[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]tracing squares on my chair, one after another. I put my hand up to cover the spot his
finger touched and felt the chill coming from him. There was no light or glow to
indicate he was there. Just the moving pattern.
He was a spirit. Did he know? Until the others left, I couldn t ask.
As soon as the door closed I spun around.
Michael? What s happening? Do you know if she s going to die?
No, Charli. I don t have a clue. I m just sick to think she might die because of this place. Too
many bad things have happened here. You ve got to get out of here. Find a new place.
Not you too. Ethan s been after me since last night to move out. He doesn t like it
here either. But I can t go Michael. I just can t.
Tell him why, love. Ethan was standing beside me, watching the pressure pattern
Michael was making on the chair. The moving fabric at least told him where Michael
was.
Yeah, Charli, tell me why. This is no longer a safe place. You know. You, of all people,
should know.
I, of all people, do know, dammit. But I can t move out of here. I have no place else
to go. There s nothing out there I can afford. I m still paying off the loans you had and
I ve still got a year to pay on the car.
Why, Charli? There was enough insurance to cover those things. What did you do with the
money?
What do you mean, enough? There was a paltry fifty thousand dollar policy. It
wouldn t have covered your loans even if I d got the money. But I didn t. So I m paying
it off, a bit every month. Another year and I should have everything paid off. But for
now I don t have a choice.
There was complete silence. It didn t look as if the spiritual manifestation of my
husband believed what I d just said.
Ethan was looking at me as if he would like to leave the room and let us have this
out for ourselves. But I guess he found it hard to walk away when the only person he
could see was me. Okay. Hold it. Sorry I brought it up. I don t think fighting over this
now is going to help either of you. Everything happened years ago. You can t change it.
Especially you, Michael.
Charli, tell him. I left you provided for. At least, according to the accountant. He changed
the insurance to you. He made sure there was life insurance on the loans. The week before we got
married I gave him all the instructions.
I told Ethan what he d said. I sat there, still, not knowing what to say. It was Ethan
who came up with the plan.
63
Kelsy George
Look, Michael. I know you can hear me. So, if I ask questions, will you answer
them? By moving something. One move for yes, two for no.
Without hesitation my hair moved. I d pulled it back in one big fat braid, Michael
used it to tap my shoulder. Once. He could now talk, albeit in one and two-tap words to
Ethan.
I smiled. My spirit and my&
What did I call Ethan? He was my boss, my friend. Maybe he was more than my
friend. Or was he?
Michael, did you have your own lawyer?
I felt the braid tap twice. No? Then who was Miles Laster? He d been our lawyer.
I was going to interrupt but Ethan asked another question before I could.
Did you use someone else s lawyer? The braid tapped once.
Ethan s voice when it asked the next question sounded strained.
Was it your mother s lawyer? There was a slight delay before he tapped again,
once.
Now I knew why she d been so cold to me. She d known she was getting the money
the minute they told us Michael was dead. Did she really need it? I sure wouldn t have
said so.
Charli? Is this true? You didn t get the money?
No, Michael, I didn t get it. It went to your mother.
How much of it? All of it?
I didn t understand what he was asking.
Yes, Michael, all of it. When I sent the policy to the insurance company they
phoned me back to tell me I had no rights to the money. I wasn t the beneficiary.
Needless to say they left me high and dry.
Charli, I can t prove it to you, but believe me, there should have been more and it should all
have been yours. There was a second policy for a quarter million dollars. My father bought it for
me before he died. The policy was
I knew the minute he figured it out. The glow he was emanating became bright red
then faded to blue-white. Hot to cold. Even the air around him felt cold. When I
breathed out, I saw a little cloud of mist.
The policy was with your mother s lawyer, wasn t it? Did he help her do this
Michael? I shook my head. What on earth was I asking? Sorry, kind of a stupid
question. All I can tell you is I received nothing when you died, Michael. Not one
penny. If there was three hundred thousand dollars, it went to someone else.
I wasn t going to name his mother. He could figure it out.
Ethan was shaking his head, almost afraid, I think, of what he d started. He d asked
the question and now here we sat, knowing my mother-in-law had taken all the money
meant for me.
64
Deja You
Charli, you ve got to believe me. I thought I set it up so if anything happened to me, you d be
taken care of. I am so sorry, babe. I can t believe she did this to you. She knew what I wanted. I
told her what I was doing.
The area around my chair was becoming colder by the minute.
That bitch! The air where Michael hovered turned frigid. I could see my breath
when I tried to speak. Ethan beat me to it.
Michael, man, I m sorry. I think I know what s happened even though I can t hear
you. Just give me one sign you want me to go after her. I ll have my lawyer on her
lawyer s doorstep when his office opens.
There was an immediate single bounce of my braid. A few seconds later there were
two more bounces. Michael was obviously having trouble. This was his mother we were
talking about, after all. I decided to jump in.
Nobody is going after anybody. I ve made it this far. I ll make it all the way. I ve
only got one more year to pay on both the car and the loans. Then I m free.
The tone of my voice told them I meant business. Nobody argued with me.
When the phone in Ethan s pocket rang we all jumped. Even Michael. So much for
the spirit who knew everything. My spirit was a dead loss. No pun intended.
Yes? Ethan was mouthing the word hospital while he listened. Yes, thank you.
You ll keep us posted?
I didn t know what they were saying but he was nodding his head. When he
disconnected he turned to us, the grave look on his face telling the story without words.
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