Natural Reaction (10 page)

Mary dropped her pencil on the desk and sat up straight. “You’re kidding me?” she exclaimed. “She’s in Freeport?”

Ian sat up and stared at Mary.

“Do you have anything else?”

“No, sorry, Mary,” he replied. “But, let me get a requisition and try to pull the original file. It’s going to take a while because it comes from the archives in Springfield, but I’ll get it to you as soon as I can.”

“Hal, you are wonderful,” she said, after giving him her contact information. “Thanks so much.”

“Hey, you ever get back in town?” he asked. “We could do lunch.”

Smiling, she nodded. “Yeah, that would be nice. I’ll call you next time I’m there.”

“Thanks Mary,” he said. “Good luck with your client.”

“Yeah, well, at least we know where she lives.”

“Where she lived eight years ago,” he reminded her.

“Oh, yeah, that’s true. Thanks again, Hal. Bye.”

She hung up the phone in a slight daze and turned to Ian. “Bradley’s little girl was adopted by a family who lived in Freeport,” she said, shaking her head. “How weird is that?”

Putting his laptop down on the coffee table, Ian shook his head. “Actually, I don’t find it weird at all.”

She turned her chair to face him and folded her arms over her chest. “Excuse me, Mr. Professor; you don’t think that’s strange?”

He grinned. “Okay Mary, you and I already deal in a, let’s call it, psychic world. We understand there’s more to our existence than most people do, right?”

She nodded.

“And we’ve heard those stories about families moving and their pets getting lost, but eight months later the pet shows up on the doorstep, hundreds of miles away.”

“Yeah, but what does that…”

“There are psychic connections that we haven’t even begun to explore,” he interrupted. “The mother who knows her son has been shot in a war thousands of miles away.
The infant who stops crying once he feels his mother’s touch.
The husband who begins to pick up the phone seconds before it rings because he knows his wife is calling.”

“Okay, but what does that…”

Ian lifted his hand to stop her. “A father who desperately searches for his wife and daughter is led to the town where his daughter lives,” he said, and then continued pointedly looking at her. “A woman searching for new meaning in her life is led to a town where she can reunite a father and daughter.
Psychic connections.”

“I prefer to think some of these things are guided by God,” she replied.

Ian shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not saying they’re not. Why wouldn’t God use these gifts in order to help people communicate on a higher plane?”

Mary ran her hand through her hair one more time. “This is a lot to consider,” she said, standing up. “I think I need chocolate.”

Ian stood and followed her to the kitchen.
“Aye, good idea.
But then, we need chili.”

Bradley drove the cruiser down Galena Avenue, stopping at the light on South Street and then turning left towards Highway 20. The day was cold and overcast and everything seemed to be wearing a shroud of grey. It seemed even Mother Nature was acknowledging Jeannine’s death.

Her parents had been a little confused with his request to meet with them. He didn’t want to tell them anything until he was there in person, instead needing to look into their eyes and explain what he’d learned about her death. He owed them that much at least.

He drove past Springfield Street and merged onto Highway 20. The road, as usual, was fairly empty during the midday hours. He leaned forward to press the cruise control button when a slight movement out of the corner of his eye, caught his attention. He turned quickly to find Mike sitting in the passenger’s seat.

“Holy shit,” he yelled, swerving the car into the left lane.

“Really?
You’re
a law
enforcement professional and you drive like this?” Mike asked. “I’m surprised you even have a license.”

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Bradley asked.

Mike shrugged.
“Going with you.
I figured you could use the company.”

Shaking his head, Bradley was momentarily confused. “You’re going with me?”

“Yeah, a guy shouldn’t have to be alone at a time like this,” he said.

Bradley gripped the steering wheel, stared straight ahead and didn’t speak for a few minutes. “Thank you, Mike,” he finally said, his voice cracking. “I appreciate it.”

“Hey, no problem,” he said. “So, have you thought about what you’re going to say?”

Sighing, Bradley shrugged. “I’ve practiced this over in my head about a hundred times. But no matter how I say it, I know they are going to be devastated.”

Mike nodded.
“Yeah, even when you’re kind of expecting it, hearing the words out loud can be overwhelming.”

Bradley nodded. “Yeah, it can,” he said. “I can still remember the shock I felt when I saw Jeannine at Mary’s place.”

“You were pretty much an idiot about it,” Mike said.

“Yeah, I was.”

“But you’re a guy. We’re supposed to be idiots on occasion. It helps women feel superior.”

Bradley snorted. “Oh, that’s why we do it.”

“Keeps the world turning, bro, keeps the world turning.”

“So, can I ask, how did your parents take the news about your death?”

Mike turned and looked out the window for a moment, and then he turned back to Bradley. “I don’t know,” he said. “I wasn’t there for them. I didn’t know I was dead, so I was at Yellow Creek fishing. I could have fished for an eternity.”

Bradley glanced over at him. “I don’t understand. How could you just fish and not realize something was wrong?”

“It’s a time thing,” Mike explained. “When you’re dead, you can’t comprehend the passage of time, like you do when you’re alive. A year to you could be like ten minutes to a ghost. So, we don’t have the same urgency as you.”

“So, Jeannine…”

“Yeah, she waited a while for you to find her,” Mike said. “But, it was more like you being late for dinner rather than waiting for years.”

“Well that makes me feel a little better,” he acknowledged.

“But you still feel like you let her down, right?”

Bradley nodded. “Yeah, how can I feel any other way? And now I get to go tell her parents I let her down.”

Mike turned in his seat and faced Bradley. “You know, I’m not saying you shouldn’t grieve for her, because you have to do that. But, you’ve got to stop thinking you’re as powerful as God.”

“What? I don’t think…”

“Sure you do,” Mike interrupted. “You think you should have prevented what happened to her. You should have known your crazy neighbor would decide to kidnap her. You should have been at the hospital when the doctor injected the drug that accidentally killed her.”

“No, that’s not what I think.”

“Oh, really?
Then how can you say you failed her?”

Bradley didn’t say anything for a while. He changed lanes and passed a milk truck, and then moved back into the right lane. “I’m alive and she’s dead,” he whispered. “How am I supposed to feel?”

“Like crap. Like the world isn’t fair. Like you got the raw end of the deal,” Mike said.
“Even mad as hell.
But, taking her death on yourself is not going to help anyone, least of all you. I should know.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“When I was ten years old I lived out in the country. My family had a dairy farm. My dad and my uncles had run it together ever since my grandpa had been killed when a tractor flipped on him. Because dad was the only one with kids, we got to live in the old farmhouse. It was a great place to grow up.”

Taking a deep breath, Mike paused for a moment.

“I had this friend, Timmy Beck,” he said. “We were inseparable. We went fishing, played baseball, slept out overnight in my tree house. I knew we were going to be friends forever. So, then one summer day Timmy and I were supposed to go fishing together. It was a safer world back then, but we always had the buddy system, you know, we always go as a team. So, Timmy gets to my house, he’s carrying his fishing pole and tackle box. I start to pick up my stuff when my mom calls me. I was supposed to clean the chicken coop and she just discovered I didn’t do it.”

“It’s amazing how moms find those things out,” Bradley said.

Mike smiled slightly. “Yeah, she had ESP where I was concerned. So, I got in trouble and had to go clean out the coop instead of going fishing with Timmy.”

“Sounds reasonable.”

“Yeah, but instead of going back home, Timmy decides to go fishing by himself.”

Turning away from Bradley, Mike looked out the window for a few moments. “They found his body a couple of days later,” he said softly. “He’d been molested and then strangled to death.
My best friend.
If only I’d cleaned the chicken coop when I was supposed to, he wouldn’t have died.”

“You don’t know that,” Bradley said. “You both could have been victims.”

“Yeah, it took me a long time to figure out that I didn’t kill my best friend and I wasn’t responsible,” he said. “But I was messed up for a long time.”

“So, did they find the bastard?”

Mike nodded. “Yeah, turns out the school bus driver did it. I couldn’t believe it, he was such a nice guy. But they found a bunch of stuff from all of the victims. Four boys were killed that summer.”

“You don’t expect something like that to happen in a small town.”

“Yeah, almost makes it worse when it’s one of your neighbors, one of your friends.”

Bradley took a deep breath. “Yes. Yes it is.”

“So you have those two adorable Brennan children staying with you?” Rosie asked, as Stanley helped her slip out of her coat.

Nodding, Mary closed the door behind them. “Yes, for at least a couple of days. Katie called me this morning, the surgery went well, but recovery isn’t going as well as they’d hoped. So, I might be able to keep for a little longer.”

“Keep ‘
em
,” Stanley growled. “It
ain’t
like
they’s
puppies or kittens.”

“No, they are much more fun to play with,” Mary laughed. “They are so incredibly clever and little Maggie has the biggest crush on Ian. It’s so cute.”

“Ah, well, the feelings mutual, I assure you,” Ian said, coming into the room and sitting on the couch’s arm.

“No matter what age, them dames will fall for a foreigner more times than not,” Stanley said, walking over to Ian.

“So, it’s not my sparkling personality?” Ian asked in mock dismay. “She just loves my accent?”

“Harrumph,” Stanley muttered. “If you can’t speak English you shouldn’t be living here in America.”

“Um, begging your pardon, Stanley,” Ian inserted. “But I do believe that we invented English before America was even considered a country.”

“Yep, and we beat the pants
offen
you and your countrymen during the Revolutionary War.”

“Actually, many Scots fought with America against the British.”

Stanley paused. “You don’t say.”

Ian nodded. “Aye, we’ve a long friendship with your country.”

“Well, then, I take it back,” Stanley said. “Now,
iffen
you could only learn to talk without that accent, things would be fine.”

“Ach, well, I’ll see what I can do about it,” Ian said with a grin. “Would you all be wanted a bit of tea?”

“Oh, yes, Ian, that would be lovely,” Rosie said. “And then you must tell me what I can do to help with those dear children.”

Mary grinned at Ian. “I thought they might like some cinnamon rolls,” she said, “If you have the time to make them.”

“Well, yes, of course I do,” Rosie said. “I can make some this evening and bring them over. All you’ll have to do is reheat them for breakfast.”

Shaking his head, Ian turned on the kettle and then walked back over to Rosie. He lifted her hand and placed a kiss on it. “Rosie, please,
leave
Stanley and run away with me,” he pleaded.

Rosie blushed and giggled.
“Oh, Ian, you silly boy.”

“Rosie, you and your cooking have captured my heart,” he said.

Stanley came over and put his arm around Rosie, guiding her to a seat on the couch and sitting next to her. “You can just find your own sweetheart,” he grumbled. “This one’s taken.”

Rosie wrapped her hand around Stanley’s arm and smiled up at him. “And she’s very happy about being taken too.”

Mary sat down on the recliner and smiled at her two friends. It was so nice to see them both so obviously in love.

“So, how are you feeling?” Rosie asked Mary.

“I’m good,” she replied. “I’ve promised to take things easy for a while. Ian and I are going to find a ghost who isn’t connected to a murder to help.”

“Aye, that reminds me,” Ian said. “Have either of you heard about the ghost at the high school?”