Dead Sure?: A Paranormal Mystery (3 page)

“Leslie, I need you to do me a huge favor. Please baby, I know it’s going to sound a little crazy.” The tone of his voice didn’t match his normal calm and in control demeanor.

“What are you talking about? You seem upset.”

“I overheard a couple of guys getting on the elevator. They said a repo man was talking to the desk manager about getting into the parking garage. I think he is coming for my car,” he said glancing around nervously. “Leslie, I need you to go to the parking garage entrance area and distract him while I sneak out of here.”

“How am I going to do that?”

“I don’t know, please, I really need this one,” adding in a cute face just for good measure.

Jack finished stuffing the luggage in the back seat and shut the door. Looking down to the far end of the garage, he could clearly see the headlights of a tow truck become visible in the gloom like two yellow eyes.

In a vain attempt to please Jack, Leslie hurried off towards the distant tow truck. Jack jumped into the Charger and fired the motor up. He loved the sound of the pipes on the car as it sprang to life. A small smirk came over his face. Just maybe he could slip out of this one. Quickly, he pulled out and headed in the opposite direction. A moment or so later he came around a corner and was headed back in the same direction as the tow truck. Only a small aisle of parked cars separated them. He was about halfway to the exit when he hazarded a glance towards the other aisle. The tow truck had gotten halfway to where he had been only moments before. Curiously it had stopped there, and as Jack saw why he forgot what he was doing and began to slow down.

Speeding up again, he wasn’t sure if he had really seen what he thought he did. It sure looked to him like Leslie had flashed the tow truck driver.
For a sight as good as that, who wouldn’t stop?
Jack thought happily to himself.

Jack was snapped back to reality quickly as a car in front of him started to back out of its parking stall. Jack instinctively hit the horn and swerved right to get around it. The loud blast of the horn and the tires squealing awoke the repo man from his momentary blissful distraction. For a brief second Jack and the repo man locked eyes. Both knew what the other was thinking. To make it to the exit first meant winning the battle; for Jack that meant escaping with his car. For the repo man it meant collecting his commission, and he had no intention of not collecting. Jack stomped down hard on the gas. The engine snarled and the tires squealed as the transmission downshifted with a jolt. The repo man, seeing this, threw the tow truck into reverse and hit the gas. The truck lurched backwards loudly in protest. It was about ten car lengths to the entry tunnel. The truck only had to go straight and turn sideways to win the battle. Jack, on the other, hand had to get to the end of the aisle and  do a ninety degree turn to the left followed by a hard right.

Jack’s palms were sweaty and his heart was pounding as he neared the end of the aisle. Risking a glance back, he could see the tow truck was only about two car lengths behind him. Breaking for the corner was probably going to eat up his lead.
The Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift
jumped into his mind
,
and he yanked on the e-brake just as his car was coming into the corner. The tires squealed and the car amazingly slid around the corner without losing much speed at all. Now if he could just make the next right quick enough. It was a very tight squeeze. Jack could see from the side window the tow truck bearing down on him; the repo man snarling with fury. He was going to get to the turn at about the same time, and judging by the look on the man’s face he wasn’t going to stop come hell or high water.

This just fueled Jack’s competitive nature. He stomped on the gas, more determined than ever, and yanked the wheel hard right. The green Charger started to slide perfectly into the corner when the tow truck arrived to meet it. The truck caught the Charger on the back driver’s corner of the car. The car shook violently as the two vehicles clipped each other. The momentum of Jack’s car could not be denied as the car completed the corner with a wild jolt. Jack was accelerating up the entry ramp now with the tow truck just behind his rear bumper. Glancing in the mirror again he could see it starting to lose ground. The entrance jutted up sharply at the top with several signs warning for the need to go slow. Engine howling; the lime green Charger hit the top of the ramp and caught several inches of air before landing on the street. With a hard yank of the wheel to the right Jack regained control of the car and sped down the street free of that demon of a repo man.

Son of bitch, I made it. What a lucky break nothing was coming.
Glancing in his rear view mirror the tow truck was visible backing out onto the street. Jack whipped him the bird, not that the guy was close enough to see it. Jack couldn’t stop grinning at his narrow escape and Leslie’s unbelievable distraction
. Hopefully the car didn’t sustain too much damage in the collision.
Oh well, at least it’s still my car… barely,
he thought smiling to himself.

The navi computer in the dash was showing his destination of St Paul to be about nineteen hours away.
With one overnight rest stop I should arrive Friday the 13th. That will leave me plenty of time to find a place and settle in before work on Wednesday. I wonder if Uncle Lefty still lives in the area?
Jack was originally from the Minnesota area. Not that he was one to admit it. He loved the flavor and taste of the fast-paced east coast lifestyle.

*    *    *

Friday evening: Rene was just finishing up work at her second job at one of the local antique stores.  She was in no hurry, because she had nothing planned. She dawdled and daydreamed about meeting somebody special.  She had a couple close calls at love, but never the right one, not her soul mate. 
Maybe there is no such thing; maybe I’m just being too picky.

Renee was beautiful with natural strawberry blonde hair, but some people might describe her as flakey. She could always be found moving from one hopeless cause to the next. She put great energy into her projects which were always meant to make the world a better place. But recently, she felt tired and run down. 

Suddenly, the bell to the front door clanged loudly as her boss Liam entered the store. “Rene, Rene, this is our chance to really do something about the bank building.” Liam blurted out excitedly.  Liam continued babbling along at a hundred miles per hour as usual. Most of the time she didn’t mind, but tonight it was annoying her.             

That’s all he does lately…talk, talk, talk…about that damn bank building. Sheesh, I wish he would stop going on about it…Well, at least he has some passion and wants to make the world a better place. Where’s all my passion gone lately? My current attitude isn’t very Taoist.
Rene forced herself to sound interested and not irritated. “What have you found out, Liam?”

“Next Wednesday, they’re planning to implode the bank building.  I’m organizing a protest. Look, I’ve made up some flyers,” he said excitedly jamming one of the bright orange flyers into her hands.

As the bank flyer entered her hand she felt an unexpected chill run up her spine. Not that it was cold outside, quite the opposite it was a lovely eighty-two degrees.

“It will be great, with a lot of media attention and enough noise the city government will have to take another look at putting the building on the historic registry,” he continued without noticing Rene’s reaction.

Rene loved Liam’s enthusiasm even if he was somewhat geeky.   “Liam, You know I have to work on Wednesday at ‘my day job’.” She was a receptionist at a local doctor’s office. The job was dull, but it paid the bills. The antique store was much more her speed.

“Come on, Rene, I really need you there. Hey, take a vacation day and I’ll pay you your store wages for whatever hours you’re at the rally.  Liam, being the owner of the antique store, could get away with that.

“Fine,” she said a bit gruffly again not sounding like herself. She shuddered as she handed the flyer back to him. Rene suddenly felt compelled to finish up and get the hell out of the store.

*     *      *

Thirty minutes later Rene was driving down Highway 52 headed for home. Her bright yellow VW Beetle was doing sixty-five miles an hour in a fifty mile an hour zone.  She started to get that funny feeling again--one of those weird headaches was coming on. Her vision started to fade like a movie scene. Black was creeping quickly from the edges and filling it in as if she was starting to head down a tunnel.

Abruptly, the sound of twisting metal and breaking glass filled the air as two cars collided. The yellow Beetle had crossed the center line and hit a green Charger on the driver’s side front. The impact whipped the Charger hard to the right, causing it to leave the road, beginning a plunge down a steep drop to the river below.  As the bright green car’s tires hit the uneven surface of grass and dirt, the wheels stopped sliding and the vehicle’s momentum forced it to flip over like a toy. It continued to slide down the embankment on its roof and stopped with what was left of the hood touching the edge of the water. With a mighty gasp, the engine stopped and steam began pouring out.

The force of the impact spun the yellow Beetle around one hundred and eighty degrees; it was now traveling in the same direction as the Charger had been. It flew down the road before it veered off, hitting a large road sign which brought it to a final halt.

Chapter 3
The Medallion

The Medallion

Charles stood there confused in disbelief as Bill dashed up to him. He could still hear the whistle of the bullet zipping past his ear. Turning, Charles saw a body on the floor. Blood was pooling around the head. Bill had pulled off a perfect head shot right over Charles’s shoulder. The servant was wearing some type of odd clothing, it looked Chinese.

“Bill, you could have killed me trying a shot like that. He doesn’t even have a weapon.”

Too bad it wasn’t a little later, I would have let him kill you.
“You’re fine, Chuck, now shut it and let’s get this job done. I don’t want to stick around here any longer.  It’s just invitin’ trouble.” 

“Fine, whatever, let’s stick together and get the job done,” Charles said irritated. 
I am not working with this guy anymore after this. It just isn’t worth it.

The pair proceeded to the second floor. “I’ll go to the left; you head right,” Bill said.

“Hey, remember we’re sticking together in case there is more trouble.”

“Screw that, we need to find the cash and get out.” And with that Bill headed down the hall to the right. 

“Fine, just do that.” Charles headed down the hall in the opposite direction. Thunder boomed again and rain began to pelt the windows. Charles was still fuming about almost getting shot. So what if someone was behind him. He was a few feet back with no weapon.
Bill seems convinced there is cash and the boss told me about jewels. Both sure would make for a big score. This is definitely going to be my big break.
That thought was punctuated by another loud clap of thunder.

Charles counted two doors on each side of the hallway and another one at the end of it.
Where the hell should I start?
He asked himself. He started to go to the farthest door on the right hand side of the hall. He was just a few feet from it when he heard a loud creak and the door at the end of the hall popped open a crack. In a split second the gun from his shoulder holster found its way into his hand. Standing stock still he waited for a moment but nothing more happened. Gingerly he stuck the tip of his shoe in the crack and with a slight sideways kick opened the door the rest of the way. Much to his relief, no one was there. It was just a staircase heading up to a third floor. Probably that turret room he had noticed when they drove up.

With a slight smirk on his face, Charles remembered his boyhood home and the goofy old stairs. Every time you got to the third stair from the top of the staircase the bedroom door would pop open. The first few times it happened he couldn’t figure out what was going on. After that, he enjoyed scaring friends coming over for the first time. Lenny had been hilarious when he tripped the door. Lenny must have been about ten at the time. He screamed like a little girl and went running down the stairs, actually more like jumping two or three at a time. What a little sissy. Come to think of it, he never did come back over. Although that probably had more to do with the incessant teasing he had given Lenny after the incident.

Relaxing a little, Charles pushed the gun back into the holster and headed up the stairs. His flashlight sliced a small path through the darkness ahead of him. He found himself standing in an octagonal-shaped room of windows. There were too many windows to turn on the lights without the risk of being seen from the street. As it was, he would have to make do with the flashlight. A quick pass around the room with the beam revealed a telescope, some storage chests, and a tall peculiar- looking dresser.
Holy shit, that dresser is as tall as I am.
Upon closer inspection the dresser was made of black lacquered wood with big brass fittings on it with strange looking symbols and designs. The bottom had two rectangular drawers running the width of the piece with two brass pulls per drawer. Two big doors dominated the top of the cabinet and came together in the middle with a large ornate brass fitting. The fitting had a sliding pin that was securely locked in place. Charles got out his lock pick and went to work on it. It came open almost instantly.

Piece of cake,
eagerly he pulled back the pin and swung the doors open. The interior was made of many small drawers like an apothecary cabinet. None of the little drawers looked very distinct and there had to be at least a hundred of them.
Just great, I don’t have time to rifle through all of these. All right lady luck help me out a little here, will ya?

*    *    *

Downstairs and on the other end of the hall, Bill was none too happy so far.  His search of the first three bedrooms hadn’t turned up much. He had found some interesting men’s watches, which he pocketed, and little else, unless you counted that shiny-funny shaped sword displayed proudly in its rack with the sheath mounted below it. He had been tempted, but what the hell would he do with it. He was about to enter his last room.
This had better be good. I hope that asshole Chuck has found some loot.
The room was bigger than the others and contained a bedroom set on one side of it. The other side had a roomy sitting area with a fancy white table, chair, and settee. There was only one piece of art in the room. It was a painting of a white house with black shutters, a little girl in a sea foam colored dress standing on the porch. She had long dark hair and was wearing a little white hat.
This is the one she had mentioned,
Bill thought, his face changing from one of gloom to one of excitement. Quickly he crossed the room and grabbed the painting from the wall.

*    *    *

Ten-plus drawers into the process, Charles was feeling mighty pleased. He had found large strings of pearls, gold jewelry, silver jewelry, and some diamonds. There didn’t appear to be a bad drawer. Well, maybe he had spoken too soon. This drawer contained one very weird looking necklace. There was no chain of gold or silver, only a plain worn-looking leather cord. Hanging from the cord by a casing fastened around it, was a very tarnished looking medallion. Its circumference was somewhat larger than that of a silver dollar. However it was much, much thicker. This thing had to be at least a quarter inch thick.
What kind of goofy jewelry is this? It’s way too heavy for someone to wear and it’s so ugly.
The side facing him had some strange worn-out symbols on it. In fact it was almost smooth. He flipped it over to inspect the other side. A strange dull sort of sensation started to emanate from within his hand and up his arm.
Why am I wasting my time with this thing? Yet it does have a certain kind of appeal to it. Well now, this side is real pleasant. That is one hideous looking monster, what a set of teeth.

Unexpectedly, Bill’s loud yelling from the downstairs hall distracted Charles from further inspection of the medallion. “Charles, get your ass down here, now!”

What the hell does that idiot want? I need to rifle through the rest of these drawers and get all of the spoils. On second thought, perhaps I should leave the rest for another day, a day without a partner or a boss that knows my whereabouts and expects a cut.
“Shut the hell up Bill!  I’m on my way!”
Yelling and forcing me to yell back a response, what a great way to be sneaky and not draw further attention. That guy is such a “genius”.

Charles quickly stuffed the strange medallion into the right hand pocket of his suit coat along with a bunch of the other jewelry he had been busily collecting. Quickly he headed down the stairs.
I don’t want Bill to see my private stash,
he thought glancing back longingly
--don’t go anywhere, babies, I’ll be back real soon.

As he came out into the downstairs hall Bill was standing there with some kind of stupid look on his face.
Perhaps he is trying to
think
again. That’s just too much for him,
Charles thought smiling inwardly.
“Okay, so what’s so all fired important?”

“I found a safe, and the boss said you’re good at opening them,” replied Bill, having a hard time with being complimentary.

“I’m not just good at it. I am great at it. Show me the safe, I’ll have it open in no time.”

Charles was beaming with pride as he sauntered down the hall with Bill. He was an excellent safe cracker and always loved to show off his skill to an audience, any audience, even Bill.

“Did you find anything good up there?” asked Bill curiously, eyeing up the black leather bag Charles always carried with him on heists.

“A little bit of jewelry,” he replied, trying to sound nonchalant. Earlier, so as not to raise Bill’s suspicions, he had placed a few of the smaller, cheaper pieces of jewelry into the bag. He knew Bill would be asking and so would the boss. He wasn’t in the habit of skimming off the top, but this was just too great a chance to pass up. “Take a look at it if you want while I get the safe open.”

They entered the last bedroom on the right and Bill pointed across the room to the spot where the picture had been hanging. A rather large wall safe was now revealed. It was bigger than most of the ones Charles had previously seen. He judged the dimensions of the door to be somewhere around three feet wide by two feet tall. The door was recessed into the wall just enough to have allowed the large picture to lay flat without revealing what was behind it. Charles assessed by the dust-free well worn handle and dial, it has been used recently. For all his earlier trepidation about this heist, things were surely going great now. Charles reached into his inside suit pocket and pulled out what appeared to Bill to be a thin rubber tube with a cylinder the size of a spool of thread fastened to one side. The other side had a small thimble sized “thing” fastened to it. Charles put the thimble sized end into his right ear and the other end he held up against the safe door.

“Back up and give me some room to work,” he grumbled to Bill. This was going to be trickier than he thought. To do this kind of work you had to listen carefully, and the rain that had subsided for awhile was beginning to pelt the windows hard again. He started to turn the dial and work his magic when thunder boomed and forced him into starting over.

Bill had moved out of the way and then some. He was on the other side of the bedroom rifling through Charles’s bag.
This stuff isn’t too bad. It’s a lot better than what I found so far. I can’t wait to get my hands on some cash for it. Perhaps the pearl necklace might get me something else.
Glancing up from the bag, Bill looked across the room with a ruthless look that would have worried Charles had he seen it. His attention was industriously focused on the task at hand.

Finally, with one last stubborn click, the handle on the safe moved freely and Charles pulled the safe door open.
Wow, this is unbelievable…

Three loud gunshots finished that thought.

Charles felt several sharp pains in his back as his legs buckled and his body began to drop to the floor. During what seemed like an eternity, but was only an instant, thoughts began whirling through Charles’s head in slow motion.
I knew I shouldn’t have trusted that bastard. I should have listened to my gut instincts about this job earlier. It looked like it was turning out to be aces. Damn him, I’ll get even! But how, there’s no denying the inevitable. All those beautiful jewels...
Charles instinctively reached into his right hand suit pocket as if to say goodbye to lost opportunity.
If only I could do it again…
his body hit the floor.

Bill walked across the room to the body and gave it a solid kick in the side. With a grunt of satisfaction, he greedily eyed the safe. It was more than he had dared hope for.