“A couple times when I was younger and on leave,” he said, trying to remember anything about the two trips. “I wasn’t actually present for parts of the trips due to extreme alcohol poisoning.”
“Never been to Vegas,” she said, smiling as she pulled on his big gloves. “Never had the time.”
“We got the time now,” Tommy said, “if we can figure out a way to get there.”
“How about we figure that out on the walk to my place,” she said.
“After we stop at Carol’s Diner and grab a couple of those fantastic cinnamon rolls of hers,” Tommy said. “That apple isn’t holding me.” He had slowly been becoming aware he was getting hungry.
When he said that, she smiled. “I’ve been feeling hungry as well. And getting a little tired as well.”
“It seemed ghosts have to eat and sleep and pee after all,” he said, following her out into her office waiting room.
“Not something the movies ever got right,” she said.
They went through the front door and out onto the sidewalk, then stopped.
He looked both ways up and down the quiet little town. He had enjoyed his time here, but he wouldn’t miss it. He turned to Jewel and her large green eyes.
She gave him a mock salute. “Lead on, Agent Ralston.”
He laughed and took her hand. “To the cinnamon rolls, Agent Kelly.”
As they turned and headed across the street toward Carol’s Diner, she asked him one question. “Did buffalo actually jump around here somewhere?”
“Damned if I know,” he said. “But I think it’s too late for either of us to ask anyone.”
“One big damned tree too late,” she said.
And at that, he laughed.
EIGHTEEN
CAROL’S DINER WAS a small place with a glass front door. They both went through the door quickly. Jewel actually managed to keep her eyes mostly open. It was strange, like a slight blurring of her vision.
What was amazing is that the diner smelled wonderful, a mixture of coffee and cinnamon rolls baking. Jewel was surprised that as a ghost, she still could smell things.
The diner was not much more than a long counter with brown stools bolted to the floor along it and vinyl booths along the front window looking out over the highway. There were only five people in two booths. Two men in one and a man and two women in the other. Jewel didn’t recognize any of them.
Carol, a solid, middle-aged woman had a coffee pot in her hand, her brown hair up in a bun, and an apron that had seen a better day about two decades ago. Carol always seemed to have a smile, but not today. Now she looked sad.
“Sense of smell is still with us,” Tommy said.
He reached over the counter near the old cash register and grabbed a cinnamon roll from a huge plate of them sitting near the register, right where Carol always set them to tempt customers. And Jewel had been tempted many times over her short time here. Every time she ate one of the incredible cinnamon rolls, she had run an extra mile. Since she loved to run, it wasn’t much of a price to pay for such a wonderful taste.
The ghost part of the cinnamon roll came away in Tommy’s hand. He grabbed a napkin and then took a bite.
“Better than they ever tasted in real life,” he said. “And that’s going some.”
She reached over and grabbed one of the soft rolls, feeling the sticky sugar frosting against her fingers.
And it actually felt warm.
The real-life roll she had grabbed was still sitting there on the big plate, but at the same time she had the ghost image of it in her hand.
With her other hand, she reached for the same roll again. And came away with a second ghost roll.
Tommy just shook his head and smiled, white frosting on both corners of his mouth. “Seems we have unlimited food.”
“It does, doesn’t it,” she said. She set one roll down on the counter and grabbed a napkin. Then decided to try something.
“Watch this,” she said.
She took another ghost napkin from the pile, then put her hand through the entire large stack of napkins with no resistance.
“How in the world does that work?” Tommy asked.
“I’m betting we control what we want with our minds,” she said, pulling her hand back out of the pile of napkins and then picking up one as if it was a regular napkin.
Then she looked back at the glass door. “I wonder if everything has a ghost element to it if we want it to have one?”
“Not following you,” he said, chewing on another bite of cinnamon roll.
She went back over to the front door of the diner, then reached out and pulled open the glass door.
A ghost glass door opened, but the real door stayed in place.
She let the ghost door go closed and came back toward him near the front counter.
“This is going to take some figuring out,” he said.
“A whole bunch,” she said. Then she took a bite of one of the cinnamon rolls and let the fantastic, sweet flavor fill her mouth.
“You’re right, the rolls are better. I didn’t think that was possible.”
At that moment, the conversation between Carol and two men in one booth got heated and fairly loud.
“You need to have some respect for the dead,” Carol said loudly before turning away.
“Both jerks,” Tommy said. “Reedman brothers. They live on a ranch about twenty miles from here and spend more time in the bars around the county than on their ranch. Glad I won’t be dealing with those two anymore.”
One of the brothers said loudly to Carol. “I just said that more than likely the doc was giving the deputy a blow job when they left the road. How is that not respectful? I wouldn’t mind going that way.”
“Yeah, me too,” the other brother said.
“They only wish,” Jewel said, laughing.
But Carol didn’t seem to be taking the joke too well. With a full, steaming coffee pot, she walked back over toward their table and before either of them could move, she poured the scalding coffee in their laps.
“Oh, oh,” Tommy said, shaking his head.
“That’s going to scar where they might not enjoy scars,” Jewel said, laughing
Carol turned and headed for the counter as the two jumped up swearing and trying to dab at their crotches and brush away the burning liquid, as if that was going to help.
Jewel knew that the only thing that was going to help those kinds of burns was to get their pants off and pack the parts in ice quickly. But she doubted either of them would do that here, so they were going to be really burned by the time they got done moving around.
Tommy set down the rest of his roll and stepped toward the two men.
Jewel had no idea what he was thinking, but she followed.
After the two brothers got done swearing, and dancing and smashing around, they both turned toward Carol. “You’re going to pay for this,” one of the brothers said.
“Wow, movie cliché and everything,” Jewel said.
“Not a lot of brain cells in those two heads,” Tommy said.
They both started toward Carol who had the empty coffee pot in her hands and was starting to look slightly scared.
Tommy got in front of one of the brothers, and she got in front of the other brother. He didn’t smell that good and his eyes looked mean and angry. She had no idea what she was doing, but she had seen Tommy do it earlier, so she knew she could as well.
As Jewel merged inside him, she ignored the desire to just run and take a shower and used all her thought and energy to force him to stop.
He did, but she had to take one step back to stay inside before he actually stopped.
Tommy had been right, not a lot of thinking in this one. More like animal behavior of rutting and drinking and eating and not much more. It made her feel like her skin was crawling and she hoped his thoughts would not be part of her. If it worked like before, that feeling would pass quickly after she left.
She hoped.
&nb
sp; Beside her, Tommy forced the other brother to sit on the floor, his back against a stool with a big metal base that was bolted to the floor.
She used all her focus and forced the brother she was in control of to the floor as well.
Tommy then had the brother he was controlling say, “Someone please call the sheriff. Carol, please tie our hands securely to these stools so we can’t move. We do not want to hurt you, but we will if we get loose.”
Jewel could tell from the brother’s mind she controlled that the two brothers had beaten up a man in Missoula three days ago. And they had raped a few women.
Jewel could tell, from the guy’s thoughts, he was in intense pain from the burns in his crotch and legs. Served the bastard right.
“We need to confess what we have done,” the other brother said as Tommy controlled him.
The two women in the other booth had their cell phones out and were recording everything. The guy was busy calling the sheriff on a third phone.
Beside the man Jewel held, she saw Carol come around with strong wrapping twine and cinch it around the guy’s hands. Then wrap it around the post of the stool a few times and then back around the guy and back around the post and then around the guy’s neck and back around the post.
The guy was not moving. The twine hurt.
Jewel focused on ways of helping the guy feel the extreme burn pain even more, unlocking pain blockers that had been working in his mind. He slowly started whimpering and then peed himself, the hot liquid making the burns feel even worse.
She dropped what pain blockers his mind had up and shut them down permanently.
Carol went around and quickly tied up the other brother as Tommy had him recite the crimes they had done, who the victims were, and why they did what they had done.
Carol finally finished tying up the second man.
Jewel climbed out of the guy she had been in and stepped back. He was nothing more than a whimpering pile of humanity sitting in his own pee.
Tommy forced the last guy to finish his list of crimes.
As Jewel moved back, outside the sheriff pulled up. Gun drawn, he slammed his car door and came running in.
“Might want to have him recite what they did one more time,” Jewel said to Tommy. “Sheriff has arrived.”
The sheriff stopped near the cash register, stunned at the sight he saw in front of him. The brother Tommy controlled again recited what he and his brother had done, right down to the rapes and how they had enjoyed it and planned it.
Jewel was disgusted, and Carol had her hand over her mouth in shock.
The two women in the booth were recording everything.
Finally Tommy stood and left the guy.
Jewel moved over and hugged him. “Nice job, agent.
“You two, agent,” he said, smiling at her.
“What’s happening?” the one brother said, struggling and discovering he couldn’t get loose.
“Damned if I know,” the sheriff said, shaking his head.
“What did you do to that guy?” Tommy asked Jewel as the other brother just whimpered at the pain.
“Took down the pain blockers in his mind,” Jewel said, “made him feel everything intensely, especially the pain from the burns on his crotch.”
“Wow, that’s really great,” Tommy said. “Explain to me exactly what I look for when I’m in there.”
She tried to tell him, as best she could, not using medical terms.
Finally Tommy nodded and went over and sat down inside the body of the guy he had been in before.
After a moment the guy stiffened, then slowly started squirming and whimpering and begging for someone to stop the pain. The transformation of the tough guy to a whimpering sick monster was pretty amazing to Jewel watching it.
Carol, the sheriff, and the other three in the booth just watched, mouths open.
A moment later Tommy came back out of the guy and shuddered.
“That should do it,” Tommy said. “I made sure he would always feel any pain far, far worse than it actually is.
“I think you did it just fine,” she said, as the wet spot on the guy’s crotch from the steaming hot coffee got larger as the guy peed himself and squirmed even more.
“Agent, I think out job is done here,” he said.
She nodded, and they headed for the front door, each grabbing another cinnamon roll as they went by from the big plate of them.
Suddenly, the sheriff turned around and said into the air up toward the light fixtures. “Thanks, Tommy. I got it from here.”
That froze her and Tommy both in place.
Jewel looked at Tommy. “Could he see us?”
“No,” Tommy said. “But the sheriff is a very smart man and can put two and two together with the best of them.”
Tommy stopped, went back over beside the sheriff who was still watching the two tied-up criminals whimper and squirm against their ropes.
Jewel watched as Tommy gently touched the sheriff’s shoulder and said, “You are welcome, sheriff. It was an honor to work with you. I’ve got to go now.”
The sheriff nodded, then said softly. “I’ll miss you. Good luck wherever you are going.”
Tommy took his hand away and went back to Jewel.
“Who were you talking to?” Carol asked the sheriff, puzzled.
The sheriff looked at her, then back around before saying, “Deputy Ralston. He’s been helping me out one last day.”
Carol touched the sheriff’s arm sadly and nodded, saying nothing.
Jewel took Tommy’s free hand and with their cinnamon rolls in their other hands, they went out into the chill of the day.
“That was nice,” she said.
Tommy nodded. “It was. I kind of like this new job.” Then he took a large bite out of the cinnamon roll.
“Yeah, me too,” Jewel said. “But can’t help but wonder what the sheriff would have thought if he knew we were headed to Las Vegas instead of the next world.”
She had to pat Tommy’s back because his laughter made him choke on the roll.
NINETEEN
TOMMY FELT WONDERFUL walking along the edge of the highway toward Jewel’s cabin. The images from the brother’s mind back in the diner had almost faded, cleaned out very quickly.
He really liked that it worked that way. Last thing he wanted to do was walk around with other people’s horrors in his mind.
He was already enjoying this Ghost Agent job, and he hadn’t even been dead for a full day yet.
He couldn’t believe he was enjoying being dead. That was just flat weird, but true.
And he was really growing closer and more attracted to Jewel. She was smart, stunningly attractive, and fun to be with. He was very glad she was with him on this adventure.
So he was enjoying being dead and falling for a dead woman. Yeah, this is what he expected to have happen exactly after he died.
Maybe in a wet dream.
They talked most of the walk, trying to decide the best way out of these mountains and to Las Vegas. They both had decided that just catching a plane in Missoula would be the best, but neither of them had many ideas on how to get out to Missoula.
Hitchhiking was sure out of the question, since no one could see them.
Finally, they decided that in the morning they would walk back to the mini-mart and gas station and just wait until someone on the way toward Missoula stopped for gas. Then play it by ear from there.
When Jewel pointed down a small gravel side road off the highway, Tommy nodded.
“You been down here before?” Jewel asked.
“Dropped Doc Craigston off here about a year ago,” Tommy said. “He was far too drunk to drive and the bartender at the Oasis called me.”
“Ben Horseman owns both the little office and this place,” Jewel said. “He’s got quite a rental gig going with the county.”
“As long as the doctors stop dying on him,” Tommy said.
“Did Doc Craigston die as well?”
; Tommy nodded. “Heart attack coming out of the Oasis one night.”
“Didn’t know that,” Jewel said, shaking her head. “I thought he just retired.”
“In a way he did,” Tommy said.
Ahead of them the small log cabin with cedar shakes sort of set alone in a clearing in the tall pine trees. It had no view, and sometime in the past someone had tried to plant a garden and fence it off from the deer. That area was all weeds now. Jewel had seen that and just shook her head. Not in a million years would she have planted a garden. Not her thing in the slightest.
Otherwise, the cabin looked kept up and lived in. The blinds on the windows were drawn and since Jewel wasn’t home, there wasn’t any smoke coming out of the top of the stone fireplace.
“Was it comfortable to live in?” Tommy asked as they stepped up on the porch.
“Actually,” Jewel said, “it was. Great bathtub with shower, great reading lights, great fireplace. I liked it.”
Jewel went through the closed front door first and Tommy followed, closing his eyes.
Inside the house did feel comfortable. The large brown logs of the walls and the beams overhead gave it a soft feel. And it was warm.
Also, luckily, one lamp was still on.
“Nice,” Tommy said, dropping his pack of clothes beside the door.
“Living room up front here,” Jewel said. Kitchen and dining is the back half of this big room. Bathroom off the kitchen, bedroom through there. Simple and small, but nice.”
“First at the bathroom,” Tommy said. “Hope you left the lid up.”
“If I didn’t, try lifting it and see what happens,” Jewel said.
“Good idea.”
He didn’t need to lift the lid, and by the time he was finished, Jewel was in the bedroom and pulling down some ghost clothes and packing them in a small satchel similar to the one Tommy had left in the front room.
“Figured I might as well get this done in case someone shows up.”
Tommy nodded. “Good thinking.”
Then, as if he wasn’t standing there watching, she started to unbutton her shirt. When she had it off and was nude from the belt up, she tossed him the shirt. “Might want to pack that.”
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