Ghostfinders 02 - Ghost of a Smile

no-one knows enough to understand which questions to ask.
    JC, Happy, and Melody waited patiently outside Chimera House, being looked over by the Carnacki Institute’s very own medical team. Which on such short notice, and at such an ungodly hour of the morning, consisted of one paramedic ambulance, with driver, and one bleary-eyed uniformed nurse. JC had already been checked out, and declared fine. He bestowed his most gracious smile on the nurse as he pulled his ice-cream white jacket back on.
    “Of course I’m fine,” he said grandly. “I could have told you that. I am always fine.”
    “Actually, you look like something big and determined kicked the crap out of you,” said Melody.
    “Yes,” JC said patiently. “But apart from that, I’m fine.”
    “Oh good,” murmured Kim. “I was getting a little worried, back there.”
    No-one could see or hear her, for the moment. She had made herself invisible so as not to spook the late-comers—and because she was still quite shy around strangers. JC could feel her presence near him, like the smell of a wild rose or the warmth of an unfelt breath on his cheek.
    Happy sat in the back of the ambulance, sipping hot chicken soup from a plastic mug bearing the legend He’s dead, Jim . “I’m feeling better, too, if anybody cares. This is good soup. Good starter. Does anyone else feel like sending out for pizza? If we all club together and order the big size, we can get a stuffed crust . . .”
    The nurse shut him up by thrusting a thermometer into his mouth. She’d already taken a blood sample and was shaking her head sadly. Happy raised an eyebrow.
    “Don’t believe everything you see on a chromatograph readout,” he said carefully, around the thermometer. “It was an emergency situation. I don’t do the pills thing any more. Well, not as much, anyway.”
    “It’s a wonder to me you have any blood left in your chemical system,” snapped the nurse. “I’ve seen your file. We pass it around back at base when we want to freak out the new girls. When you die, we’re going to put your organs on display, as a Horrible Warning to Others. Some people don’t even want to wait till you die. If I were to take your blood pressure, would I regret it?”
    “I don’t know,” said Happy. “How good are your nerves?”
    “Oh, get the hell out of my ambulance,” said the nurse, whipping the thermometer out of his mouth. She studied it for a moment, winced, and threw it away. “I haven’t got the patience to deal with self-harmers.” She manhandled Happy out of the back of the ambulance and gestured impatiently to Melody. “Come on, science girl, get your geeky arse in here. Happy, JC, don’t either of you go rushing off anywhere. I want to check you out with the Geiger counter before I sign off on you.”
    “Amateur,” said Melody. “If I had my equipment here, I could test us for a dozen different kinds of radiation you’ve never even heard of.”
    “Speaking of which,” said JC. “Look what’s just turned up.”
    Melody looked where JC was pointing, and immediately pushed the nurse aside to sprint off down the street to where two large men were straining to push her equipment along on a trolley.
    “Babies!”
    The two men pushing the trolley took one look at what was heading their way, abandoned the trolley, and ran for their lives. Melody had a reputation for dealing very harshly with anyone who damaged her scientific instruments in transit. She threw herself across the piled-up equipment and hugged it all fiercely.
    “It’s all right, babies—mommy’s here! Did any of the nasty men touch you, sweeties?”
    JC looked at Happy. “There’s something entirely not natural about how that woman relates to her precious toys. If she shows half that much passion in the bedroom . . .”
    “Don’t go there,” said Happy. “Trust me—you don’t want to know.”
    JC grinned. Then the smile faded from his face. “Look who’s here,” he said, quietly.
    Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked around as the revered and very-much-feared Boss of the Carnacki Institute, Catherine Latimer, her very own bad self, came striding out of Chimera House. She hit the crowd at full speed and kept going, expecting everyone who mattered to keep up with her. And, of course, they all did, if they knew what was good for them. She talked in half a dozen different directions at once, giving orders, making observations, motivating people with harsh language