“Not just to me,” Dad continued hurriedly. “You’re important to—” He stopped talking and rapidly jumped in front of Sadie.
Suddenly, the living room window exploded, and a large rock landed at Sadie’s feet.
She screamed and her mother came rushing into the room.
“Sadie!” Mom exclaimed. “What happened?”
A woman’s shape appeared in the broken window.
“Bertrude!” Sadie exclaimed. “What the hell are you doing?”
Bertrude Brant held a glass bottle in one hand. The bottle was filled with a clear liquid and had a soaked rag protruding from the end. In her other hand she held a lighter.
“You just couldn’t leave well enough alone!” Bertrude shrieked.
“I’m calling the cops,” Mom said.
“Don’t move!” Bertrude screamed. “I’ve got enough of these babies to light you both up like the fourth of July.”
Sadie glanced behind Bertrude and saw she did indeed have backup bottles. Enough to light up every room in the house and even a car or two.
“You blew up my car and set fire to my warehouse. It was you all along!” Sadie cried.
Out of the corner of her eye Sadie saw her dad walking to the oak sideboard. He opened the drawer and pulled out his old revolver. Sadie was trying her hardest not to look his way and draw attention to the fact that a gun would appear to be floating in midair.
“You destroyed my life!” Bertrude screamed. “Mimi and I had it all worked out to get rid of Stephen. I fed him the pills and then brought him to Mimi’s. She did the rest and everything was hunky-dory. Sure, there was some worry because she bought the videotapes as a fluke, but it made no never mind until that stupid Paula had to start getting rid of Mimi’s stuff.” She shook her head. “Kids ain’t got no respect for all you do for them, you know?”
Bertrude looked at Peggy Novak as if expecting some sort of agreement that kids were all ungrateful slobs, but Peggy’s gaze was on the corner of the room. Her eyes were wide in wonder. Bertrude glanced over to see what Peggy was looking at, and the second she turned to face Sadie’s dad, he shot her square in the chest. Sadie dove and managed to catch the glass bottle in Bertrude’s hand before it crashed on the floor.
There was a chaotic moment filled with Mom’s screaming and Sadie and her dad just breathing heavily.
“Thanks, Dad,” Sadie exclaimed.
With a whoosh of breath she stared down at Bertrude Brant, who looked quite dead.
“That’s what I was sent to do,” he said proudly.
“I—I saw a gun,” Mom stammered. “Your father’s gun. The one he—he kept in the sideboard. But—but . . .” She shook her head. “I don’t know how . . . but it got out of the drawer and . . . and it floated. It shot that woman but . . . but nobody was holding it.” Her eyes were wild.
“Sit down, Mom,” Sadie said. She brought her mother into the kitchen and sat her down gently at the table. “You think about it, and I’m sure you’ll figure out what really happened.” She patted her mom’s shoulder. “I’ve got to call the police.”
Sadie stayed with her mom until Petrovich had taken their statements, the coroner had removed Bertrude Brant’s body, and the glass company had repaired the window. When Peggy Novak gave her statement, she spoke slowly and carefully. She told the detective how she’d gotten her husband’s gun from the sideboard when Bertrude Brant broke the window and she’d shot the woman when she wouldn’t put down the bottle.
“Works for me,” Petrovich said, snapping his notebook shut.
Sadie had Dawn come and get their mother. She knew her mom wouldn’t want to be alone for the night. Once everyone was gone and the house was quiet, Sadie called out for her father.
“Dad? Dad, please come back,” Sadie begged.
“I’m right here,” he replied.
She sighed with relief when he appeared to her, sitting casually in his favorite chair.
“I thought you’d moved on without me,” she told him.
“Well, I do have to go, hon,” he said quietly. “I can’t stay here. You know that, right?”
“Yes,” she said in a small, little-girl voice.
“But first I need to finish what I was saying to you. I was kept here to save you because you are so important.”
“You mean a lot to me too,” Sadie replied.
“I don’t mean just to me,” he said seriously. “You’re important to the universe. To the scheme of things. To . . .” He looked up dramatically.
“What do you mean?” Sadie asked warily.
“I mean, you help spirits move on, those who get stuck and need to have things taken care of down here. It’s a really important job. You’re one of the chosen few who have been asked to do this—”
“The chosen few?” Sadie asked, shaking her head in confusion. “Dad, I’m the only one I know who—”
“You’re not the only one. There are others. One day you’ll meet them but, for now, it’s important that you keep doing what you’re doing.”
Suddenly his image began to fade.
“Dad?” Her voice caught in her throat.
“I love you, hon. You’re a good girl,” her dad said, his voice sounding distant. “Tell your mom she was the love of my life and I’m keeping her side of the bed warm in heaven.” His voice was a small echo now, coming from far away. “Keep on helping spirits. What you do is important. Never forget that.”
Then his spirit shape dissipated to almost nothing. A glowing shimmer appeared around the edges of his form before his image evaporated forever.
Sadie reached into her pocket and pulled out her list. Carefully she checked off number three.
Dead and Kicking Page 28