“I’ve met her over the years. In fact, excuse me, if you will.”
He left them, joining Eileen, who brightened at his appearance. He sat down opposite her, and they began to talk.
Leslie looked at Nikki. “I think I really am going crazy.”
“We’ve all felt that way,” Nikki assured her.
“It’s not that I’m seeing ghosts. It’s…” She hesitated. “I’m sorry, I love Adam like a father, but I couldn’t talk about this in front of him. Nikki, Matt doesn’t just talk to me in my dreams. It’s as if we’re together again. Nikki, I’m having this wild sex life…with a ghost.”
Nikki twirled her swizzle stick in her Irish coffee. Then she looked at Leslie. “We see ghosts,” she said softly. “Do we really know anything about them? No. Josh, Adam’s son…you know he died at eighteen. He immediately appeared to his best friend, who told Adam. And even though Adam can’t see him, Josh often travels with him, and he speaks to a lot of people. I think maybe being a ghost is…well, not that different from being alive, in a way. If we’re energy, then for a ghost, that energy remains and is like a brand-new life. Perhaps most people do just go on to whatever the afterlife is. But some stay for months or years, even centuries, because they feel they have to remain on earth for some reason, that they have a function here. So take a man like Matt. From what you’ve told me, he was someone who believed in what he could see and touch. So I bet it’s difficult for him to learn the ropes, so to speak. Even more difficult than it is for most ghosts. Maybe he figured out how to enter your dreams, while it’s still difficult for him to…well, materialize, for want of a better word.”
“So…when I see him in my dreams, it may not just be what I want more than anything in the world?” Leslie asked.
“I wish I had all the answers, but I don’t.” She smiled. “I could be way off. Like I said, none of us has all the answers, and we’re all surprised on a daily basis. But think about all the examples of ESP you’ve heard about. A mother knowing when her child is in danger. A wife knowing suddenly that her husband has been killed. Maybe, living or dead, we all have the power to connect with that energy somehow. We just have to learn to use it. Maybe, sometimes, people live when they should have died, and maybe, sometimes, people have died when they should have lived, but there’s still a trail of communication. You and I both know other people who see ghosts, but think about it—this is New York, home to millions of people. And how many of those do you think see ghosts? Then again, ghosts can come in different ways. I had a friend who lost her dad when she was really young, and it nearly destroyed her. Then she had a dream about him, and he kept telling her how well he was doing, and how she needed to be happy, move on. And after that, she felt the pain, but she…adjusted, I guess. Who’s to say she didn’t see a ghost, that her dad didn’t find a way to make life livable again for her?”
“Actually, that’s a nice thought,” Leslie murmured. “I just wish I knew what to do from here.”
“I’m not sure exactly how you mean that, but I don’t think you can do anything, not emotionally, until…well, until whatever is going on is solved. I think Adam is about to cancel his trip to stay with you. He’s worried.”
“I’m all right.”
“That incident in the crypt? That fall in the subway? Do you really think those were accidents?”
“But I’ll be careful now,” Leslie vowed. “And I’ll have Joe stay at Hastings House.” She hesitated. “Nikki, I’m certain that I’m on to something. I keep thinking about tunnels.”
“And have you found a tunnel—or a solution?”
“No, not yet.”
Nikki studied her. “Leslie, Adam and I think you’re in danger.”
“I’m around people all day, and Joe is around, too, even at night. Just not exactly with me.”
Nikki lowered her head, then looked up at her again, a twinkle in her eye. “Face it. You don’t want Joe to stay—even though I can tell you really like him, because you’re afraid that if he’s there, Matt won’t show up.”
“Maybe,” Leslie admitted.
Nikki squeezed her hand. “Matt loved and trusted you. He trusted and loved his cousin. I’m willing to bet Matt would be a happier man if he knew you were safe.”
Leslie’s cell phone suddenly started ringing. Saved by the bell, she thought wryly, and excused herself to answer it, knowing from caller ID that it was Joe.
“Where are you?”
“O’Malley’s.”
“Who are you with?” He sounded tense.
“Adam and Nikki. Why? What is it?”
“I’m on my way,” Joe said, and hung up. She closed her phone just as Nikki came back to their booth, leading Eileen Brideswell.
“Hello,” Eileen said shyly.
“Mrs. Brideswell, how are you?” Leslie asked. Bad question. The woman obviously wasn’t doing well. But it was the polite thing to say.
“I gather you’ve met Leslie MacIntyre, Eileen,” Adam said.