Ghost Falls (Haunted Souls #22)

9

Cope sat inside a small room just off the main ballroom, doing his deep breathing exercises and getting himself ready for the first group reading of PsychicFest. Several spirits had already approached him about speaking with loved ones. Cope knew he and Ten were going to put on a great show.

“You ready, Mr. Forbes?”

a young man dressed in a suit asked. He wore a nametag identifying himself as “Cam”

and that he worked for the hotel.

“I am.”

Cope stood up and stretched his arms, before following the young man.

“I don’t really believe in this kind of stuff, but is there any chance my Gram is here?”

Cam asked, sounding shy.

“Caroline has been talking my ear off for nearly half an hour. She wants you to know how proud of you she is for being the first in your family to get into medical school. You’re going to be a great urologist.”

“Urologist?”

Cam wore a shocked look. “I was thinking my specialty would be plastic surgery, you know, up to my eyeballs in tits and ass.”

Cope snorted. Caroline was one of a kind. “Gram says you’ll get enough T and A on your own. Urology is where the money is thanks to Viagra and that weird bent dick disease.”

Cam laughed along with Cope. “Yup, that’s my Gram alright. Always said what was on her mind. Is she okay? Her death was just so awful. Gram’s memory was gone. She didn’t know who I was the last time I saw her.”

“She’s perfect,”

Cope assured the young man. “She’s as spry as ever and is telling me all of the antics you’d get up to when you were a little boy. My favorite has to do with the trampoline.”

“Gram!”

Cam rolled his eyes. “I’ve still got the scar from that day. She didn’t mind all the blood. Gram just cleaned me up and then we baked cookies together.”

“That’s a great memory to keep close to your heart. One last thing, Gram says it’s okay to come out.”

Cope set a hand on Cam’s shoulder. He knew how hard it had been when he told his mother. “Gram says people won’t love you any less and if they do,”

“Fuck them!”

Cam said along with Cope.

“Exactly,”

Cope agreed. “My husband and I both went through it. His family was more supportive than mine. We’ve built a family together and have a group of friends who are more like brothers. You’ll find the same thing.”

“Thank you, Mr. Forbes, for reuniting me with Gram.”

Cam looked around the empty hallway. “Can she see me when I…”

Cope’s gift showed him what Cam was talking about, in graphic detail. “Spirits can watch those sorts of things, but they tend to leave the room when sexy times are involved.”

Cope burst out laughing. “Gram says she has no interest in monkey spanking.”

Cam’s face turned a bright shade of red. “I’ll never whack off again. I swear.”

“Yes, you will. Probably tonight.”

Cope grinned at the young man.

“Are you ready to go in there? Mr. Grimm is already there waiting for you.”

“Sure, let’s do it.”

Cope was ready to read for the group assembled.

Cam opened the double doors and escorted Cope into the ballroom. Chairs were set up in rows of five, with two seats at the front of the room. Ten sat in one. He was typing something on his phone.

“Oh, good, you’re here,”

Ten stood and hugged Cope. “Everything okay?”

Cope nodded. “Cam asked about his Gram, who was funny as hell. Felt good to reunite them.”

“It always does,”

Ten agreed. He took the microphone Cam offered and switched it on. “Hello, PsychicFest!”

“Hey, everyone, I’m Cope Forbes and this is Tennyson Grimm. How many of you have been to a group reading before?”

Several hands shot into the air.

“Good, so a lot of you know how this is going to work. Ten and I can’t guarantee your loved ones will appear, but we’re going to get to as many souls as we can.”

“Let’s start with Kathy. That’s Kathy with a K,”

Ten said. “She’s saying something about a wedding going off the rails.”

A young woman in the third row raised her hand. “My aunt saw my new husband and one of my bridesmaids getting it on in the coat room. She took pictures, and showed them on the big screen. I vowed never to speak to her again and I didn’t. Not until today.”

Cope was able to see what happened that day in living color. Not only had the groom been boning the bridesmaid that day, but had been doing if for about six months prior to the wedding. “Your aunt wants you to know that she never meant to hurt you, she just wanted you to know what kind of man you married.”

“She admits that there was definitely a more tactful way to share the news and photos with you,”

Ten added.

“She was right,”

the young woman said, wiping away tears. “Brett somehow made me believe that Aunt Kathy was lying and that the pictures were fake, but three months later, I caught him banging our housekeeper, in our bed. I was able to get the marriage annulled, but I went through so much needless heartbreak. If I’d just listened to her from the start…”

“Sometimes we have to make our own mistakes in order to grow,”

Cope said. “You’re in a much better position now with Todd.”

“My aunt knows about Todd?”

“She does and wants you to know he’s perfect for you, so stop doubting yourself and your instincts.”

Ten grinned at the young woman. “We wish you all the best in your future.”

The group applauded. Cope was about to announce the next spirit begging to come through when Heidi Jackson entered the room alone. She hurried to an empty seat at the very back of the room. Cope could feel the grief and desperation rolling off her.

“Okay, we’ve got Hank, who’s very pissed off about his tools. Does anyone know Hank?”

An older man in the second row raised his hand. “Hank’s my father. I’m Stu.”

“Hi Stu! Tell us about the tools,”

Cope urged, already knowing the story. Hank was one of the angriest spirits he’d ever encountered. He usually didn’t get involved with that sort of spirit, but had a hunch, he and Ten could turn things around.

“My father was a woodworker. He made beds, chairs, tables, you name it. He was very talented and built up quite a clientele for himself over the years. He always used to tell me the business would be mine when he died, but the problem was that I didn’t want it.”

“That’s the fucking understatement of the century,”

Hank sneered. “Boy didn’t know what a good thing he had. He let all my hard work go to shit before I was even cold in my grave.”

“Hank’s chewing my ear off, saying that you had a good thing, but let it go to ruin.”

Cope hated seeing the grief-stricken look on the young man’s face.

“Yeah, that’s my father. Like I said before, he had so much talent. He had more in his little finger than I did in my entire body. I was a numbers guy, a math whiz. I was a member of the math team when I was twelve years old. I still hold the record for being the youngest member. I was able to help my father with the math side of furniture building, but when it came to using the lathe to make chair spindles, I was useless.”

“Not just useless, but disinterested. He shit on all my hard work, so that he could go off and work on equations, which, if you ask me, were much more useless than chair making.”

Hank didn’t sound quite as angry as he had minutes ago.

“Your father said you ruined the business,”

Ten prompted. “What happened there?”

“I didn’t ruin the business, Mr. Grimm. I sold it to a man named Herb Wilton,” Stu said.

“My biggest fucking rival. My idiot son sold my business to the one man who hated me from top to toe.”

“Hank says Herb was his biggest rival.”

Stu shook his head. “Herb was never a rival, at least not in his eyes. He’d wanted to partner with my father for at least a decade before my father died. Hank knew it was smart business sense to have a partner, but he never gave up hope that partner would be me.”

He paused for a minute to wipe his dripping eyes. “Anyway, I sold everything to Herb and the business is flourishing. He kept the same name and reveres my father and his tools.”

“Hank?”

Ten asked. “Are you angry that your son sold your tools to your rival or that he sold them at all.”

“That he sold them at all. I gave my son all I had and he gave it all away.”

Hank’s anger was completely gone. He sounded like he was on the verge of tears.

Ten quickly relayed what Hank said.

“The business and the tools weren’t all my father gave me. He taught me the difference between right an wrong, to always offer people a hand up. Hank loved to work on projects with me, like building go-carts and diorama’s for school. I do all of those same things now with my son, Jason Hank Montgomery.”

“My grandson is named after me?”

Hank’s sullen mood was gone, excitement was left in its place.

“Your father is surprised you named your boy after him,”

Ten relayed.

The man smiled. “Dad never got to meet my wife or our son. When we found out the baby was a boy, my wife suggested naming him after my father. I went to his grave to show him the ultrasound picture and to tell him the news.”

“I wasn’t there to see that. I had no idea.”

“Usually spirits don’t hang around their grave sites. If you want to speak to your father, do it at home. He’ll know when you’re thinking of him.”

“Is there anything else you want to say, Hank?”

“Tell my boy I love him. My grandson too. Tell him I’m sorry for wasting all those years wanting my son to be something he didn’t want to be.”

“That’s a great message, Hank,”

Cope said and repeated what the man had said.

“I love you too, Dad and thank you for everything.”

A round of applause broke out. Cope quickly checked his phone. There were forty minutes to go in the group reading. All he wanted to do was take Heidi aside and speak with her, but first, he had a job to do.

Hopefully, Heidi would stick around until the end of the session.