The Ninth Floor (9 page)

A chair
scraping the floor caught my attention. I looked around the room. It was mostly
empty, but the familiar bald guy was just sitting down at a nearby table. I
picked up my coffee and fruit and joined him.

“Hello again.”

He looked up
from his paper but didn’t appear startled. “Hello.”

I held out my
hand. “I’m Ryan. I figured I should introduce myself since we’re always at the
same places.”

He shook my
hand with a firm grip. “Aiden.”

I took a bite
of pineapple.

He sipped his
coffee. “Are you visiting family?” he said finally.

“Yeah, my
aunt.”

“How’s she
doing?”

I shrugged. “Not
great. We’re waiting for a transplant. You?”

“Friend.
Cancer.”

I winced in
sympathy.

We were quiet
for a few minutes, and I ate a couple of grapes before mustering my courage. “This
is going to sound strange, but have you heard anything about this place being
haunted?”

He shook his
head. “Why?”

“No reason. I
thought maybe I heard something about it.”

“I wouldn’t
put too much stock in rumors.”

“Yeah…”

“Are you from
Goodson Hollow?”

“Umm, sort of.”

We chatted for
about twenty minutes. Aiden was easy to talk to but not overly chatty about
himself. He redirected every question I asked in such a way I didn’t notice
until we were already onto another subject. When I finished my breakfast, I
stood up.

“Well, I
should go back up. It was nice to meet you.”

“I’ll come
with you.”

We threw away
our trash, and I led him to the entrance to the stairs. I wanted to walk past
the ninth floor to get a better look at it. When I opened the door, I heard
voices—a lot of them—echoing and bouncing off the walls. I looked over at
Aiden. He shrugged. I slowly started climbing up, listening. It sounded like
someone, or maybe more than one someone, was crying. A lower door opened, and
running feet pounded up the stairs behind us. I moved faster. A man in brown
pants and a tan shirt with a badge pinned to it started past me, but then he
stopped and looked back at us.

“What are you
two doing in here?”

“Excuse me?”

“Do you work
here?”

“No?”

“There’s been
an accident. You need to take the elevator.” He pointed back toward the exit. I
nodded stiffly and he was gone. I waited a couple beats before looking at
Aiden. He nodded his head forward and I smiled. I knew I liked him. We resumed
our climb up.

“Someone needs
to block off all the stairwell entrances.” The uniformed man’s voice rang out
over the murmur of voices as we reached a crowd of hospital employees.

“It was Leigh
Fielding,” the person in front of me whispered to a tall man next to him. “She
fell.”

“Yeah, right,”
the man said.

“Ah, come on.
You don’t really believe the rumors?”

“What rumors?
I saw it with my own eyes. Do you honestly think her neck got turned around
like that from falling down a flight of stairs?” He stopped talking as his gaze
fell on me. “Can I help you?”

“Umm, I’m
trying to get up to the tenth floor.”

He shook his
head. “You have to take the elevator. Someone fell.”

“Oh no. Are
they okay?”

He ignored my
question. “I’ll walk you two to the elevator.” He took me by the arm and led me
away. Aiden followed silently. The man stayed with us until the elevator came
and we got on. “I’d stay out of the stairwell if I were you.”

I nodded and
pressed the button for the tenth floor.

“I knew that
nurse that fell—Leigh,” I said after the door had closed.

Aiden looked
at me with a thoughtful expression but didn’t comment.

*

I didn’t see Jack the rest of the
afternoon. He was wisely avoiding me. I got home a little after 7:00 p.m.
Vivian was waiting for me outside my door with a big smile.

“What?” I
asked, narrowing my eyes.

“You invited a
guy to help us tonight.”

I’d forgotten
I told her about Jack. I shrugged. “If he shows up.”

She followed
me inside. “How do you like the color? You never said.”

“It’s
gorgeous—thank you.” I put my bag down on the counter. “I emptied out the
bedroom last night, so I thought we could clean and paint now so we can move
the mattress in there when the furniture comes.”

“Sounds good.”

Jack texted
that he was stuck at the hospital. I couldn’t decide if that was the truth or
if he was giving me space. Either way I was happy to have a little breathing
room.

While Vivian
and I worked, I started to appreciate the bedroom’s details. It had four large
windows, so there’d be plenty of natural light, and a similar archway to the
one in the store led into a closet that may have been a sitting room at one
time. A stone fireplace took up a full wall. I imagined reading in bed to the
glow and crackle of a toasty fire and smiled.

Vivian eyed
the label on the paint I’d purchased—Arabian Nights, a golden tan that had gold
flecks in the paint.

“You have
excellent taste,” she said.

“I let you
pick it.”

“Exactly.”

“Ha, ha.”

Vivian
smirked, and then we worked in companionable silence until I had to let her in
on my obsession. “Viv, do you by any chance remember any stories about the
hospital?”

“What kind of
stories?”

“Ghost
stories.”

Viv paused,
brush mid-air. “Are there ghost stories?”

“Yeah, but no
one will tell me exactly what they are.”

“Do you want
me to ask around?”

“Don’t worry
about it. People get funny talking about St. Michaels.”

“Why?”

I told her
that the ninth floor was closed and about what I’d witnessed—the window washer
dying, Mrs. Simpson, the voices, and Bee’s nurse.

“That is some
creepy shit. Do you believe it’s haunted?”

“I don’t know.
Something weird is definitely happening.”

“Ask this
doctor you’re dating.”

“I have. We
were supposed to talk about it tonight, but he didn’t show.” A bad feeling hit
me. What if something had happened to him? I tried to talk to Nurse Leigh and
then she fell down the stairs. I shook the feeling off as ridiculous and
changed the subject, not wanting to think that the nurse getting hurt was my
fault. “So why did that woman in the store the other day ask about me?”

“I have no
idea. She was weird. After you left she started texting people like you were
famous.”

I wrinkled my
nose. Why would anyone care that I was back? We finished up painting and Vivian
went home. I was lying on the mattress, hoping Jack hadn’t taken a tragic fall,
when my phone rang. “Hello?”

“Hey, girl.
How are you?”

“Audra. Hey.
Sorry I haven’t called much.”

“Don’t be
silly. I know you’re busy with your aunt. How are you holding up?”

It was nice to
talk to my best friend again. I filled her in on everything, including Jack,
until I could barely keep my eyes open. We said goodbye, and I slept like the
dead until a loud banging on my front door woke me up.

I dragged my
tired body off the mattress, fumbled with the lock, and finally managed to open
it. Vivian stood outside with coffee and a bag that promised pastries.

“This better
be good.” I stood back to let her in.

“You have a
package.” She nodded at the ground to her left and brushed past me in a sea of
perfume. I picked up the box and shut the door behind us.

She set the
coffee and pastries on the only visible chunk of counter. Then she peeked in
the bedroom. “Looks good. The color dried perfectly. It would be awesome with
this.” She opened the magazine in her hand to a dog-eared page and showed me.

I nodded as I
took a sip, burning my lip. “That is cool.”

“Good. I
already ordered it.” She flashed a Miss America smile at me.

I pulled out a
cherry Danish. “Thanks for breakfast.”

“I need a
favor.”

My hand
stopped an inch from my mouth. “Look at this. There’s a string attached to this
Danish.”

“Just a little
favor.”

“What?”

“Let me move
in.”

I sat the
cherry deliciousness down in the box where it came from. “You have your own
giant house. Why would you want to stay in my apartment?”

“Well, it’s
close to work for one.”

I frowned and
shook my head.

“Two, I’m
bored out of my mind there. I don’t have anyone to talk to or anything to do.
You didn’t want to move in with me, and I can see why you like it here. There’s
a busy street, lots going on all the time. And the apartment is going to look
amazing. You have three bedrooms once we get them all cleaned out. The place is
plenty big for two of us.”

“There’s only
one bathroom.”

“I promise I
won’t hog it.”

“You always
hog the bathroom.”

“Please.”

How could I
say no after all she’d done for me? “Okay, but I don’t have another room
cleared yet.”

She clapped
and threw her arms around me.

“First rule,
no hugging.”

Vivian
laughed. “Blair said he’d help me move the rest of the boxes out of the
bedrooms and kitchen so you don’t have to worry about a thing.”

“You’ve been
hanging out with my baby brother a lot.” I narrowed my eyes at her.

“Does that
bother you?”

“Just remember
he’s young and should be dating girls his own age.”

She laughed. “I’m
not dating your brother.”

“Does he know
that?”

She gave me a
weird look.

I picked the
Danish back up. “I hope you like dogs.”

“Sorry, I don’t
think I heard you. Did you say something about dogs?” Her eyes darted around
like she was looking for them now.

“Two German
Shepherds. They should be here on Tuesday.”

“Are you
joking?”

“Afraid not.”

He chin tilted
at a determined angle. “I can handle dogs.” She tapped a pink nail against the
box I brought in. “So who’s the secret admirer? The doctor?”

“No, I don’t
think so. I honestly don’t know who’s leaving these. I think maybe my brother
Ashley—”

“
These?
As in more than one surprise present, and you didn’t tell me?”

“Don’t get too
excited. They’re weirdo gifts. The first two were really strange. A creepy doll
and a broken picture of our family.” I smiled. “Still want to move in?”

She made a
face. “Open it.”

I got a knife
and obeyed. As always, there was a note on top.

I’ve been
waiting so long to see your face, hear your voice. The wheels are in motion.
Soon you’ll understand.

Chills made me
shudder as I handed Vivian the note, pulled back the tissue paper, and
uncovered out the latest offering. It was a heavy leather-bound book with old,
swollen pages. I flipped through it. It was a scrapbook of some sort. A bunch
of old newspaper articles. I glanced at my watch. I didn’t really have time to
look at it now. I had to get ready. I handed the book to Vivian. “See, it’s
weird. I’ve got to get ready to go. Thanks for breakfast, roomie.” I chuckled
on my way to the bathroom. When I came back out, Vivian was still sipping
coffee and flipping through the book.

“Ryan, I don’t
think this is from your brother.”

“Who else
would it be from?”

She shrugged. “I
don’t know, but I think you should definitely ask him. This book’s filled with
articles about people who have died at St. Michaels.”

*

In the lobby of the hospital, I
ran into the same police officer who passed me on the stairs. He was waiting
for the elevator.

I licked my
lips. “What happened yesterday?”

His expression
was hard to read. “Somebody fell.”

“Is she okay?”

He raised an
eyebrow. “How do you know it was a she?”

I shifted my
feet. “I didn’t go back down. I was curious.”

We got on the
elevator. “You here visiting?” he asked.

I nodded. “My
aunt is ill.”

“What floor?”

I frowned and
almost didn’t tell him until I saw his fingers hovering over the buttons. “Oh.
Ten.” I folded my hands together behind my back. “So she fell?”

He gave me a
level look that I met unflinchingly. “Cause of death is still under
investigation.”

I nodded. “This
hospital is so strange.”

The deputy
cracked the slightest of smiles. “That’s St. Michael’s for you.”

“You don’t
believe in ghosts, do you?” I wasn’t so much teasing him as genuinely curious.
I knew what I saw and heard and what had been happening to Bee, but my mind was
still grasping for a more plausible explanation.

“Not when I’m
working. How about you, Ms. Sterling?”

“How do you
know my name?”

“You didn’t
answer my question.”

“No. Yes.
Maybe. I don’t know.” The elevator opened, but I didn’t move. I stared at him. “Your
turn.”

He put his
hand out to hold the door open. “You’re the mayor’s sister. He asked us to keep
an eye on your aunt’s store. I’ve seen you around a couple times.”

“Ashley asked
you to check on me? Why?”

He gave me a
withering look. “Just a shot in the dark, but maybe to make sure you’re safe?”

I took a
couple steps to leave but turned back. “Why would I be in danger?” The deputy
didn’t say anything so I continued on in the direction of Bee’s room. The
packages that had been left for me, coupled with this, were harder to ignore.
What exactly did Ashley think was happening?

When I finally
heard the elevator door close again, I did a covert shoulder check to make sure
the officer had actually left and then turned around and headed for the
staircase. I trotted down to the ninth floor and stood in front of the chained
double doors.