Those who had met the chief’s late wife, Cindy MacDonald, often remarked how much Evan favored his mother, while her older son, Eddy, looked like the chief’s mini-me. On Monday morning, Eddy and Evan were sitting on their front porch when their father stepped out the door, on his way to work, and stopped to talk before leaving.
“You boys are spending the day together? Right?” MacDonald adjusted his shirt’s collar.
“Oh yeah,” Eddy said with a nod. Evan had given him the abbreviated version of his medium experiences, but Eddy wanted more details.
“I called Danielle, and she said if you boys wanted to go over there today, maybe to help with any of the questions Eddy has, you are more than welcome. But before you leave, have something to eat. All you boys had for breakfast was a cinnamon roll. Make yourself a sandwich or something.”
“Okay,” Eddy and Evan chimed.
Edward looked at his eldest. “And remember, don’t discuss this with anyone else beyond the circle of people we mentioned. Not your best friend or your aunt or grandparents.”
“Don’t worry, Dad. They would think I’m nuts,” Eddy scoffed.
Edward laughed. “Yes, yes, they would.”
Eddy suggested they walk to Marlow House instead of riding their bikes. The main reason, he wanted to talk to his brother on their way over. There were many questions he wanted to ask before they arrived at Marlow House. Neither boy remembered their father’s instructions to eat something before heading out.
“I can’t believe you were actually talking to the ghost of Clay Bowman the other day. He was really standing right there in your bedroom?”
“Yeah. And Dad wasn’t too happy about it.”
“I can imagine. Wow. Weren’t you afraid?”
“Nahh. He’s a ghost. Nothing he can do to me.”
“So a ghost is just sort of there, like air? I’ve always heard ghosts can slam doors and fool with electricity.”
Evan stopped walking and looked at his brother. “I thought you didn’t believe in ghosts before?”
Eddy shrugged. “I didn’t say that.” Evan started walking again. “I just didn’t know if people could really communicate with the dead.”
“We call them spirits, not really the dead. That sounds kinda creepy. Spirits that stick around are called ghosts. But some ghosts like to be called spirits.”
“How do you know all this?”
Evan shrugged. “I’ve just learned it, I guess. Some of the other mediums have told me. Some things the ghosts tell me.”
“That’s fire! So a ghost can’t slam doors and stuff? Because if a ghost could slam doors, they should be able to move other stuff that could hit you.”
“Some ghosts can move stuff. Danielle calls it harnessing energy.”
“Then why do you say ghosts can’t hurt you?”
“Eva says the Universe won’t let a ghost hurt an innocent.”
“Who is Eva?”
“Eva Thorndike. Her painting is in the museum.”
Eddy stopped walking and looked at his brother. “No way. Are you saying you’ve talked to Eva Thorndike’s ghost?”
“Yeah. She’s real nice.”
“And you never told me before?”
Evan shrugged. “And you would have believed me?”
“No. But wow. That’s sick. Wow.”
They continued to talk when something was mentioned about Heather. Eddy said, “I can see Heather being a medium. She looks like someone who could talk to dead people.”
“I told you, it’s spirits or ghosts.”
“I meant nothing bad about it. After all, Heather is fire.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look at her. She’s like the girl all the guys want to date, but they’re all afraid to ask her out. I can’t believe she’s dating Brian. He could be her grandpa.”
“Brian’s pretty cool.”
“I suppose. Can’t believe he’s known about all this, too. It’s like there was an alternate universe going on, and I didn’t know anything about it. I wish I could tell someone.”
“But you can’t.”
“I know.”
Chief MacDonald sat in his office with Brian on Monday morning. He had just finished telling him how Eddy had received the information about his brother.
Brian, who sat in a chair facing the chief, shook his head and let out a sigh. “It’s a lot to take in for someone Eddy’s age. Hell, it’s a lot to take in at my age. So he didn’t believe you at first?”
“He reacted a little like Ian, now that I think about it. Thought we were trying to pull some joke on him, and he didn’t appreciate it. But his mother, she came through.”
“That must be weird for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Knowing that someone you love, someone who is the mother of your children, whom you planned to spend your life with, is no longer here. But then she is. It’s like she’s watching over you. Not in an abstract way I used to hear people say before I was taken up on that mountain with Heather and Walt. It was always something people would say to make you feel better. But no one really knew for sure. But now, well, it’s more…”
Brian paused while searching for the right word, but the chief beat him to it when he said, “Tangible?”
Brian nodded. “Yeah.”
“When people said it before, it comforted me in an abstract way. But it’s different now, and when I think about it, weird might be an apt description.” The chief chuckled and then got serious again. “But at the same time, it’s confusing. If it’s possible for Cindy to visit the boys in a dream hop, why doesn’t she do it more often? She visited us a couple of Christmases ago. Why can’t I visit her every night? Or at least every Christmas?”
“At one time, I would have asked that same question. But something I’ve learned from Heather is that we have our lives to live here, and for whatever reason, those who pass on have things they must do on the other side.”
“What about Eva and Marie?”
“According to Heather, Eva says the Universe has its reasons for doing things, and we just need to trust it and continue living our lives as best we can.”
A perfunctory knock came at the open doorway, followed by, “Am I disturbing something?”
Brian turned to face the doorway and saw Joe standing there.
“Come on in.” The chief waved Joe into the office.
Joe walked to one of the office chairs and sat down. “I just thought you might be interested in something I just learned. It involves Carpenter’s arrest this morning.”
“You’re talking about what happened over at the hobby shop?” the chief asked.
Joe nodded. “Yes.”
“What happened at the hobby shop?” Brian asked.
“Two boys broke into the back of the store early this morning before it was open. The owner came in to work and found them filling up a large box with items that the store owner assumes they were planning to take with them. Considering their age, they were released back to the custody of their mother,” Joe explained.
“I was aware of most of that,” the chief said.
“But did anyone tell you the identities of the boys?” Joe asked.
The chief shook his head. “No, Colleen mentioned it this morning. She didn’t say who the boys were. I don’t think she had their names at the time. Why? Do we know them?”
“We all worked with their father, Clay Bowman.”
The chief leaned back in his office chair. “Really?”
Joe nodded. “What do they say about the apple not falling far from the tree?”
“Someone needs to talk to those boys, straighten them out,” Brian said as he and the chief exchanged glances.
“You want to get an ice cream before we go to Marlow House?” Eddy asked his brother. They had just reached where Beach Drive intersected with the road leading into the pier parking lot.
“I don’t have any money,” Evan said.
“I’ve got plenty of money. I mowed four yards last week, and Aunt Sissy finally paid me for cleaning out her garage.”
“Yeah, but I don’t wanna spend all your money.”
“Don’t be silly.” Eddy gave Evan a little nudge, pushing him toward the pier.
As the boys continued to the pier, Eddy said, “Maybe we should wait until after lunch before we get ice cream. I didn’t have much for breakfast. Just that cinnamon roll.”
Evan stopped in his tracks and groaned. “We were supposed to eat before we left.”
“I didn’t want a sandwich; I want a burger.”
“Where are we going to get a burger?” Evan asked.
“Where do you think?” Eddy gave his brother another nudge, and they continued to Pier Café.
Evan felt important sitting with his high-school-age brother at Pier Café. Eddy had even said he was going to buy Evan lunch. The last couple of years, ever since Eddy became a teenager, he didn’t want to hang out with Evan and seemed annoyed when he had to watch Evan on the days their dad worked, and he couldn’t stay at Aunt Sissy’s or with a friend.
Last night when they had gone to bed, Evan worried his brother was mad at him. He wasn’t sure how to convince Eddy they weren’t making it all up. He might have asked Marie to move something, but Eddy had been led to believe Walt Marlow was an amateur magician, and Eddy would just assume Walt was in on the gag.
When their order arrived, Evan wasn’t sure how he was going to finish his entire hamburger, and he didn’t want to waste any because Eddy had spent his own money buying their lunch. But then Eddy said, “Hey, if you can’t eat all your burger, I’ll eat it.” Evan grinned and quickly cut the burger in half and gave one half to Eddy.
Keeping his voice low so other diners wouldn’t hear their conversation, Eddy asked Evan more questions about ghosts while they ate their lunch. Suddenly, Evan stopped eating, setting what remained of his burger back on his plate as he stared past his brother.
“What’s wrong?” Eddy glanced behind him and saw nothing but an empty booth. He looked back to his brother.
“There is one behind you. In the booth.”
“One what?” Eddy asked.
“A ghost.”
Eddy frowned and turned around again. He saw nothing out of the ordinary. He looked back at his brother and smiled. “You almost got me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Telling me there is a ghost in the booth behind us. There’s nothing there.”
“Obviously you can’t see it.”
Eddy rolled his eyes. “You told me yourself that when you first see a ghost, you don’t know it’s a ghost because it looks like a regular person. So if there was a ghost sitting in the booth behind me, you wouldn’t know it was behind me.” Eddy smiled confidently.
“Well, I would if the person who I thought was a ghost just walked through Carla before he sat down.”
Eddy abruptly turned in his seat, again looking at the empty booth behind theirs. Unbeknownst to him, the ghost in question had overheard their conversation and was now turned in their direction, the ghost’s elbows propped up on the back of the booth, chin resting on a balled fist, his face just inches from Eddy’s face.
“Hello,” the ghost greeted.