Chapter 4

Vicki and the woman were walking back down the same sidewalk Vicki and Henry had walked less than half an hour ago. She was listening to Minnie yammer, but not, trying to figure out what had happened, where Henry had vanished.

"I don't know why you're insisting I come with you, I have no idea what's going on here."

"Yeah, right, and I've got 20/20 vision and a condo in the Bahamas . Keep walking."

"Why couldn't we take that nice car back there?"

"Because I don't have the keys." And even if I did, I couldn't drive, she thought darkly.

"Well, who does?"

"The guy I mentioned, Henry." Where are you, Henry?

"Oh."

As they got closer to town, Vicki saw a taxi and whistled, when the cab stopped for them, Vicki almost shoved the girl in. Pulling up in front of her office, she paid the driver, and again, just pushed the girl inside, and up the stairs.

"Vicki! You found him!" Coreen jumped up, smiling when she saw someone behind the p.i., then her face fell as she realized it was a girl, not Henry. "Oh. No sign of him?"

"No, Coreen, not yet. But don't worry, we'll find him. I promise." She threw her jacket on the couch, "What do you have for me?"

"The house has a long, freaky history."

"Of course it does. What kind of freaky history?"

"For starters it was built just after World War II, by a man named Elias Marick, who came back from the European theater a rich man. Rumor had it, he made his money in the black market, buying and selling medical supplies to whomever had the money. Rumor also had it he had a big jones on for the black magic, built that house because he believed that area was a nexus to parallel worlds and because he wanted to prove his theory. Of course, everyone thought he was a froot loop, but it didn't stop him. Until the day he disappeared, he swore it was a conduit to another world and he was determined to find it."

"Wait. He disappeared. Not died?"

"Yup, his eldest daughter, Sharmane, went to visit him one day, walked into an empty house, began to search. When she couldn't find him, she called the police, and since he had a few bucks, they came running. They were going to make a cursory search, but she had a fit and they a bit more of an effort. He was almost 70, so they thought maybe he was senile and had just wandered off. They made the usual inquiries, spoke with the neighbors.

Nobody ever saw him again. The kids eventually sold the house and the people who bought it moved out within a month. The report says they knew it was haunted, because they would be having dinner or whatever and they would hear voices coming from nowhere. Every so often, they'd swear they saw a flash of light. Just for a second, then it would disappear. They called everybody from the local parish priest to ghostbusters, but nothing helped."

She handed Vicki copies of all the things she'd pulled from the net. "The house stood for sale for almost three years, then, some idiot bought it. He wasn't as lucky as the previous owners and went missing in. Just up and vanished. Left behind his cat, a brand new Mercedes and apparently everything he'd ever owned."

"That can't be good."

"Probably not, no. I think Marick did find a portal to a parallel universe, he just didn't know how to get back."

"You think that's what happened to Henry? He accidentally stumbled into the portal?" The frown creased Vicki's forehead.

"Could be. I have a friend who's sensitive to things like that. I could call, and we could go back to the house tomorrow and check it out."

"You have a friend who's sensitive to portals to alternate universes?" Vicki rubbed the bridge of her nose, "I am so not surprised." She waved a hand at the phone, "call. It can't hurt." Her left arm shot out from her body, "Don't you move Minnie. We're not done."

Coreen hadn't noticed, but the girl had quietly stood and tried to leave. Vicki might have been going blind, but she had hearing that would put the bionic woman to shame. She turned and looked at the petite redhead, "I need to know how you got here and I need the truth, not some bullshit about how you have no idea what happened to you." She stared at the girl, "Batting those baby blues at me isn't going to work, because I want my friend back and I know somehow, you are the key. Sit."

tbc