Delia's Shadow (39 page)

Jack stared, breathing hard, and passed his gun to Gabe. “Watch that son of a bitch and make sure he’s dead. I’m getting Sadie out of here.” He snatched the knife from Ethan’s hand, cut the ropes and scooped Sadie into his arms. Tears rolled down Jack’s face as he carried her up the steps, into the light.

Gabe stood over Ethan, watching. Dead men twitched, moved, a reaction of muscles not willing to admit they’d been claimed by death. All his years of experience told him Ethan Brennan was dead, that there was no doubt.

But he couldn’t ignore the cold fingers brushing the back of his neck, the whisper in his ear not to turn his back and walk away. He’d learned too much of ghosts from Delia and Isadora not to heed the warning.

Gabe put the muzzle of Jack’s pistol to Ethan’s temple and fired. The twitching stopped, but he fired twice more.

Being allowed to leave Ethan’s body to rot in the dark would be right and just, but officers in the SFPD were constrained by law and society’s idea of justice. Despite everything, he still wanted to be a good cop and someone his father would have been proud of.

Gabe contented himself with walking away and taking the lanterns with him. Someone else could drag Ethan’s body into the light.

CHAPTER 21

Delia

My tea was long cold. I’d lost track of time as I’d sat at the table, hands wrapped around a fragile porcelain cup, and pointedly ignoring the ghosts clustered near the backdoor. Dora did much the same in the chair next to me, her tea laced with whiskey and a pile of discarded, half-smoked cigarettes on the saucer in front of her. Light continued to fade outside the kitchen window, as did my hopes. Gabe hadn’t returned nor sent word of Sadie.

Annie pushed through the swinging door, the tray of sandwiches she’d carried out to the officers in the yard empty of everything but crumb-strewn plates and dirty napkins. Feeding people was her way of handling uncertainty. “Boys always have an appetite no matter what’s going on. Both of you should try to eat something. Sadie’s going to need the two of you to lean on once Jack brings her home. You won’t do her a lick of good if you come down sick.”

Isadora and I traded looks. Annie’s faith that Jack and Gabe would find Sadie in time was unshakeable and absolute. We wouldn’t say so aloud, but neither of us were as certain. “I won’t get sick, promise. How’s Mama Esther?”

“She’s stopped crying, praise the Lord. Miss Esther was sleeping last time I looked in.” Annie stacked dirty plates on the drain board and wiped down the tray. “She kept on saying that Teddy told her not to cry no more, that things would work out fine. Whatever let her rest, I’m plenty grateful. But I’ll be glad when all the old ghosts are gone from this house and life settles back the way it was.”

“We all will.” Dora lit a fresh cigarette. “I’ll do my best to make that happen, Annie. That’s a promise.”

The front door banged open, bringing the sounds of cheering, feet stomping up the stairs, and Gabe shouting my name. “Delia! Annie! We found her!”

He rushed into the kitchen before I’d taken more than a step toward the door. Gabe gathered me into his arms, his voice thick and choked. “We got there in time. Sadie’s hurt and needs a doctor, but we got there in time. She’s safe. Jack took her upstairs.”

“Well done, Lieutenant Ryan.” Tears glimmered in Dora’s eye. She put her cigarette aside and covered her face with a hand. “Well done.”

I hugged Gabe fiercely. “And Marshall?”

He hesitated, just for an instant, and my heart sank. “Ethan hurt him pretty badly, but I think he’ll make it. Maxwell and Finlay took him to the hospital in another car. Jack wanted Sadie to go, too, but she insisted on coming home. He decided not to fight with her.”

“He’ll make it.” I wiped my eyes on a sleeve. “And Jack knows better than to fight with Sadie. He always loses.”

“Dee … Ethan Brennan’s dead. We don’t have to worry about him ever again.” He brushed stray wisps of hair off my face with shaking hands. “It’s over.”

“Over…” Even with the specter of Ethan Brennan looming over us, I’d have gladly spent my life with Gabe. A brighter future opened up before me now, one not marred by fear and always looking over my shoulder. Relief and gratitude swept over me as well. No one else would die at Ethan’s hands.

Annie shut her eyes and breathed a quick prayer of thanks. Then she took charge. “You did the right thing bringing Sadie home, Gabriel. I can take better care of my girl than the nurses at any hospital.” She began to bustle around the kitchen, collecting soap, towels, rolls of bandages, and a basin to hold hot water. Annie paused long enough to wave me toward the door before filling the kettle. “Dee, you go up and sit with her. I’ll gather what I might need and send one of the boys to fetch Doctor Miller. I’ll be up soon as I can. Go on now.”

“Go be with Sadie.” How tired Gabe was showed in the lines around his mouth and the way his shoulders drooped. “She needs you. We’ll talk later.”

“I’m coming with you, Dee.” Dora stood and smoothed the front of her dress. She smiled brightly, but I saw the way she studied Gabe’s face and searched the corners of the room. “Prying Jack away so the doctor can tend Sadie will require all of us. And I want to make a start on keeping my promise to Annie. Insuring no other ghosts creep in seems like a good way to begin.”

She meant Ethan’s ghost. The thought that Ethan Brennan might haunt Sadie or Gabe was horrifying. He’d hurt them enough already.

Dora led the way to the staircase. Ghosts filled the entryway as they had earlier, but the spirits I saw were changing, becoming translucent and fading as I watched. She paused at the foot of the stairs, surveying the diminishing contingent of ghosts. Isadora spoke quietly, but the command in her voice rippled over my skin, raising gooseflesh. “Hear me spirits. Nothing holds you here, no ties to kith and kin, nor debt to the living left unpaid. You are free to seek your rest. Leave this house and be at peace.”

Some ghosts went quickly, here and gone in the space of a breath. Others thinned and trickled away slowly, holding on a little longer. Even now some of Ethan’s victims were reluctant to quit the world of the living.

The last glimmering ghost vanished from the entryway. I closed my eyes and listened to the house, searching for traces of spirits and an itch along my skin. Searching for Aileen.

I couldn’t find her. That didn’t mean she was gone.

“Dora … if spirits are going to continue to seek me out, I need to know how to send them away. Teach me to do that.” My hands were balled in my skirts, clinched tight enough my fingers ached. “I don’t want Annie, or Sadie and Jack, or Gabe tormented, or in any danger because of me. Show me how to protect those I love.”

She frowned, one long nail tapping on the banister. “I never said that ghosts would continue to seek you out, Delia, I can’t say that with certainty. But I can’t deny that you’d be safer with more knowledge. Are you sure this is what you want?”

How sure I was surprised me. “I’m certain. I hate feeling helpless.”

“Very well then. Consider it settled. I’ll teach you anything I can.” Dora threaded her arm through mine. She trembled slightly and tight lines appeared around her eyes. “Let’s get upstairs to Sadie. Dramatic as it sounds, I need to reassure myself that the house is free of evil spirits and haunts. I won’t feel easy about going home until I do.”

Strong emotions sought Isadora out, wormed their way past her defenses and under her skin. I’d no doubt that the freshness of Sadie’s memories and lingering terror came near to drowning her. “Is there another way to check for spirits, aside from going to Sadie’s room? You’re already in pain, Dora. I can see it in your face.”

“Not near the agony I’d feel if we’d lost her, or Jack and Gabe. Don’t fuss, I’ve weathered far worse.” Dora patted my arm and we began to climb the stairs. “I’ve few enough true friends in this world. I can endure a bit of pain for one of them.”

I heard Esther singing before we reached Sadie’s room at the far end of the hall, her thin, reedy voice breaking on the notes of an old lullaby. She sat in a chair next to the bed, tiny and frail, wrapped in a heavy shawl to ward off the chill. Esther held Sadie’s uninjured hand and sang her child to sleep, chasing away fear of the dark and the monsters who lived there.

Teddy’s ghost stood behind Esther’s chair, a hand resting on her shoulder. The ghost didn’t fade away when he saw me but stood firm, looking me in the eye before turning back to Sadie and Esther. I hadn’t felt him leave, but he wasn’t a stranger. He belonged in this house.

And he waited for Esther, that was clear to me now, patient in the way only ghosts can manage. Who he’d been in life and what they’d meant to each other was still a mystery, but in the end that didn’t matter. She wouldn’t be alone.

Jack had climbed up on the bed with Sadie, heedless of muddy boots on the counterpane nor anything but the need to be close to her. That Sadie had fallen asleep after all she’d endured was miraculous. She slept propped up on his shoulder, her broken hand cradled on a pillow in her lap. He stroked her hair and fussed with the blanket wrapped around her shoulders, as if tender gestures might make the bruises on her face vanish or knit broken bones.

Dora blew Jack a kiss and shut her eyes. Her forehead crinkled in concentration and she muttered under her breath, the words rushed and indistinct. She sighed and sagged against the doorframe. “Nothing rode home on Jack’s coattails. Nor Gabe’s for that matter. We can rest easy.”

I watched Sadie sleep, trying to banish an image of Ethan’s other victims and the punishment inflicted on Aileen Fitzgerald, struggling to see my friend instead, that she’d survived and would heal. Dora put an arm around my waist and laid her head on my shoulder. “Don’t let the past and old ghosts hide what’s in front of you, Delia. We got our happy outcome.”

*   *   *

Two weeks after her ordeal, Sadie and Jack were married in the front parlor. Annie, Esther, Dora and Daniel, Marshall, Gabe, and I were the only guests in attendance, but that was just fine with Sadie and Jack.

Gabe arrived early to help me clear away furniture and decorate. Sadie had ordered enough flowers to fill the church and a reception hall, and bouquets for several bridesmaids. She couldn’t bring herself to cancel the entire order, so we filled the house with yellow and pink roses, lilies and carnations, sprigs of baby’s breath and maidenhair fern. Vases and urns sat on every table, lined the oak mantel, and a garland of yellow roses draped an arched trellis we’d set in front of the parlor windows.

We moved the last overstuffed chair into a corner. Gabe wiped his face with a handkerchief. “Holding the wedding at the church would have been less work, but I think they made the right decision. Is Sadie still worried about the gossip?”

“No, I don’t think so. Jack managed to convince her that worrying about what others said was foolish. If I recall, his exact words were to ‘hell with all of them.’” I smiled and moved a vase of lilies so that it was framed by the roses draping the arch. “He was rather loud, too, so his statement was quite memorable. The two of them agreed that getting married was the important thing, not putting on a show for San Francisco society.”

“He’s right.” Gabe’s face flushed and he grabbed his jacket off the back of the settee. “I should get cleaned up before Dora and Daniel arrive. Unless you need me for something?”

I took one last look around. “No, I think everything is ready. Just make sure to have Jack here in less than an hour.”

“I promise not to misplace the groom. Sadie would never forgive me.” He kissed me on the cheek and left.

An hour later we were all in our places, dressed in our wedding finery and waiting on Sadie’s entrance. Reverend Heisten stood in front of the rose-covered arch, ready to sanctify the marriage. At a nod from him, Annie began to play a hymn on the parlor piano.

Sadie came in on Daniel’s arm. She wore her beautiful dress and didn’t worry overmuch about hiding fading bruises or that one arm was in a sling. Jack didn’t faint when he saw her, but it was a near thing. The stunned expression on his face gave me a great deal of satisfaction.

Reverend Heisten pronounced them husband and wife and we all applauded as Jack kissed his bride. I couldn’t help sniffling and dabbing at my eyes with a hankie. Sadie had never looked so happy.

The pearly glimmer of a ghost, pale and barely still in this world, appeared behind Jack and Sadie. Aileen Fitzgerald reached for Jack, longing for all she’d lost stark and raw on her face. She’d not had the chance to know him or see him grow, to say good-bye or make peace with leaving him behind. He didn’t know she was there, but he’d never known his mother watched over him.

Jack embraced Sadie, the two of them laughing and brimming over with joy. Aileen smiled, than she was gone.

“All right, folks, everybody find your place at the table. Dee, you and Gabe help Miss Esther to her chair if you would.” Annie tucked her handkerchief up her sleeve. “Marshall, you come help me get this food out so we can eat. Sadie and Jack have a ferry to catch.”

Annie outdid herself with a huge dinner and a magnificent wedding cake. The afternoon was filled with food, happy talk, and laughter, fueled by the relief that Ethan Brennan no longer cast a shadow over all our lives.

I stood on the front porch, hand in hand with Gabe, and waved good-bye as Jack and Sadie drove away. Their honeymoon trip was still in the future, but they’d have three days alone now to start their lives together. As frail as Esther had grown, that was all the time they were willing to risk being away. Sadie said they’d their entire lives to travel. Jack was just as content to wait.

Gabe lingered long after everyone else went home, helping Annie and I clean up and put the house to rights. The last bit of work for the evening was in the kitchen. Annie hummed under her breath while wrapping leftover food and stacking plates in the icebox. Gabe and I washed and dried the last of the dishes. He was quiet and often lost in thought, but I made little of that. A lot had happened.

We finished and I reached for the towel in Gabe’s hand, meaning to hang it to dry. He took both my hands in his. “Dee … I’ve rehearsed what I want to say a thousand times, but now I can’t remember any of it. Not a word. After losing Victoria I thought I’d always be alone. You changed that.” He got down on one knee and cleared his throat. “I love you, Delia Ann Martin. I want to spend my life with you. Will you marry me?”