by H. P. Bayne
Her smile faded. “Do you think it means he’ll leave me?”
Sully leaned forward, holding her eye to ensure she heard him. “I don’t believe the people we love ever leave us. Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t there.”
A call to Forbes that evening revealed police had yet to release the scene.
Even so, the identification unit had been and gone, all pertinent evidence documented and seized. Police were remaining there one more night to keep the gawking public out until rail crews could ensure everything was safe for use.
Forbes had paved the way for Sully to take one last step this evening. It was unlikely, given the events of last night, the Edge Creek area would be quiet ever again. Tonight might be the only chance at privacy he would have.
Dez and Sully’s mom came over in the evening to stay with Eva and Kayleigh so Dez, Sully and Lachlan could meet with Tim’s son and mother at the site of his death.
“How’s Eva doing?” Lachlan asked while the three drove out.
“Holding up,” Dez said. “I think talking to Sully helped a lot more than talking to me, honestly.”
“It’s a hell of a thing to cope with,” Lachlan said. “But I’ve been there. If she needs someone to talk to, tell her I’m available.”
Dez turned a grateful smile on Lachlan. “Thanks, man. I really appreciate that.”
Lachlan harrumphed and turned to face the passenger side window. “Don’t go getting soft on me, Braddock.”
They arrived at the Edge Creek crossing before Val and Gabe, so took the opportunity to introduce themselves to the patrol officers guarding the scene.
“We’re trying to stay this side of the bushes,” one of them said. “That light, man. It’s freaky as all hell.”
Sully smiled. “It kind of is. Thanks for letting us do this.”
Tim’s family pulled up moments later. Tim, Sully observed, was with them.
“I don’t know if I can do this,” Val said. “I’ve never been out here. Not once.” She looked up at Gabe as he wrapped an arm around her.
“You’ll be fine, Kookum,” he said. “I’m with you.”
Sully saw another presence in the car. “Is that Liz?”
“Yeah,” Gabe said. “She wanted to come, but the light scares her too much.”
“So the two of you are pretty tight then, huh?” Dez asked, light ribbing in his tone.
“Yeah, you could say that,” he said.
Sully turned from Gabe to Val. “Ready?”
Receiving nods, he led the way, ducking under the tape Dez lifted for them. Sully took them to the tracks, near the spot where Tim had died years earlier. The light was indeed there, bright and very close, as if the reaper knew his job needed doing soon.
Before Sully could say anything, Val held up a hand. “You said you can see Tim, and that he needs to cross over to be at peace. I believe you—I really do—but I need something more. I need proof he’s here right now. Is there a way he can show us?”
Sully didn’t need to ask. Tim moved toward him, icy fingers reaching for Sully’s hand. Sully took the hint and removed his glove, allowing the connection.
An image flashed into his brain, Tim standing in a hospital room, his newborn son held in his arms. Val stood next to him, fingers gently stroking the infant’s head. As usual, Sully couldn’t hear, but he understood the thoughts forming in Tim’s mind as mother and son spoke. Val said Gabe looked so much like Tim, right down to the birthmark on his left hip. Tim heard, but his eyes remained locked on his baby, this tiny miracle he’d helped to create. As long as he was around, nothing bad would ever happen to his boy. He’d make sure of it.
As the vision ended and Sully found himself once again staring at Tim’s ghost, he understood why Tim was afraid to cross over. It wasn’t about fear of the reaper—not exactly anyway. It was about what the reaper represented. It wanted to take Tim from his boy, from the duties he’d assigned himself as father. If he left, who knew if he’d be able to watch over his son?
One problem at a time. Sully smiled at Tim, then turned back to Val and Gabe, passing along what Tim had shared. Val broke into a sob, and Gabe, tears coursing down his own face, held her. They needed a private moment together, and that worked well for Sully. He tugged on Dez’s sleeve and led them farther down the line, away from the light.
“Tim, we need to talk,” Sully said. He waited until the spirit dragged himself from his family and joined them. “You’re worried you won’t be able to be Gabe’s dad if you’re not present the way you are now. I’ll admit I don’t know much about what comes after this, but I can tell you one thing: I helped my own dad cross over, and he’s still around. I know he is.”
Dez, an anxious, hovering presence at Sully’s side, leaned down. “Where’s Tim at?”
Sully extended a hand in front of him, stopping short of touching Tim’s form. “Here.”
Dez nodded, blew out a breath and directed his gaze at what, to him, would be an empty spot in the moonlit dark. “Listen, Tim, I’m a dad too, so I get it. But Sully’s right. Our dad still gives us gentle slaps upside the melons from the other side. Ravens. He uses ravens sometimes. Anyway, I don’t think you have to worry you won’t be able to be around your family. You will. Only difference is, you’ll be doing it from a far better place. No offence, but a train track with a creepy ghost light isn’t the sort of place I’d want to be spending even a portion of my eternity.”
Sully chuckled. “Tim’s laughing at you. You’re a dork.” He returned his attention to Tim. Behind him, his mother and son were pulling apart. Sully sensed they were ready—or as ready as they ever would be.
But Tim had to call this particular shot. Sully waited. A long moment passed. Then, at long last, Tim nodded. Sully nodded back.
They returned to Val and Gabe. Lachlan, who had been hovering near the bushes, expression suggesting he was finding this entire process on the awkward side, rejoined them.
“Tim’s anxious about going because he’s worried he’ll be abandoning you,” Sully explained. “I’ve told him he’ll still be able to be a part of your lives, even from the other side. It might help if he hears it from you.”
“He’s not at peace here, is he?” Val asked.
Sully shook his head.
“Then go, son,” she said. “We’ll be right here, expecting you to come and visit us, though. As for Gabe, don’t worry. I’ll take good care of him, just like I did you.”
“I wish I’d known you when you were alive,” Gabe said. “But I feel like I know you anyway because of Kookum. She’s told me so much about you. I know you’re a strong man, and I’m my father’s son, right? I’ll be okay. I just need you to be okay.”
“He’s smiling,” Sully said. “I think he’s ready.”
Val smiled too. Her gaze was directed skyward rather than at her son, but it didn’t matter. “Be at peace, my boy. I love you always.”
Tim gave his family one last long look. He bestowed a grateful smile on Sully, then finally turned to face the light.
The reaper appeared, standing metres in front of Tim. Slowly, it extended a hand, palm up. Welcoming rather than commanding.
Sully watched as Tim took a few tentative steps toward the reaper. Then the two fell into step together, heads turned toward each other as if having a friendly conversation. For not the first time in his life, Sully wished he could hear the dead.
The two disappeared into the light. Then, a moment later, the Edge Creek Light vanished completely.
“What happened?” Gabe asked.
Val answered for Sully. “He’s crossed over. He’s at peace. I can feel it.”
Gabe wiped away a tear before it could drip down his cheek. “Wish I could. I don’t feel anything.”
“You will,” Sully said. “Maybe not now, but someday when you’re ready, you will.”
Something occurred to him, forgotten in the rush of the investigation. While Lachlan and Dez talked to Val, Sully pulled Gab
e gently to the side. “Someone I talked to about the case suggested something to me about you. He wondered whether you might have gifts similar to mine. What do you think?”
Gabe shrugged. “I don’t know, man. I try not to think about it. I find it really interesting, but it creeps me out too, you know?”
“I get it. I spent half my life terrified of the things I see.”
Gabe lowered his head, then took a furtive peek at his grandma before leading Sully a few steps farther away. “I don’t talk about it with anyone because I don’t want people to think I’m weird. But I do experience things sometimes. I see things or I hear them. I try not to. I told my mom once, and she thought I was crazy.”
“You’re not crazy. As to worrying about people thinking you’re weird, I get that too. The trick is finding the right people to confide in. I want you to know you can talk to me, all right? You’ve got my card. You need anything, ever, you let me know.”
Gabe nodded and smiled. “I hope I never have to worry about it, but that’s actually really good to know. Thanks.”
Sully, Dez and Lachlan saw Val and Gabe off safely a few minutes later. From the roadside, Sully watched their taillights disappear into the dark.
He felt a hand plucking at his sleeve and turned to face Lachlan.
“I owe you an apology,” he said.
“For what?”
“I didn’t have O’Keefe pegged as dangerous. I could’ve got you killed.”
“Not even remotely your fault, Lachlan,” Sully said. “Don’t go there.”
“I feel like I’m slipping sometimes, like I’m not as sharp as I used to be. There was a time my instincts would have had O’Keefe in the frame within seconds of meeting him. Now ….”
“You’re human,” Dez said. “Just like the two of us. You’re never going to be able to call everything right. Anyway, don’t forget, you suffered a serious concussion not so long ago. It’s not uncommon for head injuries to do a long-term number on a person.”
“Somehow, you’re not making me feel better.”
“Give yourself time,” Dez said. “All I’m saying.”
The three of them headed across the road and got back into the SUV.
“You know, I feel like a weight’s been lifted,” Lachlan said as Dez started the vehicle. “That file always bugged me. Seeing a resolution … well, I can guarantee, I’m going to sleep well tonight. Only thing wrong is I would’ve liked to see O’Keefe face justice for his crimes.”
“One thing I’ve learned about the spirit world, Lachlan,” Sully said. “Death doesn’t make you immune to justice. I have a feeling wherever O’Keefe is, he’s paying for what he did.”
22
“Sounds like everything’s been sorted out,” Marc Echoles said.
He and Sully sat across from each other at Marc’s desk, Sully having given him the rundown about the past couple of days.
“Almost everything,” Sully said. “Gabe’s mom’s pretty upset about her husband getting charged with murder, obviously. She and Gabe still aren’t getting along, so he’s gone to live with his grandma. From what I understand, Shelby didn’t even make a stink about it.”
“Do you think she knew?”
“About Will’s role in Tim’s death, you mean? I don’t know. I think it’s possible she suspected something at least. She definitely doesn’t think much of Tim, even now that she knows he didn’t die by suicide. She might come around though, in time. No doubt she and Will spent much of the past seventeen years saying a lot of negative stuff about Tim to make themselves feel better. Could be without Will around to poison the water, she’ll come back to reality. Tim was a far better man than Will ever was. Hell, he saved my life.”
“Got you into some hot water first, though,” Marc said with a wink.
Sully grudgingly conceded the point. “Fair enough. But it wasn’t intentional. He was floating around all that time with very few clues about how it happened. He found an answer, he got excited. I can’t blame him.”
“Well, fingers crossed about Shelby. In any case, sounds like Gabe’s got what he needs with Val.”
“Yeah, he does. I’m living proof the best parents aren’t always the ones you’re born with. If my birth mom had lived maybe things would have been all right, but she was so young when she had me. I don’t regret for a second the way my life turned out. The Braddocks are the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Marc smiled knowingly and sat forward, leaning into arms extended along the desktop. “You didn’t just come here to talk about Tim and Gabe, did you?”
Sully smirked. “Sometimes the way you can read me freaks even me out. Yeah, you’re right. There is something else.”
“The reaper?”
Sully nodded. “When I was running from O’Keefe in the woods, the reaper saved me twice. I mean, he didn’t heal me exactly, but he helped with the pain and the other symptoms enough I could keep going. And he led me out of there safely.”
“Like I said, reapers don’t take life, they just guide souls.”
“Yeah, but he kind of gave me back life, you know? Why would he do that?”
“You said you thought he was a lawman?”
“He had a badge pinned to his vest, so yeah, I think so.”
“Maybe he was acting as a lawman then: protecting a good person from a bad one. Anyway, reapers are likely clued into a master plan for life and death. How else would they know to be in a certain place at a certain time to collect a soul? He probably knew he was there to take O’Keefe away. It was just a matter of being there to ensure it happened as it was supposed to.”
“Sure, I guess.”
“You’re not sold.”
“I can’t help feeling like there’s more to it, like we’re connected somehow. I mean, I could even hear him. I can’t hear the dead.”
Marc sat back, his classic expression settling over his features. Sully had seen the look many times throughout their friendship; he knew a thoughtful answer would be at the end of it.
“It’s interesting,” Marc said.
Sully waited a few seconds for Marc to add to the statement, but the man sometimes got lost in the pauses.
“What is?” Sully asked.
“You guide souls as well, just in a different way. Or maybe not so different. You find lost spirits, and you help pave the way for them to move onto the next world. Has it ever occurred to you that in another form, you might be a reaper yourself?”
Sully laughed. “You won’t believe this, but Dez suggested the same thing.”
Marc shared in the chuckle. “Now, there’s something I never would’ve thought I’d live to see. Your brother’s getting wise to the spirit world. In all seriousness, though, you do share a massive similarity to reapers. Perhaps the reason he saved you—and the reason you could hear him—was he recognized a kindred spirit, a partner, if you will. Or it could be ….”
Another lengthy pause with need for Sully to break into it. “What, Marc?”
Marc smiled apologetically. “Sorry. I get lost in my own brain sometimes.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“It could be after your current life is finally over, you’re destined to become what that lawman became. A gatherer of souls, there to guide them where they need to go.”
A few days ago, the idea of turning into the spirit he’d seen on the train would have been nightmare-inducing. Now, having spent a little more time around him, Sully realized the idea wasn’t so bad.
He made the mistake of mentioning it to Dez and Eva that evening while they were sitting around the downstairs television. Dez predictably shuddered.
“What?” Sully asked. “It wouldn’t be such a bad thing, right?”
Dez landed a hand on his shoulder. “Just don’t go looking for a career change yet, all right? You might have a future in private investigation—if you can keep yourself alive long enough.”
Afterword
Thanks so much for reading! I am continuing to work on th
e next Dez and Sully books, and would be pleased to keep you updated on future projects and release dates if you would like to join my mailing list. As an added bonus, a growing anthology of short stories, entitled Haunted: The Ghosts of Sullivan Gray, is available as a gift to subscribers. Visit my website at hpbayne.com to sign up or simply click here to join and pick up the current version of Haunted.
The books in The Braddock & Gray Case Files are intended as standalone books, so they can be read independently of each other and from the preceding The Sullivan Gray Series. Braddock & Gray follows the events of Sullivan Gray, so those who have read the previous series will find a few cookies scattered here and there. I will include links below to the books in The Sullivan Gray Series should you wish to check them out (if you haven’t already, of course).
The books in The Sullivan Gray Series can also be read as standalones to some extent, each containing a plot that wraps itself up by book’s end. But there is a deeper plot that threads throughout the series so, for that reason, I always suggest this particular series is best read in the following order (click the titles to check them out on Amazon):
Black Candle
Harbinger
The Dule Tree
Crawl
Hollow Road
Second Son
Spirit Caller
As always, I wanted to take a moment to thank my family and friends for their incredible support. I am so appreciative of all the people in my life who have been at my side throughout this journey.
A big, Dez-sized thanks also to my brilliant editor Hannah Sullivan and to my absolutely stellar team of advance readers, all of whom ensure each of the books is all it can be and more. I am incredibly grateful to you all.
And, of course, a big thank you to everyone who’s picked up this and other Sully books. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for making my author dreams come true.
About the Author