Part two Bobby ran up the stairs to the third floor. He saw something moving at the far end of the hall. Darien quicksilvered his eyes as he ran up the stairs behind his partner but he wasn't in time to see the ghost. Hobbes ran towards the ghost, it looked like a woman in a long grey dress. He didn't realize it was a ghost until it vanished into the wall as he got close. "Did you see that?" Bobby touched the wall where he's seen the woman a second ago. "No, what did it look like?" Darien was breathing hard from his run up the stairs. Bobby looked around the hall, shinning the flash light everywhere. There was a small oval window a good seven feet off the floor. But it wasn't large enough for a person to get through it. There was a huge tree on that side of the house, so very little sun light was coming through the window. "It was a woman in a gray dress, a long flowing dress. She went this way like it was a door." "There isn't a door there." Darien said. "I know there isn't." Bobby handed the flash light to his partner and checked with both hands on the wall for some kind of hidden exit. "You didn't see her? But you did hear the scream when we were down stairs?" Bobby just wanted to assure himself he hadn't imaged everything. "No I heard the scream." Darien nodded. Bobby took the flash light back and checked both rooms on that end of the hall. They were smaller rooms than on the second floor with simple beds. But there was no evidence that anyone had visited either of them in a very long time. "Please tell me there isn't a basement?" Darien commented as they walked slowly down the stairs. "No, from the file Eberts gave us, there isn't a basement. But there are several out buildings including a barn." Bobby informed him. "Great." Darien felt the coldness as he desended into the foyer. But he kept right on going out the front door. Bobby locked the door, and sighed. He wasn't in the habit of getting scared, but that scream had really rattled him. Seeing the gray lady ghost, hadn't helped either. "We don't really have to check the rest of the buildings, do we?" Darien asked. "I'm afraid so partner. It wouldn't be very professional of us to leave with out looking over the entire area. " Hobbes walked past Golda towards the large barn like building at the side of the house. Darien followed, the cloud that had hidden the sun as they entered the house was gone. But several large trees on this side of the property made it difficult to see, casting a deep shade on the barn and the entire side of the yard. Darien was glad it was daylight, at night he was sure this place would be twice as spooky. Bobby used the set of keys to unlock the big barn door. "Looks like no one has been in here in a real long time." He pushed open the large double door and shone his flash light inside. There was a collection of tools, a tarp covered car and inches of dust covering everything. "Looks like they used it for a garage at some point." Darien nodded towards the tarp covered car. "Yeah, I wonder why that is still here. It would be alot easier to unload a car than a haunted house." Bobby commented. "Maybe it's a junker." Darien walked over to the car and lifted the edge of the cover. He was surprised to see a vintage 1940 Ford , in very nice condition. "So much for that idea. I wonder if this is the car that was parked over the grave site." "Excuse me, you want to fill me in? You keep dropping hints that some real terrible stuff happened here." Darien dropped the tarp and turned to face Bobby. "The Boss didn't want us to know. But I don't t think it'll hurt. See there was this wacko, you heard about him, press called him the Diego Strangler." "Yeah." "There was a task force investigating a string of murders. But once Jennings, the wacko realized they were on to him he changed tactics. Started to bury his victims. People that would be missed much sooner than the working girls and homeless he had been killing. But he stopped leaving then out to he found. He started burying them here. Turned out he buried about ten people here before they finally caught him." "Was he connected to the family?" "No, but once they caught him, he said he always admired Philip Mills." "Why?" "Philip Mills killed his wife and her lover in the house. Then months later he was found dead in the library. No wounds, no sign of a struggle. Just him and the servants in the house. Police tried to force a confession out of the only male servant, but he was in his seventies, been with Mills family for his entire life. Didn't seem likely he'd kill his boss." "Did they ever determine how he died?" Darien prodded. "No, doc just said he wasn't poisoned as far as he could tell and there were no wounds on any kind on the body." Bobby shrugged. "Yeah, but that was 1940 something right? How sophisticated were the coroners back then?" "I don't know but most poisons do leave tell tale signs when they kill a person. Not like some of the stuff they have now, it will kill you and not leave a trace, unless a very special test is used." "So what does that have to do with the car?" "When the police found all those bodies on the property. There was a car parked over the newest grave. I don't remember if I ever read what kind of car it was. You'd think if it was a vintage classic they would have mentioned it." Bobby turned to look around. They examined the large mostly empty barn and found no clues. Darien followed his partner out shaking his head. Rich people never made any kind of sense, why hold onto a car that was in such good condition and cleary valuable? "Okay only one more building, then a quick walk around the property." Bobby locked the door on the big barn. Darien headed towards the last building. It was really just a big shed. He expected it to be full of more tools and dust. He tugged open the door and a flurry of wings startled him so badly he quicksilvered. "Easy, easy is was an owl. Must have found a nice dry place to sleep." Bobby pointed to a large barn owl perched in one of tall trees near the barn. "You must have startled it when you yanked open the door. " Darien reappeared, "How'd it get in there?" He peered inside. "There is a broken window at the back, nothing here, no wonder it wasn't locked." Bobby looked quickly around the interior of the shed, just a few empty shelves and a pile of moldy rope and owl feathers on the dirt floor. "We're almost done. Come one, aside from the shoe and that scream we both heard this is turning out to be a real mystery." Bobby walked towards the back of the yard. "What do you think happened to those people?" "I don't know there has to be more to this whole disappearance thing then they are telling us." Hobbes led Darien around the perimeter of the property but they couldn't tell from the well maintained grass where the burial ground had been. The yard looked like any other in the neighborhood. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: "Okay you take this down to the Keeper. See if she can lift any prints off of it or anything." Bobby handed Darien the shoe he'd placed it in an evidence bag once they returned to the van. "Where are you going?" "I'm going to do some research on the Mills family and that house. See if I can locate any building records." Hobbes dropped Darien off at the Agency. Darien strolled into the Keep, using his card key. "Hi, Claire how's your day?" "Darien Hello, back so soon?" "Yeah, Hobbes asked me to ask you to check this out. You know fingerprints or evidence." Darien showed her the shoe, in it's bag. "A shoe? What kind of case are you two working on?" Claire looked up from her work, she was wearing eye protector goggles and heating something over a Bunsen burner. "Missing persons." Darien leaned against the other table. "Missing persons? Are they scientists?" "No, three people that work for the Historic Trust." "That's a new one. Put the shoe there on the table and I'll get to it in a few minutes." She was still heating the slide she held with a special set of tongs over the flame. "Claire this case is kind of weird. After meeting Megan's mom last year, I'm not sure what to think." Darien sighed. "Megan's mother? Oh you mean the energy left when she was killed in the particle excelerator?" Claire nodded. "Yeah, I never use to believe in ghosts, but we saw something today. Two different somethings really. I quicksilvered my eyes and there was this mist in shape... Then it vanished." "Did you say mist? Not light like the last time?" Claire set down her finished slide and turned off the burner. She pulled off her goggles and pushed her long hair back out of her face. "No, it was mist, fog. It was kind of like a ghost." Darien said sheepishly. "Ghosts. I've always been skeptical of the type of things people usually associate with seeing dead people. Hauntings and such. But we both learned from the excelerator case there is sometimes a compelling reason for some part of those who have passed on to remain." Claire picked up the shoe in it's bad and looked it over. "Hobbes didn't see the mist thing, but he saw a lady ghost on the third floor. We both heard a woman's scream." "A scream? Are you sure?" "Yeah it was a scream, we both ran up to the third floor but we didn't find anyone." "Was the mist there when you heard the scream?" "No, but Hobbes saw the lady ghost then, she just kind of faded into the wall." "You didn't see her?" "No, I was behind him, looking around for the source of the scream, I was looking in the wrong direction." He admitted. Claire removed the shoe from it's bag and dusted it with fine black powder used to lift finger prints. "Humm, I was afraid of that, nothing usable here. They are all smudged." She studied the shoe under her magnifying, lighted glass, but found no traces of blood. "I'm afraid it's clean. No sign of foul play." She returned the shoe to the bag and sealed it inside. "Thanks, I'll tell Hobbes." Darien eased away from the table he'd been leaning against. "There is an instrument that will make a reading of the energy of an area. You could use it if you are going back to the house." Claire offered. "Yeah, right. Like that thing they used in Ghostbusters?" Darien expected her to be kidding. "No, this is based on electromagnetic technology it registers trapped energy like Megan's mother. I could put one together for you if you like." "You're serious?" Darien grinned. "Yes, but only if you believe it will work. I have enough to keep me busy." She dismissed him. "You know I'd like to have some kind of proof that what we saw was really there. If you could show me how to..." "Alright, it will take me a few hours. Come back and check with me." Claire waved him off. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Hobbes parked the van on the street near the city of San Diego government center. It had been awhile since he'd had to pull public records for a case. He doubted any of the contacts he'd once had still worked in the records department. Bobby jogged up the stairs of the old court building and cut across the high ceiling foyer to the elevator bank on the left. He took the elevator down to the second basement and the third door on the right. Building codes, assessments, and permits. If you built any kind of structure in the city or county you had to get a permit from this office. "Hi, I'd like a search done on this address." He quickly filled out the form and passed it to the middle aged lady clerk behind the counter. He added a smile, just in case it might help. "Yes, Sir. This will take a few minutes, there will be a fee if you require copies." She took the form and made eye contact with him for a second, then half smiled in return. "Thank you, no problem." Bobby leaned on the counter and prepared for a long wait. He was pleasantly surprised when she returned with a large plat book containing the most recent records of remolding on the Mills home. "Here you are. Let me know if you need anything else." She placed the large book on the countertop for him. "That was fast, thank you." Bobby studied the blueprints of the house. The blueprint showed the third floor had four bedrooms and a bath. "I knew it. There use to be a room there. They must have closed it off after her death." Bobby pounded his fist on the counter. The clerk looked up in alarm. "Sorry." Bobby smiled at her. She nodded and returned to helping the woman who had just arrived. Bobby studied the grounds on the blueprint as well. He knew from reading the file that the family had redesigned the site of the burial area once the authorities were done. There was no sigh it had once been used for such a gruesome purpose. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: "Sir, I need permission to knock a hole in a wall at the Mills house." Hobbes reported to the Official once he returned from his trip to the court house. "You want to do what?" That house is part of the National Historic Trust, you just can't put holes into it." The Official barked his face flushed crimson. "It would be a violation of statue fourteen as well, distruction of public property..." Eberts added. "I think there is a secret room on the third floor. The missing people could be trapped there, or clues to their current location." Hobbes tried to convince his boss. "Come on you wanted us to find them. How are we supposed to do that if you won't let us go in there?" Darien backed up his partner. "If it's a secret room there must be a way to access it. Find the door." The Official scowled at Darien. "Sir it could be a matter of time. What if the people are injured?" Bobby added. "They have been missing over a week." Eberts pointed out. "Hobbes have you any reason to believe the missing people are inside that room and in danger?" "We heard a scream." Bobby said wishing he didn't have to admit he wasn't sure who or what had screamed. "There was something...." Darien started to explain. Bobby stopped him, holding up his hand to silence his partner. "You have my orders." The Fatman, stood. "We'll try to find the secret entrance to the room. But if we hear any more sounds of distress I'm going to use any means necessary to get into that part of the house." Bobby stated his arms folded across his chest. The Official frowned but nodded. He couldn't in good conscious prevent his agents from rescueing the very people they were looking just to preserve the integrity of a historical building. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: "We have to stop by the Keep on the way out." Darien jogged beside Bobby as he hurried down the hallway. "I thought you said Claire didn't find anything on the shoe?" "She didn't, but she is making us a instrument to tell us if there is energy of ghosts in the house." Darien tried to explain without it sounding like the Ghostbusters. "Are you serious?" Bobby stopped in the middle of the hall and grabbed hold of Darien's jacket. "Come on, remember Megan's mom? Wouldn't you like to know what that was we heard today? What we saw?" Darien cocked his head sideways and studied his partners face. "Alright, but maybe we should get Clarie to come with us and be in charge of this thing. I want you to back me up." Hobbes nodded, releasing his hold on the jacket. "Great, I'll talk to her." Darien grinned. The door to the Keep slid open a minute later and Darien entered first. "Claire did you have time to make that energy reader for me?" Darien sidled up next to her. "Yes, it's not very complicated. But you do have to hold it steady for it to get a good reading. I'll show you how it works." "Hey there Claire, we appreciate you rigging this up for us. " Bobby held back a little. Letting Darien work his charm on the Keeper. "Now then, this is power switch, once it's warmed up it will collect data of all the gamma energy in a given space." "Okay, this gage is the important one?" "No, you have to read all three gages to determine if the magnetometer level is registering high level of gamma energy." She explained. "You know I was never very good with stuff like this. Why don't you come with us?" Darien gave Claire his puppy dog look. "Darien really it is very simple. All you have to do.... " She began to explain again. "Claire we could use another set of eyes and ears out there. It's kind of a strange house." Bobby moved further into the room. He didn't believe there was any true danger at the house or he wouldn't be asking her to join them. "I suppose I could spare a few hours." Clarie set the magnetometer down on the table and removed her purple smock. "Just give me a minute to get ready." She disappeared out the door of the Keep. "Good work Partner." Bobby exchanged a low five with Darien. end part two