by Terri Reid
“It’s a terrible way to die, Sawyer,” Dale whispered. “A terrible way to die.”
Sawyer’s body shook in fear and he stumbled away from the voice and towards the open door. Forget the damn chickens, he had to get out of here.
He ran out of the corncrib into the farmyard. The sun had just set and a silvery purple light cast its glow on the fields and buildings around him.
“Why did you do it?”
Sawyer nearly screamed aloud when the figure stepped out from the shadows surrounding his own grain bin. It was Dale Johnson, he recognized him immediately, even from this distance.
“You’re dead,” he cried, shaking his head. “You are not here! You are dead.”
“You killed me,” the figure said, slowly moving further towards Sawyer, but staying in the shadows. “You were my friend. We grew up together. How could you?”
“You don’t understand,” he pleaded. “Your father, hell even your grandfather, they were penny-pinchers. Couldn’t squeeze an extra two cents out of them if they thought there was a cheaper way to do things. Not like my dad who had to have the newest and the best and the most expensive. My legacy was debt.”
“You killed me,” the ghost repeated. “You took me away from my family.”
“I was desperate,” he pleaded. “I needed the money from the sale and there was no sale without your property.”
“You cheated that company.”
“No. He approached me, the vice-president,” he said. “He knew I needed money. Somehow he knew and we were going to pull a fast one on the company. No big deal, he told me, the company had insurance for that kind of thing.”
He took a deep breath. “We could have all been rich if you had just listened to me,” he yelled at the shadow. “If you had just sold your property…”
“You wouldn’t have killed me?” the ghost asked wryly. “How long did you plan it?”
“I didn’t,” he said, lowering his voice. “I didn’t plan it. I got a copy of Quinn’s letter from the vice-president. The one Quinn wrote telling him that it was a no go with you. He told me I had to make it happen, that he had too much at stake. I had to make you sell.”
“So you killed me.”
“No!” he screamed, and then he took a deep shuddering breath. “I was just coming over to talk to you… explain to you …convince you. Then you came out of the house and went over to feed the calves. You were so caught up in those animals, you didn’t even see me. At first, all I wanted to do was trap you in there, make you listen to me. But then…I don’t know, I knew I could talk Josh into selling. Without you around, things would be so much easier.”
“So you killed me.”
“Yes, dammit, I killed you,” he screamed. “I hit you over the head with my old flashlight. I knocked you out and then I closed and locked the door. I cleaned up the buckets, so no one would think to open the door. I killed you! I killed you! Is that what you want?”
“No, I want my dad back, but since that’s not going to happen, this is good enough,” Josh said, stepping out of the shadows. “But sending you to jail for the rest of your life is going to have to do.”
Bradley stepped out from behind a parked truck, his gun drawn and pointed at Sawyer. “Sawyer Gartner, you are under arrest for the murder of Dale Johnson,” he said, as he came towards him. “Please kneel on the ground with your hands on your head.”
The cruiser pulled in at the base of the driveway and Mary, Jessie and Abe piled out. Jessie and Abe ran over to Josh and they all embraced. Mary slowly walked towards them and Dale appeared by her side.
“Thank you,” he said.
She shrugged. “Josh got him to confess,” she said.
He shook his head. “No, I don’t think my staying here was as much about finding my murderer as it was about getting my family back together,” he said, looked at his children embracing each other. “Look at them. They’ve found each other again.”
“You’ve got a great family,” she said. “You have a lot to be proud of.”
He nodded. “Yeah, it took me awhile, but I finally figured out my legacy wasn’t the farm, it was my kids.”
He paused and looked around. “Well, damn,” he said. “I can see that light you were talking about.”
“They’re going to miss you,” she said.
“Yeah, well, tell them I’ll be watching over them,” he said with a tender smile, as he gazed at his children one more time. “Tell them to be good to each other. And tell them that I love them.”
Mary nodded, her throat too tight to speak. “I will,” she finally said, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I will.”
“And that baby,” he said with a grin. “If it’s a boy, Dale’s an awfully fine name.”
Mary chuckled softly. “I agree, but I might let Jessie and Quinn have that one.”
“Good idea,” he agreed. “Good idea.”
He turned, walked towards the open field, and slowly faded away.
Chapter Forty-five
Union Dairy Ice Cream Parlor was closed for the night, the lights were turned off and only the glow of the fluorescents behind the fountain counter and inside the juke box illuminated the store. Mary unlocked the door and she and Bradley slipped inside. Then she turned and locked the door.
“Wait,” Bradley said, placing his hand over hers. “Isn’t Adam supposed to meet us here?”
Mary looked up at him with a slight grin.
“Oh, yeah, right. Ghost,” Bradley said, releasing her hand and shaking his head. “Sometimes I’m a little slow.”
She reached over and kissed him. “I think you’re doing just great,” she said.
“So, what’s next?” he whispered, pulling her into his arms.
Looking up at the love in his eyes, Mary felt a wave of wonder rush over her. It hadn’t even been a year since they met, both jogging at the park early in the morning, and now her life was totally different. His strength and tenderness, his intelligence and curiosity, and his acceptance of who she was and what she did, had changed her life. And now, together, they had created a tiny miracle.
“Dance with me, Bradley Alden,” she said.
Looping his arm around her shoulder, they walked over to the jukebox. Bradley pulled some coins from his pocket and fed them into the machine. “What would you like?” he asked. “You get four songs.”
She glanced up at the clock, it was only ten twenty-six; she had four more minutes until Adam was supposed to show up. Leaning forward, she chose the letter and number combinations for her four songs and pressed the play button. In a moment, they heard the whir of the mechanisms and the record plopped down on the turntable. Soon the soulful sounds of Elvis Presley echoed in the quiet room.
Wise men say, only fools rush in. But I can’t help, falling in love with you.
Bradley turned Mary into his arms and pulled her close, stepping slowly to the music.
“Perfect song,” he whispered, brushing his lips against her ear and making her shudder.
He slowly swayed her into the darkened back room, where there was a little more floor room, and pulled her even closer. Their bodies brushed together and Mary felt the slow melt she always experienced when she was in his arms. She sighed softly and laid her head on his chest, feeling the solid beat of his heart.
Running his hand slowly up her spine, he bent his head closer to her ear. “Take my hand,” he sang, his deep voice thrumming through her body. “Take my whole life too.”
She looked up and met his eyes, dark with passion. “I love you,” she breathed softly.
Tenderly crushing her mouth with his, the dancing stopped and they stood in the middle of the room, wrapped in each other’s love while the soft music filled the room.
The record finished and the mechanical noises from the jukebox brought them back to the present. Mary inhaled a deep shuddering breath. “We really need to go dancing more often,” she murmured.
Bradley placed quick kiss on her lips. “Yeah, we should,” he
agreed.
The strains of the Everly Brothers singing “Whenever I Want You All I Have to Do is Dream” now filled the room. Bradley lifted one eyebrow. “Time for act two?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yes, hopefully this will bring Erika here. I think it was their song.”
Taking Bradley’s hand in hers, she led him back to the main area of the ice cream parlor and they both sat at the counter and waited, hand in hand.
Finally, Mary watched as the air around the jukebox thickened and finally Erika appeared. “Hey,” she said to Mary. “That your steady?”
Mary nodded. “Yeah, I thought we could double tonight.”
“Double?” she asked. “Well, I would, but I didn’t bring a date.”
“I saw Adam today,” Mary said. “And I asked him to meet us here tonight.”
Erika’s eyes went wide. “You found Adam?” she asked. “Where did you find him?”
Suddenly, the air near the front door wavered and slowly Adam appeared in the restaurant, dressed in his letter-sweater and looking much better than he had earlier that day.
“Wow, what happened to him?” Bradley asked.
“Maybe he’s appearing as Erika remembered him,” Mary said with a shrug. “He’s kind of hunky.”
Bradley squeezed her hand lightly. “Hey, don’t forget who brought you.”
She chuckled and winked at him. “Never.”
Adam slowly scanned the room and he stopped and smiled when he saw Erika. “I’ve been searching for you for a long time,” he said.
“They’re playing our song,” she said shyly. “We should dance.”
He glided over to her and she stepped into his arms, then slowly they floated around the ice cream parlor to their song, laughing and talking. Finally the music stopped and they stepped away from each other, although, Mary noticed, their hands were still linked.
“I need to talk to both of you,” Mary said.
“Really? Now?” Erika asked. “We’ve been waiting to go cruising for the longest time.”
She started to fade away. “Wait,” Mary called. “I just wanted you to hear a new song I really like. You can wait for that, right?”
“Well,” Erika hesitated. “We really wanted to cruise…”
“Aw, come on,” Adam said. “She did get us together.”
Erika sighed. “Fine.”
The jukebox’s mechanisms whirred again and another record slid onto the turntable. The familiar opening drum beats of J Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers “Last Kiss” filled the room. The opening lines had them both staring as the jukebox. When they heard the lyrics “I’ll never forget the sound that night, the crying tires, the busting glass, the painful scream that I heard last” Erika put her hands over her ears and shook her head. “I don’t like this song,” she screamed. “Stop it! Stop it!”
Bradley jumped up and pulled the plug on the jukebox. The music stopped and the room was silent. Mary came up to him and took his hand and the ghosts reappeared to him. Now he could hear the quiet sobbing from Erika.
“Why don’t you want to hear that song?” Mary asked.
Erika shook her head. “I don’t know,” she cried. “I don’t know!”
Adam put his arm around Erika. “Where did you go?” he asked. “After the accident? I searched and searched for you.”
“We didn’t have an accident,” she insisted. “You were late. We didn’t go.”
“I picked you up,” he said, his voice both calm and gentle. “I picked you up on time and we drove out of town. We went up Highway 75 and we were listening to the Everly Brothers on the radio. I told you I loved you…”
“You just looked away for a little while,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “You just looked at me when you said you loved me. It wasn’t very long.”
Adam nodded slowly and turned to Mary. “It was too long, wasn’t it?” he asked.
“I’m sorry,” she said to the couple. “Adam, you stayed in the car, but Erika, you were thrown from the car. You both…”
“We died,” Erika said. “We died and we didn’t even get to prove how much we loved each other.”
Mary shook her head. “No, you did get to prove it,” she said. “You both died over fifty years ago and you have spent those years searching for each other. Adam was searching the crash site for you and you were waiting here for him.”
Adam looked at Erika and smiled. “You were always the prettiest girl I’d ever met,” he said. “I still love you Erika.”
Smiling through her tears, she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you too, Adam,” she said.
Suddenly the whir of the jukebox echoed in the room and once again “Whenever I Want You All I Have to Do Is Dream” started to play. Adam looked down at Erika and pulled her closer, kissing her tenderly. “Want to go cruising?” he asked.
She sighed and leaned her head against his heart. “Forever,” she said.
Slowly, the couple swayed to the music, drifting higher into the air until finally they faded away.
Mary wiped a few stray tears from her cheeks and smiled at Bradley, “Great move,” she said. “That last song was perfect.”
Bradley stepped away and picked up the loose power cord. “Um, Mary, I didn’t do it,” he said.
Mary shivered and rubbed her arms. “Okay, well now that was spooky.”
Chapter Forty-six
Mary sat back in her office chair and stretched. She looked at her desktop calendar. She’d been working out for exactly one week and a day, and she felt a great sense of accomplishment. She put her hands on her still flat abdomen and smiled. “Are you hungry?” she asked her belly. “Oh, you are? And what do you want to eat?”
She stood up and walked over to the refrigerator. On the two bottom shelves were the items Mary had picked up when she was at the store shopping for healthy snacks. There were snap peas, broccoli florets, mini carrots and ranch dip, multi-flavored rice cakes, some high fiber all grain crackers and low fat cheese dip and a couple small bags of fruit. The top shelf was filled with craving foods: chocolate bars, cookies, pastries, cheesecake squares and some left-over sweet and sour chicken.
“Hmmm, what do we want to eat?” she asked herself. “Do we want yucky rice cakes or a delicious Bavarian-cream-filled donut?”
She paused, as if waiting for a response.
“You’re right, we worked out really hard this morning. We deserve a donut.”
“Um, Mary, are you talking to a ghost?”
The male voice behind her had her dropping the donut back into the package and turning around, closing the refrigerator behind her. Quinn, Jessie, Josh and Abe all stood behind her, watching her with great interest.
“Well, this is slightly embarrassing,” she said with a quick grin. “I’ll give you a discount on your next haunting if you don’t tell Bradley I use our unborn child as a justification to indulge in my cravings.”
“I didn’t hear anything,” Josh said with a grin.
“I’m sure I saw you reaching for…,” Abe paused. “What do you got in there that’s healthy?”
“Rice cakes,” Mary muttered.
“Gross,” Abe agreed. “But, I’m sure I saw you reaching for them and not the…”
Mary sighed. “Bavarian-cream-filled Long John.”
“Hey, if you need someone to eat it so you’re not tempted…,” Quinn offered.
Mary shook her head. “Yeah, I don’t think so,” she said.
“Well, I think you look great,” Jessie said. “As a matter of fact, I was going to tell you that I thought you looked too great and you weren’t putting on enough weight. You should really be eating some high carb foods, for the baby’s sake.”
“See, and that’s why I like you so much,” Mary laughed.
She walked back to her desk and offered them all seats. “So, what can I do for you?” she asked.
“We just wanted to give you some updates,” Quinn began. “I contacted the president of Maughold on Monday, they just got
back to me to tell me they’ve arrested the vice president who worked with Sawyer.”
“Tell her what else they did,” Jessie encouraged.
“They offered me a job,” he said. “In Chicago.”
“And?” Mary asked.
“I turned them down,” he said, grasping Jessie’s hand. “I told them I had much better options in Freeport.”
Jessie blushed and nodded. “We’re, um, dating,” she said.
“So, the other thing we all wanted to talk to you about,” Josh said. “Were you really interested in buying the house?”
Mary thought about it for a moment. It was a great house with a big backyard and lots of room for a growing family. And then she thought about her current home and her neighborhood. She pictured her neighbors, especially the Brennan family who were going to be descended on her house that very night, and finally shook her head. “No, it’s lovely,” she said. “But it’s not for me right now.”
“Great!” Josh said.
“Great?” Mary asked.
“Well, Abe and I have decided to go back into farming,” he explained. “Thanks to Quinn.”
“The people at Maughold are selling them back their land,” Quinn said. “Once I explained the circumstances behind the sale.”
“Selling it to them?” Mary asked. “They should give it to them.”
“Well, yes, but if they did that it would be admitting the company was in some way complicit with Sawyer’s dealings,” Quinn explained.
Mary nodded. “Okay, I understand, but did they at least give you a deal?” she asked.
Josh smiled. “Yes, a very good deal.”
“So I thought you didn’t want to be a farmer,” Mary said.
“Well, Josh is going to handle the financials and I’m going to farm,” Abe replied. “I always liked that part better.”
“So you’re going to move back to the house?”
“Well, just until my new house is built,” he said. “In about six months.”
“Then what?”
“I think in six months or so, I’ll be looking for a house,” Quinn said, with a loving look at Jessie. “You know, some place to raise a family.”
