Mitch (12 page)

No. Somewhere in the tunnel systems is a dead
wall. I’m not sure why she’s calling it that, but that is what she has in her
head. I’m thinking she means false wall, and that you have to know where it is
to find it. The wall can be moved, and behind it is a large vault, like you’d
find
in a larger bank. She showed me a picture of it even. It has one wall that
has drawers in it, as well as another wall that has old trunks in it. I’m not
sure what are in those, and your mother didn’t seem to know either, but they’re
treasure chests, she calls them.
Vinnie asked her what they were going to
do with this treasure.
Pay a witch to bring your father back.

Will that work?
Aunt Millie said she
had no idea, but he believed it, as did her mother
. And the tunnels. Does he
have it in his head that he can use them to get around the city? Or...he thinks
he can get into houses this way, doesn’t he?

He knows he can. There are no plans for the
house you live in, and up until you banned them from your home, your father was
going through all of them looking for where they might lead. Amber said your
father would explore the tunnels, then come to her to have her write the
information down for him. She has known about this all from the very beginning,
and her duty was to make you allow her to live with you so that they’d have all
the access they needed
. Vinnie asked her why she was helping her.
Because...because
I’ve come to realize that I wasn’t a nice person. There was no reason for me to
treat you or anyone as I did. And now I find that while it’s too late for most
of the things I did to everyone, I might be able to help you. That means a
great deal to me.

And I’m supposed to just trust you.
Her aunt said she
hoped that she would.
I don’t know. You are his sister.

Yes. And you’re his daughter, but that does
not mean that either of us need to continue, as I have done, in his footsteps.
I want to help you. I can help you all.
Her aunt stood up.
I’m sorry for
everything, Vinnie. You have no idea how sorry I really am.

After she left, Vinnie went to find Mitch.
She needed rest and to think. Telling Mitch she’d see him later, Vinnie moved
to her rooms and lay on the bed. Sleep was hard in coming to her.

Chapter 8

Steele watched the doctor as he examined his
wife. Kari was really glowing with health, and she was as happy as he was about
the baby coming along. When a client came into the room with them, her body
clad in an old nurse’s uniform from what he thought was the early part of the
century, he wanted to tell her to go away for just a little while longer. But
Kari touched his arm, and he looked at her.

“Go. Whatever she needs, you have to help her
with it.” The doctor asked her what she’d said, and Kari told him she was
saying Steele was a huge help. When she nodded to the door, he left the room
and looked for the nurse. She was standing next to a small child and a very
pregnant woman.

Steele’s powers, or whatever they were, had
gotten a great deal stronger since he’d met and married Kari. He didn’t know if
it was her or the fact that he was letting them shine through. Whatever it was,
he could now speak to clients even if they weren’t for any reason able to speak
verbally.

“I have something for your grandmother. She
asked me to look into some things for her.” He nodded and smiled. Grandmother
was forever having someone come to him with a bit of this or that. Last week it
was a recipe for a Kentucky bourbon cake, which they’d made twice now and eaten
every morsel. “It’s about young Mitch. And a few others that were at the house.”

That got his attention. Mitch had been having
a parade of ghosts coming and going for the last several days. It was about his
trial, he knew that, but it was scary to think how many of them had been hurt
by the Bruce family. Some they had murdered, but quite a few of them had committed
suicide rather than live with what had been done to them.

“I know where the files are at the old part
of the hospital she said you’d need. Medical records on some of the boys were
there. When the hospital turned things over to that new system, those boys that
were dead—not just those from that horrid house, but all boys and girls from
foster care that were just gone—weren’t put there. I guess they were thinking
that if nobody claimed their little bodies, there was no reason to put them in
the system now.” Steele asked her where they were. “There’s a back stairs to it
from this area. It’s been closed off for some time I guess, but you can still
get there though the doctor’s office. He knows it’s there, but never uses it.
If you go, take a torch with you, as the power has long since been taken out.”

Nodding, he tried to think how he could get
into the office without making a scene. But the nurse winked at him and made
her way down the hall to the office. Steele followed but didn’t enter when she
did. As she told him how to get to the doorway, Billy and Carlton showed up. He
didn’t even wait for them to explain how they were going to distract everyone,
but made his way into the office and the door when the first scream tore
through the offices.

The stairwell was dark and quiet. Cobwebs decorated
every inch of the wide wooden staircase, but he turned on the flashlight he
always had with him and made his way down the steps, using his jacket as a sort
of broom to sweep the cobwebs out of his face. At the bottom of the stairs, he
paused and looked around. There were more than just files down here. Ghosts
were everywhere.

The man that approached him smiled. He’d bet anything
the man was from the thirties or thereabout. His mode of dress was a dead
giveaway, and the hat he had on was a perfect foil for the pinstriped suit and
smallish tie.

“You’d be Steele.” He nodded at him. “Been told
to expect you. Come along then, we’ll get you put to rights with all this
bullaballoo.” He moved with the man, careful not to let any of the others move
through him. He hated that, the feeling he got when they walked through him. The
man seemed to understand this and shooed the others back.

“Why haven’t they moved on to where they want
to go?” The man stopped and looked around as if he just realized that they
hadn’t moved on when they should have. “There should have been someone to come
and help them when they passed away.”

The man started walking again, his head bent
low like a man who was going to the gallows or something. Steele started to ask
him again why they’d not moved, but the man started talking. Steele could hear
the sadness in his voice.

“I suppose for some of us, this is better. We
get to talk to those that need us. There is a whole floor of people here that
can talk to us, you know. They call it the geriatric floor, but we call it the
fun floor. I think in a way we might offer them comfort before they pass. Most
of them go on now, but we...well, we like it here. We’re used to it, I guess.” Steele
could understand that, he supposed. “There do be a few of us that should have
moved on, I guess. Those that just sit in the corner waiting. Don’t know what
they might be waiting on, but there they wait.”

“And you’re their keeper of sorts.” The man
laughed again, and that was when he’d let a little of his hold go on his body.
He’d been shot about ten times in the chest and once in the head. He’d not been
a good man when he lived, apparently, and someone had made him pay dearly. “How
long have you been here?”

“Long time. When I first died, so long ago
now that I rarely think about it, I wasn’t what you might call a cooperative
person. Gave those men and women meant to help me a bit of a bad time of it. They
kept adding onto my sentence over and over until I guess I finally got it.” His
laughter this time was bitter and cold. “I have had more years here than I did
living. But I’m making up for it now. I’m sort of an ambassador to this place.
Making sure we get what we need, and I even set up this sort of schedule for
the dying. You know, matching up them with someone that might have a few things
to share with them. It’s been working well for us all.”

“I want to thank you for that.” He waved
Steele off, but he knew the man was proud of what he was doing. “When you have
a need, something that you can’t get, let me know and I’ll see that you get
it.” The man, Conner he said his name was, told him he’d do that.

“This here is what you want. Oh, and Nurse
Bessie said to show you the way out. Ain’t that pretty, but you’ll see sunlight
soon enough.” Steele nodded as he picked up the first box of files. “The ones
you’d be looking for are in there. She said them boys had been passed over.
So’s you know, two of them are here now.” Steele looked around, seeing several
young men, as well as a couple of small children. It was sad to think they’d
lost their lives so young.

“Can they talk to me?” Conner said he’d ask
but not to count on much. When he returned a few minutes later with a young
man, Steele knew his name. His file was the first one he’d pulled out. Garth
Bell. “Do you know who I am?”

“Yeah, you’re that guy who sends us on if we
wanna go. I don’t, just so you know. I got me a nice gig going here and—” The
back of his head snapped forward, and Steele had to cover his laughter with a
cough. Conner had been there long enough to know he could tap someone when
needed. “He said that I wasn’t to bullshit you. That you needed me to help you.
What do I get out of this?”

“Years off your sentence if you want it.” The
boy looked at Conner, then back at him and shrugged. “There’s a family, the
Bruces. They’re suing a friend of mine for running when things got out of hand.
I was trying to find something on them so that they won’t win.”

“Mitch.” Steele said that was right and asked
him how he knew his name. “‘Cause I was there that night. The night he lit out
of there like his pants were on fire. Him and this kid by the name of Thomas—let
me think on his last name—but they were being tied up when I seen them. I go
back there sometimes to just piss them off, but I can’t do much.”

“When you were there, did you see anything
else? I mean...well, what sort of things they were doing to them?” The kid
looked around, and then when Conner moved on, Steele waited. There was going to
be a story here, and he was sure it was going to be horrific.

“I know what they did to us boys there. Did
it to me too until I hanged myself one night. Buried me in the back yard so
that nobody would know what they’d done. Not that anybody would have visited my
grave anyway, but I just got all wrapped up in a dirty sheet and tossed in the
ground.” Steele decided he would make sure the boy got what he deserved in the
way of a proper grave and marker. “Anyway, I could see they were planning to
rape them both. Tied them to the bed with them cuffs, they had. Used them on me
a few times too, but now I got me a little power and blasted them right off Mitch.
He helped that other boy out when them other two were down. Thomas near tore
off that man’s dick...penis, and the woman got herself kicked in the face a few
times and they was down, let me tell you.”

“Were there any more boys after that?” Instead
of answering him, Garth looked to his left at the three kids sitting in the
corner. They were beaten, not only physically but also in what was left of
their minds. “I can help them if they want.”

“They killed themselves like I did.” Steele
asked him what he meant. “You know. We are damned. Not going anywhere but to
hell, and if it’s all the same to you, I’d just as soon stay here and help out.
But those over there...well, I don’t know that anybody could help them out any
more. They’re done. And you know what I mean by that.”

He did. Steele had seen it plenty in his
life. They were the lost, people who knew they were dead and just simply had
given up. They would use up their time in this place by doing nothing but being
dead. It would be a long and very painful existence for them. And Steele also
knew if they didn’t want help, no one would be able to give it to them. But he
thought he could help Garth.

Gathering all the files he thought he’d need,
Garth and Conner led him to the opening deep within the hospital he was sure
hadn’t seen a broom or mop in more decades than he’d been living. Turning to
the two men, he told them thanks.

“You need me, you know how to reach me. I’m
here for you.” They both nodded, but he wasn’t sure they were believing him.
Losing hope was terrible when you were alive, and he’d bet it was horrific if
you were dead without it. “I’d like to be able to call on you should I need
you. Connie said you were helpful to her, and I’d like to see if you’d be
willing to help me as well.”

“You can count on it. Steele Bennett and his
men of justice, they’re ones to have in your corner. You just call on either of
us and we’ll be more than glad to pull a rabbit out of our hats for you.”

As Steele made his way to his car, he called
Mitch and let him know what he’d found and who he’d spoken to. He could tell he
was distracted about something and started to ask him about it when he finally
told him. Steele picked up a little speed in his walk then.

“We found the treasure. Steele, it’s...holy
shit, Steele, it’s really a treasure.” He could hear Vinnie talking to someone
in the background. “You have to come here. I think. Christ, we’ve hit the
mother lode.”

~~~

Vinnie watched as the men took more and more
boxes out of the vault to be inventoried. She looked over at Luther as he
laughed with Connie and Billy. She was sort of a little creeped out about them.
Not that they were ghosts, but that she could see them. When Mitch came over
and kissed her again, she wanted to hit him as well.

“You’re not having fun.” She told him she
was. “No, you’re not. You’re about to jump out of your skin. What is it? All
the people here?”

“No. They don’t bother me. I just...why did
he say he had this put in if all he was going to do was put stuff in it? I
mean, I know that’s what a vault is for, but this is as big if not bigger than
any bank vault I’ve seen.” They both looked in the cavernous rooms. “What are
we going to do with all of this?”

There were at least four rooms in the large
opening. One entire wall was made of drawers from top to bottom, each of them
labeled and all of them filled. Diamonds and other stones were in most of the
drawers, but there were also watches and cufflinks. Tiaras and earrings. There were
more things in just the drawers than there were in the completed stock of any
jewelry company. Then there was the furniture.

Roll top desks…three of them. Secretaries
that were covered in silk sheets with not a speck of dust on them. Luther told
them he’d had the climate control put in even back then, knowing he’d want to
keep things nice. Books lined glassed fronted shelves, first editions, most of
them signed. Pottery that she knew was as old as her. There were spears and
guns, knives and swords. And the most beautiful collection of tea cups she’d
ever seen. Hundreds of them.

“I would like to suggest you open yourself an
antique store. It’s what the missus and I had planned to do. But when she
died...it broke my heart and I just never thought of this room again.” Luther
looked in the rooms and smiled at her. “She so loved the little tea cups, you
know? Collected them all over the world. At one time we were going to put them
on the market, and they alone were worth millions. Imagine that. Tea cups that
are worth more than most people make in several lifetimes. But you should do
it. You’d be very good at it.”

Connie had told her the same thing. And
Vinnie had considered it even then. She had warehouses full of things she’d collected
too. Things that she’d used when she was younger. Items that had caught her
fancy, books that she’d read. Her collection wasn’t nearly this large, but hers
with this would fill several stores and then some. When Mitch came back out
with another load of things he wanted her to see, she looked deep into the box
and saw a key. Picking it up, she asked Luther about it.