When they were finished for the night, Owen noticed that there was more pack around than before, and thanked his brother. He knew that he should have asked before now, but Caleb said he understood why he hadn’t. Things, he knew, were going to be fun for them all, he hoped anyway, as they got projects started and finished up.
Hugging Clare to him when the family members were leaving their home, he made his way to the living room with her and asked how she thought things went. Instead of answering him, she handed him her notes. “It looks like we’re going to be busy for a while. What does the star next to some of these mean?” She told him they needed to be started soon. “Yes, I can see that now. The blanket drive is a good thing. And the medical team giving out flu shots will help a great many people too. Thank you for this.”
“You don’t need to thank me, Owen. Just be there when I have a breakdown.” He kissed her on the head. “We’re going to have a little girl. We need to think of something really wonderful to call her. After Birdie, I think. And your mom.”
He’d been thinking about that as well. Birdie Sara didn’t sound right, nor did he like Sara Bird. Owen knew that would have her being made fun of. Clare told him that the next time he spoke to her, to get her middle name. The J had to stand for something, she thought.
“It does. And I have it. Sara Jane Winchester.” They both decided that it was perfect, but not to tell either woman. This was their surprise, and they loved it.
As soon as Clare went up to bed, he locked up and joined her. A little girl in the house was going to be epic, he just knew it.
Chapter 12
Con wanted to see his wife. He also wanted his daughter and son here. They’d have to help them out with this—things were not going well. He stared into the corner of the room where he was sure there was a ghost. For not believing in them, he thought, he sure was getting them to come around a lot. The chair moved, and he sat. He’d learned the hard way that was what was required of him when something moved. Con was to sit and shut up.
Sometimes he’d just have to sit for hours on end. There were other times that they’d hit him, whoever it was. Con would swear that he hadn’t hurt anyone that he knew badly enough for them to hurt him. His kids were alive. He’d not been able to kill them off, so whoever this was, they had the wrong man.
“What did I do to you?” Nothing. Not that he expected anything, but this was just mean. “I don’t know you, do I?”
The bang to his head made him think that he was wrong about that part. He’d tried yes and no questions yesterday and didn’t get anything cleared up. Today, if he didn’t, he was going to have someone call him in an exorcist or something. He was tired of this crap.
“What do you want with me?” Nothing. Not that he expected anything, but he did want some answers. Then he heard the soft steps of someone coming down the hall and wondered who it might be. Or, and this scared him to no end, it was a ghost.
“They don’t make a sound.” He looked at the two women there and nodded, not sure what she meant. “Ghosts, they don’t make any sound when they.... You know what, never mind. I’ve come to help you.”
“Thank God. When can you get us out of here? My wife, she’s around here someplace. Her name is Ava Macintosh. You’re going to help her too, right?” The pretty blonde shook her head. “Why not? I can’t afford it, now that my damned kids have lived through everything we’ve tried to throw at them.”
“I’m sure you’re happy that they lived, right?” He shook his head. “I see. And you don’t know me then. Not at all.”
“No. But if you can get me out of here, I’ll do whatever you want.” He looked at the other woman. “I’ll do you both, if you get me and my lovely wife out of here.”
“I’m your daughter, you moron. Christ. Mom didn’t know me, and now you don’t either. I’m so glad that you are behind bars right now.” He asked her why. “Because no one as stupid as the two of you deserve to be living. And I’m not getting you out. Rayne and I have come to help you with your ghost. Well, she is. I’m just here to watch.”
“You mean to tell me that I have a ghost in here? I mean, I thought there was, but since everybody told me I was off my rocker, I just stopped telling them. You going to exercise them?” Rayne looked confused and Clare explained. “Yeah, that’s it. And are you sure you’re my daughter? I thought she’d be ugly or something.”
“Yes, I’m your daughter. Your ghost is Norman. He’s been here to kill you off. I’m not going to do that, nor will Rayne, but we’re here to help him talk to you.” Con nodded and sat down. “He wants to know where the money is—the money that you were to put back so that he could send some to his wife monthly. You were holding it for him.”
“Yeah, about that.... There isn’t any. Ava, you see, she wanted to have her breasts enlarged again and her waist tapered. They gave us a good discount on it to do them both at the same time. So, we used that. Actually, there wasn’t enough there, so you owe us about ten grand on that.” Rayne asked him why. “You asking or is Norman asking? I guess the answer would be the same. Because he didn’t have enough for me to borrow. I would have thought that was clear as rain to you. You should have saved it on your own, I guess, but I’d have found it sooner or later after I killed you off. That was hard, you know. I hated to do that.”
“Norman wants to know why he had to die.” Con had all kinds of reasons, he supposed, but the most important one was, he was causing them trouble. “You should know that I can read your puny mind. But he wants to know why you have lots of reasons to kill your best friend.”
“I knew he’d be all pissy about the money being gone. I just didn’t need the grief from him. Ava was happy, and he would have messed her happiness up. Also, he was going to get us caught the way he kept going home to see his wife. I don’t even think he talked to her. Just stalked around the house to see how she was doing.” Clare told him that she’d not done well. “No, I guess she’d not. I heard that the policy on him wasn’t any good since his teeth or something didn’t match. That might have been my fault too. I forgot to change out the records where he’d been in to get the x-rays.”
“So, because of your stupidity and laziness, his wife not only couldn’t get the insurance but by your own admission, you caused all of you to be under scrutiny by not doing what you should have done. Then you blamed it on him.” Con told Clare that she had it all wrong, as usual. “Whatever. What about Conrad? Did you really try to have him killed at the home? Along with all the others there?”
“Well, the way I had that figured out, those people with those kind of children would have been happy to have them dead. I mean, who wants a retard hanging around their neck like one of them big birds?” Rayne told him what it was called. “Yes, an albatross. Anyway, who wanted that hanging around? So we were going to do them all a favor and get them off the books, so to speak. It would have worked too, had you not stuck your nose into it and got him out.”
“Yes, how horrible of me to want to spend time with my brother. You, however, are a monster.” He didn’t understand where the hostility was coming from and asked her about it. “You were going to murder him. And I don’t doubt, myself as well.”
“Yeah, well, we didn’t, did we? Him either. And you having that rich husband of yours, you should have been able to have a nice sized pot for us to take from. I mean, we thought of killing you right out, but that wouldn’t work. Then we decided to kidnap you.” He looked at his daughter and shook his head. “That might not have worked either. You’re not nice, and you’d of hurt us or something. With us being your parents and all too.”
“I see. So, in order for you to be able to do whatever you wanted, you were willing to kill off me and my brother so that could happen.” Clare laughed, and he wanted to hit her. And him not being a violent man, he was startled by that. He’d killed, yeah, but he’d never raised a hand to his kids before. “I was wrong about you. You’re not just a monster, but an evil monster. I loathe you, do you know that? Bot
h of you.”
“Con, you’re going to prison for a very long time. And just so you know, Norman is going to go with you. I did come here to ask him to leave you alone, but I won’t. You deserve this and so much more, I think.” They both turned to walk away, but Rayne turned back when he called her name.
“You talk some sense into her head, will you? I mean, the very least she could do is get us out of here, don’t you think?” Rayne laughed and headed out. “Hey, did you hear me? I said to tell her to get us out of here now.”
When the door shut behind them, all he could do was stare at it. He knew that he’d not been the best parent in the world, but hell, he was still her dad, damn it. Sitting down, he looked around his cell. Wondering what he was supposed to do now, he was hit in the head.
“Now look here, Norman. We got no beef, you and me. If anything, you should be mad at Conrad. He’s the one that didn’t die so I could give you some money.” He wouldn’t have. He knew that. Con had already killed off his friend before he knew that there wasn’t going to be any income from Sherman Oaks.
He was hit a few more times before he started yelling for the guard to come help him. When he got there, Con tried to explain what was going on and he walked away. Con was getting highly pissed off about people doing that to him. As he tried to reason with Norman, the man knocked over his chair, the sheets were torn off his bed, and the only kind of entertainment they’d let him have, his radio, was busted up too.
“Now, Norman, you behave yourself or I’m going to call that exercise lady back. I’m serious here. You have no reason to be treating me like the bad guy. Stop it right now.” As soon as he hit him the next time, Con knew no one was going to help him. What was a man to do when he had a pissy ghost hanging around with him?
When his lunch was brought to him, almost as soon as he reached for it, Norman knocked it from the guard’s hands. When he was told he wasn’t getting anything else, he blamed it on Norman.
“You go on and try that plea, Mr. Macintosh. I’ll tell them just what I’ve seen in here. You’re not off your rocker any more than I am.” This man walked away too, and Con screamed for ten minutes to have him come back. This was so unfair. So very unfair.
~~~
“You wanted to see me?” Owen looked around the room and decided that this was about as silly as anything he’d ever done before. Talking to a ghost that had written in his steamy mirror to come here. “If you mean to harm me, I’ll have you know that my sister is the Death Watcher.”
“Owen, you usually talk to yourself?” He screamed like a little girl. When Gabe stood up he tackled him to the floor, but both of them were laughing so hard that they didn’t do much more than just bump each other around a bit. “You moron. How did you know to come here?”
“He wrote a message on my mirror when I got out of the shower.” Gabe nodded. “Who was it? There wasn’t any kind of name that went with it.”
“Mr. Macintosh the first. He called to me this morning, and I came here thinking that you’d show up sooner or later. You’ve been busy, it looks like. By the way, I didn’t know pool houses had basements.” Owen nodded and asked where Mr. Macintosh was. “On his way. I guess he’s gathering something for you.”
All sorts of things ran through his mind as he sat with Gabe. Wondering what sort of thing could be brought made him feel like it could be anything. A stake through the heart? A live wire? A—
“Owen, you’re freaking yourself out.” He nodded. “Mr. Macintosh would like for you to get the last trunk as soon as possible. It has a key nearby.”
“Birdie said something about a key.” Gabe told him this one was different. “All right. What is it?”
“He doesn’t remember. But he knows that it’s important.” Nodding, Gabe continued. “Birdie told him where the last trunk is. And why she couldn’t feel it. It’s under this building. Not deep, but right where you’re standing.”
Owen stepped back and of course, his brother laughed. “I’m not as used to this as you are.” He told him he wasn’t either. “Yeah, well, bear with me. This key, what does he think it might go to?”
“Riches. That’s all he remembers. But he has a gift for you.” Owen looked at his brother and asked him if it would hurt him. “No, not at all. And before you say no, because you might, you should know what it cost him to do this for you. He had to get permission from Rayne, and then permission from every member of his family that this would affect. All dead.”
“What is it?” He told him. “Why? I mean, we have you and Rayne to help us with the dead. Why would Clare and I need that ability too?”
“Because the family would like to talk to you guys. See your children as they grow up. They might not be able to hold them, but they can see them and you with them.” Owen nodded. That was a good gift, he supposed. “Will you accept it?”
“Yes. But—” Before he could say he wanted to ask Clare, he felt the power of it roll over him. Then there he was, Mr. Michael Macintosh in the...ghost. “My goodness, you’re a handsome man. I can see some of your mother in you too.”
“Thank you, Owen. It’s nice to be seen at all, I have to tell you.” Gabe left them, telling him he had a baby to deliver. “I wish so much now that I’d found something that called to me. Anyway, I have a mission or two for you and your missus. You’ve decided to help so many people that we, a bunch of us ghosts, have decided to help any way we can as well. By having you find our treasures and using them for the goodness of mankind.”
“I don’t know if that’s something I’m allowed to do. I’ll ask Rayne and Gabe, and when I get the answer, I’ll let you know.” Michael nodded. “Your mother, she’s a wonderful person.”
“Yes, she was. I wish that I’d have gotten to know her better. I wasn’t the nicest of children, I don’t think. But later, after she was gone, I did realize how much I had missed from her.” Owen told him he’d done the same with his grandparents. “Yes, I know. But they’re all right with that from you, I heard. They really loved all you boys. But they surely wished one of you had been a little girl.”
“I’m having a daughter.” Michael said he knew that. “Yes, I suppose you would. But I’m going to be in her life without indulging her overly much. Also, and I learned this from my own parents, she’ll work for what she wants.”
They talked about the things that he wanted to do, about what Michael would bring to him. They were going to be friends, Owen thought, the dead helping him with things that he’d never thought of before now.
He had Xander help him with the floor. It wasn’t that hard, not with the two of them being wolves, but they did have some issues with what to do with the concrete when they were finished. Loading it onto a large tarp, they took it out as they made it and then pulled out shovels to dig for the trunk.
The small box, made of tin and wrapped in some sort of animal skin, was found first. The contents would be opened later, when Clare got home from working. They dug deeper, but not much, and brought out the last trunk. Inside of it were envelopes. Some small, but most of them as big as a legal sized one. When he opened the first one of the fifty or so, he found what he thought was the deed to a plot of land.
“It’s in Tennessee. It’s a mountain. What do you suppose that means?” Xander told him that he owned a mountain. “Smart ass. Okay, what do I do with a mountain?”
“I have no idea. But I’m sure you guys can figure out something.” Xander pulled out the next envelope and opened it. “You also own a plot of land in California. If I’m not mistaken, you own a lot of land right along the coast.”
Each envelope had a deed for property in it. Each from a different state of the thirty-four at the time of Birdie’s death in eighteen-sixty-one. The rest, twenty or so, held deeds to houses, houses that he was sure were no longer there.
“What do I do if someone else has claimed this land?” Michael appeared then, his body looming over the trunk, then he swept his hand over them. When he was gone again, laughing as he faded ou
t, Xander pulled one out again. It now had Owen’s name on it, along with Clare’s. “Well, I guess that fixed that. I now own the land, as well as a bunch of homes.”
“It’s going to take some digging. I’d get ahold of the attorney and have him start searching for them. He might need to have a team helping him.” Owen decided that he’d had enough for one day. “Hey, why don’t the four of us go have some dinner? I could use something like a pick-me-up. And Penny had a bad day at school. She was supposed to have a mother-father thing but didn’t tell me. I guess she was afraid to ask. We’ve since talked about it, but she’s kind of beat up about it.”
“Sure. That sounds great. You get Penny and I’ll ride in with you. That way I can ride back with Clare when she gets finished too.”
They had a date. When he was in his living room, he looked at the little box. He had to know if it was going to upset her, so he opened it.
“Holy shit.”
Chapter 13
Randolph was afraid. Not just that, but he was counting the things that could keep him in prison for a very long time. But none of that really mattered. He figured he’d probably be lucky if he didn’t get the chair instead. If that was something they did in this state anymore. He stood up when the agent that had picked him up came in the room with another man.
Suits. Randolph had a feeling that if the first person who had termed that phrase had seen these two, then that was where the term had come from. They were dressed in identical suits—must have gotten a discount on volume—and the same color tie, and he could see that they each had an American flag as their tie clip. Suits.
“Okay, Mr. Boone, you’re free to go. Thank you for waiting on us to get things organized here. I hope you have a wonderful day.” Randolph sat down, not sure he’d heard him right. “There is nothing we can do to hold you, short of just putting you in a cell and keeping you there indefinitely. So, go on back to your home and try really hard not to bury any more bodies in your backyard. That’s really bad for the environment.”
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