Talking Bones Read online

  “Yeah, I’m surprised you’re there,” his brother noted. “New Orleans is hardly your type of place, especially the French Quarter. You’ve never been a partier, Gage. Always so serious.”

  “Count yourself lucky that I lived in Portland all these years, that you had your serious older brother around all that time. Once I get this merger deal cinched, that allows me to relocate anywhere I want, probably somewhere away from people,” he shared. “No telling where I’ll end up.”

  “I know. I know,” Terrence agreed carefully. “I’m just trying to figure out what happened to Uncle.”

  “You and me both.” Gage pinched the bridge of his nose, wishing his brother hadn’t called.

  “At least you found the shop he went to.” Terrence hesitated. “Do you think she knows anything?”

  “About him? No, not at all. About a lot of other things, hell yes.”

  “Really?” Terrence’s tone sounded interested. “Like, did you see something?”

  “I saw a lot of shapes, like spirits, but none I could talk to,” Gage murmured, grateful his brother knew some of his current troubles.

  “That’s too bad because if you could talk to them—”

  “We’ve been over this. I can’t, so it doesn’t really matter.”

  “I get it. I get it.” Terrence sighed. “But, with that note, we need to get this resolved. Uncle’s got to be somewhere.”

  “I’ll go back and talk to her, when the crowds disperse a bit.”

  “Well, maybe do something nice for her this time, so you don’t come across so overpowering.”

  “Who said I was overpowering?”

  “Are you kidding? You didn’t build a very successful business with your charm, bro.”

  “You may have a point there. I might pick up lunch for her. She looks like she’s starving.”

  A moment of silence passed on the other end, and then his brother chuckled. “You know what? That just might do it. Get some for yourself too, so you don’t come across as a grizzly bear. You probably came on way too strong. Come on. Admit it.”

  He winced. “It’s possible.”

  “Of course it is. You probably accused her—or at least pushed her psychic buttons all over the place. You know that’s not the way to get cooperation.”

  “I don’t know anything about this psychic stuff,” he snapped. “I’m just a newbie. Remember? Only since the accident did I start seeing these apparitions, and you know that.”

  “I know, but still it’s intriguing,” he shared. “I almost want to sign up for a car accident myself.”

  “Right, of course you do,” he scoffed. “Chances are that wouldn’t go well. So hold off, okay?”

  “I know. I’m all too afraid that’s exactly what would happen,” he murmured. “Keep me posted.” And, with that, his brother hung up.

  Gage looked around and wondered if 11:30 a.m. was too early to bring her food. Hoping not, he found a restaurant farther down that opened onto the street with an outdoor window, and he headed in that direction. At least if he picked something up, she could eat it whenever.

  He hated the fact that he already felt like he needed to feed her. One thing he could never do was walk by and see the homeless or the elderly suffering and without food. He didn’t know why, all of a sudden, she fit into that same category, but apparently she did. With that, he immediately headed to the restaurant and studied the menu, trying to imagine what she might like.

  Chapter 2

  This group of tourists was thankfully full of energy in abundance, so easily distracted Skylar from the tall stranger leaving her shop. With cheerful faces, they quickly purchased multiple items, including five of the hair sticks that she had just tripled the price on earlier this morning. She smiled as they all walked out, wishing them a happy day. Following on their heels came another group and, after that, still another.

  By the time the store was finally empty for the first time later that morning, she smiled and headed to the back, hoping she could squeeze in a cup of coffee before the next group arrived. She cringed a moment later when the bell signaled that the door was opening yet again. Her heart sank because she was really hoping to get that coffee and maybe even rummage in the back to see if she had anything to eat besides the sweet beignets. Instead she turned to see the stranger from earlier.

  He walked in, carrying a large take-out bag.

  She frowned, staring at it suspiciously, but she recognized the Chinese restaurant’s logo on the bag. He put it down on the counter by the cash register and started pulling out several items. She looked at him and asked, “What’s all this about?”

  “A peace offering,” he stated. “I realized that I came on way too strong this morning, and I was completely out of line. I’m sorry, and I hope you’ll accept my apology and some lunch.”

  “Well, you certainly came on strong,” she confirmed cautiously. Then her stomach rumbled, as she looked at the food.

  “Do you happen to have any coffee to go with it?” he asked.

  “Well, I was about to go check out that coffee situation, when you walked in. I could put on a fresh pot,” she offered. “I didn’t even get a chance to drink much this morning, so it’s probably burned and bitter tasting by now.”

  “A fresh pot sounds great,” he agreed. “I should have grabbed a couple to-go when I got the food.”

  She frowned, not sure she trusted him alone in her store.

  He suggested, “I’ll walk back with you, if you’d rather.” At that, she took a step back. He stepped back himself, putting up his hands. “Or else I’ll stand right here until you return. Sorry, I’m not trying to intimidate you.”

  Surprised at him picking up on her reluctance, but sensing no malice in his energy, she raced to the back, put on a pot of coffee, and returned to the front of the store, almost amused to see him standing in the exact same place. He looked at her, smiled, and said, “See? I promised, and I stuck to it.”

  “Sure, but your presence is still more than a little disturbing.”

  “For you?” he asked, with an eyebrow raised.

  “I don’t get it,” she stated. “What do you even know about me?”

  “Only what my uncle researched about you, and then, of course, with his disappearance, we had no choice but to delve more into your background,” he admitted almost apologetically.

  “Surely it’s not that interesting,” she noted.

  “Any woman who can talk to bones has my attention.”

  She winced at that phrase. “Nobody talks to bones,” she countered, with an airy wave of her hand, hoping he’d let it go at that. And who the hell would even know anything about talking to bones?

  “What about all the spirits in here?”

  She stared at him. “Are you saying that you see spirits here in my store?”

  He snorted. “I can see evidence of the spirits here, but I know, for a fact, that you can talk to them.”

  “And how is that?”

  “Because I can hear it.”

  “You want to explain that?” she demanded.

  He hesitated, and then, as if realizing he would have to give something in order to get a little bit of trust back, he began, “Look. My name is Gage Hawkins. A friend and I were at a business dinner a while back. On the way home we were involved in a bad car accident—and, just for the record, I wasn’t drinking. I ended up in a coma for a time, and, when I came out of it, I could see and hear things that nobody could explain.”

  At that, she nodded slowly. “It can happen like that sometimes.”

  “Yes,” he agreed, “but I didn’t know what I was seeing or hearing, and I didn’t want to tell anybody because all they’d do is say I was seeing and hearing things and refer me to a shrink.”

  She stared. “Yeah, that’s a very common response.” So far, everything he said rang true.

  He went on. “It took me a long time to realize that I was seeing dead people, and then, when one ghost stepped forward, in a normal-looking human form, he explained it to me. So I could hear him, even though he was a ghost.”

  She frowned, while nodding. “So what exactly do you see?”

  “I see like glowing white shapes.” He motioned to the side of him.

  She looked over to where Thomas stood right beside Gage, his top hat still in place, which was normal for him. “So, what do you see right now?” she asked.

  Gage put out his hand toward Thomas again. “This white form has something about ten inches tall or so above his head, and what I presume is his body is just this long skinny white form.”

  “His name is Thomas,” she shared. “He was killed over 150 years ago. Somewhere around Lincoln’s era.”

  “Interesting,” he replied, as he studied her. “Did he tell you that?”

  “Yep, he sure did. Once you open the doorway, they really like to talk,” she stated. “So, when your friend the cop was asking if I was alone last night, my answer was yes, but of course it had to be no.”

  He nodded. “Right. I sensed that you weren’t telling the truth.”

  “Because, to me, these guys are real,” she stated cheerfully. “Of course I’m comfortable telling you this because, if you go tell the cops, they won’t believe you anyway.” Then she gave him the sweetest smile.

  He looked at her in fascination. “You know what? You’re quite right. They would think I had absolutely gone around the bend.”

  “And they would refer you for some psychiatric evaluation, perhaps having you committed for however long, until you convince them that it must have been a bad dream or maybe the drugs you were taking that made you say that.”

  He stared at her. “You’ve been there, haven’t you?”

  Her gaze widened, as she studied him. “Haven’t we all?”

/>   He nodded slowly. “No, you’re right. I did go through a similar session that terrified me.”

  “And it should. When people think that you’re off your rocker and are doing things that they don’t understand, they suddenly have all kinds of power over you. You have no idea.”

  “I’m sorry. … I didn’t mean to send you down that kind of a negative pathway.”

  “Maybe not,” she agreed, “but you must know that you possess a tremendously powerful energy, and, when you walked in this morning, you brought the wind with you. That’s because you were uncomfortable in this situation, and you were using it to try to make you look good.”

  He stared at her, and she saw an ever-so-slight flush going up his neck.

  She nodded. “So, from one to another, don’t bother trying to make a showy presence upon arrival. None of us appreciate it, and those of us in the industry already know what you’re doing and why.”

  “Wow,” he replied. “That was guaranteed to knock me off balance.”

  “That wasn’t what I intended to do,” she murmured, backing off slightly, “but it is what you intended to do to me.” As the flush rose a little higher up his neck, she nodded. “Now, with that said and understood, I still don’t understand what this is all about, but, first, it smells like the coffee is done.”

  She retreated to her little back room, where she poured two cups and returned. Her amusement grew even greater, as she noted he still hadn’t moved from that one spot. She waved a hand. “You may now move.”

  He looked down, and, flushing even more, he asked, “Did you keep me here?”

  She seemed surprised. “None of us can do to another what they don’t wish to have done.”

  “You know what? I’d like to believe that,” he stated, “but some weird shit is happening in my world, and I’m not sure that I can agree.”

  “Good, because there are exceptions,” she noted, “and you should always be doubting everything around you.”

  He nodded slowly and stared at her in awe.

  An awed fascination that she didn’t really want. But somehow this soul—who was new to all this—was a little more broken than she had expected. Gage covered it up really well with that macho bravado, mostly out of fear when he’d walked in originally, she figured. But no way to really be sure so she couldn’t trust him quite yet. Something was going on in that energy of his that he was keeping from her. But, by the same token, she was keeping a lot from him as well. She set a cup of coffee in front of him. “Here you are.”

  He nodded sheepishly. “Thank you.”

  She shrugged. “There’s too much food here just for me, so I presume you intended this for both of us.”

  “I know my brother would certainly appreciate it if you shared a meal with me. He suggested I was in a bit of a mood.”

  She snorted. “I’m not known for not sharing. However, when people come in, asking questions about a missing uncle—who doesn’t have anything to do with me—I find it a little irritating. Especially when they bring the cops, which is bad for business.”

  “Everybody called him Jonesy, but we called him Uncle. He was well loved by many.”

  “And yet you speak about him in the past tense.”

  He frowned. “I didn’t mean to.”

  “But you did.”

  “Yes, I guess I did, but I don’t know why.” He looked more than a little disturbed. He picked up one of the covered dishes and said, “I think these are both the same.”

  “Slight variations from the looks of it, but yes.” She picked up hers. “What made you think of this?”

  “I like food?”

  She snorted. “And I gather you’re the kind who likes to feed waifs, the homeless, the starving children, unwanted pets, and the like.” He looked at her, as if stunned that she had hit that out of the park. She nodded. “It’s in your energy.”

  “What else is in my energy?” he asked worriedly.

  “That you’re honestly worried about your uncle,” she noted. “Which is the only reason I’m talking to you right now, by the way.”

  He swallowed hard. “You’re a little scary, you know that?”

  She nodded, as she continued to study his energy. “I am. It’s one of the reasons why not a whole lot of people are in my private world.”

  “I can see that. … Do you have any idea what happened to Uncle?”

  She shook her head. “I didn’t even know he was missing. I didn’t know anything about him.”

  “And that bone?”

  “I don’t know,” she admitted.

  “But you haven’t picked it up.”

  She looked over at him and asked, “How do you know that?”

  “I can see it peeking out from under the display.”

  She winced. “I was trying to move it earlier, but it’s been a very busy day.”

  “You can move it now,” he stated helpfully.

  She glared at him and then nodded. “I kind of need to.” She quickly snatched up the gloves that she kept underneath the counter, put them on, then walked around the counter and picked up the bone, placing it on a side counter, out of the sight of her customers.

  “Why the gloves?”

  “Well, I guess it depends on the bone,” she replied, looking back at him. “Have you ever tried to pick up the bone of someone who died violently?”

  He stared at her, horrified, and then slowly shook his head.

  “That violence is often still sitting on the bones.”

  “So, do you get a shock or what?”

  “Well, that’s one word for it.” She walked behind the counter again, took off the gloves, and picked up her lunch.

  “You really don’t want to tell me much, do you?”

  “I don’t know who you are. For all I know, you’re a reporter, and you’re recording this,” she declared calmly, even though the very thought made her sick to her stomach.

  He stared at her and started to laugh. “No, I’m not. I promise. And honestly, I probably hate reporters even more than you do.”

  She looked at him and realized with relief that he was telling the truth. “Well, I’m certainly glad to hear that,” she noted lightly. “That is one point to your benefit.”

  “I guess they haven’t been very nice to you, have they?” he asked.

  “Nope, they sure haven’t,” she confirmed, trying for a smile but not succeeding.

  “Am I wrong to think that a lot of people haven’t been very nice to you?”

  “Most people are petrified of what they don’t understand,” she explained. “So, that fact alone puts me in a whole different category of life.”

  “I’m sorry. That must be kind of lonely.”

  She shrugged, scooped up the last of her lunch. “Why? It’s not your fault.”

  “No, but I think I added to your upset today, and that wasn’t fair. Especially since I did it badly.”

  “It’s lucky that you’re very powerful at something in the normal world out there. I don’t know what it is because I don’t know you, but you’ve taken that same can-do attitude, and you’ve applied it to something that has absolutely nothing to do with your original specialty. So, you come across forceful, as if you know exactly what you’re talking about. Which probably works very well in your world. Not in mine though, because those of us who can see and can read energies know exactly where you’re at on this pathway. You’re a newbie. So, a word to the wise, don’t try it.”

  “You said something like that earlier.”

  “Yeah, and you almost listened, but then you started to dismiss it.”

  He winced. “Am I that easy to read?”

  “No, not that easy to read necessarily, but, for somebody like me, yeah, you’re an open book.”

  “And yet you say you don’t know anything about me. If I’m an open book—”

  “I’d have to look,” she replied, “and that’s something I don’t do.” She turned and put her empty carton in the garbage can behind her. As she turned back, he stared at her in fascination.

  She sighed. “Look. I’m not trying to shock you or to impress you or anything like that. But just imagine what my world would be like if, every time I met somebody, I delved right into their souls. Most people’s lives are not all that great, and some are downright boring.” Then she glared at him. “And then a few are downright scary on the inside. Once you’ve tapped into one of them, you aren’t so quick to tap into anybody else, and you naturally start putting up blocks.”