“Well, they can’t all be tragic romance or terrible vengeance.” Claire shimmied over the top of the chain-link fence. Once on her feet again, she tugged at the jacket laid over the barbed wire, wincing at a tearing sound.

Anna stood on the other side of the fence, her arms crossed. “We agreed to help with unfinished business. Not unfinished [i]sandwiches[/i].”

“C’mon, haven’t you ever had a meal where everything’s just right? The lettuce is crisp and the meat is fresh and the cheese is exactly the right kind of piquant?“ Claire clasped a hand to her chest. “I feel for the guy.”

Anna stepped forward, the metal mesh of the fence passing right through her. “It’s been a long time since I’ve needed to eat.”

“All the more reason to understand the tragedy.”

Anna rolled her eyes. “Let’s just go. I don’t even know what you expect to find here.”

Claire dropped her voice to a whisper. “Me either, but it never hurts to check out the place of death.” The trainyard was silent, with unused subway cars looming up out of the dark on all sides.

Behind her, Anna blithely floated along, a few inches off the ground. “He died [i]here[/i]?”

“Well, no, but he had a heart attack while driving one of these. Thankfully, no one else got hurt. They took the train out of service as standard policy.”

“I’m impressed by the detective work.”

“I just paid attention when he told us all this,” Claire said. “You’d be amazed how well that works.”

“Hmph.” Anna glanced away, and then pointed. “What about that?”

“About wh-- cheese and crackers!” Claire quickly backpedaled. “That’s a very large rodent.”

“Yep,” Anna said. 

They watched as the rat scurried forward, into a discarded paper bag and right through the other side without disturbing it.

“That’s… a very large rodent [i]ghost[/i]?” Claire said slowly.

“I’m following it!” Anna took off in hot pursuit. 

Claire scrambled to keep up. Anna had a bad habit of going through obstacles rather than around them, and Claire had to be on watch to not accidentally walk face-first into the wall of a subway car. When they reached the locomotive at the end of one of the trains, the rat jumped right up through the door with Anna right behind.

By the time Claire figured out how to force the door open, she arrived to see Anna holding a squealing rat by the scruff of its neck.

“Seriously?”

Anna shrugged. “What, is it going to bite me?” The rat managed to flip around and do just that, and Anna cried out and dropped it. The rodent scuttled into a metal cabinet, out of sight.

More importantly, Claire noticed what else was in the locomotive, next to the levers that regulated its speed. There, on a white paper plate, sat one half of a sandwich: roast beef, mustard, swiss cheese, lettuce, and tomato, on rye bread. The sight alone made her mouth water.

“I can’t believe this is still here,” she said, reaching out to grab it. She frowned as she completely missed. On the third try, she realized that her hand was passing completely through.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Anna said. She floated over and easily grabbed it. “It’s… the ghost of a sandwich?”

Claire grinned. “I knew this would work out.”

Anna eyed the sandwich speculatively. “On second thought, maybe I do understand this guy. I’ve not had anything to eat in a decade or so. Maybe we just let me have this one, then you can go murder some other sandwich, and--”

“No can do,” Claire said firmly. “But… maybe we should spare just a bit of it.”

Anna’s eyes lit up. “Oooh.”

“Not for you. We help those with unfinished business, right? And there’s someone else who that applies to.”

It took a minute for Anna to realize the implications. “No.” Anna shook her head vigorously. “No way.”

Claire raised an eyebrow.

Anna let out an anguished groan. She grimaced and broke a piece of the sandwich off, setting it on the floor. As she floated back, the rat darted out of its hiding spot, snatching up the chunk in one big gulp. It froze in place, and then let out a supremely satisfied squeak.

As the rat glowed a faint white and faded out of existence, Claire and Anna shared a smile. 

“You think there’s a rat heaven?” Anna mused.

Claire shrugged. “Dunno. Maybe it’s the same place as sandwich hell.”