“What do you mean?” Beckworth demanded.
“Well,” I said reasonably, “they’re heavy, right? And they’re big and bulky, right? It’d be pretty obvious if Anton were to just walk out the door with them. Maybe he’s hidden them until it’s safe to move all of them out.”
“Where would they be?” asked Gil. “I mean, M.J., they could be anywhere, and this is a big hotel.”
I looked at him with conviction and said, “I know exactly where they are, Gil.”
“Where?”
“Room three-twenty-one.”
“What?” MacDonald gasped. “Sophie’s room?”
“Yes,” I said, feeling I was on right on target. Turning to Heath I said, “Do you remember what Carol said to us when she wanted time to think?”
Heath cocked his head to the side. “That she wanted to be alone?”
“No,” I said. “She said to you, ‘keep the staff out of my room.’ ”
“Okay . . . ?”
“The staff! She meant Anton! He’s probably been going in and out of there with the mirrors all day! And where else besides a crime scene would you be certain things weren’t going to be disturbed?”
“That means he’d have to break the seal up there and remove the padlock,” MacDonald told us.
“Come on,” I said, already moving toward the Twilight Room to retrieve my tool belt. “I’m not going back up there unarmed.”
“I’ve got a gun,” said MacDonald.
I looked over my shoulder at him. “Which won’t do us any good against a demon. Nope, Detective, for this we’ll need grenades.”
Ten minutes later we were riding the elevator, and gripped tightly in Heath’s, Gilley’s, and my hands were magnetic spikes. MacDonald was looking at us as if he was a little unsure about our weapons of choice, but Beckworth seemed to take it all in stride.
MacDonald asked him, “Can you believe all this?”
Beckworth replied calmly, “I come from England. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a ghost there.”
Gilley stifled a giggle, and I had a new appreciation for the billionaire. The bell at the top of the elevator dinged, and the doors opened slowly. The hallway was now well lit, and I spotted my cell phone at the end of the corridor. Everyone held back to see who would be the first brave soul through the doors, and I finally stepped out and held the spikes up defensively. “I think we’re all right,” I coaxed. “Come on out.”
The boys all stepped out and waited as I trotted down the hall to retrieve my cell. The battery appeared to have died, but otherwise it looked okay. After going back to the group I walked next to MacDonald, Gilley was with Beckworth, and Heath brought up the rear.
He and I had already discussed keeping our sixth sense wide open, just in case. We got to room 321, and MacDonald inspected the seal on the door. “It’s intact. My initials cover the seam.” I squinted and saw that between the door and the seam on the piece of paper sealing the crime scene were the initials A.M.
MacDonald then moved his attention to the padlock. “The lock hasn’t been tampered with either, and I’m the only one with the keys.”
“Okay,” I said. “Can you get us in there?”
“No,” he said.
I looked at him in shock. “Why not? You got us into the restroom downstairs.”
“Yes, and that was obviously a mistake.” He gave me a pointed look that said it would be useless to argue. “There’s no way I’m breaking a sealed crime scene again without a
much
better reason than a hunch.”
“But—” I began to argue.
“No buts,” MacDonald insisted. “I mean it, M.J.: You’re not going to get me to break this seal, especially when it’s clear to me that it hasn’t been breached. The mirrors aren’t in there. They’re probably not even in this hotel. Anton or whoever could have taken them to the loading dock out back and driven off hours ago.”
I opened my mouth to say something but decided against it. MacDonald had a solid point, and I figured I’d already landed him in enough trouble. “Okay,” I said, giving in.
“This is most distressing,” said Beckworth. “I’m off to call my insurance agency, but without at least one mirror here there’s no way to prove their value. Detective, I’m afraid I’ve little choice but to have a word with your lieutenant.”
MacDonald blanched. “I understand, sir, but the mirrors in question were likely stolen property, which meant you were out the cash either way.”
Beckworth scowled. It was obvious he didn’t like being reminded of that, and he turned his frustration on us. “And I would appreciate it if the three of you packed your things and departed first thing in the morning. I will pay you for the time you’ve spent here so far—I’m assuming you were able to get rid of at least a few of the poltergeists haunting this hotel?”
“If you give us until the morning, sir,” I said, “we’ll clean out all the grounded spirits for you.” Gilley gave me a look as if he didn’t approve, but I figured it was the minimum we could do for things turning out so badly for the old man.
“I’m in,” Heath whispered to me, and I nudged his shoulder and smiled.
“Very well,” said Beckworth. “You’ll have until eight a.m.”
I glanced at my watch. It was currently eight p.m.—we had twelve hours.
“In the meantime, sir,” MacDonald said before Beckworth could shuffle away, “would you mind giving me the address and contact information you have on this Anton character?”
“Of course,” said Beckworth. “Come with me, Detective, and I’ll have the assistant manager look that up for you.”
As MacDonald and Beckworth left to go track down Anton, Gilley rounded on me. “Have you lost
all
your marbles?”
“It was the right thing to do, Gil.”
Gilley crossed his arms and worked himself into a nice little huff. “The man gave us the perfect exit, M.J., and you practically beg him to hang out here in Hotel Hell for
another
night of fun and laughs while we run for our lives!”
I leveled a look at my partner—the drama queen. “Gil,” I said, adding a rather exasperated sigh. “We can do this, and it doesn’t mean putting ourselves at further risk. The only thing we’ll have to remember is to stick together in groups, and at all times one of us should have our hands on the grenade caps. If anything even
remotely
demonish shows up, either Heath or Gopher or I will pull the plug and it’s bombs away.”
Gilley continued to glare at me. “You’re up to something,” he said to me.
I forced myself to laugh heartily, but the truth was that Gil was absolutely right. I
knew
the mirrors were still here, but I also felt just as strongly that if they weren’t discovered soon, they’d disappear. I couldn’t help but worry what would happen then.
I had little doubt they’d be destroyed and their frames melted down, and what would that mean for Odolina? She was so attached to the mirrors, wanting to get them to her beloved fiancé and all. I felt that she would suffer even more if the mirrors came to a bad end, and there would be little I could do for her once they disappeared.
Odolina had affected me more than I was willing to admit. It was just such a tragic thing that happened to her, and more than anything I wanted to stall for time and hope that we got lucky and, in ridding the hotel of its otherworldly residents, maybe, just maybe, we’d find the mirrors.
“Come on,” I said, glancing at my watch and wanting to put an end to the argument. “We’ve got eleven hours and fifty minutes to cross as many of these guys over as we can.”
Without another word I walked purposefully toward the elevators and smiled when I heard both Heath and Gil following close behind.
“You’re sure this thing is going to prevent me from being possessed again?” asked Gopher as he stared rather doubtfully at the crystal I’d placed in his palm. We were standing in the lobby, putting on our gear, and Gilley had moved his monitor and much of the other equipment into that area, deciding that he wanted to be in full view of the manager on duty and the security cameras lest anything creepy be haunting the conference rooms.
“Close your eyes,” I said to Gopher.
“Why?”
I sighed. “Because I asked you to. Come on, Gopher, play along for a minute, will ya?”
The producer closed his eyes, but the frown he’d been wearing for the past twenty minutes held firm. “Okay, they’re closed,” he said.
“Great, now tell me how you feel.”
“Nauseous,” he said. “I can’t believe I’m agreeing to go on another one of these busts.”
“You’re the one who wanted to turn us into movie stars,” I reminded him.
It was Gopher’s turn to sigh. “We all know I don’t make great decisions,” he said.
I smiled. “Besides the nausea,” I said, “tell me how the rest of you feels.”
Gopher took a moment to answer, but eventually he said, “I don’t know, kind of heavy. Like I’m weighed down.”
My smile broadened and I plucked the crystal from his palm. Immediately Gopher said, “Whoa!”
“Lemme guess,” I said. “You’re feeling lighter?”
Gopher nodded. “That is freaky!”
I placed the crystal back in his hand and closed his fingers over it. “Now, keep that in your pocket at all times, okay? As long as you’re carrying it your energy will be too dense for Oruç to enter you. He won’t be able to take you over at all.”
“Got it,” he said, opening his eyes and tucking the sphalerite into his pocket. “But why aren’t you guys going to be carrying some of it?”
“Because we’ll need to keep our energies nice and light to communicate with the ghosties.”
“Doesn’t that mean that Baba can enter you, though?”
Heath and I shared a look. “It does,” I said. “And that’s why you’ve got to carry a few of these too.” I handed Gopher three grenades. “Don’t take the cap off until something scary happens,” I warned. “Otherwise, you’ll ruin our chances of crossing someone over.”
“I’m supposed to carry these and film you two?”
“We’ll all be carrying them, and we’ll all be filming. Gilley brought along a set of cameras we use in our regular busts too. We’ll give you full access to the film from those cameras to use in your show if you want.”
“Okay,” said Gopher, and I could tell he was trying to work up his nerve.
“What’s the plan?” asked Heath when Gopher was armed and ready.
“We’ll start in the old dining hall,” I said, “and work our way up to the fifth floor. Then we’ll give our friend Carol one more college try before we call it a night.”
“Why did she have to be on the third floor?” moaned Gilley. “M.J., I vote for you to skip Carol.”
“If we keep standing around arguing we’ll have no choice but to skip her,” I said impatiently, making a point of looking at my watch. Gilley rolled his eyes and went back to his monitors.
“I have good reception on all three electrostatic meters, and I’ve got clear pictures on cameras one and two,” he told us, indicating on the bar the small digital recorders that Heath and I would carry.
I picked up the nearest one and handed it to Heath. “This switch converts the picture from normal view to night vision,” I said, showing him the switch. “The rest of it is pretty straightforward.”
“Too cool,” he said, turning the camera over in his hand. “And I’m locked, loaded, and ready to go.”
“Great,” I said, stuffing several grenades, my electrostatic meter, and a bottle of water into it my tool belt. I then donned my headphones and microphone and said, “Let’s roll.”
I’d taken a few steps when I heard Gilley call my name. I turned and he said, “Please be careful?”
I gave him a winning smile and a thumbs-up and led the other two to the dining hall.
We entered the darkened room and flipped our cameras to night vision. I took a moment to record the massive room where the hotel held its wedding receptions, and as I scanned the tables and chairs, something appeared to flutter across my screen, then faded by a table and chairs.
“Over there,” said Heath, pointing in the exact spot where I’d seen something.
“Yeah,” I said. “I just caught an orb. Come on, Heath, let’s check it out.”
We crossed the room to the far corner near the stage, and immediately I felt the presence of a young woman who was telling me she wanted to sing me a song.
“Hi, there,” I said happily. The woman’s energy didn’t feel upset or troubled at all; in fact, she felt as if she were a bundle of fun.
“I like her,” said Heath. “She’s a hugger.”
I laughed. Sometimes in my line of work we come across folks who just loved life on this plane so much that they want to continue to engage in it. They resist crossing over because they were having so much fun here. “It’s the wedding receptions,” I said. “She loves the energy of them.”
“I feel like she’s a big romantic,” Heath said, then looked at the stage. “And a performer.”
In my head I heard the name Molly, and from somewhere toward the back of the stage we heard what sounded like a woman singing.
“Whoa,” whispered Gopher. “Do you guys hear that?”
“Can I get a status?” said Gilley in my ear. “Over.”
“We’ve made contact, Gil,” I said. “Heath and I are getting ready to talk her into crossing.”
“Now we know why people feel like they’re being touched in here by unseen hands,” said Heath, and in my viewfinder I watched the orb appear onstage and move from the center over to the left and down the steps to weave in and out of the tables.
“It’s like she thinks she’s in Vegas,” I said with a laugh. “Man, I really like her.”
“So let’s get her where she belongs,” Heath suggested, “to perform in front of an audience that can appreciate her.”
“Cool,” I agreed. “Do you want to take this one?”
“Can I?”
“By all means!” I backed up to give Heath some space and record him through the viewfinder.
It took Heath and me about a half hour to convince Molly to cross over. The lovely woman wasn’t easily convinced that leaving a gig like this was in her best interest, but eventually, with Heath and me each taking turns, we were able to talk her into going by telling her a little white lie. We implied that we’d booked her a special show with a nice big audience. Of course, we’d had to pull some major strings to get her the exclusive gig, we’d said, but we’d heard how amazing she was onstage, and that she didn’t have much time before the show was to start. We told her that the elevator was about to go up if she was willing to take the ride. “You can always come back if it doesn’t work out,” I said—which was a bit of a fib. Soon after that, Molly was on the joyride of her life, and Heath and I were slapping high fives with each other.