Chapter 16 #3
Suddenly, Iago felt an icy-cold breeze, and his eyes went wide. “Hey, are you Helena? We’re here. Are you okay? What do you need? Tell us what you need, and we can work it out.”
Colton rolled his hands over each other, obviously trying to get him to keep going.
“I see the floor plan blueprints, where the shaft is.”
The lights in the house flickered off and on and off, then on again.
Xander’s hands were solid and warm on his shoulders, settling him. Squeezing to let him know he wasn’t alone.
Iago took a deep breath. “Are we still rolling? All right, we’re going to open up the shaft, and we’re going to help with whatever you need.”
Something hard landed on the table next to his laptop. Something metal. A little worn and a bit rusty. Holy shit. It was a sheriff’s badge.
“Guys? Did that just materialize out of thin air?” He was about to hyperventilate.
“Yep.” Mason sounded so cheerful.
“Helena? I don’t understand.”
The metal badge moved on his table, nice and slow. He swore that the metal was scratching out the shape of a heart.
Fuck.
“I think I hear you. I’m going to figure out who this sheriff was. Give me a little time. We’re going to open up the mine shaft, though. We’re going to fix this! I swear.”
He thought he felt a cold hand on his cheek. You promise.
“Yeah. Yeah, Helena. I promise.”
“Shit.” Xander whispered it very, very softly.
The cameras might not even pick it up, but Iago heard it.
He got it. Xander didn’t want some ongoing problem with the ghosts, and he didn’t want Iago involved, but he had to do what he had to do.
Helena had picked him to communicate with; one didn’t argue with the ghosts when they did that.
“The cover’s already off the mine shaft, so what we now have to do is get a safe set up so we can put people down there and get them out in a hurry.
What we did last time isn’t going to hack it, so we’ll return to you guys when we have everything put together to safety standards.
Cut.” Colton looked at Law. “Keep the stationary cameras going, but I need you to help us with set-up, so let’s not use the handheld right now. Iago, find out who this guy was.”
“I’m on it.” Everyone scattered to the wind, going to peer into the mineshaft and figure out how to sink a counterweight rope down in there or something rather than just a belay situation like they’d had yesterday.
He was going to focus on the computer work and deal with Xander, who was practically vibrating.
“Are you okay, love?” he asked and Xander stared at him.
“Are you kidding? Do I look okay? This is wild— that thing fell out of the air. Can you figure this out?” Xander’s hair was standing up on end.
“I’m not sure, but I hope so. I have her name, and that gives us a timeline. Maybe she was his daughter, his wife, or his mother. Maybe he’s the bad guy.”
Xander shrugged. “Maybe, but it sure looked like it was making a heart on the wood.”
Iago loved how Xander noticed things. “You saw that too, huh? Spirits can lie. Just because they’re here doesn’t mean that they’re trustworthy, but she’s being pretty direct.”
“How are you going to find this guy?” Sebastian asked.
“I’m going to start with the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
It tells you where the counties were back in the day, so I can figure out where the local archives would be.
If we’re lucky, they’re all going to be down with Hank.
That would be the best and easiest answer.
In fact, I should call him now and get him moving.
He’s still in the country, right?” He glanced at Sebastian.
Bastian was way better friends with Hank than he was.
“They travel a lot. They’ve got a new person down at the archives, though. His name is Jesse, and he’s a sweetheart.”
“Well, if I can’t get a hold of Hank, Jesse it is. I can also send word to our friendly neighborhood archivist here in town and see if she can pull up anything, but I doubt it. I exhausted a lot of her records already.”
“What can I do?” Xander asked.
Iago gave Xander a wry look. “We’re gonna need more food. In fact we’re going to need lots of food. Dealing with spirits like this takes the crap right out of you, and everybody’s gonna be exhausted and hungry.”
“You can come to my house and cook if you want to,” Sebastian said. “I have a feeling Colton’s going to make me leave soon anyway.”
He could see Xander was torn, not wanting to leave him here but knowing he had to be able to do his job. At least he hoped it was what that constipated look on Xander’s face was about.
“Go on, babe. I’ll keep you updated by text, and I’ll call you if anything goes hinky and we need you guys to come back sooner than a few hours. You get to see the kids and Xavi.”
“I don’t like it,” Xander snapped.
Sebastian put a friendly hand on Xander’s shoulder. “Get used to it, honey. That’s the life of being hooked up with a ghost hunter.”
Xander frowned. “I will, but I don’t have to love it.”
Iago hated that frustration, but it didn’t matter. They could talk about it tonight and work it out.
Right now there was a ghost to hunt.