Free Ghost of a Smile by Simon R. Green Page B

Which means, I get to go in first.”
    She smiled sweetly at JC and stepped through the closed door before he could stop her. She ghosted through the glass as though it weren’t there, and for her, it probably wasn’t. She strode into the lobby and looked quickly about her. JC tensed, his hands pressed flat against the door glass as he watched her every movement intensely. But nothing happened. Kim walked up and down the lobby, her feet bare inches above the deep pile carpet, peering interestedly at everything, until finally she turned to look back at JC and the others and shrug helplessly.
    â€œThat’s it,” said JC. “We’re going in.”
    But when he tried the door-handle, it wouldn’t move. Someone had locked the door from the inside. JC swore loudly and rattled the door with all his strength, like that was going to make any difference. He scowled, stepped back, and kicked the door moodily.
    â€œTypical of Patterson. He could at least have supplied us with a set of keys.”
    Melody shouldered him aside and smashed the glass with one savage karate kick. She sneered at JC.
    â€œKeys are for wimps.”
    JC pushed past her, stepped carefully through the door-frame, and hurried into the lobby. “Hello, ghosties! Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
    â€œI hate it when he does that,” growled Melody, following him in. Happy nodded glumly.
    The Ghost Finders came together in the middle of the lobby and looked around them. Everything was still and quiet, and not in a good way. There was something wrong with the stillness. It was the stillness of anticipation, of something bad about to happen. As though an unspeakable monster was getting ready to jump out at them from some hidden place. As though trap-doors were about to open under their feet, to send them plummeting down to some unimaginable horror. As though all the rules were about to be changed in some terrible game they didn’t even know they were playing.
    â€œOh, this is bad,” said Happy. “This feels really bad.”
    â€œMy back is crawling,” said Melody. “Like someone painted a target on it.”
    Kim looked at JC. “What do you feel, sweetie?”
    â€œLike we’re being watched,” he said. “And I don’t see any security cameras.”
    â€œThe whole place feels like fingernails dragged down the blackboard of my soul,” said Happy. “I can feel someone sneaking up behind me, but there’s no-one there . . .”
    â€œYes,” said Melody, trying to look in several directions at once. “Like someone’s crept in and is peering over my shoulder.”
    â€œEchoes,” JC said calmly. “Psychic echoes of something that’s already happened. Don’t let them get to you. Kim, are you picking up any traces of a stone tape recording? If all these people were killed here, it might have imprinted on the surroundings . . .”
    â€œIt’s worse in here,” said Kim. “It’s been made worse. Bad things happened here, on purpose. Someone walked in blood and murder, and loved it. JC, this whole building is saturated with unnatural energies. Trying to see what happened here is like staring into a spotlight.”
    Melody went straight to the reception desk, sat down before the built-in computer, fired it up, and let out a brief sigh of relief as her fingers tripped busily across the keyboard, teasing and intimidating information out of the computer files.
    â€œFor a really major company, with big-time security protocols, their firewalls are strictly amateur night,” she said smugly.
    â€œOpen up every file you can access,” said JC. “I have questions.”
    â€œI’m in,” said Melody. “Easy-peasy. What do you want to know?”
    Happy looked at her. “Don’t you need passwords, things like that . . . ?”
    â€œPasswords are for wimps, too,” said Melody. “You