“What is happening when this white light passes through me?” Clay asked.
“It looks like this Geist used his metaphysical energy to merge with yours... to sort of give you a boost so you could get to Elena in time to save her,” Martha replied.
Michael stepped back to sit down where Sean had been, absorbing the conversation. Everyone stayed silent, deep in thought.
“Okay. Okay,” Martha snapped out loud to no one in particular, or so it seemed to everyone else. “The Geist is insisting I tell you who he is. He says ‘time’s-a-tickin’.” She held one hand up in the air. “Okay. Donnerwetter! He is a fretful one.”
Jackie smiled inwardly, recognizing the phrase time’s-a-tickin’ but unable to remember why. Clay turned from the window and looked at Martha expectantly.
“He says his name is Evan. Jackie, he wants to apologize to you.”
Jackie stiffened and stepped back, stunned. “Wha-what?”
“He wants you to know he feels like an idiot. He should have listened to you about what he ate. He’s angry, but not at you. Angrier at himself for not listening to you. He’s just so sorry for leaving you.”
“How could you know that?” she spat out at Martha. “I just told Clay about that, but you weren’t here.”
“I didn’t know about it, Jackie. Evan just told me,” Martha said.
Jackie calmed a bit and stood motionless, except for a slight trembling as she fought back tears.
“You know Evan?” Martha asked softly.
“Evan was my fiancé. He passed away several months ago from a sudden heart attack,” Jackie said through her mounting tears. The lights in the room flickered in response.
Clay reached out a hand to comfort her but stopped short, as if realizing it would be an intrusion on an intimate moment between her and Evan.
“I’m sorry, but I’m having a hard time buying this,” Jackie said as she turned to look out the window.
“Your blue eyes,” Martha said. “Evan is saying he wished he could swim in the ocean of your love just one more time.”
All of her doubt melted away after hearing those words. Jackie gave in and broke down. The sobbing shook her as she searched for a chair. All the feelings she had dealt with after Evan’s death came flooding back in.
Michael stepped over and silently helped her sit down.
“That was our thing, in private. No one knew about that but us. How...” Jackie trailed off. “Was that Evan on the video?”
Martha nodded. “I believe so.”
“Can his... spirit... hear me?”
“Yes.”
Jackie sobbed openly. Looking around the room, she attempted to speak directly to Evan. “You stayed? You stayed to protect us? You helped Clay save my baby girl?” Jackie paused as the sobs overtook her for a moment. “Thank you, Evan. Thank you so much.” Clay nodded silently as if to thank him for the help. The lights flickered again.
“Evan says this is too intense for him to safely stay any longer. But he is glad he could be there for you and Elena once more,” Martha repeated for Jackie. “He has to go now. He can’t take the concentration of emotion for so long without doing more damage.”
“Damage?” Clay said. “You mean to say that he made the electronics sketch out?”
Martha nodded. “It can happen.”
“Damn,” Clay muttered under his breath as he looked down at the floor.
Jackie’s sobbing faded. “Wait, no... There’s so much I want to ask, so many things I need to tell you...”
Martha looked at Jackie warmly. “It’s best if you let him go.” Then she said to the air in front of her, “Okay, okay, I will.”
𓂓
ABCs ended the call with the lawyer, returned to the break room, and sat down. He picked up a chicken leg and nibbled off the remaining bits of meat. He had confirmed that no one around the prosecutor’s office had discussed a plea deal with John. When questioned about the landscaper, the woman, and the child, the lawyer had no information at that time but promised to find out what he could.
ABCs scrolled down through his contacts to find the burner number to reach Officer Hines. He answered on the second ring, “Hines.”
“Start from the beginning. Tell me everything,” ABCs grumbled.
“I arrived first on the scene,” Hines began.
ABCs listened as Hines recounted the day’s events. He stopped him at some points to ask for clarification.
“You mean to tell me that you and John had discussed using the carjacking story, but when the other officer came over, John ignored you and just blabbered on like an idiot.”
“Well, I wouldn’t go that far, but yeah, he could have said a lot less. Officer Street definitely picked up on his agitation as well as his pot breath.”
“Wait. This stupid gringo was driving around high in the morning with my shipment,” ABCs said in his usual question-statement format.
“They took blood. We’ll know the results later, but it looks that way,” Hines answered.
ABCs snarled a string of profanities in Spanish, then said, “Go on.”