I giggled internally at the sound of his drawl and made my way over to the bar. I didn’t really have the extra cash, nor did I want to deal with the bartender but I had to do something. Besides I wanted a beer from the moment we pulled into this desolate town.
Luckily, the bartender was pleasant enough to serve me my three beers. She didn’t make any small talk but neither did I.
When I got back to the table I was relieved to see that they weren’t involved in any intimate conversation. I plunked the beers down in front of them and Dex visibly relaxed. I motioned for him to scoot over so I could sit down and he did.
“Cheers,” Maximus said, holding up his beer. We all clinked.
“To new beginnings,” Dex said.
“Ain't that the truth,” I muttered. I didn’t want to be reminded of how new everything was for me at this moment. Not just the here and now but what waited back for me at home…uncertainty. It had being pawing at my subconscious all day long.
And at that I took the longest swig of my beer. Nothing has ever tasted so good in my life. I put the bottle down, surprised to see it half gone already. Everyone else’s was as well.
“We’re going to need more beer soon, I reckon,” Maximus laughed. “This time I’m buying.”
“I’m counting on it,” Dex said. “In the meantime, why not fill Perry in a little on what’s going. I haven’t told her too much.”
Maximus nodded, his face growing more serious but his eyes still frothy in the harsh afternoon light.
“Well then Perry. As you may or may not know, I’m a ghost mediator-”
I felt Dex kick me lightly under the table at that.
“-who helps people connect with their loved ones. Most of the time they just want to know if they are OK, want to know if they are still remembered. I don’t do anything special, I can’t really pass on messages like people seem to think. All I can do is go to a place that someone has died and get a sort of life energy from that spot. I don’t know how to explain it scientifically, hell it would all be considered hooey to most people, but I feel like when people die, the act of death itself leaves a magnetic mark. Somehow I am able to see and feel this mark. I can know how they died, how they felt at the time and right before.”
I was trying to keep an open look on my face while listening to this, in case he thought I was being judgmental. But it was hard not to be, even though in the context of what I’ve been through it was actually perfectly logical.
“So you can’t really communicate with them…the dead?” I said.
“No. It’s a one-way street at best. But most people still ask me to tell the dead things…I don’t argue. It’s money.” He shrugged then continued, “And it’s because of that belief, I get most of my business. I helped a widower with her late husband a while back. Nothing unusual, the man just had a heart attack. But she wanted to know if he felt loved. Seems they had an argument earlier that day about something stupid like the dishes or something. The man didn’t die happy, I can tell you that much but I didn’t tell her that. No one dies happy.”
I felt Dex tense up beside me. I stole a quick glance at him. He was peeling the label off his perspiring bottle. I had an abstract thought about sexual frustration then turned my attention back to Maximus.
“But from what I felt, he had lived a pretty fulfilled life and he loved his wife, I guess, so that’s what I told her. She told a lot of people she knew, including one of her cousins. Will Lancaster. Will lives here in Red Fox. Called me about a week ago about a disturbance at his ranch. Sort of your stereotypical haunting stuff if you ask me…rocks being thrown at the window and roof, doors slamming shut, the feeling of being watched, sheep carcasses turning up all bloodied and disfigured, crows flying through the house.”
I shuddered at the mention of crows. I looked out the window to the house across the street and sure enough they were still there, that black blot on the dead tree. Maximus followed my gaze and nodded.
“So I went there and tried to do a reading to figure out what was going on. Wasn’t much help. Will was scared, clearly, but ashamed of it. He’s a big Navajo man, he didn’t like to admit to his ranch hands that he brought me there. Let alone his wife. Sarah, she’s blind and…well, kind of a bitch.”
Dex laughed. I wanted to but felt like I should admonish him. Maximus caught my eye sheepishly. “Well, it’s true. Lordy, she did not want me there. And she’s not going to want you there, so I’m warning you now.”
“Fabulous,” I sighed. “So, what did you find?”
“Nothing.” He held up his earphones, which were connected to an mp3 device. “I’ve been going back and listening to my notes, our conversations…nothing died there, that’s the problem. I couldn’t pick up on anything at all.”
He leaned across the table and lowered his voice. “But I’ll tell you this…there is something strange going on. I don’t know what but that’s why you’re here now.”
Dex finished the rest of his beer. I looked at him for his opinion but he wasn’t very forthcoming. He just tapped his foot on the floor to the beat of an unknown song.
“So…how do we begin?” I asked.
“For starters, I was hoping that Rudy would be here. But he’s not in until tomorrow night.”
I raised my brow.
“Rudy owns the bar,” he explained. “He’s also a guy who knows a lot. Knows a lot of people, has lived here his whole life and has seen a lot of things. A lot of things.”
“So we come back here tomorrow night. And what do we do until then?”
Dex impulsively reached over and grabbed my left hand and displayed it for Maximus to see.
“Made an honest woman out of her, like you said.”
Maximus laughed and leaned back in the booth, giving me a wry look. “Sorry about having you get hitched to Dex here. Will and Sarah are fiercely Christian. At least Sarah is…real old school. Now I’ve dealt with a lot of religious mamas in Lafayette, but she takes the cake. Pretty much walks around with a cross. She’d probably throw holy water on you if she found out you weren’t actually married. Two singletons sharing the same bed? Blasphemous shit.”
He laughed again and got up. “Time for more beers.”
“Jack Daniels,” Dex shot at him. “You owe me a double.”