Ghostfinders 01 - Ghost of a Chance Read Free

knowing.”
    “And if our ghosties and ghoulies don’t present any measurable activity?” said Happy, cunningly.
    “Then that’s why we have you,” said Melody. “Though I often wish we didn’t.”
    “Girl geek.”
    “Spice Girls fan.”
    “Children, children,” JC murmured. “Play nicely, or there will be spankings.”
    “I hate it here,” Happy said miserably. “It’s cold, it’s damp, and I think moss is starting to grow under my testicles.”
    “Eeew,” said Melody. “There’s a mental image I wasn’t expecting to take home with me.”
    “Hold it,” said Happy, his head coming up suddenly, like a hound catching a scent. “Hold everything. Did either of you feel that?”
    “Feel what?” said JC, moving in close beside Happy and looking quickly around.
    “We’re not alone,” said Happy, frowning, concentrating. “There’s something here with us . . . No visible presence, can’t say I actually heard or smelled anything . . . but there’s definitely a sense of being observed. And not in a good way.”
    “Not friendly, then?” said JC.
    “What do you think?” Happy said pityingly. “When was the last time we encountered a happy ghost? Very definitely not including the Laughing Ghoul of Leicester, bad cess to his mouldering bones. If you were hoping to meet Casper the Dead Baby, you’re in the wrong team. We only get the bad-tempered ones.”
    “Let us remain optimistic,” said JC. “If only out of a sense of perversity.”
    “Easy for you to say,” growled Happy. “You’re not a Class Eleven sensitive. Damn . . . the presence is so strong now it’s almost overwhelming. My head is pounding.”
    “Take some of your pain-killers,” said Melody. “You’re so much more bearable when you’re medicated.”
    “No,” said JC. “No pills, Happy. Concentrate.”
    “Not even the little purple ones? You like those.”
    “Maybe later, Happy. Hang in there. Melody, anything showing up on your instruments?”
    “Nothing. Not a damn thing anywhere. And no; I don’t feel anything.”
    “You wouldn’t,” Happy said scathingly. “You have all the sensitivity of a night-club bouncer.”
    “Not listening, not listening,” said Melody.
    “According to the briefing files,” said JC, “an old lady was knocked down and killed in this very parking lot a few months ago. A reversing car ran over her. Driver swore he never even saw her. Could she be our ghost? I do good work with little-old-lady ghosts. They trust me.”
    “No fool like a dead fool,” Happy said absently. “This doesn’t feel like any old lady, JC. I’m not even sure it’s human. I’m getting images now, sounds, associations . . . None of them recent. This is old, and I mean really old. Centuries past . . . Dark, brutal, hungry. I don’t like the feel of this at all.”
    “Where is it?” said JC, glaring about into the harsh light of the car park and the darkness beyond. “Can you narrow it down to a location, or even a direction?”
    “It’s everywhere!” said Happy, turning round and round in small, stumbling circles. “It’s closing in on us, from every direction at once! The whole damn area’s haunted, not only the car park . . . But this is the focus, all right. We’re standing at ground zero.”
    “Melody?” said JC. “Tell me something, Melody. Anything.”
    “My instruments are lighting up like Christmas trees,” said Melody, moving quickly from one screen to another. “But none of the readings make any sense. I’m getting sharp spikes in the upper electromagnetic range, massive energy surges almost overloading the sensors . . . Far too strong for any human revenant. Something’s coming, JC. Something huge and powerful . . . Coming up out of the past, out of the deep past, the really long-ago . . . I’ve never seen readings like these, JC. We are off the scale here, people.”
    “It’s been here all along,” whispered Happy. “Waiting for some poor damned fools to break its bonds and