Page 31 of Traces of Kara

“Nope.” Jackson shook his head.

“And…you’re not concerned?” Ted watched Jackson as he switched levers and pushed buttons.

“Hold on a sec,” Jackson said. He reached under the control panel and fiddled with wires. Jackson stood up and wiped his hands on his thighs. “This old place is going to pot. I guess that’s another reason they’ve decided to close it. Heck, even getting security cameras operational again can take weeks. Our technology is a bit ancient, and neglected.” He looked once more down the steep incline of the belt. “That must have been it. A few loose wires can send things haywire.”

“Or a few ghosts.” Ted laughed.

“Don’t even get me started. You wouldn’t believe what people say they’ve seen up here.”

“Really?” Ted lifted his eyebrows.

Jackson nodded. “If you listen hard enough, you can hear old man Kearn walking the halls. At least that’s what I’ve been told.”

“Kearn? As in Kearn Power?”

Jackson nodded. “They say he’s all around this place.” Jackson pointed past the coal crusher room to the yard. “Some say more than a few of his crew were buried in that hopper.”

“Hopper?”

“That big hole there.” He pointed to a deep hole in the coal yard. “That’s where the coal goes after it’s delivered, before it goes through processing. You’d never know if a couple of guys were mistakenly buried.”

Ted gave him a nervous glare.

“Don’t you worry, Ted. You’re safe with me.”

“I’m not worried.” Ted took a step back from the open door.

As they turned to walk away, Ted caught a glimpse of movement at the other end of the conveyer belt. He hesitated.

“What is it?” Jackson followed his gaze.

“Nothing. Must be those ghosts,” he said, and laughed. “I’d better get back to Mimi before she goes to the police because I’m missing, too.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Put an APB out on his truck,” Lieutenant Huang directed. “You’re lucky, Agnew, and don’t think you’re off the hook. Your shenanigans aren’t appreciated.” Mark stood with his back to the closed door of Lieutenant Huang’s corner office. A pen hung from Huang’s clenched teeth.

“I knew the guy was a freak,” Mark said. He’d worked for Lieutenant Huang when he’d foiled the Charles Maynor case. He knew Huang would be hard on him when he admitted he’d entered Roland’s apartment, but he was willing to take the heat. No one else trusted Mark’s instincts, but Mark did, and that was enough.

Huang ripped the pen from his mouth. “You don’t know shit. All you know is he’s got some obsession with Marissa Greer. Greer—his sister.” Huang picked up one of the files, and leafed through it. “Damn.” He shook his head.

“Whaddaya’ think?”

“I know about this guy, Greer. A Detective had his eye on him for a while, a few years back.”

“See?” Mark snipped.

“No, I don’t see. Greer hasn’t made one wrong move in all the years he’s been here.”

“Look at this shit.” Mark pulled a folder out of the box that was sitting on Huang’s desk. “It’s all here—foster homes, abuse, obsession. The guy’s a freak.”

“Abuse?”

“Well, it’s not specifically spelled out as such, but yeah, I think so. They removed her from the foster home due to, ‘Inappropriate obsession by Roland Greer.’” He paused, raising his eyebrows. “Inappropriate obsession. We all know what that means.”

Huang grabbed the folder from Agnew’s hands. “Lemme see that.” He perused the file. “There’s nothing here. Sounds like he was a clingy kid. So what? So he tracked her down, he grabbed a kid, what else ya’ got?”

Mark tore through more of the folders, tossing them on the table. “Look, he threw a rock through her window.”