Shaking Off the Dust (22 page)

He’d watched our interplay with surprise. I wondered if he was not used to women who looked away from him.

“They are press reporters. The one on the left is from
Time
magazine. The other is CNN. We don’t speak to them, unless it is at a press conference.”

“Is there some cover story for why you are all entertaining an American from nowhere, Indiana?” I gestured at the table in general. “It would be nice to know.”

“Well, it is an unusual situation,” Bill said. “Dr. Mecurio has become such a hero to the American people that we felt that as his best friend, Takeshi, would get some special attention while he is here visiting colleagues. Hannah, of course, is your companion for the trip.”

“That doesn’t explain why three FBI agents share your hotel suite, or why you are also having lunch with the Spanish agents on the case.” Enrique frowned. He’d insisted that I call him by his first name instead of Agent Eneas. Nothing got past him. This situation concerned him and that worried me.

“Not if we make a show of updating Dr. Shimodo, as the everyman of America who has lost a close friend,” Bill said undisturbed.

“It works for today. What about tomorrow and the next day, when they are still here and in your hotel suite?” Mateo was no more convinced of the wisdom of our current arrangements than I was. “We must not let this become suspicious, or they will hound us.”

“The cover story should be focused on me, not Hannah. She is here as my companion. She is not well enough to take the stress of the press wondering how she may be involved,” Takeshi said. “I’ll make some calls. We must make sure your professional colleagues assure any reporters that you are here on a working vacation.”

Mateo flipped open his phone, making arrangements in his rapid Spanish.

Takeshi spoke to me often and touched my face and hands whenever possible. I knew it was for show, in case the press were paying attention, but I found myself responding with my own caresses. During the meal, there was polite conversation. Hector and Enrique spoke seldom, but observed us all.

I excused myself to the ladies’ room and as I came out, one of the reporters was waiting for me. Behind him stood Tom. I glanced over at the table and the other reporter was blocking their view of us.

“Miss, Richard Traylor,
Time
magazine. Can I ask you who you are and why you are sitting with the Spanish and American lead investigators on last month’s terrorist attack?” He was about five-ten, balding and looked to be in his forties. He had a tape recorder in his hand.

My gaze traveled to Tom’s face. “Where’s Shimodo when I need him?” I mumbled. He took the hint and went to our table.

I did my best blank stare at the reporter and thought of how I could stall. Tom reappeared behind the reporter and boxed his ears.

“Miss, can you answer my questions?” His hand had gone up to his ear, brushing it like it hurt.

“I’m sorry, you must have me confused with someone else.” I tried to move away from him, but he continued blocking my way.

Takeshi stood behind him and tapped his shoulder. “The lady would like to get past.” His voice was cold, but his eyes were dark.

I reached for his hand and was pulled clear of the reporter to his side. We walked back to our table with Mr. Traylor right behind us continuing to shout questions.

“Who are you people and what do you have to do with this investigation?”

Bill frowned at the two reporters and used his best good-old-boy voice. “You two are barking up the wrong tree here. This is Dr. Shimodo, a close friend of Dr. Mecurio’s. He asked to talk with us about any progress on the case and as a courtesy we are having lunch. Leave them alone to enjoy their visit here.”

“Do you always share a penthouse suite with the friends of a crash victim? Sounds a little cozy for an update visit,” Mr. Traylor said sarcastically.

Bill stood and everyone else followed his example. “You are being a pest to these nice people. Now leave us and them alone. You’ll get your updates, when everyone else does.” We left, walking the distance back to the hotel in record time.

We’d only been back to the suite a few minutes before there was a knock at the door. A short, dark man with a trim mustache came in with a file box under his arms. He went directly to Mateo, who greeted him like a long lost brother and took the box. He bowed and left us.

“You asked for DNA evidence so that Tom might be able to spend less time going to the others.” He pointed to the box and opened it. He brought out a manila envelope and inside he found a thick lock of hair. He pulled this out and handed it to me.

“You’re mistaken, Mateo. I can’t see them. I see and communicate with them through Tom.” I went to hand it back to him, but he shook his head.

“I find that difficult to believe, Miss Campbell,” he said.

I called for Tom and he appeared next to a skinny, dark-haired Spaniard, who I saw when I’d touched the hair.

“Hello, Eduardo.” Tom seemed pleased. “Mia and her brother Arturo are also here. Good. This will help make it faster.”

“Eduardo, Mia and Arturo are here,” I announced. I watched Eduardo as he came towards me until we were nearly touching.

“This is your Hannah? She can see me, I can tell. Hello, Hannah Campbell. Thomas has spoken of you.

Did you reach my sister-in-law? I checked my house. The neighbor is gone now, but government people took my children. I must see them. I must know they are well.”

I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t let any of my inquisitors know I could see him.

Tom looked at me, then turned to Eduardo. “She can see and hear you, but she hides this from these people. They cannot know, or they would never let her live in peace.”

He nodded to me. “Smile for me, pretty Hannah, so I know you can hear me.”

I gave him a big grin and looked at Mateo. “Tom says that Eduardo is asking about his children. Where were they taken and has his sister-in-law been contacted?”

“His children are with a very good family. We have found his sister-in-law, but she cannot travel to pick up the children. We await her to find a way to return to Spain,” he said in a monotone.

Eduardo stomped to him, repeatedly pounding his fist into Mateo’s hands. I watched with surprise, but my shock was nothing compared to Mateo.

“He is very mad,” I said.

“I have seen the headlines. I had insurance. The Spanish government can bring my sister-in-law here or send my children to her. They should not be with a family they don’t know. You tell them this now.” He stopped hitting Mateo and turned to me. “You do this thing. You see to my children, yes?” He touched my face.

“According to Tom, Eduardo believes his estate should receive money from his insurance. He wants that money used to send his children to their family.”

“It’s not that simple,” Mateo replied slowly.

I watched Eduardo beat on Mateo’s hands again.

“Stop, Eduardo. Tell him to stop, Tom. You must be patient for now.” I looked at Mateo, who stared back at me differently. “Perhaps if he could see his children and see that they are well cared for.”

“My hands, they became cold, very cold. You saw him hitting them. I watched your eyes go straight to my hands.” It was a statement.

“No, Tom told me what was happening.”

“No, Hannah, we all watched your face. Your eyes tracked as if you could see him strike Mateo repeatedly,” Bill argued.

Everyone’s eyes told me they’d seen the same thing. Takeshi looked sympathetic. I’d given myself away and he couldn’t save me this time.

I pushed the lock of hair back at Mateo. “I can’t do this. Tom, Eduardo, Sharon, Bethann, there are too many ghosts here.” I ran into the bedroom and slammed the door, but not before I saw the stricken look in Bill’s face.

I didn’t want to see these ghosts. I didn’t want to look into their faces and hear their stories. My adult life was spent bearing witness to one tragedy after another in the emergency room and I believed there was something better for us when we died. I tried to ease the passing of those in pain, but to ease the pain of those already dead was something I didn’t understand how to do. I threw myself on the bed and screamed into the pillow.

Someone stroked my neck and I knew the feel of those hands. I turned to look up into Takeshi’s face, going straight into his arms, and wailed, “What should I do? They know. I can’t face all those people.”

“They won’t hurt you. You’re invaluable to their investigation, especially now.”

“Not them, the ghosts. I can’t help them all, Shimodo.”

“Then we will help them. You and I are strong together, Hannah. We managed to tame the FBI. We can send them into the light. We can start tonight with Bethann.”

I stopped my crying. That sounded like something we could do. “Okay, I can do that. I mean we can do that.”

“Let’s rejoin them and see what has changed. They still need our help. We must now set some serious ground rules,” Takeshi cautioned.

I splashed cold water on my face before we went back out into the common room. They were still at the table except Bill. He came out of his room as Takeshi and I moved to the couch.

Tom sat across from us on a chair. The three locals were at the table with Rachel and Jack. No one spoke.

Bill knelt in front of me, in a whisper he said, “I think I realized the first time Tom touched me and I experienced the cold, that I’d felt it before.” He brought out a ribbon of braided hair and tried to hand it to me.

Takeshi leaned forward and put his hand in a stop position. “Bill, we should talk to you about Bethann, but in private. She has things she needs to tell you before she can go on into the light. Hannah doesn’t want a crowd of people for what will be emotional for us all. You see, she is overwhelmed by these

ghosts. They all need something from her, they all have emotional issues she can’t always meet.”

Bill rocked on his knees and took my hand. “I’m sorry, Hannah. I realize how hard it is for you. But you are our link to answers that we require to save lives. Doesn’t that make a difference?”

“Tom can be that link, Bill. I don’t think I can do it. I’m a great speaker box for Tom, but I’m not strong enough. I can’t make it all right for everyone.”

Takeshi took my hand. “If you use her as a direct link it will do her mental and emotional harm. Worse yet, she will come to the attention of others who will not have your standards of integrity. She will not deal directly with any of the other plane crash victims, or anyone else except Sharon, Tom and Bethann.”

“When did you become her manager?” Jack demanded.

I looked at Takeshi and then at Jack. “He’s my friend. He’s much more to me then that, but first he is my friend. He’s the one person in this room who gives a damn about me. Do you, Jack? Do you care that it kills a little part of me every time I see them? Tom’s the only one that I feel certain I can help. So we are helping him. But even with that my goal is to send them into the light. To let him and the others move on to the next world. What’s your goal? Do you care that they’ve already suffered a terrible death and they still linger to help you find answers?” I sighed and shook my head. “When Tom steps into the light, I’m done. Even if it means I give up my chance to be taken into the light. I have to have choices in this. If you take away my choices, you put me in a prison, and I don’t deserve to be in a prison. I would not survive. I would make a choice not to.”

“Miss Campbell—” Jack started to say.

“Shut up, Jack,” Rachel said firmly. “At least act as if you have a soul, even if you don’t have a heart.”

Enrique spoke in Spanish to Mateo and Hector. An extended conversation ensued. What appeared to be an argument grew forceful between Mateo and Enrique, before they turned to us and Mateo stepped forward.

“We agree that we saw no evidence of Miss Campbell’s ability to see or communicate with anyone except Tom. We will not report to our government something we did not witness.”

“I’m in agreement with your assessment.” Rachel looked to her boss. “What about you, Bill?” Her expression was beseeching.

Bill was fingering the braid of hair in his right hand. He stared at it for a few seconds before he looked down at Takeshi. “You’re a man in love, Dr. Shimodo. I’ve known that since Washington. I understand you better now.” He turned to me then. “Yes, they all deserve to walk into the light. We’ll help you in that purpose. All of us.”

Bill turned to Jack. “What you may not know about Jack is that his uncle’s a priest. He’s got seven brothers and sisters. He’s a tough bastard, but he does have a soul down there, hidden deep under ambition. He might beg you to help him on a case if he thought it would save a life. But he wouldn’t trade your sanity or life for someone else’s. We continue in this as we began with Tom as our liaison and Hannah as his voice.”

Everyone, including me, nodded. I suspected that I was being placated, so that they might continue this investigation. But there was something honest in Bill and Enrique’s expressions that made me hope that

their word stood for something. I trusted Takeshi’s instincts and he squeezed my fingers as if to say that it would all be okay.

We joined them at the table again and they questioned Eduardo through Tom. He was assured he would see his children that same day. After which he eagerly answered questions. Two hours later I felt like someone had beat me.

They would have continued, but Takeshi announced their time was up for the day. As our Spanish contingent left, Hector bent over to kiss my hand. “I will be taking Eduardo to the house where his children are staying. Perhaps if I leave one hair behind, he could see them until things have been arranged.”

“Eduardo would be very grateful.” I smiled up at him. He was the quiet one, his face open and friendly.

Mateo touched my shoulder. “You will find your way and you will discover a way to help Tom and all the others.”

“I think you should ask Elena out. Tom says she likes you, and he tells me she is very pretty.”

He laughed. “I am single, but I choose my own women. Tell Tom I appreciate the thought. I suspect that he is not pushing you on this subject, but that you are one of those matchmaking women. I have much to think of after this day, but tomorrow the questions become more intense.”