The Siege (6 page)

“She’s a smart woman.”

“That’s what she keeps telling me.”

“But then why does Burt act like the boss?”

“I suppose because Ted and I let him.  He handles all the management stuff I hate, and Ted’s got better things to do with his time.”

“So when you said you were done with the partnership, you weren’t leaving us…”

“I guess not.  If Burt doesn’t straighten around, then Burt’s the one leaving.  He takes nothing with him but half the proceeds on the first two years investigations.  He’ll probably have to leave the peninsula too.  Although Mia has a big heart, she’d probably let him stay on indefinitely.”

Cid sat back in his chair.  “Knowing all of this, I’m flabbergasted that Mia lets Burt treat her so poorly.”

“Mia ignores it for the benefit of the group.  She believes Burt is redeemable.  Probably some misplaced guilt over having been in a relationship with him.”

“When Ted told me that she and Burt were an item, I thought he was lying to me.  The cop what’s-his-name… Whitney.  Yes, her childhood crush, I could see that, but Burt?”

“Why not Burt?  He used to be open, enthusiastic, optimistic, giving, supportive, inventive, I’ll gloss over the bedroom stuff, but I heard he wasn’t a disappointment there.  He nurtured Mia, brought her into the group.  Their relationship didn’t last too long.  I think the asshole’s ego got in the way.  I think he broke it off.  Mia took up with Whitney immediately which pissed off Burt.  And then Ted stepped in and took her away.”

“He did that, didn’t he?” Cid said proudly.

“Oh, I think that Mia and Whit was a limited engagement, but I am still surprised by Ted.  Not that I don’t think she made the right choice, mind you, but Ted was a dark horse.”

“He loved her from the moment he saw her,” Cid confided.  “I used to hate her before I met her.  How dare she choose that cop over my friend!  I thought she was this gold digger who slept with whoever had more to give her.  I was wrong.”

“You sure were, otherwise I would be Mr. Cooper-Dupree.”

Cid looked at Mike to see if he was serious.

“Not really, but if she were a gold digger, then she would have seen that I was the best catch.”

“You mean your mother’s money?”

“No, my good looks.  Can you imagine what our kids would have looked like?”

Cid started laughing.  Mike joined him.

“It’s a good thing that Mia isn’t swayed by looks alone, because I think genetically she made the right choice.  That kid is going to have an interesting face, but he’ll be talented in more ways than either parent,” Cid said confidently.

Dave stood a few feet down the hall listening.  He came just in time to hear about Mia’s former lovers.  He thought that Mia and Ted had always been together.  Even when he was observing them from his drug-hazed perch on the roof of Lucky’s, he could see the attraction.  But no one asked him.  They just thought he was a dumb kid.  He cleared his voice and strolled into the room.  “That was the best meal I’ve had yet.  You should exchange your apron for a chef’s hat, Cid.”

Cid got up only hearing the word
apron
.  Mike got between the two.  “I think he was giving you a compliment.”

“You don’t have to defend me,
old man
,” Dave said a second before Mike turned around and punched him.

Dave fell like a length of pine.  Maggie walked over, and instead of licking the face of the fallen teen, she cleaned the plate that fell to the floor with him.

Chapter Four

“It wasn’t fully formed and only had the strength to manifest for a few minutes,” Mia said.  “But it did unnerve me.”

“I’m not leaving you alone again.  Either I or Murphy is going to be with you until you’re back one-hundred percent.”

“Ted, I’m pregnant, not a cripple,” Mia argued.  “I just think that if we are going to live out there, we should have a safe room or exit strategy just in case.”

Ted and she were walking to the front of the house to retrieve Curly from the foyer.  He had run through all of the rooms twice with Ted and Mia watching the feeds for anything that needed their immediate attention.  The poltergeists, having no one to impress, had ceased their assault of the home for the time being.

“I hope you’re not upset with me,” Ted said softly.  “I agree with you on the room.  Maybe the nursery since it has its own bathroom, and Cid put in a few extras on Murphy’s insistence.”

Mia stopped and asked, “What did they do?”

“According to Cid, they ghost-proofed the room. He says as long as the windows and doors are closed then no ghosts can get in.  Murphy tested it from all angles, and the room, including the plumbing, is secure.”

“There goes my babysitter,” Mia said.  “Why would Murphy do that?”

“If the door is open, he can come and go that way, or the window for that matter.  He told Cid that he wanted our baby to be safe from his kind.”

“So he sacrificed his access to our little one for the baby’s safety?” Mia asked.

“Yes.”

“I don’t know whether to hug the
old goat
or smack him for not telling me.”

“You two have an interesting relationship,” Ted said.

Mia turned their attention back to the task at hand.  “I had a look at those interviews while you were at the gas station.  I sensed a trend in the attacks on the household members.”

“Really? Tell me.”

Mia pulled out a memo pad and looked at her notes before speaking.  “The twins, Tracy and Tricia, mentioned they were having a tug of war with the unknown involving clothes they hadn’t worn in a while.  Tracy said she didn’t appreciate them until something was trying to take them away.  The older boy, Nathan, received a smack in the face when he was watching television while his younger brother Joel heard a snapping of fingers whenever he was playing his Gameboy.  You do that to people who aren’t paying attention.  And Mr. Dawson was trapped in the garage by the doors shutting and locking themselves over and over.  Mrs. Dawson was trapped in her bathroom by all her beauty products being stacked on top of each other, filling the doorway.  They each had lost their freedom.  There were other poltergeist attacks with each falling under the themes of attention, appreciation and freedom.”

“Whoa, that’s interesting.  You may want to run that by Cid.”

“Didn’t he quit?”

“He’d still be interested.  He’s into all that mind babble.”

“Mind babble?” Mia asked amused.

“Yes, psychology.  I think the Dawsons are conjuring the poltergeists themselves.  Paying attention, being appreciative, and lack of freedom are common arguments between parents and adolescents,” he pointed out.  “Such as…” Ted stamped his foot and whined, “You don’t pay attention to me!” Ted took on a parental tone and said, “You don’t appreciate what we’ve given you.”  He changed again, his voice high, and said longingly, “I can’t wait to grow up. I want my freedom.”

“We don’t need Cid; I think you’ve got a good grasp on the angst,” Mia approved.

“I grew up with three sisters,” he reminded her. “I heard it all the time.”

“Did you have poltergeists?”

“No, but my mother had an ulcer.”

“I wonder who gave her that,” Mia accused.

They started walking again.  When they reached the front porch, Ted insisted that Mia take his arm as she walked up the three steps.  It was difficult for Mia to accept this kind of help even when she knew he did it because he loved her.  She tried not to let her irritation show.

Ted unlocked the door and pushed it inwards.  He used the remote to move Curly out of the building.  Mia reached in to pull the door shut, but something caught her eye.  “Hello, I’m Mia,” she said to the trio of Barbie dolls riding in a red, vintage Mustang convertible that was rolling out the door, tailgating Curly.

Mia eased herself down and sat on the edge of the formal receiving porch and waited.  The car moved around mimicking Thelma and Louise’s last moments.  The red convertible launched itself off the porch.  Ted caught it midair and returned it to the porch and set it next to Mia.

The three well-styled heads turned Mia’s way.

“You guys have been having quite a party, haven’t you?”

The dolls nodded.  Two gave each other high fives.

“I suppose you know you’re scaring the hell out of the people that live here.”

The doll heads nodded again.

“Can you tell me why?”

Two of the dolls shook their heads, but one nodded.

“Can you possibly tell me what’s up?”

The passenger Barbie stood up and floated out of the car and into the house.  Mia was tempted to go inside, but before she could raise her body, a large piece of sidewalk chalk sailed down the steps.  It began drawing on the immaculate cement surface beside Mia.

Ted and she watched as letters were scratched out.  The sound of the chalk on the treated cement was teeth-clenching, but Mia sat still and waited.

Appreciation Attention  Freedom

“I’d say that was pretty clear.  What do you think, Ted?”

“I agree with you.”

“If you get these demands, will you leave the people of this home alone?” Mia asked.

The piece of chalk sketched out a unicorn with a smile on its face.

“Are these demands yours or those of someone in the house?” Mia asked.

The two Barbies in the car turned their heads towards the house and extended one of their slim plastic arms.

“Someone in the house,” Mia acknowledged.  “One of the children?”

The dolls shook their heads.

“The parents?”

The dolls continued to shake their heads.

“Someone who works here?”

The dolls jumped up and down.

Mia turned to Ted.  “Did PEEPs examine all of this house?”

“Mike and Burt went on a tour with the owners while Cid filmed Audrey interviewing each of the four children.”

“I have a feeling that you haven’t seen all of this house.  Do you have a blueprint?”

“No.”

“Help me up, please,” Mia said, holding out her hands.

Ted lifted her up asking, “You’re not going in there, are you?”

“Yes I am.  Now before you start, I don’t think anything in there wants to harm me.  Am I right?” Mia addressed her words to the dolls.

The nod of their heads was enough for Mia.

“Well come on, girls, show me the way.  Drive slowly, please, I’m carrying a large load,” she explained, patting her stomach.

The dolls plopped down in the seats of the convertible with the piece of chalk riding shotgun.  The car started towards the interior of the house.

Ted took Mia’s hand to slow her down a moment.  He placed a large rock from the front landscaping in the threshold of the house, so the door wouldn’t be able to shut completely, possibly locking them inside.  They caught up to the Barbies in the kitchen.  Their car waited until the basement door opened before it bounced down the steps.

“Those dolls are wild drivers,” Ted said, putting himself in front of Mia as they descended the steps.  The basement wasn’t used for much but storage.  There was a small alcove where wine racks had been installed.  The car drove past these and bumped into the wall.  It reversed and drove into the wall again.

“Dead end,” Mia said disappointed.

Ted walked over to the wall and ran his hand along it.  He looked at the ceiling and at the floor.  He examined where the car had bumped into the wall and put his ear to the paneled wall.  “There’s someone behind the panel.  I can’t find any way of opening it from this side.  Whoever is there isn’t locked in.”

Mia moved to the wall and called softly, “Hello, is there anyone there?”

No answer.

“I won’t tell anyone you talked to me.  I’d like to talk to you.  You won’t get into trouble.  Please come out.”

“I can’t… big trouble… can’t.”  The voice was accented, but Mia couldn’t tell the country of origin of the woman who was speaking.

Mia and Ted looked at each other.

“We’re not the police or INS.  I’m Mia, and this is my husband Ted.  We are alone, and we’d like to talk to you.”

“Why?”

“Oh, there’s a lot of strange things happening out here.  Crazy stuff.  Toys driving by themselves.  Furniture flying.”

“The Dawsons told me to stay down here until you left.  But you don’t leave!”

Intrigued Mia asked, “Are you by any chance making the toys move?”

“No!  Not me.”

Mia’s eyes lit up.  She looked at Ted, and he nodded his head.  She cleared her voice and asked, “Are you appreciated?  Do they give you their undivided attention?  Do you want your freedom?”

“Why are you asking me this?”

The panels on the wall shook and shifted, and a small thin slit appeared.  Mia backed away so she would not frighten the woman behind the door or put herself in danger.  Ted put a protective arm around her shoulders.

The woman who appeared out of the wall was young and thin.  Her hair was dark as were her eyes, and she had a pinched look to her.  She wore a gray maid’s uniform, white shoes and socks.

“Hello, I’m Mia, this is Ted,” Mia introduced them again.

“They call me CC, but my name is Carlotta Charlemagne.  My family is well thought of in my country.  Not so much here.”

“Are you treated poorly by the Dawsons?”

“Come and see,” she said, opening the door wider and stepping aside.

Mia and Ted walked into a neat, three room apartment.  There wasn’t a window to be seen, but the space was well lit and cheerfully furnished.  The living room furniture was high end, including a television.  A small kitchenette was tucked into the corner with small but expensive appliances.  CC had a nice bedroom, and her bathroom had both a tub and a shower to bathe in.  Mia thought it should have been a cold room but there seemed to be heat radiating up from the floor.

“Is this floor heated?” she asked, putting her hand on the expensive tile.

“Yes.”

“Are you being held here against your will?”

“No.”

“Why are you living in the basement?”

“I sometimes get migraines.  Here I can block out all of the light.  Rosemary, Mrs. Dawson, had this apartment made just for me so I could feel safe.”