Ghost of a Chance

Alex explained about the Lightning Lord’s missing motor and Anne Watson’s insisting that he find her husband’s killer. Leslie listened as she logged the cash into the strongbox, then reimbursed herself for the trip. Before she finished, Alex took two bucks and the loose change out of the box.

“I’ve got a lot of running around to do today,” he explained, tucking the money into his pocket.

“That’s enough to get my landlord off my back,” Leslie said, locking the box and putting it back into the desk’s bottom drawer. She smiled wistfully. “Just not enough for cigarettes.”

Alex sighed and took the pack he’d bought yesterday out of his pocket. He dumped about half of them out onto his hand and passed them over.

“Thanks, kid,” Leslie said, dropping the cigarettes and the cash into her purse. “You’re a doll.”

“Remember that if you have to bail me out later,” he said. He tucked the list Leslie had given him in his shirt pocket, brushing against the flask. Remembering that he hadn’t yet had any this morning, he checked his hands. They weren’t trembling badly, but they were trembling.

He swore under his breath and took a swig from the flask. Grimacing, he agreed with Dr. Kellin’s assessment from the night before — she hadn’t improved the taste.

Replacing the flask, he checked his hands, but nothing seemed to have changed. He knew that alchemical concoctions took time to work, but it was human nature to look anyway.

Pushing his shaking hands from his mind, he checked his rune book. It looked like all of his runes were there, as well as the note Anne Watson had written him, giving him permission to go through her husband’s records.

Alex felt guilty for not remembering his promise to Anne, but Leroy and the people on the ghost’s hit list were literally on borrowed time.

“All right,” he said, putting on his hat. “I’m off to get arrested. Hold down the fort till I get back.”

“I hate to bring this up,” Leslie said in a voice that clearly indicated that she didn’t mind bringing it up at all. “But what are you going to do to find Hannah’s husband?”

Alex paused, then shook his head.

“I’m up against a wall with that,” he admitted. “I still don’t know what the people who took Leroy want with him. If I can figure that out, I can find him, but right now I’ve got nothing.”

“Well, think about it while you’re on your way to the police station,” she said, giving him a supportive smile. “And try not to get shot today,” Leslie called as he stepped out into the hall.

Good advice.

* * *

A gaggle of reporters, all clamoring for information on the ghost, clogged the cavernous lobby of the Central Office of Police. Alex used the commotion to get to the elevators without anyone paying particular attention to him.

Lieutenant Callahan’s office was to the right off the elevator and then down a hall that ran along set of offices. Alex had never been to Detweiler’s office, and he hoped he wouldn’t pass it on his way.

Callahan’s office was a glassed-in room with file cabinets along one side, a couch at the back, and two chairs sitting in front of a squat, plain desk. Piles of folders and loose papers covered the desk along with a new model telephone with both the speaker and the receiver in one handset. A stained coffee cup sat atop a stack of papers and brown rings revealed that this was the cup’s usual spot. The only thing missing from a quintessential policeman’s office was the man himself.

Alex considered venturing out into the bullpen to look for Danny, but he didn’t want to run the risk of encountering any of Detweiler’s people before he had a chance to talk to Callahan.

The couch in Callahan’s office was up against the hall-side window, so Alex laid down on it to wait. This made it impossible for anyone to see him from the hall.

“What are you doing in my office, Lockerby?” Callahan’s voice startled him. “You know that if the Captain sees you in here, he’ll have me lock you up on an obstruction charge.”

Alex hadn’t intended to doze, but he must have, since he didn’t hear the big Lieutenant come in. He made a mental note to speak to Jessica about the power of her mentor’s sleeping draughts.

“Lieutenant,” he said, sitting up on the couch. “I was beginning to wonder if anybody worked around here?”

“Funny,” Callahan said, dropping into the chair behind his desk. “I’m not surprised you managed to get up here,” he said, shuffling papers around on his desk until he found what he was looking for. “You always manage to turn up in the damnedest places.”

Alex grinned at him and moved from the couch to one of the two chairs in front of the big man’s desk.

“You say the sweetest things, Lieutenant,” he said.

Alex hadn’t noticed it before, but up close, Callahan’s face was drawn and his eyes were bloodshot. Apparently Alex wasn’t the only one who hadn’t been sleeping well.

Till now, he reminded himself.