Chapter 10 #2
No. Ghosts, in fact, had no particular ties to where their physical remains resided.
There was no winning pattern I’d seen in the dead over the years, no unbreakable rule.
I’d seen the dead in their homes while I emptied out their belongings, but I’d also seen them in other places.
The woman in the Long Island house had appeared to me as young—probably her favorite memory of herself—instead of the old woman she’d physically been when she died, and she’d died in a hospital.
Ghosts gave no comprehensive answers, only inscrutable messages accompanied by more questions.
Except Come home. That message had been very clear.
“Well, I could ask around. Try to organize a search,” Gus said.
“You searched the day he disappeared. You all did.”
“We must not have looked in the right places.” He had eaten half of the sandwich.
The other half, neatly sliced, still sat on his plate.
He had eaten only a single french fry, but he picked up a napkin and wiped his hands as if he was finished.
His tone was all business. “It wouldn’t be official, but I could call a few of the guys I know, ask them to lend a hand. ”
“No.” The thought of cops in the house again—all those feet—was sickening. “The house is ours.” After a beat of silence, I lamely added, “Er, I appreciate the offer.”
Gus shrugged. “So what, then? What did you bring me here for?”
“How about the case file on my brother’s disappearance? I want to start with that.”
For the first time, Gus looked startled. He hadn’t looked like this when I mentioned ghosts. “You don’t want to read that.”
“In fact, I do want to read it.”
He shook his head and cast his gaze over my shoulder, avoiding my eyes. “There’s nothing in it that will help you. You were there that day, weren’t you? You called, we showed up and looked. We found nothing. We failed. End of story.”
“I don’t remember all of the details,” I said. “It was a weird day. I can’t ask my parents, because they’re dead. So I’d like to read it.”
“It’s a file on an open case. You can’t read it. There are rules.”
As if the two of us sitting here, discussing this, wasn’t skirting the rules.
“I’m going to get access to that file, Gus.
With or without your help.” I’d pay off Bag Eyes at the front desk, whatever he wanted.
It would be good use of the money my parents left.
Hell, I’d sleep with Bag Eyes if I had to.
I wouldn’t even make him buy me dinner first if it meant finding Ben.
Gus still looked perturbed, but he was thinking it over. He scratched the side of his nose. Behind me, I heard the door to the diner swing open and closed, and the bell chimed as someone came in.
“Okay,” Gus said finally. “Here’s the thing. That’s an old case, a cold one. No one’s working it anymore. The Fell PD only has so much storage room.”
My hands went cold. Was he saying that Ben’s file had been thrown out like so much trash?
“They destroy old files sometimes,” Gus was saying.
“They’re not supposed to, but they do. Nothing I could do about it.
But when I retired, I didn’t want them destroying the cases I worked.
I can’t explain it except to say it felt like they were going to erase all my work.
It wasn’t right. So I took a few of my old files with me when I left. ”
“You took police files?” I was shocked, even though the only knowledge I had of police work was from TV. “Can you do that?”
“Technically, no, I absolutely cannot do that,” Gus replied, unperturbed. “But I did it years ago, and no one stopped me, and no one has brought it up since. So as far as crimes go, I’m gonna say it was a victimless one. Are you gonna argue with me?”
I had no answer to that. Who was I to argue with a detective about what a victimless crime was? If the Fell PD couldn’t keep track of their files, that was their problem.
“Fine,” I said. “Where are the files now?”
“In a secure location.”
“Is that cop-speak for something?”
“It’s a place known only by me.” Gus seemed annoyed now. “It’s locked up tight.”
“Okay. Can I go to this secure location?”
“Not alone, you can’t. I store some private things there. Valuable things.”
“Okay, then, come with me.”
Gus shook his head. “I won’t go. It’s too hard for me to look at that old stuff. Personal stuff. Too many memories.”
This was getting frustrating. Something about this was upsetting him, and it was keeping me from what I wanted. “So what’s the solution? Tell me what to do.”
“I won’t go with you, but someone I trust will.” Gus nodded to someone behind my shoulder, and a man entered the booth, dropping into the seat beside him. He was big, wearing a white tee and a worn baseball cap. He pulled Gus’s plate over and picked up the second half of the sandwich.
I stared at the man, who was suddenly horrifyingly familiar.
“You can go look at the file,” Gus said. “My son will take you.”
The man took a bite of the sandwich and spoke with his mouth full. “Hi,” said Bradley Pine.