“I saw him on the stairs when Ryder and I went up them. I saw his ghost.”
“Dad?”
“Yes.”
It took her a couple blocks before she spoke again. “What did he say? What did he do? What did he look like?”
“He wasn’t alone.”
“Who else? Mom? Grandma?”
“No. Something else was behind him. It…all I saw was a…hand that grabbed him and pulled him backward. Then he disappeared.”
“A hand.”
“More like a claw.”
“You saw a claw grab our dad’s ghost and yank him away?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t think you should tell us this?”
“I didn’t think it was the problem we needed to focus on at the moment. Dad’s dead. So even though I saw him, there isn’t anything I can do to change that. I thought after we got Ben back and took care of Lavius, I’d go talk to Jacques and ask if he had sensed Dad in town. If he could help me maybe talk to him. Make sure everything is okay with him.”
“Or you could just ask Death,” she suggested.
“I have asked him about Dad.”
“When?” She seemed surprised.
“When he first came to town. He didn’t give me a straight answer. Just one of those sort of vague things he likes to say, like he did back at the lighthouse.”
“Did he say Dad was in trouble?”
“No, he told me he died peacefully. It wasn’t what I asked, but it was good to hear that, anyway.”
She nodded, staring straight ahead. It was still hard to think about Dad losing control of the car and driving off a cliff. It seemed like there had to be more to it than just operator error.
This was Ordinary. While we could and did have our share of accidental deaths, it was more common that our accidents were anything but.
“That’s…good,” Jean breathed, her voice a little choked. “Peaceful.”
I reached over and put my hand on her arm.
Jame shifted in the backseat, his breath catching with the movement. But he remained silent. He had been one of the first responders who had rappelled down the cliff to retrieve Dad’s body. I’d never talked to him about it, and didn’t think getting into it now was a good idea.
“When you go talk to Jacques, I want to be there,” Jean said.
“Of course. Myra too.”
“Yes.”
I stopped at the light to allow pedestrians to cross to the tavern on the other side of the street. The green city lamppost had been turned into a giant flower.
Well, not literally, but someone had knitted green petals and wrapped them around the middle of the lamp post. The top of the post was bent in a shepherd’s crook style and the flared shade was draped in bright yellow petals.
It made the whole thing look like a sunflower.
