“Yes. We spoke on the phone. Thanks for seeing me.”
Henry flicks his eyes to Thomas. I told him I’d bring a friend and he didn’t seem to have an issue with that. Maybe he was expecting a female friend?
“This is Thomas.”
“Nice to meet you both. Come in.” Henry unlocks the screen and opens it for us, stepping aside. I’m hit with the smell of sage as soon as I walk in. Henry leads us to his living room and waves for us to sit on the couch. He’s older than me, in his mid-forties if I had to guess, and has graying dark hair.
“So, let’s start with your ghost problem,” he says. “You were reluctant to share the details with Mike, but if you tell me it makes things easier.” He looks at Thomas again, eyes lingering a moment too long. Is he checking him out?
“I’m not sure if it’s really a problem.”
“You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t,” he counters, raising his eyebrows.
“True,” I agree. My hands feel shaky and my heart fluttery. I blink and see my mother before me, my heart lurching. I miss her so much and seeing her only made me miss her more. “Though if I really did see who I thought I did, then it’s not a problem at all.” But the ghost attacking people is…
“I’m going to be frank, hun,” Henry says. “I need details if you want me to help you.”
Thomas puts his hand on my thigh, turning his head in and giving me a reassuring smile. “Okay,” I say with a nod. “My parents were murdered when I was a kid. I found their bodies and their case was never solved. It has literally haunted me my whole life, drove me to become a homicide detective, and I vowed to finally close their cold case. But the more I looked into it, the less sense it made. I wanted to talk to my mom and see if she could give me answers to…to some of the questions I have. So I tried to summon her.”
“And you saw her?”
Thomas stiffens slightly. He knows I can’t go intoallthe details. “Yes. She spoke to me. Knew things only she would know. I lost my memories from that night…from the shock, I was told. And she brought those memories back.”
“Is it really her mom?” Thomas asks, blue eyes clouding over with worry.
“I can’t say for certain either way. Though I will say this is all very intense. Traumatic deaths can leave what I call a scar on the universe, so to speak. When life is taken away unexpectedly, and especially violently, you’re more likely to see a haunting. Is this the first time you’ve seen your mother’s spirit?”
“Yes.”
“Have you tried to contact her before?”
“Never officially,” I say, fiddling with the hem of my shirt. “I’d beg and cry for her to come back or talk to me when I was a kid.” The emotion hits me hard, and my eyes start to pool with tears. I blink them away, and Thomas moves closer to me on the couch.
“I can try to get a read on you,” Henry says. “It’s not like the movies. I can’t hold your hand and see into your past. But I am able to pick up on feelings and stray thoughts here and there sometimes. Do you feel like your mother is with you now?”
“No. I’ve only felt her once since I saw her.”
“Was it a bad feeling?”
“No. She was warning me to stop following another ghost who attacked a guy. It’s like my life is a paranormal soap opera all of a sudden.”
Henry nods and closes his eyes. Thomas slips his arm around me, fingers resting on the curve of my hip. I’m so glad he’s here with me.
Shaking his head, Henry opens his eyes. “I’m sorry.” He looks at Thomas again. “There’s this weird energy coming from you.”
“From me?” Thomas echoes.
“Yes. It’s unlike anything I’ve felt before.”
Uh-oh.
“I don’t feel anything paranormal,” Thomas says casually. “And I’m not entirely sure I even believe in ghosts.”
“What about past lives?” Henry asks seriously. “Do you believe in those?”
“No,” Thomas says, telling the truth this time. “I don’t.”
I look from Thomas to Henry. “Why do you ask?”
