“Dark? Like a ghost haunting her?” asked Eric.
“Maybe. Or maybe there was something else.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“Grandma. Nice to see you,” smirked Luke.
“Nice to see you, darlin’. I heard you wanted to see me,” said Irene smiling at her first grandson.
When she was around her ‘babies’, Irene often had a rose gold glow to her face and head. It told them all she was happy to see them. When she was not happy, the glow was more off a yellowish tone. It was not a tone anyone wanted to see.
“Grandma, have you done something with the ghosts?” She started to speak and he held up a hand. “Let me clarify. We’ve seen two ghosts in the last few days that shouldn’t be walking around and yet they are. One was at the animal sanctuary.”
“And you think I had something to do with this?” she frowned.
“Well, you did cause Archie, Charity, and the others to suddenly appear a few years back. I thought maybe you’d done something else to cause this.”
“I haven’t done a thing!” she said stomping her foot. “Your granddaddy and me have been walkin’ the property to talk about things that need to happen in the future.”
“Okay, okay, Grandma, I’m sorry. But you have to see how this looks. I mean, you seem to have a connection to them and we just thought you might know something.” Irene took a few deep breaths, or at least her chest went up and down. No one was quite sure whether they were breathing or not. It all felt so complicated and yet such a gift.
“I guess I can see the confusion,” said Irene. “I’ll ask Matthew if he knows anything. He’s at the northern most part of the property right now. Just so you know, I haven’t seen these new ghosts. Maybe I can start there and try to speak with them.”
“I’d appreciate any help you can give us, Grandma. I can tell you the animals are freaked out by it all.”
“They are?” she frowned. “The animals are okay with the ghosts unless they’re evil. Are these new ghosts threatening anyone?”
“No. Not at all. The one on the island sanctuary walked right through us and never said a word. The animals were just anxious, I guess that’s the best word. All of them seem out of sorts because of the new arrivals.”
“That’s definitely not normal,” frowned Irene. “I’ll let you know what your grandpa says.” She kissed his cheek, then walked down the row of men, touching or kissing each one. Griff smiled at her, chuckling.
“Irene, you will never know how grateful I am that I can still feel your hugs and kisses,” he grinned.
“My sweet darling boys, y’all will never know how grateful I am that I can still give them.”
They all grinned as she disappeared, then turned to Luke and Cam. They were no closer to solving the issue of their new resident and the wandering ghost in the city.
“Luke! Cam!” yelled Ace. “We got a body.”
“A body?”
“Yes,” he said staring at them like they were insane. “A body. A dead one near the western bayou. Carl and Keith are out there now.”
“Shit.”
It took them a while to get to the area in question. It was slow moving along narrow waterways that were shallow and littered with cypress stumps. When they spotted their boat, the two men turned to Cam and the others, frowning.
“What do we have?” asked Luke.
The body was definitely that of a small woman, face down in the bayou. The men hadn’t moved her, waiting for Luke and the others to arrive, as well as the sheriff.
Carl held up a finger and pointed to the small land mass near the body. Luke’s mouth dropped seeing the figure standing silently. There was a slight sway to her body, as if she were moving in the wind.
Dressed in blue jeans and a tan sweater, she had no visible injuries. Her short dark hair clung to her scalp, her face expressing sadness and pain.
Luke carefully stepped out of the boat, Joseph behind him. He held Luke’s arm, telling him he would move forward to speak with her. Luke just nodded.
“We won’t hurt you,” said Joseph. “I can see you and it’s okay. Can you tell me your name?”
