “Oh, er, no. I’m actually here for the … the …” Barry flipped through the papers that cover the table. “Um …”