Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 (30 page)

“
More and more every day,”
he said. “We’ll be fine.”

“
You don’t see…”

“
I don’t.”

“
But you can’t see your own
future and…”

“
There’s nothing coming,
Jill,” he said.

“
Just life,” she
said.

“
Just life,” he
said.

“
Good.”

~~~~~~~~

Sunday afternoon — 3:25 P.M.

When Noelle heard a car pull up into the
Castle driveway, she raced to the door. She opened the side door,
looked out and closed it again.

“
Nope, it’s not him,” she
said as she returned to the Castle living room.

Sandy and Jill were clearing and cleaning up
the final wreckage from Levi Johansen’s visit. The floors would be
sanded and polished tomorrow. Jill had arranged for new furniture.
But right now, they needed to finish taking down the hundred year
old wall paper. Once the floors were done, the plasterers would
repair the walls. Jill worked the steamer while Noelle and Sandy
scraped the strips from the wall.

“
Who’s here?”

“
Mrs. Heather, Uncle Blane,
and Mack,” Noelle said.

“
You closed the door in
their faces?” Giving Noelle a dark look, Sandy dumped the wall
paper she was holding into a thirty gallon trash can.

“
Not in their faces,”
Noelle said. “They weren’t even out of the car.”

“
Still,” Sandy
said.

Wiping her hands on the pair of Aden’s old
jeans, Sandy went to the door. Heather and Blane had already gone
around the back. She shrugged.

“
They must have gone around
the back,” Sandy said. She turned into the living room

“
I’m sure they’ll find us,”
Jill said. “Can you take this piece?”

Sandy scooted forward to catch a big piece
of wall paper. Another car pulled into the driveway. And Noelle ran
to the door.

“
Nope, it’s Jake and Mike,”
Noelle slammed the door closed.

“
Noelle! You can wait for
people to come in,” Sandy said. “Open the door. Go.
Now.”

Noelle slumped her way back to the door.

“
They went to the
backyard,” Noelle said. “Daddy’s here!”

Noelle ran out to meet her father. She
slammed the door behind her. They heard another car pull into the
driveway.

“
You can go,” Jill said. “I
can finish this.”

“
It’s OK,” Sandy said.
“Plus, I’m wearing his jeans. They were the only jeans that
fit.”

Jill laughed. The women worked together in
happy silence. They finished the rest of the room before they
realized Aden and Noelle hadn’t appeared.

“
Why don’t you go shower?”
Jill asked.

“
Sounds like everyone’s in
the backyard,” Sandy said.

“
I find out what’s going
on,” Jill said.

Sandy nodded. She took the stairs two at a
time. Waving to Nash and Teddy, who were playing video games, she
jogged into her bedroom. She stripped out of Aden’s pants and
tucked them at the bottom of the laundry pile. She was sure he
wouldn’t care but he might. Turning on the water to the shower, she
defensively told herself that he could stand to be a little
responsible for the baby. She laughed at her own justification.

A quick shower led to dressing in a pair of
pants she couldn’t zip, a long sleeved shirt and a big sweater. She
looked like a bowling ball but that would have to be all right.
When she went out into the living room, the boys weren’t there. But
neither were the cookies she made this morning. The boys must have
gone looking for sustenance.

Sandy pulled her wet hair into a ponytail,
pulled on a pair of fleece lined boots and wandered down to the
first floor. The entire Castle seemed deserted. She wandered
downstairs but Aden wasn’t in his apartment. Honey and MJ weren’t
in their apartment either.

Perplexed, Sandy went upstairs. She checked
the main Castle living room. No one. Even the kitchen was still.
Sandy looked out through the window in the door to the backyard.
The backyard was set up for a party. Of course, every day Valerie
was home was a party. Smiling, she walked out onto the deck.

“
SURPRISE!” Everyone
yelled. “Congratulations!”

Sandy was so shocked she took a step
back.

“
What?”

Aden came forward with a glass of
champagne.

“
They wanted to have a
little party for us,” he said. “Everyone helped.”

He leaned down to kiss her.

“
Are you all right?” Aden
asked.

Sandy bit her lip to keep from crying. She
nodded.

“
We were doing the wall
paper to keep me occupied?” she asked Jill

Jill nodded and gave her a hug. And the
party began. The laughing, talking crowd of loved ones celebrated
the first union of Aden and Sandy.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED and
EIGHT

Ghosts

Monday early morning — 5:25 A.M.

Jill woke with a start. She wasn’t sure what
had startled her, but Jacob wasn’t in bed. She lay there for a
moment before remembering that he wasn’t working at Lipson
Construction anymore.

“
Jacob?”

Hearing an odd sound, she got out of bed to
find him.

“
Jacob?”

Jill checked Katy’s room. Sometimes when
Katy had a vision, Jacob would stay with her until she was
settled.

No Jacob.

Wandering out into the main loft area, she
turned off a light in the kitchen. Jacob wasn’t in any of their
living areas. She turned to look at the rooms. He’d been so excited
to have another child. Maybe he was planning a nursery. She stuck
her head in the empty room.

No Jacob.

She heard the sound again. Thump, thump,
thump.

The door to her office was closed. She
always closed her office when she was done with work or school
work. Standing at the door, she paused.

What if he was doing something she didn’t
want to know about? She’d heard all kinds of stories about men who
went to chat rooms or played games on the Internet. Maybe he was
downloading porn.

She heard the sound again and smiled. The
sound was Sarah, Jacob’s Labrador’s tail hitting the floor when she
wagged. Thump, thump, thump. Jill opened the door.

Jacob was working on her computer with Sarah
under his feet.

Of course.

Less than a week after being forced out of
Lipson Construction and Jacob was working again. Jill laughed.

Hearing her laugh, he looked up.

“
Hi,” he said. He held an
arm out and she tucked herself into him.

“
What are you doing?” she
asked.

“
Uh,” Jacob pointed to the
blueprint on the computer screen. “Downloading porn?”

“
Don’t read my mind,” Jill
laughed. He kissed her and looked back at the blueprint.

“
Where’s that?” Jill
asked.

“
It’s a new rehab,” Jacob
said. “The building is in the middle of nowhere. It was a debtor’s
prison for the North Animas valley. A guy I know wants to move it
to a lot in Denver. Since the building’s condemned, he can pick it
up for a song. He wants us to rehab it. If it works, there will be
lots more where this comes from. He’s scouted houses all over
Colorado and Wyoming. Old mining houses, these debtors’ prisons,
abandoned schools, stuff like that. He secured a parcel of land out
on Stapleton to make an old town. You know with the
‘e’s.”

“
Olde Towne Stapleton?”
Jill asked.

“
I think it’s Old-y
Town-y,” Jacob laughed. She smiled.

“
What does he want from
us?”

“
You caught that too,”
Jacob said. “He’s been bugging me about this for at least a year. I
have the same feeling – he wants something. He finally came out and
asked.”

“
What does he want?” Jill
repeated.

“
A couple of things,” Jacob
said. “He definitely needs rehab and design help. He plans to condo
everything, even the businesses.”

“
But he needs financing,”
Jill said.

“
No, financing he has,”
Jacob said. “He has a banker in his pocket. He even has a board of
directors behind him.”

“
A lot of people can do his
rehab work for a lot less money,” Jill said. “We’re kind of a
specialty shop.”

“
He wants special
services,” Jacob said.

“
What?”

“
Ghost removal,” Jacob
said.

“
Is that all?” Jill shook
her head.

“
Pretty incredible, right?”
Jacob asked. “The buildings are supposed to be haunted. That’s why
he’s able to get them so cheap. He’d heard from someone that I’d
cleared out some nasties from a rehab and contacted me. That’s why
I haven’t done it yet.”

“
And this
morning?”

“
I don’t know. He called
yesterday while you were working on the wallpaper,” Jacob said. “I
told him I’d take a look at the plans and talk to my associates.
Aren’t you glad you got up?”

Jill smiled.

“
He’ll pay double our
rates,” Jacob said. “That’s how cheap he can get these buildings.
Most of his costs are in moving the buildings. And…”

His voice trailed off as he looked at the
building plans.

“
Jacob?” She touched his
shoulder.

“
Oh, sorry,” he said. “Mom
used to have this thing about ghosts. She said they were tortured,
frightened souls who needed our help transitioning. There were a
few here when she bought the place.”

“
I wonder if they were from
the bodies,” Jill said.

“
Probably,” Jacob said.
“We’ll have to ask Delphie. She and Mom transitioned
them.”

“
Can you do that?” Jill
asked.

“
Sure,” Jacob said.
“Delphie has a knack for it. Of course. But…”

“
You’re better at it? I
could see that,” Jill said.

“
Why?” Jacob
asked.

“
You like people and people
like you,” she said. “You’re a natural born leader. People feel
safe around you. I don’t know why dead people would be any
different.”

Jacob fell silent. His attention shifted
back to the building plans.

“
What’s the problem?” Jill
asked.

“
I don’t like the work,”
Jacob said. “It’s too spooky, too weird. I feel… dirty when I do
it.”

“
You’d have to come out
about your skills,” Jill said. “That feels weird.”

“
Not really,” Jacob
laughed. “I can always blame Delphie.”

“
Then what?” Jill
smiled.

“
I guess I wonder why I
don’t get into this business,” Jacob said. “The profits are…
enormous. Our merry household has the skills.”

“
So why don’t
you?”

“
Doesn’t seem right to
profit off the demented dead,” Jacob said.

Jill kissed his cheek.

“
Plus, there are plenty of
haunted buildings here in Denver,” Jacob said. “The Peabury’s up
for sale again. There’s a resident spirit there that Delphie’s had
at least one run in with. The Croke Patterson just sold to a guy
who’s clueless about the demons in the basement. Hell, those poor
girls who died at the Lumber Baron could use some peace. They’re
sideshow entertainment for the amateur ghost hunters twice a
week.”

“
You’d put all those ghost
hunters out of business if the girls were at peace,” Jill
said.

“
That’s actually a good
reason to do it.”

“
Why not try it and see how
you do?” Jill asked.

“
Yeah, why not?”

“
And?” she
asked.

“
I’m both intrigued and
repulsed at the same time,” Jacob said.

“
Sounds like you need more
time off.”

“
Time off…” Jacob’s
attention turned back to the plans. “Yeah…”

~~~~~~~~

Monday morning — 10:25 A.M.

“
You sure you don’t want a
donut?” Seth asked.

Delphie smiled. They were sitting in his
police sedan next to the Platte River.

“
Oh right,” he said. “Just
had a stroke. No fat or processed food for a couple of months. I
remember.”

Delphie took a drink of her green tea.

“
It’s just hard for me to
imagine someone turning down a donut,” he said.

“
How do you stay slender?”
Delphie asked.

He laughed.

“
I like you, Delphie,” Seth
said. “Your relationship with that Sam guy. It’s solid?”

Delphie laughed.

“
I run,” Seth said. “I used
to be addicted to drugs. Alcohol. Women. A buddy and I quit
together. We started running together. We used to run
marathons.”

“
What happened?”

“
Don’t you know this
stuff?” Seth asked. “Can’t you just…”

“
I can but I don’t,”
Delphie said.

“
Why?”

“
It’s not very polite,”
Delphie said. “In fact, it’s very rude. Plus, I like listening to
people weave their own story. It’s much more
interesting.”