“I’d like to think that’s true.” Justin agreed. He wanted Ben to like him, though he had no idea why. It wasn’t as if he really had a future with Rose. “You have to know I’d never hurt her. At least the man I am today wouldn’t.”
“Not intentionally, no.” Ben sighed and fidgeted in his chair. “But there’s so much we don’t know about what’s going on. What happens if you find a way to help Rose and then, poof, she’s gone? What if you don’t get to be with her in this life?”
Justin drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, considering his answer. The night was settling around him, life slowing down as the darkness fell. He felt as if Ben was testing him and he wasn’t quite sure what his answer should be. Finally, he decided on the truth, or at least the way he viewed the truth.
“Then I live with it.” Justin shook his head. “Obviously, I don’t want that, but I might not get a choice. I know that, and as much as I want to keep her with me, I might have to let her go. I’ve already lived two lives without her, neither one of them happy. Maybe this is just part of that same pattern and we get our chance the next time around.”
Ben was silent for a minute, then nodded. “I was right in my initial assessment of you, boy. You’re a better man than James ever was.”
“Did I ever hurt her? Or rather, did James ever hurt her?” Now, it was Justin’s turn to ask a question.
Ben was silent for a long time before answering. “Never intentionally, no. At least that I know of.”
“But he did hurt her.” Justin had seen the horrible images in his mind, the things he’d done in anger. He’d lashed out at Rose so many times during the scant few years they’d been together.
“Occasionally. James used her to get what he wanted, just like he had the other women before,” Ben admitted. “You saw that too, I take it.”
Justin nodded. “But I’m not like that now.” He waved a hand in the air. “I’m better than that.”
“You’re a decent man, Justin Grant,” Ben grudgingly admitted. “You’re the man she deserved back then but that James wasn’t able to be. But you still use people. Don’t kid yourself about that.”
Stiffly, Ben rose from his chair and crossed the room towards the library, motioning Justin to follow. Together, they walked in silence to the darkly paneled room. Justin flipped on an antique lamp as they walked in, bathing the room in a soft light.
Slowly the ghost knelt down behind the desk and pointed to a recessed panel beneath the nearby bookcase. Just as ornately carved as the surrounding panels, the panel Ben pointed at seemed worn, as if hands had touched that one in particular more than the others.
“After you all died, there was an investigation led by Doc Baker. He took over for Jonah. Strange man, he was, an odd bird that nobody quite understood. Left town shortly after he wrapped up the investigation, too.” Ben sighed and instinctively, Justin knew that the ghost was reliving those painful days after his granddaughter’s death.
“What did he find out?” Justin prodded. “You said you didn’t know who did this to us.”
“I don’t,” Ben winced at his own words. “Neither did he. Just that there was magic involved. He wrote that in his report. Which, if you’ll consider the time in which you died, isn’t as strange as it sounds. Anyway, I convinced him to give me copies of his notes, of the progress of the investigation. I put them in my personal safe behind that panel. Right now, maybe they can help you.”
Kneeling down, Justin pushed on the center of the panel, which opened with a soft pop. Using the combination Ben gave him, Justin quickly spun the dual-dial lock and swung the safe open. Inside, a small packet of papers sat amidst bundles of money and some jewelry.
“Come back before the house is sold to someone else and take the rest,” Ben told him. “These things should have been Rose’s. Now, they’re yours, I guess.”
Justin carefully removed the small bundle of papers. “Thank you. I’ll give these to the Ghosts Inc. team tomorrow. We’ll see what we can find.”
“The answer has to be in there, somewhere,” Ben said frowning. “It has to be.”
“If it is, we’ll find it,” Justin promised, tucking the precious papers into a desk drawer where they would be safe until morning.
Ben turned, as if to leave, then stopped and turned back to face Justin. “Do you love her?” There was no question to whom he was referring.
“I do,” Justin assured him. “Maybe I wasn’t a great guy before, but I’m different now and I’ll do whatever is necessary to get her back. Maybe this life isn’t our time to be together, but if I can free her, then maybe next time, we’ll get that chance.”
Ben nodded and then without another word disappeared into a flash of light similar to the one Rose had disappeared into earlier. As if sensing her grandfather’s departure, Rose immediately appeared beside Justin.
“What did he tell you? Did you figure out a way to help me?” Rose was a bundle of questions the moment she completely materialized.
“Hello to you, too.” Justin grinned, finding her enthusiasm adorable.
Rose blushed. “Sorry. I’m just so anxious to know if you found anything, what you talked about.”
“We talked about me a lot,” Justin admitted, “about what I was like when I was James.”
“Is that all?” Rose was puzzled and a bit disappointed. She’d been hoping that her grandfather would finally hand over the proverbial key to her freedom.
Justin grinned and immediately, Rose knew there was more. “He also showed me his private safe. There were some papers in there, mostly about the investigation after our deaths. They were prepared by the new doctor, a Doctor Baker. Your grandfather says that the answers are in there somewhere. Or at least that’s what the powers that be tell him.”
“That’s wonderful!” Rose was so elated that Justin hated to bring her back to reality, but he knew he had to.
“But it’s not definitive,” he reminded her. “The answer itself might not be there. It might be a clue pointing to where we should look next.”
Rose, refusing to be brought down, shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. It’s a start and that is more than I could have hoped for.”
“That’s one of the things I love about you, Rose, your optimism.” There was laughter in Justin’s voice but his words froze Rose cold.
Love. Did Justin love her? She loved him, though she’d only just come to that realization. Or were the last vestiges of James taking over him again? Were James’ words once more coming from Justin’s mouth like they had before?
Deciding that she didn’t want to know right now, she offered Justin a seductive smile. “Is that the only thing you love about me?” she purred, hoping to seduce him back into bed.
When they were having sex, it was simple – one human body and one ghostly body connecting on another level. She didn’t have to worry about whom she was with. There was only Justin now, no James, which was the way she was coming to discover that she preferred it.
“You know it’s not,” Justin teased her as she looped her arms around his neck, causing the familiar tingle to spread across his skin. “I’m in love with your mind, too.”
Rose snorted, a very unladylike action and Justin laughed. “Were you always this whimsical?” he asked. “I can’t remember.”
“Not always,” she admitted, becoming serious for a moment. “If I was, I don’t remember it.” Frowning, she looked at Justin again. “I don’t remember you being this happy either. Why isn’t the house affecting you like it normally does?”
At that, it was Justin’s turn to smile. “Reed brewed up a little something for me, some kind of counter-spell in potion form. Nasty, bitter stuff, but so far it seems to be helping. I’m not sure how long it will last, but I’m hopeful.”
“He managed that today, even though he was here with Callie this morning?” Rose was incredulous.
Justin shrugged. “What can I say? He’s a multi-tasker. Plus, he probably started it as soon as he read the
case file Tim and I put together after we left here that first night. He’s like that, doing things before he’s asked.”
Instead of reassuring Rose, that seemed to trouble her. “What was in that case file? How many other people know about me? If too many people find out…”
“Slow down, Rosie.” Justin pulled Rose away from him slightly and held up his hands to halt her endless stream of questions. “The core Ghosts, Inc. team knows about you, the same ones who have been here off and on today. That’s all. It’s nothing to worry about. I promised I’d help you, that I’d protect you, and I will.”
At her frown, he reached out to tilt her chin up to face him. “Now isn’t there something better we can talk about?”
“Such as?” she teased, momentarily letting go of her panic. Rose wasn’t about to completely forget her fear of too many people discovering her existence, but she knew she had to learn to trust Justin. He wasn’t like James. Towards the end, she hadn’t trusted James nearly as much as she once had.
Justin leaned down to kiss her, but Rose stilled in his arms as she suddenly remembered bits of her life during the last few months with James.
“Rose, is something wrong?” Justin could clearly see the frown marring her beautiful face.
Looking up at him, her silvery eyes were filled with concern. “Is it possible that my memories have, well, somehow been…tampered with? I remembered something just now that was not quite as…perfect, I suppose you could say, as I remembered it being.”
Now it was Justin’s turn to be concerned. For the most part, Rose’s speech patterns were fairly modern, mixed with a little of her old fashioned way of talking. However, when she reverted almost exclusively to using the words she’d favored while she’d been alive, he worried.
“What isn’t right?” he asked as Rose pulled away from him and started to pace the small library.
“You,” she said simply, as she bit her lip and turned to stare out the window where dusk was falling across the gardens.
Justin came to stand beside her. “How am I different?” he asked quietly, though he suspected he already knew the answer. “Other than in the ways we already know?”
She sighed and shook her head, a very human reaction that nearly broke his heart. “I have talked endlessly about how much I loved James, about how perfect he was for me. I have told everyone how kind and caring he was, how I trusted him above all others. What if that isn’t true?”
“They’re your memories, Rose. How can they not be true?” Justin had to force himself to be patient. If he rushed Rose into this realization, she might not trust it. However, if she came to it on her own, then she was more likely to believe it.
She shrugged as she trailed her hand along the window ledge. “I don’t know. However, a few moments ago when you said that you would keep me safe, in my mind, I knew that I could trust you, unlike my distrust of James during our last few months together. Until that moment, I never once remembered that I had ever distrusted him or even considered doing so.”
“Did you distrust him?” Justin asked, putting his hand on her shoulder.
“I believe I did.” Rose turned to Justin, his face now partially shadowed by the darkness outside. “It wasn’t a faulty memory or a mistake. At the end of our time together, I did not trust him. I know that as certainly as I know my own name.”
Justin had no idea what to say or how to comfort Rose. His experience in this area was limited, but even he knew that this wasn’t normal. If anything, ghosts had far more perfect and accurate memories than they had while they were alive. Beginning the process of crossing over to the Other Side brought a clarity that humans didn’t have. The idea of someone tampering with her ghostly memories was unthinkable. He didn’t even know if it was possible, though he supposed that, in theory, it probably was.
Telling Rose all of this wouldn’t help her tonight, however, Justin knew. It would only make her worry and possibly obsess over the problem even more. He didn’t want that. He had no idea how much time they had left together, how much time before Reed’s potion wore off and the cursed house started to affect him again. He didn’t want to waste a minute of it.
“I have no idea what to tell you, Rose.” He finally decided on the truth. “What I do know is that we have some great people back at the office who might know where to start looking, but it’s too late to call them tonight.
At her forlorn expression, he kissed the tip of her nose. “But I promise that tomorrow, I’ll mention it to a few people, see what we can find out, okay?”
“Fine,” she agreed, though she obviously wasn’t happy about the delay.
“So no more worrying about it for now,” he admonished her, taking her hand and leading her back towards the living room. “Instead, why don’t we make ourselves comfortable for the night and see what happens next.”
She couldn’t help but giggle, loving how Justin could restore her good humor almost instantly, even when she’d been on the verge of panic only moments before. “I like the way you think. No more obsession tonight,” she promised.
At first, Rose wasn’t sure she’d be able to keep that promise, but as Justin pulled her to the couch and began to unzip her dress, she decided that she could try putting off worrying for just a little bit longer. When he began to lick a path down her chest towards her now bare breasts, all thoughts of the past flew from her mind and the only thing she could focus on was Justin and how alive he made her feel.
Later that night, as Justin lay asleep beside her on the plush attic rug, Rose wondered if it was time to let James’ memory go completely. Still glowing, quite literally, from their most recent round of lovemaking, she knew that however good sex had been with her deceased husband, it had never been as fabulous as it was with Justin.
Justin was a patient, attentive lover. She’d learned that over the last few hours as he’d pleasured her repeatedly, each time driving her to new and dizzying heights. He’d toyed with her, teased her, until she’d begged for release. Then, he’d granted her wish in the sweetest, most tender way she’d ever experienced.
Tonight had been different from all of their previous times together and Rose attributed that to Reed’s potion. She knew now that she was seeing the real and true Justin Grant, not the one heavily influenced by whatever spells still lingered in this house, turning him more into James the longer he stayed.
Deep in her heart, Rose knew that she loved this man more than she had ever loved James. She was also now starting to believe that James was far from the perfect man she’d long imagined him to be. The more time she spent with Justin, the more certain of that she became. She had no doubt that she’d loved her husband deeply, but he was not the saint she thought she remembered.
Over the last few days, her memories had seemed to shift and change the more she replayed them in her mind. It was as if a shiny, perfect new set of memories had been layered over her real ones and now, that perfect but false set was cracking, allowing the reality beneath to show through.
It was quite disconcerting and it troubled her greatly. She had built the last hundred years of her existence around a man who, in all likelihood, had not really existed. She also had no idea who had done this to her or why. The only thing she was certain of was that the existence she’d known for so long was quickly coming to an end. It had been her experience that, much like knitting, once the fabric started to unravel it would continue to do so until the entire piece was destroyed.
She knew that this time would be no different.
Reaching out, Rose stroked Justin’s hair, careful not to wake him. At the moment, she was quite thankful that she didn’t need to sleep. Like everything else, her time with this wonderful man was also drawing to a close and she didn’t want to forget a moment of it. In only a few short days, he’d made her feel again, made her live again and for that, she would always be grateful.
She also knew that soon, she would have to let him go. She loved him too much to keep him tied to her, a ghost that cou
ld never really give him what he needed. Her hand stilled at the thought. She loved him. More than James. More than anyone.
And she was condemned to an existence in a middle realm where nothing was real. She wasn’t completely able to cross over to whatever awaited on the Other Side, nor was she able to return to the land of the living. She was stuck in a world where Justin could never truly be hers.
It wasn’t fair – to either of them. Sighing, Rose knew that one day, maybe sooner than she would like, she would have to let Justin go, maybe even push him away if he wouldn’t voluntarily leave her. Though it would break her heart, it would be for the best. Her grandfather had always said that if you loved something, you set it free.
Rose loved Justin enough to let him go. Much as it would kill whatever humanity was left inside of her to do so.
Chapter Fifteen
The next morning, Justin reported to work at Ghosts, Inc. bright and early, with a spring in his step and a lightness he hadn’t felt in a long time. As usual, a small cluster of paparazzi was outside the Pennsylvania Canal Building as he drove past the front doors and into the secure underground garage, hoping for a photo of one of the investigators, preferably him, doing something they could term suspicious. For once, however, they didn’t bother him as much as they normally would have.
Not only was he confident that today, somehow, they would find the answers, there had also been a text from Mia to all the employees overnight. She was closer than ever to signing the deal with the Alternate Reality channel, one that would give them some much needed capital to invest in the company and help them expand. That, combined with the precious stack of papers Ben had led him to the night before, gave Justin a feeling of confidence.
Overall, things were definitely looking up all the way around.
Whistling to himself, he parked his vintage Mustang in the underground garage and took the elevator up to the fifth floor where his office was located. He was surprised to see that the entire area was already buzzing with activity. In addition to Rose, there were also four other active cases going on, most of them involving overnight investigations.
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