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Calvin had also questioned her decision to wait until Monday to turn herself in, but in the end had relented, saying it was her choice.
“But it might not reflect well on her to have waited for so many days to come clean about the whole thing,” he warned me, to which I could only shrug.
“It’s her choice, Calvin,” I said, and he’d let it go.
Now she looked pale but determined as she walked up to the church in her black suit, her heavy dark hair pulled up in a French twist. As I’d hoped, no one paid much attention to us as we paused to pick up a program from the sad-faced but composed man who was handing them out at the door, a man who looked so much like Danny, I guessed he had to be his older brother Miguel.
Kimberly and I took our seats in the rear pew. The air inside the church was filled with the heavy, sweet scent of lilies, which lay on top of the coffin on the altar and overflowed the tall standing vases to either side.
And I was somewhat heartened to see that nearly every seat was taken. Josie’s bright red hair blazed from a pew up near the front, and I hoped she wouldn’t see me sitting back here with Kimberly. She’d be bound to ask questions, and I really preferred to avoid all that until after Kimberly had turned herself in the next morning.
To my relief, however, the organist began playing something solemn and quiet, and utterly unlike the Danny I knew. Still, the hushed music was enough to get everyone to settle down, the murmurs among the mourners eventually dying away into silence.
Father Estevez, the priest who presided over St. Ignatius, went to stand at the lectern and said, “Let us pray.”
I didn’t have much experience with funerals and even less with Catholic prayer, but I dutifully bowed my head along with everyone else. Even as I stared down at the program in my hands — absently noting that Danny’s birthday was in early August…Leo, which made a lot of sense, considering his oversized personality and somewhat misguided belief that he was irresistible to women — I heard his voice in my ear.
“Packed house, huh?”
Startling, I glanced over to my right. Sure enough, there he was, floating above the empty space in the pew next to me and looking amused.
“What are you doing here?” I asked in a whisper out of the side of my mouth.
“Let’s talk,” he said, and drifted out toward the exit.
When a ghost summons you like that, you go. I murmured an apology to a very confused-looking Kimberly and then slid out of the pew, following Danny outside. A few people muttered among themselves as I left — most likely derogatory comments about what a heathen I was to be leaving before the service had barely gotten started — but a moment later, I was safely outside and away from the mourners.
He was waiting for me on the far side of the steps, under the shelter of a huge oak tree that had just begun to turn gold. Since it was utterly deserted out here, I felt it safe to remark, “I thought you said you were going to move on after you solved the mystery of who killed you.”
“I did move on,” he replied. At least he had the grace to appear somewhat sheepish, eyes lowered so they wouldn’t quite meet mine. “I just wanted to see how many people showed up for my funeral. Full house, huh?”
“Pretty much,” I agreed, although my tone was curt. “You know, you’re really not supposed to go bouncing back and forth from the afterlife to here.”
“I know,” Danny said, although he didn’t appear too troubled by my admonishment. “And this is my last visit, I swear. Or almost my last. I want to hang around and make sure Kimberly is going to be okay.”
“She’ll be fine,” I assured him. “Calvin told me she might only get probation. And I’m going to make sure she has the best criminal defense lawyer I can find.”
Danny’s eyebrows lifted, and he looked almost amused. “Does she know that?”
“Not yet,” I said. Maybe Kimberly would put up a fight and tell me she didn’t want any charity, or maybe she wouldn’t, but I figured I’d wear her down if I had to. I was pretty good at that sort of thing.
He smiled, that dancing light returning to his glinting brown eyes. “Well, that’s very generous of you. I appreciate it.”
I shrugged. While I knew I didn’t have to offer her any financial assistance — I’d had nothing to do with Kimberly’s decision to brew a love potion for him…unless I wanted to blame myself for those spell candles not working — I got the impression she could use all the friends she could get. Anyway, the more good causes I could spend Lucien Dumond’s inheritance on, the better. It made me feel a little better about having all that money, money I’d earned for no good reason.
For a second or two, Danny was silent, gaze slipping past me toward the west.
The place where all souls went to rest in the end.
“I wish things could have been different,” he said then.
“Maybe they’ll be different the next time,” I replied, and something about his posture seemed to relax.
“I’m coming back,” he said.
It wasn’t a question.
“Yes,” I told him, glad he was beginning to understand that this wasn’t an end, only the beginning of a new adventure for him. “And Kimberly will, too, most likely. If you’re meant to be together, you will be…although it might take you a few lifetimes to get there.”
