Chapter 21

We all looked toward the image being projected onto the wall.

I heard my mum gasp. Jace swore, and my father asked for it to be played again.

Felicia did as she was asked.

Sure enough, caught on camera was the very moment Old Mr Frogget, appeared to have been taken. The only problem? There was nothing around the spirit to explain what had happened.

“Run the whole thing again, please.” I told Felicia. Who nodded and set about playing the clips again.

I whispered something in Ruby’s ear. She said nothing in response, but nodded at her understanding.

We watched the short film again, and again. After the fourth time, I held up my hand to pause it.

“I agree that this is the moment Old Mr Frogget was taken. You can see that in the essence he left behind him.”

Jace frowned. “Huh?”

I chuckled, “Sorry Jace, I forget you are not field trained by the agency. I’ll explain.”

I hurriedly launched into an explanation, for Jace, and it turns out, my Mum.

“I see this all the time in my line of work. If I am sent on a retrieval, whether its here or the other realm, spirits will appear and disappear at their own will and control. However. If a spirit is forcibly taken from the space it occupies, a small part of its essence is always left behind. It’s because of this, that haunted houses, poltergeists and the like, are created.  It doesn’t happen all the time. When it does happen, senior agents, like myself, are sent in to capture the essence and reunite it with the original source.”

“What happens when the two parts are reunited?” Asked my Mum, confusion on her face.

I opened my mouth to speak, but it was Ruby who answered the question.

“Mrs Hopkins. Delia. When the two parts of the soul are reconnected, they will usually ask to be at peace. You see, it takes an enormous amount of energy for the soul to be ripped apart. It doesn’t matter if the spirit has done this to themselves, or not. The action of having a piece ripped away, is excruciating. That is why, when souls get put back together, all the said soul wants, is to find its peace. Destiny has been trained specifically for these types of retrieval. It takes an incredibly strong and gifted  agent to tackle cases like this.”

Ruby gave a small smile, it held all the warmth you felt when you were around her for any length of time. Ruby continued.

“As you know, Arthur. Being an agent can be very dangerous. You should also know why cases like this, now rest on Destiny’s shoulders.”

My fathers gaze settled on Ruby’s for a few seconds before he nodded his head sharply.

“If there is nothing else, I suggest we all make a start on our new assignment.”

I agreed, and the meeting broke up.

I addressed Jace and Felicia. “Jace, I want you out on the streets with Remus, please. Felicia, you will stay here and man the home front, as it were. Are you okay with that?”

Jace huffed out a long exaggerated sigh, at the news he would be working with the cat.

He was the only other person who could hear Remus. And I would need to know what different people are saying. Remus had a way of slipping in and out of places, unseen and unheard. His input would be invaluable. I wouldn’t tell him that, of course, he was already a pompous ass. If he knew just how much he contributed to my investigations, he wouldn’t be able to fit his head through the door. Let alone the cat flaps.

I chuckled to myself at the image my mind had created. I looked around, trying to find Ruby. But I couldn’t see her anywhere.

I closed my eyes for a few seconds, then followed the sound of her voice.

I found her in the back office, with both my parents. It looked like they were having a heavy discussion about something. I tried to act nonchalant, but the worried look on my Mums face made me ask what was wrong. Mum only smiled back at me. And brushed my worry’s away. With a sweep of her hand.

I scrunched my eyes up, suspiciously. Not buying it for a second.

“Mum. Tell me please?” I asked again. This time the tone in my voice meant business.

Of course, this was my Mum I was talking to. I may have meant business, but so did Mum. The look she gave me said it all. You all know the look I mean? The one that says ‘I am your mother, you will do as I say. Not as I do!!’ I gave her a cheeky grin then spun on my heel.

“Come on Ruby.” I shouted across the room, “lets go poke our noses into the library’s business.”

Ruby laughed jovially, grabbed the rucksack she had brought with her this morning, and joined me at the door.

“We will meet back here at five pm people.” I looked at everyone, gave them all a thumbs up and left the shop, with a very excited Ruby in tow.

When we got outside the library, Ruby grabbed my arm to stop me from walking in.

“Okay Boss. Whats the play?” She said. I looked at her quizzically, then laughed out loud. “There is no ‘Play’ Roobs. Just be cool, look around at the places I have already marked out. And report back to me.”

Ruby looked throughly disappointed that there would be no ‘play’. I was chuckling at the look on her face when I finally pushed the door open and we walked in.

The atmosphere wiped the laughter away as soon as we closed the door behind us. There was an oppressive feeling, that lingered from the kidnapping. The usually bright and friendly library looked forlorn somehow, almost like it had lost it’s soul.

I said this to Ruby, who reminded me quietly, that it had; lost it’s soul. Old Mr Frogget was obviously the spirit of the building. I explained to Ruby what I meant by that.

“You see, many buildings and homes contain essence’s of its former occupants. These type of spirits are harmless. And hold no power. But; if the building, home, whatever has a deeper feeling to it. Has an essence that is so strong it is almost palpable, then you know you are dealing with the ‘soul’ of the place. Meaning that the connection to the area in question, is linked to the very start of the building. It’s foundations.”

When I finished speaking I turned to look at Ruby, then flushed a deep red.

“I’m sorry, you know all of this. Of course you do. You being you.” I finished, rather weakly.

Ruby walked over to me and smiled softly at me, “Dess, you are so passionate about the work you do, it’s an honour listening to you speak about it. I may know a lot about, well, everything. But, I mostly look at something using logic and reason. You use your heart and soul. So there will be things that you will know more than I do. It’s this very reason why I wanted to work with you. I need to see the other side of the coin, as they say.”

I just stared at her for a moment, trying to gauge if she was being patronising or not.

The only feeling her aura was giving off, was one of friendship and love.

I clapped my hands together, sending an echoing sound throughout.

“Come on, we will start over here. Then, if you are confident enough, you can look at the other places by yourself.” I said. I didn’t want Ruby to think I was deliberately bossing her around. Ruby only laughed and hooked her arm into mine.

“Come on, Boss.” She said, excitedly. Her eyes shone with the thrill of the chase that I always get at the start of a new case. We moved to the first area I wanted to inspect.

Ruby was shocked when I had asked her to note down the exact area’s where the books had been messed around with. But I had a feeling in my gut that I couldn’t ignore.

Old Mr Frogget would have to wait. I needed to see the books first.

It turns out we were in the library for more than six hours. At around the four hour mark, my tummy gave an almighty rumble, making Ruby’s face light up.

Rushing over to me, her trusty backpack in tow, she told me to sit down. Before my butt had touch the floor, a picnic blanket was placed between me and the hard tile.

I then watched, with my chin on my chest, as Ruby started to pull all sorts of different food and drinks from the bag. Within two minutes, there was a fully laid out picnic. It had all the regular things like sandwiches and soda. But it also included things like Lobster and T-bone steak. When ruby brought out a huge kettle, cups and saucers, I knew I had to stop her.

“Roobs, this is too much, you loon. A couple of sandwiches and a thermos of tea would have been more than enough.”

Ruby looked around at the spread laid out before us, and blushed a pretty pink colour.

“Well. I wanted to mark the occasion with a proper afternoon tea. With all the trimmings.” She said, pouting.

I felt like an ass. Ruby was excited. She had never done anything like this before. I said I was sorry. Ruby brightened instantly, “tuck in.” She said in a sing song voice. So that is what we did. And it was all very nice indeed.

We got back to the book shop a little after five pm. Everyone was already there. My Father, being a stickler for rules, glanced at the watch on his wrist as we entered. The passive aggressive behaviour was not missed by Ruby, or my Mum. Who scowled at my father, before turning to me.

“Did you have a productive day? We did.” Mums eyes were shining. I hadn’t seen this look in her eyes for a long time.

“That’s great Mum. Let’s all sit down. We will go around everyone and see who has learnt what.” I said to the whole room, decisively.

There was a loud ‘thunk’ as Ruby dropped her bag by the side of her chair, Jace leant over his chair to see what had made the noise. But sat up with such a look of puzzlement on his face, it made us all laugh.

It was a welcome ice breaker. I could feel the tension in the room as soon as I walked in to the bookstore. Something had clearly happened.

“Okay guys.” I said, spreading my fingers out and gesturing to then all. “Let’s see what you got. Dad, we will start with you and Mum. If that’s okay with you?”

My fathers response was to stand up and head over to a white board. I hadn’t noticed it until now. It was covered in my Father’s neat handwriting. I could see names of interest. Places of interest. I could even see a section that had been left blank with the heading, ‘Suspects’. I raised my eyebrows and looked at my parents.

“You two have been busy. Wow, that looks amazing. Well done guys.”

The condescending look that I received from my father, shut me up. I could only gesture for him to continue. I couldn’t speak as there was a lump in my throat as I held back my tears.

Ruby took my hand in hers and gave it a small squeeze. I was so grateful to have her here with me, I thought.

Ruby’s response was to say, “I know, Dess. I’m grateful to be here too.”

Wait! What?