In all honesty, it would be wonderful to have an outside confidante, a girlfriend with whom she could share the intricate details of such problem cases, but Becky felt hesitant… Helping spirits was such a private matter and it wasn’t right to air their unfinished business with anyone not directly related to them or their cases. At the last second, Becky decided to stick with her usual response to Hillary and anyone else who ever asked, “Oh honey, you know I can’t discuss it. It would be like gossiping… and I just can’t do that to anyone.”
Hillary sighed in disappointment, but she knew Becky was loyal to all whether dead or alive. Truth be told, Hillary respected Becky even more for her professionalism and confidence. That’s exactly how she would hope her unfinished business was handled after her own death.
After her meeting with Hillary ended, Becky called Candy Applewhite to see if she could stop by. When she arrived, Candy’s doctor friend, David Johnson was also there. “Can we speak in private?” Becky asked after the introductions were made.
Candy immediately led Becky to the den. “Take a seat and let me explain to David. I’ll be back in a moment.” When Candy returned she asked Becky, “You’ve found out something, right?”
“Yes, but I also need something from you,” Becky said. Then she told Candy everything she had learned. When she had finished, she asked, “Did Paul keep any paperwork here at home?”
“He kept an address book. Would you like to see it?” Becky nodded and sighed with relief. She hoped that it would show her a connection between Paul and Josh Edwards. “It’s in his office. I’ll get it.”
When Candy returned she handed the little black book to Becky. Becky turned the pages slowly. Paul had alphabetized the list of his contacts, but there were no tabs for each letter. Instead, he had simply drawn black permanent marker lines between each letter of the alphabet. She didn’t find Josh’s name in the list, but when she got to the letter ‘P’ she discovered that Josh’s father, Bradley Edwards, was in the list under the heading ‘Phillips Company.’
Becky had found her connection.
Now what do I do? She silently wondered.
“Thank you, Candy. Is it possible for me to take the address book? I’d like to make a copy of his contacts if that’s all right.”
“You can take it, but I want it back,” Candy agreed.
Chapter 28
When she got home that evening, Becky called Bobby for moral support and backup. She knew she had to face Josh again. From the hostility that Josh had shown during their last encounter, she worried that it wouldn’t be safe. Still, it had to be done.
Bobby agreed to meet Becky at the family home and arrived around nine o’clock that night. Glad to see him and feeling better already, Becky told her brother everything she had learned about Josh’s situation so far. She included the way Josh’s mother had acted and the horrible things she had said about her son.
“That’s just sad,” Bobby commented when Becky had ended the story. “Can you imagine how we would’ve turned out if our parents were that flaky and judgmental?”
“I shudder to even think about it,” Becky replied. “Believe me, I know and I count my lucky stars every day for being born into this particular family. To be honest, I only recently realized the importance of the work I do. I feel like I have finally come into my own.”
“That’s odd,” Bobby said, “I always thought you were in your element all along. You’re the only one of us that has actually used your abilities the way they were intended to be used. You make me and Barbara look bad, very bad.”
“It’s not intentional,” Becky said. “I understand that neither of you wanted this. I don’t blame you for the way you each handle it. I didn’t want it either in the beginning, but after doing it for the first year or so, I began to feel rewarded by helping spirits with their unfinished business.”
“All while Barb and I felt put out by their needs,” Bobby said.
“I’ve only recently begun to see the bigger picture,” Becky admitted.
“What do you mean?” Bobby asked as his eyebrows rose in surprise.
“I now understand that whatever we believe about life or death effects both. If Josh believed that his afterlife would suck, and according to his parents it would, those family beliefs and negative influences have left Josh confused and lost,” Becky said and then rushed on, “So, you’ll help me tonight when I call Josh here to try to explain things to him?”
“That’s why I’m here,” Bobby said. He grinned widely at his sister and then added, “Let’s get this show on the road. Call your boyfriend, Becks. I’m right her beside you.”
So am I, dear one, Zetmeh said.
“Josh Edwards. Josh Edward. Josh Edwards.” Becky said and then waited.
In only a few moments, Josh came. His appearance was back to normal again; he looked the way he had the first time Becky had seen him in her kitchen. He looked like the sweet sixteen-year-old boy she had loved. Although he was no longer in black and white static, Josh was still confused. He looked at Becky closely and then his gaze turned to Bobby before he spoke.
“What have I done this time?” Josh said, looking at his feet.
“So you remember being here before?” Becky asked.
“Yes,” Josh replied, “but I thought you were angry with me after I crashed your family birthday party so I haven’t been back.”
“Do you remember that we called you to Bobby’s home?” Becky asked next.
“No.”
“Do you know Paul Applewhite?” Becky asked.
“Yes, I know of him.”
“Do you know that Paul is dead?” Becky asked.
“Good; he is a corrupt businessman. He had dealings with my father who is also corrupt.”
“What do you mean? How are they corrupt?”
“Paul Applewhite sold stolen beer to my father. You surely remember my father, Becky… the devout Christian… a pillar of the church. Always so prim and proper to the world and a cruel psychopath at home. My good, upstanding father, always telling me what a horrible son I was… always demanding that I follow his rules when he was the worst hypocrite of all.”
Josh grew bitter. The ceiling lights in Becky’s living room flickered, and then several bulbs burst. Miniscule glass shards glittered in the remaining light as they flickered to the carpeted floor below.
Bobby leaned forward, ready to get involved but Becky placed a calming hand on his forearm. Her brother looked at her with disbelief, but he remained seated and waited for her to take care of the situation without his interference… At least for the time being.
“Josh, please remain calm. We’re trying to help you,” Becky coaxed. “Look at me, Josh. Look at me and relax. I do remember that your parents were unforgiving and harsh, but please, help me to help you.” The lights slowly returned to normal and, after things were calm again, Becky continued, “Josh, I understand that Paul sold beer to your father and you were angry about it because your dad was using double standards. Your father was a fraud and you found out. But, what did Paul have to do with your death.”
Josh looked confused, shaking his head back and forth several times before replying. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“When we called you to Bobby’s home, you were in a fight with Paul Applewhite… do you remember that?”
“I remember fighting with him, but I don’t remember why we were fighting.”
“Whatever it is, Josh, whatever has you so angry with him is keeping you from moving on. It has kept you bound for the last ten years,” Becky said. “You really don’t remember?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Then, where have you been all this time?” Becky asked. She was quite flabbergasted at the way the conversation was going. She couldn’t understand why the two men would fight and yet Josh couldn’t remember their conflicts.
“I don’t know where I have been,” Josh admitted. “I know that when I came to see you, that when I interrupted your family part
y, I realized I am dead. It was shocking. After that, I watched you. I saw that you see dead people, that you help them.”
“Will you let me help you, Josh?” Becky asked. Josh nodded and looked at Bobby.
“You see dead people too,” he said. Bobby nodded.
“Try to tell me what else you remember, Josh. You watched me, but where else did you go? Where have you been all this time since your death?” Becky continued to gently prod.
“I cannot say where I have been for sure, but I think I have wandered. I think that I found several doorways to somewhere else, but each one was blocked to me,” Josh admitted. “I don’t know why, I only know that I am lost most of the time.”
“Josh, I think that the doorways are blocked to you because of the things that your parents told you. They taught you that if you didn’t obey their rules and follow their path, you couldn’t enter the pearly gates… do you remember? Do you remember that they used that term?”
“Yes; the pearly gates… St. Peter would keep me out and kill me again. It always scared me… the way they described things… the way they seemed so sure of it. I felt condemned long before I died.”
“The doorways you saw while you wandered represented the pearly gates your parents told you about,” Becky explained. “By now, you must realize that your parents didn’t have the knowledge they needed, that they only knew what they had been taught. Do you understand?”
“Yes. My parents screwed up my life and now they have screwed up my death,” Josh replied. His voice was icy and filled with bitterness. “Oh, the pain,” Josh yelled as he grabbed his head with both hands. “It hurts so badly!”
Once again, Josh saw bright lights and heard ear-splitting noises that threatened to crush his skull. It was the same way he had reacted the first time Becky had seen him in her kitchen. The lights all over Becky’s home trembled and shook as Josh’s pain and rage built.
Too late, Becky realized that she had helped him see, but perhaps too quickly… or maybe he’d seen the wrong things, things that wouldn’t really help him to accept and cross-over. She had shown him that the ‘truth’ his parents preached was incorrect in an attempt to help him understand that he was not bound by those false beliefs.
It had backfired.
Becky shivered as a blast of cold air filled the space between her and Josh. His appearance once again shimmered between normal and the black and white image she and Bobby had seen before. He was about to explode again and Becky trembled from the frigid rage that emanated from Josh. This time, when Bobby leaned forward, she did not stop him.
“We get that your father was a charlatan, someone who claimed to be a Christian, but clearly wasn’t,” Bobby impatiently shouted. “But how did this knowledge lead to your death?”
Josh didn’t answer. The pain in his head was too real, too harsh. Without letting up, the distress traveled to his stomach. He bent double, clasping his abdomen as the terrible physical anguish briefly settled there. Then, the agony returned to his head and his hands found their way back there.
Tears streamed down Becky’s face. She hated to see Josh suffer so much. He’d died from a broken neck… why was he tormented from the pain in his head. She couldn’t understand and she didn’t see a connection.
More than a little impatient, Bobby yelled again, “Dammit, Josh, Who broke your neck? Who killed you?”
“I don’t know!!” Josh screamed. The sound filled the living room with such an icy explosion that lamps blew of their end tables, books fell from shelves, glasses on the coffee table shattered, and all the lights went out. Then, complete and utter silence in the midst of that darkness.
Josh was gone once again.
Bobby found his way to the kitchen and turned on more lights. Becky went to the foyer to do the same.
After there was some light to lead the way, Bobby got a ladder out of the storage closet and began to replace the bulbs in the ceiling fan. Becky set the lamps aright and replaced their bulbs. Next, Bobby pulled out the vacuum cleaner and sucked up the broken, uncrystallized fragments from the carpet. The two siblings worked side-by-side, quickly but silently, while their minds were busily sorting out the events of Josh’s visit.
Chapter 29
The next day, while Becky was at the shop doing inventory of a new shipment, Marty Smith stopped by to see her. Becky finished counting the box of solid silver cutlery, nodding her head at him all the while, before she recorded the count.
“Oh, Marty, it’s good to see you,” Becky eagerly welcomed him. “You have something to tell me, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do. It took me a while to get any answers about Josh’s phone because it was made before the common external power supply regulations were in effect. I had to find a charger that worked from eBay.”
“But, you were successful,” Becky said.
“Yes; I found that the text message he received that evening was from his father, Bradley Edwards.”
“What did it say?”
“I’m really not supposed to say, Becky. It is now an ongoing investigation.”
“Does that mean you think that Josh’s death was suspicious after all?” she asked.
“It seems that way now, but like I said, I really can’t tell you anything else.”
“Please, Marty. I really need to know what took Josh away from my party. It was the last time I saw him alive.”
Marty sighed before answering her. He understood how she felt; there were many times he’d wished he had understood why Barbara dumped him all those years ago. Not knowing could drive a person nuts. “The text was only an address to a location about two miles off I-26, not far from where Josh’s body was found. The company listed at that address is no longer in business, but at the time, Bradley Edwards worked at that location for the Phillips Company. They were distributors of sorts. They auctioned off various products to other parts of the country. From public records I found that they went out of business shortly after Josh’s death.”
“Did you find out anything else?” Becky asked. She had already begun to suspect that Bradley Edwards killed his own son, but how could she prove it.
“After I met with you that day, my sole intention was to find out why Josh left your party. I had hoped that if I got that answer for you, you’d put in a good word for me with your sister.” Marty said and then grinned at Becky. “At least, that’s the way it started. However, after I found out the rest, it felt suspicious that a young man would be found dead only a couple of miles away from his father’s place of work. It didn’t feel like a coincidence and I couldn’t let it alone.”
“So what happened next?”
“I convinced my boss to send a tech team out there and we found two sets of fingerprints that shouldn’t have been there: One set was from a guy named Paul Applewhite and the other set of fingerprints belonged to Josh Edwards. We found a lot of other stuff too. I suspect that something went down in that warehouse the night Josh died and I am determined to find out if it led to young Josh’s death.”
“Paul Applewhite,” Becky mused aloud, knowing full well who he was, “wasn’t he the man who got caught stealing from one of the local breweries?”
“Yes he was,” Marty replied, surprised that Becky knew about that. “However, I don’t know how he really ties into Josh’s case. Paul Applewhite died of a brain aneurysm the very next day. There wasn’t anything suspicious about his death.”
“Gosh,” she quickly added, “what if Josh stumbled upon his father and Paul Applewhite making a deal for those appropriated brews? Could it be that the products were really that valuable to Mr. Edwards? No, surely they were not worth a life, especially his own son’s life.” She let that statement hang in the air for a moment before continuing, “Perhaps, Mr. Edwards just didn’t want his son to know what he had done or to tell anyone else. Fear is a powerful motivation, isn’t it, Marty?”
“Yes, it is,” Marty thoughtfully replied as he stroked his chin in contemplation. “It’s possible and it’s act
ually a potential motive.”
“You know, I heard that Mr. Edwards was very upstanding and pious, what some would call a devout Christian,” Becky confided. “If he was selling stolen goods, he wouldn’t want a thing like that to become public knowledge, would he? Darn, the things people will do to protect their reputations. It’s amazing isn’t it?”
“Yes, I suppose you’re right about that,” Marty agreed as he looked at Becky Tibbs thoughtfully.
What is it with this family? Marty Smith silently mused. It’s not that they’re all gingers; it’s far more than that… every one of them has unusually gifted insight. And, Barbara… well, he sure hoped he could get her to notice him again.
After Marty left, Becky had an epiphany. She knew with certainty why Josh had such terrible pains in his head each time she mentioned Paul Applewhite. Now, she knew what to do.
Chapter 30
Becky worked late restocking inventory, but before leaving the antique shop that evening, she called Bobby again. He didn’t answer so she left a message on his home recorder, “I want to try to reach out to Josh and Paul again. If you can, if you’re not too busy, please come over tonight around nine o’clock. I might need your help again and I always need your moral support. I love you, Bobby.”
In the meantime, Bobby had worked a full day of hard manual labor installing rafters in one of the new homes he built for Habitat for Humanity. He was physically exhausted from his labors. He was also upset about the danger he thought Becky was in with Josh and he was restless. Bobby felt hopeless and depressed. He tried to reason things out, but he couldn’t understand why he felt the way he did. He had a good job, a new home, and he also had Rings, the best dog anyone could have.
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