Cemetery Tours (27 page)

But the ghost standing in the midst of the boxes and plants didn’t seem to mind.

The first thing Michael noticed about him was that he wasn’t Daniel Ford.  In fact, Michael hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Daniel Ford since before he’d talked to his parents.  Perhaps it didn’t matter to him that his father didn’t believe him as long as he’d heard the message.

This guy looked younger than Daniel, Michael guessed around twenty, with longish light brown hair and chubby features.
  He was wearing tight jeans and a green T-shirt.  He looked up as Cannon and Michael entered the room.  Michael quickly averted his eyes.  He wasn’t about to acknowledge another ghost around these people, not after the fiasco with the Fords.     

He wasn’t sure what it was that had inspired him to run after them when Kate pointed out that they were getting ready to leave, why he hadn’t just torn Luke away from his adoring fans and reminded him why they’d come there.
  Maybe it had just been a reflex.  Maybe it was because he knew Kate was there.  Or maybe he wanted to do something, not just for Kate, but for himself.  To prove he wasn’t some coward who needed his famous friend to bail him out of situations he’d rather avoid altogether.     

No matter what had driven him to speak with them, nothing could have prepared him for Mr. Ford’s violent reaction.
  In the years before he’d sworn off spiritual communication, he thought he’d seen it all, from tears of mirth to overwhelming displays of gratitude.  But he’d never once been physically attacked or verbally assaulted.  Even now that he’d been able to take a few deep breaths and think it through, he still didn’t understand what it was that had caused Mr. Ford to lash out at him like that.     

“Sorry this place is such a wreck.
  We’ve been having some technical difficulties over in our offices.” Cannon’s voice pulled Michael from his own mind and back into the tiny room. The older man stood in the corner of the room, unbuttoning the clasp on his long, white robe.  “Last week, every bathroom in the whole building decided to flood, leaving us with a lot of damage and not a lot of space.”

“Oh, it’s fine,” Michael replied, trying to distract himself from the ghost’s curious gaze.
  He picked up a Bible that had been left on the desk, flipped it open, and read the first verse that stood out to him.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

“Well then,” Cannon addressed Michael casually after he hung his robe up in the dresser.
  “Let’s talk.”  Michael swallowed nervously, only too aware of the ghost listening to their every word.

“Can we maybe go outside?
  It’s pretty stuffy in here,” he said and prayed that the ghost wouldn’t follow them.

“Sure.”
   

Cannon led Michael through the hallway to a back exit and finally, outside to a small garden, full of ill-tended shrubs, flowers, and vegetables.

“A
Sunday
School project.  This hasn’t been our best year, partly due to the horrible drought we’ve been experiencing,” Cannon explained.  “Now then.  Tell me.  What happened between you and the Fords?”

“I was just... giving them a message,” Michael explained, sounding like he was somehow trying to prove his innocence while knowing full well that he could not.
     

“A message from whom?” Cannon asked.

“From Daniel.”  

“Daniel Ford is dead, son.”

“I know.”  Cannon’s eyes bore so deeply into him that Michael looked away. 

“Then surely you know that it is impossible for you to have had any sort of communication with him.”
  Michael didn’t respond.  He recognized the pastor’s tone.  It was the same one that teachers used in elementary school whenever they were about to lecture a kid for bad behavior.  “That’s something I don’t understand about you young people today; that you have to go out of your way to hurt other people just to make yourselves feel superior. John and Deborah have suffered more than you can fathom and yet you seek them out at this holy place of worship, a place where they are supposed to feel loved and protected, and you come here intent on taking that peace away from them.  Now tell me, what were you thinking?”    

“I was trying to do the right thing,” Michael mumbled.

“I find that very hard to believe.”  The pastor’s eyes were cold.  “I don’t know what you were expecting to gain here, but you listen and you listen good.  This is sacred ground.  The members of this church are good, holy people of God, and I will not have troublemakers like you and your arrogant friends inflicting pain on any member of this congregation, especially a man who has lost his only son to sin and death.  You need to abandon this path of evil and destruction and return to the Light of God.  Until you do, you have no place in this church.”  With that, Augustus Cannon walked away from Michael and back toward the building.   

“There’s a ghost in your office,” Michael announced to the pastor’s retreating back.
  The man stopped in his tracks.  “He’s young.  He’s got long brown hair.  Sort of stocky.”  Slowly, Cannon turned to look at him, his expression torn between shock, hatred, and pure terror.  “Maybe you know him.”  

Cannon took a deep, trembling breath.
  “You get out of here,” he hissed through gritted teeth.  “And don’t come back.”  

Michael was only too happy to oblige.
  After today, he didn’t want anything more to do with the small town church or its ghosts, and he was certainly through with trying to play the hero.  The barrier between the realms of the living and the dead existed for a reason, and the ability to breach that barrier did not give him, or anyone else, the right to do so.  

Regardless, Michael felt a twinge of guilt when Kate took his hand, kissed him on the cheek, and whispered, “I’m so proud of you,” as they made their way through the parking lot and away from the weary souls of Calvary Hill.

“Where have you been?” Gavin demanded as soon Kate walked through the door.  

“Church,” Kate answered.
  Of course, that wasn’t the entire truth.  After church, she, Michael, and Luke had stopped for a quick lunch at a roadside barbecue joint which, at first glance, had struck Kate as “iffy,” but had turned out to be the best chopped beef sandwich she had ever tasted.  

There, Michael filled them in on his confrontation with John Ford as well as the lecture he’d received from Augustus Cannon.
  Although he didn’t say so, Kate could tell the morning had left him shaken and she hoped that he didn’t resent her or Luke for convincing him that they should go.  As much as she wanted to believe that they had done the right thing, she couldn’t deny the remorse she felt over upsetting Mr. Ford, nor the nagging voice in the back of her mind that told her they’d made a mistake.

Luke, who’d been in such a good mood earlier that morning, especially after meeting his fans, seemed equally disappointed by how their time at Calvary Hill had played out.
  Of course, being left alone with Chastity Cannon may have had something to do with that.  

Chastity Cannon was, to put it lightly, sort of a downer.
  Unlike the other girls in the congregation, Chastity hadn’t been impressed by Luke’s celebrity status.  In fact, she had gone out of her way to try to make him feel as small and despicable as she could, to the point where Kate had felt like smacking her.  Luke didn’t seem as bothered by it and he handled her harsh criticism with a lot more maturity and reason than Kate would have been able to muster, but he did look awfully relieved when Michael finally reappeared and announced that they could leave.     

Later, when Luke dropped them off at the apartment complex, he announced
that he probably wouldn’t see them again before he headed back to L.A., but he promised to keep in touch.  Watching him drive away, Kate wished that their adventure could have ended on a more positive note, but she knew that he would be back doing what he loved soon enough.  Michael was the one who needed time to recover.  After the assault by John Ford, she knew he wouldn’t be convinced to interfere with ghosts or their business for a long time.  And maybe he had been right all along.  Maybe it was for the best.  

Even if that meant she’d never find out who Trevor was, or what he wanted.

“And you couldn’t be bothered to tell me you were leaving?”  Gavin’s angry voice reminded Kate that while Michael might not hold her accountable for everything that had happened that morning, her brother wasn’t going to let her off the hook that easily.  

“You saw me this morning.
  You knew I was going somewhere.”  Kate tried to keep her tone calm and steady, but her nerves were running short.    

“I thought you were just getting home!
  I even asked you and since you didn’t respond,   I assumed I was right!”

“Well, you know what they say about making assumptions,” Kate remarked lightly.

“Kate, you can’t keep doing this!  You can’t just keep running off!”

“I’m a grown woman.
  I can do whatever I want.” 

“Oh, that doesn’t sound childish at all,” Gavin snapped as Kate brushed past him into the living room.
  “Look, I know you’re still mad at me for yesterday, but we’ve got to be able to trust each other, and right now, you’re not doing a really good job of convincing me that I can.”  

“You know what, Gavin?
  I really don’t want to hear this from you right now.  You’re the one who went behind
my
back.  And don’t you
dare
lecture me about trust when you’ve been keeping secrets from me for months!” 

“What is that supposed to mean?”
 

“You know what it means,” Kate hissed.

“No, I really don’t,” Gavin insisted.  Kate looked him in the eye.   

“Trevor.”

“What?” Gavin looked taken aback.

“Trevor.
  Who is Trevor?”

“How should I know?” Gavin tried to sound like he truly didn’t know why she was asking, but he was betrayed by a small tremor in his voice.
 

“Because this guy is royally pissed at you.
  There’s no way you can make someone that angry without knowing who they are.  So tell me.”  

“Why would you think he’s mad at me?”

“Look at you, Gavin!  Look at what he’s done to you!”  Gavin took a deep breath and closed his eyes.  “Please, just tell me who he is.  Maybe we can figure out what he wants from you.”

“Kate, stop.
  There is no - ”

“Gav, there’s nothing you can say.
  I know he’s here.  Michael’s seen him.”  The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.  

“
What
?” Gavin asked.

“Michael... can see them.
  He can see ghosts.  And he’s seen this guy.  He’s tall and muscular with a buzzed haircut.  And he’s angry with you, Gav.  Please.  Let me help you.”  By now, every remaining ounce of color had drained from Gavin’s already pale complexion, and Kate was stunned to see tears shimmering in her brother’s eyes.  

“Kate... I’m so sorry.
  I’m sorry for everything that’s happened in the last six months.  I’m sorry for everything that you’ve had to go through.  But I
can’t
tell you.”

“Why not?”
     

When he finally answered her, his voice was barely audible.
  “Because I don’t want to hurt you anymore.”  Kate was so stunned by his words and the raw guilt with which he spoke them that, for a moment, everything inside her mind short circuited.  She couldn’t remember where she was or what they were arguing about.  All she could think about was Gavin, her smart, protective older brother who had always been there for her, who would never let anything bad happen to her.  The man standing before her with weary, guilt-ridden eyes wasn’t her brother.  He was a stranger, one with a secret so terrible that he couldn’t even confide in his family, or look to them for help or advice.