The Siege (22 page)

“Good advice,” Ted said.  “I’ve got a few things to take care of over in the barn.”

“Don’t leave without Murphy,” Mia insisted.  “MURPHY!” her voice bounced off the walls.

Stephen Murphy appeared at her side immediately.  “Please go with Ted to the barn, and while you’re there, juice up.  I know Cid brought cubes over, but we should hang on to those just in case.”

He nodded and moved towards the door.

Ted pulled on his black parka and exchanged his ball cap for a knit slouch cap.  Mia looked fondly at her husband.  He may not be handsome in a conventional sense, but he stopped her heart every time he looked her way.

Maggie wanted to follow them, but Cid held her back.  “You’ve just been out.”

Mia cleared the table and put the plates in the dishwasher.  She found just enough room.  Cid didn’t like to use the machine unless it was packed.  She started it.

“How are you feeling?” Cid asked her, spotting her well-placed hand on her lower back when she stood up straight.

“A little unbalanced but good.  Little Martin isn’t going to be a small baby.”

“He’s going to be a healthy one, Mia, so don’t worry.  The larger the baby’s birth weight, the better.”

“I’m worried that the kid’s going to come out
Alien
style.  He certainly will be a tight fit otherwise.”

Cid blushed.

“I’m going upstairs to start on the room.  Thanks for thinking ahead and making it ghost-safe.”

“It was Murphy’s idea,” Cid said humbly.  “I think that, considering our vocation, it was well worth the extra trouble.”

“You and he should team up on some designs for some of the actively haunted spots to give the homeowners and museum workers a break from constant irritation.”

Cid stopped what he was doing and nodded.  “That sounds like a great idea, Mia.”

“I heard that if you’re going to invent something, look for a need that hasn’t been addressed yet,” she said.

“That’s smart. Where did you hear that?”

“Ted,” Mia said smugly and left the room.

“I’ve been set up!” Cid called after her.

Mia started up the stairs and was met halfway by the Confederate ghost.  He stopped, turned around and extended his elbow.

Mia concentrated and was able to connect with the physiology of the spirit.  She didn’t want to hurt him and his gentlemanly manners with the near impossibility of the action.

At the top of the stairs, she disconnected and asked him, “How are you doing?”

“I’m dead with a gaping hole in my chest; I guess I’m a bit breezy.”

Mia laughed at his joke.  “That would be a good nickname for you.  Breezy, no, Breeze. I like that.  It’s very now.  In the last few decades, people have been naming their kids very unusual names.  I do worry that they will have extra challenges in school because of them.”

“Call me Breeze.  I’d like that.”

“And you can call me Mia.  Ma’am makes me feel so old.”

“It’s respectful,” Breeze reminded her.

“You and Murph are two peas in a pod.”

“Stephen and I share certain ideals.”

“I do see that.”

“Mia, may I ask you a personal question?”

“Depends on how personal,” Mia said.  “But go ahead and ask.”

“Why do you risk yourself helping us?”

“I don’t consider it a risk.  A duty, maybe, but in actuality, it’s a joy.  I had a less than enjoyable first quarter of my life.  I’d like to spend the next three quarters doing what makes me happy.  In part, that includes helping the lost.”

“I’m lost.”

Mia resisted the easy smart-mouth answer.  Instead she said, “Not for long, Breeze, not for long.”

~

Burt and Dave literally slid into the drive.  Dave popped out of the car and cleared a mound of snow so the gate could function.  Burt pulled the car right into the garage.  Dave caught up to him.  He used the push broom to move the chunks of snow away from the car and out the door of the garage.  Burt wasn’t surprised by his hard work.  The boy wasn’t lazy, just an asshole at times.  However, he was surprised that Mia had given up on the kid.  Charles Cooper would demand a lot of the boy; he hoped that Mia’s father hadn’t taken on too much.

The sheriff’s reception of Burt’s offer was staid.  John Ryan never showed his hand too soon.  “I think that after we get through this approaching storm, then we’ll have something to talk about.  The Brown family, to my understanding, still own the property.  You’ll have to go through them or their attorneys.  If they ask my opinion, I’ll be honest with them.”

Honest with them?  What exactly did that mean?
Burt asked himself.  He got out the ladder and moved it towards the loft of the garage.  That was where Mia’s extra stuff was stored.  Dave didn’t have any extra clothes with him, but Mia did have a box full of PEEPs sweats that were a tad too large.  Both sensitives were small in stature.  Burt had theorized that this was the way with sensitives, but that was until he met Father Alessandro who had to be six feet tall in his prime.

“Steady there, old fellow,” Dave teased, putting his hands on the ladder to steady Burt’s descent.

“I’ve got some of Mia’s clothes.  Don’t give me that face.  It will keep you warm while your clothes are drying.  Actually, I think most of these
are
boy’s clothes.” Burt tossed the box to Dave who grunted at the weight.

“My apologies on the old fellow label; you are freaking strong.”

Burt smiled.  He was, wasn’t he?  “Let’s go inside, have a few beers and settle in for the night.”

Dave liked the sound of that.  Burt was treating him like an adult, unlike Saint Cid.

~

Matt drew the shawl around Audrey’s shoulders.  He had convinced her parents that he could look after their daughter.  After all, he was a doctor.  Audrey was whisked away to his home where the family ghost was actually glad to see the houseguest.  The only problem was that Matt’s great uncle brought a chill with him.  No matter how much Matt boosted the thermostat, the chill remained.

“Thank you, honey,” Audrey said.  She was sitting at his computer researching the Brown family.  “Your uncle wouldn’t know anything about the Thaddeus Brown line of Browns, would he?”

Matt repeated the question to the squeaky floor above them.  The pacing stopped a moment, and Matt thought he heard a couple of books drop.

“Amazing,” Audrey said, trying to get up.

Matt caught her with one hand and sat her back down.  “I’ll go, you stay here.  Uncle is rather clumsy,” he explained.  “I’ll not have my best girl leveled by a bookcase.”

“Good thinking.”

Matt took the stairs two at a time. He found the second floor library a mess.  It looked like a whirlwind went through the room.  There were books pulled out of their normally neat alignment, papers on the floor and the furniture askew.  But neatly stacked in the middle of the floor were four old volumes.  Matt picked them up and walked over to the desk and used the light there to read the titles. 
Burke’s Peerage
,
Battle for Chicago
(Story of Chicago’s Money Peerage),
Civil War in Illinois
, and
Funding a Losing Battle
.

“All of these have something about the Thaddeus Browns in them?” he asked the chilly room.

A tiny tone of fingernail on fine crystal sounded.

“Thank you,” Matt said and headed down to the first floor library where he had set up his office.

Audrey had moved to one of the wingback chairs by the fireplace.  She had a notebook on her lap.  “I thought this would be warmer.  I think, after that exercise, Uncle is going to be looking for energy.  He’ll suck up more heat,” she said good-naturedly.

“I honestly didn’t think this far ahead when I asked you to come stay with me.  He normally leaves me alone.”

“It’s fine.  I’m glad he likes me enough to come see me, even if I get chilblains as my mother calls them.”

Matt didn’t correct Audrey. He just enjoyed that she was there with him.  He could not believe his luck that this positive, vivacious, gorgeous, redheaded paranormal investigator was his.  “Here’s the books. A lot of dry reading, I’m afraid.”

“You have a copy of
Burke’s Peerage?”
Audrey asked as she adjusted the heavy tome one-armed on her lap.

“Evidently so.  Don’t ask me how or why, but it’s here.”

“I think we should be investigating your heritage,” Audrey teased.  “I come from canal-digger stock.  My ancestors wore Brown’s work boots.”

“Hearty folk.  I have no pedigree. Remember, Uncle Simon was a butler.  I think I’m taking a large step up by courting you.”

“I’ll have to remember that when I’m feeling underdressed and outclassed by the other doctor wives.”

Matt studied her.  He couldn’t believe that she would feel outclassed by anyone.  He made a promise to himself that he would make a point to praise her accomplishments.  Self-esteem was such a tricky thing.

“I think you’d be surprised by the humble starts many of my colleagues and their spouses had.  Student loans gave a lot of people a leg up.  All they had to do was work hard.”

“Now that’s something we have in common.  Speaking of which, I better dig in and get started,” Audrey excused herself.

“Do you mind if I just sit here and stare at you?”

Audrey blushed.  “No, I don’t mind that at all.”

Chapter Seventeen

The snow continued to fall throughout the night.  Sheriff Ryan cancelled leave and put Tom on the schedule, much to Tom’s delight.  The snow plows gave up on all but the main roads in and out of the county.  Being down a cell tower brought some operations to a halt.  The deputies were asked to stay within radio distance if they could.  The governor declared a winter emergency with most of the northern counties already under eight inches of snow, and more than another foot was expected to fall.

Tom breezed into the station with a robust attitude.  The other deputies booed him when he shouted, “Isn’t snow wonderful!”  They, however, stopped booing when Tom distributed the treats he had leftover from Mia’s hamper.

“You seeing that Cooper broad?” one asked, remembering her cookies from the county fair years ago.

“She’s Mia Martin now, and we’re friends, just friends.”  Tom regretted his words because of the derogatory comments that followed.

“Is she still crazy?”

“Crazy as a fox.  She’s making quite a nice piece of change with her brand of crazy,” Tom defended.  “She’s a friend, so I’d appreciate your respect when you talk about her.”

Tom was valued amongst his peers.  His request would not only be granted, but the word crazy would be dropped from all conversation about Mia amongst the deputies.

Deputy Chandler had already seen Mia Martin in action but was too timid to express his admiration until now. “She’s been very helpful to us.  Also, I think she’s friends with the sheriff.”

“That she is,” Tom said, sitting down at his desk.  “Okay, someone bring me up-to-date.  Anyone find the vandals that took down the cell tower?”

The silence told Tom that no one even had a lead.  Tom dug Tonia Toh’s business card out and tapped it.  He got up and inquired with Ryan’s assistant whether the sheriff had a few minutes.  He was given five.  He walked into Ryan’s office and waited until the sheriff looked up.

“Glad to see you survived the mandatory time off,” Ryan said sarcastically.

“It wasn’t my idea,” Tom reminded him.

Ryan waved that thread away and asked, “What’s up?”

Tom explained his theory about the vandals and Mia’s suggestion regarding coincidences.  “I was wondering whether we have any consultant cash left.”

“I think we could shift some CI cash your way.  Call the bounty hunters, see what they have to say.”

Tom thanked the sheriff for his time and backed out of the office.  He turned heel, walked smartly to his desk and started dialing.

~

Mia got up for an early morning bathroom call and made the mistake of looking out the window.  Absent were the predawn stars lighting up the forest around them.  Instead, a steady white descended from the heavily clouded sky.  The light from the bathroom only pierced a few feet beyond the sill, but Mia could see the branches of the mighty pines droop under the weight of the snow.  She walked out of the bath and into the nursery.  There, the octagonal windowed room gave her a viewpoint that rivaled the bath’s one window.  The snow was deep.  Fortunately, there was no appreciable wind or the drifts would make navigating between the farmhouse and converted barn impossible.  Mia gently rubbed her belly, more for her comfort than the child’s who grew from within.

She felt eyes upon her back and turned to see Ted standing in the doorway.  “It’s beautiful in an over-the-top type of way,” she said, indicating the snow.

Ted padded over in his slippers.  He took a moment to pick up an afghan from the pile of baby shower gifts.  He put it over Mia’s shoulders.  “I don’t know if it’s cold in here or looking at all that snow that has me chilled, but you better keep that over your shoulders, Minnie Mommy.”

“Thank you, Baby Daddy,” Mia said and leaned into Ted as he held her.  “I’m glad I’m inside watching the snow with you, instead of trying to plow it off of driveways and parking lots.”

“Aren’t you glad you gave the Stanley brothers your clients?” Ted said.

“The money would have been nice, but I can’t do that job in my condition.  As it is, it’s getting harder for me to reach the steering wheel.  I can’t imagine dealing with the plow.”

“Don’t worry about money. I’m expecting a large dividend from the capital I had my mother invest for us,” Ted said proudly.  “Plus, Murphy mentioned we could use the house fund if we needed it.”

“I know he means well, but I don’t want to be indebted to a friend, thank you,” Mia confided.  “Look at what it did to me and Burt.”

“I suspect that had more to do with a certain flitch.”

“Could be.  I’m sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have given Bev that money.  I just felt it was fair, considering she would have gotten it had my grandmother known she was alive.”