Chasing Rainbow Read online

  He was leading a band of five men, the youngest of whom had to be at least seventy. They were armed with objects ranging from a string mop to a Dustbuster.

  “I sent out a call for assistance to my veterans’ group,” he said. “We can’t let you do this alone. We’re all combat veterans. We’ve been in these situations before.”

  Jake and Rainbow exchanged looks again. She wondered just exactly how much combat experience they’d had with ghosts, but she forebore saying so. Jake was not so courteous.

  “I doubt you’ve had much experience with this kind of thing, Colonel.”

  “Pshaw,” said Albemarle. “We’ve dealt with infiltrators before. I certainly have. Besides,” he added, holding up a handful of keys, “you won’t be able to get into any of the units without these.”

  Jake looked down at Rainbow. “Over the barrel,” he said, sotto voce.

  Rainbow decided to try. “Colonel, if these are ghosts, I’m sure you’ve had no experience dealing with them.”

  At least he didn’t take umbrage. “Some of my best friends became ghosts,” he said firmly. “Besides, Sergeant Fields here brought his Dustbuster to suck up the ectoplasm.”

  Jake rolled his eyes. Rainbow tried another tack. “I can’t be disturbed,” she told the colonel. “I have to be able to maintain absolute concentration.”

  He gave her a brisk nod. “We’ll be silent. We’ll begin with a two-by-two sweep on the ground floor. The others are watching the exterior doors. I’ll post a man at each elevator and stairwell. Two of us will accompany you on the sweep to prevent anyone from slipping by. Men, be sure to check your targets; there may be civilians in here.”

  “Good thinking,” Jake said, and sounded as if he really meant it.

  And he probably did, Rainbow thought. Men always seemed to like military things. Running this like an army operation was bound to appeal to him.

  Personally, she wished they’d all go play their games elsewhere and allow her to do her job.

  Colonel Albemarle finished barking orders to his followers, looking as if he were enjoying himself immensely. The elderly men scattered, moving quietly, toward their assigned posts. Rainbow thought their slinking was a little overdone, but suppressed her amusement. Her mother had been right; men grew up but they never matured.

  They went to the door of the first unit and began to try the keys that Albemarle was carrying. Unfortunately, the security-conscious residents hadn’t indicated their unit numbers on the keys or key rings that filled the colonel’s hands and pants pockets.

  “This could take all day,” Jake remarked from where he was leaning one shoulder against the wall with his arms folded.

  “Nonsense,” said Albemarle. “I’ll be only a few moments.”

  Rainbow glanced at her watch and said, “Those people can’t stand outside in the heat for long. Why don’t I just tell them to come into the lobby? I’d hate for any of them to have heatstroke.”

  Jake hesitated, then nodded. “I guess nobody is going to threaten the whole crowd of them.”

  “If anybody’s in the building,” she couldn’t resist adding. Her senses might be at less than their best, thanks to all the distraction, but she felt with absolute certainty that no one else—at least, no one else who was alive—was in the building. She could feel the emptiness around them, a psychic silence. If there had been ghosts here, they were gone now.

  “I’ll go out and tell them,” she said after a moment, reigning the intensity of her concentration. “You go on. I’ll follow in a minute.”

  “I don’t want you to be all alone anywhere in this building,” Jake said. “I don’t want you at risk.”

  “I won’t be.” She smiled. “Believe me, there’s no one but us in this building right now.” Turning, she walked back to the door.

  “Don’t underestimate her, Carpenter,” Colonel Albemarle said. “I have a strong respect for the sixth sense. I’ve known more than one man who knew he was going to die in battle the next day. And I’ve seen more than one of them as clear as I can see you— after they died.”

  The residents outside had taken matters into their own hands.

  “This is ridiculous,” said Tom Horner, a short wiry man with shaggy white hair. “We’re all steaming like clams out here.”

  “Do you want to go back in there?” asked Abe Levinson. “I nearly got hit in the head by a flying teacup.”

  “Well, I’m going across the street to get something to drink.”

  “I’ve got a better idea,” said Olive Herschfeld. “Why don’t we take up a collection and ask the cafe to send some pitchers over, the way they do when we have a party?”

  “Why don’t we just have a party?” someone else suggested.

  Everyone turned to look at him. “It wouldn’t be appropriate,” said Abe.

  “What’s inappropriate about it? The ghosts threw us out. We’ve been evicted! If the ghosts can have fun, why can’t we?”

  “That’ll teach ‘em,” said Tom. “Let’s show ‘em they can’t intimidate us!”

  Up on his cloud, Joe looked down with a gleeful chuckle. Lucinda tried to hide her amusement. The last thing she’d admit was that she was beginning to have as much fun with this as Joe was. That spitting watering pot had been a beautiful touch, she thought with forgivable pride.

  “I always told Yolanda she shouldn’t wear so much makeup,” she remarked.

  “And you were right, Lucy. But smearing that mascara across her face?” He chuckled again. “Brilliant move.”

  “Maybe she’ll be afraid to touch the stuff for a while,” Lucinda said with satisfaction.

  “She always did look like a hand-painted teapot.”

  “Don’t be cruel, Joe.”

  He looked wounded. “Who, me?”

  Lucinda shook her head and returned to watching events below. “We’re not getting any closer to warning them,” she reminded him.

  “All in due course, my dear. All in due course.” He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. “But I sure did enjoy watching Mary put my nephew in his place.”

  By the time she stepped outside, Rainbow found a party in full swing. The cafe across the street was now ferrying over pitchers of lemonade and iced tea along with finger sandwiches to the Towers residents, who had moved to the side patio and were lounging at tables with umbrellas. Someone had found a portable radio and it was blaring country music for a group of seniors who were line-dancing on the shuffleboard court. They looked charmingly absurd in everything from caftans to Bermuda shorts, not exactly the usual garb for doing the Cotton Eye Joe.

  Four men, with drinks in hand, had gone to the horseshoe pits and were pitching shoes while their wives kibitzed good-naturedly from the comfort of shaded chairs. One of the shoes flew too far and hit Harvey Little in the shin, causing him to hop around on one foot and swear violently.

  “Sorry, Harvey,” said the man who had hit him, looking totally insincere.

  A tiny woman wearing a flowered straw hat and skin-tight biker shorts wagged a stern finger at Harvey. “Watch your language, young man. You’re in the presence of ladies.”

  Harvey swore even more loudly.

  Waves of heat were rising from the parking lot, but shaded from the sun, with the sea breeze blowing briskly, none of the residents looked uncomfortable—with the exception of Harvey, who now sat on a chair to nurse his shin and glare.

  Ellis Webster joined her. “We figured some of the association funds could be well spent on refreshment. Can’t let the ghosts have all the fun. How’s it going inside?”

  “I don’t know yet. Finding out which keys go to which doors is proving to be time consuming.”

  “Well, don’t worry about us. One of the guys ran over to the liquor store to get a keg and some ice. This party probably won’t end for hours. Would you like some lemonade?”

  “Maybe after I’ve walked around inside a little. If anyone gets too warm, send them in to the lobby. Just don’t send them alone.”

 
; “Wouldn’t dream of it. But I doubt anyone will want to go in soon.” He gestured to the festive atmosphere. “It’s kind of nice, you know? Some of these folks never come to our building parties. Today they don’t have any choice and they’re finally getting to know their neighbors. If you run into a ghost, thank him for us, will you?”

  Rainbow had to laugh.

  Mary Todd, holding court in a shaded chaise longue, halted Rainbow on her way back in. “What did you find out?”

  “Nothing yet.”

  “Well, get back in there and do your thing, gal. Scare the bejesus out of that young man.”

  Rainbow shook her head. “I don’t try to scare anyone, Mary.”

  “And that’s where you make your mistake. Stop trying to be so ordinary. There’s nothing ordinary about you, and there never will be. Revel in it!”

  If only it were that easy, Rainbow thought as she went back inside.

  The air-conditioned comfort of the lobby was welcome, sending a chill snaking along her spine as it dried the sheen of perspiration on her skin. They were coming to the time of year when she began to hate her home state. While the folks up north were looking forward to the cool days of autumn right around the corner, here they were looking forward to at least another two months of summer.

  Then, shaking herself from the melancholy mood that seemed to be stealing up on her, she went to look for the others.

  After looking at four apartments, none of which seemed to be at all disturbed, Jake was beginning to wonder if his neighbors had imagined the whole event. Rainbow rejoined them as they readied to take the elevator to the second floor, and he found himself surprisingly glad to see her.

  If he could say nothing else, he could admit that Rainbow Moonglow was wonderful to look at, and so far she had never once managed to bore him.

  Never boring. He thought about that, then tried to dismiss it as the result of his attraction to her, and tried to tell himself he wouldn’t have found her half so fascinating if she hadn’t been so beautiful. So sexy.

  And she was definitely sexy. Every cell in his body seemed to respond to her. He had the worst urge to get his hands into her beautiful, silky-looking black hair, the wildest desire to grab her and hug her close until every one of her luscious curves was imprinted on him.

  Of course, she was a flake, but he could live with that—at least in a friend. He wouldn’t be able to tolerate a deeper relationship with her, though. Beautiful or not, she was still a flake, and he preferred his existence to be orderly and calm. He couldn’t imagine trying to share his life with someone who would actually consult tarot cards. His tolerant attitude would go up in smoke the first time she told him they couldn’t do something because her cards said it wasn’t auspicious.

  In his younger days, when he’d been guided by his hormones rather than his brain, he’d gone steady with a girl who religiously read her horoscope every day, and who agreed to date him only after she decided their horoscopes were compatible. Six months of that had been enough to make him run for the hills. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like with Rainbow, who probably not only believed in horoscopes but read the tarot and talked to ghosts. The mere thought made him feel—well, squeamish, for lack of a better word.

  But she was definitely eye candy. He could spend hours just looking at her, enjoying the way she moved, craving her neat little figure, delighting in the way her mossy green eyes could sparkle with anger or become as quiet and peaceful as a pool in the depths of the rainforest.

  He told himself that making a truce with her was the adult thing to do. Gene Holder had been right about that. At least for now, until this matter was settled, they were bound to rub shoulders frequently, so it wouldn’t hurt to get along.

  But every other urge he felt toward her—primarly rather primitive ones having to do with an ardent desire to hold her close and explore all those lovely curves with his hands and his mouth—had to be ignored. She ought to wear a sign, he thought. One mat said, “Dangerous Curves.”

  “They’re having a party on the patio,” she said, as she joined him, Colonel Albemarle, and a cadaverous-looking man named Roger Bartlett on the elevator.

  “Who? The residents?”

  She nodded, looking amused. “Someone went across the street to the café for drinks, and the men have broken out their sporting goods.”

  He was surprised. “They don’t seem very worried.”

  “What’s the point in worrying?” Bartlett asked. His voice was a deep bass, and he waved his Dustbuster for emphasis. “When you get to be our age, there’s no time left to waste on it.”

  Rainbow favored him with a smile. “That’s a good philosophy.”

  “Of course it is,” he said. “Age does teach you something.”

  “I would think experience would teach a lot of things,” Rainbow said placatingly.

  Satisfied, Roger Bartlett subsided, holding the Dustbuster at his side.

  The elevator doors opened onto the second floor. Colonel Albemarle stepped out first, using hand signals to direct his men along the hall. Rainbow glanced at Jake again and got the distinct impression that he was enjoying himself immensely.

  The second key they tried opened the door they stood before. Jake stepped through first, then swore as an icy deluge of water dropped on him from the ceiling.

  Rainbow peeked quickly around the doorframe. When she saw him standing there dripping, her expression of concern changed rapidly to amusement. “What happened to you?”

  “Damned if I know. Water came from the ceiling.” He looked up, but couldn’t see any dampness above him to indicated that there was some kind of leak. “Where the hell did it come from?”

  “Probably from that watering can at your feet.”

  He looked down at it, and he was not amused. “It must have been rigged to dump on whoever came through the door.”

  “Really?” Rainbow entered the room, taking care not to step in the puddle. “Can you prove it?”

  “I don’t have to prove it. There’s no other way that could have happened.”

  “Mm,” she said noncommittally. She pointed past him. “I suppose somebody rigged that, too?”

  He turned and gaped as he saw two hardbound books dancing in the air in the middle of the living room. “It has to be rigged,” he said.

  She turned to him, a smile on her lips and a challenge in her green eyes. “Prove it,” she said.

  He charged forward and snatched the books from midair. They came easily into his grasp, and he couldn’t feel any resistance, as he was sure he would have if they’d been connected to strings or fishing line. Nor could he, no matter how hard he searched, find anything attached to the books.

  “I suppose,” Rainbow said drily from behind him, “these real estate sharks could have developed an antigravity machine of some kind. Although it seems such a waste to use it for something like this, when the government would probably pay billions for it.”

  He scowled at her and tossed the books on the sofa. This apartment was a mess, he admitted. It was obvious that small things had been tossed around the room, but nothing he picked up to examine appeared to have anything attached to it. Not even magnets, that might have given an antigravity effect. There had to be a way, he argued with himself.

  “All right, Miss Smarty-Pants,” he said to her, tell me what’s going on here.”

  She shrugged and smiled at him. “Some ghosts are having fun.”

  “But why?”

  “I don’t know. When they’re ready, they’ll tell us, I suppose.”

  “Why don’t you just call them on the psychic hotline?”

  She looked hurt, and he kicked himself mentally. “I’m sorry,” he said swiftly. “I didn’t mean that. Honestly. I’m just frustrated.”

  She nodded, but he could see that he had just sacrificed the little blossom of trust he’d been nurturing in her.

  What the hell did it matter? he asked himself, mentally throwing up his hands. Rainbow was not only a fl
ake, she was a sensitive flake.

  Just then she started to smile.

  “What?” he asked. “What?”

  “Joe says you need to brush up on your manners. You’ve spent too much time in the jungle.”

  As soon as she spoke, she clapped her hand over her mouth, looking appalled.

  “Joe?” he said, looking like a bull ready to charge. “1 told you not to pull that with me!”

  ‘Tm sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have let that slip out.”

  All of a sudden, the watering pot lifted from the floor and dumped another deluge on Jake’s head.

  A helpless laugh escaped Rainbow. “Lucy agrees,” she said, and walked out.

  Behind her she heard Colonel Albemarle say, “Bring that Dustbuster over here, Sergeant Fields. There’s ectoplasm in the area.”

  She couldn’t hear Jake’s response to that, but it didn’t matter. He deserved to be dustbusted.

  Seven

  “Lucy and Joe?” asked Nellie.

  Rainbow had joined the residents at their impromptu party, leaving Jake to explore the rest of the building. “Those are the names I picked up on.”

  “Oh, dear,” said Nellie, looking concerned and sad.

  “They seem to be happy, Nellie.”

  “That’s not what I’m worried about.”

  “And rightly so,” said Mary. She turned to Rainbow. “Come on, gal, you must remember the boat explosion that killed two Towers residents nearly a year ago.”

  Rainbow looked at her. “Yes, Nellie told me about it.”

  “It’s them.” She tapped her cane forcefully on the pavement to punctuate the word.

  Rainbow turned her head, letting her gaze wander out to sea. “Violent death. That might explain a lot.”

  “Of course it would,” said Mary. “There’s unfinished business here, and we need to find out what it is.”

  Rainbow nodded slowly, letting her vision go out of focus as she turned her attention inward. “I’m afraid I don’t really have any more than that.”