Double Take

“But he is concerned about Julia. He loves her, has always loved her. He is here for her, not in this room with us, mind you, but close.”

“He doesn’t know who hired that man to kill me, Wallace?”

“No, my dear, he doesn’t know. Those who have crossed over do not become omniscient. They remain themselves.”

“But he was a psychic,” Cheney said. “Didn’t those abilities carry over to The After?”

“No, Agent Stone, they did not. He’s there, you see, no need for those abilities now.”

“Perhaps,” Cheney said, his eyebrow arched, “Dr. Ransom could put the word out, ask around with the other spirits, you know. Or maybe he could hang around a bit here, keep an eye on his wife, tell her when evil is closing in on her.”

“Evil, Agent Stone? I don’t know that I’d call it evil.”

“When someone wants to murder another person, what would you call it?”

Wallace shrugged. “Anger, rage, necessity, probably all those things, but not evil. Evil seems to me to be without motive, to exist for its own sake.”

Bevlin Wagner surged to his feet, the energy nearly crackling off

him. “You said August isn’t here, Wallace. Well, I agree with you.

He isn’t here now, but he was before. Then I sensed he had to leave.”

Julia jumped to her feet. “He was really here, Bevlin?

You’re sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. I felt him.”

“But why would he leave, Mr. Wagner?”

“Who knows, Agent Stone? There’s lots of things for him to do. It isn’t all lying around and singing ‘Kumbaya.’ No, I don’t sense Dr. Ransom at all now, and I would like to. I called to him with my mind voice, trying to call him back, but he said nothing at all.

“I do agree with you, though, Agent Stone. If I were August, I’d be here with Julia, not off somewhere counseling some departed soul.” He shrugged, stroked his chin with long thin fingers. “But August always went his own path, and dying wouldn’t change that.”

Cheney wanted to throw up his hands and tell the both of them to go away, but one of them might be Dr. August Ransom’s murderer. One of them might have hired the man who tried to kill Julia.

Cheney said, “Do you speak to many dead people, Mr. Tammerlane?”

“Yes, of course. It is a gift, a responsibility, and obligation. I will admit that August fades in and out quickly, that it is difficult for him to maintain a link with me, thus I’ve gotten only brief images and spurts of his thoughts. I don’t know why. Neither does he.”

“May I come and speak to you tomorrow, sir?”

Wallace gave him a penetrating look, a very effective look, Cheney imagined, to make you believe he knew things, things that were beyond you, things not necessarily of this world. Cheney knew he had to try to keep an open mind about this, but when push came to shove, he was a lawyer, steeped in skepticism. It was hard-wired in his brain not to accept anything he couldn’t see, couldn’t manipulate with his hand and his brain.

“Of course, if it could be of assistance to Julia.”

“Dr. Ransom was your friend and colleague, was he not?”

“Yes. Poor August and I were close for many years.”

“And Julia, how do you see her, sir?”

“She is a dear girl. We were to have dinner Thursday night, but alas—you know what happened, Agent Stone. I will be at home at eleven o’clock. Does that suit you?”

Cheney nodded, turned his attention to the prowling Bevlin Wagner. “Are you related to Mr. Tammerlane?”

“Related? Goodness no. I’m Croatian. Wallace is from Kansas.”

He sounded so insulted Cheney wanted to laugh. He cleared his throat. “Would you also be available to chat tomorrow morning, Mr. Wagner?”

He agreed, shooting Julia an intense look. But, Cheney thought, neither man really looked anxious to speak to him. Why was that? Cheney wondered. Because he was FBI? Because one or both of them had murdered August Ransom?

Julia said, “I’ll come out with Agent Stone. He’ll want to keep me within sight at all times. He’s the one who saved me Thursday night, you know.”

And it was done. She’d nailed coming with him very efficiently, no fuss at all. Cheney could have told her he actually welcomed her company, and he did want her close, but he liked that smug, triumphant expression on her face. It was better than the empty fear.

“I can still ditch you,” he told her when they were finally alone again.