"What about this Janet person.  Maybe she was implicating Laura to take attention off of herself."  Lindsay nodded.  
    "She did seem to be a little vindictive, although I don't know why."
    "Why don't I have a little talk with Janet."  Their expressions showed that they didn't think that this was a good idea.  But, what could they do, he was the case manager.

    Matt found Janet in her dressing room putting on her make-up.
    "May I come in?"  Janet turned around and smiled broadly.
    "Yes, come in and sit down."  She was smiling at him too much.
    "I'd like to ask you some questions if I may? First of all, did you know Marcy or Michelle well?"  The smile suddenly changed to a scowl.
    "They both thought that they were so much - getting the lead, getting the best boyfriends, everything."  This was one disgruntled girl, Matt thought.
    "What about Laura?  Do you have something against her?"  The little nerve in Matt's necked was throbbing.  Janet rolled her eyes and continued her story.
    "Have you seen the way she carries on with Brad?  No wonder she got the lead."  Matt became angry.
    "Well, thank you for your information."  Matt rose to leave.
    "Will I see you later?  Maybe we can get together."  Matt smiled devilishly.
    "I don't think so.  I'll be seeing Laura later."  Matt had to get that little dig in before he left.
    No matter how much it hurt, Matt would have to go and talk to Laura.  She was finished on stage now and was in her dressing room.
    "Laura, can I come in?"  It was Matt, Laura thought.  He's come to tell me that it's over.
    "Y-Yes I guess you can come in."
    Matt came in and found Laura sitting in her robe with her hair down.  Matt was again reminded of how beautiful she was.
    "Where's Brad?"  Matt asked sarcastically.  Laura was surprised.
    "I thought that you wanted to speak to me."  Laura didn't look angry.  She just looked surprised.
    "Tell me about college."  Again Laura was surprised.
    "Well, Michelle, Brad and I were friends.  Everyone called us the three musketeers.  We were, at least, until Michelle and Brad started going out."
Matt interrupted her.
    "Wait a minute.  Michelle and Brad?"  Laura quickly put two and two together.
    "Wait, did you think. . . ?"  She didn't have a chance to finish for Matt took her in his arms and kissed her.  Laura hesitated at first no believing that it was true.  When she finally pulled free, she said, "You still feel the same way about me?  I thought. . . "
    Matt was smiling and laughing.
    "I thought that you and Brad were together."  Laura shook her head.
    "Brad is just a good friend.  He and Michelle were very close.  He was devastated when she died."  Matt took this in.
    "What do you think about Janet?"  Laura looked puzzled.
    "You think that Janet is responsible for all of this?  She has always liked Brad.  In fact, Brad felt sorry for her and gave her a part in the show."
    At that moment, Matt smelled smoke.
    "Do you smell that?  It's smoke."  He ran to the door and tried to open it.  It wouldn't budge.
    "We're trapped."  Laura was frantic.  Matt wasn't quite as panicked.
    "Pete.  Pete are you there?"  Matt called into the comm unit they used to stay in touch with each other.
    "Yeah,  Matt?"
    "Laura and I are locked in her dressing room.   Something's on fire."
    A few minutes later, there were sounds of running feet and shouts.  The next thing they knew, someone was chopping at the door.  In just a few minutes, the rest of the team burst through the door.
    "Are you guys okay?"   Pete asked breathlessly. There was no damage except that Laura was coughing a little.
    "Did anyone see anything?"  Matt wanted to know.  Of course, no one had.
    "Where was Janet?"  They all looked at each other.  No one knew.
    "Pete can someone set a fire using telekinesis?"  Matt had meant it in a sarcastic way.
    "Well, I've heard of people - fire starters - that could make things spontaneously combust."  Matt made a face like ‘ I had to ask'.
    After this very stressful day, Matt asked if he could take Laura home.  Laura hesitated.  She wanted so much for Matt to tell her how he felt.  This would be a good opportunity.
    When they were finally alone that evening, Laura wanted to get right to her questions.  Matt, on the other hand, had other things on his mind.
    The first thing that Matt did was to take the clip out of her hair which caused her hair to fall gently around her shoulders.  He plowed his fingers through it and was amazed by the play of red and gold in the light.  He took a deep breath.
    "You're beautiful."  He whispered huskily into her hair.
    His hands started to roam over her body and she was afraid that she would be lost before she could get hr questions answered.
    "Matt, I want to ask you something."  Matt wanted to go much further with her than she was willing to at this time.
    "Matt, we need to talk about us."  Matt stopped.  He remembered similar conversations.  It always boiled down to the same thing:  The assumption that he wasn't willing to commit to a relationship.
    "I just think that if we had talked more three months ago, this misunderstanding wouldn't have happened."  Matt nodded.  She was right.
    "What should we have said?"  He was more serious now.
    "Well, do we plan on continuing to see each other, or did we plan on seeing other people?"
    Matt looked right at her.
    "I don't want to see anyone else."  Laura smiled.  It was as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders.
    "I don't want to see anyone else either."  She kissed him shyly on the cheek.
    "What happens next?"  Unlike Matt, Laura had never been married, or close to it.
    "Well, anything that we have is going to be long distance."  Matt wanted to make sure that she understood that he was going to keep his job.
   "I don't mind the long distance romance as long as I know you love me."  Laura looked at Matt imploringly.  Matt stroked her cheek with his hand. He did love her, but it was hard for him to love.  Something always happened to the people he loved.
    "It's hard for me to say.  I feel it, but it's hard to say it.  Do you understand?"  She did understand.  She now knew how he felt.  He didn't have to say it until he was ready.
    She kissed him deeply on the lips.  It took everything he had not to take her right there.
    "You don't have to tell me you love me if you're not ready."  He looked into her eyes.  She was so kind and loving and she did love him.
    "I've never met anyone quite like you before.  Why do you care about an old cynic like me?"  Matt was joking now, but he had asked a serious question.
    "I guess that I see a side of you that no one else does."  She was probably right.
    The next day, rehearsal started with notes given by Brad from the previous day.  The OSIR team listened in and watched several people, especially Janet.
    It was then that Matt devised a plan. He had noticed a similarity of the physical characteristics of the leading ladies.  This also might have played a part in the casting of the parts.
    "Lindsay, Pete, come here.  I want to talk to you for a minute."
    After Brad was finished giving the notes, the team talked to Laura and filled her in on their plan.
    "So want you're saying is that you want me to disguise myself as Michelle and ‘haunt' Janet into confessing?"  They had to admit that it was one of Matt's hair-brained schemes, but it just might work.
    Laura found some clothes that belonged to Michelle in her locker.  They were about the same size and used to swap clothes all of the time.
    Lindsay had called Janet to the green room under the guise of asking more questions.  They were seated at the table so that Janet was facing the open doorway.
    Lindsay started by asking questions that she knew Matt had already asked.
    "Why are you asking me these questions?  The other guy already asked them."  Lindsay offered some excuse that Janet didn't hear because at just that moment, Janet saw a figure walk past the open doorway.
    Lindsay was watching Janet very carefully. She saw all of the color drain from Janet's face and knew that Laura had just walked past the doorway.
    "What's the matter, Janet?"
    Janet was trying to say what she had seen, but knew that it would sound crazy.
    "N -Nothing.  It's nothing."
    When it was time for Janet to be on stage,  the team followed as she was singing her song,  Janet happened to look into the wings.  She couldn't believe what she saw there.
    It was Michelle.  It had to be her.  She was sure of it this time.  Brad noticed that she had stopped singing.
    "Okay cut the music. Janet, what's going on?  Where's your head?"  Brad was angry.  They were behind in rehearsals as it was with all of the changes of the leads and now this.
    "I thought I saw. . . Did you see. . . ?"  She looked a little frantic, so much so, that the team thought she was going to crack.
    "We've got a show to put on.  We don't have time for this. Either pull yourself together,  or you're out."  Brad then called for the next scene and she was dismissed to her dressing room.
    Janet was crying as she ran to her dressing room and flung open the door.  In her dressing room, on a stand, stood a wreath that read Rest in Peace.  Janet gasped and turned to see Michelle standing in the doorway.  Janet screamed, the figure disappeared and Janet went screaming from the room,.
    She ran and looked behind her to see Michelle following her.  She was screaming as she ran out on stage.
    "Stop following me.  You're dead.  I killed you.  Leave me alone."  She was hysterical.  Luckily, the team had brought in Anton who had a sedative ready for her.  Then they called the police.
    Matt and the team was very pleased.  Matt was now looking for Laura so that they could express their thanks to her for her part in the plan.
    Suddenly Matt saw Laura running down the hall.
    "Hey you did a great job.  We got a confession out of her."  Laura was out of breath and looked confused.
    "I was locked in the basement.  I only just got out.  Suddenly the door wasn't locked anymore."
    

                                        Epilogue
    "Dr. Axon took more readings of the stage and areas where ‘Michelle Walters' was seen.  He was now getting readings that are consistent with poltergeist sightings.  Janet Ryan has confessed to using her kinetic powers to kill Marcy Freeman and Michelle Walters.  Praeger out."
    "So, it looks like our friendly ghost stepped in and helped us out."  Matt was saying to the rest of the team.
    "Kinda cool, huh?"  Pete asked.
    They were packing up and getting ready to head back to Central Labs.  As the team broke up to get ready to leave, Lindsay stayed behind to talk to Matt.
    "So, how are things with you and Laura?"  Matt was all smiles.
   "We're working things out.  In fact, I was just on my way to talk to her.  She's amazing."  Lindsay smiled.  He was in love with her.
    He found her in her dressing room.
    "We're getting ready to leave."  She knew what he had come to say.
    "Okay, what about us?"  Matt took her into his arms.
   I want us to be together."  He said.  It was barely above a whisper.
    "First of all, let me tell you that a long distance romance doesn't scare me.  In fact, it should be good for someone who doesn't like commitment."
She smiled.  He smiled.
    "So, what's the answer?"  Matt asked helplessly.
    "The answer is communication.  The thing that messed us over is the act that we stopped talking to each other.  Then, we came up with all kinds of ideas about why.  We need to promise each other that we'll communicate and tell each other the truth."  Matt nodded.  She was right.  Matt had a hard time expressing his feelings.
     Matt walked over to the corner of the room so that his back was to her.  When he didn't answer, she worried.
    Then, she saw his shoulders gently lift and fall and heard sobs.
    "I've always had a hard time expressing how I really feel.  I don't want to lose you."  He slowly turned around so that he was facing her.
    "I love you."  There was silence as they stood looking at each other.  He couldn't believe that he had said it and actually meant it.  Neither could she.
    Laura took him into her arms and gently held him.  They had something really good.  She hoped that they wouldn't blow it.
   "Okay, so we've established that we both love each other.  That's a start,  I guess."
    It was a start.  He felt as if his life was starting over.  They had both found out that they were both irreplaceable.

                                      My Irreplaceable
(Written by Michael Gavin, Ray St. James, Steve Siler and Tammy Trent)