Chapter 20 – “Help For A Ghost”

REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST

by Kevin Paul Shaw Broden

(Copyright 2011 Kevin Paul Shaw Broden)

Chapter 20 – “Help For A Ghost”

Margaret Raymond stepped off the train after visiting with her parents. Donald wasn’t waiting for her at the station; she hadn’t expected that he would be. She knew he had been busy all day; whether it was for an assignment at work which she had told her parents about, or off visiting an old friend which is what he had told her, or investigating her brother’s murder. She was certain that the later was what he was doing and it both terrified and gave her great hope.

Desperate to talk with her husband, she road the subway to bring her closer to home. If what her father had said was truth, Sheila’s family may have been financially part of the corruption of the city’s construction industry.

This was something Donald and she would need to talk about before doing anything else.

The sun was just setting as Margaret reached the apartment. Just before turning into the building she noticed a now too familiar taxi parked across the street. Cabbie nodded and she could see his grim expression.

Margaret’s face went pale as fear ran down her back. She rushed into the building and into the elevator needing to reach the penthouse as soon as possible.

“Good evening Mrs. Raymond.”

“Oh, hello, Willy.” The boy who ran elevator briefly startled Margaret. His family was very poor, and standing in a metal box going up and down paid him a couple of dollars each day. He’d get a few tips from the tenants of the building. Willy didn’t have to ask where she wanted to go, and pulled cage door closed, and the little box moved upward towards the penthouse.

He liked to chat, especially with the ladies of the building. But Margaret was in no mood, and if she didn’t know better she would have though he was slowing the lift down. But it was just her being anxious to see Donald, to know that he was okay.

Once the little bell chimed and the gate opened, Margaret dashed for her apartment. Only half way there did she think to shout back, “Thank you, Willy.”

Margaret struggled at getting the key in the door, but once inside she started shouting.

“Donald? Don, are you home?”

No answer.

She ran from room to room. No one was there.

He was still out with his friend; she tried to convince herself, but knew that wasn’t true. Cabbie was parked outside, not taking fares, which meant the Masked Ghost had ordered him to look after her. But her brother was dead, so that meant…

She rushed to the bedroom knowing what she would find, or rather what she would not find.

The old suitcase lay open upon the bed.

The costume of The Masked Ghost was nowhere to be found.

“Don.” She whispered to no one.

She looked further about and found the box with all her brother’s notes spread out on the table. Lying right on top was a sheet of paper with an inked line circling an address.

“Damn you Donald, what are you doing?”

She paced back and forth for a moment, then stormed out the apartment.

Margaret ran to the elevator, but before pressing the button, knew she didn’t want to talk with Willy about why she had run in and out so quickly. Turning she headed for the stairs. It would take a longer, but she had to get downstairs.

It was a good thing she regularly ran between the stores, because she was winded by the time she burst out the front doors of the apartment building. She was nearly hit by a car while darting across the street.

“Take me to the police!” Margaret shouted at Cabbie as she hopped into the taxi with a slam of the door.

The car pulled away from the curb and made its way down the road. Margaret sat back and folded her arms, “not the local station. The precinct near my brother’s apartment, I’m certain you know the way.”

+ + +

“I’ll wait here,” Cabbie said as he parked the taxi out front the police station.

“No! You’re coming with me,” Margaret ordered. He hesitated, but followed.

Inside, approaching the Desk Sergeant, Margaret tried to hold some degree of decorum. “I would like to speak with Detective Monroe, please.”

The Desk Sergeant eyed the beautiful young woman and then suspiciously looked over at Cabbie. His kind don’t come in here with out cuffs on.

“What’s this about miss?”

“It’s Mrs.! You may tell Detective Monroe that I’m here about my brother’s murder.”

That got his attention and turned to another officer, “Get Johnny-Boy out here.”

The officer headed into the back of the station with no effort to get there anytime soon.

After several minutes passed, Margaret became impatient.

“Will someone hurry up and help me,” she spoke loud enough for the entire station to here, “that vigilante The Masked Ghost killed my brother and you’re all sitting around like lazy bums!”

That startled them, and shocked Cabbie.

The Desk Sergeant leaned in towards her with threatening eyes, “what do you know of The Masked Ghost?”

Margaret did her best to maintain eye contact with the man and show no fear, but knew it wouldn’t last.

“That’s enough out of you O’Brien,” came a voice that broke the tension, “what good are you scaring witnesses, and distraught family members?”

They turned to find Detective Monroe strolling up to the front of the station.

“You wanted to see me Mrs. Raymond,” he gave her the most pleasant of smile, and then glanced briefly over at Cabbie.

“Yes, indeed. Though I’m not certain your fellow officers are all that helpful.”

“Ignore them, I do. Let’s go find an office we can chat in with more privacy.” The other officers watched him escort her into a small side office. If it wasn’t for the foreign cab driver, some of them thought, it almost looked like the detective was looking for a place to enjoy some quiet time with the pretty young woman. Several of them would like to.

Once the door was closed, Monroe offered Margaret a seat but she refused.

“Now, Mrs. Raymond, why don’t you calm down and tell me what’s troubling you?”

“It’s about my brother.”

“Well, the police haven’t gotten very far into the investigation of his murder—“

“And you know why!” Margaret said holding her voice down so not to be heard by those who were obviously listening outside the door.

“Excuse me?”

“You know exactly why the police haven’t found his murderer, and won’t. Because you’re covering up facts of the case.”

Monroe glanced over at Cabbie with concern.

“Yes, look at your brother conspirator.”

“What?”

“You’ve both been in this from the beginning. Knowing the truth of what happened to my brother. Knowing full well that my brother is… was the Masked Ghost.”

“Mrs. Raymond, keep your voice down.” Cabbie said, trying not to show his own fear.

“I’m trying to remain calm, but I won’t be able to until you explain what’s going on here. What did my brother get involved in that made him put on that stupid mask?”

The detective sighed and sat down in one of the chairs, his bright face had dulled, “Please sit down Mrs. Raymond.”

She didn’t want to, but did so as she knew he was about to tell her something important. Cabbie remained standing, guarding the door.

“Your brother put on that stupid mask, as you call it, and became the Masked Ghost because he knew of no other way to solve the murder.”

“You mean Sheila Brewster’s death?”

“That’s correct, but it became far greater than just one accident or murder.”

“The Masked Ghost would go places the police could not, or would not,” Cabbie said looking down at Monroe. There wasn’t a lot of trust between these two men who held such a great secret together.

“After he began investigating the crime, he soon came across other crimes in this city that only The Masked Ghost could solve and make right. Other people that needed help.” Monroe continued the story, “Over the last year the Masked Ghost has become more than just a way for him to express his obsession over his lost love. A lot of use have been helped, saved, or changed for the better by what The Masked Ghost has done.”

Margaret looked at these two men, both could take care of themselves in a fight, and realized that some how her brother had saved them from something far worse.

“He became a symbol of hope, became the people’s protector. This city needs the Masked Ghost.”

“Well, who’s protecting him? The Masked Ghost got my brother killed! What hope is there now?”

“We’re very sorry for your loss,” It was a line the police officer quoted out of habit and immediately knew it was the wrong thing to say.

“Are you going to tell me the same thing when my husband ends up dead?”

They looked at her in silence.

“You both knew what my brother was doing, and did not hesitate to encourage Donald to put the mask on.” She paused for a moment, “it was one of you that left the envelope of police reports at our door.”

Monroe shifted in his seat and gave himself away, then finally spoke; “Adrian knew he was not going to live to see the conclusion of the one case that meant everything to him.”

Margaret gasped at the thought her brother knew he was heading for his own death that night he appeared out of the storm. But what did that have to do with Donald?

“He knew,” Cabbie said, “he knew that he had begun something far greater than himself and that others would have to continue after he was gone. The Masked Ghost would have to live, no matter what happened to Adrian Brown.”

She looked at them as realization struck her, “Adrian wanted Donald to put on the mask? To become the Masked Ghost?”

“You’re bother was very wise and always chose rightly.” Cabbie said, with deeper meaning than she understood.

“Well he was wrong this time!” Margaret leapt to her feet, knocking the chair over.

“My husband is out there and the Masked Ghost is going to get him killed!!”

She looked down at Detective Monroe with anger, “What are you going to do to protect him? Will the police save my husband while they’re hunting a masked vigilante?” She already knew the answer.

There was a long pause.

“I’m sorry Mrs. Raymond,” said Monroe, “as a police officer there is nothing I can do to help him.”

Margaret fought back tears as she looked from the detective to the taxi cab driver.

“Well, if you won’t do anything, I will.”

“Come along,” she pulled Cabbie out of the room and through the station filled with confused police officers, “I need to gather my brother’s belongings.”

To Be Continued…

Chapter 19 - "Fight For A Ghost"

REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST

by Kevin Paul Shaw Broden

(Copyright 2011 Kevin Paul Shaw Broden)

Chapter 19 – “Fight For A Ghost”

“That’s where it happened.”

Donald Raymond hadn’t heard what Cabbie was saying. Sitting in the back of the taxicab on the long drive out of the city, his thoughts kept drifting back to his beloved wife Margaret and wondering why he was doing this. It would be so easy for them to put all this behind them. To forget what had happened and move on with their lives as normal. Safe in their little world that money provided them. But Donald knew he couldn’t let it go, and neither would his wife.

He was certain he would die tonight and leave her alone, and yet it was for Margaret that kept Donald going forwards towards that death. He had to find out what had happened to her brother, no matter the cost.

Cabbie finally got his attention by purposefully hitting a pothole in the road.

“What--? Were you saying something?”

“Yes. Look over there,” the driver responded, slowed the car, and pointed out the right side windows of the vehicle. The edge of the road dropped away into darkness.

“There’s a ditch, runs along the road for about thirty yards until it reaches the turn,” Cabbie explained, “The boss had me drive past here many times… That’s where the truck forced his lady friend’s car off the road. It tumbled down into the ditch. He was badly injured, and well… you know the rest.”

Donald silently nodded. Sheila was killed in the accident that was no accident. So this is where it all began, he thought to himself. Here was where the tragedy struck that turned his adventuring journalist of a brother-in-law into the obsessed and dangerous vigilante known as the Masked Ghost.

Now Donald found himself wearing the same mask and returning to the very scene to find out what truly happened.

Alert now, Donald watched as they drove past the front gates of the property belonging to the Spade Import and Export Company. The yard was fenced in with only one entrance from the road and a guard booth next to it.

A quarter mile further on, the taxi pulled behind an over grown hedge.

“It’s all on foot from here,” Donald said adjusting the mask and opening the door.

“Do you want me to stay here?” Cabbie asked.

“No. Margaret will be home soon. Stay close to her. Keep her safe.”

Out of the car, The Masked Ghost crouched behind the hedge as the taxi drove away.

After several minutes had past, he checked the road, and when there were no headlights visible from either direction he darted across the road. Quietly and slowly he made his way back to the property.

Just as suspected, there was a guard on duty at the gate and if The Masked Ghost’s notes were accurate he would be highly armed.

The vigilante moved around the side of the property and was pleasantly surprised to find that the storm from the other evening had knocked a large broken branch down on to a portion of the fence. It was still complete, but pushed down just enough to allow him to climb over. It was also hidden from view by several storage bins.

Dropping to the ground once more, The Masked Ghost remained as motionless as possible. Other than the gate guard, he couldn’t see anyone else on the property from this position. When the guard looked distracted, he took a run for another corner of the yard.

From here he could make out the rest of the property. There were three main buildings. One was a single story brick building that held the administrative offices, a small storage unit at the opposite side; and a large warehouse building in the center. There were lights on in the administration building, so that would be his next stop.

But before he could move towards his destination, lights appeared at the gate. The guard opened it, and a very familiar truck pulled on to the property.

The Spade logo was quite visible on the side door, even in the low light of the yard. Once parked, a tall man got out the drivers door. From the Masked Ghost’s position he recognized the man Donald had seen at the construction site earlier in the day. As the man headed for administration building, The Masked Ghost noticed how he walked. It too was familiar. This was the same man he had fought off the other day downtown, and nearly killed him on the road.

He’s the killer of that poor accountant, Donald thought with dread.

The Masked Ghost cleared his head and concentrated on the moment. Before he could move another set of headlamps came up to the gate. A touring car similar to Donald’s father-in-law’s was allowed on to the property and parked right in front of the administration building.

Everyone wants to be there tonight.

It was an older man, slightly stooped, who got out of the car. Someone greeted him at the door and ushered him inside.

After fifteen minutes waiting, The Masked Ghost decided that no one else was going to be arriving. The gate guard sat back in his little booth with his eyes facing out to the road. It gave the Masked Ghost the perfect opportunity to dart across the yard, from one shadow to the next as if each welcomed him like an old friend.

He made it to the corner of the administration building and slowly crept around it until he approached the office where the lights were on. Finding an open window, the Masked Ghost crouched low hoping not to make a noise as he listened to the voices inside.

“Why did you want me here tonight,” said an older weak voice, full of fear.

“You came here because I summoned you!” It was a deeper voice, powerful yet sounded as if his cheeks were swollen.

“Yes… sir,” it was not a sound of respect, but of resignation, “but, but what more can I do for you. You’ve already destroyed my family. Taken my little girl from me. Why must you continue to torment me…?”

“Because I can,” came the answer with a wicket yet suppressed laugh, “because of what you can do for me. Or rather, what your money can do for me. You know that. You’ve helped fund several construction sites in the city. Now you’re just funding mine…”

The Masked Ghost listened intently to the voices inside that he didn’t hear the crunch of gravel only a few feet away. A hand grabbed the back of his collar and yanked him upwards.

Mistake number one of the night. He hadn’t counted on the Gate Guard having a partner who was on his way to trade off shifts. Now he held the vigilante high by the arms.

Donald didn’t know what to do, but the Masked Ghost kicked both legs forward against the guard’s chest and was knocked free. He tumbled and hit the ground.

The guard loomed over him ready to kill, but wasn’t prepared when the masked stranger suddenly leapt up and through all his weight into to him.

A moment later both men crashed through the window.

The men in the room leapt back in all directions, startled by the sudden violent invasion of their business meeting.

The guard hit the floor and the Masked Ghost struck once, twice, with gloved fists against his face until he stopped fighting back.

“No, not again!” Came a startled voice.

Adrenaline was flowing through the Masked Ghost when he looked up and saw the man he knew to be a killer. Fire in his legs propelled him forward; knocking two office chairs aside and grabbed hold of the man as the guard had him only moments ago.

“You’re a killer.” He shouted.

“You’re suppose to be dead,” the man shouted full of fear. Honestly believing in ghosts right then.

He was about to smash the man’s face, when something moved behind him. The Masked Ghost didn’t have time to respond when a heavy pipe came down across the back of his skull.

The Masked Ghost fell to the ground.

“Ghost or not!” Came a new voice, “Should have made certain he was dead the first time you killed him.”

The last sight Donald Raymond saw before darkness engulfed his vision was the rotund figure of Police Detective William Dobb.

“This time, do it right!”

Chapter 18 - "Preparing For A Ghost"

REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST

by Kevin Paul Shaw Broden

(Copyright 2011 Kevin Paul Shaw Broden)

Chapter 18 – “Preparing for A Ghost”

“Do you really have to leave so soon?” Katharine Brown said as her daughter pulled on her coat.

“Yes, Mama. Donald won’t know what to do with out me.” Margaret Raymond responded with a joke, but her father grumbled as if it was the truth.

“Bye,” she kissed her mother; “I’ll call later and help you with the arrangements for the service.” As much as she didn’t want to talk about her brother’s death, and upset her mother further, there were some things a family could not ignore. A funeral would have to be planned.

She turned and hugged her father who stood stiff and looked at her with cold eyes. He suspected something. Margaret kicked herself for being too inquisitive about Sheila’s family. Asked too many questions about their financial dealings in construction.

Now Margaret had to get back to the city and tell Donald what she had learned.

###

Donald Raymond was concerned for his wife as well. For him, the less she knew the safer he felt Margaret would be. Through the entire taxi ride back to the penthouse apartment, his dead brother-in-law haunted his every thought.

No… The Masked Ghost.

Donald had left the construction site worried and upset. His friend, Petra Nikolas, had gotten himself involved with someone that even the Union boss was bothered by. Something was very wrong there, and it was all tied into what Adrian was investigating.

The Masked Ghost.

Once home, Donald collapsed into his chair. Closing his eyes he tried to think about what he should do next. What could he really do with so little knowledge and a lot of suspicion? He certainly couldn’t go to the police because there would be no easy way to explain what he knew and how he knew it. Donald also couldn’t tell them that his brother-in-law was the vigilante they were hunting. Besides, it was possible that the police were involved. That Detective Monroe sure knew something.

Opening his eyes Donald found himself staring at the French doors that lead out onto the balcony. Had it only been a short few days ago that a terrible storm blew them open and the vigilante known as the Masked Ghost had entered their lives?

“I’m not going to figure anything out sitting here,” Donald pushed himself out of the chair and retrieved the box full of the notes and files Adrian had been gathering.

The Masked Ghost.

He pulled out the sheets of paper and folders until he found one labeled: SPADE IMPORT AND EXPORT.

Everything tied back to this company. The construction site, the accounting office and the murder that happened there. Adrian believed it was their truck that had run Sheila’s car off the road and killed her. It all lead to the Spade company’s warehouse that Adrian had first investigated, and where he decided to become The Masked Ghost.

The Masked Ghost.

Donald sighed as he jotted down the address listed in the files. As much as he wanted to put all this away so that Margaret and he could have a normal life, he knew that wasn’t possible, at least not until they finally discovered what had happened to her brother Adrian.

The Masked Ghost.

For his wife sake he knew what the next move must be.

He hated it, but there was no other way.

Donald Raymond entered the bedroom and in to the back of the walk in closet. He pulled out an old suitcase and tossed it upon the bed.

It wasn’t much of a hiding place; he’d have to think of a better one in the future.

“Damn it,” he shouted at himself, “there isn’t going to be another time. No more of this!”

But even as he spoke these words, he had opened the suitcase and removed a man’s double-breasted suit, shirt, heavy shoes, and large trench coat. The hat came next. Then he took out the thing that bothered him the most: the blood red mask.

The Masked Ghost.

Even though he had already worn the mask, all he saw in it was the dead face of Margaret’s brother. He knew that it would always be a horrible reminder to her as well.

That’s why he planned to destroy it when this was over.

Yet even as he hated it, Donald put on each item of clothing. Shaking as he did so.

He found the specially hidden pockets in the coat that held the grappling gun, lock picks, and other paraphernalia that the vigilante uses. It still surprised him by just how prepared Adrian was for all this.

The Masked Ghost.

Then came the holsters and the two loaded handguns. They terrified him. Terrified that he would have to use them against someone.

“I’m no killer.” He said aloud. Donald didn’t want to imagine that his brother-in-law was either. That would simply be devastating to Margaret and her family.

Lifting the mask to his face, he realized that Donald Raymond might not survive the night. He thought of his wife one last time and put the mask on.

The Masked Ghost stepped from the bedroom ready to face whatever the night had prepared for him.

Chapter 17 - “Away from a Ghost”

“REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST”

by Kevin Paul Shaw Broden

(Copyright 2011 Kevin Paul Shaw Broden)

Chapter 17 - “Away from a Ghost”

Margaret Randolf went to visit her parents. Or rather, her husband Donald sent her off to visit her parents. He made certain she got to the station and put her on the right train. She knew he was up to something, but wouldn’t tell her what.

###

She arrived at the other end of the line to be greeted by her father’s driver waiting for her and she was at the old house in no time.

Margaret found her mother asleep in the room that had been her brother’s.

“Mom”, she knelt next to the woman. Katherine Brown looked nearly identical to her daughter if thirty years older and with longer hair.

“Oh, Maggie, thank God,” the older woman leapt up and through her arms around Margaret, “I dreamt both you and Adrian had been killed.”

“I’m here, Mama, I’m here.” Margaret said holding her crying mother. She looked up to see her father grimly standing in the doorway watching them.

With her daughter in the house, Katherine forced herself to be active. Even though Margaret protested, her mother went to the kitchen to have a meal prepared.

“That’s the most activity she’s made in two days,” her father told Margaret, “When I came home and told her what had happened to Adrian she screamed and screamed for two hours straight until. She smashed vases in the dining room, and then collapsed into tears in his room.”

“Sorry I didn’t get here sooner, but Don and I had a lot to take care of.”

“Where is that husband of yours?” Her father demanded.

“I’m sorry, but he had business to take care of and had to attend a meeting that came up at the last minute and he couldn’t get out of.” She couldn’t very well tell him that he was following a clue in her brother’s death.

###

After leaving Margaret at the train station, Donald hopped into a tax cab. He first made certain that the driver wasn’t Cabbie; he didn’t want another discussion about why the Masked Ghost had to live. He wanted nothing more to do with the vigilante. Just a few hours in the mask was enough for Donald, never again.

The taxi took him to a construction site at the far end of Manhattan.

Donald paid the fare and walked up to the security booth at the front gate.

He had put on more rugged looking work clothes, feeling it wouldn’t be right to show up in a three piece suit that cost more than many of these men made in a year. Yet the workers still looked at him suspiciously, even though he had worked with many of them in the past Donald Raymond was no longer part of their world.

The guard also eyed him wearily. No one was to enter the construction site without permission. It was for safety, of course.

“Tell Mr. Nikolas that his old friend ‘Donny’ is here to see him.”

The guard eyed him up again, then waved over a worker, and said something to him. The worker looked at ‘Donny’ and then ran off and into the manager’s shack.

A moment later the shack shook, as the door was flown open, and a large burly man with a shaving brush mustache ran out.

“Donny, Oh my God, Donny,” said Petra Nikolas as he slapped his large arms around Donald and lifted him from the ground, “I thought you were dead.”

###

It almost felt like a family, like home. Almost.

Mom was chatting away to Margaret about this and that, but her hands were shaking as she ate the few bites Katherine brought to her lips. She was trying to be strong, and doing things for her daughter kept her mind occupied, at least for a while.

Margaret listened to her mother ramble with stories of when Adrian and she were little playing in the back gardens of the house. Briefly she glanced across the table at her father whose lip was quivering only slightly. It stopped and his face became like stone when he realized she was watching.

Harris J. Brown had taught himself to be that way a long time ago. To be strong and unemotional got him through the terrible stock market crash a few years earlier. Emotions lead to rash decisions and mistakes.

He thought his daughter marrying the Raymond fellow was all emotion and rash and that it would be a mistake that would only hurt her and the family. Yet it was Adrian who had convinced him to give Donald another consideration, another look. In the right environment that rugged young fellow was intelligent and did understand business, if from a different angle than Brown’s own. So far he’s proven himself, both as a good husband and a businessman. It was the right thing to bring him into the company.

Yet it was his own son, Adrian Harris Brown, who had all the emotional and imagination of his mother. Running off to this country or that following ‘leads’ for his newspaper articles. Writing strange stories for dime magazines. Meeting all sorts of people. Moving away from the family and living in the squalor of an apartment among the riffraff of the city.

If he had only stayed with the family, thought better of it, he would not have made the decisions that had gotten him killed.

Harris looked up to see Margaret still looking at him; she was patting her mother’s hand.

“Adrian seemed so happy after he met Sheila,” Katherine was saying, her eyes not focusing on anything now except the memories of her son.

“Yes, I know.” Margaret agreed with her mother trying to keep her calm, “I always thought she was grounding him.”

“And she did,” Harris said, “but that family of hers didn’t help any.”

Both women looked up at him in surprise.

###

“It’s been too long, Donny,” Petra Nikolas said. He had invited Donald into the manager’s shack and they had been talking for the last hour, “Has the wife been good to you.”

“The wife has been very good to me,” Donald replied without a hint of innuendo that Nikolas was hoping for.

“You’ve changed, you have,” his friend smiled.

“Maybe I have. Maybe I have. What about you? You seem to be doing well for yourself. This is quite a construction site you’re overseeing,” Donald glanced at the familiar blueprints pinned to the wall he had seen only nights before in the lair of the Masked Ghost.

“Oh it is. Gonna be the biggest building in all New York.”

“Bigger than the Empire State Building? Petra, you wound me.”

“Progress, Donny, Progress,” Nikolas replied to Donald’s joke then looked down at his shoes?

“Petra, is something wrong?”

“No, no. All well. Progress is being made in this fine city. Just wish that there’d be signs of some progress in the finances.”

“Having money troubles?”

“You didn’t hear it from me, but this monstrosity,” he gestured at the blueprint, “is starting to be called ‘Wolf’s Folly’. Money disappears when it should be going into the girders above.”

Donald thought about that for a moment. He was about to ask about Herbert J. Wolf and where things stood for the architect when a heavy pounding came to the door.

###

Margaret saw that her mother was comfortable and sitting in the lounge reading. She had been about a third way through Adrian’s novel when she learned of his death. Katherine wanted to be close to him now through his words. At least she was peaceful, Margaret thought.

“What did you mean by that, daddy?” She pulled Harris into another room so as not to disturb her mother, “What’s so wrong with the Brusters?”

“Besides blaming my son for Sheila’s death? Everything.”

“What does that suppose to mean?”

“Do you know why Adrian interviewed them originally?”

“Something to do with finances, I think. Doesn’t Mr. Bruster work with the city?”

“That’s right. Adrian’s publisher wanted to do a full cover exposé on Argust Bruster and how he’s been helping fund raise a lot of the massive construction in the city.”

“Oh,” Knowing her husband’s former career in construction this struck a note of interest to Margaret, “go on.”

“After it was obvious Adrian was serious about Sheila I looked into the family and their business.”

“Of course you did, father,” she said dryly. He had spent three months looking into Donald’s background, family, and friends. According to Harris, he was far beneath Margaret to pay him any attention, but when she wouldn’t give up and Adrian supported the relationship he had called out the big guns to make certain that his new son-in-law wasn’t going to ruin the family. “What did you find?”

“Too many hands in his pockets.”

###

Before Petra could get out his seat, the door to the shack was thrown open.

“Nikolas! Why aren’t you paying my men?!”

Donald recognized the blustery voice of Jacob Saul the local construction labor union leader, having come screaming into his own construction offices in the past. He also recognized Saul from the Masked Ghost’s notes about this very same construction site.

“I am paying them as best that I can,” Petra said getting up to confront the invader, but the way he sounded Donald knew there was no strength behind it, the burly man suddenly looked small and weak. If Saul wanted to take the pay out of his skull there wouldn’t be much of a defense, and from the clenching of fists it was bound to happen.

“There’s no need to be angry,” Donald got up and stood next to his friend.

Jacob Saul looked at him for a moment and then remembered, “Raymond, I thought you ran off from doing a real man’s job.”

“And I thought you had grown past childish tantrums. Hardly a way to get people to see things your way.”

“Do you want to see my way of thinking,” Saul raised a fist.

“Please, please. No fighting,” Nikolas said as if in fear of being caught.

“You couldn’t do it before, I doubt you could do it now,” Donald said, “but Petra’s right. There’s no need to fight. Perhaps there are other ways you can negotiate.”

“No more negotiations. He’s got to pay--”

He was interrupted by another knock at the door and a low voice, “Mr. Nikolas, they’re here.”

“Oh, dear, oh dear.” Nikolas began to mumble about himself.

“Who’s here, Petre?” Donald asked, ignoring the union thug for the moment, “what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. You’ll just have to go now. Both of you.” Nikolas said, which startled Saul.

Donald knew something was up and thought it best to get out of the way. For now.

“I think its time for us to go,” he grabbed Saul’s arm and pulled him out the door, “Talk to you soon Petra.” He shouted back in and lead Saul towards the main gate.

“Let go of me,” the union man shook free, “so you taking our fight outside to teach me a lesson?”

“Sometimes I think you’re past being able to learn anything,” Donald said in return, “but no. I don’t want to fight you. Tell me, is Nikolas really having trouble paying your men?”

Saul sighed, “It’s hard out here for everyone. We’re not all lucky to marry into money.”

“It was a blessing for me, but I feel guilty all the time when I see you all out here working. I really do.”

“I cry for you,” Saul said, but there was no fire behind it, “Yes, for the past few weeks he’s been paying later and later. Even though I try to scare it out of him, it’s not your friend’s fault. From what I understand the money’s drying up much higher than his office.”

“Damn. I really thought he’d make something of himself.”

“You always tried to be fair to the men,” Saul had to acknowledge, “we rarely saw eye to eye when the union didn’t get what we wanted from you, but you were fair.”

“Thank you, that means a lot,” Donald said looking across the construction site before leaving. He saw a tall thin man in a suit entering Nikolas’s office. Then across the yard he saw something else.

“Do you know who that is?” He asked Saul.

“No, but I know that,” the union man said indicating the truck Donald was already looking at with a concerned eye, “it’s been showing up at several sites in the city recently.”

On the side of the truck was the painted emblem for the Spade Import and Export Company.

To Be Continued…

Chapter 16 - “Package for a Ghost”

“REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST”

by Kevin Paul Shaw Broden

(Copyright 2011 Kevin Paul Shaw Broden)

Chapter 16 - “Package for a Ghost”

The heavy knocking at the door came again.

“It's the police!” Margaret panicked.

Donald Randolf agreed with his wife, that knock was very similar to the hard pounding that came when the police arrived the other evening when the Masked Ghost had first arrived invaded their lives. But there was no accompanying announcement.

He didn’t speak, but gestured for her to remain at the table as he cautiously approached the door.

“Hello?” Donald spoke, but received no response.

Slowly he unlocked the door and opened it a few inches, but could see no one. Then he opened it wider and looked both directions down the hall, but again none could be seen. It was completely silent, no sound of footsteps or doors closing.

Stepping out, his foot kicked something. There was a large stuffed enveloped on the floor.

Checking once more that no one was around; he picked up the package and turned it over but found nothing writing on it. No name, no address. He brought it in and locked the door behind him.

“Who was it?” Margaret asked as her husband returned to the table.

He didn’t answer, but opened the enveloped and briefly looked inside, then let the contents slide out on to the table. It was a pile of typed pages as well as newspaper clippings, and a few photographs.

Donald lifted the first of the sheet from the pile, “It’s a police report.”

“It’s a report about you…” Margaret said looking at another page, “I mean the Masked Ghost.”

They sat down at the table and read through the police report of the incident of the evening before.

It was clear that the police were hunting for the masked vigilante.

He is to be considered armed and dangerous, and he has now added murder to his long list of crimes against the city of New York.

She looked at a gruesome crime scene photo of the body lying on the office floor with accounting papers fallen around it.

“You… you didn’t…?”

“Of course I didn’t kill anyone. How can you even ask that,” he was harsher than he needed to be. Guilt was beating in his ears knowing that as the Masked Ghost he had waited outside that office, while a man was being tortured to death inside. “Remember, I told you there was someone else in there. He attacked me before making his escape.”

Margaret continued looking at the photograph. It was horrific, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away. “Do you think Adrian ever killed as the Masked Ghost?”

“Certainly not,” Donald said, taking the photo from his wife and shoving it back into the envelope where it couldn’t be seen. He wasn’t as certain as he claimed, it was clear they really didn’t know Adrian Brown at all and had no clue as to what he had or had not done as the Masked Ghost. He had weapons, and knew how to use them. Had he used them, was he planning on using them? They would never know.

Putting those thoughts aside, he read further into the notes. This page was about the victim. Sidney Shoelle, the owner of Shoelle investments. Unmarried. He’s run the company for the last five years. It then provided a list of clients, and ‘known associates’. The police had made a note on this sheet to indicate that the Masked Ghost was most likely looking to remove some of the competition in the criminal businesses in town.

“That hardly seems likely,” Margaret said over Donald’s shoulder.

“True, a one man army attempting to take over underworld of New York? Doesn’t make much sense, no matter what the Masked Ghost has done.”

Donald read through the list of names, then again.

“Hold this,” he handed her the list and ran out of the room.

A moment later he came back in.

“It’s a good thing I’m not the Masked Ghost and we’re not going to continue this madness. Because we can’t keep storing all this stuff, this incriminating evidence, in our closet.”

Donald said that while carrying a box into the dining room and put it on the table alongside the envelope. He shuffled through several papers they had brought back from Adrian’s apartment. It was what they thought might be important and what they could be able to carry that night. Even with Cabbie’s help, they didn’t intend to bring all of his crime fighting paraphernalia back to the penthouse. It wouldn’t be safe.

“Here!” He said pulling out a page of notes and descriptions.

“What? What did you find?”

“Adrian, or his Masked Ghost persona, had collected a list of his own of people that were connected, however minutely, with the company he was certain was involved in Sheila’s death.”

“Yes, I know. We’re still trying to work out his filing system.”

“Well this list from the police has many of the same names on it.”

“Somehow I don’t find that surprising,” his wife said. This whole sleuthing was really getting exciting to her, except when she had to think about the deaths involved, especially of her brother, “The Masked Ghost had already made the connection to the investment company--”

“Oh, God, no, not him!” Donald said in shock, and then suddenly gathered up all the police report and adjoining papers and shoved them back into the envelope.

“What? Who? What did you find?”

He then dropped the envelop into the box with all the other belongs of the Masked Ghost, then closed the lid. His hands felt dirty.

“No more of this,” he said aloud, “I was right. We can’t have anything more to do with the Masked Ghost.”

Margaret could see her husband was upset but also determined. But if he wasn’t going to put on the mask, then who would seek justice for her brother?

“What are we going to do now?” She finally asked after he had sunk down into a chair.

“We? Well, for starters, you’re going to go visit your mother.”

“But--”

“You already said that you would, Maggie. You’re mother needs you. Now more than ever, and your father needs you too.”

She was silent for a moment. Margaret wanted to do something to help find her brother’s killer, but Donald was right, she needed to be strong and supportive of the family first.

“Okay, I’ll go visit Mummy and Daddy, but what are you going to do?”

“I’m…” Donald gave a final thought to it, “I’m going to visit an old friend.”

Chapter 15 - "A Ghost Rejected"

REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST

by Kevin Paul Shaw Broden

(Copyright 2011 Kevin Paul Shaw Broden)

Chapter 15 – “A Ghost Rejected”

“Tell me again,” Margaret giggled, “how you flew off the building.” She leaned forward and kissed her husband’s chest.

“I didn’t… fly…Told you… that… a dozen times… already,” Donald Randolf moaned beneath her.

“Tell me anyway,” she sighed and cuddled down into his arms.

They had spent the night and long into the morning in bed. The excitement of the evening before had built up adrenalin in them both and they found ways to burn it off until sleep finally took hold.

Later they pulled themselves out of bed and showered together. It wasn’t just animal lust, neither wanted to let the other go in fear they wouldn’t come back.

Finally, as Margaret prepared a small brunch, Donald called in to work.

“I won’t be coming in today, Betty,” he told his secretary.

“Thought as much, sir. Mr. Brown isn’t in either. He stayed home with his wife. So sorry to hear about what happened to their son.”

“Ya. Margaret’s pretty shaken up about her brother as well. Am sorry if I’m leaving you with a lot of work.”

“Don’t mention it, sir. I completely understand.”

“I’ll make certain you’re paid for any extra hours,” Donald hated it when people were used; they deserved to be paid for the work they did. He wasn’t certain his father-in-law saw it the same way, but Donald was going to make anyone that worked for him got paid right.

After returning the phone to its cradle Donald joined his wife at the table.

“You should call your parents, I’m sure your mother could use the support right now.”

“I was thinking about going out to see them,” Margaret replied as she spread a helping of marmalade on her toast, “but I don’t want to leave you.”

He didn’t need to respond to that as he reached for the bacon, Donald understood all to well what she meant and felt the same way.

After they had eaten a few bites, Donald let out a heavy sigh and rolled his head feeling the tightness in his neck crunch. Noticing he was aching, Margaret got up behind him and began massaging his shoulders.

“You had quite a work out last night,” she said as she worked at his tense muscles.

“I am never doing that again,” he said sternly.

“Well I certainly enjoyed what doing it with you,” Margaret giggled with a mischievous smile, “I hope you’re not quitting on me.”

Donald mumbled something into his coffee. His wife sometimes came off with the most inappropriate jokes, but he loved her anyway.

The massage felt good, but after a few minutes, he reached up and brushed her hands away. She knew that meant he wanted to be serious and so sat down across from him again. He was finally going to tell her the decision he had come to hours earlier, before getting so pleasantly distracted.

“I can’t go out there again. I won’t put that mask on ever again.”

She reached over and squeezed his hand lovingly.

“I nearly died out there,” he looked her in the face, “if not that fall. And let’s face it that was a fall, only Adrian’s coat saved me. If not that than it might have been one of a dozen gunshots. I’m not a criminal, why are the police shooting at me?”

“But you weren’t killed,” she tried to reassure him.

“What about the next time? Or the next? All I could think about was you being left alone if I died.”

“Oh, honey,” she reached to hug him, but he pulled away.

“What was I thinking putting on that damn mask?”

They were silent for moment. Margaret felt hurt after he pulled away. She didn’t know how to response until finally she just spoke.

“You did it for me. Because you knew I wanted you too.”

He looked at her slightly confused.

“The whole time you were out there in the darkness I was terrified, imagining all sorts of horrific things happening to you.”

“Exactly, I can’t have you worried like that again. I love you!”

“Oh, darling, I love you too. Now listen to me. Even though scared, I am also very proud of you going out there looking for clues to what happened to Adrian. You’re out there being my hero.”

“I don’t want to be a hero. I just want to be your husband. I don’t want to be the Masked Ghost!”

“No one said you had to be.”

“Cabby sure thinks I do. Calls me boss as if he’s been following my orders all along. He showed up and got me away from the police at the last minute, but I never called him.”

Margaret gave an understanding nod, “he did that yesterday for me too. I wasn’t surprised, but there he was outside the restaurant waiting on us as if he knew we’d need a ride to Adrian’s apartment.

“He says he goes where the Masked Ghost needs him,” Donald said and thought for a moment. Cabby hadn’t once talked about working for Adrian; it was always the Masked Ghost. It was the same when he put mask on as well. “What did Adrian do for the man to make him so loyal?”

“We have no idea how many people Adrian has helped as the Masked Ghost,” Margaret had similar thoughts, “all this time helping others and getting no closer to solving Sheila’s death. The very reason he put on the mask. The Masked Ghost must be a hero to many.”

“I thought you hated hearing about the terrible vigilante on the streets.”

“That’s before I understood what he was trying to do. Before I knew all the good he was doing,” Margaret paused and looked down somberly, “before I knew it was Adrian.”

“Right. The Masked Ghost was Adrian and it got him killed. If I put the mask back on then the Masked Ghost will kill me too, or worse, it’ll kill you. I can’t have that.”

“But we need to find out what happened to Adrian, and we can’t forget Sheila either. He would want us to solve her murder.”

“That’s what the police are for,” he said feeling angry. He didn’t like that feeling, especially towards his wife.

“You said that there’s a good chance that the police are involved in this.”

“They’re certainly intent on hunting down the Masked Ghost. I don’t want to be hunted. But they can investigate the murders.”

“I’m beginning to think that only the Masked Ghost can do that.”

“Well, I am not the Masked Ghost!”

Their heated discussion fell into silence.

A moment later they both jumped at the sound of a heavy hammering knock at the door.

To be continued…

First look at the Masked Ghost

Something special late in the week for the fans of REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST. This is a scene out of Chapter 12 as the Masked Ghost begins his investigation and makes gruesome discovery.


I hope it adds to the pulp feel of the story. Based on a photograph I posed for, this was fulling created in PAINTER using my Wacom table.

Let me know what you think.
(Especially if you're a publisher needing artists.)

Enjoy.

Kevin Paul Shaw Broden