A Long Way Down Page 2

  “Maybe this ghost thing ain’t too bad, other than the dead part.”

  “It has its perks,” someone replied.

  Daw turned slowly, looking for the source of the voice, and saw a man wearing worn jeans and a muscle shirt. He appeared to be in his early to mid-thirties.

  “You can hear me?” Daw asked in disbelief.

  “Yep. Comes with being a ghost like you.”

  “Fuck, are you serious? You? But you look…human.”

  “So do you, to me. My name’s Brody, by the way, and you are?”

  “Daw, well, Dawson, but everyone calls me Daw. Why are you here?”

  “I was heading home and saw you.”

  “Don’t suppose you saw who killed me, too?”

  Brody shook his head. “Sorry, just got here.” He looked thoughtfully at Daw. “So someone did what to you?”

  “Threw me off the roof. I think it was supposed to look like suicide or an accident. At least that’s the cops take on it. It wasn’t.”

  Crossing his arms, Brody looked hard at Daw. “You sure it wasn’t suicide. One reason we hang around, well some of us anyway, is we can’t admit we killed ourselves.”

  “Fuck that! I know damned well I didn’t.” Daw gave him a look as hard as the one he was receiving. “That why you’re still here?”

  “Nope. I was murdered, seven, hell, eight years ago, now.”

  Aghast, Daw said, “And you’re still here? They didn’t find out who did it?”

  “Oh, they…we found out, although only recently.”

  “Then why haven’t you…?” Daw waved a hand toward the dark sky.

  “There’s this guy, another one of us. He couldn’t move on so I stuck around. That’s changed, but…It’s a long story.”

  “I’ve got all the time in the world,” Daw said, his anger rising again.

  “At least until they catch your killer.”

  Daw shot him a disgusted look. “The cops don’t think there is one. Homeless guys don’t get murdered. Okay, some of us do, by punks who take a beating too far.” He stared morosely off into space. “We’re fair game to people who don’t like us around. That or we’re ignored, like we don’t exist. And then there’s the cops who do their best to hustle us out of sight. Wouldn’t want the good people of the city, or the tourists, to see us.”

  “Hey, go easy on the police, okay. I was a cop. So’s the man who helped find out who killed me. I get where you’re coming from, but not all of us are like that.”

  “Yeah, maybe.” Daw looked up at the next roof, where he’d left his backpack, walked over and jumped.

  “You’ve got the floating thing down already,” Brody said from beside him.

  “I jumped,” Daw retorted.

  “Look down.”

  Daw did. The roof was two feet beneath him. He willed himself to go down and did. Glancing at the parapet, he was relieved to see his pack was still there. Of course what he’d feared would happen did. When he went over and tried to pick it up his hand went through it. “Guess the next guy up here’s going to get lucky and add to his wardrobe, for what that’s worth,” he muttered.

  “The clothes you’ve got in there won’t do you any good, anyway,” Brody said. “You can’t change what you were wearing when you died.”

  Daw looked down at his well-worn jeans and T-shirt and grimaced. Then he barely smiled. “Good thing I didn’t decide to sleep in just my briefs, because of the heat.”

  “It could be worse. Kurt was nude when he died.”

  “Ouch. Umm, who’s Kurt?”

  “He’s part of what Mike calls the ghostie boys. There’s six of us, now. By the way, Mike’s not dead. He’s the detective I told you about.”

  Daw frowned. “He can see you?”

  “Nope, but Sage can. He’s Mike’s life partner and a medium.”

  “Oh.” Daw worried his lip with his teeth. “Could you tell him…?” Then he paused when a question hit him. “How come you’re here, not where you died?”

  “We’re not stuck in one place, some people’s ideas to the contrary. Yeah, we can’t move on until there’s some sort of resolution to our death. Admitting we killed ourselves, if that’s what happened. Or proving who killed us and bringing them to justice if that’s possible.”

  “What if it’s not?”

  “Apparently proving it is enough. It’s great if they get caught but sometimes that’s impossible.” Brody tapped his lip thoughtfully, and then asked, “Would you like to meet the rest of my friends?”

  “Umm, sure. But how do I get there?”

  “You fly, the same way I was when I spotted you.” Obviously forestalling Daw’s next question, Brody said, “Think it, and you can. Another ghost thing.”

  Daw gave him a doubting look but did as he said. He pictured himself several feet above the roof. Moments later he was hovering above Brody.

  “You want that?” Brody asked, gesturing toward the backpack.

  Daw lost his concentration and dropped to the roof. To cover his embarrassment he said snarkily, “Like you can pick it up.”

  “Yep,” Brody replied as he did. “The longer you’re around, the easier it gets to move things. Okay, ready? I’ll be right beside you, just in case. We’re heading that way, for starters.” He pointed.

  “What if someone down there sees the backpack?”

  Brody chuckled. “It’s late, and dark, so not too likely. If they do, they’ll figure they’ve had too much to drink, or are dreaming, or something.” He held out his hand, and after a second, Daw took it, shocked that he could.

  “We’re ghosts, so we can touch,” Brody said as he lifted off.

  With no choice, Daw concentrated and rose into the air, too. Then they were off, flying across the city. Once he felt he had the hang of it, Daw took a chance and looked down. “Wow,” he whispered.

  “Pretty impressive, huh? Half the fun of flying is seeing the city spread out like this, especially at night with the lights.”

  “Better than from the top of a building by a long shot.”

  “Yep. And we’re almost home.” Brody drifted down with Daw right beside him, to land in a yard behind a house. At the back of the yard was what Daw thought was a two-story garage. He found out differently when Brody said, “Come on in,” and walked through the front door.

  * * * *

  “Guys,” Brody hollered, “We have company.”

  “You don’t have to yell,” Jon said, getting up from the sofa where he’d been lying, reading. He came over to give Brody a hug before looking at the ghost standing next to him.

  “Jon, this is Daw,” Brody said by way of introduction seconds before everyone else came into the living room—Van and Gene via the stairs, Tonio and Kurt through the ceiling. “Don’t mind them,” Brody said with a laugh. “They’re young. They take the fast way.” He introduced Daw to everyone else and then suggested they settle somewhere.

  Daw remained where he was, apparently overcome by the enormity of meeting six other ghosts so soon after his own death.

  “We don’t bite,” Jon said.

  Tonio snickered. “We don’t have to. We can’t eat.” He flopped down in an armchair that had seen better days. Kurt settled on the arm, resting his hand possessively on Tonio’s shoulder.

  Gene and Van took over the sofa, while Jon went into what had been the kitchen and was now their office to get a desk chair. That left the other armchair for Daw. When they were all seated, other than Brody who chose to remain standing for the time being, Van said, “I presume someone killed you, Daw.”

  Daw nodded. “A few hours ago.”

  “Did you see who it was?” Gene asked.

  “No.”

  “Where were you?” Tonio asked at the same time that Kurt wanted to know, “How did he do it?

  “Guys, slow down with the questions,” Brody said. “Give him a chance to breathe.”

  “We don’t breathe,” Jon pointed out.

  Brody rolled his eyes. “A figure
of speech.” He turned his attention to Daw, saying, “You don’t have to answer right now, if you’d rather wait.”

  Daw shrugged. “Waiting won’t change anything. So, umm, because it was so damned hot,” he looked at Tonio and Kurt as they’d asked the question, “I was on the roof of a building where, maybe, I’d catch a breeze. I’ve been doing that on and off for the last couple of weeks, give or take. Well, more often than that, usually. I feel safer up high, where it’s harder for cops and punks to get to me. Okay, it used to be safer until recently.”

  Kurt cocked his head when Daw stopped talking. “What changed?”

  “At least three homeless guys have gone off roofs in the past few weeks. According to talk on the street, someone made it happen, although there’s no proof.” Daw smiled sourly. “At least until last night…sort of. I woke up when someone put their hand over my mouth. Then they hit me which dazed me, picked me up, and tossed me off the roof.” He shot a look at Brody. “I didn’t imagine it. It’s not me wanting to deny I killed myself. It happened, damn it!”

  Tonio eyed him. “You’re not small, so the guy must be pretty big, and pretty strong.”

  Daw retorted with, “Look at me. I’m fucking skinny as hell. I bet even you could pick me up.”

  “Right now?” Tonio snickered. “Probably, because you don’t have any weight to speak of.”

  “A technicality,” Jon put in. “You are definitely underweight, Daw, so I can see where you’re coming from. It wouldn’t take a huge man to do what your killer did. The question is, do the police think you were murdered? Do they think the other guys were?”

  “Like I told Brody, the cops who checked out my body…” Daw shivered. “They said I was probably drunk or on drugs and fell. My bet would be that’s the cause they tacked on to the other guys’ deaths, too, unless the coroner didn’t find evidence of immediate substance abuse. Either way, the cops don’t care. We’re disposable.”

  “Not true,” Brody protested.

  “Bet me.” Daw glared at him, then took back his words, to an extent. “A lot of them feel that way and you know it.”

  “I’ll give you that,” Brody replied, accepting it was the truth, or had been when he was alive.

  “Would they…will they find drugs or booze in your body?” Van asked.

  “No way!” Daw said. “I won’t touch booze, ‘cause of my father, and drugs…? Hell, they’re too expensive unless you do a trade-off by dealing, which I didn’t.”

  “How did you survive?” Gene asked.

  “Don’t know much about us, do you? I Dumpster-dived, panhandled, gave blowjobs when I was desperate enough.” Daw grimaced. “The last week or so I wasn’t doing so good ‘cause of the heat, you know.”

  “You won’t have to worry about it, now,” Jon said. “We don’t eat, we don’t feel heat or cold, we can’t have sex, so…” He sighed, looking at Brody.

  Daw frowned. “I got the impression Brody stuck around because of one of you.”

  “I did,” Brody replied. “Jon and I are a couple. It’s possible to love someone despite not having sex.”

  “Damned frustrating, though,” Gene grumbled, resting his hand on Van’s thigh.

  “I…Okay.” Daw glanced at Tonio and Kurt. “You guys, too?”

  Tonio nodded. “I stuck around after Mike caught my killer, because of the guy I was involved with. He wanted me to, once Sage let him know I was still here, if that makes sense. Anyway, he found someone else and Kurt showed up. Did Brody tell you about them?”

  “Mike and Sage? Yeah.”

  “Good.” Tonio turned to Brody. “Are you going to let Mike know what Daw told us?”

  “I kind of have to. We’ll need to know what the police did about the other men, if we’re going to find Daw’s killer.”

  Van’s expression lit up. “Our first case?”

  “Huh?” Daw said.

  Brody chuckled. “We sort of tossed around the idea of being paranormal detectives for ghosts who need our help.”

  “For real?”

  “Sure, why not?” Jon replied. “If he didn’t tell you, Brody used to be a police detective. Van and Gene wrote true crime books so they know how to do research. The rest of us have been involved in finding our killers—with Mike and Sage’s help, of course. We probably learned enough to branch out on our own, now.”

  Daw looked at them with obvious respect. “That sounds cool. Do you have a name?”

  “Yep. A Haunting of Ghosts Detective Agency.”

  “Guys,” Brody said at that point. “Let’s continue this discussion in the morning. Daw has to be beyond tired and he’s still got to settle in.”

  “Here?” Daw looked at him in surprise.

  “Sure,” Brody replied. “The bedrooms are taken but you can use the sofa for now. We’ll figure out how to make you a bedroom tomorrow. That is if you want to hang around until we catch the guy who murdered you. After that, you’re free to go.”

  “Free? Hell, he won’t have a say in it,” Kurt said.

  “The rest of us did,” Tonio pointed out.

  “Only because we had reasons to stick around.”

  “Well, yeah, but…Okay, you’re right. Whether he does…you do or not—” Tonio turned to Daw, “—you’ll need a space of your own for now and we’re pretty damned good company.”

  * * * *

  Daw looked at them, weighing his options, and realized he didn’t really have any that he liked. If I don’t stick around here, then what? Find some hole-in-the-wall room in a deserted building? I suppose it wouldn’t be any worse than how I was living, but after meeting them and seeing this place…Besides, if they can find the bastard who tossed me off the roof they’ll need me around because there isn’t a one of them who has a clue about what it’s like to be homeless, and it’s homeless guys who are being murdered.

  He was about to tell them he’d stay when Jon said, “The bathroom.”

  “Huh?” Tonio and Gene replied at the same time.

  “We never use it. It’s not big but the way it’s laid out, with the sink and toilet across from the tub, if we got rid of the tub and toilet, there would be room for a bed and nightstand. Right? At least it’s a clawfoot tub, not built in, which will make it easier.”

  “It could work,” Brody agreed. “What do you think, Daw?”

  Daw chewed his lip. “I think…wherever you want me to sleep is fine with me. I’m just happy you’re not kicking me out.”

  “Of course we aren’t, so I see bathroom remodeling in our future. Now, I’m heading back to bed,” Tonio said. He drifted up to, and through the ceiling, closely followed by Kurt.

  “I’m glad you decided to stay,” Van said, before he and Gene took the stairs to the second floor.

  “I am, too,” Jon said. “I think we all are.”

  “Thank you.” Daw sat on the sofa, now that it was empty. “I wish…” He sighed.

  “That you were still alive?” Brody asked.

  “Yeah, I guess.” Daw smiled ruefully. “It wasn’t much of a life, but I made the best of it I could.”

  “You’ll get used to your new life, I promise. It’ll take a while, but you will.”

  “Unless you find the guy,” Daw replied.

  “Believe me, that is not happening overnight. For now, get some rest. Like I said, we’ll talk in the morning, and then I’ll take you over to meet Mike and Sage. Since tomorrow’s Saturday, they’ll be home.”

  “Night, Daw,” Jon said before he and Brody headed upstairs.

  As soon as they were gone, Daw laid back, his hands behind his head. I guess, all things considered, I should count myself lucky. If Brody hadn’t shown up I’d be stuck on the roof and the street, because I wouldn’t have known I could leave. Now, all they have to do is figure out who the hell did that to me and then I can go…wherever we end up when we’re dead-dead.

  Chapter 3

  Brody did as he’d promised. Saturday morning, he and the others laid out all the facts Daw need
ed to know about what his abilities and limitations were now that he, too, was a ghost.

  “You’re going to be very frustrated at first, because you can’t move anything.”

  “I already know that,” Daw shot back. “Picked up on it the first time I couldn’t open a door, yesterday, where I died.”

  “It’ll get better,” Jon promised. “Until then, you can go through walls and ceilings to get where you’re going.”

  “Know that, too,” Daw grumbled. “A lot of good it does, though. I can’t lift my backpack or open the damned thing. Can’t pick up a fork to eat with. Yeah, yeah, I get that we don’t eat but the idea’s the same. It’s like…like being a newborn baby. I can’t do anything by myself except move around.” He smiled briefly. “And fly. That’s sorta neat.”

  “Is, isn’t it,” Kurt replied with a smile. “I get what you’re feeling, though. Give it time. Okay? The rest of us will help.” He pointed to Daw’s pack. “What do you need out of there?”

  “Nothing, I guess, except maybe a cleaner shirt.”

  Brody shook his head. “I told you, Daw, what you’re wearing is what you’re stuck with. Kurt was the exception because he was naked when he died.”

  Daw eyed Kurt. “If you can get dressed…”

  “We figured it was whoever’s in charge of things taking pity on him,” Tonio said. “Since we can’t have sex, they, it, whatever—” he pointed up, “—let him wear jeans again so we wouldn’t get frustrated.” He hugged Kurt. “Not that it works, but…”

  “For any of us,” Gene muttered, which earned him a gentle kiss from Van.

  Daw had a thought and asked. “How come there’s no women?”

  “We haven’t run into any that have needed our help,” Brody replied. “Not to say they aren’t out there, but we haven’t been in the right place at the right time to find them.”