Ghosts of Rosewood Asylum by Stephen Prosapio Page A

had been coughing and wheezing the entire trip up from
the basement.
    “Allergies?” he asked.
    Rebecca coughed. “No. Smoke...did you smell
it?”
    “No.”
    “I couldn’t breathe down there. I definitely
think the woman from the basement died in the fire.”
    “You felt a presence?”
    “Something. I felt something strong.”
    Shouts echoed down the north corridor that
led to the infirmary. Instinctively, Zach bee lined for the commotion.
    “Why don’t you fucking speak English?”
Matthew’s voice rang through the cavernous hallway.
    “Hey, guys. Guys!” Angel shouted.
    Zach entered the infirmary. The three tech
guys faced each other in a triangle. Angel looked from Pierre to Matthew.
    “Look bloke, belt up. I don’t want to hear
from a septic tank how to p’form my dodge and shirk!”
    “You calling me a septic tank you stupid
foreigner?”
    “Hey!” Zach yelled. “What the hell is going
on?”
    All three of them spoke at once—an
indistinguishable blather of words. Bryce and Sara had caught up and stood
behind him. Surprisingly, she stayed quiet and waited for him to do the heavy
lifting.
    Zach held up his hands. “Quiet!” Their word
stream tapered off. “Angel, what the hell is going on here?”
    “I’m not sure, boss. These guys were laying
cables and setting cameras up. I came running when I heard the shouting.”
    Bryce pulled no verbal punches. “Pierre, I
told you to work as a team. What the bloody hell are you doing?”
    Pierre seemed as stunned as any of them at
Bryce’s berating. He ran a hand through his sweaty black hair. “Listen Bryce,
do me a bloody Rod Laver and don’t blame me until you take a butcher’s hook how
high up this bloke wants to position the cameras.”
    “I told this fucking guy to speak English!”
Matthew shouted.
    “Could say the same about you. You’ve the IQ
of a Joe Blake.”
    Matthew reached and grabbed Pierre’s polo
shirt before Angel could pull him back. Sara seemed content to watch how Zach
and Bryce would handle things.
    Bryce charged Pierre and smothered him in a
hug. “C’mon. Let’s go. We’re going for a beer you and I,” he said.
    “Beer?” Zach asked. Don’t you think—”
    “Trust me.” Just before exiting the
infirmary, Bryce half turned and looked back. “Matthew, I’m sorry about this.
Set those cameras up the way you want them.”
    Pierre cursed and muttered in unintelligible
dialect and pointed back. “I’m tellin’ you—”
    “Quiet. I told you that you and I are going
for a drink. That’s it.” He turned again. “Zach, Sara, set up whatever work
schedule you need. I’ll take care of this and let’s meet back at five o’clock?”
    “Okay,” Sara responded. “Five o’clock in the
main lobby.”
    Once they were out of earshot, Zach tore
into Matthew. “What part of work as a team do you not understand?”
    “Are you kidding me?”
    Angel eased into the space between Zach and
Matthew.
    “You know I’m not kidding. This isn’t
funny.” Zach kept his tone firm and his emotions in check.
    Shelly and Ray rushed up the hallway.
Apparently they had heard the commotion from halfway across the property.
    “No, what’s funny is that I’ve been in this
from the beginning...look, it’s bad enough I’ve got to report to you two,”
Matthew pointed at both Zach and Angel. “But now I’ve got to kowtow to some
foreign idiot? Even the girls don’t have to put up with that many bosses.”
    “Even the girls ?” Shelly echoed.
“What the hell do you mean by that?”
    “Okay, okay.” Sara finally stepped in.
“Let’s not escalate this. Matthew’s upset and he has a point.”
    “Gee, ya think?” Matthew seemed hell bent on
alienating everyone.
    Sara glared at him. “Do you want to take the
night off?”
    He crossed his arms across his chest. “No. I
never said I didn’t want to be a part of this.”
    “Alright, then take a few hours off. In
fact, take as much time as you need to calm yourself down.