Chapter 9 #3
“Yes, sir. If you ask me, he needs to be strung up by his balls and left for the crows.” That was the kind of thing that would get his daughter in trouble at school, but for now, he ignored his words. “You’d think he might have learned something when he was in prison, the dirty bugger.”
“I’ll talk to Selma now and see if she can do something about him.
Usually, she can just call them to her and be done with them, so we’ll have to see this time.
” He loved his nieces and nephews, but Selma and Harley held a special place in his heart because they’d pampered him once when he’d been hurt by a baseball bat to the head.
He still had the cards they’d made him when he’d been laid up at their house.
After talking to her, she said she’d take care of him.
All he had to worry about now was whether or not she got hurt when dealing with him.
He hoped not. He’d feel really bad if something were to have happened to her because of a ghost that he couldn’t take care of himself.
He’d have to get with her later and see what had happened with him and make sure he didn’t owe her anything for being injured.
This was only the second time that he’d had to have her help on a ghost, and she’d been extremely helpful then, too. Selma could see and deal with them better than he could, and he was happy for her help. He went back to writing as soon as he closed the connection to her.
Amber interrupted him next. She said it was dinner time, and he was happy that she had.
Just seeing his beautiful wife would make his day seem the best, and he loved seeing her heavy with his child.
Or in this case, children. His little mate was going to have twin girls in three months, and he couldn’t wait.
“I got the paperwork finished up in time. The business that Brandy was thinking of buying was telling her that they’d not had a profit-sharing bonus in six years.
I found not only have they had one every year, but the employees, who are supposed to benefit from it as well, haven’t been included in them at all.
That’s part of their bonus, too, and they’ve not been paying them.
” He asked why they’d do that. “So that they could get her to buy it cheap and then they could take all the profit from the sale. Again, the employees are supposed to benefit from that.”
“So they’d make it so that Brandy had to pay out the bonus from the sale, and they’d not have to bother. That’s dirty and underhanded.” Amber said that wasn’t all. “Tell me that they’ve paid their taxes for their employees?”
“They’d not paid anything. The retirement fund is gone.
There is no money to pay the taxes when they come due.
However, the owners are now getting bonuses that they shouldn’t because of the way they’ve rigged the books.
It’s terrible. And I found that they’re getting bonuses in the six-figure area.
I think they hoped that Brandy wouldn’t find it. ”
Once they sat down to dinner, all talk of business would be stopped. It was a place where they talked about family things and nothing more. There were no cell phones at the table either. He enjoyed that when he went to his brother’s home, too. No cells at the table.
Dinner was fun. It usually was when it was just the three of them.
This time next year, they’d be a family of five, and he couldn’t wait.
Amber had decided that she wanted one more child, and they’d gotten two.
He couldn’t have been happier if they’d had ten children by now, but it was her body and her pregnancy.
He loved that woman with all that he was.
“Did you hear that your brothers are going to the Smokies over the next couple of weeks?” He said that he’d not.
“The others are getting ready to do some vacationing of their own. What do you say we fly up to Canada and have a nice time in the cabin? It’ll be nice this time of year, and you know that you can write there just as easily as you can here. ”
“I’d like that. We’ve not been there since Cindy was a toddler.
” She said that she’d enjoy getting away for a while.
“Yes, there is no cell signal up there, but family can still contact us.” She said that they’d not care if family got in touch with them so long as it wasn’t work-related.
“I agree. We can leave just about any time. Cindy is on school break now, and it’ll be easy to just go.
We don’t even have to pack that much when we go there. ”
It was a cabin in the deep part of the Canadian region. They’d go fishing and hiking while there and enjoy the cooler weather. It was the best vacation they had taken as far as he was concerned. No one would bother them, and they had the whole house to themselves. Just the way they liked it.
After Cindy was put to bed after her bath and story, the two of them sat in the office and talked about their day.
They’d been headed to the living room, but the phone had rang, and she answered it from Brandy.
She was sending her fax reports of the paperwork she’d found about the business they’d been talking about earlier.
There was a lot more going on with the business than anyone ever thought.
Guy went to his office when it looked like Amber was going to be caught up on the phone call for a while.
He was greeted with two ghosts that he knew but didn’t want to have to deal with.
He was pretty good at ignoring them, but this couple wouldn’t leave.
He sat back in his chair and had to deal with them.
“You owe me.” He said that he’d never known them when they were alive, so how was that possible?
“I wanted you to bet on the horses for me, and you completely ignored me. My pony was going to come in, and I would have won fifty-four to one in the races.” He asked him what he would have done with the money.
“I would have paid you for helping me. You don’t have to worry about that. ”
“I don’t want your money. In fact, I couldn’t care less about the two of you.
You’re forgetting that you’re dead and money won’t help you do anything.
” They both disappeared as soon as he waved them away.
They’d be back, he knew that for sure, but for now, he wasn’t to be bothered with them.
Just as he was setting back to work, another ghost came into his office and stood staring at him.
It took Guy a few minutes to figure out who it was.
“What do you want here?” His mother said that she’d come to find him and that she was dead. “I know that. I can see that you’ve had a rough time of it, too. What do you want with me? And just so you know, I’m not going to do anything for you that would hurt my brothers.”
“You’ll do as you say, or you’ll get worse from me while I’m dead. Why didn’t any of you ever come see me?” He told her that they liked her where she was. “That’s no excuse. I would have liked to have seen you so that I could tell you what mongrels you were.”
“Your opinion of us matters little. We’ve gone on to make great men of ourselves.
Also, wealthy men who don’t have to worry about stealing anything to get by.
” She said that he lied. “Why would I lie about that? Look around you. Does it look like we’re hurting for anything?
I’m sure, before coming here and being told to go away, that you’ve seen Ayden’s home.
What did Selma tell you? To get your ass out of her life?
I can see her doing that to you, even though she doesn’t know you like I do. ”
“I fixed her.” He asked what she’d done to her. “None of your business, but she’ll never be telling me no again.”
“You did nothing to her, or she would have sent you on your way. You’re the one who is lying.
I’m surprised that she didn’t do it—you didn’t go see her.
You found out that I could see you, and you came here first. You must have died only days ago.
” She said she’d been dead for two days and none of them had come to claim her body.
“That’s all been arranged. You’ll be buried by Father, and that’s the end of our knowing anything about you.
Not that we go to his gravesite either, but once you’re interred, we’ll get a bill that will be paid, and nothing else will be said about you. ”
“Who pays it? You?” He told her that Lica would pay it, and he’d not tell them that it had been done either. “Why? Why him? I don’t want anything from him but to be dead. He should have died the day that your father did, a wonderful man like him shouldn’t have had to be killed like he did.”
“You killed him.” She was in a rage now, and he knew better than to get close to her.
She could and would hurt him if he didn’t watch her.
“For all your planning, it did nothing but get you in prison for the rest of your natural life. And I say good. You both got what you deserve, and I’m happy to say that I didn’t miss you at all. ”
Why he was egging her on, he didn’t know, but her anger was almost palatable.
He could almost feel the heat of it from across the room.
George appeared, and before he could tell him to watch out, she grabbed his arm.
The explosion from the two of them touching threw him across the room and against the wall.