Lancaster Green Chapter 15
When James got back to work the next day, Graham was the first person he saw. “I might have a solution for your Lancaster Green ghost,” he said. “Have you ever heard of Lyndon Shadows?”
James thought for a second as he draped his jacket over the back of the chair. “That sounds vaguely familiar,” he said. “What are they? I’m assuming some kind of cryptid?”
“Think of them like interplanal mice. I found them in one of the references and me and Madelyn were talking about them last night. It’s weird, but it seems to fit.”
James looked at him for a moment. “Excuse me,” he said.
He went into the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee. Based on the slowness with which it came out of the pot, Bradley was in the building somewhere. James would find him and apologize for the other day in a little while. He poured himself a cup, took a long, bracing sip, then went back into the living room. “Alright,” he said. “Explain your spooky mice.”
“They’re little creatures that aren’t quite on our plane of existence, but not quite fully on any other,” Graham said. “And they’re attracted to the scent of birth and death.”
That checked out. “Did you happen to get a picture of them?” James asked. “I haven’t seen them outside of the security footage and that one picture, but maybe I could show a picture around to the people who saw the ghost.”
“Only some sketches.”
Graham picked up a photocopy from the table and handed it to James. The image was from an old textbook and showed two different sketches. The first was a scattering of little figures with sharp, angled bodies and dangling tails. They filled a room, but the furniture was visible through them and there was white space and a light above them. The next showed a mass of these little figures huddled together in the dark.
“This looks plausible,” James said as he studied the pictures. “Are they definitely real?”
Graham shrugged. “As real as any of the other monsters you’ve sent me after.”
That was fair. “They don’t give off an energy reading that we can read on our sensors,” Graham said. “That would explain why you didn’t get any data on them. And it lines up with the descriptions the witnesses gave.”
“Can they hurt anyone?”
“I don’t think so?” Graham replied. “I spent a while yesterday looking up everything I could, and Gabriella did too. There isn’t a lot out there. McGovern sent us these pictures from a book that was only available in the Foundation’s archives. And according to him, it appears to be the only resource they had. The rest of the information came from Gabriella’s research and one of Madelyn’s online contacts in New Mexico.”
Part of James thought maybe he should talk to McGovern, even if the idea made him want to scream. But another part of him was surprised at how grateful he felt that the man was doing his fucking job.
“It’s not definite, obviously, but we should consider this,” Graham said. “I mean, I know it’s your case, but-”
“No, I think you’re right,” James said. “The cryptid approach makes more sense here than some new form of ghost. How do we get rid of them? An interplanal Fang?”
“That’s the best part. It’s all preventative.”
James shook his head. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, okay. Remember when we had mice because Chris kept feeding them?”
“Yes, I recall.”
James had been looking up eviction processes in Massachusetts that day until the exterminator came through. “So it’s a little different in that there are no Lyndon Shadow traps,” Graham said. “But you can repel them from a particular space, the same way you do with other pests. And it’s chemical based.”
“So we cleanse the space? Like, literally just cleaning it?”
“I think so, but I’m not positive. There’s probably a little more to it than that. Let me get back to you, okay?”
“Great. Yeah, man, thank you.”
The door was closed to the back bedroom, so James was going to use that as an excuse to put off talking to Bradley. Yeah, it was pathetic, but he felt pathetic. And mortified. And there wasn’t a chance in hell that Bradley’s phone had survived its swim in the lake, so he had to go in and tell Bradley he was replacing it.
But he’d do that in a little while. First, he’d check his email and manage to stretch all these little tasks out for as long as possible.
About ten minutes later, the phone rang behind him and James answered. “The shadow ghost is back!” a voice he somehow immediately recognized as Jenny, the excited receptionist from Lancaster Green, said.
“Right now?” James asked, glancing at Graham.
“Yes!” she said. “I’m looking at it!”
“Try and get a picture,” he instructed. “One of us will be there shortly.”
“I will! Should I do anything to try to keep it here?”
“No, don’t interact with it,” James said. “We don’t think it’s dangerous, but just get a picture. It’ll probably be gone before we get there.”
He hung up. “Is Amelia here?” he asked Graham.
“No, she’s off until tonight. It’s you, me, Madelyn, and Bradley right now.”
James looked down the hall. The back bedroom door was still closed, but he hurried down there and knocked, accidentally bumping it open in the process.
“Fine,” Bradley was saying into the chunky cordless phone. “No, I don’t think it’s necessary, but if you insist on having a meeting, I can-”
He scowled over at James and cupped a hand over the receiver. “What?”
“The ghost is back at Lancaster Green.”
“Right now?”
“Yes. I’m going over there.”
“Hang on.”
Bradley uncovered the receiver. “Fine, this afternoon,” he said. “We can all waste our time together. I have to go. Bye.”
The actual bye at the end was new. Bradley’s phone manners had degraded so badly over the past couple years that James had been tempted to send him to etiquette training, if one even existed for anyone over the age of five. Bradley hung up the phone and stood up. “Let me get my keys,” he said.
“You don’t have to go,” James said. “I’ve got it.”
Bradley ignored him and dug through his backpack until he came out with a set of keys. He walked past James and down the hall to where the equipment for the case was sitting on the dining room table in its own bag. James followed, feeling like maybe he was in trouble.
“Graham, we’ll be back,” Bradley said. “You’re in charge.”
“Always exciting,” Graham said as he sorted through some case printouts that had just arrived. “Take your time, it’s pretty slow today. Oh, there’s a Bigfoot.”
“I’m in charge,” Bradley amended. “Throw it out.”
“You can’t-”
Bradley ignored James and walked out the door. It was warmer today and James could see the little purple crocuses had survived the blast of cold they’d received as he hurried after Bradley, suddenly unsure if he was supposed to even be coming.
He got in the passenger side of Bradley’s car and didn’t get thrown out, so that was alright, at least. “I’m sorry about the other day,” James said.
“It’s fine.”
“No, it isn’t,” James said. “I know she’s not here anymore. And, like, she’s not going to use some intricate web to get me back. She probably doesn’t even give a fuck anymore, wherever she is.”
“She better.”
James looked at him. “We’re still looking,” Bradley said, glaring at an old, crunchy leaf that bounced off his windshield.
“But the Foundation-”
“Yeah, obviously. And it’s…but we’re still searching for her. We tried bringing it to the Foundation, but only fucking McGovern cared and it wasn’t like they were going to listen to him anyway. Madelyn’s getting word out to all the freaks she talks to online. So she’s looking. I’ve been…”
He broke off, suddenly a little too focused on something ahead of them on the empty road.
“You’ve been what?” James prompted.
“Nothing,” Bradley bit off. “But we didn’t just say fuck it, alright?”
James nodded, looking out the window so Bradley couldn’t see the fact that his eyes were stinging right now.
“And you need to stop apologizing for it,” Bradley continued. “I mean it. This isn’t something that you did. This is something that was done to you. Intentionally. With malice.”
If James spoke he was going to fall apart and they still had so much to do today. And Amelia was already concerned about him and his ability to be here. So he just nodded again. Then they were silent for the rest of the ride over.
When they got into the lobby at Lancaster Green, Jenny was waiting for them. “It’s back!” she said, “The one I saw disappeared, but it’s back. Come on, hurry!”
She rushed them down the hall into the memory care unit. A small crowd had gathered outside of one patient’s room and she moved them toward it. “They’re here,” she said to the people gathered there. “Come on, give them space.”
The group dispersed as James and Bradley approached. James stopped short in the doorway, his instruction to Bradley to try the energy sensor anyway evaporating abruptly as he looked into the room at the enormous cloud of shadows gathered in the center of it.
“Oh my God,” he whispered.
“What?” Bradley asked.
“It’s right there.”
He pointed and Bradley looked, but he shook his head. “I don’t see anything.”
The shifting, swirling cloud took up the top two-thirds of the space at the front of the room. Beyond it, a woman was asleep in bed, her mouth open. She didn’t look like she was in pain or afraid. Even with the wild shifting of the clouds in her room, it was a peaceful scene.
James took a picture on his phone. He could see it on the screen, but when he showed it to Bradley, Bradley just shook his head. “I can’t see anything,” he said.
The cloud didn’t have anything moving within it. This wasn’t like a school of fish, the way that Graham’s sketches portrayed Lyndon Shadows. It wasn’t like he was looking at multiple beings. Instead it all moved as one, to the point where he considered maybe Graham’s theory wasn’t the right one. But then, in an instant, they blasted apart, as though the cloud had exploded. James flinched and shielded his eyes as it vanished.
“It’s gone,” he said. “Holy shit.”
“Nothing showed up on the readings,” Bradley said.
“That wasn’t a ghost,” James said. “It has to be Lyndon Shadows. Graham’s right.”
Jenny was standing outside at the nurses station when they came out. “It’s gone,” James said. “We have a theory on what it might be, and one of our coworkers is looking into how to take care of it. Can I call you later today?”
“Yes,” Jenny said. “Belinda’s in at three, she can give approval for anything you need.”
“Perfect, thank you.”
If his first case back could be wrapped up as peacefully as James dared to hope it would be, then maybe that was a good sign.
