Lost in Translation: Weird Science (1/2)
Lost in Translation: Weird Science (1/2)
Author: Amy
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: There really is no pairing in this it’s a Gen fic. But Orlando and Elijah have the main roles.
Warnings: It’s a Halloween/Ghost Fic. There’s character death. It takes place ten years prior to the story starting and without it…there would be no story so please give it a chance.
Disclaimer: Never Happened
Summary: Three old friends investigate the rumors of ghosts at an old building in London.
Note: For the Orlijah prompt on my Prompt Table. Talesinbloom gave me Ghost Hunters.
* * *
“Wow.”
“Yeah,” Orlando agreed with Dominic’s split second assessment with a nod. “She’s something else isn’t she?”
“You can say that again,” Dominic murmured unable to tear his eyes away from the building.
It was lurking across the river the only access to and from the parking area was over a small footbridge. Orlando turned and gave the building they were about to walk into another long look. Every visible inch of the building that he could see was practically screaming Stay Away. One didn’t even need to be a sensitive to pick up the vibe the building was putting out.
But Orlando was a sensitive. Or at least that’s what his Gran was always telling him. Orlando really wasn’t sure about the whole thing. To his way of understanding it a sensitive was someone who saw, or at the very least sensed, spirits lurking in every corner. Orlando had never had that sort of thing happen to him unless he went looking for it.
When he was there was no denying that things seemed to happen around him. Strange noises, lights and shadows, and chills seemed to occur if he was in a building that was reputed to be haunted. But he didn’t think that meant that he was sensitive to those sorts of things he just thought he was rather lucky with the whole thing. And that it probably helped that he worked with a very small crew that only carried a few instruments. Perhaps spirits were camera shy or maybe they liked how respectful Orlando and his group were of them and were more willing to show themselves.
Whatever the case ghosts seemed to like him and that allowed him to pursue something he found enjoyable and exciting. There was nothing better than the thrill of the hunt and the feeling of having an experience that couldn’t be explained away as some natural phenomena
“Are you sure about this place?” Dominic asked nervously.
“Sure about what?” Orlando asked as he unzipped his messenger bag to pull out the paperwork he’d tucked in before leaving his apartment earlier. He wasn’t expecting any trouble with the caretaker but it never hurt to be prepared.
“Going in there? It seems…” Dominic trailed off for a moment. “Creepy…”
Orlando snorted and shook his head. “That’s kind of the point, Dom,” he said hitting the button on his key chain to lock up the car. They’d go in and talk to the caretaker and have the tour and then come back for their equipment when they knew exactly what they were dealing with.
“I know that Orli,” Dominic snapped back with a roll of his eyes. “But this place has an obvious bad attitude what if it takes it out on us…”
“It’s a building Dommie…” Billy said with a snort of his own as he came round to join them. “It can’t exactly jump out and attack you.”
“Well the Wood kid we’re investigating…”
“Wandered off where he shouldn’t and had an accident. It’s tragic but it wasn’t a malicious act of the building.” Orlando said patiently. He knew that Dominic knew this but was nervous he didn’t blame him the building did look pretty creepy. “It’ll be fine Dom.”
Dominic made a face but didn’t argue any further as the crossed the footbridge over to the building. There was a man in the open doorway of the building leaning again the doorframe watching their approach, he was dressed in casual work clothes and smoking a cigarette. He didn’t straighten up until they were almost right on top of them and he made no move to acknowledge them first just regarded them with a sour expression.
“Mr. McKellen?” Orlando asked the stopped in front of the man.
He wasn’t put off by the man’s demeanor. Most of the cases they investigated took places in places that didn’t exactly advertise their haunted statuses and most of the people involved would much rather be left alone. It took a gentle hand to get them talking but it was something else that Orlando seemed to have a gift for.
“That would be me,” the man said dryly putting out his cigarette in an almost elegant manner.
“I’m Orlando Bloom,” Orlando said holding out his hand. “I believe we spoke on the phone earlier today?” There was a soft grunt of acknowledgement from the man but he took Orlando’s hand in a firm handshake. “These are my associates Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd.” As McKellen shook their hands in turn Orlando pulled out the paper work and handed towards the older man. “This is the paperwork I went over with the building’s owner if you’d like to make sure it’s all in order before we actually enter the building.”
McKellen took the offered paperwork gingerly like it was something distasteful that he didn’t really want to look at. Orlando exchanged a knowing look with Billy and Dominic they’d gone through this same thing on several occasions before over the years. The man took a long time to go through the paperwork but as he read through them and saw the attached note from the building’s owner, John Rhys-Davies, granting full permission for the investigation he lost some of the tightness and annoyance from his countenance. He handed the paper work back clearly satisfied that everything was correct and in order.
“So where would you like to start?” he asked in an even tone.
“If possible we’d like a tour of the building,” Orlando answered. “If not the whole building than at least the places we’re allowed to go this evening. We’re most interested in the third floor but not having been here before I’d like to get to know the layout…and the stories.”
“Follow me,” the caretaker said not giving any reaction to the request for stories.
He turned and led them through a large wooden door. As they passed through the entrance Orlando let his fingers brush against the stones that lined the outside of it. Silently thanking the building for allowing them entrance and asking for safe passage throughout the night. He believed what he’d told Dominic that the building would pose no threat.
But it never hurt to be polite.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“And this is the third floor,” the caretaker, said as he finally led them up to that level an hour after they’d entered the building. “This floor used to be used to warehouse the office supplies for the offices downstairs and this part of the building is mostly one room.”
“And this is where Mr. Wood’s body was found?” Orlando asked cautiously.
“Yes,” McKellen said leading them against the expansive room over to one of the far corners. “In this area over here, he fell through the floor above when it came down.”
Orlando glanced upwards and saw that they had covered the hole in the ceiling with a brown tarp. Other than that the only real sign that a tragedy had taken place there ten years earlier was a large white stain where they must have used chemicals to clean the area of any blood. All other debris that might have been present had also been cleaned up long ago. Orlando walked the space carefully avoiding walking directly over the white spot on the floor. He was trying to get a sense of the area and if they were being noticed by anyone as they had been on other floors.
“Were you called here that night?” Billy asked.
“I wasn’t called specifically,” McKellen said after a long moment of thought. “My house is across the river near the parking lot so I heard all the commotion when the ambulances arrived and went to see what was going on when I realized they were going into the building. When they finally allowed me in they were working on him but I think he was already gone at that point they just weren’t ready to give up on him because he was so young. I recognized him almost immediately. I had chased him and his friends out of her on several occasions prior to that night. Perhaps if I had just let them stay this might not have happened…” his voice trailed off with a frown and he stared off in the direction of one of the walls with a sad frown. “Such a waste.”
Orlando stopped dead in his tracks as a soft breeze seemed to emanate through the room towards McKellen. As far as he could tell there were no open windows in the room and though it was drafty that would account for such a strong wind. He watched McKellen through narrowed eyes, the other man had been tense but seemed to calm a bit as the breeze brushed past him. There was no acknowledgement in his face over what had just happened and neither Dominic nor Billy seemed to have noticed the breeze either. Orlando went back to his examining the room content to just wait and see if it turned out to be something more than a breeze later.
“Did you see any signs that they had been partying that night?” Billy continued his questioning after giving McKellen a moment.
“No,” McKellen answered adamantly. “Not on that night or any other time I’d dealt with them prior to that. Maybe they were drinking a little, I understand that was his last night in England, but they were hardly drunk and definitely not high.”
“And you’re sure about that?” Dominic asked skeptically. Orlando could understand why he would question that. Orlando could well remember their school days and how much Dom had liked to party.
“I’ve been around for a long time,” McKellen snapped at him. “I’ve been around for the 60’s and the 70’s and the 80’s. I think I know what being drunk and high looks like.”
“Sorry,” Dominic murmured sending an apologetic look over towards Orlando. He knew he’d crossed a line that he should have at least not so fast and hard. Orlando shrugged his shoulders they hadn’t lost the caretaker yet not even close.
“They were serious as you about this whole ghost hunting business,” McKellen said after a moment.
“Really?” Orlando asked stopping his pacing for a moment and pinning McKellen with a surprised look. None of the boys had mentioned that particular piece of information when they’d done interviews with them the previous week.
“They’d heard all the stories and had come to investigate them. Their equipment wasn’t as fancy as some I’ve seen just a handheld video camera and a laptop but they were very serious about it,” McKellen supplied evenly.
“You said that they’d been here a few times before that night and that you chased them out,” Billy continued after a moment. “Did you ever find them past the third floor?”
“No,” McKellen answered with a shake of his head. “They never even went into the safer restricted areas let alone past the third floor.”
“So why do you think that they decided to go up there that night? Just got overly bold because it was the last night or do you believe there might have been some other reason?” Billy prodded gently.
“I don’t know why he decided to go up there,” McKellen answered simply.
Knowing they’d taken that line of questioning as far as it could go for the moment Billy swung the conversation around with another line of questioning. It was probably sooner than he would have liked to go down this road with someone who was being deliberately less than forthcoming with his answers but they didn’t have much time before nightfall and they still had equipment to set up. “How soon after Mr. Wood’s accident did the strange things start happening around here?” he proceeded cautiously.
“I really have no idea what you’re talking about,” McKellen answered stiffly.
With that the conversation ground to a halt. It was hard to question someone who refused to give any answers. Billy sent Orlando a rather desperate look and Orlando crossed the short distance to join them. He’d always been good at getting reluctant people to open up to them. He decided to not beat around the bush with this one. He suspected that with the caretaker the direct approach would probably be the best, and possibly the only, way to move foreword.
“Please Mr. McKellen,” he said gently. “We’re not here to cause trouble. We don’t want a sensational story or to try to make a tourist destination out of this place. The only reason we’re even here is because Mr. Wood’s family contacted us and asked us to be here.”
McKellen regarded him suspiciously but Orlando could tell from his body language that he had made the right choice in the way he’d approached the program. McKellen frowned for a long moment and then turned his head again staring off towards one of the walls. Orlando noted it was lined with mirrors and was across from the stairs leading up to the floors above.
“I’ve met his family,” McKellen said softly. “They came by when they picked up…his…him…” he sighed. “His mother was…clearly upset but…holding it together for his brother and sister. I don’t think I could have been that strong…”
“If you’d like I can show you the letters and emails that Mrs. Wood sent me…” Orlando said reaching for the clasp on his bag to get them out.
“No,” the caretaker said with a shake of his head. “I would hope you wouldn’t lie about something like that.”
He walked away from them towards a set of windows not that far away. He stared out but it didn’t seem like he was really looking anything. Orlando thought he could see the mental war he was waging inside himself. Probably he was weighing the thought of helping the family with it leaking out and people thinking that he was crazy. In the end the thought of helping the family won out.
He leaned against the window and started talking, Orlando joined him at the window and Billy continued to take notes. Without being told Dominic took over on the walkabout that Orlando had been doing on the room. He wouldn’t be able to sense any presences unless they walked right up to him and did something but since this was the room they were going to focus on he could mentally start setting up the equipment in the best spots.
“It took them about month to complete their investigation and to clean up the room. I believe the workers had some experiences almost right away, you’ll have to speak with them about it, I don’t necessarily know if it was connected to the accident as things happen quite frequently around here. Tools missing, things getting moved around it’s nothing to get worked up about in this place they usually will turn up or get placed back in the right spot before they have to leave for the night. We have a regular crew that works the place and they’re used to things like that happening from time to time. It’s rarely anything beyond that so they don’t get too worked up about it. Although I’m sure that none of them would volunteer to stay here overnight regardless.”
“Do you think that any of them would be willing to speak with us if we asked?” Billy asked. Getting the general feeling of the building in terms of what was common before and what was common now would be important in figuring out if the ghost was really Wood.
Mckellen shrugged, “You would have to ask them yourselves I don’t know what they would and wouldn’t do about that. I can get you the contact number I have. It’s in my office so it’ll have to be in the morning unless you’d rather I bring it back across this evening.”
“No,” Billy said shaking his head. “We’ll stop by before we leave in the morning to pick it up.” He made a note on the top of the page he’d been taking notes on and then switched to a new page when Orlando took over the questioning again.”
“So how long after the work was done did the incidents start up on this floor?” Orlando asked.
“Maybe a week or so after the workers left,” McKellen answered. “I was doing my morning rounds and when I came up to the third floor I noticed that the tarp was on the floor. They had decided it would be too expensive and probably too dangerous to replace the floor and since no one was supposed to go on the floors above not necessary so they’d just covered it with the tarp…it was a blue one at the time. I didn’t really think too much of it because it looked like it had just come loose on its own so I just replaced it myself. The next morning when I came in again to do my rounds it was on the floor again and again it looked like it had just come loose. I thought it was too thick for the staples and had one of the workmen come in and nail it in place instead. The day after the workman came in it was back on the ground this time it didn’t look like it had just come down on its own because the holes where the nails had been where torn.
“Doesn’t seem like that would be something that could happen on its own,” Orlando said.
“No…I started to suspect at that point that something was going on. The next day I knew for sure that there was something else doing on.”
“Why?” Orlando asked gently.
“Because I came back the next morning and not only was the tarp once again down from the ceiling it was torn to shreds.”
“What did you think was going on?” Billy asked.
“Well I didn’t think that it was a ghost,” McKellen said stiffly. “I just figured it was one of his friends that was upset by what had happened and was reacting to it. But…it went on for several weeks and I couldn’t conceive of someone coming back night after night like that.”
“It does seem unlikely,” Orlando said gently.
“But that didn’t mean that it had to be a ghost…”
“No,” Orlando said shaking his head. “I wouldn’t have thought that either even in a place that seems as active as this place. It’s always best to think that something has a logical real-world explanation before jumping to any other conclusions.”
McKellen stared at him for a long moment and then nodded his head all the tension seemed to go out of him like he finally believed that they weren’t going to twist everything he said into some big advertisement for a haunted house.
“I assumed it was someone that had heard about the building’s history and the accident and was playing a sick prank,” he admitted after a moment.
“I would probably have thought the same thing,” Orlando agreed. “Wouldn’t be the first time some idiot has decided to play ghost.”
“It’s happened here before as well,” McKellen said. “We’re not that far from various schools and it’s become a bit of a right of passage I think for some of them. So I decided to cut the pranksters off at the pass and left the tarp down for a few nights thinking they might get bored and leave…or try something else on one of the lower floors where there’s more stuff to move around.” He stopped talking for a moment his eyes shifting restlessly around the room.
“What happened after that?” Orlando prodded gently knowing they were getting to the real depth of the story and that it was probably something that made the caretaker uncomfortable to talk about.
McKellen frowned and was silent for so long that Orlando thought they might have lost him. But taking a deep breath he finally spoke again in a voice rough and unsure. “The next day I came back and the entire third floor was a mess. Windows broken, holes in the wall and debris from the fourth floor showered all over the place. I didn’t know what to think when I came in and saw it.”
Orlando’s brows shot up and he exchanged a glance with Billy and Dominic stopped his examination of the room to stare at McKellen in some shock. There had been rumors about what had happened of course but it was still a surprise to hear of such a visibly violent reaction from a resident spirit in a building that for the most part seemed to be filled with ghosts that wanted their privacy. Orlando’s body buzzed with excitement. If that part of the rumor was true that meant that the incident that was said to follow it was also most likely true.
“What did you do?” he asked in as even a tone as he could manage.
“I lost it,” McKellen said with a dry chuckle. “Not sure how long I ranted and raved but it went on for a while I think. I’m sure I said something about Mrs. Wood’s reaction to such an incident and other things along those lines mostly. That night I decided that I was going to catch the pranksters in the act and let them know what I thought of them in person. I camped out on the third floor hoping to catch them sure that they would come back to further the damage because they’d been coming nightly for weeks at that point and would hardly stop after their big moment. Well at some point I must have drifted off to sleep because the next thing I knew it was morning and…” he trailed off with another frown.
“And…” this time it was Dominic that did the gentle prodding to get McKellen to continue clearly anxious to hear the next part from the man himself.
“I’m sure you’ve already heard this story…” McKellen said gruffly. “It’s the reason you’re here…”
“We have,” Orlando admitted readily. “But all we’ve hear are second hand accounts from other people and details do tend to get lost or changed in repeated telling. I’d very much rather hear it from you…unless you really would rather not…”
“When I woke,” McKellen continued after hesitating for a split second longer. “I found that the entire room was spotlessly clean. In better condition then before it was destroyed. The tarp had even been replaced over the hole. The only thing that hadn’t been fixed was the broken windows. I had slept through the entire thing.”
“Wow,” Orlando said softly. Hearing it through secondary sources was one thing hearing from the person it happened to was quite another.
“Wow, indeed Mr. Bloom,” McKellen said dryly. “I still don’t know how it was managed. Some of the debris was quite heavy and there is no way it could have been moved without making noise.”
“At least not my human means,” Dominic murmured softly then went back to his work when Orlando pinned him with an annoyed look.
“I…I’ve had things happen to me in the building before,” McKellen admitted after a long moment of thought. “I’ve been around for many years and like the workers have had things go missing and turn up on me have seen the shadows move and lights where there was no source have heard odd noises but this…this was rather more than I have ever dealt with.”
“As experiences go it’s certainly a big one,” Orlando said with a slight smile. “You’re never ready for something like that no matter how prepared you think you are. I took off pretty fast the first time I had one go through me. Rather embarrassing since I’m supposed to be the head of the team and all.”
“I didn’t run,” McKellen said with a shake of his head pride coloring his voice. “Oh I got out of there as quickly as I could but made sure to pack everything up and even say thank you before I left. I didn’t come back for a month. Took some of the vacation I had saved up. When I got back, things were…different.”
“Different how?” Orlando asked curiously.
“It was…empty,” McKellen said seeming to struggle for a way to explain what he was thinking. “This floor used to feel as full as the floors below and above it. But now…it’s empty.”
Orlando pinned McKellen with a surprised look. He wondered if the other man was sensitive to these things and if he realized it. He’d have to ask Dom the feelings he got off the building because he was usually useless when it came to feeling things like that. For his part now that he was directly paying attention to it there was a definite difference between the third floor and the floors below it. Those had been buzzing with activity but this floor seemed almost painfully empty in comparison. There did seem to be a bit near the stairs flicking in and out probably as curious about them as they were about it but other than that he got nothing. Strange considering what had happened there.
“But things still happen here,” McKellen continued after a moment. “I’m sure you’ve heard about them already as well…”
“I’d very much like to hear your experiences from you…” Orlando said softly.
McKellen nodded and then went silent for a long moment as he tried to get his thoughts in order. “There’s never been another major incident, really.”
“Everything is important,” Orlando insisted. ”Very few…for lack of a better term…hauntings…are made up of big crazy events. It’s more a serious of small events linked together that tell the whole story.”
“Well these are very small events mostly, just the normal lights in strange places, shadows moving, things like that. After word got out about what had happened to me, we had a lot of people descend on us. Mr. Rhys-Davies allowed in more people then he should have most of them quite questionable. But things would happened to them, or so they said, being led on a wild goose chase throughout the building starting on the third floor, steering them away from the floors above when they’d try to go where they shouldn’t and they claim to have a male voice on their tapes answering with his name when they’d asked it.”
“Yes,” Orlando said when McKellen fell silent again. “We’ve heard the tapes. It does sound like someone saying his name but…those things aren’t always conclusive.”
“Eventually a year passed and things calmed down and the ghost hunters grew bored and left. Things here grew quieter as well almost like whatever it was had wanted to stop interacting with the people who visited which added to less and less people coming here which was fine with me,” McKellen said with a smirk.
“So nothing further has happened?” Orlando asked more recent details of happenings in the building were more rumors than anything and few and far between. It was what made speaking with the caretaker so important.
“I think you wouldn’t believe me if I answered yes to that,” McKellen said knowingly and Orlando just shrugged his shoulders. “Things have happened but…not with the same level of activity as they used to and it’s like…well mostly I think I come across them by accident. Like it doesn’t mean me for anyone to see it…”
”What have you seen?” Orlando asked.
“Heard mostly,” McKellen corrected. “There are the occasional lights and moving shadows up here but it’s not as common as the floors down below.”
”What do you hear then?” Orlando asked rephrasing his question.
“Whispers,” McKellen said. “But not vague ones throughout a room or anything like that. It was more like people having specific conversations but of course there was no one there when I’d come up the stairs.”
“Were you ever able to make out what they were saying?” Billy asked curiously.
“No they were too quite but it always seemed like the same two voices. One was definitely a male voice the other…I think it was a female, a young girl maybe?”
Orlando exchanged another look with his colleagues there was an obvious question in there to be asked but he decided to hold that off until the end. He didn’t want to interrupt McKellen’s train of thought with a side question at that point. But there was something more direct that he wanted to ask something that was again very important to what they were doing there.
“We’ve heard a recent rumor,” he started in an unassuming tone. “About music…”
“Yes,” the caretaker said with a sigh. “Like the conversations it would center on the third floor. At first I thought it was more kids partying and would go to investigate to chase them out, but when I got up to the third floor landing it would be gone and the room would be empty. I was curious because it sounded like modern music so I started keeping a tape recorder on me and changed up the times that I’d come to do my routines and I managed to catch a couple different swatches of music. I took the tape to my nephew who was about Mr. Wood’s age to see if he could identify the music, I didn’t tell him what it was from but I’m sure he figured it out anyway, he told me that most of it was from bands from the US and a few British bands as well none of the songs were brand new…none of them were from past the time of the accident…”
“Do you still have that tape?” Dominic asked excitedly, he once again was the recipient of exasperated looks from Orlando and Billy for stepping so far away from their normal game plan when it came to things of this nature. “I mean…if…”
“Yes,” McKellen said with a tight smile. “I still have the tape and I am willing to let you listen to it on the condition that you promise not to post it on any websites or show it on any TV shows.”
“We can make that promise, Mr. McKellen,” Orlando agreed readily. They had a website but used it only as a way for people to contact them. “So the only direct interaction you’ve had has been through these conversations and music that disappears when you’re presence is known?” he pressed, he still had the feeling that there was something that the caretaker was not telling him. The man’s eyes kept sliding off towards the mirrors in a way that caused Orlando’s skin to prickle.
“Well…” McKellen hesitated for a very long moment. “What I’m about to tell you…you cannot tell anyone else. You’re the only people I’ve told about it so if it comes out I will know that it has come from you…”
“We’ll agree to that as well…but…I would like an open agreement to share anything with his mother should…should it be definitive that her son still lingers here,” Orlando said gently. “That’s the reason we’re here…the only reason.”
McKellen contemplated him and Orlando knew this must indeed be something big because they’d gotten past this point several times already in the conversations. “I chased away a group of teenagers having a very raucous party one night. They had made a mess of the third floor and I was in the next day cleaning it up. I…was…over by the mirrors over there,” he said pointing at the same mirrors he had been eying all evening. “I was cleaning them and out of the corner of my eye I saw movement. I glanced behind me and saw nothing and looked back at the mirror and I…I saw…something…”
“What did you see, Mr. McKellen?” Orlando said softly.
“Not…a full apparition or anything like that but a pair of eyes in a vague outline of a face. They were eyes that I recognized because I’d seen them before in pictures and in person. You don’t forget eyes like that.”
Orlando nodded, chills running up and down his spine, he had only seen pictures of Elijah Wood but he would have to agree that those eyes were unforgettable. “What… what happened then?”
“Nothing,” McKellen said with a frown. “They were there for about a minute just staring out at me from the mirror. I felt…uncomfortable, not afraid, just that uncomfortable feeling you get when someone is watching you so intently. I had to glance away and when I looked back…they were gone. I finished my cleaning and left…I’ve never seen them again.”
Once more McKellen fell into silence and Orlando knew enough to know that the conversation had come to an end and didn’t press for any further details on the eyes or ask any more questions about what the man had experienced in the building. He sensed that if there was anything else that the caretaker had not already told them when asked he certainly wasn’t going to offer it up on his own, at least not on this first meeting. It was better to just end the questioning and to give McKellen some time to mull things over a bit. Perhaps he’d be willing to share something else the next morning when he left. Besides they had a lot of work to get done before night fell.
“Thank you, Mr. McKellen,” Orlando said forcing himself to hold back the excitement that had started prickling up and down his spine upon finding out about the eyes in the mirror. “Thank you for allowing us to use up so much of your time with the tour and answering our questions. We should have more than enough to conduct our investigation tonight.”
McKellen shrugged a little and then took the hand that Orlando held out to him in a firm handshake. “Just doing what Mr. Rhys-Davies asked me to do.”
“You could have sidestepped anything of the questions, Mr. McKellen and made our job here very difficult but you chose not to…”
“You’re here because his family asked you too,” McKellen said with another shrug. “Anything I can do to help them I will try to do.”
There is so many ways that Orlando could use that statement to his advantage. Another investigator might but he wouldn’t that wasn’t the way he did things. He waited for people to trust him it always worked out better that way. Not to mention that it always led to learning things that now one else would be able to get no matter how much they bribed and bartered.
“We’ll stop by in the morning to pick up a copy of that tape,” he said. “We may have a few more questions based on what we experience tonight, we usually just write those up and leave them behind to be mailed or picked up at a later date so we won’t be eating up anymore of your free time with questions.”
That would also give McKellen some more time to think of anything else he might want to tell them himself but Orlando didn’t say that thought out loud. McKellen didn’t say anything either just nodded his agreement and then turned and walked away from them. Orlando shared a wry grin with his friends and then they hurried after him. They had just reached the second floor landing and were heading down to the first when Billy thrust a notebook into his hands. ‘Crying Girl’ had been hastily scrawled across a blank sheet followed by a barely legible, ‘Connection to the female whisper?’ Orlando nodded his head thankful that Billy was always on top of these sorts of things he’d forgotten to ask McKellen one very important question about the night of the accident.
“Mr. McKellen,” He said as they stepped back into the sunny day outside. “Just one more question before you leave?” McKellen kept moving forward across the bridge but he grunted and Orlando took that as his opening. “The night of the accident the boys mentioned something about a ‘Crying Girl’,” that got McKellen’s attention he slowed to a stop at the end of the bridge. “The police report said that they checked the building and found no signs of a child being on the premises. Have you ever…heard anything…like that?”
“No,” McKellen said slowly. “I’ve never heard any children crying either before or since that night.”
“Do you think maybe the young female you heard having the whispered conversation… could be connected to the one the boys said they heard crying?”
“I admit I have often wondered that,” McKellen said with a sigh. “I’ve done plenty of research on this place throughout the years and there is no record of a child every having died anywhere on the property. However a 9 year old named Celia Shepherd drowned in the river in 1956 not far upstream from here. The currents were so strong that her family wasn’t able to get to her before she was swept away. Her body was eventually located two miles downstream from her home. It would have had to pass right by here.”
Orlando contemplated the statement and then nodded his head. If the feeling in the building was to believe there were a lot more spirits present than could have actually died there given the building records available for research. There was a constant stream of development to the area surrounding the Foulton building but the building itself remained the same. Perhaps it had become a safe haven to those that had been driven from their original resting places.
“I’ll see you in the morning, then,” McKellen said, and then he pulled out a card and handed it to them. “If you should run into trouble just give me a call.”
“Thank you,” Orlando said taking the card and slipping it into his pocket.
The caretaker headed off across the parking lot towards his house. Orlando watched him go and then turned towards their black van. Billy and Dominic already had the back open and were deep in discussion most likely over what equipment they were going to need and what was going to be useless on this assignment. He joined them and quickly filled them in on what McKellen had just told him.
“So what do you think?” he asked them glancing back towards the building regarding it with assessing eyes.
“I think that man is as creepy as any building we’ve ever done,” was Dom’s reply.
“Dominic,” Orlando said in exasperation.
“I think he meant what do we think of the building, Dom…” Billy said dryly with a roll of his eyes.
“I know that,” Dominic said with a grin. “It doesn’t change the fact that that man is seriously creepy.”
“Billy?” Orlando said turning his attention to the more serious of his two partners hoping for a real answer to his question.
“I think it’s a very big old building,” Billy said after mulling it over for a moment. “It’s going to be hard to tell a real cold spot from a draft and who knows what kind of funky wiring is going on in there.”
“Yeah this is probably one of the more difficult places we’ve taken on,” Orlando agreed thoughtfully.
“Connecting all the equipment is going to be a bitch,” Dominic grumbled tightly.
“That’s why I pay you the big bucks,” Orlando said cheerfully, he reached into one of the bags in the car and pulled out the floor plan that Rhys-Davies had given to him when they’d met the day before.
“You don’t pay me at all,” Dominic volleyed back garnering an eye roll from Orlando. Then he switched quickly to work mode. “I don’t know if I have enough cables to cover everything we’d originally planned to cover.”
“I think we can narrow our investigation to the third floor, that’s where most of the events that could be connected to Wood have been focused. We’ll still want to set up some cameras on the first and second floor but…I don’t think we’ll need that many.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Billy said and Dominic nodded his agreement.
“Less work setting up and tearing down always works for me?” Dominic piped up as he climbed into the van and began passing out the equipment.
“You are such a lazy idiot,” Billy tossed back in exasperation.
“Maybe, but you love me anyway,” Dom said cheekily patting Billy on the cheek.
“I love my sister too but that doesn’t stop her from being any less of a pain in the ass,” Billy snarked back.
Orlando shook his head as they continued to bicker while unloading the truck. He tuned them out easily after a few moments as he organized the equipment they were unloading onto the ground. He had lots of practice at tuning them out. Once they got back into the building all traces of silliness would disappear and they’d be nothing but serious and proper.
He was setting a camera case on the ground when a flash of light from across the river caught his attention. He stood up and eyed the building suspiciously. He stared at it and after a moment was sure that he saw movement from one of the third floor windows. He didn’t say anything to the other two because it could also be a trick of light or his imagination playing games with him because his adrenaline was already starting to kick into high gear. But those realistic and logical thoughts did change the fact that the skin on the back of his neck was prickling like it normally did when he felt like he was being watched.
Slowly, deliberately he went about his business hiding the smile that threatened to overtake his face as that familiar pre-investigation excitement bubbled up inside him. It didn’t bother him that he might be being watched.
It was the whole reason that they were there after all.
* * *
TBC
Author: Amy
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: There really is no pairing in this it’s a Gen fic. But Orlando and Elijah have the main roles.
Warnings: It’s a Halloween/Ghost Fic. There’s character death. It takes place ten years prior to the story starting and without it…there would be no story so please give it a chance.
Disclaimer: Never Happened
Summary: Three old friends investigate the rumors of ghosts at an old building in London.
Note: For the Orlijah prompt on my Prompt Table. Talesinbloom gave me Ghost Hunters.
* * *
“Wow.”
“Yeah,” Orlando agreed with Dominic’s split second assessment with a nod. “She’s something else isn’t she?”
“You can say that again,” Dominic murmured unable to tear his eyes away from the building.
It was lurking across the river the only access to and from the parking area was over a small footbridge. Orlando turned and gave the building they were about to walk into another long look. Every visible inch of the building that he could see was practically screaming Stay Away. One didn’t even need to be a sensitive to pick up the vibe the building was putting out.
But Orlando was a sensitive. Or at least that’s what his Gran was always telling him. Orlando really wasn’t sure about the whole thing. To his way of understanding it a sensitive was someone who saw, or at the very least sensed, spirits lurking in every corner. Orlando had never had that sort of thing happen to him unless he went looking for it.
When he was there was no denying that things seemed to happen around him. Strange noises, lights and shadows, and chills seemed to occur if he was in a building that was reputed to be haunted. But he didn’t think that meant that he was sensitive to those sorts of things he just thought he was rather lucky with the whole thing. And that it probably helped that he worked with a very small crew that only carried a few instruments. Perhaps spirits were camera shy or maybe they liked how respectful Orlando and his group were of them and were more willing to show themselves.
Whatever the case ghosts seemed to like him and that allowed him to pursue something he found enjoyable and exciting. There was nothing better than the thrill of the hunt and the feeling of having an experience that couldn’t be explained away as some natural phenomena
“Are you sure about this place?” Dominic asked nervously.
“Sure about what?” Orlando asked as he unzipped his messenger bag to pull out the paperwork he’d tucked in before leaving his apartment earlier. He wasn’t expecting any trouble with the caretaker but it never hurt to be prepared.
“Going in there? It seems…” Dominic trailed off for a moment. “Creepy…”
Orlando snorted and shook his head. “That’s kind of the point, Dom,” he said hitting the button on his key chain to lock up the car. They’d go in and talk to the caretaker and have the tour and then come back for their equipment when they knew exactly what they were dealing with.
“I know that Orli,” Dominic snapped back with a roll of his eyes. “But this place has an obvious bad attitude what if it takes it out on us…”
“It’s a building Dommie…” Billy said with a snort of his own as he came round to join them. “It can’t exactly jump out and attack you.”
“Well the Wood kid we’re investigating…”
“Wandered off where he shouldn’t and had an accident. It’s tragic but it wasn’t a malicious act of the building.” Orlando said patiently. He knew that Dominic knew this but was nervous he didn’t blame him the building did look pretty creepy. “It’ll be fine Dom.”
Dominic made a face but didn’t argue any further as the crossed the footbridge over to the building. There was a man in the open doorway of the building leaning again the doorframe watching their approach, he was dressed in casual work clothes and smoking a cigarette. He didn’t straighten up until they were almost right on top of them and he made no move to acknowledge them first just regarded them with a sour expression.
“Mr. McKellen?” Orlando asked the stopped in front of the man.
He wasn’t put off by the man’s demeanor. Most of the cases they investigated took places in places that didn’t exactly advertise their haunted statuses and most of the people involved would much rather be left alone. It took a gentle hand to get them talking but it was something else that Orlando seemed to have a gift for.
“That would be me,” the man said dryly putting out his cigarette in an almost elegant manner.
“I’m Orlando Bloom,” Orlando said holding out his hand. “I believe we spoke on the phone earlier today?” There was a soft grunt of acknowledgement from the man but he took Orlando’s hand in a firm handshake. “These are my associates Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd.” As McKellen shook their hands in turn Orlando pulled out the paper work and handed towards the older man. “This is the paperwork I went over with the building’s owner if you’d like to make sure it’s all in order before we actually enter the building.”
McKellen took the offered paperwork gingerly like it was something distasteful that he didn’t really want to look at. Orlando exchanged a knowing look with Billy and Dominic they’d gone through this same thing on several occasions before over the years. The man took a long time to go through the paperwork but as he read through them and saw the attached note from the building’s owner, John Rhys-Davies, granting full permission for the investigation he lost some of the tightness and annoyance from his countenance. He handed the paper work back clearly satisfied that everything was correct and in order.
“So where would you like to start?” he asked in an even tone.
“If possible we’d like a tour of the building,” Orlando answered. “If not the whole building than at least the places we’re allowed to go this evening. We’re most interested in the third floor but not having been here before I’d like to get to know the layout…and the stories.”
“Follow me,” the caretaker said not giving any reaction to the request for stories.
He turned and led them through a large wooden door. As they passed through the entrance Orlando let his fingers brush against the stones that lined the outside of it. Silently thanking the building for allowing them entrance and asking for safe passage throughout the night. He believed what he’d told Dominic that the building would pose no threat.
But it never hurt to be polite.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“And this is the third floor,” the caretaker, said as he finally led them up to that level an hour after they’d entered the building. “This floor used to be used to warehouse the office supplies for the offices downstairs and this part of the building is mostly one room.”
“And this is where Mr. Wood’s body was found?” Orlando asked cautiously.
“Yes,” McKellen said leading them against the expansive room over to one of the far corners. “In this area over here, he fell through the floor above when it came down.”
Orlando glanced upwards and saw that they had covered the hole in the ceiling with a brown tarp. Other than that the only real sign that a tragedy had taken place there ten years earlier was a large white stain where they must have used chemicals to clean the area of any blood. All other debris that might have been present had also been cleaned up long ago. Orlando walked the space carefully avoiding walking directly over the white spot on the floor. He was trying to get a sense of the area and if they were being noticed by anyone as they had been on other floors.
“Were you called here that night?” Billy asked.
“I wasn’t called specifically,” McKellen said after a long moment of thought. “My house is across the river near the parking lot so I heard all the commotion when the ambulances arrived and went to see what was going on when I realized they were going into the building. When they finally allowed me in they were working on him but I think he was already gone at that point they just weren’t ready to give up on him because he was so young. I recognized him almost immediately. I had chased him and his friends out of her on several occasions prior to that night. Perhaps if I had just let them stay this might not have happened…” his voice trailed off with a frown and he stared off in the direction of one of the walls with a sad frown. “Such a waste.”
Orlando stopped dead in his tracks as a soft breeze seemed to emanate through the room towards McKellen. As far as he could tell there were no open windows in the room and though it was drafty that would account for such a strong wind. He watched McKellen through narrowed eyes, the other man had been tense but seemed to calm a bit as the breeze brushed past him. There was no acknowledgement in his face over what had just happened and neither Dominic nor Billy seemed to have noticed the breeze either. Orlando went back to his examining the room content to just wait and see if it turned out to be something more than a breeze later.
“Did you see any signs that they had been partying that night?” Billy continued his questioning after giving McKellen a moment.
“No,” McKellen answered adamantly. “Not on that night or any other time I’d dealt with them prior to that. Maybe they were drinking a little, I understand that was his last night in England, but they were hardly drunk and definitely not high.”
“And you’re sure about that?” Dominic asked skeptically. Orlando could understand why he would question that. Orlando could well remember their school days and how much Dom had liked to party.
“I’ve been around for a long time,” McKellen snapped at him. “I’ve been around for the 60’s and the 70’s and the 80’s. I think I know what being drunk and high looks like.”
“Sorry,” Dominic murmured sending an apologetic look over towards Orlando. He knew he’d crossed a line that he should have at least not so fast and hard. Orlando shrugged his shoulders they hadn’t lost the caretaker yet not even close.
“They were serious as you about this whole ghost hunting business,” McKellen said after a moment.
“Really?” Orlando asked stopping his pacing for a moment and pinning McKellen with a surprised look. None of the boys had mentioned that particular piece of information when they’d done interviews with them the previous week.
“They’d heard all the stories and had come to investigate them. Their equipment wasn’t as fancy as some I’ve seen just a handheld video camera and a laptop but they were very serious about it,” McKellen supplied evenly.
“You said that they’d been here a few times before that night and that you chased them out,” Billy continued after a moment. “Did you ever find them past the third floor?”
“No,” McKellen answered with a shake of his head. “They never even went into the safer restricted areas let alone past the third floor.”
“So why do you think that they decided to go up there that night? Just got overly bold because it was the last night or do you believe there might have been some other reason?” Billy prodded gently.
“I don’t know why he decided to go up there,” McKellen answered simply.
Knowing they’d taken that line of questioning as far as it could go for the moment Billy swung the conversation around with another line of questioning. It was probably sooner than he would have liked to go down this road with someone who was being deliberately less than forthcoming with his answers but they didn’t have much time before nightfall and they still had equipment to set up. “How soon after Mr. Wood’s accident did the strange things start happening around here?” he proceeded cautiously.
“I really have no idea what you’re talking about,” McKellen answered stiffly.
With that the conversation ground to a halt. It was hard to question someone who refused to give any answers. Billy sent Orlando a rather desperate look and Orlando crossed the short distance to join them. He’d always been good at getting reluctant people to open up to them. He decided to not beat around the bush with this one. He suspected that with the caretaker the direct approach would probably be the best, and possibly the only, way to move foreword.
“Please Mr. McKellen,” he said gently. “We’re not here to cause trouble. We don’t want a sensational story or to try to make a tourist destination out of this place. The only reason we’re even here is because Mr. Wood’s family contacted us and asked us to be here.”
McKellen regarded him suspiciously but Orlando could tell from his body language that he had made the right choice in the way he’d approached the program. McKellen frowned for a long moment and then turned his head again staring off towards one of the walls. Orlando noted it was lined with mirrors and was across from the stairs leading up to the floors above.
“I’ve met his family,” McKellen said softly. “They came by when they picked up…his…him…” he sighed. “His mother was…clearly upset but…holding it together for his brother and sister. I don’t think I could have been that strong…”
“If you’d like I can show you the letters and emails that Mrs. Wood sent me…” Orlando said reaching for the clasp on his bag to get them out.
“No,” the caretaker said with a shake of his head. “I would hope you wouldn’t lie about something like that.”
He walked away from them towards a set of windows not that far away. He stared out but it didn’t seem like he was really looking anything. Orlando thought he could see the mental war he was waging inside himself. Probably he was weighing the thought of helping the family with it leaking out and people thinking that he was crazy. In the end the thought of helping the family won out.
He leaned against the window and started talking, Orlando joined him at the window and Billy continued to take notes. Without being told Dominic took over on the walkabout that Orlando had been doing on the room. He wouldn’t be able to sense any presences unless they walked right up to him and did something but since this was the room they were going to focus on he could mentally start setting up the equipment in the best spots.
“It took them about month to complete their investigation and to clean up the room. I believe the workers had some experiences almost right away, you’ll have to speak with them about it, I don’t necessarily know if it was connected to the accident as things happen quite frequently around here. Tools missing, things getting moved around it’s nothing to get worked up about in this place they usually will turn up or get placed back in the right spot before they have to leave for the night. We have a regular crew that works the place and they’re used to things like that happening from time to time. It’s rarely anything beyond that so they don’t get too worked up about it. Although I’m sure that none of them would volunteer to stay here overnight regardless.”
“Do you think that any of them would be willing to speak with us if we asked?” Billy asked. Getting the general feeling of the building in terms of what was common before and what was common now would be important in figuring out if the ghost was really Wood.
Mckellen shrugged, “You would have to ask them yourselves I don’t know what they would and wouldn’t do about that. I can get you the contact number I have. It’s in my office so it’ll have to be in the morning unless you’d rather I bring it back across this evening.”
“No,” Billy said shaking his head. “We’ll stop by before we leave in the morning to pick it up.” He made a note on the top of the page he’d been taking notes on and then switched to a new page when Orlando took over the questioning again.”
“So how long after the work was done did the incidents start up on this floor?” Orlando asked.
“Maybe a week or so after the workers left,” McKellen answered. “I was doing my morning rounds and when I came up to the third floor I noticed that the tarp was on the floor. They had decided it would be too expensive and probably too dangerous to replace the floor and since no one was supposed to go on the floors above not necessary so they’d just covered it with the tarp…it was a blue one at the time. I didn’t really think too much of it because it looked like it had just come loose on its own so I just replaced it myself. The next morning when I came in again to do my rounds it was on the floor again and again it looked like it had just come loose. I thought it was too thick for the staples and had one of the workmen come in and nail it in place instead. The day after the workman came in it was back on the ground this time it didn’t look like it had just come down on its own because the holes where the nails had been where torn.
“Doesn’t seem like that would be something that could happen on its own,” Orlando said.
“No…I started to suspect at that point that something was going on. The next day I knew for sure that there was something else doing on.”
“Why?” Orlando asked gently.
“Because I came back the next morning and not only was the tarp once again down from the ceiling it was torn to shreds.”
“What did you think was going on?” Billy asked.
“Well I didn’t think that it was a ghost,” McKellen said stiffly. “I just figured it was one of his friends that was upset by what had happened and was reacting to it. But…it went on for several weeks and I couldn’t conceive of someone coming back night after night like that.”
“It does seem unlikely,” Orlando said gently.
“But that didn’t mean that it had to be a ghost…”
“No,” Orlando said shaking his head. “I wouldn’t have thought that either even in a place that seems as active as this place. It’s always best to think that something has a logical real-world explanation before jumping to any other conclusions.”
McKellen stared at him for a long moment and then nodded his head all the tension seemed to go out of him like he finally believed that they weren’t going to twist everything he said into some big advertisement for a haunted house.
“I assumed it was someone that had heard about the building’s history and the accident and was playing a sick prank,” he admitted after a moment.
“I would probably have thought the same thing,” Orlando agreed. “Wouldn’t be the first time some idiot has decided to play ghost.”
“It’s happened here before as well,” McKellen said. “We’re not that far from various schools and it’s become a bit of a right of passage I think for some of them. So I decided to cut the pranksters off at the pass and left the tarp down for a few nights thinking they might get bored and leave…or try something else on one of the lower floors where there’s more stuff to move around.” He stopped talking for a moment his eyes shifting restlessly around the room.
“What happened after that?” Orlando prodded gently knowing they were getting to the real depth of the story and that it was probably something that made the caretaker uncomfortable to talk about.
McKellen frowned and was silent for so long that Orlando thought they might have lost him. But taking a deep breath he finally spoke again in a voice rough and unsure. “The next day I came back and the entire third floor was a mess. Windows broken, holes in the wall and debris from the fourth floor showered all over the place. I didn’t know what to think when I came in and saw it.”
Orlando’s brows shot up and he exchanged a glance with Billy and Dominic stopped his examination of the room to stare at McKellen in some shock. There had been rumors about what had happened of course but it was still a surprise to hear of such a visibly violent reaction from a resident spirit in a building that for the most part seemed to be filled with ghosts that wanted their privacy. Orlando’s body buzzed with excitement. If that part of the rumor was true that meant that the incident that was said to follow it was also most likely true.
“What did you do?” he asked in as even a tone as he could manage.
“I lost it,” McKellen said with a dry chuckle. “Not sure how long I ranted and raved but it went on for a while I think. I’m sure I said something about Mrs. Wood’s reaction to such an incident and other things along those lines mostly. That night I decided that I was going to catch the pranksters in the act and let them know what I thought of them in person. I camped out on the third floor hoping to catch them sure that they would come back to further the damage because they’d been coming nightly for weeks at that point and would hardly stop after their big moment. Well at some point I must have drifted off to sleep because the next thing I knew it was morning and…” he trailed off with another frown.
“And…” this time it was Dominic that did the gentle prodding to get McKellen to continue clearly anxious to hear the next part from the man himself.
“I’m sure you’ve already heard this story…” McKellen said gruffly. “It’s the reason you’re here…”
“We have,” Orlando admitted readily. “But all we’ve hear are second hand accounts from other people and details do tend to get lost or changed in repeated telling. I’d very much rather hear it from you…unless you really would rather not…”
“When I woke,” McKellen continued after hesitating for a split second longer. “I found that the entire room was spotlessly clean. In better condition then before it was destroyed. The tarp had even been replaced over the hole. The only thing that hadn’t been fixed was the broken windows. I had slept through the entire thing.”
“Wow,” Orlando said softly. Hearing it through secondary sources was one thing hearing from the person it happened to was quite another.
“Wow, indeed Mr. Bloom,” McKellen said dryly. “I still don’t know how it was managed. Some of the debris was quite heavy and there is no way it could have been moved without making noise.”
“At least not my human means,” Dominic murmured softly then went back to his work when Orlando pinned him with an annoyed look.
“I…I’ve had things happen to me in the building before,” McKellen admitted after a long moment of thought. “I’ve been around for many years and like the workers have had things go missing and turn up on me have seen the shadows move and lights where there was no source have heard odd noises but this…this was rather more than I have ever dealt with.”
“As experiences go it’s certainly a big one,” Orlando said with a slight smile. “You’re never ready for something like that no matter how prepared you think you are. I took off pretty fast the first time I had one go through me. Rather embarrassing since I’m supposed to be the head of the team and all.”
“I didn’t run,” McKellen said with a shake of his head pride coloring his voice. “Oh I got out of there as quickly as I could but made sure to pack everything up and even say thank you before I left. I didn’t come back for a month. Took some of the vacation I had saved up. When I got back, things were…different.”
“Different how?” Orlando asked curiously.
“It was…empty,” McKellen said seeming to struggle for a way to explain what he was thinking. “This floor used to feel as full as the floors below and above it. But now…it’s empty.”
Orlando pinned McKellen with a surprised look. He wondered if the other man was sensitive to these things and if he realized it. He’d have to ask Dom the feelings he got off the building because he was usually useless when it came to feeling things like that. For his part now that he was directly paying attention to it there was a definite difference between the third floor and the floors below it. Those had been buzzing with activity but this floor seemed almost painfully empty in comparison. There did seem to be a bit near the stairs flicking in and out probably as curious about them as they were about it but other than that he got nothing. Strange considering what had happened there.
“But things still happen here,” McKellen continued after a moment. “I’m sure you’ve heard about them already as well…”
“I’d very much like to hear your experiences from you…” Orlando said softly.
McKellen nodded and then went silent for a long moment as he tried to get his thoughts in order. “There’s never been another major incident, really.”
“Everything is important,” Orlando insisted. ”Very few…for lack of a better term…hauntings…are made up of big crazy events. It’s more a serious of small events linked together that tell the whole story.”
“Well these are very small events mostly, just the normal lights in strange places, shadows moving, things like that. After word got out about what had happened to me, we had a lot of people descend on us. Mr. Rhys-Davies allowed in more people then he should have most of them quite questionable. But things would happened to them, or so they said, being led on a wild goose chase throughout the building starting on the third floor, steering them away from the floors above when they’d try to go where they shouldn’t and they claim to have a male voice on their tapes answering with his name when they’d asked it.”
“Yes,” Orlando said when McKellen fell silent again. “We’ve heard the tapes. It does sound like someone saying his name but…those things aren’t always conclusive.”
“Eventually a year passed and things calmed down and the ghost hunters grew bored and left. Things here grew quieter as well almost like whatever it was had wanted to stop interacting with the people who visited which added to less and less people coming here which was fine with me,” McKellen said with a smirk.
“So nothing further has happened?” Orlando asked more recent details of happenings in the building were more rumors than anything and few and far between. It was what made speaking with the caretaker so important.
“I think you wouldn’t believe me if I answered yes to that,” McKellen said knowingly and Orlando just shrugged his shoulders. “Things have happened but…not with the same level of activity as they used to and it’s like…well mostly I think I come across them by accident. Like it doesn’t mean me for anyone to see it…”
”What have you seen?” Orlando asked.
“Heard mostly,” McKellen corrected. “There are the occasional lights and moving shadows up here but it’s not as common as the floors down below.”
”What do you hear then?” Orlando asked rephrasing his question.
“Whispers,” McKellen said. “But not vague ones throughout a room or anything like that. It was more like people having specific conversations but of course there was no one there when I’d come up the stairs.”
“Were you ever able to make out what they were saying?” Billy asked curiously.
“No they were too quite but it always seemed like the same two voices. One was definitely a male voice the other…I think it was a female, a young girl maybe?”
Orlando exchanged another look with his colleagues there was an obvious question in there to be asked but he decided to hold that off until the end. He didn’t want to interrupt McKellen’s train of thought with a side question at that point. But there was something more direct that he wanted to ask something that was again very important to what they were doing there.
“We’ve heard a recent rumor,” he started in an unassuming tone. “About music…”
“Yes,” the caretaker said with a sigh. “Like the conversations it would center on the third floor. At first I thought it was more kids partying and would go to investigate to chase them out, but when I got up to the third floor landing it would be gone and the room would be empty. I was curious because it sounded like modern music so I started keeping a tape recorder on me and changed up the times that I’d come to do my routines and I managed to catch a couple different swatches of music. I took the tape to my nephew who was about Mr. Wood’s age to see if he could identify the music, I didn’t tell him what it was from but I’m sure he figured it out anyway, he told me that most of it was from bands from the US and a few British bands as well none of the songs were brand new…none of them were from past the time of the accident…”
“Do you still have that tape?” Dominic asked excitedly, he once again was the recipient of exasperated looks from Orlando and Billy for stepping so far away from their normal game plan when it came to things of this nature. “I mean…if…”
“Yes,” McKellen said with a tight smile. “I still have the tape and I am willing to let you listen to it on the condition that you promise not to post it on any websites or show it on any TV shows.”
“We can make that promise, Mr. McKellen,” Orlando agreed readily. They had a website but used it only as a way for people to contact them. “So the only direct interaction you’ve had has been through these conversations and music that disappears when you’re presence is known?” he pressed, he still had the feeling that there was something that the caretaker was not telling him. The man’s eyes kept sliding off towards the mirrors in a way that caused Orlando’s skin to prickle.
“Well…” McKellen hesitated for a very long moment. “What I’m about to tell you…you cannot tell anyone else. You’re the only people I’ve told about it so if it comes out I will know that it has come from you…”
“We’ll agree to that as well…but…I would like an open agreement to share anything with his mother should…should it be definitive that her son still lingers here,” Orlando said gently. “That’s the reason we’re here…the only reason.”
McKellen contemplated him and Orlando knew this must indeed be something big because they’d gotten past this point several times already in the conversations. “I chased away a group of teenagers having a very raucous party one night. They had made a mess of the third floor and I was in the next day cleaning it up. I…was…over by the mirrors over there,” he said pointing at the same mirrors he had been eying all evening. “I was cleaning them and out of the corner of my eye I saw movement. I glanced behind me and saw nothing and looked back at the mirror and I…I saw…something…”
“What did you see, Mr. McKellen?” Orlando said softly.
“Not…a full apparition or anything like that but a pair of eyes in a vague outline of a face. They were eyes that I recognized because I’d seen them before in pictures and in person. You don’t forget eyes like that.”
Orlando nodded, chills running up and down his spine, he had only seen pictures of Elijah Wood but he would have to agree that those eyes were unforgettable. “What… what happened then?”
“Nothing,” McKellen said with a frown. “They were there for about a minute just staring out at me from the mirror. I felt…uncomfortable, not afraid, just that uncomfortable feeling you get when someone is watching you so intently. I had to glance away and when I looked back…they were gone. I finished my cleaning and left…I’ve never seen them again.”
Once more McKellen fell into silence and Orlando knew enough to know that the conversation had come to an end and didn’t press for any further details on the eyes or ask any more questions about what the man had experienced in the building. He sensed that if there was anything else that the caretaker had not already told them when asked he certainly wasn’t going to offer it up on his own, at least not on this first meeting. It was better to just end the questioning and to give McKellen some time to mull things over a bit. Perhaps he’d be willing to share something else the next morning when he left. Besides they had a lot of work to get done before night fell.
“Thank you, Mr. McKellen,” Orlando said forcing himself to hold back the excitement that had started prickling up and down his spine upon finding out about the eyes in the mirror. “Thank you for allowing us to use up so much of your time with the tour and answering our questions. We should have more than enough to conduct our investigation tonight.”
McKellen shrugged a little and then took the hand that Orlando held out to him in a firm handshake. “Just doing what Mr. Rhys-Davies asked me to do.”
“You could have sidestepped anything of the questions, Mr. McKellen and made our job here very difficult but you chose not to…”
“You’re here because his family asked you too,” McKellen said with another shrug. “Anything I can do to help them I will try to do.”
There is so many ways that Orlando could use that statement to his advantage. Another investigator might but he wouldn’t that wasn’t the way he did things. He waited for people to trust him it always worked out better that way. Not to mention that it always led to learning things that now one else would be able to get no matter how much they bribed and bartered.
“We’ll stop by in the morning to pick up a copy of that tape,” he said. “We may have a few more questions based on what we experience tonight, we usually just write those up and leave them behind to be mailed or picked up at a later date so we won’t be eating up anymore of your free time with questions.”
That would also give McKellen some more time to think of anything else he might want to tell them himself but Orlando didn’t say that thought out loud. McKellen didn’t say anything either just nodded his agreement and then turned and walked away from them. Orlando shared a wry grin with his friends and then they hurried after him. They had just reached the second floor landing and were heading down to the first when Billy thrust a notebook into his hands. ‘Crying Girl’ had been hastily scrawled across a blank sheet followed by a barely legible, ‘Connection to the female whisper?’ Orlando nodded his head thankful that Billy was always on top of these sorts of things he’d forgotten to ask McKellen one very important question about the night of the accident.
“Mr. McKellen,” He said as they stepped back into the sunny day outside. “Just one more question before you leave?” McKellen kept moving forward across the bridge but he grunted and Orlando took that as his opening. “The night of the accident the boys mentioned something about a ‘Crying Girl’,” that got McKellen’s attention he slowed to a stop at the end of the bridge. “The police report said that they checked the building and found no signs of a child being on the premises. Have you ever…heard anything…like that?”
“No,” McKellen said slowly. “I’ve never heard any children crying either before or since that night.”
“Do you think maybe the young female you heard having the whispered conversation… could be connected to the one the boys said they heard crying?”
“I admit I have often wondered that,” McKellen said with a sigh. “I’ve done plenty of research on this place throughout the years and there is no record of a child every having died anywhere on the property. However a 9 year old named Celia Shepherd drowned in the river in 1956 not far upstream from here. The currents were so strong that her family wasn’t able to get to her before she was swept away. Her body was eventually located two miles downstream from her home. It would have had to pass right by here.”
Orlando contemplated the statement and then nodded his head. If the feeling in the building was to believe there were a lot more spirits present than could have actually died there given the building records available for research. There was a constant stream of development to the area surrounding the Foulton building but the building itself remained the same. Perhaps it had become a safe haven to those that had been driven from their original resting places.
“I’ll see you in the morning, then,” McKellen said, and then he pulled out a card and handed it to them. “If you should run into trouble just give me a call.”
“Thank you,” Orlando said taking the card and slipping it into his pocket.
The caretaker headed off across the parking lot towards his house. Orlando watched him go and then turned towards their black van. Billy and Dominic already had the back open and were deep in discussion most likely over what equipment they were going to need and what was going to be useless on this assignment. He joined them and quickly filled them in on what McKellen had just told him.
“So what do you think?” he asked them glancing back towards the building regarding it with assessing eyes.
“I think that man is as creepy as any building we’ve ever done,” was Dom’s reply.
“Dominic,” Orlando said in exasperation.
“I think he meant what do we think of the building, Dom…” Billy said dryly with a roll of his eyes.
“I know that,” Dominic said with a grin. “It doesn’t change the fact that that man is seriously creepy.”
“Billy?” Orlando said turning his attention to the more serious of his two partners hoping for a real answer to his question.
“I think it’s a very big old building,” Billy said after mulling it over for a moment. “It’s going to be hard to tell a real cold spot from a draft and who knows what kind of funky wiring is going on in there.”
“Yeah this is probably one of the more difficult places we’ve taken on,” Orlando agreed thoughtfully.
“Connecting all the equipment is going to be a bitch,” Dominic grumbled tightly.
“That’s why I pay you the big bucks,” Orlando said cheerfully, he reached into one of the bags in the car and pulled out the floor plan that Rhys-Davies had given to him when they’d met the day before.
“You don’t pay me at all,” Dominic volleyed back garnering an eye roll from Orlando. Then he switched quickly to work mode. “I don’t know if I have enough cables to cover everything we’d originally planned to cover.”
“I think we can narrow our investigation to the third floor, that’s where most of the events that could be connected to Wood have been focused. We’ll still want to set up some cameras on the first and second floor but…I don’t think we’ll need that many.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Billy said and Dominic nodded his agreement.
“Less work setting up and tearing down always works for me?” Dominic piped up as he climbed into the van and began passing out the equipment.
“You are such a lazy idiot,” Billy tossed back in exasperation.
“Maybe, but you love me anyway,” Dom said cheekily patting Billy on the cheek.
“I love my sister too but that doesn’t stop her from being any less of a pain in the ass,” Billy snarked back.
Orlando shook his head as they continued to bicker while unloading the truck. He tuned them out easily after a few moments as he organized the equipment they were unloading onto the ground. He had lots of practice at tuning them out. Once they got back into the building all traces of silliness would disappear and they’d be nothing but serious and proper.
He was setting a camera case on the ground when a flash of light from across the river caught his attention. He stood up and eyed the building suspiciously. He stared at it and after a moment was sure that he saw movement from one of the third floor windows. He didn’t say anything to the other two because it could also be a trick of light or his imagination playing games with him because his adrenaline was already starting to kick into high gear. But those realistic and logical thoughts did change the fact that the skin on the back of his neck was prickling like it normally did when he felt like he was being watched.
Slowly, deliberately he went about his business hiding the smile that threatened to overtake his face as that familiar pre-investigation excitement bubbled up inside him. It didn’t bother him that he might be being watched.
It was the whole reason that they were there after all.
* * *
TBC