Maybe not the murder and mayhem of the Axeman, but the teenaged boy was mollified.
Apparently, he liked pirates.
“Darling!” Mabel said, greeting him, leaning toward him to give him a ghostly kiss on the cheek. “How lovely! I was hoping to run into you today.”
“Nothing from the city cops or agents, or whatever the rest of them are, eh?” the man at her side asked.
Dan was standing in the street, looking quite the idiot, he thought, reacting to people that no one else could see.
“Er, in here!” he said, indicating the courtyard area of the bar, empty now. The bar had barely opened, and while a bar might have patrons at any time during opening hours, which were almost all of them, it didn’t mean they’d be busy this early.
Shielded by plants, he indicated one of the benches and pulled out his phone. That way he’d appear much less suspicious.
The ghosts took seats across from him.
Gray Simmons had been a dashing man. Dan thought for a minute it was too bad the kid on the carriage hadn’t been able to see him. Gray fit the rakish image of a handsome rogue to perfection.
“I’m delighted, Dan. You’re getting so very good at this!” Mabel said. “I see that you do see Gray. Let me introduce you. Gray Simmons, Dan Oliver. Dan, my dear friend, and Katie’s friend, Mr. Gray Simmons.”
Dan nodded politely in acknowledgment.
“Another one. So rare,” Gray said to Mabel.
“Not so rare, I’m learning,” Dan said.
“Oh, yes, his friend saw me, too. The handsome fellow?”
“Axel is that,” Dan said. “And he’s with a group who apparently all see...”
“The dead, honey,” Mabel said. “Poor boy, you try to be so careful! And yet, Gray, I believe he’s supposed to be very good at what he does.”
“Which is exactly what?” Gray asked.
Dan realized he didn’t know the exact answer to that anymore.
“At the moment, I’m on the hunt for a killer. Or killers,” he said.
Gray nodded.
“I think he has something that may help you,” Mabel said. She patted Gray’s arm.
Dan looked at Gray hopefully.
“I mean, I don’t know. I just found Mabel today,” Gray said.
“I was looking for you, dear,” Mabel said.
Gray rolled his eyes with patience and amusement, not looking away from Dan. “The point is, I was distressed when news about all this got out. And especially distressed for Mabel because I know that years ago, the killings hurt her so badly with the loss of friends.”
Dan nodded, waiting for him to go on, glancing at Mabel with sympathy.
“But I didn’t know she was trying to help. I mean, how could I? It’s so rare when one can find someone who can see them, much less someone who can hear them...and might be trying to do something about what’s going on.”
“Just talk to people, Gray. You really never know until you do.” Now it was Mabel’s turn to roll her eyes.
“Anyway, can you help?” Dan asked.
“I saw the picture in the paper and on the news,” Gray said.
“The picture?”
“Of the woman. The woman who was killed, left butchered in the ruins of the cemetery,” Gray said.
“Yes?”
“Well, I think I saw her.” He looked at Dan earnestly.
Dan waited a second and then asked, “Living...or dead?”
“Living,” Gray said. “Before she was killed. I doubt we’ll see her hanging around. Most of the time...” He broke off and looked at Mabel.
“Well, we don’t know much more than you do except that...well, we’re here. And we’re at peace being here, though we’ve seen friends who have gone on to something else.”
“It really does seem to be with a ray of light,” Gray said.
“Take Ginger Holloway,” Mabel said, nodding thoughtfully.
“What happened with Ginger Holloway?” Dan asked, without asking who that had been.
“Well, she was waiting. A horrible domestic dispute! Her son-in-law killed her daughter in a fight over a TV remote control. Terrible. Though, rumor is such a thing has happened several times. Anyway, once the jury put him away, Ginger was anxious to go. Her son received custody of the kids and all was... I guess as fixed as it could be,” Mabel said. “I don’t suppose you can ever really fix anything like that, but once he went to prison, well, all Ginger wanted was to see her daughter.”
“She was interred at Lafayette Cemetery, too,” Gray offered.
“And we saw her leave. It was beautiful,” Mabel said. “I could almost believe I saw a hand reaching out...her daughter’s hand.”
“But,” Gray said softly, “we see those who were injured in life, or who died in battle or for justice...”
“Or the American way!” Mabel said.
“But those who were wicked in life, who killed others or caused great harm or suffering...well, we seldom see them.”
“And when we do, they don’t last long,” Mabel said.
“They leave in darkness,” Gray said.
“I see,” Dan said. He didn’t really see anything at all, but then the ghosts didn’t have real answers to whatever came next themselves, so there wasn’t much that he could see. And he was worried suddenly, anxious he’d left Katie alone.
“So, back to the woman who was killed,” Dan said.
“Right. I saw her on Bourbon Street.”
Dan hid his disappointment. They’d known she’d been running around the French Quarter.
Maybe the ghost of Gray Simmons felt his disappointment.
“Not alone!” Gray said. “I saw her with a man.”
“And it was the man in the sketches, those police renditions or whatever,” Mabel said.
“Two of the mounted police working at night on Bourbon Street had the pictures out on their phones, showing them to each other,” Gray explained.
“So the woman who was killed was with the guy in the sketches!” Mabel said.
“Yes,” Dan agreed. He could tell they understood this wasn’t news to him.
“Well, he works on Bourbon Street,” Gray Simmons said. “He doesn’t look like the sketch, not really. He looks younger. I think he’s taken good care of himself.”
“Maybe he had a facial,” Mabel said.
“Or a nose job,” Gray suggested.
“Okay, works on Bourbon Street
