Sonny had helped with the first Axeman Protégé’s killing in New Orleans, but Trudeau had done most of the killing; Sonny had been a lookout.
But he had murdered Jennie.
For his confessions, attorneys would not seek the death penalty.
In his boasting confession, Monty Trudeau had let it be known that no legal system would be needed to ensure Sonny Hartfield would die a slow and painful death.
Attorneys were seeking the death penalty for Monty Trudeau. It turned out not to be necessary. Monty, the self-styled super being, had Stage Four pancreatic cancer. He’d had no idea.
Monty was also being sued in civil court. Matt, Lorna and Katie decided they were going to buy the carriage company when it went up for auction.
Katie, absorbed with the case and Dan, hadn’t noted what was going on with her coworkers. Lorna and Matt, friends for years, were now very good friends. Lorna excitedly showed Katie her ring. Katie was delighted.
She didn’t mind being a silent partner. It would be great if Matt and Lorna managed the company, as long as they took special care of Sarah and didn’t mind she had decided she was taking the dogs. And she was keeping her house. She didn’t know of any hotels that would take the dogs when she popped back home, which, of course, she would do. Jeremy was there, they were there, and so many friends!
Benny was thrilled about it all and proposed he look after her house in exchange for residency in one of the guest rooms.
That was okay...if Katie chose the room.
There would always be something special about the guest room where she’d first really gotten to know Dan.
When they met up with George once more, he was a happy man.
“Go figure! I know several actors who said Carly Britton was a bit of a haughty bitch, but...wow! Sold her soul to the devil, huh? And lost it to him, too.”
George, of course, felt a great deal like Katie. You never, ever got over a loss like the ones they’d experienced. You learned to love the memories.
And you were grateful when justice was served.
He was also glad because he was going back to work for a new movie.
A comedy.
No time travel, no suspense, no murder—no blood. He felt as if he’d been associated with enough of the real stuff.
Carly Britton’s husband remained among the missing. When asked about him, Monty Trudeau just smiled.
None of them knew for sure, but it seemed somewhere along the line, a decomposing body might well be found in the bayou and prove to have been Carly Britton’s husband.
It took a while for matters to be settled, and then Dan was flying back and forth, filling out everything necessary for the Academy, getting himself into order. He was most worried about Marleah, but she had discovered—thanks to an evening spent with George—that there was a lot of movie-extras work to be had in New Orleans. She could pick what projects she wanted to apply to be involved with and make a little fun money for gambling at Harrah’s.
It was late on a Friday afternoon and the sun was beginning its descent when Dan and Katie walked into the cemetery together where his family was interred, and where he had first met Mabel.
She was seated on the steps to her own family’s tomb.
She wasn’t alone.
Gray Simmons was with her, leaned against a gargoyle, a dashing flirt of ghostly soul.
“Why hello there, ” Mabel greeted them. “Thank goodness. We’ve been trying to find the right time and place to say goodbye!”
“And we’ve been looking for you,” Katie told her. “The two of you. Thank you!”
“Thank you,” Mabel said. She hesitated. “I... I will never understand. I couldn’t stop the man who killed my friend, and I could never see justice done for her, her family or the others. But in this, well, I feel...fulfilled.”
“Mabel wants to go on,” Gray said.
“Is that something you can just do?” Dan asked. He lifted a hand. “Remember, I’m new at this. Katie is the old pro!”
“Did you call me old?” Katie teased.
Dan groaned, and the ghosts laughed.
“I think so,” Mabel said. “Anyway, I’m going to try. I’ve seen others...”
“I’m... I’m going with her,” Gray said, looking at Katie.
“That’s lovely,” Katie said.
“You’ll be all right...yes, you’ll be all right. You, lady, you can kick!” Gray told her.
“And she’s hell on wheels with a gumbo pot, too,” Dan assured him.
“So, then...”
Mabel walked up to Dan, pressing ghostly lips to both his cheeks. “Bye, handsome.”
“Thank you, gorgeous,” he whispered in return.
Likewise, Gray said goodbye to Katie, hugging her, glancing at Dan mischievously, and kissing her on the lips.
“Thank you!” she told him. “For everything.”
“Well, I don’t want to be a cliché, but... Love, it’s eternal. It never dies. We’ll bring yours with us!” he promised.
“And we’ll feel like fools, sweetie, if we don’t go anywhere!” Mabel said.
But they did go. They stood hand in hand in front of the family tomb.
“It is light, sweet, dazzling, kind, gentle... I can feel it!” Mabel said.
Katie wasn’t sure if she really saw the light, but there was a streak, perhaps the setting sun. They were about to throw anyone remaining out of the cemetery. It was late and closing time.
So it was there. That sweeping shaft of light.
And they were gone, and Katie was there alone with Dan, smiling, holding his hand.
He looked down at her and smiled. “Love. I love you.”
She smiled in return. “And I love you. Go figure! How the hell did that happen?”
“Because I was always dashing and wonderful,” he said. “You were just too busy hating me to notice.”
She groaned. Hand in hand, they exited the cemetery and headed across the street. Jeremy had managed to organize a dinner party with George, Benny, Matt and Lorna. A goodbye dinner.
Because in the morning, they’d be leaving NOLA.
Dan looked at her.
“We’ll always be back,” he said.
She nodded. “Want to know what else?”
“What?”
“I think I’m going to teach you to dive.”
“I know how to dive!”
“Good. I won’t need to teach you too much, then!” she told him.
Laughing, they headed across to the restaurant.
Whatever their tomorrows might bring, they’d be facing them together. They’d both faced the past, and it was time for the future.
Katie smiled.
Go figure.
It had been in putting her past to rest that she’d found the most amazing future.
She looked up to the sky. It was still blue here and there as the sun fell. The stars were coming out. She liked to think her parents were there, riding the night sky.
And that, somehow, they saw.
And they were happy.
* * *
Don’t miss these New York Times author Heather Graham’s latest books in her chilling paranormal series Krewe of Hunters,
Seeing Darkness
Deadly Touch
Dreaming Death
Available from MIRA Books. Order your copies today!
ISBN-13: 9780369701039
The Unforgiven
Copyright © 2021 by Heather Graham Pozzessere
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of t
he author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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