"Abby…" Dani softly shakes the sleeping woman's shoulder. "Abby, wake up."
"Hmmm," she mumbles before turning on her side.
"You need to wake up." Dani tries shaking her more forcefully.
Dani reaches over the side of the sofa, turning on the tableside lamp. Abby groans in response. She hates to do this to her, she knows how badly she needs the sleep. The last two days have been a bit of a blur, calls poured in from all over the city, sightings and encounters of a ghost who is too good at evading them. The witness accounts were always the same: man with ethereal skin, a pin-striped suit and a bowler hat. Sometimes he was seen pick-pocketing on the streets, or standing behind people in their hotel bathroom mirror, even a few instances where he tried to coax people into alleyways. But every single time the Ghostbusters would arrive on scene, he would be gone in a flash.
Today was no different, they entered the lobby of the Fitz Wallace Hotel, after a call from a frantic hotel manager. The ghost had scared multiple guest and a hotel housekeeper. The Ghostbusters arrived in time to see droves of people exiting the hotel with suitcases in hand. They searched the premises top to bottom, but once again no sign of him.
When Dani and Abby got home, Dani headed for the kitchen to cook dinner, and Abby hit the sofa, passing out within a few minutes. Dani didn't bother waking her, she just simply covered Abby with the sofa afghan, before placing her dinner in the fridge.
"Abby come on," Dani raises her voice above the gentle tone she was using a moment ago.
Abby opens her eyes, but quickly closes them again, her hand coming up to shield her from the harsh light of the lamp. She turns her body over, facing Dani who is kneeling over her. "What time is it?" She looks over at the window, the crescent moon still present against the darkened sky.
"10:17," replies Dani. She pulls the afghan away from Abby's form and begins to fold it. "I need you to get up, Holtzmann will be here with the car soon."
Abby sits up rubbing at her eyes. "What's going on? We just got home two hours ago."
Dani retrieves Abby's shoes from the front door, placing them at her feet. "We got a call."
"How do you know?" Abby yawns. "No one is at the office, we all went home."
Dani taps Abby's knee to get her attention. She then points at Abby's sneakers, silently telling her to put them on. "I set it up so any calls we get after closing automatically forward to my cell."
Abby slides a foot into her shoe. "I definitely don't pay you enough for that."
"This is true." Dani reaches for her jacket off the coat rack, grabbing Abby's as well. "But the Ghostbusters need to be reachable at all times."
After getting both shoes on and tied, Abby walks over to Dani. "Where we headed?"
Dani hands Abby her jacket. "Charlie called."
"Who?" Abby immediately replies.
"Mr. Warren T… Crane's assistant." She makes sure to put emphasis on the T. "You met him."
"Right, right!" Abby shakes her head in recognition. "Did something happen at the hotel? Did any of our meters go off?" Abby quickly looks around for her cell phone, spying it sandwiched between the cushions on the sofa.
"Something did happen, but it wasn't at the hotel."
She grabs her cell phone, instantly pulling up the P.K.E meter app. "Then where?"
Dani slides her arms through her jacket sleeves. "Mr. Crane's home," she replies drily. "In Connecticut."
Abby looks up. "Connecticut?"
"Yeah."
A car horn sounds outside the window, Dani swiftly moves across the room, pulling back the curtain. "They're here." She looks back at Abby. "You should go to the bathroom before we leave."
Abby gives her an annoyed glance. "I'll be fine."
Dani walks towards the door, picking up her backpack along the way. "We are not stopping."
"Dani! I'm not a child," Abby protests. "Let's go."
Dani rolls her eyes, as she opens the apartment door.
Abby follows after her, but freezes just before locking the door behind them. "Just a second, I forgot something." She races back inside, leaving Dani in the hallway.
"You're going to pee, aren't you?" Dani shouts back into the apartment.
"Shut-up!" Is yelled through the open doorway.
Dani snickers to herself.
/
"I can't believe you are coming with us," Patty says over her shoulder to Dani in the back seat. "With Crane going to be there and all."
From her spot in the middle of the back seat, between Abby and Erin, Dani is able to look at Patty easily. "Oh, he's not there," she replies. "He has an early board meeting and is staying in the city tonight. He sent his assistant to his house to pick up some papers and it is he who encountered the ghost."
Erin turns her body to take in Dani's profile. "And we're sure it's the same entity? We are currently in another state."
Patty looks over her shoulder again. "Maybe our ghost friend hopped on the New Haven Line."
Dani smiles at Patty before nodding to Erin. "Charlie described him to me. Same depiction that we have been getting lately."
"How would he even know about this house?" Abby asks. "Patty, can you research this address and see how long this house has been in the family?"
Patty pulls out her cell phone, her fingers beating rapidly against the screen. "On it."
Abby turns her head to see Dani staring right at her. It looks as if she is trying to fight a smile. "What?" she questions.
Dani raises her hand up to the right side of her own face. "You got a bit of an indentation going on there." She smiles fully now.
Abby reaches up touching her cheek. Erin leans over Dani to get a look herself. "Oh, I love a good herringbone pattern," Erin chuckles. "It really makes your eyes pop."
"That would be your fault," Abby directs at Dani. "Leaving me on the sofa like that."
Erin and Dani continue to laugh as Abby scrubs in vain at the skin of her cheek. Holtzmann takes a glance through the rear view mirror with a smile.
With phone in hand Patty turns herself partly around in the front passenger seat towards her companions in the back. Her fingers still scrolling over the cell phone screen. "Okay the Crane estate is located on a wooded twenty-eight-acre. It is approximately four thousand square feet with six bedrooms and five bathrooms. Built in 1802 for a Mr. James Crane, a steel producer."
"Wow, it must be nice to have that much land," Dani comments.
"Oh, that's nothing." Patty looks up from her phone screen. "When the house was built, it sat on one hundred and sixty-four acres."
"Well that explains our ghost knowing about this property." Holtzmann glances over at Patty. "It has obviously been in the family over two hundred years."
"Shit," Patty hisses out.
"What?" is the collective response.
Patty shakes her head. "I lost my connection." She moves the device around above her head. "No bars."
Holtzmann smacks her GPS on the dashboard. "Yeah, the navigation system is down too. We must be in a dead zone."
"That's some dead zone," comments Abby.
Everyone takes a look out their respective windows, Dani leaning over Abby to spy out hers. The sky pitch black, birch trees as far as the eye can see, and no street lights since their last turn a mile back. Holtzmann slows down the car, guided only by the headlights, fearful of a deer running out in front of them.
"How are we supposed to know where we're going without navigation?" Patty tries waving her phone around again to no avail.
"We only had a half mile to go," Holtzmann glances down, checking the Ecto-1 odometer. "Should be coming up on the house soon."
"Where?" Erin squints as she looks through her window out at the greenery surrounding them. "Is it just going to pop out of the thicket of trees?"
"Over there!" Patty shouts, point straight out her window.
Everyone turns their attention to the right side of the car, leaning forward in their seats. Holtzmann slows the car even more as the tree line begins to thin out and a few twinkles of light can be seen up ahead. A large structure looming in the distance.
"That's got to be it," Abby affirms, her nose pressed against the glass. "There's nothing else out here."
At the tree line's end begins an expanse of a dry stack stone wall. Each individual stone unique and shaped perfectly to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. At the entrance, swinging in the wind is a wooden sign on an iron post, which reads: The Cranes Est. 1802. Holtzmann turns the Ecto-1 into the driveway between two large pillars. The flickering flames from the gas-powered lanterns reflecting on the windows.
Patty's mouth drops open as she stares up at the house before them. A two-story brick home, flat surface, symmetric in its number of windows and gables. On either side of the front door, just like the estate entrance, there are two lanterns. Whose flames are dancing across the pebbled walkway. "I could live here," Patty insists. "Dani, if you don't want him, I'll take him."
Dani smiles. "Go for it." She looks up into the rear view mirror catching Holtzmann's eyes.
"He just hasn't experienced the full Patty charm yet," she boasts.
Holtzmann brings the car to a stop just behind an electric blue Honda Civic. Before they can step one foot out of the vehicle, Charlie exits the house and quickly moves towards them. The girls head for the back of the car to suit up, while Dani meets Charlie halfway between the car and the front door. She extends her hand out to him in a courtesy manner. "Charlie Poole?"
Charlie nods as he wipes his sweat-ridden hand on the fabric of his slacks before taking Dani's hand in return. "Yes ma'am, I'm Charlie."
His hand is weak in hers, but she feels a slight tremor. He tries to avoid eye contact with her, his eyeline all over the place as he moistens is dry lips repeatedly. It's hard to see his face fully, the only light source coming from the porch lanterns, sharp lights and shadows encompass his features. She narrows her eyes, moving closer Dani invades Charlies personal space to get a better look at his left eye. Just as she thought, the dark imprint and puffiness around it is not an illusion created by the lantern flames. "What happened to your eye?"
Still not being able to look at Dani straight-on. He focuses his attention on her visible collarbone. "It was him," his voice unsteady and just above a murmur. "The one you talked to Mr. Crane about."
Dani takes a breath. She rests her hand on Charlie's shoulder in an attempt to provide what comfort she could to him. "Are you hurt anywhere else? Is there anyone else with you that may be hurt too?"
"I'm alone." He finally looks her in the eye. "He got me in the nose too, but I was able to clean it up."
Dani spies what she didn't see before, two droplets of dried blood just under the second button of his crisp white button up shirt. "Okay." She nods her head. "Where is he now?"
Charlie looks up at a window on the second floor of the house, Dani's eyes follow. "I was in the library collecting files when he attacked me," he tells her. "I was able to get out of the room… he didn't follow."
Dani looks between the library window and Charlie.
"When I got downstairs I called you guys."
"I can't believe you stayed in the house. Why didn't you just leave?"
Charlie looks Dani in the eye again. "I was going to… was heading out the front door, but then he started playing the piano. So, I figured as long as I could hear the music… I would be safe."
"Well…" Dani begins. "Is he at least any good?"
Charlie lets out a shaky laugh despite his tense posture. "Not particularly, he fumbled several times."
Dani gives him a warm smile. She reaches into her jean pocket, pulling out her cell phone. "Say… we weren't able to get any cell bars down the road." She unlocks her phone screen. "Or here either it seems."
Charlie nods. "Yeah, it's a weird piece of land. There is no signal here."
Dani looks up at him. "How did you call us?"
"There's a landline inside."
"Right." Dani slides her phone back in her pocket. "I forget people still have those."
Dani turns around at the sound of heavy boots stumping against the pebbled walkway. The girls fully dressed and gear in place, rest their hands on their hips as they stare back at Dani and Charlie.
"We start upstairs in the library." Dani points to the corresponding window. "That is where he was last seen."
They head towards the front door, Holtzmann positioning herself as the front man of the group. The lights are on throughout the downstairs, a large chandelier hanging above them in the foyer. They stop and listen.
"I don't hear the piano," Dani whispers to Charlie, who is standing in the doorway.
"It stopped when you drove up," He informs her. "That's why I left the house so quickly."
Holtzmann indicates with hand signals, like she is the leader of a swat team, for them to make their way up the stairs. One behind the other, they file up. Dani turns back to Charlie, who is bringing up the rear.
"You don't have to stay," she whispers. "We can take it from here."
Charlie shakes his head in protest, but his body language reads as if he is ready to bolt. "Mr. Crane told me I must stay. As long as you are all here, so am I."
"You called him after you talked to me," It was more of a statement than a question.
"No, I called him first."
Dani turns back around, trying to catch up with the others. "Well, stay close," she says over her shoulder to Charlie.
/
Upon entering the library, the girls find it empty. The overhead light on, the fallboard of the piano open, leaving the keyboard uncovered. Also, scattered across the floor, evidence of the struggle between man and ghost. The files Charlie was summoned to retrieve left in haste, strewn about the giant Turkish area rug.
Charlie moves to clean up his mess, organizing the papers as he goes. The others cautiously check under tables and behind drapes, just to make sure he is not still lying in wait inside this room.
"He's not here anymore," sighs Erin. "We drove all the way out here to be taunted again… in another state none the less."
Abby pushes back one of the drapes to glance out the window. "No, he is still here," she maintains. "I can feel him."
"What… you clairvoyant now?" Patty jests.
Holtzmann corrects her. "Actually, that would be a medium."
Abby moves from the window to the middle of the room, joining the rest of the group, as Charlie still scrambles to retrieve papers and files around them.
"We're going to split up. If we do that, one of us will come in contact with him eventually. I think he is waiting for Tobias Crane to arrive home."
"Then maybe we should have Charlie just call his boss and have him come out here. He looks just like the guy," replies Erin.
"No, we can't use live bait. We don't know what could happen." Holtzmann pulls her yellow tinted glasses down over her eyes. "I think we got ourselves a stake-out."
Abby nods in agreement. "I'll take the outside perimeter." She turns to Patty. "You cover the downstairs."
Erin raises her hand. "I'll stay up here and guard the rest of this floor. Holtz, you can keep an eye on this room."
Holtzmann gives a two-finger salute before hunkering herself down on the fainting couch. "Dani can stay with me, I'll teach her how to use some of the equipment. She should really know how." She gives Dani a wink.
"Okay, but don't let her scorch anything," Abby urges. "For that matter, you don't scorch anything either."
Holtzmann gives another salute. She then motions for Dani to come closer as she opens the silver duffel bag of equipment. The others start filing out of the room, heading to their monitoring stations.
Charlie stumbles as he tries to stand, his files almost slipping out of his hands. "What about me?" His voice trembling. "Where should I go? I don't really want to be alone."
Erin stops just outside the door. "You can come with me." She motions with her hand for him to follow.
He scurries out of the room, while Dani moves to kneel in front of the duffel bag that Holtzmann is currently rummaging through.
"Here it is," Holtzmann excitedly announces. She holds up the Proton Ghost Grenade. "This will be yours for tonight."
Dani takes it from her hands. She's seen this one before and is confident that she will be able to operate it, if necessary.
"Let me show you how it works." Holtzmann reaches for it again.
But Dani pulls away. "I got it." She wants to show Holtzmann that she is capable. "You just push this button here and throw it at the target. When the timer goes off…. poof."
"Essentially, yes." Holtzmann bites her lip. "So, you have been listening to my rambling."
Dani puts the proton grenade in her backpack, before replacing it around her shoulders. "I always listen to you," she tells her earnestly. "And it's not rambling, not to me."
They stare at one another, each giving a bashful smile. Dani starts to feel the nervousness again, the same nervousness that she feels every time she has an intense moment with Holtzmann. She pushes a strand of hair behind her ear and averts her eyes elsewhere, but she still can't shake the smile. Holtzmann lets out a soft chuckle, her way of alleviating her own nervousness, before pushing her glasses back onto the top of her head.
Dani moves away from Holtzmann, her fingers twisting around each other. She stops in front of a desk near the window. A black leather photo album with gold etching seats just at its edge. Opening it up, the photographs are old and slipped in place by corner mounts. She quickly closes it back and unzips her backpack again, placing the photo album inside.
Holtzmann narrows her eyes. "What are you doing?"
"I'm betting we're going to be here awhile. Eventually, I am going to want something to pass the time." She zips the bag back up and leaves it by the desk leg.
"But why did you put it in your bag?" Holtzmann still not understanding.
"My guess is someone is going to come complaining that they don't like their station and want to switch. Just taking initiative and already having it on me." She rolls her eyes at Holtzmann. "Don't worry I'll put it back when I'm done."
"Oh yeah I know." She swats her hand in the air.
Dani pulls her eyes away from Holtzmann and moves to the window. Looking out she spies Abby taking her position out in the yard, particle thrower in hand. "Abby is so determined to get him this time."
Holtzmann rests her arm against the back out the couch. Her facial expression softens, as she gazes at Dani. She watches her silhouette as she leans against the window frame, eyes fixated outside of the room, fingers toying with the fabric of her tee shirt. "I think we are all ready for that."
"Yeah," Dani replies, still gazing out. "But Abby seems to be taking it personally."
Holtzmann rests her head against her arm. "How come you've never visited before?"
Dani doesn't move her eyes away from the window, but her fingers still on the hem of her shirt. "I have."
The room falls silent, Holtzmann waits for Dani to continue but she doesn't. She taps her finger against her temple before proceeding. "I've known Abby for four years… you haven't visited in that time."
Dani closes her eyes, her lashes fluttering against her skin. "You asked me before,' she takes a breath, opening her eyes again. "What I was running from."
Holtzmann nods even though she knows Dani can't see her from her position.
"I worked for an investment bank, I think Abby told you that much."
Holtzmann nods again.
"Anyways… I was recruited right out of graduate school, eighty hour weeks: nights, weekends, holidays." Her eyes move from the window to her clasped hands resting on her stomach. "And five years later, I get a promotion. My coworkers hated me for it, they congratulated me to my face, but as soon as my back was turned…" She lets out a contrived laugh. "But I didn't care. I knew I deserved that promotion."
"If you got a promotion you deserved, why would you quit?" Holtzmann pulls her legs up on the couch, crossing them.
Dani pulls herself away from the window frame. She gives Holtzmann a warm smile. Her question not coming as a surprise to Dani. "Sounds silly I know, my mom thought the same thing when I told her."
She slowly moves towards Holtzmann. Her steps timid, but her stare never swaying. They have reached that trusting stage again, like they had back in the fire station when Holtzmann talked about her childhood. She trusted her and she wants to show her the same respect. She walks passed Holtzmann as she takes a seat beside her, their pants legs brushing in the exchange. Holtzmann spins around to face her, legs still crossed, fingers twisting around boot strings.
"When I got home the night of my promotion, I wanted to go out and celebrate. This was a huge salary bump and jump in title for me. But when I pulled out my phone to arrange something… I realized I didn't have anyone to call."
Holtzmann frowns. Dani figures she realizes where this conversation in going now.
"My contact list was full of clients and college friends that I alienated when I started this job. I doubt they would have picked up after so many years of me not returning phone calls."
Holtzmann gives her a sympathetic smile.
"I can't blame the job, not really. This was on me, I allowed it to happened." Dani licks her lips. "I looked around my lonely apartment and realized something, something that for five years I was too busy to notice… that I was not satisfied."
Dani rests her head against her hand. "The next day I put in my notice and made plans for New York." She shrugs her shoulders. "Impulsive?"
Holtzmann is silent, her eyes searching Dani's. She doesn't verbally give her an answer, instead she does something that surprises Dani. She reaches forward with just her pinkie finger and loops it around Dani's. They both watch in amazement as their flesh softly caresses against one another. Dani suddenly becomes hyper aware of their proximity, they seemed to have been subconsciously leaning into each other throughout their conversation.
She doesn't pull away, she doesn't run from it. This is why she left Chicago, for the opportunity to have a moment like this, and she's not going to waste it. Dani unravels finger from Holtzmann's. Her heart beats rapidly as she takes her index finger, running it at an ever-slow speed up the tendon along Holtzmann's wrist. She doesn't realize she is holding her breath until her head becomes light, she breaths out slowly. She feels an involuntary twitch of the muscles in Holtzmann's wrist.
Moving forward she closes her eyes, finally feeling the soft, warm lips she's fanaticized about against her own. There's a stir in her underbelly as she presses into her more, fingers grasping onto her wrist. She knows she must be trembling, she knows Holtzmann must feel it too, but she doesn't care. This moment is everything. She goes to part her lips slight more, to take Holtzmann's bottom lip between her own when her brain registers something. Her eyes open and she gently retreats to find Holtzmann not kissing her back.
Her stomach drops as she stares back at the panicked blonde, whose eyes are wide and unblinking. Holtzmann carefully pulls her arm from Dani's soft grip, pulling herself off the couch as she tries to formulate coherent words. "I ah… um-" Once standing she backs herself towards the door. Almost tripping over a foot stool on the way. "I should um… Abby has got such a large area to cover… I'm gonna-" She abruptly stops talking before turning around and practically running from the room.
Dani sits frozen on the couch, staring off at the empty doorway. Tears threatening to shed as they crowd around the rim of her eyes. Her chest hurts, she clutches her hand to it, as she tries to wrap her brain around what just happened.
