Page 49 of Down and Dirty

Chapter 21

Keaton’s arms around me felt like heaven as we stood on the porch watching Jimbo leave after our morning coffee. If it weren’t for the weekend, Keaton would be leaving with him to go to work. Within a month, Keaton had gotten a job on our police force. My best friend and future husband were working side by side to keep each other safe, and I couldn’t have been happier.

Keaton was my missing piece. My spirit finally felt whole in his arms. Even more so after eavesdropping on the conversation Keaton had with Jared where they made a pact. Keaton was to keep me safe from the anyone hurting me in the real world and Jared was in charge of doing it in the spirit world. It warmed my heart that he and Jared had made peace with each other.

“Are you ready to help Mary and the others find peace?”

I nodded. “Give me a minute to grab my things, and then we can go.”

Before I could even walk back into the house, Cassie turned into my drive and parked, pausing us in our tracks.

She got out and popped her trunk and grabbed a box, carrying it up to the porch.

“What are you doing here?” I asked as she approached.

“Sorry about this, but I needed a second opinion.”

“Uh, okay,” I said and led her inside to the sitting area where I worked with clients.

Cassie set the box down and lifted the lid. Inside the box was the plaster print of three hands. The Bennett name was written in the plaster at the top. The three Bennett brothers; John, Max, and Tom.

“Did you crack the mystery?”

Cassie nodded excitedly. “I think I’ve figured out the secret and found the rest of our family tree. I was hoping you could connect. Do your thing.”

Cassie hesitated, glancing over at Keaton.

“He can see ghosts too,” I said, patting Cassie’s hand.

“Oh well, welcome to the family,” Cassie said.

“All this time we thought the three Bennetts were brothers, but we were wrong. We know our grandfather was one and then the Abby’s clan came from another Bennett line, but we were missing the Max family line.”

We were related to other Bennett’s who had unique abilities just like ours. We didn’t see them often but we they’d contacted us and asked for help finding the last Bennett line. We couldn’t refuse, not when working together might produce results. Just to think that there were more twisted Bennett’s like us made me grin. “Explain.”

Cassie pointed to the hand in the middle. Smaller by only a smidge.

“What if Max was really Maxine? Not a Bennett brother, but a sister,” Cassie explained. “All this time and in all of our searches, we’ve been looking for a male. I think our assumption was all wrong.”

“How did you figure this out?” I asked, lifting my gaze. “Did you locate something?”

Cassie’s lips twisted into a smile. She pulled out an old weathered photo printed in black and white. The edges were torn and frayed. Two parents dressed in clothing, circa the late 1800s, with three children at their feet. An older boy sat at his mother’s feet. The boy and girl next to him were identical twins. My mouth dropped open. It wasn’t just a girl that I was looking at. She could pass for one of us. More importantly, she could pass for our sister, Talia.

Cassie jabbed the plastered handprints. “What if Fillpot was telling the truth, only he got the name wrong? What if he did have a Bennett all this time, only she’s not our sister but from our missing line? They were twins, Faith. And what if she really does need our help? All this time we’ve been trying to connect with Talia when we should have been trying to find the missing link. Her.”

I sat back in the chair as my mind raced at what this meant.

“Maybe there was a reason we couldn’t connect to the picture that Fillpot gave us. Maybe the girl in the picture really isn’t dead. Maybe she’s just a descendant from the twin Bennett’s. That could explain why they look alike.”

“Who’s Fillpot?” Keaton asked.

“He’s FBI and some kind of head organizer of a special program,” I answered. Fillpot had reeled Gwen in to the idea that Talia might still be alive. He’d gone to great lengths to test Gwen’s determination and ability. So when the FBI agent claimed that Talia wasn’t dead and just missing, Gwen was quick to believe, especially when he’d produced a picture that looked just like our sister. Only now…maybe it wasn’t our Talia that was missing but another Bennett that needed to be found.

“He swindled our grandmother out of money to lure Gwen into finding him so he could recruit her help,” Cassie added.

Keaton’s brows dipped. “And he’s a fed?”

“Apparently.” I sighed and leaned forward. “Okay, so how are we going to find the Bennett-Talia look-alike?”

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