Confound It

by Maggie Toussaint

  I tried to parse what happened. Couldn’t. Somehow, I was on the Other Side with Mayes and Rose. Was this a dream? Why did my entire being ache like I had the flu?

  “Congratulations,” Rose said. “You did it.”

  I hugged my belly. “I did what? Wiped out humanity?”

  “You lured Bezzy into our trap. High Five. Mission accomplished.” “I didn’t lure her anywhere,” I said. “She’s got her own agenda.” Lightning flashed. Thunder rolled. Three times.

  “See? She won’t bother you again. The boss has Bezzy.”

  I shuddered. My knees felt weak. “Can’t be.”

  “But it is.”

  I glanced at Mayes, and he grinned like a court jester. Rose was telling the truth. I was safe. My family was safe. My friends were safe.

  Another emotion smacked me in the gut. Bitterness. I reached over and tried to slap Rose. She didn’t budge.

  Her laughter iced my anger cake. “Why didn’t you help me?”

  “Now that you know your way around, I can’t help in the same way as before. Take your mate home and celebrate your victory.”

  Victory. I didn’t feel like a champion. I felt hollow. Exhausted. My thoughts cleared. Bile rose in my throat with remembrance. Bezzy had taken over my body. She’d forced me to bring her to the Other Side. Not a soul had been standing when we left the jail. “I can’t leave without answers. Bezzy knocked everyone out before she left. How will we revive them?”

  “In her absence, they’ll revive on their own,” Rose said.

  “What about Cipriona’s body? If you trap Bezzy here, won’t Cipriona die?”

  “She will.”

  “That’s a problem.”

  “You’ve got two heads between you. Make the problem go away.”

  “You could fix it. You could give Cipriona back her soul.”

  “You’re misguided if you think I’d do that. After a lifetime of exposure to Bezzy, that woman’s soul is black. It’s better this way. A mercy killing, if you will.”

  Mercy. Did Rose believe in it? She seemed so hard at times. Did she love her undercover persona too much? Because it seemed to me she clearly relished her bad-girl role. Or at least that’s the side of her I always saw.

  “Did Doodle really kill his mom?” I asked.

  Rose tapped her foot. “He did.”

  “The pigs too?”

  “Bezzy ordered him to kill the pigs so he had nothing left to love.”

  “Will he remember his crimes?”

  “Do you want him to remember?”

  Another shudder ripped through my virtual body. “I want justice for Mandy.”

  “You got it. Bezzy used the kid to be the instrument of her death. Case closed.”

  “We don’t have any evidence against him or Bezzy, I mean Cipriona.”

  “Have you searched her place?”

  “No.”

  “You should. Now run along, children.”

  I glanced up at Mayes. He nodded. “Thanks,” I said. “For everything.”

  Clinging to Mayes, I imagined us back in Receiving and Booking. We vectored through the drift in a mostly straight line. Still, the light seemed over-bright when I opened my eyes.

  “Baxley,” the sheriff spat out, his angry face an inch from mine. “You’ve got some explaining to do.”

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  As Rose predicted, the folks in the drunk tank had awakened once Bezzy was no more. Doodle had as well, and the first thing he’d done was release them. Burnell Escoe had been transported to the Emergency Room with a broken leg. Cipriona Marsden took a one-way ride to the morgue.

  “I don’t have all the answers,” I admitted, sipping my Coke and glad to be back on solid ground in Wayne’s familiar office. Mayes had gone with Virg and Ronnie to search Cipriona’s home. I’d had my throbbing, stepped-on hand examined by the EMTs, and nothing was broken. “Cipriona Marsden was in the middle of everything, and that’s why my contact suggested we search her home.”

  “How’d she get us in the drunk tank?” the sheriff asked.

  “You’re not going to like the answer, and I can’t prove a word of it.”

  “Tell it to me straight.”

  “She was possessed by a demon named Bezzy. She killed her dad and her mom too, and let Granny take the rap. Over the years, Granny fed the demon souls, so I imagine there might be several bodies on or around Granny’s former property.”

  To his credit, Wayne didn’t bat an eyelash. I continued, “She put the root on Doodle and his family, intending to build a bigger and better drug empire. She made Doodle kill his mom and the pigs. She was grooming the teen for management, but at least she won’t hurt him again. What will happen to him?”

  “It will depend on Doodle.”

  “You won’t arrest him?”

  “I can’t arrest anyone without evidence,” Wayne said. “I already asked him what he remembers of the last few weeks, and he said it’s all a blur.”

  “I can’t prove this either, but I believe Cipriona had her hooks in everyone in this case. She made June more jealous and spiteful. She made Todd Derenne meaner and more ham-fisted. She made Alicia Waite more opportunistic.”

  “How will we spin this?” Mayes said. “Escoe’s going to be spitting bullets when he gets back here on those crutches.”

  I wasn’t looking forward to dealing with Burnell Escoe either. “Too bad for the GBI guy. We’ve got the answers for the murder and the drug case but no evidence to speak of. At least with the investigation winding down, he’ll be leaving soon, and unless a miracle occurs, he won’t be solving the drug case or getting a big promotion.”

  “I’m thinking we say Cipriona Marsden burst in here with Tamika after lunch, which is true. She took Tamika hostage with a gun and made us put down our phones and guns and march over to the drunk tank. But there were too many of us for a small room, so we passed out from oxygen deprivation.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “Always stick as close to the truth as possible when lying.” Wayne grinned. “Escoe came running in to save the day and with super-human strength, she knocked him in the air. His leg broke when he fell, also true. Once he was down, she conked him on the head with the gun, rendering him unconscious. You and Mayes arrived next, and she knocked Mayes out and forced you to contact someone from the Other Side for her. But the effort from stopping Escoe cost her. She had a heart attack and died instantly.”

  “You forgot to account for Doodle in your story.”

  “Doodle was also unconscious in the room, but before she knocked him out, she ordered him to cosh Mayes on the head with an empty gun.”

  I thought of Ava Leigh, the phrase that made Doodle so nervous about his aunt. If it was related to his inheritance, I wouldn’t make any waves about it. The kid deserved to have a chance in this world. I hoped his choices were better than his mother’s. I hoped he knew where the money was hidden, because we had no idea.

  “How do you explain the candles and the powder on the floor?”

  The sheriff chewed his lip before answering. “What candles and powder?”

  Hmm. Did Rose help out after all? “Nothing. Just testing your memory.”

  “My memory’s fine, I think.”

  “Will there be any leads at Cipriona’s place?”

  “It would be nice, but I’m all for telling the other suspects that Cipriona was responsible for Mandy’s murder, even if we don’t have evidence to prove it. They need closure.”

  So did I.

  “Will Mayes play ball?” the sheriff asked.

  Translation: would Mayes go along with the story? “Ask him.”

  The sheriff ’s cell rang. “There he is now.” He answered, a broad grin taking over his face as the conversation progressed. He hung up. “Everything we need to close this case is at Cipriona’s place. The bow, the arrows, the pig harnesses, the Molotov cocktail ingredients, and the raw ingredients for cooking meth. Even a rain barrel of money with the name Ava Leigh paint
ed on the outside. Case closed.”

  Cipriona had seized the kid’s college fund? That figured. “Can Doodle get the money back?”

  “No way, no how. It’s drug money. But I’ll make a deal with you,” the sheriff said.

  I steeled myself. Wayne always came out on top when he made a deal. “What do you have in mind?”

  “If the kid applies himself and keeps his nose clean, the department can help him with college money. Not all of it by any means, but enough to get him started.”

  “Your budget is under county jurisdiction. How can you pull it off? Won’t everyone demand a scholarship for their kids if word gets out?”

  “Word will not get out, because only two people in the world, me and you, know about this generous offer. The kid caught some bad breaks. He can make something of himself, but I’ve seen kids like him give up. He has to earn my respect. Then I’ll help him out with some of our miscellaneous income from seizure sales.”

  In other words, Wayne’s offer was totally off the books. No one would hear of it except Doodle, and he’d never know about it unless he stuck to the honor roll and did his mother proud. It wasn’t the best bargain in the world, but Wayne didn’t have to do anything. He made the offer because the boy mattered to me.

  “Thank you,” I said, knowing in my heart that I’d tutor Doodle if need be. I would do my best to make sure he didn’t lose hope or get dragged into the drug world. Together, the sheriff and I would become Doodle’s Ava Leigh, his safety net.

  * * *

  The case might be closed, but I had unfinished business in my personal life. Charlotte and Duncan had borrowed Mayes’ truck and camper to go down to see her folks, taking Dixon’s hounds with them. Mayes moved into my guest room, and we spent a few days walking, biking, and boating. It was nice. Very nice.

  But Mayes had to return to his life in Stony Creek Lake. Even if he wanted more. No, even if I wanted more. I could finally admit the truth. It was past time for me to let Roland go. Time for me to do more than go through the motions of life.

  After Larissa went to bed one evening, Mayes and I sat on the porch swing, listening to the frogs and crickets chirp in the thick twilight. We hadn’t talked about parting ways, but it loomed like a supertanker on the horizon.

  “It’s peaceful here,” Mayes said. “You’ve done all right for yourself, Baxley.”

  “I was a mess when I first came home. No money, no proof Roland was dead, and too much pride to move in with my folks. But I learned a lot about life. I used to think accepting help from others was a sign of weakness. Now, I understand everything better.”

  Shadows crossed his face with each pulse of the swing, but even in the waning light, I noticed him trying hard not to smile. “You understand because you’ve been cast in the role of helper?” he asked.

  “Partly. The real truth is I’ve learned to face my fears. I won’t always know the answers, and parts of dreamwalking still scare the bejeebers out of me, but I know I won’t collapse into a puddle of goo when things go wrong. And they always seem to go wrong. My point is some people are born to help and refusing their offer hurts them and you. Not to say I mooch off anyone, but I see the bigger picture now. Sometimes I help a person; sometimes that person helps me or someone else. It’s a never-ending caring bank. Does that make sense to you?”

  “You make complete sense to me. In my spiritual journey, I’ve uncovered many basic truths and adjusted my thinking accordingly. You are young to be so wise.”

  “Not much younger than you.”

  “Still. Your perspective is much like that of an elder from my tribe.”

  His tribe. His people. I’d gotten so used to having him around, to hearing his voice in my house, to absorbing the rock-solid nature of this man. I let out a shaky breath.

  He noticed and cupped my chin. “We’ll figure this out, Walks with Ghosts. You and I are two halves of a whole. In your heart, you know I speak the truth, but first we have unfinished business.”

  Roland. He was talking about my allegedly deceased husband. “You want to do that now?” I hated that my voice grew shrill.

  “Delaying won’t make it easier. You had an easy day today with no dreamwalks, and you’ve had time to recover from the encounter with your demon-infested voodoo priestess.”

  I couldn’t hold my hands still. An icy dread filled my heart at the mere mention of that creature. “I’ll never forget Bezzy.”

  “You shouldn’t. Meanwhile, you need closure with Roland. The world has already written him off, but you haven’t. Somehow he’s managed to connect with you. If you let him go, he can continue his spirit quest. As we’ve seen, death has many doors. His strength of will has kept him in the hallway for quite some time.”

  His words whirled through my thoughts. I’d taken my Watcher for granted for months now. Not once had I dreamed I might be keeping Roland from his eternal fate. Not once had I realized that my unrelenting search for him had broadcast across this world, the next, and quite possibly everything in between.

  “So much for my universal understanding. It appears I’ve been quite selfish in refusing to let him go.”

  “Roland obviously cares a great deal for you. He doesn’t want you to be alone and afraid. He wants to protect you.”

  The silence settled around us. Mayes wasn’t asking me to choose him or Roland. He was asking me if I loved Roland enough to let him go.

  Everything he said made perfect sense, but I’d never viewed my situation objectively. I’d expected to share my life with Roland. He’d expected to spend his with me. He’d managed to cheat the afterlife by lingering between worlds— for my sake.

  Tears filled my eyes. I’d made sacrifices and adjustments while Roland held steady, waiting and hoping and helping me. I loved him, and I always would, but it was time to let him go.

  “Okay,” I said. “We’ll do it tonight.”

  The screen door creaked open and Larissa dashed into my arms, followed by the entire pet parade. “Me too,” she said. “I want to say goodbye to Daddy.”

  “Oh, Larissa, honey, this is an adult situation—”

  “She should be allowed,” Mayes said. “He’s her family too.”

  “This goes against everything I’ve done to protect her,” I said. “Larissa should have a normal childhood.”

  “You are an extraordinary family,” Mayes said. “Accept that she has needs too, and she needs this closure as much as you do.”

  Larissa nodded, her eyes luminescent in the moonlight. My arms tightened around her. I could put my foot down, but what was the point? Mayes was right. We all needed this. “Okay. She can join us, but if it gets scary for her, we shut down the link.”

  “Got it,” Mayes said, his arm tightening around my shoulder. “Let’s maintain physical contact. I’ll hold the mind link and Baxley will contact Roland. We’ll follow her lead.” He gave Larissa instructions on how to reach us on the immediate spiritual plane. When she was prepped, he nodded at me. “We’re ready.”

  Larissa was waiting with Mayes when I transitioned. Relax and float in the thought plane , I told them. It often takes a while for him to respond . I began questing out in my thoughts as I normally did, pulsing beyond the confines of my property, reaching as far as I could with thought energy. The signal was out here, somewhere, I knew it.

  You’re all over the place , Mayes said in mindspeak. Focus on what you need to do. Keep the parameters the same as the last time you met him.

  Last time … I’d been upset. Worried and anxious. I pushed those emotions into the search. I was worried and anxious about Roland’s well-being. A glimmer of energy coalesced on the plane. I amped up my need to talk with him, adding all the grief I’d held close for years. The energy field strengthened.

  Roland, I’m here. The other Dreamwalker, Mayes, is here too. And Larissa.

  Within the energy field, the fog quickened and turned in on itself. Larissa glommed on to my thoughts, and I reassured her this was normal.

&nbs
p; We came to say goodbye , I continued. I’m sorry if I kept you from moving on. I want you to be free of earthly concerns. Larissa and I are fine. Mayes is a friend, a good friend, and we came to meet you. He asked me if I loved you enough to let you go. And I do. Love you that much. I’ve been selfish reaching out to you like this.

  The swirl that was Roland spun into high gear on the spiritual plane. I listened and listened but there were no words. An outpouring of emotion bathed us. Supercharged and full of love. I understood. He’d heard my thoughts and approved.

  Mayes’ thoughts commandeered the mindlink, his mind-words blazing across time and space. Mighty warrior, the battle is done. Your reward is near. Hold onto what is good, to what you believe, and accept your new beginning, noble one. Respect wisdom, innocence, and trust. Look within for illumination and let your spirit soar. Ascend the Great Divide, opening your heart and soul to the Great Spirit. We salute the light within you, wherein all creation dwells. For when you are there, and we are at our centers of light, we are one. We raise you up and welcome your return to the circle of life, brother. Hear the voices of the wind. Listen and let go.

  His prayer touched my spirit with bittersweet emotion. He must know what to do because he’d guided other warriors through death. My husband had fought all odds to watch over me. It was time for his spirit to rest.

  Mayes chanted something in Cherokee. The melody soothed me and quieted the energy blitz before us. When Mayes ended the song, we waited, listening and hoping for Roland’s spiritual release. When he finally spoke, his words were very faint.

  Thank you, spirit guide, for nurturing my family , Roland said.

  I will care for them as my own , Mayes said. You may travel on to your resting place .

  Daddy! I love you , Larissa cried out.

  Love you more and your mom too.

  Journey on, Roland. Our love goes with you . My spiritual voice trembled and shook its way through my goodbye.

  The energy didn’t fade away gradually as it normally did. Instead, the color brightened from Other World murk to white and then flashed to golden. Simultaneously, the shape changed to a compact, translucent sphere. It hovered nearby for one last, shining moment, and then streamed above until it was no more.