Voices From Beyond (A Ghost Finders Novel) Read Free

attractive if he ever stopped scowling and sulking long enough. He wore grubby jeans and a T-shirt bearing the message JUST BECAUSE I’M PARANOID, IT DOESN’T MEAN I’M NOT OUT TO GET YOU , along with a battered black leather jacket whose most recent tears had been roughly stapled back together. He took so many pills he rattled when he coughed. Just enough, he said, to keep the world and all the awful things in it safely outside his head.
    Melody finally finished loading the more important pieces of her machinery onto a trolley and dragged it down the street to join Happy in front of the house. JC strolled along behind her. He knew better than to offer any assistance because no-one touched Melody’s toys except her. The three Ghost Finders stood together, looking the semi-detached over carefully.
    “Are you picking up anything, Happy?” said JC, after a while.
    “Something bad happened here,” said Happy. “Quite recently.”
    “Obviously,” Melody said crushingly. “Or we wouldn’t be here, would we? What kind of bad?”
    Happy thought about it. “Really bad.”
    “Good!” JC said cheerfully. “The only interesting kind. Let us all go rushing in there and poke it with sticks.”
    “After you,” said Happy.
    JC grinned easily and strode up the paved path to the front door. Happy slouched after him, while Melody trundled along in the rear with her trolley. The path cut straight through a neatly trimmed lawn, decorated with a scattered handful of morose-looking garden gnomes. Happy gave each of them a dark, suspicious glare as he passed. The three sets of footsteps sounded very loud on the quiet street, counterpointed with loud creakings from Melody’s heavy-laden trolley. JC frowned slightly as he realised he couldn’t hear anything else. The evening was almost totally silent, as though it were holding its breath and listening. The footsteps sounded so clearly on the quiet path that whoever was inside the house had to know they were there; but no-one appeared at any of the brightly lit windows to look out.
    “Does anyone in the house know we’re coming?” said Melody.
    “Someone does,” said JC. “A Professor Volke put in a panic call to the Institute, about an hour ago, from this address. Apparently he’s someone’s cousin. Knew enough about us, and what we do, to scream to us for help when whatever it was went horribly wrong.”
    “What did he say the problem was?” said Happy.
    “I don’t know,” said JC. “This was all arranged in a rush. There’s no file, no case notes. We got the call because we were the closest team, and could get here the fastest. The professor is supposed to supply us with all the grisly and entertaining details.”
    “No case file, no details, no warnings,” said Happy. “Oh, this can only go well.”
    JC crashed to a halt before the front door. Happy stopped a comfortable distance behind him. Melody leaned on her trolley, breathing heavily. JC rang the bell, knocked briskly on the door, and kicked it a few times for good measure. He raised quite a din; but there was no response from inside. JC tried the door handle, but the door was locked.
    “Now what do we do, oh wise and learned team leader?” said Happy.
    “I suppose we could break a window . . .” said JC.
    “Get out of the way,” said Melody.
    She pushed past Happy and JC and produced a slender spikey object from a hidden pocket. She eased it into the lock and wiggled it about; and the lock threw up its hands and surrendered. Melody pushed the front door open with a flourish. JC considered the thing in her hand thoughtfully.
    “How long have you been able to open locks, Melody?”
    She shrugged and smiled, and made the picklock disappear about her person. “Girl’s entitled to a hobby . . .”
    “I am changing all my locks, the moment I get back,” said JC.
    “Go right ahead,” said Melody. “See what good it does you.”
    They went inside, closing the door carefully behind them.
    The three