Freya laughed. “This is a small town. We’re lucky we have a gas pump and convenience store.”
“I see. No cities within driving distance?”
“Oh, sure. But I don’t usually ask that much of our old Volkswagen bus.”
“You drive a bus?”
“More like a van. Sometimes we do deliveries, and often all three of us go on outings together… I mean, we did.”
“I’m so sorry. I’ll get to the bottom of this, I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” she said, sadly.
“Actually, I think I might have already made some progress.”
Freya sat bolt upright. “Really? What have you found out?”
“Well, keep an open mind, all right?”
“It’s wide open.” She grinned, hoping some kind of real breakthrough was coming.
“Okay, here goes. Even in the 21st century, people in England are still seeing and hearing ghosts, so when I got off the phone with my great-aunt Elspeth—who, by the way, has been dead for over a century—the conversation kept going.”
Freya quickly squashed her stunned reaction and leaned forward. “I’m listening.”
Just then, Paula came over to take their order. Probably a good thing. Freya needed a moment to process what he was saying. The woman who referred him was a ghost?
After writing down their orders, Paula strode off, and Freya realized she needed some kind of confirmation.
“So, you can call her on the phone, but she answers in your head?”
“Something like that.”
“Could I do that?”
“If you’re a sensitive…”
“If you mean psychic, I’d say I’m semi-sensitive.”
He smiled. “That might be enough.”
“So… May I try?”
He hesitated, and Freya thought for a moment she was being had. Then he pulled his phone out from his coat pocket.
“I don’t know if this is going to work or not, but let’s give it a go.”
Anxious for any information about her family, Freya fidgeted on the bench seat.
Devon tapped his phone a few times. She wished he had been holding it so she could see the screen. How do you list a ghost under contacts?
3
At last, he held the phone to his ear and waited. “Aunt Elspeth, thank you for, um… answering. The massage therapist you told me about would like to speak with you. Can you do that?”
After a moment of listening, he grinned. “Oh, yes. She’s brilliant. My leg is nearly healed.”
After another moment, his expression changed to look serious. “Oh. As you wish.” He handed the phone to Freya. “She wants to speak with you in private. Is there someplace you can go where I can’t hear you?”
