“What was that?” Wayne asked. He looked like he was ready to bounce from his seat. Reese didn’t know if he would head for the front door and out of her place or dart upstairs to investigate the poltergeist, or whatever the noise was.

“Probably my phone. It keeps falling off the nightstand. I think the cord is too short,” Reese answered, lying so quickly it unnerved even herself. She felt like a con-artist. One part of her was a confidant vigilante capable of killing scum like Andrew the Asshole. No remorse, no regret. Another part of her was an insecure sniffling idiot, afraid she couldn’t breathe because her heart had seized. Utterly confused and distracted by the maze she was trying to weave through.  

“I’ll go check it out." She turned to Paul and added, "Maybe it’s Luke trying to come through,” She stood from her chair.

“Reese, darling,” Mr. Caldwell stepped forward from his safe spot at the sofa and grabbed his daughter’s hand. “Luke is dead. You need to stop this right now. I should have taken care of this a long time ago. I’m sorry I failed you.”

“What are you talking about?” Reese said, curbing the need to snatch away her hand.

“He’s dead. You can’t talk to him. God, I should have done something before now. I didn’t realize how bad things had gotten.”

“How bad things have gotten? First you think I’m capable of killing Luke. Now you think what? That I’m crazy? Hearing voices? Talking to dead people?”

“I never said I thought you killed Luke. You said that.”

“Yeah, because Mr. Albreck said that. He said it’s why you don’t want me near Addie.”

“Mr. Albreck is dead, Reese. He can’t talk to you either. You need help. I should have gotten you help years ago. The night you tried to kill yourself, you were in and out of it and you kept talking to Luke.”

“You heard him too that night.”

“No, I didn’t hear him. I heard voices in my head. It’s why I went on my medicine.”

“Medicine you don’t need, Dad.”

Paul stood up and approached father and daughter. “Let me clear this up for you right now, Mr. Caldwell.” Paul looked ready to launch into a spiel about communication with the afterlife, but Reese’s dad cut him short.

“I don’t want to hear it, Paul. You drove my wife to near insanity all those years ago, telling her you could talk to our dead son.”

“Dad, he can.”

“No. This is ridiculous.”

“What’s ridiculous is you not believing what’s right in front of your eyes. Maybe you can’t hear Mr. Albreck, but he sure as shit is here. You’ve seen what he can do.”

“Parlor tricks,” Wayne spoke up, leaning forward from his now lounging position.

“Reese!” The cry came from upstairs. Paul and Reese looked at each other, stunned by the female voice. The other two were oblivious to it.

Reese turned and ran up the stairs two at a time with Paul calling out her name.

“Stay there with them, Paul. Make sure they don’t leave,” she yelled from the landing. She stopped at her bedroom door and took a deep breath. The door was shut but she couldn’t remember if she had closed it earlier or not.

“Be careful,” Paul called up.

Reese was vaguely aware of the chatter downstairs, Wayne and her dad wanting to know what was going on. She put her hand on the knob and it was cold, too cold. She pushed the door open and took a single step into the room. She saw a wisp of her breath trail from her lips. From downstairs, she heard Paul talking as if in a chant. She couldn’t be certain but she thought he might be trying to send Mr. Albreck back to wherever he had come from. She had a flash of the movie “All of Me” and heard a near hysterical laugh erupt from her gut as she recalled Steve Martin saying “back in bowl” to Lily Tomlin’s spirit.

“Hello?” She whispered to the empty room. God, she couldn’t wait until the only ghost she talked to was Luke. She much preferred dealing with living criminals. It was so much easier to figure out how to handle them. “Hello?” She whispered again, this time taking another step into the room. “Claire?” She had no idea if it were Claire Yates or not, but she was the only female ethereal creature she had encountered. Thus far, anyway.

“Reese?” She heard the voice as if it were surrounding her, wrapped around her like an invisible blanket. It did not sound like Claire Yates.

Her body trembled. Please be Grandma, please be Grandma.

“Grandma?” Reese’s voice was shaky. “Is that you?”

“Reese, you have to help Luke. He’s stuck. He’s trying to get out, but he’s stuck.”

“Mom?” Reese’s voice cracked in a plea. How could her mother be a spirit? She was alive that morning.

“Reese, help your brother. He’s stuck.” The words registered this time.

“Stuck? Where?”

“In the room. You need to help him.”

“Mom?” Her voice cracked again. “Where are you? Can you see Luke?”

“Reese, help your brother.” The voice faded and the room’s temperature warmed several degrees within seconds.

“Mom!” Reese spun around, looking for her mother. She raced to the bathroom and opened the door. She pulled the shower curtain back. She ran back into the bedroom and tore open the closet door. She looked under the bed. She stopped. The lock box.

The tears rolled down her face, certain the voice had been her mother’s. She was dead. Most certainly by Gregory. She was last with him. Her logical mind quickly scanned the possibility she had died of natural causes or that it wasn’t even her. But her instincts told her differently. Only a mother would beg for her child’s safety when her own life was newly extinguished.

Reese swiped at the tears, rubbing her cheeks hard. There was time to cry later. For now, she was going to kill the bastard or bastards who killed her brother and now her mother. She had no idea if Gregory was responsible for Luke’s death or not, but he certainly had a hand in everything going on the last few days. She had so wanted to believe in his innocence. But like pieces of a puzzle finally  fitting to form a whole picture, she knew he was involved. Why tell Lucy to search her out to help find Addie? Especially if he believed Addie wasn’t safe around her. It was a ploy to get to Addie.

Reese straightened her back. “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll get Luke.” She felt goose bumps explode all her body, from her crown to her ankles. She went to the bathroom and into the medicine cabinets. She dumped out the tablets of antacids into the sink and fished out the lock box key.

“Reese!” Paul called. “Hurry up. I can’t hold Mr. Albreck back much longer.”

She didn’t respond, determined to get to her police issued Beretta. She had stolen it right off a cop’s body a couple of years ago, after she had slit his throat. The son of a bitch had it coming. He had a thing for pubescent boys. Traded protection from the law in exchange for a little kiddie action in the alleys. She had traveled over three hundred miles to get to him. She could have set him up to get caught, but listening to him gurgle on his own blood was so much more rewarding.

She lifted the 9mm piece from its foam bed and jostled it in her hand. It was ergonomically satisfying to handle, as if it had been custom designed just for her. She had never had the occasion to use it, always knowing she would have to dispose of it once she did. So it was being saved for the right occasion. And the right occasion was upon her. She knew it was loaded but checked anyway. Satisfied, she closed the box lid.

“Reese!” Paul’s voice was louder and more demanding. She felt a surge of adrenaline hearing him call out to her. She tossed the key onto her bureau and nestled the gun into the small of her back, not bothering to conceal it under her shirt. She was glad she had opted to wear jeans earlier rather than sweatpants. She hated carrying in a pocket and she didn’t own a holster.

“Coming,” she answered as she took the first step. She walked down the stairs slowly and assuredly, examining the living room as it came into view. The three men were sitting around the table, hands joined and they seemed to be squeezing them.

“Go back from where it is you’ve come, spirit,” they all said in unison time and time again.

Reese stepped into the room. “Mr. Albreck!” Reese bellowed. “Did you kill my brother, Luke Caldwell?”

The chanting stopped as they all focused on Reese, but they continued to clasp hands.

“Reese, not now,” Paul said.

“If you send him back now, he’ll be locked away to wherever you send him. And I'm not done with him.”

“You stupid girl,” Mr. Albreck said, although he didn’t sound nearly half as frightening or as close as he had earlier.

“Where’s my brother? He disappeared once you showed up. Did you lock him away?”

“Reese, are you okay?” Mr. Caldwell said. He started to move away from the small circle, but Paul yanked his hand until he was back in position.

“Do not let go,” Paul warned.

Reese looked at her father. She felt sad for him. Although her parents had been separated for years, she knew he would take the news hard, especially on the heels of Casey’s death.

“I didn’t kill your precious brother,” Mr. Albreck snapped.

“Then who did?” Reese asked, ignoring the confused looks on Wayne and her father’s faces. They only heard one side of the conversation and it must have sounded bizarre.

“How would I know? I’ve been dead for thirty years.”

“He died before you did, you asshole.”

“Reese, stop it. You’re giving him power.”

Reese looked at Paul. “Send him to hell for all I care. I'm done with him.”

Paul turned back to the circle and shook the others’ hands so the whole field of energy wavered. Reese wondered if they could see the ring of … of what? She couldn’t describe it. It looked like a mirage coming off a hot road. Like water that wasn’t there in a sun-burnt desert.

They started the incantation again. She looked at Wayne’s face which was blanched. His lips moved and his voice was distinguishable from the other two. He either didn’t believe they were returning his father’s spirit to where it had come from or he didn’t care.

“Reese, a little help here,” Paul said in between the lines of the chant.

She approached the circle and placed her left hand on Paul’s shoulder and her right on her father’s shoulder. “Go back from where it is you’ve come, spirit,” she joined in.

They said it one more time and a burst of vibrant light opened up within the circle. It was like a wormhole, only brilliant with blinding light rather than a complete void. A strong wind whistled around them, sending the few possessions Reese had on her tables airborne.  

“Keep going,” Paul yelled to the attendees to continue chanting.

A noise like a train in the distance rumbled. The sound grew louder until it took all of Reese’s energy not to cover her ears. She squeezed her dad’s and Paul’s shoulders, not just to brace herself but to assure them. 

Then in a flash so bright they each pulled their hands away from the circle to cover their eyes, the vortex blew up and into itself, sucking in all the energy, including Mr. Albreck. It was gone. He was gone. The wind stopped as if it had never been there.

“What the hell was that?” Wayne asked, looking even more washed out than he did just a moment before.

“A parlor trick,” Reese answered.