“I died in my sleep when I was twenty. I wasn’t sickly like some others I know, but I just died. It wasn’t until years later, after I started talking to some of the other dead, that I learned I must have had an aneurism in my head, and it caused my death.” Oakley asked her her name. “Yes, of course. I don’t remember my last name. It’s been so very long. But my name is Clarisse.”
“I’m feeling a little overwhelmed, Clarisse. Could you, I don’t know, tell me why you came to me? Just do it. I think I could handle it much better if you were to just tell me so I can process it over time.” She laughed. “You have such lovely laughter. I’m betting your family misses that most of all.”
“I’m sure they did. And I thank you for that. But as to why I came to speak to you, it’s about Lach. She’s wonderful, as you know. However, we’re all a little worried about her seeing too much, and it would cause harm to her children. Bloody victim, as you mentioned. So they’re not going to her unless they’re not too messy.” Oakley asked if they thought he could handle it. “Much better than she can, we believe. It’s not just the bloody victims, but children as well. Ones abused and murdered by people that were to love them. It would be difficult for you as well—you’re a kind and loving man—but you’re stronger, and also not in her delicate condition.”
“Okay, that makes sense. But I’ve never been able to see ghosts. I don’t want to be rude or anything, because I’m more than willing to help, but why me?” Clarisse told him it was because he had Lach. “Yes, I do. And I love her so very much too.”
“Yes, it shows in everything you do. You’re a very good man, Oakley. That is another reason we’ve come to you.” He told her he was ready to help her. “Thank you. I knew you would. As I said, you’re a good man.”
“I suppose there are rules. I’ve never asked Lach about guidelines. I thought if she were doing it wrong, someone would have told her. But we never spoke about it, or her seeing people that have gone over.” He grinned. “I don’t want you to think I’m not proud of her for what she’s accomplished. I am. She’s helped a great many people that otherwise wouldn’t have been found.”
“Yes, that’s what she’s done all her life. She just didn’t know exactly what she was doing then.” He didn’t know what he could do to help out, but he wrote down the rules she gave him. “Also, you cannot turn away anyone if they come to you. You must try and work with them. If there isn’t a resolution to their needs, then you send them away. There will be someone else out there that can help them. They have four tries to get help. If there isn’t any help, they are banished from coming to anyone again.”
“Are they harmed in any way if they’re banished?” Clarisse told him they were just put to the back of the line until someone else was called to help them. “So it’s not like a person has to give up, they just need to wait on someone that can help them. I like that.”
“Sometimes, there is just no way to help some of the dead. They’ve waited too long to come to someone. Or it could be they’ve used up all their help by being a terrible person while alive. I believe you know someone like that.” He asked if it was Lach’s sister. “Yes, she is one. The other is your own father. There will be no helping him because he used all his points, so to speak, while living. Some people just do not deserve a second chance at making something right.”
“To be honest, I don’t think about him overly much. Not even now that grandchildren are coming around for him. I think more about my mom. How I’d like to have an entire day with her, just to have her meet our mates. I know she’s out there somewhere. I just miss her.” Clarisse said she talked about her boys all the time. “You know her? My mom? You’ve spoken to her?”
“Oh, yes. Before coming to talk to you. I needed to make sure you were as nice and loving as I had hoped.” He asked if he could see her. “You’re not demanding that, young Oakley? You could. To have one thing that would make you help us.”
“I don’t think my mother would be very proud of me for demanding anything of anyone. Not only that, but I’d also not want you or anyone to get into trouble over a grown man wanting to see his momma once more.” Oakley laughed. “If I could see her, I think it would be difficult for me to allow her to go away again.”
“She is forever with you—with all of you. As I said, she’s very proud of the lot of you. And she is forever talking about how much she loves you. Even your wives. She thinks of them as her own daughters.” Oakley’s heart ached then. He was so full of emotion from missing his momma that he couldn’t speak. “I have hurt you in some way, haven’t I?”
“No. Not at all. I was just thinking how much Shep hurt that he didn’t make it home in time to see her one more time. How he has felt, all this time, that he failed her by not finding Harris sooner. Now that he’s having a child of his own, I think he misses her even more.” Clarisse nodded and told him that Jill did feel it from him. “Do you think it would be possible for me to call Momma so that she could see Shep once more? I don’t want you to break any rules for me, but it would be nice for him, I think.”
“So unselfish in your love for your family.” He said he loved them, but there was nothing more to it than just giving his brother peace. “That’s what you say, but in my heart and those of the others, you have given them such hope in the amount of love you have to share. Thank you for that.”
After he got ahold of himself, he read over the notes once more. He was buying himself a few minutes, and he was sure Clarisse knew it. He’d never thought of helping someone like this before, and he didn’t want to mess it up. He looked at the woman sitting there so quietly that he had a feeling she might be thinking he wasn’t anyone for the job.
“I do want to do this.” She said she’d gotten that and that he was hired. “Hired? I never would have thought of this as a job. It is, but being able to put people at peace, I think that I would like that more than anything. You’ve no idea how much I was beginning to think of myself as bored. Perhaps bored isn’t the right word, but I was looking for something more to do that I might enjoy.”
Clarisse stood up, and he did as well. “I must be on my way. It takes a great deal of energy to remain solid so that I could talk to you. There is just one more thing I would like to tell you. When you are all together, your family and extended family, the ghosts of my world travel for hundreds of miles to be close to you. The energy you give to us is so wonderful we want to feed off it.” He told her they did love to be together. “And it shows. Not just to others like us, but to the world, young Oakley. Your mother, I am going to tell her straight away how wonderful a job she did in raising you six to be wonderful men.”
When she left him, not fading as he thought she would but just disappearing, he sat there in his chair and thought about what he was going to be doing. Now that she was gone, however, he did have a few more questions. But nothing important. Perhaps when he spoke to Lach about his new job, he’d see if she knew the answers. Going to find her, he was going to see if she was free for a little question and answer time.
“There you are. I’ve been trying to remember what time my doctor’s appointment is. I need to be better at writing those down.” He kissed Lach on the mouth and held her to him. “Well, that was certainly a surprise. I needed it too. What have you been doing in here?”
“Working. And talking to a woman by the name of Clarisse. Do you know her?” She took a step back and stared at him. Not a pissy stare, more like a surprise. “She’s a ghost. She asked me if I’d be able to help with her kind like you do.”
“A pretty young woman who died in her sleep?” He said that was her. “She came to see me a few days ago. To explain some things to me about what I can do. I guess I’ve been doing this all my life and didn’t know it. When do you start?”
“I don’t know, now that you mention it. Clarisse just asked me if I’d take on some of the more messy cases, and I agreed. She knows my mom.” Lach grabbed him the
n, pulling him so close that he nearly fell over in her enthusiasm. “I love you so much, Lach. I haven’t any idea what I’d be doing if you hadn’t come into my life.”
“You’d be living in that apartment you rarely used other than to sleep, and bugging that poor grandda of yours to distraction.” She looked at him with a sassy grin. “Or, and this is more than likely more true, the two of you would be in so much trouble you’d have to hide out once in a while to rest up. Your grandda is a pistol and a wonderful person.”
“I think so too.” He looked over her shoulder and saw a man standing there. Now he saw that he was a ghost and asked Lach if she could see him too. “I didn’t know how this works with us both helping out. Can you see him?”
When she turned around, the man stood very still. He was a mess too, and he realized he might not have asked her with this gentleman. But Lach told him she couldn’t see him because he wasn’t there to see her. Pulling away from him, Lach told him she was going to hang around, just to help him if he needed it. Oakley was glad for the extra person, and they all three went into the living room so they could talk.
~*~
Longley watched the couple before him. He’d been around for a long time, even before he was murdered. But seeing these two together, the woman getting large with child, it restored his faith in humanity. Coming here, he thought, was better than just hanging around in the shadows waiting for something to happen to keep him from being too lonely and bored.
“I’ve been assigned to you if you can help me, Mr. Marshall.” The man, a young man, told him to call him Oakley. “Thank you, sir. I’d like that. My name is Longley Cartwright. I’ve been gone from your world for nearly fifteen years now. Ms. Clarisse said you might be able to use me to help you get the information you might not be privy to.”
“Tell me how I can help you, Longley. However, if I can help you, if you’d rather not be my helper, then we’ll figure something else out. I don’t want anyone to do something that they’ve been assigned to if that’s something they don’t want to do.” Longley liked this man already and thought he’d do just about anything for him. Even break the rules. “You were murdered, correct? I can see that someone must have disliked you very much.”
“Yes, she did—my wife. We’d been married for nearly forty years when she did this to me. I’m not saying I was the perfect man for her, but I thought us to get along pretty well. I think she thought if I was dead, she’d get all my money. I didn’t leave it to her. I didn’t leave it for anyone. I had me a will, mind you, but the money, it was stashed away so that neither she nor anyone else would get to it unless I wanted them to have it.” Oakley asked him what he needed to be done now. “Well, I’d like for you to get it for me and spread it around. I have a list of charities I’d like to help out. And a couple of people that I know are not having such a good time in life. I’d like to be able to liven it up for them a little.”
The younger man laughed, and he watched his wife leave the room. Everyone knew who Lachlan was. They’d been keeping an eye on her for some time now. She was a lot prettier than he’d been told, too—such a lovely little thing.
“Where is your money, sir?” Longley nodded. Time to get down to business. “Will I have to travel very far? Not that I mind doing that, but I’d need to make arrangements with my sister-in-law for her plane. No big deal, but I just don’t want you to think I can travel like that without a flight plan.”
“It’s here in this town. I didn’t go to anyone before you. Nor your missus. I didn’t want her to be upset with the way I was murdered.” He touched his hand to the back of his head, where the bullet had shattered his skull. “The other man that was supposed to be there for the dead, he wasn’t a good helper to any of us. Lazy as they come, too. But my money is right here on this property. Not too far from where we’re sitting right now.”
Oakley stood up, and the two of them moved to the out of doors. If only he could feel the sunshine on his face once more, Longley thought. To feel the chill in the air this time of year. It was still early enough that there would be a few hot days left, but fall, it was his favorite time of the year.
“The trees are so beautiful right now. They’re getting a bit of color in them. It’s like they’re telling anyone that stops to see them that they’re here for them. As a reminder of the summer they’d given us, here is a spot of color for you.” Oakley told him that was beautiful. “Not really, but I do appreciate this time of year for the wonderous things working to make it through the winter months. My goodness, every living thing has a job to do to make sure that when spring rolls around again, they’re ready. I love nature.”
Longley stopped him by the little house at the back of the property. It had been updated, he saw, since the last time he’d been here. Also, he noticed that it had a new roof as well as some flowers planted around the yard.
Oakley told him that his grandda was staying in the house now. “Not permanently. He loves to go and talk to the rest of us when it suits him. Right now, he’s with my brother and his wife. They have a little boy, and Grandda is having the best time with him.” Longley said he was also helping with Fletcher. “He is. I think Dru is a good distraction for them both. Is this where we need to be?”
There was a stone fence that went along the property. The big house, the one that the young couple lived in, was something he’d never been in before today. His little house, it had been nice for just himself and his wife. He’d not been aware she’d wanted something more. More, he supposed, than she wanted from him. But he wasn’t going to let it get him down on how she’d killed him.
“Yes, there it is.” Oakley moved the stones that the fence was made of carefully. Longley would bet, without being asked to do so, that he’d put them back too. As close to the same order as he’d taken them off. “There. Right there where that rod is planted. I did that in the event I forgot where I’d put it.”
The box, a large one that he’d had especially made, was unearthed a few minutes later. He was glad to see the money he’d put in the thing was still in good shape. Not a single hole in it, nor had it rusted through. The only thing missing was the leather straps he’d had put in it so he could carry it. Not that he’d been able to do much after dragging it out here.
“Where is your wife, Longley?” The question startled him, and he laughed a little. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t pry.”
“No. It’s perfectly fine. I don’t think I’ve thought much about her in a while. She’s in prison now. Been there since the day after she murdered me. I guess the police thought it was a little suspicious that she purchased her a one-way ticket out of the country the evening I was found dead in my office. She didn’t even get to get a refund on her ticket.”
“Good. I’d hate to think she got away with taking your life.” A nice boy, he’d been told, and they were right. “Here we go. Should I take it into the house or open it here?”
“Here if you’d not mind. I have me a need to see it.” Oakley put in the combination to the lock on the chest then opened it up. Longley could see that it had not been disturbed. He looked at Oakley when he whistled. “I wasn’t one to spend money, you see. If I didn’t need it or it was something I could find cheaper elsewhere, I didn’t buy it. The house, I found out the night she murdered me, wasn’t to her liking. She wanted bigger, you see. It never occurred to me that we needed a large house with lots of rooms we’d not use. We had no children, you see. Not for lack of trying, I guess, but we never had any.”
“I’m sorry about that. My wife and I are going to have twins in the new year. I’m so excited to see them.” Everyone knew the children weren’t of his blood. You’d never know it to talk to him about them. That was because the man had a good heart. A big one too, he’d bet. “Are you satisfied with what is in here, Longley? I mean, I’m just making a guess here, but I’d bet there is at the very least a million dollars in here.”
“Three
, as a matter of fact. As I said, I didn’t like to spend money.” Nodding, he watched as the younger man picked up the chest as if it didn’t weigh a great deal and took it into his house, unmindful of the dirt and mud he was bringing in with it. “Your wife will be upset with you should she see this mess.”
“I’ll clean it up. She knows it.” As if knowing they were speaking about her, she came into the room with them. Longley was a little smitten with the young woman. She introduced herself to him again as if he were a living being that she could see and told him she was going to help with the distribution of the funds. Just like that, she trusted her husband not to be fibbing to her about where he’d gotten the money. “I have a list in there that I’ve written down for him.”
The two of them went over the list and divided up the funds as he’d wanted. The two families he wanted to help out were located, and Oakley wrote down their addresses. They were both young couples in need of a hand up. Longley knew if anyone in the world would see to it, these two would. He’d bet his last penny that Oakley would help them along more after they received the money.
Harris, a woman that scared most of the dead along with the living, joined them in the kitchen a bit later. She had a man with her, an attorney, that was going to help too. Mr. West, a man that Longley knew well, said he’d take care that the money went where it was supposed to and that neither Oakley nor him would be mentioned. Then they looked at the pile of money that was yet to be used.
“I’ve been thinking that over since I was murdered.” He watched as Oakley repeated what he was telling them. Harris laughed and asked what else he had to do with his time other than to think. “I’ve been looking around this here old world. I’ve been keeping an eye on things. Even you and your family, young lady.”
He’d meant to be funny, but she looked so sad that he told Oakley to tell her he was sorry for being flippant. She shook her head and told him she was all right. She was just emotional a great deal of late.
Oakley: Marshall’s Shadow – Jaguar Shapeshifter Romance (Marshall's Shadow Book 3) Page 12
