"Whats wrong?" I jumped up to check on Pearl who had fallen to the ground on her back from the bunk bed.
"There was someone there!" She said looking scared. Rose laughed.
"Really thats what scared?" She hoped up to climb to the top bunk herself in order to see what had scared the younger girl. "Hey man." She said shaking something that was lay on the bed which I couldn't see from the ground. "Whats wrong with you? Its just a person." She said to Pearl who was standing now by my side.
"What?" I heard a man say. He shoot up so that I was able to see him but this caused him to hit his head on the ceiling and fall back a little.
"Wow watch it buddy." Rose said still laughing.
"Ouch." He rubbed his head. "What are you people doing down here? I don't know you."
"We don't live here we're just visiting." She explained offering him a hand down.
"Thanks." He said as he took it. "Are you looking for someone?" He looked around at the three of us with slightly unfocused eyes.
"Yes actually." I said. "But not someone that lives here, someone who would come down often though..."
"Oh you must be looking for the guys that keep leaving stuff down here." He smiled raising an eyebrow. "Am I right?" He asked again looking at us all for a sign that he was right.
"Bingo." Rose said and in an almost serious way she asked him a question. "You don't happen to know were to find them do you?" He shrugged and than nodded.
"I certainly can do that, find them I mean, but..." He trailed off.
"I should have figured that there would be a but." Rose said rolling her eyes at me, I nodded at her there was always a but with people who were kinda shady...Thats why cops generally tried to avoid working with them...It was obviously necessary most of the time though...
"Oh now I have to think of something." He stopped to think.
"You said but before you thought of something." Unbelievable! Dumb and trying to get something out of us, only when I was with Rose and Pearl could I meet someone this ridiculous...
"Well I knew that I would want something in return..." He looked embarrassed. The man was really fairly young to have died...but why would even a ghost want to live in a place like this of they had a choice on where to go?
"Then lets just say that in return then we can do a favor for you." I offered.
"Yeah that makes sense." He nodded. "That can be the plan. Follow me." He started back out of the room. Rose had started laughing again.
"Whats up?" I asked.
"Pearl," she looked over at the younger girl. "You were scared of a ghost."
"I was not." Pearl argued.
"Did you not jump back."
"Well yeah, but thats not because it was a ghost that was because it was surprising."
"What kind of a ghost is afraid of ghost." Rose shook her head. "Total fail."
"Whatever." Pearl said stomping her foot and looking away.
"Fine be like that." Rose ran ahead to walk with our new companion.
"I was not scared just startled." Pearl huffed.
"I know." I said smiling at her. "Hey Pearl does he live down here?" The girl nodded.
"Thats right. I believe so at least.." She shrugged.
"Why would anyone choose to live here?" I motioned to the halls surrounding me, it was not only dark and depressing, but filled with people on tours all day, what appeal could it have?
"He must have died here." She said.
"So?"
"Some ghost have trouble letting go of the places that they died. Sometimes because they died violently, but also just because they are scared. Like my friend Micheal, he got lost at Oaks Park, the amusement park that he lives in, so hes scared that if he leaves that then his parents wouldn't be able to find him."
"Doesn't he know that hes dead?"
"Yeah well he wants them to find him when they die." She smiled. "It makes sense, I guess. And as for violent death it can take a lot longer for the ghost to feel ready to move away from the place that it happened. Thelma for example she was murdered in Cathedral park and still lives there and that was 1949. Mello has been trying to get her to come live in our building, but hasn't had that much luck."
!-- _filtered {margin:0.79in;} P {margin-bottom:0.08in;} --
"Hey guys hurry up!" Rose yelled back at us.
"We're almost there." The man said. "You see they leave stuff over here." He stopped in front of an opening, it was a large archway in a brick wall which lead to a corridor. The whole area seemed surprisingly intact for how old everything was... It was still dark but there did seem to be some light coming from the other side of the opening. "This is the port were they would sell us off to sailors."
"You were sold?" Pearl asked.
"Oh no not me." He smiled. "I died well still down here, waiting."
"Oh I'm sorry." She said.
"Thats alright, its not bad I get to scare tourist and well what can be better then that."
"I know." Rose added. "I try to tell that to my boyfriend all the time but he just doesn't get it."
"Wait so this is were Aiber and Wedy are going to drop the art off?" I asked trying to get us all back on topic, a hard task when you have Rose with you, she wasn't exactly a person that stayed on topic well...
"Yeah." The man said. "I just said that. See down that way is a boat entrance those are far less guarded, then the ground ones making it a good way for them to just pull up and drop off, nice and simple." Oh god Aizawa is going to kill me when he hears that there was an easier way to sneak in, but I guess that figured saying as their buyers must have to do it, and theres no way that the bartender wouldn't notice if people were pulling stunts like ours on a daily basis. "See proof." I looked over to see what the man had picked up. He was holding a pile of money fanning it. Wow I had never seen so much money just lay somewhere, I could never imagine placing that down on the ground in god faith that I was going to get something in return! These people were strangely trusting for having dealings with underground activities...
"Whats that doing here?" Rose asked.
"Don't you remember." Pearl said. "They told us when we talked to them. The buyers leave the money and then they bring the art, and the buyer has to come back and get it. Come on Rose really." The girl laughed. "What kind of investigator are you?" She smiled at the taller girl.
"I'm the best detective, I'm like the freaking Hardy Boys." Rose shoot back. "Can't you tell by my perfectly feather hair." She laughed fluffing the stray pieces of her hair that had fallen from the ponytail.
"Your so weird." Pearl said taking the money to count it. Her eyes widened. "They must be selling something good. I've never seen so much money in my life." Funny how we thought so much alike at times, it was probably a little sad for me as she was six years old...
"Pretty much any of that stuff is going to bring in a lot of money." I said, this was fine that we were talking about after all...
"Well judging from the time they should be here soon or at least..."
"Do you see anyone?" I heard a girl's voice ask, but I didn't recognize it. She sounded young...
"No." I heard a second girl respond. They seemed to be coming from the other side of the opening.
"Hide." He said. Pushing us all into a corner. "Stay here. They check the halls to make sure that theres no one in here. So stay." He said before running out of the shadows. I sunk down to the floor, it was covered in leather shoes that had clearly been here for a long time. It was darker here I could see were we had been standing but was blind to anything close. I felt Pearl curl into me trying to make herself smaller and could make out enough of Rose to see that she was standing. I pulled her pant leg to get her attention.
"Stay down." I hissed.
"Its alright I'm in the shadows, they can't see me."
"Thats not true."
"Yeah it is it worked on Nancy Drew."
"Can we stop with the 70s television references." I said pulling her down with a slight thud by my side, at least there was one reference she made that I was able to keep up with!
"Hey that hurt." I put my hand over her mouth as the two young woman walked into the room. They were both wearing simple dress and no shoes, not what I would have called as being part of a high end art theft ring. They both stopped when they saw our guide standing there.
!-- _filtered {margin:0.79in;} P {margin-bottom:0.08in;} --
"I'll deal with him." The one that had talked first said. "You should finish checking the area." The other girl nodded, before heading out to continue her search. I hoped that she wouldn't stumble across any of the rest of us. Not that the rest of the task force would really notice, but it might make us lose our opportunity.
"What are you doing in here?" The girl asked, looking the man up and down.
"I live here." He smirked. "You should know that. We've lived in the same lonely tunnel for over a hundred years." She sneered at him rolling her eyes bitterly.
"I know who you are! I just want to know what your doing here!" She snapped.
"Wow hold your horses." She rolled her eyes again.
"Wheres the money." She looked around the area where we had just been standing.
"I don't know." He shrugged. I looked down at Pearl who still had the money.
"What do I do?" She whispered.
"You took the money?" I heard the girl ask in a condescending way to the man from the opium den. "What got sick of pick pocketing tourist?" She snarled, he shrugged looking about as well.
"I didn't touch the money."
"I saw it this morning for god sake. I know that you took it! Who the hell else would have?!" She waved her hands questioningly in a somewhat frantic way.
"I don't know maybe one of the people from the tours."
"Theres no tours today."
"I mean like a tour guide or someone cleaning."
"They don't clean the tunnels. You really didn't come up with a better excuse then that! You really are pathetic." She laughed.
"Maybe it was blown away." He offered his face lighting up.
"If it was blown away then it would still be around here somewhere." She swung her arms around herself. "So where is it?"
"Give me a chance to look." He said.
"Fine take all the time you need, but don't even think about leaving my sight."
"I know thats how all the girls feel."
"Just find the money." She said glaring at him.
"Will do." He bowed his head down. Before quickly moving over to us barely pretending to look in other places. "Money." he whispered leaning down to us.
"Here." Pearl shoved it into his hands. "Take it."
"Found it." He said skipping back over to the girl.
"Was it right were you put it for safe keeping?" She asked.
"No, I'll have you know that if I was going to steel the money I would have just taken it. Obviously."
"Just give me the money." She held her hand out.
"Yes of course." He handed it to her. "Thank you. Now would you mind leaving."
"What ever you say." He danced away leaving us alone with just this girl, but not for long because she was re joined by the girl who had left.
"Clear." The second girl said.
"Good lets go." I watched as the two girls left back down the way that they had come from.
"That was so awesome." Rose said. "I'm such a super sleuth."
"What?" I asked.
"I'm a sleuth and I'm super. I would say something ever so clever here, but you made rules against it."
"I said no 70s TV."
"Yeah have you looked at this situation, what other kind of joke is there to make?"
"I don't know." Pearl said. "Why not something more clever like... I don't Sherlock Holmes."
"So done."
"And Nancy Drew isn't?"
"Not as bad. Plus what would I say, Pearl your my Watson, lame." Rose rolled her eyes.
"Fine." Pearl said. "Make you dumb jokes all you want, but they're just not funny."
"Think what you want, but I know that I'm damn funny." Rose stuck her tongue out.
"Guys shh." I said as I heard people approaching.