“Get off your father, Reese! What are you going to do? Kill him?” Paul said as he yanked her by her shoulders, rolling her over onto her back and straddling her legs.

She wanted to rip out her dad’s eyeballs, but Paul’s words sent her into a momentary state of shock. She looked up at the medium who had her pinned flat to the floor. His expression of a scolding parent was unyielding, but not unkind. She felt her father’s legs wiggle out from beneath her. She heard him scurry, scrambling to break free. He was probably terrified of her. And why not? He actually believed she could brutally murder her twin brother. Somewhere in the screaming of her mind, she heard Wayne laughing.

“Kill him? Do you think I killed Luke too?” Reese spat the words.

“Of course not,” Paul said as he dismounted from his wrestling move. He stood to his feet but bent over, hand extended. Reese hesitated but placed her hand in his. He pulled her up from the floor. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” Paul said once she was standing in front of him.

Wayne’s laughing tapered and ceased. Paul turned to him and Reese felt a comforting warmth at the nasty snarl Paul gave him. He didn’t say anything though. He just turned his head to Mr. Caldwell who was backed up to the side of the couch watching the scene in front of him while rubbing the back of his skull.

“Mr. Caldwell, why on God’s green earth would you think Reese killed her brother?”

Reese’s father stopped tending to his head and looked confused. “I didn’t say she killed Luke. I don’t know what’s gotten into the two of you.” He looked down and away from them. He resumed the head rubbing.

“What did the text say?” Paul directed the question to Reese.

She glanced at the broken phone shattered on the floor in front of the plywood wall. She wished she could just show it to Paul. It would be more believable if he read it himself. “It was from Gregory. He said he has Addie and that she was safe from me.”

“Gregory has Addie?” Wayne spoke up.

“What’s it to you, Wayne?” Paul snapped both his words and his head in Wayne’s direction.

Wayne slouched into his chair a bit. He might be a big boy, one who could likely take Paul down, but everyone in the room could see Paul was in no mood for any more bullshit.

“Just curious is all,” Wayne said.

“I don’t know why you’re here or what you have to do with all of this, but somebody better produce those missing girls and have a damn good reason for taking them.” Paul turned back to Mr. Caldwell. “Now do you want to explain why Addie needs to be kept safe from Reese?”

The table bounced again as the agitated ghost of Mr. Albreck reminded the attendees his presence was still there. Reese jumped as did Mr. Caldwell and Wayne.

“Is that really my father doing that, Paul, or are you playing some parlor trick on us?” Wayne said. He pushed his chair back away from the table a foot or so.

“It’s your father alright. And for some strange reason he seems to think Reese killed her brother. Do you know why he would think that?”

Wayne shrugged and smugly grinned. “Really? He said that?”

Paul turned the whole of his body toward Wayne and approached the table. His rested his fingertips on the surface. “Yes. I wonder where he got that idea from.” Paul said. He waited a brief moment before drumming his fingers, his impatience becoming apparent.

“I can’t imagine a ghost lying,” Wayne said as if he had found the key to a universal piece of knowledge.

“Dead or alive, they’re still the same person. If it served him well in life, he would lie as a ghost. He’s not an angel, you know?” Paul answered with an air of superiority.

“That’s it, Paul!” Reese blurted. “We have to talk to Luke. He wouldn’t lie. Maybe you can get him to talk. Tell you what he didn’t want to tell me.”

“Reese?” Mr. Caldwell said guiltily. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

All eyes went to Reese’s father. “Why not, Dad?” She could understand it might be upsetting for him to communicate with Luke, but didn’t he want answers? Didn’t he want to confirm that Addie was safe from Reese? Didn’t he want to know who killed his son all those years ago? “What are you hiding?” Reese demanded. She took a step toward her father and he instinctively took a step back. Was he afraid of her? “You don’t really think I killed Luke or would hurt Addie, do you?”

“I don’t know what to think.” The words rushed form Mr. Caldwell’s lips.

“Mr. Caldwell,” Wayne said with a threatening edge to his voice.

Paul advanced around the table toward Wayne but the lamp suddenly flew from its table, stopping Paul in his tracks.  He huffed and put his hands on his hips. “Mr. Albreck, your presence is no longer welcome here. We appreciate your visit.” Paul dismissed the spirit but Mr. Albreck wasn’t going to leave that easily.

One of the overturned candles floated a few inches from its flopped position and wavered in the air before hurling toward Paul. He shifted his body so the candle missed him and thudded against the wall, dropping to the floor.

Wayne watched his dead father’s display of childish anger with humor sprayed across his face, and chuckled in time with the thump, bump of molded wax against the wall and then the floor.

“This doesn’t concern you, medium boy!” Mr. Albreck stated with a grating voice.

“Mr. Albreck?” Reese called out. “Did you kill Luke?”

Paul shot her a warning glance, but she ignored it. She didn’t know if she was out of line with the rules of a séance or not, but it was shot to hell already. So did it matter at that point?

“We’ve already established who his killer is,” the spirit answered.

“You can hear him, Reese? What did he say?” Wayne asked looking a little bit like a child on Christmas morning.  

Paul sighed and dragged his chair to the table from where it had shifted during Reese’s assault on her dad. Then he picked up the candle from its resting place on the floor and returned it to the table. Apparently he had second thoughts about the potential of hurling weapons as he collected the lot of candles and took them to the kitchen. Reese heard rustling like Paul was putting them in a plastic bag. He returned and looked around at the small group.

“Can we all please return to the table and this time let’s join hands to create a chain of energy.”

“What did my father say?” Wayne asked again, not budging from his stance of resistance.

“He said he has already established who the killer is,” Paul said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Now, can we please commence with the circle before this gets out of control any further? Unless anyone here wants to shed light on the mysteries we are encountering. I for one don’t object to ending this nonsense.”

“Mysteries?” Wayne said disgustingly. “If Reese killed Luke, maybe she’s got Lucy. What do you have against her anyway, Reese? Do you think she’s Luke’s love child? Did you hate him that much that you would harm her too? She's just an innocent young woman.”

“You son of a bitch,” she snarled and launched toward him, but Paul managed to grab her before she moved more than a foot. Her muscles were rigid with fighting instinct but Paul’s grasp was firm enough to catch her attention.

“Reese, he’s trying to rile you up. Let’s have a seat and try to get to the bottom of this mess once and for all, because I am seconds away from calling the police and reporting Lucy as missing. Addie too.”

Reese stared at Paul for a few seconds. Did he genuinely believe in her innocence? In the midst of the accusations, his faith in her was her only shining light. Over the years, Luke was her one source of comfort and camaraderie, but he was absent. She was tempted to put all of her trust in Paul and tell him to go ahead and contact the cops. But not yet.  She trusted her instincts unwaveringly. She knew there was only one person with the answers.

“Luke then?” She said, relaxing her tense muscles.

Paul nodded and pulled Reese’s chair out for her.

Suddenly Wayne slapped his hands together in a couple of slow, methodical claps. “Bravo. You two are in on this together aren’t you? You almost had me fooled.”

Reese was tempted to ask Wayne what the hell he was talking about, but she knew he would continue on his own. He felt like he had something to say, so let him say it. Paul started to speak up but Reese touched his arm to stop him.

“You.” Wayne wagged a finger at Reese and spread his lips to expose surgically straight, clean teeth. “You think you can convince us you didn’t kill Luke by pretending you can talk with the dead.” Wayne turned his attention to Paul. “You don’t really believe you can contact Luke, do you?”

“Why not? You afraid of what he might say?” Paul asked casually.

Reese watched for any changes in Wayne’s expression. She barely detected the twinge at his jaw, but there was no hiding the startled look on his face when a loud thud boomed from her bedroom upstairs.