Page 102 of Sapphire Nights
Chapter 34
Sam deliveredCass’s third cup of tea and studied the small portrait of Xavier on the booth table, the one she’d rescued from the bunker. The café was filling, as if everyone waited for a verdict from the mayor’s office, although Sam couldn’t imagine what they expected.Gump was dead. Who would admit to murder once they had a suspect? But she worried about Walker. He needed his ghosts laid torest.
“The ghosts don’t go away,” Mariah said, as if reading her mind. She stopped by Cass’s booth to deliver one of Dinah’s sugary confections. “We either let them haunt us or set themfree.”
“I thought you set them free,” Sam said, not baiting her but genuinelycurious.
She wanted to see if she had a future with Walker, but if he had to return to LA, she had to decide how to shape her life. Somewhere along the line, she had quit thinking of returning to teaching. This town was very much part of her plans. She needed to know more about itsinhabitants.
“I can only free the lost spirits with no connection to the living. Walker’s father isn’thanging around. He’s almost past the veil, which is why it’s hard to reach him. It’s just Walker who needs to let go.” Mariah walked away to serve anothercustomer.
Cass ran her fingers over the portrait on the table. “Sometimes, it’s memories we need to let go. It’s hard to tell the difference. Have you let Jade and Wolf goyet?”
Sam shook her head. “I won’t forget them. I am whatthey’ve made me. But if their spirits exist, I don’t want them hanging over my head, worrying about me. They deserve to leave this mortal coil for whatever liesahead.”
“Yes, it’s easier to accept the memories once they’ve passed,” Cass said. “I loved your father like the child I never had, but I’m hoping he’s in a better place. It’s the memories of people who still live, the missed chances,the paths not taken, those areharder.”
Dinah shouted an order, and Sam left Cass to her thoughts. She wondered if there had once been anything between Cass and Xavier. It seemed hard to believe, but looking at the old portrait, she could tell Xavier had once been a handsome lawyer, and Cass had been a lonelywidow.
The news that the meeting in the mayor’s office had broken up spreadlike a ripple in a pond. Heads came up. Eyes turned toward the door. Even Lance was here, ignoring his meal, studying the mural, andlistening.
The paintings, the glowing crystals, and the conflicting energies were all part of the mystery surrounding Hillvale, a mystery Sam longed to unravel, along with finding her birth mother. But right now, she just hoped Walker had found the answersheneeded.
Xavier was the only one to enter the café. That seemed to be enough for the waiting Lucys. Dinah sent him to sit with Cass and took over his favorite omelet. Mariah brought him his coffee. Valdis slid into the seat with Cass. Chatter died except for the few Nulls who had no idea anything unusual washappening.
“The Evil has one less soul in its possession,” Cass told Xavierin a quiet voice that wouldn’t normally have carried. The rare stillness gave it weight. “Sam brought youthis.”
She’d done what? Sam had to drift over to see what she’d been guilty of doing. Cass was simply pushing the portrait toward Xavier, who looked at inpuzzlement.
“Maybe it isn’t crap,” Lance murmured on the other side of her. “The red is gone, isn’tit?”
Sam reachedover his shoulder to fill his water glass. “Daisy said the eyes had once been red in the painting and now they’re not.” She didn’t know if Lance knew about Daisy’s shelter or if she should mention it. “Does the corruption eventuallyfade?”
“Usually not,” Lance said sadly, still gazing at the mural. “Sometimes, we can only cover it up. I’d like to think corruption can becured.”
She wasn’t certain they were talking about paintings any longer. She cast a glance at the faded mural and hoped Elaine would be able to come up and look at it soon. “All we can do is hope to make the world a little better place with eachday.”
Lance snorted. “That’s what the peace and love hippies said, and now they’re as corrupt as the rest of the world. Maybe I should start believing it’sin thesoil.”
She patted his shoulder. “Or thesoul.”
In Cass’s booth, Xavier was tearfully studying the old portrait. She hoped they were goodtears.
He looked up as she refilled his water glass. “I found the heirs to Ghostly Grace’s property,” he told her, as if this had been the topic of discussion all along. “They want to rent itout.”
“The ghost house, the onewith the roses?” she asked, trying not to think this was a sign from above. She didn’t want to be a superstitious Lucy,but...
“We told him to look,” Cass said with a hint of dryness. “Miracles do occasionally happen with a little work. Are youstaying?”
“I don’t know,” Sam said honestly. “I want to, I think. But I need more to occupy me than filling waterglasses.”
Valdisheld up hers for filling. “There will be. Now that you’ve come home, the town has potential. Stay awhile and help us findit.”
Sam looked out the plate glass window to her beautiful blooming flowers—and Walker crossing the parking lot. Long and lean and the strongest man she’d ever known, aside from Wolf. Walker had character. Could she give him up forpotential?
Walker entered the café,hoping for a cup of coffee and a quick word with Sam before heading back down the mountain to talk to the sheriff. But the entire population swiveled to watch him enter. Were they expecting him to report confidential policeinformation?
Of course they were. Ignoring their expectant faces, he walked up to Sam and kissed her cheek. Before he could ask for it,Dinah handed him coffee in a thick paper cup and shooed himout.
