Trouble in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law, #1)(61)

“We turn left at the end of the main hall, and it’s the last room on the left.” Helena looked behind her, then ahead toward the corridor. “You know, this is sort of ironic. Walking down this hallway has the look of one of those near-death experiences you always hear about. Long white hallway, light at the end.”

Maryse smiled wryly. “Did you see anything like this when you died?”

Helena frowned. “No. Not a thing. When I woke in that casket, I thought someone was playing a horribly cruel joke. It never occurred to me that I was dead, even after I yelled at everyone in the church and they didn’t respond. Well, except you. But you passed out, so that wasn’t exactly a help.”

Maryse considered for a moment what kind of shock that must have been. “So what did you do after that?”

“I walked downtown, hoping someone would see me, say something to me, but everyone passed right by as if I wasn’t there. I stopped in front of that big plate-glass window at the café and stood there, trying to see my reflection in the glass, but all that showed was the pickup truck behind me.” She sighed. “It took me an hour to walk to your place. I cried the whole way. Not much else to do.”

Maryse took a minute to absorb this and couldn’t help but feel bad. What a nightmare. She couldn’t possibly imagine how awful it must have been, but Maryse was certain of one thing—an hour of crying wouldn’t have been enough for her. She’d probably still be wailing.

“Well,” Maryse said finally, “let’s get this over with and maybe we can see about getting you on to where you belong.”

Helena nodded and stepped out into the lighted corridor. “It looks clear, but let me check at the end to make sure, then I’ll yell for you. No use you sticking your head out or anything. You should be able to hear me yell from the end of the hall.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Maryse agreed. She could probably hear Helena yelling from the next building.

Helena disappeared around the corner, and Maryse leaned against the wall and waited for the yell to come. Her hands were sweating like mad between her anxiety over what she was about to do and the latex gloves that Luc had insisted she wear. It was a minute or so later when she heard Helena yell.

“All’s clear!”

Maryse took a deep breath, stepped around the corner, and set off down the hall. Helena stood at the end of the hall next to a door with the words Medical Records stenciled on it in clear black letters. Maryse flipped to the first key on the ring, making sure she held the others tight to avoid any noise, and tried it in the latch.

No luck.

Maryse looked over at Helena, and Helena nodded, assuring her the hallway was still clear. She flipped to the second key and slipped it in the lock.

Bingo. They were in.

Maryse nodded to Helena and eased the door open. There was a loud squeak as she pushed, and she stopped for a moment, listening to see if anyone was coming to investigate. Helena checked both hallways and shook her head, so Maryse pushed the door open the remainder of the way and crept inside.

The room was pitch black, and she fumbled around for a moment, trying to find something solid to hold on to. Instead, she ran face first into a bookcase. “Damn it. That hurt.” She rubbed her nose and grimaced, not even wanting to think about yet another bruise on her already battered body.

“Why don’t you make more noise?” Helena asked. “I don’t think everyone heard you.”

“Don’t give me any shit, Helena. Not all of us can walk through furniture.”

“Then turn on your flashlight.”

“I don’t want anyone to see.”

“Including yourself? Oh hell, I’ll go back out into the hall and stand guard. Then will you turn on some damned light and stop running into everything imaginable?”

“Yes,” Maryse hissed. “Just leave.”

Maryse waited a minute in the inky darkness until she heard Helena call out to light things up. She pulled the small flashlight from her pocket and directed it at the bookshelf in front of her. The label at the top read “Current.” Probably not the place she needed to look. She crept carefully down the row of bookcases, using her flashlight to scan the labels, and watched carefully for a change. Current, Current, Current. Where the heck is Past?

She turned the corner at the end of the row and shined her flashlight at the top of the next row of bookcases. “Dead Records,” it read in large letters. Dead Records? Wasn’t that a bit politically incorrect for a hospital? Maryse shook her head and ran her light across the folders jam packed on the shelves until she came to the H’s.

“Find anything?” Helena’s voice sounded next to her, and it was all Maryse could do not to scream. She glared at the ghost, but wasn’t sure how effective it was because she wasn’t positive Helena could see in the dark either. “Are you trying to ruin this? And why aren’t you outside?”

“I saw the light go out and came to investigate, but it was just because you moved around to this side of the bookcases. You can’t see the light now through the door.”

Maryse swung her light toward the sound of Helena’s voice and lit her up, standing right in front of the next set of shelves. “Yeah, well, that’s great, but I can’t see through you, so would you move over to the side a bit so I can read these files?”