“Ah, yeah, thanks.” He cleared his throat. “I’m heading out to join Detectives Voorhaven and Van Camp at the vault,” he said. “And, at some point, I’m going to go see J.J. at the hospital.”
“I was planning on going to see him, too,” she said. “I told him I’d bring Rollo.”
“Yeah, I remember. Wait for me. I’ll pick you up and we’ll go together.”
“I have to be back here for about five. I’m working the Haunted Mausoleum again,” she said. “Wow. Does it ever seem strange to say that today?”
“Give me a couple of hours.” He glanced at his watch. It was 1:00 p.m. “I’ll come by around three.”
“Okay.”
It was important that he keep her in on this. As he’d seen, and as he’d told her, she had something. She might well have the ability to get to Richard—even if he didn’t.
His Krewe was here. While he hadn’t wanted to be part of it, he knew that the group he was working with was reputed to be special. They might be referred to as ghostbusters, but they solved cases where others failed.
Maybe they were a lot like Mo.
And him.
He needed to stop lying to himself.
He should just sit down with the group and tell them he knew what they had, what made them different—and that he understood why they’d thought he’d be a good fit for them. And yet he believed he just didn’t have it anymore himself. He needed one of them to try and discover the truth of the situation—through the dead.
Then he could leave Mo Deauville alone.
The problem was, he realized, he didn’t want to leave her alone.
*
Mo had barely hung up the phone when Candy came running to her. “Mo, come quick!”
Candy was on her way to the front door, and Mo ran after her. Candy went right through the door.
Mo shook her head and opened it to follow her out, the dog at her heels. He woofed and pushed through ahead of her.
Just outside, Mo paused.
Her Confederate colonel, Daniel Parker, was on the lawn. He seemed pale and ethereal in the bright light of day, but she could still see him clearly.
And she could see the man he was standing with!
Richard Highsmith.
Daniel pointed at the house—and at Mo. The other man nodded. Daniel made a motion that Richard should join him.
He did.
He walked toward Mo, and he seemed to marvel as he realized she could see him. He came forward offering his hand, then let it fall.
“Ms. Deauville.” His voice was raspy and yet faint. Like a ripple on the wind. He was still learning how to make himself heard—to those who could hear him.
“Mo,” she said, “Mr. Highsmith, I do see you. Please don’t be afraid to come to me. I’m trying to help. Your friend Aidan is up here, hunting for your killer. If I can be a go-between, that’s wonderful. If I can tell him anything—”
“I don’t know what happened,” he broke in. “One minute I was standing, the next I was not. And then it seemed that I was removed from my body and I was in darkness. And I...”
He was fading. “I can’t!” he whispered. “I need to...I’ll come back,” he told her in dismay.
He was gone.
“He’s having a very difficult time adjusting, learning,” Candy said, compassion in her voice.
Daniel was back by her side. “You forget, my love, we’ve had many years to gather strength and to learn.”
“He sucks as a ghost,” Candy muttered.
“Candy, my dear—such a manner of speech!” Daniel shook his head disapprovingly.
“My love, we must keep up with the decades!” she said.
Daniel let out a sigh. “My belief is that we should retain what is best in each decade and allow what is not fine or eloquent to slip away. I’m sorry, Mo. I thought I had breached the gap, that I had gotten him to come forward for you.”
“You did, Daniel,” she assured him. “He’ll come back. And I won’t waste any time when he does. I’ll be ready with the right questions.”
She called Rollo, who had decided to roll in the leaves for a while. He was coated in autumn’s colors when he ran up to her.
“Rollo!” she chastised softly, dusting the leaves from his coat. “I’m going to give you a good brushing and dress you up in your best service-dog coat. You have a little boy who’s lost his mother to visit today.”
Rollo wagged his tail happily.
She looked around, feeling oddly uncomfortable. The wind had picked up, creating an eerie whistle in the trees. Mo and Rollo went inside and closed the door, then carefully locked it.
There was no danger out there; Rollo would have let her know. But she was anxious for Agent Mahoney to come and get her.
Strange, she reflected. She wasn’t afraid of being painted up as a ghost to walk around an old mausoleum all night—and yet she was unnerved in her own cottage, a place she loved.
Yes, that was it. She was nervous about everything that was going on, all the unexplained events, so she wanted to see him.
No, that wasn’t it at all.
She just wanted to see him.
*