“Let’s keep going.”
Morgaine swallowed hard. Roz was right. She couldn’t stay there. “Hopefully Chad will meet us at the museum, and if not, I’ll try to talk to Reginald myself. I just don’t know if I can persuade him to change his story.”
Morgaine and Roz resumed a more natural pose, as long as Roz’s arm around Morgaine’s waist was considered natural. With Morgaine’s eyes closed, the two women walked next to each other over the rest of the bridge. Morgaine opened her eyes and continued along the sidewalk toward the Fenway.
“What made Chad think he could get the other ghost to recant?”
“You know what karma is, don’t you?”
Roz nodded.
“It exists on the other side too. Chad thinks he’s improved his karma since he stopped driving tenants out of the building. He hopes to transcend this plane and go to a higher one as soon as the powers that be notice.”
“And he thinks Reginald will want to do that too?”
“He claims that without someone to talk to, being trapped on this plane is sheer torture. He used to amuse himself with pranks on the residents, but we figured out that his behavior was probably the thing holding him back.
“Joe Murphy solved his murder case, so his unfinished business was finally finished. Unfortunately he still didn’t see any beam of light or porthole or anything to indicate he was welcome to transcend, so he made an excuse to stay around, saying he wanted to know how karma paid back his murderers. The truth is, it’s his own karma that’s in trouble. He can’t transcend, even though he wants to.”
“That’s terrible. So he’s cleaning up his act?”
“He’s trying to. He’s been such a smartass for so long, I don’t expect miracles overnight.”
Roz kept walking. “At least he has you to talk to. If Reginald hasn’t had anyone to communicate with for all these years, he’s probably losing it.”
“That’s what Chad thought. I mentioned there was something ‘off’ about his energy and that he reminded me of Chad when I first moved into the building, before we discovered we could talk to each other.”
“So Chad was losing it before he had you to talk to?”
“Yeah. He was going stark, raving bananas. You’d think Reginald would be nicer to me when I show up to talk to him, but maybe he knows it won’t last.”
“That could make him feel even worse, having a taste of companionship but knowing it will end as soon as the case is closed. Now it makes sense that he’d give false clues. Anything to keep you there.”
“I know. If only I could find someone to talk to him on a regular basis.”
“Why not you?”
Morgaine waved away the question. “If it weren’t for the money…I have to make a living. Something tells me the museum won’t hire me to chat up its disgruntled ghost.”
Roz made a “Hmmm” noise as if thinking of a plan.
Morgaine remained quiet. Maybe the smart lawyer could come up with a solution if she let her mull it over.
***
“Reginald, please listen to me. I’m a lawyer, and seeing justice done is my job.”
Reginald regarded the two women while one tried to reason with him and the other acted as his mouthpiece.
He had nothing to lose. What if hedidplant the hairs and lie about it? The police couldn’t lock him up for falsifying evidence or perjury. He was already in his prison and had been there for decades. The curvy young woman with the brown and blonde strange hair could go pound sand.
“I’ve done nothing of the kind. I merely reported what I saw.” Hearing his words come from a woman’s mouth was still bizarre, but at least he finally had a voice.
“You saw Konrad take the guards to the basement and duct tape them almost twenty years ago?”
“No, I didn’t say that. I said they missed a piece of evidence, and I told Morgaine where to find it.”
The lawyer shook her head and looked disgusted. “Morgaine told me what our friend, Chad, was going to tell you before he got—uh, waylaid.”
