Gustavia pulled the cloche from her head to twist it in her hands. “The way she talked, it was as though she’d gone straight from Hayward House to Longbrook. No mention of those three months at all. We needed another mystery to solve, it’s been way too quiet lately.”
Chapter 9
True to her word, Pam showed up two days a week to help with cleaning and trash removal. After Adriel’s productive day with the gang from Oakville, Pam’s arrival on a rainy Friday morning was the first where there was little left to do.
“I’ve got some errands to do in Bridgeport today. You want to come along? You can meet Uncle Craig—see the face behind the mess.” A wistful hope flitted across Pam’s features and the words so lonely popped into Adriel’s head. Curiosity about the man who spent what must have been a considerable part of his life boxing up random items was secondary to spending time with Pam, who seemed to need a friend.
Gray drizzle fell from a gray sky, leaving Adriel feeling slightly blue. Why not spend a day somewhere besides these four walls?
“Sure.”
Had she remembered Pam’s complete abandon behind the wheel of her Jeep, Adriel might have given a smidge more thought to the decision. Good thing there was a handle just above the passenger side door. Adriel clung to it like a leech while Pam, talking a blue streak the entire time, sent the vehicle careening around corners and rocketing along straightaways way too fast for the wet road conditions. It felt like she probably shaved three minutes off the time it would have taken a normal driver to get there—and maybe a few years off Adriel’s life as well.
They pulled to an abrupt, Jeep-rocking halt mere fractions of an inch from the curb in front of a rambling, single-floored brick building. Amaretti Senior Housing boasted a nearly full residency section and updated facilities to provide long or short-term care. Cheerful flowers provided lovely, if slightly soggy color along the path to the door, and Adriel noted a sizable fenced-in area planted liberally with vegetables.
As the two women made ready to enter the building, a man who appeared spry for his age bolted through the doors shouting for someone named Brenda. An energetic orderly with an umbrella shot past to collar and then gently coax the elderly man back inside. On his way past, he gave an apologetic glance. “Mr. Mason gets a little anxious sometimes.”
Pam waved to the woman behind the reception desk on the way through, and led Adriel down a carpeted corridor to the left, where she knocked on the third from the last right-hand door. The sound of someone mumbling could be heard through the wooden panel before Pam turned the knob and Adriel followed her into the room.
Uncle Craig’s room was in the early stages of taking up where his cabin had left off. Several stacks of bins stood along one wall—filled with whatever detritus he’d managed to collect. Adriel was glad it was never going to be her job to find out.
Younger than Adriel expected, Craig appeared to be no older than sixty. Not quite frail, yet no longer the robust man he had clearly once been, Craig’s stooped shoulders straightened when he saw Pam.
Standing in the center of the room, he had been carrying on a conversation with young Ben, who glanced at the newcomers and winked out of sight. Seeing the two of them together raised questions Adriel knew she could not ask in front of Pam. Toddlers, the elderly, and the mentally infirm were often among those able to see and speak to lingering spirits, because their vibrational energies were closer to those on the other side.
“Uncle Craig, I’ve brought someone to meet you,” she gestured vaguely behind her. “This is Adriel.” Now came the moment of truth. If Craig could see Ben, he might also be able to parse Adriel’s dual nature and reveal her secret. The tilt of his head and the squint in his eye did not bode well. Standing firm under his gaze, Adriel felt as though he looked right through her to the truth of her being. It was a most uncomfortable experience. For a moment, his vision seemed clearer, saner than it had when they walked in. He reached out to place a hand on her shoulder and nodded his head before his eyes returned to a less-than-focused state.
A string of nonsense words flowed past his lips.
“Looks like one of his bad days,” Pam said. “We won’t stay long.” She bustled around the room watering a flourishing philodendron and pulling several drooping, brown-edged carnations from the colorful bouquet of flowers in a cut glass vase near the bed. Next, Pam opened the drawer to drop several candy bars into the nightstand and, turning to Adriel, said, “I like to make sure he has his chocolate. On the worst weeks he forgets to eat them, so it gives me a good idea of how he’s been when I check his stash.” To Craig, she kept up a running commentary on news from home. None of it registered with him.
“Look.” Adriel nearly leapt out of her skin at the touch of Estelle’s hand on her shoulder. The new angel sent out tendrils of energy, pulled Adriel along to take a short peek into his mind. What she saw surprised her. Echoing the cabin and his room here, she found herself in a maze of compartmentalized thoughts and emotions. Only this was on an epic scale. Alleys leading to dead ends, circular paths leading nowhere, and so many twists and turns it would be nearly impossible to find the way back
