by H. P. Bayne
Sully patted him on the back. “Let’s get you two back home to Kayleigh.”
They fell into a temporary silence as they returned to the car, Sully taking the back seat so Dez could have the front passenger seat, nearer the heat vents. Eva cranked them on full before pulling back onto the highway.
She placed a hand on Dez’s leg. “Are you hurt? Do you need me to take you to a hospital?”
He shook his head. “Not physically. Everything else, though … God, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I was there. I saw it all happening. I’m so sorry, Evie.”
“Don’t.” Her voice was firm, the tone allowing no argument. “It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t you.”
“But I was there.” He turned far enough to allow him to reach into the back seat and grasp Sully’s knee. “I thought I killed you. I really did. Back at the house in McCoy Falls. I thought—” Tears again filled Dez’s eyes, and he turned away to swipe at them with his free hand.
Sully pried Dez’s fingers from his leg and gave them a squeeze. “Like Eva said, not your fault. Believe me, no one understands possession as well as I do. I nearly took you out once the same way, remember? Consider this the universe evening the score.”
He’d said the last part tongue in cheek, hoping for a laugh, but it was clear from Dez’s glare he wasn’t yet in the laughing mood. “It wasn’t a score I ever wanted to even.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I was kidding.”
“Well, don’t. This whole day has been a nightmare.” He paused. “Or it was until a few minutes ago. That was real, right? What I saw? It wasn’t some trick of my mind?”
Sully gave Dez’s hand one last squeeze and released it. “It was real. Dad and Aiden have found themselves a new occupation.”
This time, Dez did laugh. “Leave it to Dad to find a way to stay a cop, even in the afterlife.” He’d been facing front again, but now turned back to Sully. “You mentioned a couple of years ago Aiden had grown up. I couldn’t picture it. God, it was amazing, seeing him like that.”
Dez’s eyes filled again, and he pinched at the corners of his eyes to stem this latest flow. “Bloody hell, I’m a wreck.”
Eva patted his leg. “In a good way.”
Dez cast another glance over his shoulder. “How dangerous is it, do you think, what they’re doing? I mean, I know they’re already dead and everything, but can ghosts hurt other ghosts? Is there a chance something bad could happen to them?”
“I don’t know, Dez,” Sully said. “I don’t have any answers. All I can say for sure is the Reaper said he’s been doing it for over a hundred thirty years, and he seems perfectly fine to me. And Dad wouldn’t let Aiden get into anything he thought would put him at risk.”
Eva chuckled. “Hey, given what you told me about him, I don’t think a guy his size is going to be easily ordered around.”
Dez grinned. “I’m still taller.”
“Jury’s out,” Eva said. “If I ever get to see him, I’m insisting on a back-to-back measurement.”
Sully hated to break up a happy moment, but he had an apology of his own to make. “Hey, D? I’m sorry about insisting we go to McCoy Falls. I had a bad feeling about going back there, and I should have paid attention.”
Dez met his eye. “Did you make some peace with what happened to you there as a kid?”
“Yeah, I did, but—”
“No buts. If you’ve laid that part of your life to rest, it was worth it. Granted, there are a lot of things I wish hadn’t happened, but the outcome turned out okay, right? You’ve come to terms with what happened to you and we got to see Dad and Aiden. And …” He trailed off, eyes widening as if some new horror had occurred to him. “Oh God. I shoplifted. I ran out of a liquor store with a bottle of booze. And I got the SUV stuck. Eva and Kayleigh’s presents are in there. Oh crap, they better still be in there.”
“Relax,” Sully said. “The SUV was fine. We’ll get a tow tomorrow. And I smoothed everything over already with the liquor store and paid for the bottle. You’re good.”
Dez released his breath in a whoosh. “The presents though.”
Eva made a show of bouncing around in her seat. “What did you get me?”
“You’d better get the chance to find out.”
Sully reached forward to pat Dez on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. Once you guys get home, I’ll take a cab back to my place and drive out to McCoy Falls. I should try to meet up with our client to fill her in. If you give me your keys, I’ll get everything out of your SUV on the way.”
“You’re not taking a cab,” Eva said. “I’ll drop you off on the way through.”
It said something about the frayed state of Dez’s nerves and emotions that he didn’t argue he should also be present to meet with Lisa. Sully wouldn’t have allowed it, anyway. Dez needed to be with Eva and Kayleigh. That and a hot meal and a warm bath, in whichever order Eva deemed best. Dez would be in good hands.
“Come to our place once you’re done in McCoy Falls,” Dez said.
“It’ll be late.”
“I don’t care. I mean it. I’m going to call Mom too. I want my family together.”
Sully gave Dez’s shoulder a squeeze. “Sounds good to me.”
Sully saw Dez and Eva off in the parking lot behind his building, then called Lisa’s cellphone as he drove out of town in his own SUV.
“Hey,” he said. “Great news. It’s over. The man who was bothering you is gone. We got him crossed over.”
“So he won’t be back?”
“His family was already over there. He’s gone to be with them. He won’t bug you again.”
A sob erupted from the other side of the line. “Oh my God, you have no idea. Oh my God, thank you so, so much! This is the best Christmas present ever!”
Sully laughed. “I’m heading in your direction to check on a vehicle we left on a back road. Is there anything you need me there for? I’m happy to come and sit down and take you through everything.”
“No, it’s okay. Some things I think I’d rather not know. Anyway, I’d still be happier if Ciaran didn’t find out about me calling you. I mean, I’ll have to explain it eventually, given the money and all, but that’s a problem for later. It’s weird though. He came home and he’s been lovely, like he was before we moved in here. The whole place feels different, lighter somehow. And so does Ciaran.”
Sully knew exactly what she meant. “The ghost who was haunting you guys told me he was influencing Ciaran. I have no doubt you’ll find your relationship will go back to what it used to be.”
Lisa gave a little laugh, one choked by emotion. “I wish I could give you a big hug. You have no idea. I’ll check in with Mr. Fields tomorrow for whatever else I might owe. I’ll pay anything, seriously.”
“No worries. Happy to help. Really. It turned out okay for me too, actually.” He smiled into the phone. “I guess we all laid some ghosts to rest.”
The SUV was still where it had been, stuck in the snow near the grid. It occurred to Sully only now, as he retrieved the bags containing the gifts for Eva and Kayleigh, that he had no idea why Blake had driven this way in the first place.
He glanced up at the approach of headlights, his brows lifting as what appeared to be a half-ton truck parked next to his SUV, left behind on the main grid.
Sully headed back the short distance and found a man emerging from the pickup truck.
“Having trouble?” the man asked. The suspicion was there. And the way the truck door remained open, the man within easy reach to the seat, Sully figured he had a gun available.
Sully planted on his friendliest smile. “I was out here earlier, looking for a buddy of mine. We found his vehicle stuck and followed his footprints to a nearby farm.”
“What did he look like?” the man asked. Testing him.
“Really tall, red hair.”
The man visibly relaxed and shut the door to his half-ton, sealing both the warmth and any potential weapons inside. Test passed.
The
man offered his hand. “I’m Keith. I think my wife mentioned to you, I drove your buddy to some farm land south of KR. I’m sorry to say, he seemed a little off to me.” Keith gave a sheepish smile. “I kinda left him there. I didn’t feel right about something.”
“It’s okay. He was having some problems today. But we found him, and he’s doing a lot better. I’m sorry if he gave you any grief. He’s not normally like that.”
The explanation seemed good enough for Keith, given he moved to lean on Sully’s hood to gaze and nod toward Dez’s SUV, illuminated in Sully’s headlights. “I came to check and see how bad the vehicle’s stuck. Figured I might be able to use my frontend loader to tow it out of there tomorrow, if you want.”
Sully beamed. “That would be awesome, thanks.”
Keith returned the grin. “No worries. Let me know when you want to come out and I’ll meet you.”
“It’s Christmas Eve tomorrow,” Sully said. “How about we meet you earlier in the day? That way, hopefully we won’t be interfering in your day as much.”
Keith agreed and they set a time for eight in the morning. Dez would hate the idea of dragging himself up so early to come out here, but he’d get over it.
They were about to head their separate ways for the night when it occurred to Sully Keith might have an answer to his recent question.
“The road where my buddy got stuck, where does it lead?” he asked. “Is there anything down there?”
“Used to be a farm,” Keith said. “Guy named Jim Blake lived there with his wife and son. They moved into town when the kid was ready to start school. Someone bought the farmhouse and moved it somewhere else.” Keith frowned. “Can’t say I was sorry to see the back of him. The guy was a real asshole. Guess I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, though.”
14
Sully and Eva headed out early the next morning, Eva having snuck out before Dez woke up.
“He’s exhausted,” she said while Sully drove them out of the city to meet with Keith and his frontend loader. “Yesterday took a lot out of him.” She hugged her arms across her middle. “It took a lot out of all of us.”
Sully cast her a glance. “You doing okay?”
“Better, but I’m already tired of dealing with Dez’s guilt. He remembers tossing me around, and I don’t think he’s ever going to forget it.”
“Take advantage. Get him to take you to Paris or something.”
Eva grinned at his joke. “Right. Can you see Dez trailing behind me through the Louvre and Montmartre? It would be a nightmare—and not just for him. For me, too, and everyone around us.”
Sully conceded her point with a laugh. “Point taken. But seriously, how are you doing?”
Though she didn’t meet his eye, he sensed her understanding in the shift of her body in the seat. “You mean about what I told you yesterday? I’m okay. I really am. It always feels a little awkward to talk about, but I don’t mind you knowing. I’ll always be dealing with it in one way or another. It’ll never fully go away, but I’ve got a little box where I can put it so it doesn’t affect every other aspect of my life. Once in a while, the box gets opened. I know I can put it back again when it does.”
Her eyes met his for the moment he could spare from the road. “How about you?” she asked. “How are you?”
He’d been trying to put it into words inside his own brain, to make sense of everything that had happened. He wasn’t sure he had the right words even now. He gave it a shot anyway. “I feel guilty saying this, because I hate what Dez went through and what we went through as a result. But being able to have a real conversation with Blake and to learn why he became what he did, it’s helped me. A lot. Evil becomes less evil when you can explain it in human terms. What he and his family put their foster kids through—what they put each other through, for that matter—was horrible. But now I can see the path that led him there. His actions turned him into a monster inside my head. Suddenly, he’s become human. My fear is gone as a result. I made my peace with him, and I guess I made some peace with myself too.”
Eva’s hand grasped his for a moment, gripping the backs of his fingers on the steering wheel. “You’ll have bad moments sometimes, like when you find yourself dealing with kids who are suffering abuse. But our pasts don’t need to define who we are the rest of the time.”
He smiled. “You’re right, except it does kind of define me. I understand fear and pain and helplessness because of the Blakes. I understand the need for justice and doing what’s right. It’s knowledge I carry with me every time I deal with a ghost who’s lost their life to homicide. Maybe that common connection is part of why I see them, why I can help them. Why it’s important to me to help them.” He caught her eye. “And the Blakes are one of the reasons I will always be grateful for my family. There’s not a lot of good in a past like mine, but it helps me to appreciate the present. And that, at least, isn’t a bad thing.”
Eva gave his hand another squeeze.
“No,” she said. “It isn’t.”
It happened while they were sitting around the television that night in Dez and Eva’s basement, the black and white version of Scrooge in the Blu-ray player.
The doorbell rang, causing Dez to wake abruptly on the floor where he was lying between Eva and Pax. Pax let out a bark and charged for the stairs.
“I’ll get it,” Sully volunteered. “I’ll get Pax while I’m at it.”
“Could you bring me a glass of water on your way down, sweetie?” his mom asked.
“Water?” Dez chided. “It’s Christmas Eve, Mom. Stop being so healthy and have something fun.”
Sully jogged up the stairs, leaving his family to debate the merits of drink choices.
They’d had their usual group of friends over for an early Christmas dinner, saving tomorrow for family. Sully had just returned from driving his neighbour, Emily Crichton, home, allowing Mara Braddock to start her annual Christmas tradition of sitting down with the family to watch the 1951 version of the Dickens classic.
Sully wondered if he’d parked haphazardly upon his return, and a neighbour was here to complain. The snowbanks along the sidewalk made proper parking difficult.
He wasn’t prepared for who he found standing on the porch.
“Jack gave us the night off,” Flynn said. “We wanted to spend it with you guys.”
Tears clouded Sully’s vision as Flynn and Aiden passed by him, into the front entry. Aiden pushed the door shut while Pax licked at Flynn’s hand.
“Wait a minute,” Sully said. “You’re real?”
Flynn laughed. “We’ve always been real, son.”
“No, I meant, you’re not just ghosts?”
The answer came as Flynn pulled him into a hug, a very real hug. A sob escaped Sully’s throat as he grabbed his dad back, feeling him there, solid and strong and full of life. A different kind of life, but life all the same.
“We could have kind of materialized downstairs, but we figured Mom and Dez would crap themselves,” Aiden said.
Sully went from crying to laughing, then finally pulled away from Flynn to share a hug with Aiden. “You got that right. Give me a few seconds to fill them in. Can you stay like this? Solid, I mean, so they can see you?”
“For a while,” Flynn said. “It takes a surprising amount of energy to stay this way, and we need to be sharp when we go back. Just like policing, Christmas is a busy time of year for this kind of work, unfortunately.”
Sully nodded. Any sadness he felt at the truth of Flynn’s statement disappeared as he thought of the expressions on his family’s faces a minute from now. He and Dez had told their mom and Kayleigh about having seen Flynn and Aiden, and while Mara was thrilled for them, Sully had seen the sadness there too, the realization she hadn’t been—and might never be—able to see her husband and son again.
“Maybe you should let me kind of prepare them,” Sully said. “Aiden’s right. Mom’s going to freak out.”
Flynn smiled. “I hear ya.”
Sully patted Flynn on the chest, allowing himself a moment to linger there, revelling in the solid feel of flesh and bone beneath his fingers. Then he returned to the basement where Mara had paused the movie to wait for him.
“Who was it?” Eva asked.
“You didn’t bring my water,” Mara observed.
Sully grinned. “Hey, guys, don’t freak out, but there’s someone here you’re going to want to see.”
Behind him, Flynn emerged from the stairs. Any fear Sully had harboured that maybe Flynn and Aiden wouldn’t be visible to the others disappeared as Mara’s hands shot to her mouth. She sobbed when Aiden pushed in next to Flynn.
Dimples popped on Aiden’s freckled cheeks as he beamed at her. “Hey, Mom.”
Mara fired off the couch and rushed toward them, Dez immediately behind. Sully gave them a moment, watching with happy tears as the Braddocks embraced each other—all four of them for the first time since Aiden’s murder at age five.
Sully joined Eva and a mystified-looking Kayleigh. “That’s Uncle Aiden? I thought he was little. He’s huge like Dad.”
“Is he ever,” Eva said. “I think spirits get a chance to grow up too, hon.” She leaned in closer to Sully. “Don’t tell Dez, but I think he was right. He is still bigger.”
Sully chuckled as Kayleigh rushed over and wedged herself into the group hug, arms around what she could reach of her grandfather’s middle. He broke up the hug to gather her into his arms properly, lifting her from the floor the way he used to. Then he set her down and released her with one arm so he could draw Eva in as well.
Dez stood next to Aiden, arm slung around his shoulders while he waited for Flynn to finish. “Hey, Aidy, there are a couple people I want you to meet.”
“Dez, dude, I’ve been with you your whole life. I know Eva and Kayleigh pretty damn well already.”
Even so, Aiden knelt to introduce himself properly to Kayleigh. “Hey, kiddo. You don’t know me, but I’m your uncle Aiden.”