Tymber Dalton: Many Blessings

“I’m Ellis Fargo. This is my friend, Bradley Sawyer. We stopped in early last week and talked to Julie. She said she was on her way out, and she wrote it down in a small appointment book she was carrying before giving us this card.” Behind her, Mandaline sensed Sachi dart into the office where Mandaline had put the boxes of Julie’s things that Sami Corey had sent over the day after…the incident.

Sachi appeared seconds later, searching through the appointment book as she hurried over. “Here it is. Mandaline, I’m so sorry, I didn’t even think to look here. She is…was so good about always putting things in the computer. I didn’t—”

“It’s all right,” Mandaline gently assured her as she took the appointment book. There, for today, Julie had written, Ellis Fargo/Bradley Sawyer - 3:15. URGENT!

The men were a little early for their appointment.

Mandaline took yet another deep breath. “Please give me a minute to collect myself, Mr. Fargo, and I’ll be with you. Did you need a reading?” Please, don’t let it be that! She knew there was no way in the Universe she could give a reading today.

Ellis shook his head. “Ellis is fine, and we can come back another time—”

“No, it’s all right. I promise.” She reached out and touched his arm, shocked, literally, at the contact. A tingle zipped up her arm when her fingers touched his bare flesh.

He apparently noticed it, too, because he flinched. “Huh, static electricity, I guess,” he said with a lopsided, halfhearted smile.

She slowly nodded. “What is the reason for your appointment?”

He chewed on his inner lip and looked at his friend, who had produced a tissue to wipe his tears away. “We think there’s something wrong with our house. She was going to talk to us to get the details before setting up another appointment to come out to take a look at it. She said she was in the middle of a large case and couldn’t come out until she finished with that one.”

Mandaline shivered. The large case would have been the Coreys’ house.

The house where Steven Corey raped and murdered Julie.

The house where Julie’s great-grandfather had raped and murdered Julie’s young grandaunt, his daughter.

“Sachi, can you take them to the smaller room?” Mandaline asked. “I’ll be right there. Get them anything they want to drink, on me.”

Sachi nodded, her usually sarcastic demeanor subdued and her stunning blue, almond-shaped eyes red from crying off and on most of the afternoon. “Follow me,” she softly said to them as she tucked a strand of her long, straight black locks behind her ear.

Mandaline closed the appointment book and watched them follow Sachi down the hall.

Grover leaned in and dropped his voice. “Honey, it’s all right to cancel.”

“No, Julie wouldn’t want me to.” She took a deep breath. “She never forgot to put appointments in the computer. And she rarely wrote urgent by an appointment unless she truly thought it was.”

The appointment with Sami Corey had also been marked urgent.

She turned to Grover. “I know you don’t believe the things I do, but this is a sign from Julie. Maybe this is what I need to do to move forward. Julie wouldn’t want me to turn my back on them.” She hugged him. “I’ll see you tomorrow at noon for all the probate stuff. Thank you so much for everything you’ve done. You have no idea how much it means to me.”

“Sugar, you’re more than welcome. I just wish this were under better circumstances.”

She turned to Libbie and hugged her, too. “And you,” she whispered in her ear, “are a blessing and a treasure. Thank you so, so much. I know this is hard on you in more than one way.” Poor Libbie suffered from fibromyalgia and arthritis. In addition to being Julie’s friend, she’d insisted on providing the food for the wake. It had to be a strain on her.

“Anything you need, I’m right across the square,” Libbie said. “Anytime, day or night, call or come pound on my door if you need me.”

“Thanks.”

She saw them out, then turned to everyone else. “Thanks for being here today. You guys are fantastic.”

Sachi returned. “They didn’t want anything to drink. Are you sure you want to do this?”

She forced a smile she didn’t feel. “I’m sure.”

“I’m not leaving until they do,” Sachi insisted. “Then you need to go lie down.”

“I will. Can someone please walk Pers for me? He’s up in the apartment. And be careful not to let Damiago out of the bedroom, either.”

“I’ve got it,” Sachi said, bolting for the stairwell door. Sachi seemed to have two speeds the past several days—run, and sit. Mandaline didn’t blame her. The events had to be triggering bad flashbacks for Sachi, who had past horrors of her own she dealt with.

Mandaline stopped in the downstairs bathroom and washed her face. She glanced in the mirror.

I look horrible.

After a deep breath to settle herself, she grabbed a notepad and pen from the office, then headed to the room to talk to the men.

“I feel horrible,” Brad whispered.

Ellis barely heard him. He nodded, still fingering the appointment card. He couldn’t believe the vibrant, bubbly, red-haired woman they’d talked to days earlier was now dead.

It hadn’t been the best weekend. He’d spent it trying to decompress after helping his parents board up their large house, and then unboard their house once the storm didn’t hit, followed by making sure he was at the VA for all of Brad’s tests Monday and Tuesday.

And still they had no answers.

He’d spent the past several days either inundated by storm coverage or trying to wrap his head around medical information. Yes, in retrospect he remembered hearing something about a murder in Brooksville, a famous author or someone snapped, but it honestly hadn’t taken priority over everything else going on in his life.

Brad was his priority, and would be as long as they were both alive. Especially since he blamed himself and felt responsible for his friend’s condition.

The sound of the door opening jarred him from his thoughts. He didn’t remember seeing this woman when they were in the store the other day. Under better circumstances he suspected he’d be trying to corral his lewd and lascivious thoughts about the short, slim woman. Between his shock and her obvious grief, sexy thoughts felt wrong and out of place.

Her sweet brown eyes looked red and bloodshot, with dark, puffy lines under them. She’d pulled her long brown hair back into a braid. Dressed in a loose, black blouse and a floor-length maroon skirt, she almost seemed to drift into the room. She sat across from them and offered them a sad smile.

She extended her hand. “I’m sorry. I’m Mandaline Royce. I…” Her voice faltered a beat. “I now own Many Blessings. Julie was my best friend as well as my employer.”

He gently shook her hand. “Ellis Fargo. Well, I guess you know us now.” She shook with Brad. “This is Bradley Sawyer.”

She took up her pen. “Let’s start with the basics. You said you’re having trouble with your house?”

He nodded, running the tip of his tongue over his teeth. I’m doing this for Brad. “We think there’s something wrong with—”

“It’s possessed,” Brad said with quiet certainty.

Ellis fought the urge to groan. “We don’t know what’s wrong with it.”

Brad looked down at his hands, where he worked the tissue back and forth through his fingers. “It’s not right,” he softly said. “There’s something wrong with it.”

Brad was obviously upset over the news about Julie and in no state of mind to tell the story. Ellis laid a hand on his shoulder. “Let me tell it, buddy. Okay?”