Page 88 of Beyond the Grave
"Tell him to get out of there!" he gasped. "If there is a hell, it will look like the cold bath room, I'm sure of it." His mist shimmered and he pulled a face.
"He's not a patient, but has gone inside to get one out."
"An escape! Capital idea. Wish my friends had thought of that. Wish I'd had friends. Or family. Oh, I had a brother, of course, but he never liked me. Said I was soft in the head." He tapped his temple. "He said I was a few cards short of a full deck." He chuckled into his hand. "I don't know what that means, but all his friends thought it a good joke. Do you think it's amusing, Miss Holloway?"
Good lord, I was going to trust this spirit to report back on Lincoln's progress? Perhaps I was the mad one. "Listen very carefully, Mr. McIlroy. I'd like you to enter the hospital—"
"No!" he screeched. "I'm not going back in there again, not now that I'm out."
"Just for a few minutes. Besides, nothing can harm you now. You're already dead."
"But…there are ghosts in that place."
"Mr. McIlroy,youare a ghost."
He looked down at himself again and straightened. "Oh. So I see. But…the doctors are more frightening than the ghosts." He rubbed his wrists, pushing back the sleeves to reveal what looked like scratches or cuts. "They shackle you to the bed at night," he whispered, once more leaning forward. "Those of us who wander at night are chained up. The dangerous ones are given medicine to make them sleep. It's horrible, Miss Holloway. I called for my nurse, but she didn't hear me. She left, you see, when I was twelve. They said I was too old for a nurse, but I didn't think so. What was her name again?"
"Mr. McIlroy, please try to focus your attention on me and the task at hand."
He blinked and nodded firmly. "Yes. I will. What is it you want me to do?"
"I want you to go inside the building and look for a man dressed all in black with longish black hair. He's neither a patient nor a staff member. He is attempting to rescue Mr. Buchanan, your old roommate. Can you do that?"
"I am almost certain that I can."
"I'm afraid I have the power to order you to do it, but I prefer your acquiescence."
"Then you have it. Do you have a pistol?"
"Why do you need a pistol?"
"So I can shoot anyone who gets in my way. Particularly Dr. Freeman and a certain orderly by the name of Daniels." He snickered as if it were a great joke.
"Dr. Freeman and Mr. Daniels are most likely at home in their own beds, not in the hospital. There is no need for weapons, and you cannot hold them anyway. Just go inside, look for my friend, then come back and report to me. Do you understand?"
He nodded. "Shall I go now?"
"Yes!"
"Right-o." He flew out the window and into the night.
I tipped my head back against the wall. "That was exhausting."
"Has he gone?" Seth asked.
"He has. And now we wait again."
We didn't have to wait long. Almost immediately, the ghost flew back, tumbling through the open window and landing on my lap.
"I found him!" he gasped out with a triumphant smile.
"And?"
"And he's in my old bed."
"What do you mean?"
Seth leaned through the window. "Charlie? What's happened?"
