From the Ashes: A Psychic Visions Novel

by Dale Mayer

  “Negative or positive?” Grayse asked, studying her carefully.

  Rowan watched as she answered instinctively.

  “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Because those are both judgments. If people come without judgment, then they would not be affected.”

  Grayse chuckled. “Now that is you talking,” he said.

  “What is all of that supposed to mean in terms of suicide season?” Rowan asked in confusion. “And how do I change that energy so nobody sees it as a suicide spot?”

  “It can take time,” Grayse said, “but it is possible to change that atmosphere. You now have a history of suicide. Everybody has that expectation of suicide, so they’re putting out that energy. What you need to do is get through a year without any suicides, so the next year that new mind-set’s stronger yet again.”

  “That sounds like a ton of work on a day-to-day basis and goes well beyond what I can do,” Rowan said.

  “Yes, and no,” Grayse said. “You have a group of us. So you can cleanse the area. Once it’s cleansed, basically set up alarms, so, when darkness tries to creep in, you just boot it back out again.”

  Rowan started to laugh. “If anybody else could hear us now,” he said, shaking his head.

  Grayse grinned at him. “The whole world would think we’re crazy, wouldn’t they?”

  “The whole world already thinks we’re crazy.” Phoenix leaned against her chair. “When are we supposed to meet the lawyers?”

  Grayse pulled out his phone and said, “In fifteen minutes.”

  Rowan watched as she tucked into her food a little bit faster. He finished his meal, pushed back his plate and waited for the waitress to come refill their coffee cups. He figured he had just enough time to get a fresh cup down before they had to leave.

  “Is it easier to affect one’s own family members’ energy?” she asked.

  Grayse nodded. “It’s always easier to affect family. Just think about it. You already have buttons you push for those you know and love. When you have somebody you’ve spent a lifetime with, you know their weaknesses almost instinctively.”

  Rowan only had one thing to say to that. “It sucks.”

  Grayse chuckled. “It does, indeed.” He looked at the empty plates on the table and said, “You guys ready to go?”

  “Yes,” Phoenix said. “We need to.” She stood and walked from the restaurant.

  Rowan dropped some money on the table to help cover their meals and stepped out behind her, waiting for Grayse to follow. Once outside, the three headed toward the lawyer’s office.

  Grayse’s voice was low as he said, “Remember. Not everybody looks at us in a positive light.”

  “Is that a warning about the lawyers?” she asked.

  “Not so much,” he said. “I’m just remembering your family may or may not have had a good reception here over all these years. It’s definitely something we have to consider.”

  “Not to mention fueling that energy all around us,” Rowan said quietly. “We need to be careful.”

  She nodded. At the lawyer’s office she looked at him, took a deep breath, grabbed the door and stepped inside.

  Chapter 24

  Phoenix looked around the lawyer’s office. It didn’t resemble the super high-end ones she’d seen in movies. It looked like a normal office. A woman behind the reception desk stood and said with a big smile, “May I help you?”

  “We’re here to see Mr. Lancaster, please,” Grayse said.

  “Of course,” she said. “Do you have an appointment?”

  “Yes, we do.”

  The woman consulted with her appointment book for a moment and then looked over the screen. “Is this for Phoenix Rising?”

  Phoenix, hands in her pockets, gave the barest of a nod. The woman’s eyes locked on Phoenix. “If you want to take a seat, I’ll let him know you’re here.”

  But she didn’t move. And neither did Phoenix. Grayse stepped forward and deliberately placed himself between the two of them. “Hopefully we don’t have to wait long,” he said.

  The woman gave a headshake and smiled up at him. “No, I’ll let him know right now.” She turned and left the small room. When she came back out, she said, “He’ll see you now.”

  Phoenix stepped between the two men and walked down the hall with her. When she was out of earshot from the receptionist, she said, “What was that all about?”

  “You’re an oddity. Remember that,” Grayse said. “A lot of history is here. A lot of people may not be terribly impressed with that cult.”

  She snorted. “You think? What about me?”

  They stepped through a doorway into a large office. A fiftyish graying man in a casual gray suit to match his hair stood behind a large desk. He looked at them, but no smile was on his face. “Phoenix Rising?” He held out a hand. She nodded, stepped forward and shook his hand. He motioned at the three chairs and said, “Please, take a seat.”

  With the three of them seated, he said, “This is a pretty unusual occasion.”

  “In what way?” She might have been the burned, tortured child when she left this place, but she was now an associate professor in her own right with a lot of years of academia and experience in dealing with people. She didn’t know why it seemed like she’d forgotten everything in her life up until now, but something about this lawyer’s mannerisms made her draw a mantle of authority around her shoulders. She gazed at him directly.

  “Because that property has always been a contentious issue,” he said smoothly.

  “By whom and because of what?”

  He sighed and settled back. “A lot of people here were related to the people found dead on the property.”

  “And?”

  “They think they have a right to that property,” he replied.

  “That’s nice,” she said. “Are they all blood relatives?”

  “Yes,” he said. “But not of John himself.”

  “Of course. And he had the title before me?”

  He nodded. “Yes, he did transfer it into your name the week before he died.”

  “The week before they all died,” she exclaimed. So not the day of but close enough for him to have had an inkling of what was to come.

  Again the lawyer nodded.

  “So what’s the problem?” she asked.

  He looked at her in surprise. “Only that there’s a lot of ill will toward you because of it.”

  “Toward the child who was tortured and beaten for all her life?” she asked in a curiously neutral tone.

  He shook his head and said, “You’re right. I mean, obviously you’re an innocent victim in all this too. I’m just letting you know how the town generally feels about this.”

  “Is there any chance of it being sold or rezoned into something useful?” she asked.

  “Potentially,” he said. “There is talk of a big center going up. But I don’t know if it will work.”

  Grayse spoke up. “Did you handle her father’s estate?”

  “In conjunction with my father, who had the law firm that burned down,” he said with a nod. “Yes.”

  “Do you hold me responsible for that too?” Phoenix interrupted. “I don’t know why you would. I was a child who had just been rescued from a cult. It seems like people want to pick on an innocent victim in both of these cases.”

  “It was suspicious timing,” the lawyer said apologetically. “Something was odd in the way you were rescued as well.”

  “Odd how?” Rowan interjected.

  “Just what some of the rescuers said at the time,” the lawyer said with the dismissive wave of his hand. “There was always an odd history to that place. So, your rescue was just another part of it. Added to the legend.”

  “And what legend was that?”

  He smirked. “That it was just a place people avoided. When the women came to town, they came in groups. They never spoke to anybody. They bought what they needed then they left.”

  “Where did the money come from?” Rowan ask
ed.

  Phoenix appreciated the fact that the cop in him was digging for answers.

  “Good question,” he said. “Her father’s trust.”

  “What trust is that?” Rowan asked. “If there is a trust, why was it not passed down to her?”

  The lawyer looked at him in surprise. “Well, it did, of course.”

  Phoenix leaned forward. “Are you telling me that I was supposed to get money every year from this trust?”

  He stared at her. “Didn’t you?”

  She shook her head. “No one ever mentioned a trust to me. I’ve never received any monies from my father’s estate.”

  He tapped the papers in front of him. “It’s been deposited into this account every month. I don’t have access to the account to see if any has been taken out, but the money should be still there.”

  She held out her hand. “What account?”

  “It’s in your name,” he said with a puzzled frown. He handed her the sheet.

  She checked the amount that had been deposited, and her jaw dropped. “This much has been paid every year?”

  “No, that’s monthly,” he said. “Your father’s family was very wealthy too, you know.”

  “Where did that money come from?” she asked faintly. “Because hundreds of thousands of dollars are in that account.” She shook her head. “I had no idea.”

  “You’re a very wealthy woman,” the lawyer said. “From your father’s side of the family. Your mother’s side were small business owners in Maine. I don’t have much information other than she was an only child and the parents passed away years before you left the compound.”

  She didn’t know what to say about that so said nothing.

  “His family was from my hometown,” Rowan said. “But I didn’t find any sign of great wealth.”

  She frowned and asked, “Can you find any names?”

  “Of course. Give me a minute.” The lawyer tapped away on his computer. Within a few moments, he started printing documents. He looked at Phoenix and hesitated. “I know you are who you say you are,” he said, “but, by law, I do need to check for proof.”

  She took her identification out of her purse and handed over her driver’s license and credit cards.

  He looked at them, compared them to the information on his screen and nodded. “Fine,” he said. “I can give you the information now. Thank you for that.”

  “Make a copy,” she said. “Just so we don’t have to do this again.”

  He smiled at her. “That’s an even better idea.” He walked to the printer, lifted the lid and scanned her identification. He picked up the paperwork he had printed off and gave everything back to her.

  “That’s the information I have on the trust. That’s the information on the bank accounts and how it’s been set up. Just your name is on the account. I assumed you knew,” he said. “I’m sorry. Could have made the last ten years a lot easier.”

  “Maybe,” she said. “And maybe I wouldn’t have appreciated it as much.”

  “What did you do with your life?”

  She raised her gaze to his and smiled. “I was way behind in my schooling when I was rescued. I ended up with foster parents who were both professors. They got my education up to snuff pretty fast, and then I went on to university myself. Until a few months ago, when I was laid off, I was working as an associate professor.”

  He smiled a fatherly beam at her that was full of approval. “I’m really glad to hear that,” he said. “I know at the time some suggested you might not have been right in the head,” he said almost apologetically. “Partly because of your appearance.”

  “You mean the scrawny beaten-up bleeding and burned body that came out of that house fire?” she asked with a smile. At his nod, she added, “And with good reason. I don’t blame anybody for that. I’m very grateful for the rescue.”

  “I’m sure you were,” he said. “I’m just sorry that nobody else was rescued with you.”

  “You haven’t heard, I’m sure,” she said, “but, until a few days ago, I hadn’t realized nobody knew about the bomb shelter. We opened it yesterday and found …” She stopped, took a deep breath. “We found another seven bodies.”

  The lawyer sucked in a breath and leaned forward. “A lot of people here are still missing family members. I believe several children and possibly a couple adults. I don’t remember exactly.”

  “It’s possible,” she said. “You’ll have to contact the police. They have been working on the property all yesterday and likely today.”

  “Good Lord,” he said. “Why the bomb shelter?”

  “Because they all believed they could live forever,” she said tiredly. “And, down there, they believed they could keep a different lifestyle. Honestly they were crazy. And I don’t know how to explain it any more than that. They got sucked into my father’s beliefs, and that’s just the facts of life.” She looked down at the bank information and said, “Do we know if any of his followers gave him money?”

  “It’s possible,” the lawyer said. “There was a hefty bank account at the time, but there were a lot of funerals to pay for. So I did utilize that money to cover his funeral and that of the others.”

  “You’re thinking that was money from the families?”

  “I have no idea,” he said. “None of the research I was given showed that the women had any money to give in the later years. I believe they did originally, but, after that, there wasn’t much more to give. I think he collected around him some of the more vulnerable women of society.”

  He offered her a nod of understanding. “Well, you’re certainly all set now. This trust isn’t from the families you lived with. In fact, this is the money that kept those women and children in food. Regular withdrawals were taken to help support that cult up until his death. We transferred everything into the trust for you at that point.”

  She nodded and looked over at him. “What happens to the property now?”

  He shrugged. “It’s yours free and clear. The tax money has been taken out of his bank account on a regular basis. Several other accounts were used to pay the bills. You have about four more years of money left to pay those bills, and then I’m afraid you’ll have to make some decisions.”

  “Thank you,” she said, feeling incredibly freer than she had when she first walked in. “Much appreciated.”

  “One note is here from my father,” the lawyer said, studying his screen. “Something your father left with us. Something about a box you were supposed to be given.” He walked to a safe, unlocked it and brought out a box. He stared at it for a long time and then turned to them.

  “I have been hanging on to this since your father gave it to mine.” He handed it to me. “It’s definitely for you. It even says For Phoenix on top.”

  She stood and hesitantly reached for it, turning it over in her hands. It was the size of a small cigar box, about six by eight inches. Her name was scratched on the top. She nodded. “Thank you. Did he leave this for me?”

  The lawyer nodded. “There is a note on the account. It was the last thing to be dispersed from his estate. I can close that now.”

  “Were there other things to be handed out?” Rowan asked.

  “A couple small bequests to the stores that they had worked with on a regular basis,” he said. “Nothing that amounted to much. We never opened the box, so I don’t know what’s in there.”

  “You didn’t, or you couldn’t open the box?”

  “Honestly I tried but couldn’t open it. You hate to keep something if you don’t know what’s inside, but, the truth of the matter is, it doesn’t open. Hopefully you know how.”

  She glanced at the lawyer and said, “Not a clue. Thank you for everything.” She walked to the door.

  Rowan followed her. “You don’t want to open it?”

  She hugged the box close to her chest. “I don’t want to open it while he’s watching,” she said in a low tone.

  Rowan understood and nodded.

  The thre
e walked back toward the hotel, with Phoenix clutching at the box and the legal documents in her hand.

  “Do you want me to hold those for you?”

  She nodded and let Rowan take the papers from her hand.

  He tucked them under his arm. It took them about five minutes to get back to the hotel room.

  She walked over to the small table and sat down.

  “Interesting that you’re after the box and not the business accounts,” Grayse said quietly. “A lot of money is detailed there.”

  She glanced at him. “I guess that’s why I feel like I probably appreciated my education more. I had to work for it,” she said smoothly. “Money is in there, maybe not enough for me to retire per se but enough for me to be comfortable. That makes a huge difference between poverty and not eating and having a roof over my head. I have an education. I can work when I need to, so I’ll never be on the streets again. This is a piece of my history that I both loathe and find I can’t let go of.”

  “That makes it very dangerous,” Grayse said and sat down across from her, and Rowan took the spot beside her.

  “It could be empty, you know?” Rowan suggested.

  She chuckled. “We’re hoping it is, aren’t we? Because otherwise, what is in here could be something I really don’t want to see.”

  “Then don’t open it,” Grayse said. “Nobody says you have to.”

  “Maybe,” she said. “But it’s definitely something I feel I need to open.” She took a deep breath and then tried to pop the lid up. But it didn’t move. She frowned and applied more pressure, as if it were stuck. She lifted it up, using her other hand, forcing it apart. She shook her head and said, “It should open easier than this.”

  She inspected it, rotated it, flipped it around, looking for springs or a latch to open it and then shrugged. She handed it to Rowan. “You try.”

  Rowan struggled as he looked at it, but there was no secret latch that he could see. He didn’t have the strength to force it open but knew he could get a screwdriver and possibly pop the hinge on the back. He glanced at Grayse. “Do you want to try?”

  Grayse already had his hand out. “You’re not looking at it from the right direction,” he said. “You’re looking at it as a concrete or wooden block. You should be looking at it from an energy point of view.”