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"Of course Ghosts aren’t evil Well, wait, I retract that statehosts aren’t evil But people are in death as they were in life, and someti I never do I don’t believe I’m headed in that direction, wherever it may actually be I have seen the darkness of evil come up to claim its own, but never mind, that’s neither here nor there As it stands, I believe that I’ve reh the remnants of the past that directly involved me have been solved in order to see that justice befalls all Becketts"

"I’m not a Beckett," Kelsey said

"No matter A Beckett has involved hi! You’re a lovely young wohted to help in any way that I can"

"You’re a ghost"

"Yes, I believe we’ve established that fact"

Was there such thing as drea while one ide awake? Had she blacked out, blanked out--without knowing it? Maybe she would wake up on the floor, having been hit on the head with a candlestick or a gargoyle or Chinese good luck cat

"My dear young wo Not that you’re unattractive even while staring at me openmouthed, but you are lovelier still with a n expression," he said

"I still don’t understand" She suddenly felt tears pricking her eyes Figination, creation of stress or real remnant of the past, she couldn’t understand why she would see an unknown privateer and not her randfather

"I don’t think any of us actually understands," he said

"Can you talk to randfather?" she asked

"I’m sorry Truly sorry If they’ve remained behind, I’ve yet to come across them," he told her "And I’ve been in this house quite frequently lately Nor have I met either in the cemetery"

This was crazy

A crazy that she wanted

"But if you’re here, isn’t it possible that they are here, too? Somewhere?" she asked

"Yes, it’s possible But I’ve told you--I have not had the pleasure of the acquaintance of your randfather"

"They could still be here," she said stubbornly

He appeared to inhale and exhale, sighing, but, of course, he was a ghost

He wasn’t breathing

"I’m sorry, Kelsey Key West sometimes seems to craith spirits, and yet they are but two or three percent of those from this area who have passed on to whatever it is the next life brings to us," he said "So what they lost or never had, lovers coone, wives, husbands, children And there are those who see one, and those who see est you share your sighting of me with those who don’t already know of my presence People do tend to think that you’ve lost your mind"

"I think that I’ve lost my mind," Kelsey said

"I rest asped "It was you--you staring down at me in my sleep Or, you are what I fear, what I feel"

He sat very straight, staring at her indignantly "Never!" he said

"Was that fear,a ghost?" she asked

Once again, he seeh "My dear, dear Miss Donovan I don’t have all the answers I don’t even have all the questions This lack of life is much like life itself in several ways I can only be one place at one tis or that of any conveyance in which I ht be seated One day, before I pass over, I’d like to take an airplane ride Hoonderful! Soaring above the earth Ah, but that is not for no I a to discover what I can that will help you I don’t have the power to push large pieces of furniture, but I am quite proud of my proith a modern coffee brewer I can push buttons I can think I can see And what I see, I can tell those who seesense?"

Kelsey shost was sitting across the desk fro

Did the ghostto tell you in ays I can help--and in ays I cannot"

"Did you know randfather when he was alive?" she asked

"I’m afraid I did not I saw him a few ti nothing more than a shiver or, perhaps, upon occasion, a source of comfort, before Katie O’Hara finally spoke to me"