“Murphy or Ethan?”
“I guess I’d have to say both.”
The aroma of bacon frying encouraged the men upstairs. Cid left the priests in the common room and walked into the kitchen. Pete had a pile of bacon already fried.
“Good morning, Cid,” he said. “Do you think the bacon will get soggy in the server?”
“I don’t think the bacon will make it past the kitchen door. It smells great!”
“I make Sunday breakfast for the family when I’m home. It makes up for me watching football the rest of the day,” Pete related.
“I’ve never been a football fan.”
“You’re from Kansas and you don’t watch football? That’s amazing.”
“He learned to throw a football from a book,” Jesse said. “He lives with a kid who, if he continues, will be the Gatorade Illinois Football Player of the Year in his senior year.”
“Dieter’s good but not that good,” Cid said.
“I beg to differ,” Jesse said.
Cid poured the first pot of coffee into two carafes, handed them to Jesse to take out into the common room, and set up another pot before he followed him in. Wayne was coaching the priests on how to act and what to say if they found themselves questioned by the homeowner or one of his representatives.
“It’s okay to write this down,” Wayne said. “I refer to my notebook when giving a quote.”
“If they ask you something you really don’t have a clue about, just say, ‘couldn’t say without looking into it further.’ We contractors do this all the time, Father,” Wayne confessed.
“We who deal with the paranormal do the same,” Santos said. “Please call me Paolo or Santos while we are here.”
“Yes, Paolo.”
Wayne turned to Father Simon.
“Call me Simon. It works both ways.”
“What is your first name?” Wayne asked.
“In Ethiopia we go by our given names and use our father’s first name as our surnames. My given name was Berhanu. My father’s given name is Thato. I was Berhanu Thato before I took my priest name of Simon.”
“Simon it is then,” Wayne said.
Faye appeared. “The coast is clear. The crazy ghosts are recharging, and Jon and Blue Daniel are available to take you Fathers to the attic to see the boxes after you take a look at the floor and basement.”
“Do we have the keys?”
“We’ll retrieve them from the safe. I’ll bring my replica set just in case,” Cid said. “I don’t think they’ll work as well. I worry that the wood will snap off in the locks.”
Cid donned his tool belt and left with the priests. Jesse caught up to them before they entered the house. He was carrying the large satchel, Father Simon had pointed out that they needed, from the back of Cid’s truck.
“Kiki and Alan are meeting with Arnold in town. She suspects that he will insist on seeing the problem with the foundation himself. Either the lawyer, Bridgeton or Miss Gee will be there.”
“Miss Gee?” Santos asked.
“We suspect she’s Gadus,” Cid answered. “I was under the assumption that Kiki shouldn’t come back here because of the possibility of repossession.”
“I warned her that it could happen,” Santos said. “She told me that Arnold would only speak with her and not any of her contractors.”
“With the elemental in the safe, she should be alright,” Jesse maintained. “I mean, not even Stephen Murphy can break through a salt, iron and lead barrier.”
Father Santos put his hand on his chin before he spoke. “I believe that Stephen Murphy could do anything he set his mind to. It’s just his preconceived notions of what a ghost is that stops him.”
“Do I hear respect in your voice?” Cid asked.
“I don’t agree with Stephen not passing on, but I am a big enough person to admit that he is amazing.”
“Mr. Wonderful,” Faye drawled.
“Ah, you are not a fan of Stephen?” Santos asked.
“She’s just jealous,” Jesse spoke for her, which earned him a slap on the arm from Faye.
“Young woman, why haven’t you sought out the light?” Santos asked.
“It won’t come for me. I suspect I have to solve who killed me and, better yet, who I am, first.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “I guess it’s best to know where you have been before you set out for your next adventure.”
“Exactly,” Faye said, warming to the priest.
“I didn’t always think this was important. Mia changed my mind on this.”
“She’s as annoying as Mr. Wonderful is,” Faye grumbled.
“She has earned the right to be the first source asked,” Santos said. “She is the only one to defeat a negative elemental, that I know of.”
“I knocked it silly with an iron skillet,” Faye bragged.
“But did you extinguish it?” Santos asked.
“No. How did she do it?”
“She had a special sword that she had Ethan prepare for me,” Santos said. “I’m no swordsman. I may give it to one of you younger men if we get into trouble.” Santos stopped and opened his long bulky jacket and pulled a long ornate dagger out. “She calls it a sword because she is so small.”
“Mia loaned you Sariel’s dagger?” Cid said flabbergasted. “I thought it was lost.”
“Everything that is lost will eventually be found,” Santos said, tucking it back again.
“Who’s Sariel?” Jesse asked.
“Evidently a swordsman,” Faye said quickly, sensing that the priest had said way too much. Jesse was a human with a fixed set of beliefs. Finding out that angels were real and interacted in times of crisis would blow his mind, in her opinion.
The house was still when they entered.
“Show me the summoning circle first,” Santos said.
Jesse, Cid and Simon removed the furniture and rolled the rug away exposing the entire circle.
Father Santos crossed himself. “It reeks with evil.”
Simon took the satchel from Jesse and opened it, pulling out pieces of cherry and oak.
“Cid, I’d like
