Ghostfinders 03 -Ghost of a Dream

And even with the single light bulb and the many concealing shadows, there was nowhere in the understage area where he could have hidden himself.
    “Where could he have gone?” said Elizabeth. “There’s no way he could have gone back up that creaky iron stairway without us noticing.”
    “Is there any other exit?” said JC.
    “Not that I know of,” said Benjamin, looking vaguely about him.
    “Maybe something…reached out, and took him,” said Lissa.
    Her voice was very small. Almost lost. For a moment everyone stood still, then Benjamin snorted loudly.
    “Just because we don’t know of any other exit doesn’t mean there isn’t one! Come on, you all heard the man—
There’s a way to everywhere, and I know all of them.
I don’t believe he ever was a caretaker; he’s a journalist who’s done some research. That moustache never did look real to me.”
    “He could be back up on the stage,” said Lissa. “Where it’s light…”
    JC led the way back to the iron stairway.

    Back on the open stage again, they all called repeatedly for Old Tom; but there was still no reply. The brightly lit stage was something of a relief, even a comfort, after the claustrophobic gloom of the understage area. It might not actually be any safer on the stage; but at least here they could all see nothing coming towards them.
    “He’s got to be around here somewhere,” said Benjamin, with more hope than certainty. “He can’t have come to any harm. We’d have heard.”
    “It’s just struck me!” said Elizabeth. “No-one’s been hurt, have they? I mean, yes, of course, it’s all been very scary…but it’s all threats and menaces. Nothing that could actually do us harm.”
    “Then where’s Old Tom?” said Lissa. “What happened to him?”
    The stage lights flared up suddenly, blazing into blue-white incandescence, then went out, all at once. Darkness fell across the stage, and everyone huddled together. Individual lights blazed up, here and there, sudden flares and flashes…and then the bulbs began to explode, one after another. Everyone on stage flinched away from flying slivers of glass, but none of it came close enough to hurt anyone. A heavy, ponderous gloom filled the stage, only held back by brief surges from individual lights. JC grabbed Happy by the shoulder, and he shrieked loudly. JC shook him hard till he stopped.
    “What’s happening here, Happy? Talk to me! What’s behind all this?”
    “I don’t know!” said Happy. “I’m not picking up anything! And since I sure as hell bloody well should be picking up something, someone or something must be deliberately blocking me. Which isn’t easily done…” Happy took a deep breath to calm himself, thinking it through. “It’s all tricks, JC! Shock and awe, smoke and mirrors, all of it designed to distract us, draw our attention away from what really matters. But don’t ask me what this is all about…I can’t sense a damned thing. It’s like being deaf and blind and wrapped in poisoned cotton wool, all at once.”
    “You are seriously underperforming on this case, Happy,” said JC. He looked at Melody, who immediately shook her head.
    “No use looking at me. You know I can’t tell a damnedthing without my instruments. I should never have left them behind. You’re the leader! You do something!”
    “There’s nothing to do,” said JC. “Happy’s right, for once. This is all ‘sound and fury, signifying nothing.’ Carefully orchestrated bits of theatrical business. Someone’s putting on a show.”
    Suddenly, all the house lights came up. Steady, dependable light filled the whole of the vast auditorium and spilled out across the stage, pushing back the darkness. JC looked quickly back and forth across the rows of raked seating, but every seat in the house was empty. The normal, everyday electric light was peaceful and reassuring, and everyone began to relax again. JC looked at Benjamin and Elizabeth.
    “Could someone be overseeing all this business with the lights from the lighting control room?”
    “I don’t see how,” said Elizabeth. “It hasn’t been wired up properly yet. And even if Old Tom isn’t who he claimed to be, and he was only here to mess with us, he couldn’t have got all the way to the lighting booth in time.”
    “Unless he isn’t working on his own,” said Lissa.
    JC turned to Happy. “Are you sure you’re not getting anything?”
    Happy looked past JC, swallowed hard, and said, “Uh, JC, I am