Dead To Me

“I apologize,” Co

“Do youhave any loved ones?” I had to ask, even if it sounded like I was suddenly playingThe Dating Game. But Irene was too caught up in what Co

“And if I figure out why I’m here, then what?” she asked as she flickered in and out with increasing nervousness. One moment she was there, the next she looked like she was being energized by the transporter beam onStar Trek. “Where do I go from here?”

“That’s where it gets a bit sticky,” Co

“Can’t you research it?” she asked. “Or do something? This is my life here!”

I shook my head.

“There’s way too much paperwork to even set that in motion,” I said. “Our secretly sanctioned agency wouldn’t even know what forms to fill out to investigate what happens in the afterlife. We’re not budgeted for it, either.”

Irene had gone from angered to shocked. “So you’re telling me there’s too much bureaucracy, red tape, and too little funding to give me a definitive answer on my fate?”

“In a sense,” Co

“Such as?” Irene asked.

“Well,” Co

Irene looked nervously at the sofa below her. “What exactlyis your function here, Mr. Christos?”

Co

“Meaning what?” Irene asked with persistence.

“Look around the room, Irene,” Co

“Well, I noticed you,” I added. “But I didn’t notice that you were…recently deceased…”

Co

“Maybe we all become like this?” she offered. “Maybe this is as good as it gets. What if all we have to look forward to is hanging around after death, being ignored by the living and occasionally spotted by some crackpot on the street!”

“Well, then, you’re in luck,” I said cheerfully, “because we’re just those types of crackpots!”

Co

“That’s extremely doubtful,” he said. “And I’ll tell you why. Manhattan is a city of over eight million residents, not to mention tourists and commuters. The amount of death that occurs daily in an energy center like this is astounding, but the documented occurrences of souls walking around are negligible in comparison. If what you’re proposing were the case-if all spirits hung around after dying-I wouldn’t be able to go two feet in any direction without tripping over someone’s soul. It’s just not the case.”

There was a moment’s silence as Irene thought it over. I watched her, looking for signs of comprehension, but only noticed the cute crinkle of her nose. She looked to Co

“Honestly, I haven’t a clue, Irene. But I need you to think. Think hard. Are there any words, any thoughts that spring randomly to mind? Anything at all? I want to see if you’re capable of free-associating any information that might be useful to us. Names…faces…an address, perhaps?”

Her brow furrowed with the effort of recollection, her nose scrunching up again.

After several moments of trying, she said, “Nothing.”

“Damn,” Co

“Well, now what?” I asked.

“Wait a minute!” Irene said with a sudden burst of excitement. “That word.Now.”

“I think we’d need something a lot more specific there, Irene,” he said.

“Quiet,” she said, waving him away. “It triggered something, I’m not sure what. I have an image of that word floating in my head. I’ve seen it somewhere recently. I think it was on one of the movie posters out in the cafй.”

I leaned across the table wanting to reach out to her, but refraining. God only knows what part of her I’d accidentally put my hand through this time.

“Can you tell us which one?” I asked.

Her hands shook excitedly as she tried to recall. “It’s that one with Martin Sheen. Where he goes up a river…? And there’s this tribe of men dedicated to Marlon Brando!”

“Apocalypse Now!” I shouted, bouncing on my seat as if I had just won a prize on a game show.

Irene nodded. “Yes! That’s it. That’s the image I have in my head. That’s really not very helpful, is it?” Her face sank. “God, I feel so useless.”

“It’s all right,” I said. “It’ll come to you. Give it time. Right, Co

When Co

“What is it, boss?”

“I know that front room like the back of my hand,” he said. “Thereis no movie poster forApocalypse Now.”

That put things in a different light. I rose from my chair. I didn’t want to leave Irene alone, but things were getting frighteningly interesting.

“I’ll tell the Inspectre,” I said. I leapt over my chair and raced for the curtains.

Co