It was a tossup whether she should call Paul first or her father first. Reese really wanted to talk to her father face to face, so Paul won the toss. Not that she had plans to travel to Salt Lake City any time soon, but it would give her time to figure out how to broach the topic. How does one ask her father if he murdered someone thirty years ago? And why in God’s name would he kill Mr. Albreck unless he was Luke’s murderer?

Paul answered before the first ring completed on her end. “Reese, I haven’t found Lucy yet. I think I should call the police.” He sounded exasperated to Reese, but she didn’t have time to digest his feelings in the matter.

“Don’t call the police, not yet anyway.” She tried to act casual as she scanned up and down Heather’s street. Surely someone was close by with Lucy in tow. How else did he know Reese was there?

She stepped from the bottom brick stair to the sidewalk and slowly approached her car, peering into the backseat. Better safe than sorry. No perpetrator lurking. She eased into the driver’s seat and clicked the doors into lock position. She didn’t want to be caught off guard.

“And you can stop looking for her,” Reese added as she started the vehicle.

“Thank God. Did you find her?”

“Not exactly, but I’ll explain to you in a little bit. Listen, I need to ask you a weird question.”

“Okay.”

“Can we have a séance?”

“A séance? No. No.” He sounded adamant.

“Why not?”

“Why do you want a séance?”

Reese hesitated and took the opportunity to slowly pull away from the curb and glance around for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing and no one jumped out at her as suspicious.

“Because I’m having trouble communicating with the living. We need to find Addie which means we need to find Luke. He’s disappeared and I’m worried about him on top of the whole Addie thing.” She said it confidently as if Paul knew she talked with Luke on a regular basis.

“Excuse me? You’re telling me that Luke has disappeared? Are you okay, Reese?”

“Yes. I’m fine. But I can’t get ahold of him and I think a séance might help.”

Paul laughed nervously into the phone. Reese knew she sounded like a fruitcake and also knew Paul was thinking just that. “Look, Paul, I’m pretty sure Heather knows where Addie is, but she’s so freaked out right now that I don’t think she’s thinking straight.”

“I’m completely confused right now,” Paul said.

“Understandable, but can you conduct a séance? We really need to find Addie. I’m afraid Heather is going to break and tell the son of a bitch who has Lucy where she is.”

“What? Jesus, Reese, what the hell is going on?”

“Can you or can you not conduct a séance?”

“Yes, but not with just the two of us. I need three people minimum and I’m not crazy about performing a séance. I think it’s risky to employ tools. I’d rather use my gift free and clear the way God intended.”

Reese really wanted to say, “are you for real” but figured it was no time to instigate a potential argument. “Did Gregory come back?”

“Yes. He’s upstairs in his office.”

“Okay, there’s your third person.” Reese felt a flood of relief wash over her. If Gregory was still there, he wasn’t likely the one involved with Lucy’s disappearance. She wouldn’t know how to handle it if she found out she had been friends with a lunatic all those years. “Meet me at my house in an hour. Bring Gregory.”

“Absolutely no way am I doing a séance at your place!” Paul sounded appalled.

“Why not?” Reese was taken back.

“Your place needs a good smudging. Which by the way I will be doing before you settle in for the night. I don’t want a replay of last night.”

Smudging? What the hell was a good smudging? She assumed it was a cleansing ritual from the tone in Paul’s voice.

“Okay, fine. Meet me at my mother’s house in an hour. And don’t forget Gregory.”

“Reese, I don’t think this is a good idea. Séances can open all kinds of doors. Everyone has to be prepared spiritually. And I really need to know more about Luke.” Paul was quiet for only a few seconds before adding, “You talk to him?”

“Yes. All the time. Please, just meet me at my mother’s in an hour. I have to go. I’ll see you in an hour, okay?”

Paul sighed so heavily that Reese thought he would say no.

“And don’t forget to lock my office door,” she said before he had a chance to voice his objections any further.

“Fine,” Paul said and hung up without saying goodbye.

Reese glanced at her watch. She was pretty sure she had been driving around for close to ten minutes. She circled back and slowly drove by Heather’s street.

“Son of a bitch,” she murmured as she spotted the black Mercedes she saw the night before. “Wayne.”

With her foot on the brake, she watched the house for any sign of movement. It was as still as when she first arrived. She debated if she should return, but the fear that she might trigger Lucy’s kidnapper to do the unthinkable kept her at bay. She sped off.

She felt confident that Lucy was safe at least for a little while. If Wayne had her as a hostage, Reese didn’t think he would actually harm her. It was likely Lucy was either his daughter or his sister. But Addie wasn’t. Somehow the equation equaled Addie being in more severe danger than Lucy. Besides, she couldn’t be one hundred percent Lucy was with Wayne. Maybe Wayne was there to provide emotional support to Heather.

Emotional support. Didn’t Lucy say something about Heather’s husband dying recently? It couldn’t possibly be a coincidence, could it? Too many things to ponder. Reese was suddenly feeling overwhelmed by the magnitude of all the revelations falling into her laps.

She fidgeted in her seat, nervously drumming the steering wheel and feeling the gnawing, clawing angst creeping from her stomach to all points of her body. She had spent years pretending she was normal, that her life had been normal, but every so often the denial and suppression of the truth oozed from the cracks which held her together. Where was Luke? Why wasn’t he there when she needed him?

Using her teeth, she chewed on her left fingernails, ripping them anxiously. She needed to make calls she had no desire to make but she should have made them a long time ago. A thought flashed through her mind and for a split second the realization calmed her nerves because the thought explained her heightened sense of dread. If she solved the mystery of Luke’s murder, would he disappear forever, never traversing the land of the living again?

The highway exit was approaching fast. She swallowed her irrational fear so she could focus, to feel in control. She punched in her mother’s name on her cell and listened to the multiple rings. Where the hell was she? The last thing Reese needed was to worry about her mother. “Damn!” She seethed as she smashed her thumb on the end call button.

She increased her speed and punched her cd player on. She needed to call her father but not yet. She had to practice what she wanted to say. Her mind raced, reciting the same thing over and over again in twenty different ways. It seemed only minutes had past when she was pulling onto her street.

She breezed by Chip, not even noticing him waiting for his peanut treat. The sunlight which usually flooded the living room through the sliders was blocked by the boards placed by maintenance. It was dreary and depressing.

“Luke?” She called. She hoped for a response, but none came. Paul had said Luke might be in trouble. What kind of trouble could a ghost get into?

“Luke?” She said again, but more quietly.

She raced up the stairs and pulled open the top drawer of her dresser. She dug underneath her garments and found her old wallet. She pulled out the folded mound of receipts. She rifled through them, opening each to check for her handwriting. About half way through, she found it. Her father’s phone number written down more than a year ago on the fly. She tossed the wallet and the rest of the receipts onto her bed. She tucked the paper in her front pocket and darted toward her bedroom door, which suddenly and violently slammed closed, just barely missing her head.

She froze. “Luke?” She whispered, silently praying it was him and not the other ghost, the angry one from last night. “Luke, is that you?” She slowly approached the door and placed her hand on the knob. It twisted as she pulled but the door wouldn’t budge. She yanked and still nothing.

She threw her shoulder into the door, knowing full well it would have no effect. She wanted to scream, but it was too soon to lose control. She backed away and looked at the door, mentally willing it to open. Then she confidently strolled to it as if nothing peculiar was occurring. She lightly touched the handle and then clasped it tightly. It turned, but the door stayed in place. She rattled the knob, but the door was like a wall, not budging.

Reese took two steps back. Surely she was just imagining this craziness. “Luke, let me out. Now. This isn’t funny. I don’t know why you are so adamant I don’t figure out who killed you, but this is childish.”

Nothing.

“Luke!” Reese screamed. “Stop playing around! Let me out!”

She plopped on the edge of her bed. She thought about the exits. There was only one. Her bedroom window. There were no windows in her adjoining bathroom. Not that it mattered. Either way, she was on the second floor. A doable height. She hesitated; afraid her thoughts of escape would be detected by the menacing spirit.

Suddenly she remembered her cell phone. She reached for it in her back pocket. It wasn’t there. Nor was it in any of the other pockets. She glanced at the cordless phone by her bed and casually walked to it. As she watched it magically fly into the air in unseen hands, she heard a distant cry.

“Reese, watch out!"

Luke’s voice seemed so far away and echoed like he was in a large warehouse. It faded as the phone slammed into the side of her head. She couldn’t stop the vertigo from swallowing her consciousness. The room swirled into muted colors as she collapsed onto the floor.