He took a puff off his cigar and then said, “So how can I fault Angela when I was no better?”
“At least you didn’t plot her murder.”
Walt chuckled. “True. But I believe she has suffered for her crimes. I’m no longer angry with her. I do forgive her.” He took another puff off his cigar and then added, “Of course, it doesn’t mean I have any desire to stop at the cemetery and have a visit with her. Like Marie says about marriage, until death do us part. Angela is no longer my wife.”
“Does this mean you are considering Clint’s offer?” Danielle asked in a whisper.
“You know I am.”
They sat in silence for a moment. Danielle watched as Walt smoked and blew smoke rings.
“You know what this means, don’t you? If you accept Clint’s offer,” Danielle said.
“That I will no longer be dead?”
Danielle nodded toward the cigar in Walt’s right hand. “You’ll have to quit those.”
Walt held out his hand holding his cigar and stared at it. “I will?”
Danielle nodded. “When someone has a heart transplant, they’re not supposed to smoke. I would think that would also go for something like this.”
Still staring at the cigar, Walt let out a sigh. “I suppose you’re right. But to be honest, smoking this is something I do because—well, frankly—it’s about all I can do now.”
They were interrupted when the doorbell rang. Danielle stood up and walked to the parlor window and peeked outside.
“Looks like we’re having another party,” Danielle muttered.
“Who is it?” Walt asked.
“Everyone.”
Everyone turned out to be all those who had been at the Glandon Foundation meeting earlier that day—including an extra person, the chief’s youngest son, Evan MacDonald. Evan was the youngest medium in their small group.
“I thought it best if I told Evan what was going on,” the chief said when they all settled in the living room.
“I think that would be neat if you were alive,” Evan told Walt. “That way I could take you to the beach with us and teach you how to fly a kite.”
Walt smiled down at the second grader. “I might show you a few tricks. I used to fly kites on the beach when I was a boy.”
“You did? They had kites back then?” Evan asked.
The adults all laughed. Even those who could not see or hear Walt understood the gist of what he must have said to Evan.
“I believe kites have been around for about two thousand years,” Ian told Evan.
Evan’s brown eyes widened. “Wow. That’s even older than Walt.”
“I’m still trying to wrap my head around all this,” Heather said. “I’ve rather gotten used to Marlow House being haunted.”
“Considering Marie practically lives here now, and Eva pops in from time to time, it still will be,” Lily reminded her.
“But this means Walt will be on our side—not able to see or hear them,” Ian noted.
“I forgot about that,” Walt muttered. He looked to Danielle. “I suppose that means I won’t be able to communicate with Sadie and Max like I do now.”
“It’s all a trade-off,” Chris reminded him. “If you do this, the next time Danielle needs someone to move heavy furniture or boxes up to the attic, she’s going to have to hire someone.”
Ignoring Chris’s flip comment, MacDonald looked to the spot where he believed Walt stood and said, “Walt, after we got together this morning, Ian and I decided to see what we could find out about your cousin. While I would like more time to check him out, I suspect you don’t have a lot of time to come to a decision.”
Walt didn’t bother making a response; he knew the chief would not hear him. But he listened attentively.
“Your cousin does not have so much as a parking ticket. There are no outstanding warrants on him, nothing. I called a few people I know from San Diego, and he didn’t come up on any of their radars.”
“While the chief was worried about Clint’s history with the law, especially considering his bungled attempt at art theft, I searched in another direction. He apparently has paid all his income taxes. No red flags,” Ian told them.
“I didn’t even consider the IRS,” Danielle muttered.
“He closed escrow on his condo and severed ties with his broker the day before he arrived in Oregon,” Ian continued. “But all the money from the condo sale went to pay off his mortgage. He only has a couple of thousand dollars in his bank account. Unfortunately, he has about ten thousand dollars in credit card debt, but that’s about all. I don’t know if he could get his money back for his tickets to France, considering Stephanie’s death and his stay in the hospital. Fortunately, he did purchase extra insurance on the van, and Stephanie was covered on the policy, so I don’t see how the car rental company could come after him for the van.”
“What about his medical bills?” Heather asked. “I imagine he’s racking them up.”
“I also checked on that,” Ian said. “Looks like he has pretty good medical insurance, and he already used up his deductible for this year, so it doesn’t look like he’s going to have any more out-of-pocket expense. Not if he comes to and this doesn’t drag on for months.”
Heather frowned at Ian. “How in the world did you find out all that in just a few hours? You can’t get all that information online, can you?”
Ian grinned at Heather. “I have my connections.”
“Never underestimate Ian’s investigational skills,” Lily chirped.
“So what are you saying?” Danielle asked Ian.
Ian looked to Danielle. “Unless there’s something out there we missed—which is always possible—the worst I see happening is Walt having to pay off eight thousand dollars of Clint’s outstanding credit card debt.”
“And it’s a good thing Stephanie was driving,” Chris said.
“Why’s that?” Walt asked.
“If Clint had been driving the van, someone from Stephanie’s family might try suing for wrongful death,” Chris explained.
Walt asked Ian if Sadie could stay over at Marlow House for Friday night. Ian didn’t ask Walt why, but he thought he knew the reason, so he agreed to let her stay.
Of the human guests, Chris was the last to leave. Walt had told him he needed to discuss something with him—alone.
Danielle left the two in the living room while she went upstairs to take a shower. Sadie had followed Ian and Lily to the front door earlier, when they had left for home, but when they didn’t take her with them, she wandered to the parlor, jumped up on the sofa, and fell asleep next to Max.
“What did you want to talk to me about?” Chris asked. The two stood in the living room, Chris looking as if he was preparing to head home.
“You don’t have a problem with me doing this—if I do it?” Walt asked.
Chris smiled at Walt. “When did you ever care what I thought?”
Walt smiled back at Chris. “I consider you a friend. But please don’t repeat me.”
Chris chuckled. “I consider you a friend too. And I would appreciate you not sharing that either. And I hope you take your cousin’s offer. However, it has nothing to do with our friendship. It’s that other thing.”
Walt arched his brows. “Other thing?”
“Danielle.”
“You want me to be alive…for Danielle?” Walt asked.
Chris sat back down in a chair and looked up at Walt. “I’m not a total jerk; I want you to have this chance for yourself. You didn’t deserve what your brother-in-law did to you. But part of me wants you to have a second chance at life so I’ll have a chance with Danielle.”
Confused, Walt took a seat across from Chris. “I don’t understand?”
“I can’t compete with you, Walt. Not like this.”
“Are you banking on me accepting my cousin’s offer and then him changing his mind at the last moment so I’ll have to move on and be out of your life forever?”
“Hardly.
That would be the worst thing that could happen,” Chris said.
“How so?”
“Think about it. How you are right now makes it difficult because Danielle has feelings for you. We all know that. I thought she had feelings for me too, but they really couldn’t go anywhere, not with what she felt for you always getting in the way. But we all know you and Danielle have no future together. I don’t think even you would like it to end up like The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.”
Walt frowned. “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir?”
“It’s an old movie. About a—”
“Yes,” Walt interrupted. “Danielle has mentioned it before. But I’ve never seen it. What do you mean I wouldn’t like it to end up like The Ghost and Mrs. Muir?”
“In the movie, they fall in love. But as you well know, not much future in that. When the ghost realizes he is interfering with her finding true love, he leaves. Well, he doesn’t actually leave. In the movie he just makes it so she can no longer see him—she even forgets him.”
“Does she find true love?” Walt asked.
“No. In the movie she never falls in love again. But when she dies, he’s there waiting for her. They walk off together into the clouds. At least, I think the scene had clouds.” Chris shrugged.
“So she lived the rest of her life without love?” Walt asked.
“I suppose she had the love of her children and friends. But falling in love—no. She lived alone.”
“I don’t want that for Danielle.”
“That’s why I don’t want you to just disappear now. Danielle is not going to forget you like in the movie, and your leaving will just make it more difficult for her. Whatever she feels for you will be magnified. If she isn’t in love with you now, she’ll have herself believing it, making it impossible for her to move on.”
“Why will me alive be the better option for you?” Walt asked.
“Because then you and I will have a level playing field. I can’t compete with the ghost of a man who is just out of Danielle’s reach. There is too much romance and the allure of forbidden love.”
“You think if I take Clint’s offer, Danielle will end up choosing you over me?” Walt asked.
Chris studied Walt a moment and then said, “I have no idea. But at least I’ll have more of a chance than I do now. And who knows, maybe once you get a taste of life again, you’ll want to move on and see the world and leave Danielle here.”
Walt smiled and shook his head. “Not a chance. I think you know how I feel about Danielle. It’s not going to change.”
Chris’s eyes twinkled as he met Walt’s gaze. “Game on, friend.”
Thirty-Four
After Danielle’s shower, she wandered back downstairs, wearing her fleece pajama bottoms and a T-shirt. By her damp hair, Walt could tell she had also shampooed. When she walked into the living room, she glanced around.
“Did Chris go home?” she asked.
“Yes. He just left a few minutes ago.” Walt took note of Danielle’s bare feet. “You’re going to catch a cold.”
“I couldn’t find my slippers,” Danielle told him. She took a seat on the sofa and pulled her feet up with her. “What are you going to do?”
Before he answered the question, motion from the open doorway caught her attention. Her slippers floated into the room and to the sofa. She laughed.
“Thanks, Walt. Where were they?”
“You washed them, remember? They were in the dryer.”
Grabbing the fuzzy shoes from the air, she slipped them on her feet. “Thanks. But back to my question. Are you going to do it?”
He took a seat across from her and watched as she adjusted her now slippered feet on the sofa to get comfortable. “What do you think I should do?”
“I’m just afraid that Clint will change his mind at the last minute, and you’ll be forced to move on.”
“Perhaps that will be for the best,” Walt said softly. “For all of us.”
Danielle shook her head. “Not for me. I know it’s selfish of me, but I like having you here. And if you could have a second chance at life—that would be even better. But what terrifies me is not knowing.”
“What do you mean, not knowing?” Walt asked.
Danielle’s gaze met Walt’s. “We both know you have a limited time between when you leave Marlow House and when you have to move on to the next level. If you don’t get to the hospital within that time frame, then you won’t be able to accept Clint’s offer even if he wants you to.”
“I won’t have a problem getting there in time, you know that.”
“I’m thinking of me,” Danielle told him.
Walt frowned. “What do you mean?”
“If I don’t go with you, I won’t know for sure if it’s you or Clint. Clint could easily pretend to be you.”
“Danielle, surely you would instinctively know if it was me or not.”
Her eyes still meeting his, she shook her head again. “No, Walt. When someone wants something bad enough, they’re willing to believe anything. I’m not sure my mind won’t play tricks on me. That I might ignore and make excuses, wanting to believe.”
“You want me to do this, don’t you?” Walt whispered.
“If you mean if I want it to work—more than anything in the world.”
Walt smiled. “There is a way to be sure it’s me.”
“I suppose I could leave first,” Danielle suggested. “Get there before you leave Marlow House, give me a head start, so to speak.” Danielle considered her suggestion a moment and then groaned. “But what if something happened along the way? Maybe I get a flat tire or get stuck in the elevator of the hospital, or maybe when I get there, they won’t let me in the hospital room.”
Walt laughed and shook his head. “Danielle, all you need to do is remember something that only you and I know.”
“Such as?”
Walt considered his suggestion a moment and then smiled. “Do you remember when we first met, and you were trying to explain to me that I was dead?”
“Of course,” she said in a soft voice.
“You wanted me to know the year.”
“I remember, I went and got my purse and—”
Walt placed a finger across his lips, silencing Danielle. “Just remember that, Danielle. Only you and I know. You never told Lily?”
Danielle shook her head. “No. No one.”
They were interrupted when Marie suddenly appeared.
“Is it true? Is it really true?” Marie asked.
“Depends on what you’re talking about,” Walt said with a chuckle.
Marie began pacing the room while wringing her hands. “That annoying cousin of yours is really giving you his body? Do you believe him?”
“It’s a chance at life, Marie. No guarantees,” Walt told her.
Marie stopped pacing and faced Walt. “Now you sound like Eva. She told me all about it, and she kept saying no guarantees, free will, blah, blah, blah. I don’t know why things can’t be more orderly, more certain.”
“Do you think I should take Clint’s offer?” Walt asked Marie.
She studied him a moment and then let out a sigh. “It wasn’t right what happened to you back then. You were cheated out of your future. And if Clint is foolish enough to give it all up, I say why waste a perfectly good body? As for me personally, I rather get the short end of the stick no matter how it turns out.”
“Why do you say that?” Danielle asked.
“I’ve become rather fond of Walt. I’ll miss our talks. If he takes over Clint’s body or Clint changes his mind and Walt is forced to move on, I won’t see Walt again until we both move on. Actually, I’ll see him, he just won’t be able to see or hear me. And seeing how things work around here, there doesn’t seem to be a guarantee in that.” Marie flopped down on an empty chair and let out another sigh.
“There is always a dream hop,” Walt reminded her. “You could bring me into one once I’m alive again, and we could have a nice visit.”
; Marie let out a snort. “I’m not nearly as good at those as you are. Heavens, the last few times I tried with Adam, nothing. The best trick I seemed to have mastered these days is turning off Adam’s computer.”
Danielle didn’t ask Marie why she would turn Adam’s computer off, and if she didn’t have other things on her mind, she might have given it more consideration.
Sitting in the chair next to Marie, Walt leaned back, rested his elbows on the chair’s arms, brought his hands together and absently steepled his fingers. “If I do this, I will miss communicating with Sadie and Max as I do now…and being able to see and hear you and Eva.”
“I don’t suppose conversing with two stubborn spirits who refuse to move on is worth forfeiting a chance of life,” Marie begrudgingly admitted. “I won’t lie; I’ll miss our talks. But I think you should do this. You have to at least try.”
Walt stood up. “Then I need to go have a serious conversation with two dear friends.” Walt vanished.
“Where did he go?” Marie asked.
“I think he went to go talk to Sadie and Max.”
Sadie lifted her head and began wagging her tail when Walt appeared in the parlor. The movement of her wiggling butt attached to the wagging tail woke Max, who yawned lazily, showing off pointy feline teeth.
“I should scold you for being on the sofa,” Walt said good-naturedly as he sat down on the sofa’s arm.
Sadie cocked her head at Walt. Max, who was now awake, sat up and looked in Walt’s direction.
“I’m not sure I can explain this. But you know my cousin? The one who looks like me?”
Sadie let out a little growl, and Max began grooming.
Walt chuckled. “I know you don’t care for him.” Walt went on to explain—as best as he could so they would understand what might be happening. He wanted them to know that if Clint returned to Marlow House and stayed, that it would really be him. Sadie and Max needed to understand whatever line of communication they now shared would end. He also wanted them to know that it didn’t mean he no longer cared about them.
In his explanation, Walt spoke the words out loud, as he always did when speaking to Max and Sadie. But he knew it was not the words they understood. Max and Sadie understood Walt’s spoken words no better than what they managed to pick up from Ian or Danielle. It was the mental telepathy—although Walt wasn’t sure that was the correct terminology—between him and the animals that allowed them to convey their thoughts to each other.
The Ghost and the Doppelganger Page 22