'I heard River Dog's ancestor… or whatever it was… telling him that the Visitors had to be made to leave,' Max said.
'I got the same treatment in the hospital,' Kyle said. 'Only it wasn't from a ghost.' He quickly related the story of the strange insect creature he'd seen on the wall. 'At first I thought I was just freaking because of the injury and all the weirdness going on.'
Valenti grimaced. 'Might have helped if you'd mentioned that story earlier, son.'
'Why?' Michael demanded. 'It wasn't enough that we have telepathic ghosts; now we have to add in the cyborg afterlife of Jiminy Cricket?'
'Why haven't any of you guys seen ghosts?' Valenti asked. 'If the ghosts wanted to chase you out of Roswell, why didn't they start haunting you?'
'We saw ghosts,' Isabel said.
'Not ghosts of people you know,' Valenti corrected. 'You saw other people's ghosts.'
'Maybe that's worse,' Maria said.
'Was it?' Valenti responded. 'How about if you'd seen the ghost of someone you knew? Someone you loved and lost?'
Silence weighed into the room. Max watched Isabel, knowing they were all remembering Alex.
Valenti rubbed his face tiredly. 'Sorry. I should have thought before I spoke.'
'No,' Max said. 'It's all right. There's no explanation why we haven't seen our own ghosts.'
'Because these telepathic ghosts can't read us,' Michael said. 'We're too strong, or we're the wrong wavelength. Something like that. Maybe the same thing that makes the ghosts fear us also protects us.'
'Except our presence makes the ghosts react more violently,' Isabel said.
'Because the ghosts are afraid of us,' Max said.
Valenti strode into the midst of the room. 'Let's check that line of inquiry where it is for the moment. We've done enough there to identify what we might be up against. We need to do some more work.'
'What?' Max asked.
'The tie is missing,' Valenti said.
'What tie?' Isabel asked.
'Max said that River Dog told him the spirit manifestations began a few days ago,' Valenti said. 'Why are the ghosts only now turning up in Roswell?'
'Because the ghosts are migrating,' Max said, following the logic.
Valenti smiled mirthlessly. 'I prefer the term contamination. Roswell is starting to show signs of contamination from whatever has summoned whatever the ghosts really turn out to be.'
Max nodded. Scary as it was, the idea of looking for a physical culprit in the middle of all the confusion was also reassuring.
'But,' Valenti said, 'there's someone who got contaminated early.'
'Who?' Max asked.
'Leroy Wilkins,' Valenti answered.
'The guy in the Crashdown?' Kyle asked.
Valenti nodded.
'He was just the first one anyone knew about in Roswell,' Kyle said.
'No,' Liz put in. 'My mom was talking to my deceased grandmother this morning.'
'And you can't really say Wilkins was contaminated early,' Maria said. 'Wilkins came into the Crashdown today spazzing out. Today's when all the ghosts seemed to have showed up.'
'Before he showed up in Roswell,' Valenti said, 'Wilkins took a pickax and a sledgehammer and tore down the basement wall where he'd hidden his partner after murdering him. At his age that would have taken some time. Wilkins had poured that wall to stay. When Michael and I searched the room, we found beer bottles and plates with unfinished meals.'
'And a Bible,' Michael added, evidently growing more interested in Valenti's story. He reached for another pizza slice.
'Why would Wilkins have a Bible there?' Max asked.
'Do the math on this one, Maxwell,' Michael said. 'A Bible at the hidden grave of the man Wilkins murdered.'
'Wilkins was trying to perform an exorcism,' Maria said.
'Yeah,' Michael said. 'The food that was down there? Been down there for days. Wilkins was haunted long before the rest of Roswell started feeling the affects.'
'Where does Wilkins live?' Max asked.
'On the other side of the city from the Mesaliko reservation,' Valenti said. 'The ghost invasion would have had to skip over Roswell to get to him, then double back. There are other people living out there.' He nodded toward the television. 'So far, there aren't any reports of anyone else out there being affected.'
'Why was Wilkins so special?' Maria asked.
'Exactly,' Valenti replied.
Liz looked troubled. 'Why didn't the ghost that was haunting Wilkins's basement haunt someone else after you left?'
'Because I grounded it out with the crowbar,' Michael reminded her. 'The lightning blast destroyed it.'
'It's a ghost,' Maria said. 'How can you kill it again?'
'I don't make up the rules,' Michael said. 'I just play the game.'
'This is so not a game.'
Michael shrugged. 'Whatever.'
'After the lightning blasted the ghost away,' Valenti said, reaching into his pocket, 'I found this.' Light splintered from the small piece of metal he held.
'What is it?' Max asked.
'I don't know,' Valenti answered. 'Something that didn't belong. That's what most investigations are all about: finding the things that aren't supposed to be there.'
Kyle moved forward. 'Can I see that?'
Valenti handed the metal piece to his son.
Turning the metal over in his palm, Kyle looked puzzled. 'This metal looks a lot like the insect thing I saw in the hospital.'
'Cyborg Jiminy Cricket,' Michael said.
Kyle took no offense. 'Yes.'
'That's the thing the lightning blast destroyed,' Michael said.
'Maybe it was a button,' Isabel suggested.
'Swanson had one metal button,' Valenti said. 'It was on his jeans. I know because I checked.'
'There's no way this could be a coincidence,' Maria said. 'Is there?'
'If you can put together odds like that,' Valenti said, 'we're going to Vegas.'
'Already been,' Michael said. 'Didn't even bother to pick up the T-shirt.'
'The tie to the Mesaliko reservation is Wilkins,' Liz said. 'The Mesaliko chased him off tribal lands a few times.'
'Right,' Valenti said. 'I had to escort Wilkins off private property a few times myself.' He shook his head. 'But I keep thinking about how Wilkins must have been these past few days. With all the food and beer in that basement room, Wilkins sat there for a long time trying to get the nerve up to break into that basement wall. Why?'
'Because he was haunted,' Liz said.
'Yeah, but the ghost didn't follow Wilkins into Roswell,' Valenti said. 'That thing… whatever it was… waited for Michael and me today.'
Liz rubbed her upper arms as if suddenly chilled. 'That's totally creepy.'
Valenti nodded in agreement. 'So the ghost didn't follow Wilkins into town.'
'Something did,' Michael said. 'I saw Swanson.'
'Another ghost picked Wilkins up when he entered town,' Valenti said. 'That can be the only answer.'
'You think these things communicate?' Kyle asked.
'They have to,' Max said. 'They carry the same message, and they operate in the same fashion.' He paused,
