Glenn joined them moments later. He offered them a before dinner drink, but both declined.
“Well, I’d say this has been a very successful week,” he said with a broad smile.
Sam nodded. “It’s always good when we can convince anguished spirits to move on. George shouldn’t have any qualms about working up there now.”
“That’s good,” Cameron said, coming through the door, “because it’s very important to keep George happy.” He grinned. “Without him, the estate wouldn’t be the paradise that it is.” He looked to Sam and Lacey. “So, all packed up? Ready to go back to LaLa Land?”
“Ready,” Lacey said. “It’s great to be able to travel for our job, but always nice to get home.”
Cameron turned to Glenn. “Everything set for them for tomorrow?”
Glenn nodded. To Sam and Lacey, he said, “How about if we’re ready to leave about eight in the morning? That way we’ll get you home at a reasonable hour.”
“Sounds perfect,” Lacey said.
“Well, then, shall we?” Cam motioned to the table.
As soon as they were seated, Paloma and her staff began serving. Cameron tasted the wine, nodded, and Paloma poured for everyone.
“So, Sam,” Cameron said, “in your little speech to Harcourt, I noticed your reference to reincarnation. Is that a Navajo belief?”
Sam sipped his wine, taking a moment to answer. “From all that I’ve seen, all I’ve experienced, I’ve cobbled together my own understanding of the spirit world and the journey our souls make. I doubt it aligns fully with any cultural belief system.”
“But you do think Harcourt will come back? Get another shot?”
Sam nodded. “Yes, I do.”
“No judgment from God? No punishment for all his crimes?”
Sam smiled grimly. “I’d say being bricked up inside a building is pretty good punishment.”
“Mmm, yes, I suppose so,” Cameron agreed. “Do you really think he’ll learn from that?”
Sam shrugged. “Either that or he’ll have some very tough lessons going forward. I’d sure think twice about entering into a life of crime after that.”
Cameron nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, this certainly does put things into perspective, doesn’t it? We don’t often think about the bigger picture as we go through our day-to-day lives.”
Lacey stifled a laugh. “We think about it all the time.”
After a moment of thoughtful reflection, Cameron laughed as well. “Yes, I suppose you do.”
“The good news,” Sam continued, “is that we don’t necessarily have to live the life lessons to learn from them. As I said, Harcourt’s life is a cautionary tale—for all of us. We’re put on this earth to learn. We can either learn from our own experiences, or from witnessing other people’s experiences. We don’t all have to burn our hands on a hot pan if we see other people doing it.”
“True enough, but there’s something I don’t understand.” Cameron leaned back in his chair. “If God is all-knowing, all-wise, why doesn’t He—or She”—and he tipped his head Lacey’s way—“just give us all the wisdom we need? Why do we have to keep coming back here to earth to bumble around on our own?”
Sam’s eyes sparkled. “I have no idea.”
That was obviously not what Cameron expected to hear. He frowned at the medium.
“There is a theory I ascribe to,” Sam said. “You’ve heard of the Trinity, of course—Father, Son and Holy Spirit?” Cam nodded. “There’s another… model of our relationship with God that I like. It’s called the Quarternity. The fourth piece is us—humankind. And the theory says that as God redeems us, we also redeem God. It’s a model of mutual redemption.”
Cameron’s mouth dropped open. “Mutual… But how can we redeem God?”
“The way I understand it is this,” Sam said. “God is everything, right?” Cameron nodded. “So God is kind of like a big soup. Everything’s in there. Good and bad; light and dark; the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants. It’s all together, undifferentiated. In order to know it all—understand it all—little bits of it are teased out and sent to earth: us. It’s here that we experience all the separate aspects of God. It’s here that we fully inhabit them, and when we return to our maker after many lives, we take that knowledge, that understanding, back so that then God is fully aware. God needs us as much as we need God.” Sam shrugged. “Mutual redemption.”
The room was eerily silent for several moments. No one stirred. Cameron stared at Sam intently, his face expressionless except for the burning intensity in his eyes.
Finally the millionaire let out a low chuckle. He tapped a fingernail against his wine glass thoughtfully. “Ghosts tell you that?”
Sam smiled sardonically. “None of them have ever told me I’m wrong.” He sipped his wine. “We all have choices; we all make decisions. It’s a good reminder to keep even the smallest decision in the frame of the big picture.”
“And you do that,” Cameron said. He leaned forward on his elbows.
“Hey, I’m no saint,” Sam said. “I’m as fallible as the next person. But it’s never far from my mind.”
Cameron stared at him thoughtfully for a moment. “I’m not a religious man—”
“Neither am I,” Sam interrupted.
“But you’re spiritual. I like that. I feel like that has a … higher calling than religion.” He nodded over his shoulder, toward the back yard. “Like how you worked the Zen garden. I could see how connected you were to the natural world. I like that it’s foremost in your mind.”
Then he swiveled his head toward Glenn. “We should do that, too,” he said.
Glenn’s brow creased. “Do…?”
“Keep that sense of the spiritual in our work. Think about things in the frame of the big picture. Make sure everything we do… aligns with that.”
Glenn looked clearly perplexed. “Uh, how, exactly…?”
“I don’t know.” Cameron sat up straighter and smiled around the table. “We’ll have to figure it out as we go. But I want that. I want everything that we do to have that thread, that connection.” He leaned toward his assistant. “Will you help me with that? Help me stay on track with that?”
Glenn’s mouth dropped open, but no words came out. He glanced at Sam as if pleading for help, then returned his gaze to his boss. “Uh, sure. I guess.”
“Great,” Cameron pronounced. “We’ll do good things.”
“I think you already do a lot of good,” Lacey said. “More than most.”
Cameron grinned. “Doesn’t mean I can’t up my game, does it?”
A slow smile spread across her face. “No, it doesn’t.”
Cam slapped a hand on the table and laughed heartily. “Well, I can tell you, you two provide a very unique service, not often called for, but when you need it, you need it.” He put a hand out to Glenn, and the assistant took a white envelope from his jacket’s inner pocket. He handed the envelope to his boss, who passed it over to Lacey. “I trust this will compensate for your time.”
Lacey noticed the envelope’s flap was unsealed. She glanced at Cam, who nodded. She put a finger in and pulled it open just enough to see the amount on the check.
And gasped.
“I added in a little bonus,” Cameron said with a knowing smile.
Lacey passed the envelope to Sam so he could see. He made no sound, but looked up sharply at Cameron.
“I also put a business card in there,” the millionaire said. “It’s for my landscaping contractor.”
Sam tilted his head to the side.
“He’ll build you a really nice Zen garden.”
A slow smile spread across Sam’s face. He handed the envelope back to Cameron.
“Do me one more favor, would you?” he asked the millionaire.
“Sure.” Cam’s forehead creased in puzzlement, but he agreed immediately.
“Would you sign that envelope? My son thinks you’re pretty cool, and he asked me to get your autograph.”<
br />
Cameron laughed out loud, pleasantly surprised. “Absolutely.” He looked to Glenn, who quickly produced a pen, and he sat poised over the envelope. “What’s his name?”
“Daniel. He’s fourteen.”
“Daniel,” Cameron said as he wrote, “thanks for your interest. Work hard in school, and when you graduate, give me a call. Maybe we can do good things together.” He paused and glanced up at Sam and Lacey. “And your folks are pretty cool people, too.”
He signed it with a flourish and handed it back. “Glenn?” he said without looking at his assistant.
“Yes, boss?”
“Put these people on my Christmas card list, would you?”
Glenn grinned at their guests. “You got it.”
~~~
Thank You for Reading
I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you did, I would greatly appreciate a short review on Amazon or your favorite book website. Reviews are crucial for any author, and even just a line or two can make a huge difference. --MJB
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Melissa Bowersock is an eclectic, award-winning author who writes in a variety of fiction and non-fiction genres: contemporary, western, action, romance, fantasy and spiritual, satire and biography. She lives in a small community in Northern Arizona with her husband and an Airedale terrier.
For more information, visit
http://www.newmoonrising.net
or
http://www.melissabowersock.com
Find Me Online on Twitter and Facebook or visit my blog at:
http://mjb-wordlovers.blogspot.com
BOOKS BY MELISSA BOWERSOCK
The Appaloosa Connection (Western Adventure)
When Ross Garvey's prized Appaloosa is stolen from his Colorado ranch, he fully intends to hunt down the thieves in their New Mexico hideout and regain his best broodmare. What he doesn't count on is bull-headed, fifteen year old Jaimie Callahan, whose horse was also stolen by the same thieves. And he certainly does not anticipate the beautiful Mexican girl who's dealing with the thieves, nor the fact that an entire company of Mexican troops is in on the deal!
The Blue Crystal (Fantasy)
In the realm of Zor, the tyrant Mal-Zor is maniacal in his quest for the mythical Blue Crystal of power sends generations of innocents to their deaths in the crystal mines. Jared, a young farmer from a small isolated village, has paid scant attention to the distant troubles until his younger siblings are taken as slaves. Jared vows to free them and his quest soon becomes enmeshed in the most magical power struggle imaginable. Accompanied by a recalcitrant halfling, mounted on a huge black lion and supported by an aging wizard and his daughter, Jared prepares to challenge the king and claim his hidden destiny.
Burning Through (Paranormal Suspense/Romance)
When Jennifer and Robert Stinson buy a beautifully restored Victorian house, the last thing they expect is to share their home with a ghost―especially one with a penchant for setting fires. Unfortunately the ghostly arson only creates more tension in their already strained marriage. Jen launches her own investigation into the history of her house and discovers a surprising ally in a sympathetic fire captain. But can she unravel the mystery of the fires before they consume her home, her marriage … and her life?
The Field Where I Died (Paranormal)
Devon Muir has always been fascinated with the Civil War. When he discovers that his fourth great-grandfather fought at pivotal battles like Antietam and Gettysburg, he is compelled to follow in his ancestor’s footsteps and experience the battlefields on his own. What he doesn’t count on is dreaming about a battle every night—and being killed every time. Now his exploration of battlefields becomes a different kind of quest as he struggles to understand who is the soldier he becomes in his dream, and who is the woman whose face he sees as he lays dying.
Finding Travis – No Time for Travis: Book 1 (Time Travel)
Travis Merrill’s life isn’t going according to plan. He’s quit several career paths, his wife has left him, and his only solace is volunteering to portray a cavalry surgeon at historic Fort Verde in Arizona, a place where time seems to stand still. When a weird trick of time actually sends him back to the year 1877, he’s boxed into impersonating the post surgeon for real. Unfortunately, he finds his medical knowledge is no match for the primitive practices of the day, and he’s forced to make life or death decisions, not always successfully. He wonders if he will ever be able to return to his own time, or if he might find a life—and a love—140 years in the past.
Being Travis – No Time for Travis: Book 2 (Time Travel)
Two years ago, a weird trick of time sent Travis Merrill spiraling from 2016 to the year 1877. Committed now to his life in frontier Arizona, Travis is married with a child on the way and is homesteading a ranch. His knowledge of the future, however, keeps him at odds with his neighbors, his friends… and his wife. He finds it more and more difficult to protect his home without alienating his family, yet he can’t ignore what he knows is – and will be – true.
Fleischerhaus (Paranormal Suspense/Romance)
Julia Martin, newly-divorced but still reeling from her husband’s infidelity, takes a much needed vacation to visit old college friends in Germany. While touring a little-known concentration camp and museum, she spontaneously experiences a violent past life memory of being murdered in this very camp during the Holocaust. Efforts to understand her memories only lead to more questions, the largest being: is her killer still alive? Supported by her friends and comforted in the arms of a handsome doctor, Julia strives to uncover the mysteries of her past life and find justice for the person she used to be.
Ghost Walk (Paranormal Mystery)
A Lacey Fitzpatrick and Sam Firecloud Mystery Book 1
Lacey Fitzpatrick is an ex-LAPD detective with an axe to grind. Tainted by the betrayal of her drug-dealing cop boyfriend, she’s on a quest to prove to herself—and the world—that she’s still a competent crime-fighter. In order to do that, she teams up with Sam Firecloud, a half-Navajo man who communicates with ghosts. With his talent and her research, they tackle troubling unsolved crimes, but their latest case is the toughest. They have to solve a murder—where no record of a murder even exists. Can Sam glean enough information from the victim’s ghost to unravel the mystery, and can Lacey convince the authorities that the murder actually happened?
Skin Walk (Paranormal Mystery)
A Lacey Fitzpatrick and Sam Firecloud Mystery Book 2
Lacey and Sam are on the job again. This time, the ex-cop and the Navajo medium have been called out to the Navajo reservation to investigate the suspicious death of Sam’s cousin. What they uncover leads them into a realm of the supernatural beyond anything Lacey ever imagined; her years on the LAPD did nothing to prepare her for dealing with witches and shapeshifters. With clues few and far between, can they determine who the murderer is before they themselves become the target of deadly curses and feral shapeshifter beasts?
Star Walk (Paranormal Mystery)
A Lacey Fitzpatrick and Sam Firecloud Mystery Book 3
Ex-cop Lacey Fitzpatrick and Navajo medium Sam Firecloud are working a new investigation into paranormal activity. This time they’re called to clear an old Hollywood mansion of the multiple ghostly tenants that are threatening the home owner’s livelihood. At the same time, however, Lacey gets a call from her ex-boyfriend, now prison inmate, for help in a more earthly manner. He fears his sister is siphoning money from his elderly mother, and only Lacey can find out the truth. Between saving her ex’s mother from bankruptcy and researching deep into the families of the tortured souls haunting the mansion, Lacey finds the revelations of family dynamics to be both fatally flawed and heartbreakingly inspired.
Dream Walk (Paranormal Mystery)
A Lacey Fitzpatrick and Sam Firecloud Mystery Book 4
Private investigator Lacey Fitzpatrick and Navajo medium Sam Firecloud are usually called to clear haunted locati
ons of their lingering ghosts using Sam’s unusual talent for communicating with the dead. This time, however, the dead—Sam’s former brother-in-law—comes to him… in a dream. Now Sam and Lacey have to go to Las Vegas and figure out how to find the body and uncover a murder plot before the murderers bury them forever.
Dragon Walk (Paranormal Mystery)
A Lacey Fitzpatrick and Sam Firecloud Mystery Book 5
Four months ago, a pretty young marathoner disappeared while training on the isolated trails of Griffith Park in Los Angeles. The police have few leads, no witnesses and no results. As a last resort, they call in private investigator Lacey Fitzpatrick and Navajo medium Sam Firecloud to pick up the rapidly cooling trail. Sam and Lacey, however, are on the outs. Their efforts to take their relationship to the next level failed miserably, and now they must redefine their working relationship, as well. Can they find the murdered girl and her killer, and still hang on to their partnership?
Demon Walk (Paranormal Mystery)
A Lacey Fitzpatrick and Sam Firecloud Mystery Book 6
Private investigator Lacey Fitzpatrick and Navajo medium Sam Firecloud are called in by the Director of Mission San Juan Capistrano to unravel the mystery surrounding an evil presence that is threatening the mission’s people and its liability, maybe its very existence. While Lacey digs into the research, Sam pulls out all the stops, planning to fight fire with fire and witchcraft with… witchcraft. Lacey finds his methods disturbing, but knows they have to combat the ancient, supernatural force that has killed before, and may very well kill again.
Soul Walk (Paranormal Mystery)
A Lacey Fitzpatrick and Sam Firecloud Mystery Book 7
Paranormal investigator Lacey Fitzpatrick and medium Sam Firecloud are making quite a name for themselves. When a TV network offers to feature them on a popular ghost series, they realize they could dispel misconceptions and bring credibility to their work. However, filming their process is more troublesome and complicated than they know. Their goal to research and release the ghostly tenants of a haunted bed and breakfast in Malibu is at odds with the studio’s penchant for sensationalism. On top of that, Sam finds his connection to one of the ghosts to be painfully personal, and he and Lacey struggle to keep their work, their relationship and their newfound stardom from unraveling.
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