Final Call - A Mary O'Reilly Paranormal Mystery (Book 4)

by Terri Reid

  Lucinda, please pick up the standard that I foolishly let fall because of my own ego. Please take care of these good people. They need you.

  Yours forever,

  Hezekiah

  She placed a hand over her mouth to stem the emotion. “He wrote this?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Mary replied. “He wanted to let you know how much you meant to him and to apologize for not taking the time in this life to be sure you knew.”

  She wiped a tear away. “He really loved me?”

  “He loved you so much, that he stayed here until he could tell you.”

  “He’s here? In our home?”

  “Mommy, Daddy wants to know if he can come in and see you,” Rachael said, rushing into the room.

  Hezekiah stood in the hall peering into the room.

  “Hezekiah, are you really here?” she asked.

  The large man moved forward and knelt at his wife’s feet. Lucinda turned to Mary. “I think I can feel his presence,” she said. “It feels warm.”

  “He’s almost ready to go,” Mary said.

  “I love you, my sweet Lucinda,” he said. “And I love our family.”

  “Daddy says he loves you, Momma,” Rachael said. “He says he loves us too. He looks so sad.”

  “He’s only sad because he’s going to miss you while he waits for you to all be together in Heaven someday,” Mary said.

  “I love you, Hezekiah,” Lucinda whispered. “And thank you for letting me know you love me.”

  She placed her hand on her heart. “It’s what I needed to hear.”

  He stood and bent over, placing a kiss on her cheek. She lifted her hand to her cheek and rubbed it softly. “Thank you, dearest.”

  Rachael ran over to her mother. “Kiss me too, Daddy,” she said.

  Hezekiah bent over and kissed her forehead. “I love you, Daddy,” she said.

  He turned to Mary, tears flowing freely down his cheeks. “Thank you, young lady,” he said. “You saved my family.”

  Mary shook her head. “No, you saved your family,” she said. “I only helped a little along the way. God Speed, Hezekiah.”

  He smiled at her. “God Bless you, Mary O’Reilly.”

  Then he faded into the light.

  Chapter Thirty-four

  “Well that was a great way to start a day,” Mike said, as they walked back to the car. “And it’s not even eight o’clock yet.”

  Mary grinned at him. “Yeah, that was nice, wasn’t it?”

  “Kind of reinforces your belief in love, doesn’t it?” he asked.

  “I don’t know if I’d go that far,” Mary replied. “Love works for some people and for others it’s just not meant to be.”

  “Whoa, Mary O’Reilly is becoming cynical and bitter,” he said. “I think you’ve been spending too much time with Faye McMullen.”

  Mary got in the car and started it up. “I don’t think I’m quite that bad.”

  “Not yet,” he said, appearing in the passenger seat next to her. “Why don’t you just run away with me to a deserted tropical island? I would spend my days worshipping you.”

  She turned and smiled at him. “Well, you are cute,” she said. “All the ten year-old girls think so.”

  “I’ve often felt that ten year-olds have discriminating tastes in men,” he said.

  “Well, I’m tempted, really,” she said. “But, it’s kind of hard to kiss a ghost.”

  He wiggled his eyebrows. “Not if I come to you in your dreams,” he said.

  She stopped at the corner and turned to him. “Really?” she said. “In my dreams?”

  She put the car in gear and headed to Galena Street.

  “Yep, in your dreams,” he said. “I could fulfill your greatest fantasies.”

  “Really,” she said. “My greatest fantasies?”

  “Yes,” he said softly. “You could have whatever you’d like.”

  She thought about it for a while, as she drove down Galena towards the downtown. “Anything?” she asked.

  “Anything, Mary, you just name it,” he whispered seductively.

  “A pony,” she said. “I always wanted a pony.”

  “A what?!?” he exclaimed.

  “A pony. I always dreamt of having a pony.”

  “Mary these are supposed to be ‘adult’ fantasies,” he said, using his hands to create quotation marks.

  “Oh,” she said, emphasizing the word. “Adult fantasies. Now I understand.”

  He sat back against the seat in the car. “Good. Finally.”

  “In that case, I want a horse, because really, a pony would be much too small to ride.”

  He turned to her. “You think you’re funny, don’t you?” he asked.

  She grinned. “I think I’m pretty freaking hysterical.”

  He shook his head, trying to bite back the grin. “That’s it, I’m outta here.”

  He faded away.

  “Bye, Mike,” she called, laughter filling her voice. “Have a nice day.”

  She pulled the Roadster up in front of Winneshiek. “It’s a beautiful day,” she said. “I think I’ll go inside and try to wake the dead.”

  She punched in the security code and entered the building, closing the door securely behind her. She didn’t want to have another unexpected surprise. “Hello,” she called out. “Faye are you here.”

  “Mary get the hell out of here,” Faye yelled.

  Mary laughed, “Why Faye, that’s no way to talk to a guest.”

  Mary jogged towards the stage, a spring in her step and a smile on her face.

  “Mary, look out!” Faye screamed.

  Mary turned, but it was too late. The heavy sandbag careened into her and everything went black.

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Bradley had a hunch and decided it wouldn’t hurt anything to have him follow up on it. He heard a knock on his office door, eight o’clock straight up, just on time. He walked to the door and opened it. “Come in,” he invited.

  Carl White walked through the door.

  “Thanks for coming back.”

  “Well, when the Chief of Police asks you to stop in, you really don’t want to turn him down,” he said.

  “That’s always a good policy,” Bradley replied. “Can I offer you something to drink?”

  “No, I’m good,” he said. “So what did you want to ask me?”

  “Why don’t you have a seat,” Bradley suggested, motioning to the small round table in the corner of the room. “I’m waiting for one more person to show up.”

  A moment later, there was another knock. “Ah, I’ll bet that’s him,” Bradley said, opening the door. “Benjamin, come in and have a seat. Now we can get our little meeting going.”

  Benjamin and Bradley joined Carl at the table.

  “Do you two know each other?” Bradley asked.

  Carl shook his head. “No, I’ve never had the pleasure,” he said. “I’m Carl White.”

  Bradley watched the older man pause and then extend his hand.

  “Benjamin Middlebury,” he said, “Pleased to meet you.”

  Bradley sat back in his chair. “Now, I’m guessing that you both have met before, but Carl you were just too young to remember and Benjamin, you were working on behalf of a client.”

  Benjamin squirmed in his seat and Carl sat forward. “You were the one?” he asked. “You were the one who brought me to live with my father?”

  Bradley was taken aback. “You knew?” he asked. “You knew you were Faye McMullen’s son?”

  Carl nodded. “Yeah, talk about winning the booby-prize.”

  Benjamin sat forward in his seat. “Wait. You didn’t want to be her son?”

  “No. No way,” he said. “I’m perfectly happy being Carl White, son of Charlie and Delores White.”

  “How did you find out?” Benjamin asked.

  “Faye told me a couple of years ago,” he said. “She needed someone to direct one of her plays and had run out of victims. She produced a birth ce
rtificate and told me the story. She said unless I did what she wanted, she would let my mother know that her son wasn’t just an adopted orphan, but her husband’s flesh and blood.”

  Bradley shook her head. “She was a real piece of work. So, that’s why you volunteer so much.”

  “And that’s why she accuses me of sleeping with younger women,” he said. “She keeps seeing my dad in me and insists I’m just like him.”

  “You never wanted her money?” Benjamin asked, amazed by the turn of events.

  “What money?” Carl said. “She never had money.”

  “She was changing her will and leaving you quite a substantial sum,” he replied. “I thought you were behind it. That you were blackmailing her.”

  Carl laughed. “That lady had me so twisted around her finger, it wasn’t funny,” he said. “I had to loose thirty pounds, because she decided I was too fat and unhealthy. I had to take special vitamins because I wasn’t eating right. I was jumping through hoops just to protect my mom.”

  “Do you really think she would have told your mother?” Bradley asked.

  Carl shrugged. “Probably not,” he said. “You know, once I got to know her, she wasn’t half bad. She was pushy and she was a bitch, but somewhere deep down inside she had her own unique way of taking care of the people she loved.”

  “But you’re the heir,” Benjamin said. “You have legal proof, you’re the heir.”

  “Yeah, and if I claim it my mother is devastated. No thank you,” he said. “Rodney can be the heir.”

  “So, how did you happen to meet Rodney?” Bradley asked. “It seemed there was no love lost between the two of you.”

  “He came to my office, about a month ago,” Carl said. “He threatened to have me fired if I didn’t stop my relationship with his Aunt.”

  “What did you do?” Bradley asked.

  Carl chuckled. “I told him that I would be very happy to stop the relationship. He just had to get his aunt to agree to it.”

  Benjamin leaned forward and put his head in his hands. “This is all my fault,” he said. “All my fault.”

  “What do you mean?” Bradley asked, his stomach tightening. “What’s all your fault.”

  “I told Rodney that I thought Carl was blackmailing Faye,” he said. “I told him that Carl was trying to usurp him as the next heir.”

  “Why would you do that?” Carl asked.

  “Because Faye was changing her will, isn’t that right, Benjamin,” Bradley said. “And you already knew you’d be able to control Rodney, but you had no idea what kind of loose cannon Carl would be.”

  “Why didn’t you just come to me?” Carl said. “Why didn’t you just ask me?”

  “So how did Faye leave her will?” Bradley asked.

  “She had me draw up the new one,” Benjamin replied. “I had it messengered to her place on Saturday night. All she had to do was sign it and it would replace the old one.”

  “Quite a coincidence that she was killed on Saturday night before she could sign it,” Bradley said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because the only people who knew were Faye and me,” he said.

  “Are you sure Faye didn’t tell Rodney?” Bradley asked.

  Carl sat back in his seat. “You know, I do remember Faye speaking with him just before practice,” he said. “He was pretty angry, but that wasn’t unusual if you were talking to Faye.”

  “I can’t believe that Rodney could kill Faye,” Benjamin said.

  “Could you believe that he could place a pressure bomb on the seat of a toilet?”

  Carl chuckled. “Hey, that sounds like a scene right out of Lethal Weapon.”

  Bradley froze. “Lethal Weapon.”

  He jumped out of his chair and ran to his desk. “Dorothy I want an APB out on Rodney McMullen. Send a squad to his home, search the city for his car, and consider him armed and dangerous.”

  Benjamin jumped up. “Chief, I think you’re over reacting.”

  “Someone planted a bomb on the office toilet of O’Reilly Investigations. Mary just happens to be investigating Faye’s murder,” Bradley said, as he pulled on his jacket and tucked his gun into its holster. “Rodney told me he spent Saturday watching a Lethal Weapon marathon. I’m not going to take any chances.”

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Mary woke when water was tossed in her face. She sputtered awake and realized she was freezing cold and hanging by her arms in the basement of Winneshiek Theater.

  She looked around, there was a light shining directly on her and the rest of the brick basement was in shadows. Water was pouring from a hose placed directly above her, flowing down her body. She could tell someone was standing, just beyond the light.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.

  Rodney stepped forward, a strange grin on his face. “I’m in charge,” he said in a sing-song voice. “I’m in charge and no one is going to stop me.”

  “Fine,” Mary said. “I don’t want to stop you; I just want to dry off.”

  He sighed heavily. “But you did want to stop me,” he said. “You were talking with Auntie Faye and you were trying to stop me.”

  Mary felt even colder. “You killed Faye McMullen.”

  Faye appeared. “Rodney! Rodney killed me? He’s got more guts than I gave him credit for.”

  “She gave me that stupid job,” he said. “Junior Executive. She told me I had to learn the ropes.”

  He giggled. “I guess I showed her I learned the ropes all right. I snuck in and waited for just the right time. Then I tied her arms together and put the noose over her neck. She begged me to stop. Begged me to let her down.”

  “I didn’t beg,” Faye emphasized, “I bribed. There’s a big difference, I never beg.”

  “Why would you want to kill your aunt?”

  “Because she wasn’t going to let me be in charge,” he whined. “No one ever lets me be in charge. Not my mother, not Auntie Faye, not Mr. Middlebury, no one has ever let me be in charge, so I decided to take charge.”

  “Oh, what a whiner,” Faye said. “Rodney let Mary go, you are being troublesome.”

  “Rodney, your aunt is here with us,” Mary said. “She wants you to let me go.”

  He looked around the basement. “I’m glad she’s here. She can watch what I’m going to do to you. I’ve been waiting for you, Mary,” he said. “First I put a bomb on your toilet and then I came here to wait. Just in case.”

  “He put a bomb on your toilet?” Faye exclaimed. “Well that’s just disgusting!”

  He chuckled again. “She’s going to see how I can take charge with you. Get it? Charge?”

  “No, I don’t get it. What are you planning on doing to me?” Mary asked.

  “Have you ever watched Lethal Weapon,” he asked. “No, of course, you haven’t because girls don’t watch those kinds of movies.”

  He moved closer and grabbed the front of her shirt, a fistful of material in each hand and tore it open. Her skin was exposed from the waistband of her jeans to her bra. He touched her stomach and she tried to pull back. “I just wanted to be sure it was nice and wet,” he said, running his hand over her abdomen again. “Nice and wet.”

  “In the movie they hang Riggs by his arms, like I did to you,” he explained. “Then they have water dripping over his head, just like yours. Then they have battery cables attached to a charger and they touch them to his wet body because they want to torture him.”

  “Mary I’m so sorry,” Faye said.

  He looked up at Mary. “I don’t want to torture you; I just want to kill you.”

  “Well, that’s a comfort,” Mary said, trying desperately to figure a way out of this mess. “But aren’t you afraid I’ll haunt you for the rest of your life?”

  He shook his head and smiled at him. “I was hoping you would,” he said. “I’m pretty lonely and I’d like the company.”

  He turned away from her. “Now where did I put that charger,” he asked himsel
f. “Oh, there it is.”

  He rolled a charger forward from the corner of the room. Mary’s heart raced as she watched him attach a large sea sponge to the positive clip of the charger. “They did it just like this in the movie,” he explained. “On this side, I can just slide it on your skin, wherever I want the pain to go. And the negative side gets clipped to your skin.”

  He looked down at the jaws of the negative clip. “It’s probably going to leave a mark,” he said. “But really, since you’re going to die, it shouldn’t matter.”

  “So, how did Riggs get out of the situation?” she asked, looking around the room. “Since there was a movie marathon, I have to assume he survived.”

  The flowing water was creating a puddle and Mary hoped that the cold concrete and water would cause the floor to be slick.

  Rodney giggled. “Do you think I’d tell you?” he said. “Do you think I’d give you a clue how to survive?”

  “Seems like the sporting thing to do,” Mary said. “After all, I survived the exploding toilet.”

  “Yes, you did,” he said, dropping the clips to each side of his body. “I have to say you impressed me. Even Murtagh had to have Riggs help getting out of that one.”

  “Can I tell you a secret,” Mary said with a smile.

  Rodney was intrigued, he moved closer. “Sure,” he said.

  Mary leaned forward and whispered. “You know, those movies, Lethal Weapon,” she said.

  He came even closer. “Yes?”

  Mary lifted her legs, grabbed Rodney’s head with her knees and swung him to the side with all her might. “I saw them too,” she yelled.

  Rodney slid backwards and nearly tripped, but regained his footing on the slick concrete floor. “That wasn’t nice,” he yelled, “that wasn’t nice at all.”

  He rushed her, the two ends of the charger outstretched. Mary twisted her body, but he was able to make contact with the clips and a sharp pain coursed through her. She screamed and twisted again, kneeing him in the nose. He jumped back, wiping the blood from his face with his sleeve.

  “I’m going to make you pay for that.”