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He told her the story. When she went still, precisely as he expected, he started to speak, but she beat him to it with, "I've heard this one."
"Yes, I am aware it is perhaps the most common of the modern ghost legends. I'm not concluding that is what we have, but the reports seem to make it clear we have something supernatural in nature."
"No, I meant that I'd heard this specific story. This legend. Twice, in fact. I had a client maybe ten years ago who claimed to have seen her. Then one in the past year. That's not unusual--I often see clients who believe they've had a supernatural encounter. Apparently, a psychic is the one person who might not laugh at you for that." She paused. "And I do try not to, though sometimes it is difficult. I had a woman last week who swore her new house was haunted...by ghosts running behind the walls, making chittering noises."
"Exterminator."
"Yes, and I'll work up to that suggestion after a few more sessions."
Rose reached for the last cookie. Then she stopped and motioned for Gabriel to take it. When he didn't, she moved the plate over in front of him and continued, "These two particular cases--of the hitchhiker in white--were among the more convincing. In the first instance, the man was very distraught. He'd tried talking to his minister, who was very clearly out of his comfort zone, so someone suggested me."
"What was the nature of his encounter?"
Rose gave a story that matched many of the early reports--a young woman in white, a rainy summer night, an empty road. The man picked her up, but once she was in his car, she couldn't remember where she was going and began to panic and cry. He'd tried to calm her, promising to get help, but she'd disappeared.
"What upset him was, naturally, the encounter itself. He was the sort of man who, if he saw lights flicker, would contact an electrician, not an exorcist. But more than just being unsettled by the ghost itself, he couldn't shake the feeling that if she was a spirit, he'd failed to do whatever she needed to set her free. Over the course of a few sessions, I discovered he had a sister dealing with drug addiction, so we worked on addressing that issue, and he decided the ghost had been a manifestation of his feelings of powerlessness there."
"And it was?"
Rose refilled her tea. "One would think so, but I always got the sense there was more to it. That he had seen something, and it triggered guilt over his sister. His mind was looking for rational explanations. When I connected the dots, he could dismiss any foolishness about ghosts and focus on the real problem."
"Do you believe in ghosts?"
"I don't disbelieve. I know Liv had what seemed to be an encounter, and I've met others who've experienced something similar."
"And you?"
She sipped her tea and said, "I've always thought that the greatest barrier to belief in ghosts is the fact we aren't overrun with them. If they exist, why don't we all see them?"
Which was not what he'd been asking, but he only said, "Presumably, it's the same as seeing the future or seeing omens. Some can; others cannot."
"So would a ghost like this stand on the roadside, hoping for someone who can see her?"
"I doubt she has more pressing engagements."
Rose gave a short laugh. "True. Which brings us to the second account. My second client. That one was...troubling. And quite different, despite the fact she described a very similar initial situation."
"Young blond woman in a sundress looking for a ride on a rainy night?"
"Exactly. The descriptions were eerily similar. Both of the young woman and her initial actions. But this one knew exactly where she wanted to go."
Rose related a story similar to Lambert's. Her client picked up a hitchhiker who said she was staying with a friend in the countryside, and it was perfectly fine for the woman to drop her off at the corner. Naturally, she didn't. And for her trouble, she ended up being led, like Lambert, down back road after back road, complete with a seeming loss of time, before ending up in the middle of an empty field. Whereupon the hitchhiker vanished.
"Did she say anything to your client?" Gabriel asked. "Before she disappeared?"
"No. But she was very agitated. The encounter had happened only a day before, and my client seemed to have come to me for reassurance that it wasn't real."
Gabriel's brows shot up.
"Yes," Rose said. "It might seem that a psychic is the last person you should ask that, but it's not that uncommon. When people have strange experiences, they either want me to validate or repudiate them."
"Because, as someone with a connection to the otherworldly, if you say ghosts don't exist, that's proof."
"Better than asking a priest or an academic. For those who want me to repudiate their experience--particularly with ghosts--it is often a matter of faith."
"They believe in a very different afterlife. Whatever their church promises."
"Yes, but in this case, she claimed not to be religious, not to have any reason for wanting me to confirm she hadn't seen a ghost."
