“I can drive,” Ted said from the open garage door.
“They don’t give thirteen-year-olds driver’s licenses here in Kansas, do they?” Mia asked.
“Of course not,” Ted said. “But it didn’t stop us from taking this car out in the middle of the night a few times when Cid’s parents were away,” Ted boasted.
“What if we get pulled over?” Mia asked.
“Murphy can manifest in the seat and take the rap for us. I doubt he can drive.”
Murphy shook his head.
Mia turned to Cid. “Are you sure you want to do this? You can get into big trouble if we’re caught.”
“Mia, my parents have been making decisions for me since I was born. I didn’t even have a say in the classes I took, what kind of glasses I wear, my clothes, anything. It’s time I rebelled.”
“But you’re taking your friend down with you,” Mia said as Ted hopped in the front seat.
“He makes his own decisions. Let us help you. Even if you took the bus, it’s going to let you off miles from where the Duprees live. What if they aren’t there? Are you going to walk all over Kansas looking for them?”
“You make a good point. It is a sweet little car,” Mia said, running her hand over the fender. “We may want to keep the top up until we exit the city though. Ted’s tall, but he still looks like a thirteen-year-old.”
“I’ve thought of that,” Ted said, pulling the rearview mirror down. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a fake mustache and placed it on his upper lip. Next, he pulled off his ball cap and put on a flat cap he borrowed from his father. He turned and asked, “What do you think?”
Mia and Cid burst into laughter. Murphy manifested and asked in a comical accent, “’ow much to go to Bucking’um Palace?”
Ted, being a good sport, took on the guise of Dick Van Dyke’s Bert in Mary Poppins and said, “Eighty pence a mile for you, the girl rides free.”
They loaded up the car before Ted started it and drove it out of the garage. Mia shut the garage door and climbed in behind Ted. Cid rode in the front, and Murphy, invisible to all but Mia, rode in the back with her.
Cid who had taken on the task of navigator started directing Ted. Ted, who thought he knew the way, resisted, and they had to turn around a few times before they even got out of the neighborhood. Each time Mia opened her mouth to add her two cents, Murphy pinched her and whispered, “Let them work it out.”
Finally, the foursome were on the road and headed for open farmland. Mia sat back and pulled out the dossiers Nordin had compiled of Glenda and Mike Dupree to look at as they drove. Glenda was listed as a widow receiving a paltry military pension. She operated her farm efficiently, hiring outside labor for the harvesting. Mike was a good student and a great athlete. There were a few copies of news clippings showing the handsome youth accepting awards and trophies for his high school. Mia had seen some of the personal trophies when she had visited the Dupree farm before. She remembered her last moments there guiltily.
Mike’s mother had cleverly managed to get herself stranded overnight at a relative’s, leaving Mike and Mia alone together. There had been a lot of chemistry between the two that both of them never took advantage of even when Mia’s marriage had fallen apart. In Glenda’s mind, it would be better for the two of them to get it out of their systems and move on. Nothing sexual happened, but during a frightful thunderstorm, Mia ended up confessing one of her darkest secrets to Mike, something she hadn’t told Ted about. Why was it easier to talk to Mike than Ted? It wasn’t that he was judgmental or a bad listener. It may have been nothing more than timing, but Mia still felt guilty.
“You’re pretty quiet back there,” Ted called back. “Is everything alright?”
“I’m just looking over the information that Nordin collected on the Duprees.”
“I thought you knew them.”
“Not in this time. I met Mike when he arrived to scout out a haunted house with Burt. He and I did not get along.”
“He was full of himself,” Murphy said. “I took him down a peg.”
“How?”
“I played pranks on him,” Murphy said and smiled. “I may play one when we meet him. I haven’t decided.”
“What was Mia like when you first met her?” Cid asked, turning around.
“She surprised me by being able to see me. She also could hear me speak, although I don’t remember much in the way of conversations.”
“Murphy didn’t talk a lot then. It takes a lot of energy to push speech through the veil. Now he never stops talking,” Mia teased.
“Sounds like Ted,” Cid said.
“Oh no, the Ted in my time holds the world record for words spoken in a twenty-four-hour period.”
“It’s a talent,” Ted said.
“What did you think of Ted when you first met him?” Cid asked.
“I thought he was the smartest, funniest, most likeable guy I had ever met,” Mia said honestly.
“How about you, Murphy?” Cid asked.
“I fried his monitors accidently and he forgave me, so I liked him.”
“Tell us about Cid,” Ted demanded.
“When I first met him?” Mia qualified.
“Yes.” Ted said.
“Hot sexy body, big glasses, very loyal to you, Ted,” Mia said.
“How come you didn’t say I had a hot sexy body?” Ted asked.
“Because… Murphy, you take this one.”
“I didn’t think either of them were sexy. Ted’s big nose was in my business, and Cid got himself lost in a snowstorm, and Mia had to go and save him.”
“But you married me and not
