Chapter 44: David's cunning pays off.
Collin almost choked on the cookie when he read her thoughts. He also answered her unvoiced question rather quickly without actually intending to.
"Cassie isn't here, you don't have to worry.
Phoebe's fluttered her eyelashes because she hadn't asked him about his sister. How did he know that she was looking for the young girl? She was about to say something when Lydia spoke.
"Humph, my poor girl." She sighed worriedly, "She barely slept because of those nightmares that she gets....wait a minute, Phoebe do you have something that could help alleviate some of her stress?"
Phoebe nodded but didn't ask alot of questions, she bid Lydia goodbye and left with Collin.
When they got to the cafe, Phoebe greeted everyone including the ghost clients that Connie had brought in. She didn't care if Collin could see her talking to empty space. She had made peace with her uniqueness and in her place of work, she would never hide it.
"Good morning Rosset, please give me that tonic plus that talisman and a dream catcher." Phoebe pointed at two different bottles.
Rosset was quick in bringing them over and then Phoebe packed and handed them to Collin.
"This tonic will help calm and soothe her nerves. She lifted the yellow talisman with red drawings and writing which nobody but her could understand. "Hide this under her pillow to chase away the bad dreams.
She touched the silver dream catcher and held it up. " Hang this up by the window or above her bed. It will capture any bad dreams or energies passing through, leaving her to have sweet dreams from on. No charge for you since we are friends." Phoebe smiled warmly.
He insisted to pay for the items even though Phoebe had told him that they were on the house.
"That's bad for business." He advised before leaving.
Phoebe turned to her ghost clients. "Okay, everyone get a number from Connie and sit down. We will be taking down your information in an orderly manner. If you have messages to relay, we can start immediately through phone calls."
Knowing that they had many clients, Rosset made use of the ghost seeing glasses reluctantly and she also joined in. Besides that, she distributed drinks and snacks to those ghosts that were hungry. The activity took almost two hours to be completed.
After jotting down all the information she needed from the ghosts plus their requests. Phoebe immediately began to fulfill them, some were just written messages that they wanted to give to their loved ones so she left Rosette to handle that task.
"As usual, don't forget to leave a logo of our ghost cafe. As for the ones you need to call, if they have questions of any kind let them make appointments to see me, am heading out." Phoebe told Rosset as she left.
One of the ghosts had a more urgent request than the others. This ghost client was a thief that had stolen money from the CEO of Ruptin chemical industries driving the company to bankruptcy. The poor CEO had been sued and arrested. His family had lost everything and the CEO eventually died, taking his own life after only two weeks in prison.
The thief on learning of the CEO's death was unable to enjoy the money he stole. He lived in hiding and shame, carrying the guilt from the knowledge weighing on his shoulders that he had been responsible for the death of another human being.
At the moment, riddled with guilt, the ghost was pleading for Phoebe to deliver a message in person to the family and also return the money he stole, which was cash, buried somewhere.
While listening to the story, Phoebe couldn't help being angry with the ghost whose name was Sylvester. What he had done in a moment of greed had destroyed a family and resulted in death. He should have done the right thing while he was still alive by turning himself in and apologizing to the family.
Even Connie and the Saxon spirit were glaring in judgement at the ghost.
Phoebe sighed and opened the trunk of her car. Before going to dig for anything, she had to make sure that all of her tools were there, especially the shovel. This was not her first rodeo in burying or unearthing certain things.
She then entered the car and started it. The car however made a coughing like sound and died. No matter how many times she pushed the start button, it remained silent.
"Dang it." she slapped the wheel.
"You are always slapping that poor wheel, maybe that's why the car is rebelling." Connie suggested.
"It's a machine Connie it has no feelings." She bit back.
She removed a talisman from her bag and stuck it on the wheel. "If it won't start manually, perhaps it will move with magic."
The talisman was suddenly blown by wind and it flew out of the car window, flying through the air. Phoebe groaned unhappily and opened her car door planning to run after the talisman but she had to stop when she saw it falling into someone's hands.
It of course just happened to be none other than David. He was leaning against his car like he was just about to go somewhere. Her face lit up as soon as she looked at him as if she was looking at a delicious snack. She even went so far as to lick her lips, expressing her hunger.
[Energy, energy, hmmm, i just want to throw myself into his arms and suck it all up.]
In as much as she wanted to jump and hug him because he was her charger, she held back to avoid embarrassing herself. Her thinking was still rational and she wondered why he was standing there.
[Look at that silly grin on his face. Why is he everywhere lately?]
David grinned even more, exposing his perfect teeth. Phoebe scoffed because his smile and perfect white teeth reminded her of those toothpaste tv adverts. All that was missing was a shiny little star glint and a woman or two that had been charmed.
"Are you having car trouble?" he asked her.
"No."
[Yes.]
Her mouth said one thing and her mind another. David was glad that he could read her thoughts or he wouldn't know what to do with her most of the time.
He had been given a cheat in this life, the ability to read her thoughts and he intended to use it to his advantage fully.
"I am going your way, perhaps i can give you a ride."
He looked at her face, specifically her forehead with focus while trying to appear nonchalant.
She frowned, wondering how he knew where she was going. If he was going to work, he would be going in the opposite direction of where she was heading.
[Does he really know that i am going to the old river town?]
David's lips curled upwards. Got you! he thought.