Chapter 16 #2
Iago glanced at Dr. McDonald, who was still pacing and gesticulating and loudly saying how this was all impossible.
“Breaking in the new guy is always hard.”
Sebastian giggled, and if the sound had a little bit of nerves in it, he wasn’t going to say anything. “He does seem to be a little upset. It’ll be interesting to see what my ghosts are doing when I get home.”
Iago raised an eyebrow. That was new. “So, do they react to it when you’ve seen ghost energy when you’re out and about with us? When you come home, I mean.”
“Well, I don’t know, because it’s only when I come over here that they get agitated. I haven’t gone anywhere else that had active ghosts like mine. I haven’t gone to any of your other sites, really, because I’ve had the babies, so I don’t know how to quantify that.”
Iago grinned. “That is incredibly scientific of you, Mr. Tarot Reader.”
“You have a tarot reader?” Duke arched an eyebrow, and Xander puffed up.
“Yes, it’s what he does for a living. Back off, man. He’s the husband of the boss, not one of the crew.”
Iago tried to smile. There was a very good chance Colton would just rip Dr. Duke’s head right off.
“Sorry.” McDonald held up his hands, palms out. “This is all just freaking me out a little bit. When I came over here, I thought it was just going to be your basic mine shaft, and I was excited because it was something new for me. This is more than I bargained for.”
“You’re forgiven.” Sebastian waved a hand in the air. “Just don’t diss my tarot reading again. I have clients who pay me hundreds of dollars for a single reading. I’m good at what I do.”
The doc looked at Sebastian as if he’d grown two heads, but he simply nodded. “Sure. I get it. I’ll be good.”
“He will, or you’ll be off the set.” Colton gave him a glare. “Now explain how there could be a new section of mineshaft from the last time someone looked at these blueprints.”
“I can’t without going down there and looking at the actual shaft. I would have said the floor was solid, but I wasn’t looking for openings right at the base of the shaft, where the counterweight elevator or pull up would be. I was looking for evidence of something farther along the tunnel.”
“You think it’s safe to go down there?” Xander swayed a little bit behind him, which was something he did when he was nervous, and Iago swayed with him just so he didn’t fall over. “I mean what if the ghosts are trying to lure us down there for nefarious purposes?”
The china cabinet shook violently, although nothing came flying off. That was good. Xander had explained that his mom had pretty much left all of his grandma and great-grandma’s china and glass at the house so that it could stay in the built-ins and not clutter up her new condo.
“Obviously, that’s not what’s going on, but there’s something that needs to happen. We need to fix it, so Xander can have his house back, so we can have a good show, and so we can all learn something about ourselves.”
Sebastian nodded. “Exactly. We just need to find out who owned this house before Xander’s people did.”
“Well, fortunately for everyone involved, that’s my job.” Iago lifted his face for Xander’s kiss. “And see? Computer work. Totally harmless.”
Xander rolled his eyes. “Don’t say that. Every time you say that something weird happens.”
“Okay, so how about I’m trying to be totally harmless.”
“Better.”
“Right?” Mason grinned, the look tinged with just a little bit of evil. “It’s like using the word shutout if your goalie is getting a shutout in hockey, and then you’ve jinxed him.”
“Why doesn’t it surprise me that you’re a hockey fan?” Duke said.
Mason gave him a dead-eyed stare. “Because you’re a nerd.”
Butter wouldn’t melt in Law’s mouth. “Even better, he’s a rock nerd.”
Mason latched onto that like a mosquito to a bare ass cheek. “Oh, that’s a special kind of nerd. You’re not just a scientist. You study rocks.”
“Do not taunt the geologist.” Colton rolled his eyes. “Why do I work with you guys again?”
Iago shrugged. “Because we said yes.”
Colton nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, that’s it.”
“God.” Dr. Duke sighed. “Can we just make a plan?”
“I’m looking. Okay, so Gent got the county to send me all the plans and the sales records for the house. Finally! They were such dicks about it…”
“Focus, baby,” Xander reminded him.
“Oh, right. Okay.” His fingers flew on the keys of his laptop.
“So, when it was built, it was owned by a McLellan family. Census records show a mom, dad, and six kids. Six!” He loved this shit.
“Next owner though was… oh. A woman. Helena Lewethin. That’s a great name.
And really odd for that time period. I mean, we’re calling this a Craftsman, but this is really a Sears and Roebuck house from the 1880s, and she took ownership in 1897. The mine was booming then.”
“Is that the weirdest bump in the ownership?”
“It totally is. The rest have been longtime owners in one family. Parent to kids to kids like Xander.” Iago chewed on his bottom lips. “Helena Lewethin. I wonder who bought her the house. It doesn’t seem like something—”
As Iago said Helena’s name again, the house began to tremble, just the barest bit, like there was an earthquake.
“Okay, we’ve got a good name. I’m listening.” Iago looked to Gent, who shrugged, and the cameras went back on again.
“Are you Helena? Do we have a talking box here? Can we do some EVPs?” This wasn’t his job. This was not his job. His job was to research the thing, not deal with the ghosts on it. But somehow this one was talking to him.
“I’ve got the recorder on. Just keep talking and let somebody talk back. We’ll listen to the recording after.”
“Right.” Iago nodded to Colton. “Are you Helena, or do you know Helena?”