Baxter laughed. “Understood. Okay, what do I need to do here? Do you just call out to my father and it works like a dog whistle or something?”
Ten had never heard his gift described that way before. “Spirits know I’m a conduit between our world and theirs. When I’m ready to work, there’s usually a line of the dearly departed waiting their turn to speak with someone they left behind.”
“How long have you been able to do this?” Baxter asked.
“I saw and spoke to my first spirit at thirteen. I had no idea what was happening to me. I grew up in a very religious town in Kansas, and there was no one I could turn to for help, which is why we’re so careful with our daughter. I never want Everly’s gift to frighten her, but at the same time, I can’t stop what she sees or senses.” Ten paused, taking a look out the window. From where he sat, he could see Viper’s loops and the water slides. He wanted to get back out into the park as soon as possible. “Are you ready to start?”
Baxter cracked his knuckles. “What do I need to do? Do we pray? Or do I just call out for my father?”
“I’ll reach out for him and see if he answers me.” Ten cleared his throat and then took a few deep breaths, bringing his full attention to Kotter Brighthouse. “Mr. Brighthouse, can you hear me? This is Tennyson Grimm. I, ah, met you on your Ferris wheel.”
Silence was Ten’s answer. There were several other spirits standing by. One man who’d been killed in an accident back in 1965 and a woman who’d died from a brain bleed while riding the old wooden roller coaster. Each of them was anxious to be reunited with their families but wasn’t sure how. He made quick work of showing them into the light. In the time it took to helpthe others, Kotter Brighthouse still hadn’t made himself known. “Kotter, are you here? Your son, Baxter, would like to speak with you.”
“What’s going on here?” Baxter asked, sounding annoyed. “Where is my father? Why can’t you produce him?”
There were a hundred reasons Kotter wasn’t making himself known. The biggest one being that he didn’t want to speak to his son. “He may not want to speak with you now.”
“What?” Baxter shouted. “Why wouldn’t he want to confess that his stealing bankrupted the park and drove my mother to the brink of insanity. She cried herself to sleep every night. We never found the money, you know. It wasn’t in my father’s wall safe, not in his safe deposit box, not in an offshore account. We didn’t even get my father’s life insurance payout because he killed himself.”
As Baxter raged, Ten had a vision of a small boy crying outside his mother’s bedroom. He could hear the sound of a woman wailing, but unless he missed his guess, she wasn’t crying. Shivering, Ten tried to shake off the vision of Baxter’s mother and an unknown man getting it on.
A knock at the door broke the tension in the room. “I hope whatever you interrupted my massage for is worth it, Bax.” A tall woman swept into the office. She was dressed to the nines in a designer dress, a black mini with spaghetti straps. Braless, she left nothing to the imagination.
“Guys, this is my mother, Mary Lou Conrad. Mom, this is Tennyson Grimm and Ronan O’Mara. Tennyson is a psychic, and Ronan is…” Baxter paused. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what you do.”
“I’m a detective with the Salem Police Department,” Ronan supplied.
“Why are the cops here? What’s happened?” Mary Lou’s bright green eyes never left Ronan.
“I’m not here in an official capacity, ma’am. Maybe it would be better if Baxter explained things.” Ronan turned to the park owner with an uncomfortable look on his face.
“Mom’s second husband likes her to show off the body he paid for.” Baxter shook his head and turned back to his mother. “You’ve heard people talking about the park being haunted?”
“Isthatwhat this is about? You brought a nutjob psychic here to try to speak to your father from the great beyond?” Walking to the bar, Mary Lou fixed herself a double, which she downed in two swallows. After pouring another, she sat beside Baxter. “I cannot believe you’re this gullible.”
Before Baxter could speak, Ten held up a hand. “And I can’t believe that all you can think about right now is your new pair of Louboutins.” Ten’s eyes darted down to Mary Lou’s feet and back up to her eyes. He was ready for her imminent tantrum, but it never came.
Mary Lou straightened her spine and locked eyes with Tennyson. “What do you want with my family, Mr. Grimm.”
Ten was sure Mary Lou’s no-nonsense tone was good for terminating bad employees, but he wasn’t going to sit here and take this bullshit attitude from a woman in her early fifties who was dressed like she was still in her twenties. Not that Ten would say that out loud. “While my family and I were riding the Ferris wheel, I heard your dead husband ask for my help. He also showed me his death plunge from his point of view.”
All signs of Mary Lou’s attitude vanished. Instead, she raised a quizzical brow. “YousawKotter jump?”
Ten nodded. “I did. Your son thinks if more people experience these kinds of hauntings that business could suffer. He asked me to this meeting so that I could reach out to Kotter and see if he could tell us what he needed in order to be at peace.”
“So, where is he, then?” Mary Lou looked around the room as if she expected to see her dead husband sitting at his old desk. “Kotter? Lamb chop? Are you here, snookums?” she called out. There was no response. “Whatever my son has offered to pay you for yourservices, I’ll double if you leave. Now.”
Tennyson didn’t need to be told twice. “I wish you all the best of luck with your father’s spirit.” Getting up from his seat, he headed for the door with Ronan right behind him.
“What the hell was all that?” Ronan asked when they were back outside.
“I honestly have no idea. I did what Brighthouse asked. I reached out for his father and got no response.”
“Shouldn’t you have tried again with something that belonged to Kotter, like a ring or something?”
Ten grinned. “Ronan, this entire park belonged to Kotter Brighthouse. If the park didn’t bring him to appear in that room, I’m not sure anything could.” Ten brushed his hands together as if he were dusting them off. “Now that we’re out of there, let’s go enjoy the rest of this day with our kids.”
With a quick laugh, Ronan took Ten’s hand and led them toward the water slides.
