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"Hi judge I see you have brought the runaway home again."
The judge decided to answer her as if Jake was not in the room maybe it would keep her attention focused on Jake and away from him. He had been the focus of some of her scorn before and knew saying anything to get her started would make it worse for Jake.
"Jackie Jake was just taking a little trip to sort of get his head together before we got started on another case, you know how it is sometimes even you take off without telling anyone including Jake."
She did not answer the judge but instead walked into the room and over to where she was standing in front of Jake and looked down at him with her hands on her hips. Jake did not look up waiting for her to start knowing it was going to be loud and long. The longer she stood there not speaking the worse it got for Jake so finally he looked up into her face and saw tears in her eyes.
"Jake I know I have left at times and went off searching for something in my life but I always came back here because this place and you and the judge and Ashley was what I searching for. I want to get mad and scream at you and throw things and make you understand what you mean to me and I don?t know how to make you understand any other way, so now do I start screaming at you and throwing things at you and the judge or do you start acting responsibly and telling me if you are going to go some where for a few days?"
"Jackie I had a few things to set settled in my head and since you were away and the judge was busy doing research on a couple of new cases I decided to take sometime and return to my old hometown and work on those problems.?
?Sorry Jake that is no excuse for leaving without leaving at least a note so I wouldn?t worry so much, But if there is a problem here with me being here then I will leave and you can get your problems solved at home."
Jake looked at her and decided now was the time to tell her the problem even of the judge was in the room and he was not going to be gentle about it. He stood up and moved toward her forcing Jackie to back up a few steps but stopping as he got closer.
"Jackie I have got a few problems and lady you are at the root of those problems and I am going to tell you about them so please be quiet until I have finished talking, understand?"
She stood there with a blank look on her face and dreading what Jake was going to say knowing all the trouble she had brought into his life for the past few years. She looked to the judge for help but all he did was shrug his shoulders and look down at the pile of papers on the table.
Jake also looked at the judge hoping he would not interfere."Judge you can stay or go but I would rather you stayed for this."
He looked very uncomfortable shook his head that he would stay.
Jake turned back to Jackie and placed his hands on her shoulders and directed her to the chair he had just gotten up from and forced her to set down.
Looking down at her he wondered if he could go through with what he had started on a spur of the moment action. He knew he had to get things settled once and for all if she was going to remain in his life. She didn?t need him anymore as she had learned how to live in the twenty-first century better than most people born there. The problem was he needed her in his life but not as a ghost or a co-worker but as a partner in his life from this time on.
"How long have you been here Jackie in this house living with me?"
She answered in a quiet voice not looking at Jake and being a very strong woman she wondered why his tone of voice caused her to act this way. "Three years Jake."
"And during that time have I at anytime allowed myself to approach you anyway that was not honorable and above board?"
This time she did look at him with a questioning look on her face. "Never Jake."
"And haven?t I always done everything I could to help you become accustomed to the new life you walked into and made sure your family was never harmed"
"Yes Jake."
She was becoming more alarmed at where he was going with the questions he was shooting at her. Hoping against hope he wasn?t asking her to leave his home. Again she looked at the judge hoping for some kind of help or support from him but he was having none of it.
The judge knew the day had come when Jake was finally going to put Jackie on the spot. He knew the feelings Jake had for Jackie and for a long time noticed the torment Jake was going through living with the woman but not allowing himself to move toward with those feelings. The judge knew also the complete history of Jackie Lowe and the bad times she had in her own time and the distrust she held for all men.
"Jackie I am getting older by the day and now in some ways so are you and it is time there are some things you need to know and understand about my feelings toward you."
She looked up quickly at his face and knew then she was going to be asked to leave the house. There was a feeling she had lived with for several months that Jake was moving away from her and now it was going to come out into the open. She knew there had been times lately when she had been a complete bitch and wondered if she had alienated Jake away from her. Looking at the past few months now and she saw to late the reason for her attitudes had been related to her feelings for Jake.
She would leave for days at time and never tell Jake where she was going or how long she would be gone. Looking back now she had been living a life with no responsibilities to anyone except herself and maybe Ashley, in short a total self centered bitch. A person she had never dreamed of becoming. It was almost as if she had become her sister whom she still hated for what she had been in her former life.
He knew now was the time to finally get it out in the open but it was coming hard for him. Before Jackie and Ashley there had been only been Janice who had made him think about a life with only one woman. He hadn?t moved and had no intention of moving away from her until she knew the truth.
"Jackie this is going to be the first and the last time I am going to say this so listen very carefully to what I am going to say."
He stopping speaking for a few seconds and at that time the phone rang and the judge picked it up before it had a change to ring twice. He wanted Jake not to stop what he was going to say.
"Hello. Oh hi Ashley are you back in town?"
He didn?t speak for a few minutes just listening to Ashley on the phone and holding up his hand trying to make sure Jake did not speak until he was off the phone so he wouldn?t miss out on the great words he knew Jake was going to say to Jackie.
He finally put the phone down and looked at Jackie with a sad look on his face and then he looked at Jake and shook his head no. Jake knew without asking what he meant but did not know the reason for it.
"Jackie, Ashley is back in town and apparently there is some problem down at the foundation. She wants you to come down there as soon as you can someone has been killed in her office. She found the body but doesn't want to call the police until you and Jake get there first."
Jackie never spoke as she looked at Jake and the judge and then just disappeared.
"Jake we need to get down there before Jackie does something stupid."
"I know judge but you need to call Ashley back and tell her to keep Jackie under control until we get there. Do it while I bring the car around."
He ran from the kitchen as the judge was making the call to Ashley.
They made it to the office complex in record time but Jake knew Jackie had gotten there within seconds and he also knew that she was very protective of her family and Ashley was the center of that family. No police cars were around so it seemed maybe Jackie was using her head this time and taking things slowly until everyone could get together and figure out what to do.
Jake parked the old rolls in the complex?s private parking lot beside the building and both of them headed into the building passing up the elevators for the stairs not wanting to allow Jackie to be in the building without them. As they exited from the stairway and entered the outer office Jake saw Ashley setting in the waiting area along with Jackie and the secretary Jackie had made Ashley hire. Jackie was kneeling in front of Ashley holding her hand and talking to her. She saw Jake and the judge and motioned them on into the main office area.
The secretary got up and walked inside with them and stopped Jake after the door had closed.
"Sir the body is in Ashley?s office and it is the director of the foundation. It looks like he has had a heart attack."
Jake motioned for her to lead the way and he and the judge followed as she walked into the large office Ashley kept at the foundation. She was seldom there and it showed as there was no real office furniture there other than a large desk with a chair and computer system on the desk. The only thing out of place was the dead man on the floor. Lying face down he appeared as if he had fallen against the edge of the desk causing a large cut on his forehead causing a huge amount of blood to spread around his upper body. Lying in the blood was a small brown glass bottle with a prescription label on it. Looking closer Jake could see the prescription was for nitro glyceleron.
He also could see the mans eyes still open and even dead there was a lasting look of terror emitting from his eyes. Jake didn't want to see that look since he knew from experience the only thing that could cause the effect was interaction with a ghost and apparently not a friendly one at that.
He motioned for the judge to come closer and pointed at the mans head and then at the bottle lying in the pool of blood. The judge stared for a few seconds and then straightened up and walked out of the room. Jake turned and looked at the young secretary leaning against the walk as far away from the dead man on the floor as she could get.
"Margie is the name right?"
"Yes Sir"
"Margie it's not sir just plain Jake, now we have to get a few things straight before calling in the police. Who actually found Mr. Thompson in this office?"
"It was Ashley, She came in and walked through the hallway looking in each office and then came back out to the front to my desk and ask me where everyone was at. I knew there was going to be trouble and there was nothing I could do about. The one thing I won?t do is lie for anyone for any job even one I like as much as this one."
"What do you mean Margie lie about a job?"
"Things have been going on around here since I have been here that are not right. Most of the time the people who work here are never here or if they are then there is never any work being done or very little work. Ashley is never here anymore and people have realized they can come and go as they please putting in just enough paperwork to look like they are doing their job, which they aren?t."
"What about Mr. Thompson here?"
"Him, he was the worst of all. Maybe two or three days a week or if he knew Ashley would be in town he would make sure everyone was at their desk working, otherwise he wouldn?t even show up."
"And you Margie what were you doing all this time everyone else was not on the job?"
The second he said this he knew it was a mistake as she came off the wall she was leaning against and headed toward him.
"Listen Mr. Thomas I know who you are and what you mean to Ashley, but get this straight from the git go. I was raised to give a day's work for a days wages and for Ashley I would give that ten times over. Now as far as the rest of the people around here I can?t speak for."
"Then why didn?t you tell Ashley what was going on with her employees?"
"First I made sure there was nothing that could interfere with the operations of this place and no money was being removed from any of the accounts other than the ones designated by Ashley, Second, I have been trying to make her aware of the things that were going on around here but she always seemed to be in another world when she was around here, not like she was when I first came here."
Jake saw there was more going on around the place than either he or Jackie were aware of and he knew things should have not gotten to that point. Ashley had taken control of her life after the problems she had escaped from in Kentucky but still Jake and Jackie felt she was still their responsibility and apparently they had failed this time.
"Ok Margie let's go back to your area and you can call the police and we can start to get this mess straightened out, but lets keep talk to a minumin until Jackie and I get a better hand on what is going on around here."
She looked at Jake with a new respect and nodded her head and walked out of the room leaving Jake and the dead director alone in Ashley's office. He stayed and looked around the room again to make sure there was nothing out of place that would suggest anything other than a massive heart attack. He heard the door open and Jackie entered the office and stood inside the door staring at the dead man on the floor.
The door shut behind her as she pushed back against it. Closing her eyes she stood there for minutes and Jake never said a word knowing there was something going on with the ghostly side of her. Finally she opened her eyes and looked at Jake and motioned for him to follow her from the office. She made her way out of the hall with the many different offices and into the reception area past Ashley and the other two in the room and out the front door making sure Jake was following. She never stopped until she was standing in the middle of highway 98 on the grassy median.
Jake looked at her and wondered why he was standing in the middle of a busy major highway with a tall redheaded ghost. Not wanting to say anything he kept quiet as she looked around and then she turned to him with almost terror in her eyes.
"Jake we have a terrible problem that I never dreamed would happen. My sister is behind all of this today. I felt her presense in the room as I walked in. Here I don?t feel her but I am sure she is close by and might be listening to what I am saying but there really is no place to get away from her, I don?t think."
Trying to understand what she was saying to him Jake started to get a bad feeling about what lay in their foreseeable future.
"Jackie it has been almost one hundred and fifty years since she died."
"Yes Jake but the problem is she ran away from home, remember and no one knows what her life was like after she left or when or how she died. She may have been out there searching since that time not really understanding where or what she really was. Believe me even if she was my sister she was really a moron with no clue about anything except her own wants and desires."
"Yes that may be true but how has she found you now after all these years?"
"I don't know but I know I have to make contact with her sooner or later. What went on in that office shows me that she knows a lot about Ashley and what has been going on with our family since I returned and found you."
"Do you think she knows about the money and where it came from?"
"Oh yes I am sure of that but apparently she hasn't found a way to get her hands on it yet.
Jake thought for a moment or two and then turned and walked back toward the office building dodging cars as he crossed the highway. Jackie watched him cross the highway and then ran after him.
Jake wait we have to talk some more."
Jake never stopped moving but started talking as she caught up with him.
"Jackie we have to get back to Ashley now and we have to make sure she is never out of our sight until we get to the bottom of this. Remember how you first made contact with me, taking over someone else's body?"
She stopped walking for a second and then thought she would have a heart attack herself and then she disappeared from the street and Jake knew she was immediately back with Ashley. It took him a few minutes longer but finally he was back in the reception area and as he entered he could hear the police sirens headed their way.
Ashley was still setting down and Jackie was back in front of her on her knees quietly explaining what was going on and not to make fuss when the police came in. Jake walked over to Margie and told her since it was still early in the morning to get on the phone and get everyone who was employed by Ashley to get their ass to the office if they did not want to be picked up by the police as he was not far from pressing charges on all of them for fraud.
Even with the death of her boss she could not help but let loose with a small grin thinking as she headed for her desk she liked the man. Good men were hard to come by even where she was from and to come across like someone like Jake who was protective of the women in his life was like a breath of fresh air for her. She hated she had not come forward sooner but at least now things could be put right hopefully.
The police finally started coming into the office reception area and ask to be directed to where the body was and told no one to leave. The judge was with the girls talking on the phone and Jake knew he was paving the way for the mess to be cleaned up as quickly and quietly as possible. He had listened to what Jackie was telling Ashley and figured out there was another ghost of the family involved.
The lead policeman can back from the office where the body was and started taking names and what they knew about the deceased. Jake and the judge took over at this point and explained the events of the day and that the rest of the office personnel would be in the office as soon as possible. Jackie and Ashley were finally allowed to leave and the judge took them home and Jake stayed at the office until all the workers had come into the office and were interviewed by the police and then he had a few words with each of them with a warning not to leave town and to be back on the job on time the next morning or face charges they did not want to answer for. A meeting would be held later on in the week to determine exactly how much damage had been done to the foundation, but for now Margie was going to be the one in charge of the mess and he told her so.
After the police had determined thankfully the man had died from a massive heart attack and had the coroner remove the body and sealed off the office where he had died Jake sent everyone home except Margie.
"Margie we have a lot to do here to get this place back to the level it was when we first set it up for Ashley. God knows we have really let her down by not paying attention to what was going on around here and apparently it started long before you got here. I can't believe Mr. Thompson turned out like he did. The judge and I screened several people for the job and he was the best qualified and had the best references. Well anyway starting tomorrow you are going to be head of this place until we get it back in shape again. You know more than anyone here the mechanics of running this place."
"Jake I can't run this foundation the people won?t let me first and really besides not even being educated I don't know enough about things."
"What things' Is there anything I can ask you about the day to day operations that you can't answer. The paperwork each person does or should do around here? Is there anyone associated with the foundation you have not talked too or at least been in contact with?"
"No I guess not but what about all the other people that work here and are better educated and know more about foundations such as this one?"
"Look around you Margie who has been on the job lately making sure Ashley was protected. Damn sure wasn?t Thompson or the other workers. No you will be in charge until we get things under control again and besides I need someone who will keep me informed as to what is going on around here. We need to have another talk tomorrow, but now we need to close this place up and I need to get home to Jackie and Ashley."
"Ok Jake I will do as much as I can but you need to be here tomorrow first thing to get this bunch of people straightened out."
Jake laughed and said."Marge tomorrow I am making you the boss so you either straighten them out or fire them you have mind and Ashley's support whatever you decide to do just keep this place running while we solve a very disturbing family problem that may affect even this place."
With that he walked out of the office and headed home to try and make some head way into what was going on with the Lowe family once again.
Jackie and Ashley were in the kitchen alone with the judge and his wife, all were sitting around the large kitchen table Jake had found at an estate sale in southern Ohio and could not live without. He got out his favorite coffee cup and filled it up and sat down before speaking. Looking around the table he could see everyone including the judges wife had been talking about Jackies sister. He knew quite abit about the girl as he had read the original diary she had written in. There had not been a lot of writing but Jake could tell she had been an extremely shallow person who let greed rule her life.
He looked at Ashley first. "Ashley do you understand what is going on here?"
She had been crying and her face and eyes were swollen and red. "Jake I don't have a clue as usual without the people at this table I don't think I would have a complete thought. I know that Jackie had a sister she spoke of only in a general sense and I felt she did not really like her. I had no idea there was a change she would come back to haunt us, but why did she have to kill Mr. Thompson."
Jake had been thinking about that as he was driving home and he began to get an idea in his head that he needed to run past Jackie to see if it made any sense. Turning to Jackie he saw she was almost out of courage for the day. She was an extremely hardy woman who could handle anything that came her way but this thing with Ashley and her sister was making headway into her inter being and not in a good way.
"Jackie I have to ask you something and I want you to think about it before you give me an answer. You know how to take over other peoples bodies and control them, I saw this with ? and how you could come and go without doing any damage to the person you took over. Now is it possible to enter someone else?s body and if they had a bad heart cause them to actually have a heart attack trying to get inside this person?"
She thought for a second never taking her eyes off of Jake. "Jake I came across a ghost out in Houston, Texas last year who was trying to find her way over to the other side as she called it. She was almost crazy by the time I had found her. She had figured out there was something keeping her here and decided to enter the body of an old friend to try and make up for some things she had done to her family. She almost made the transition when the man fell dead of a massive heart attack. She said she almost became trapped in a dead body. The man did not become a ghost so apparently he was gone for good but she was still trapped in limbo.
"Do you think it is possible that Jolene was trying to take over Mr. Thompson when he died"
"Why would she want to do that?"
"A fast way to get at some of the money she feels is rightfully hers."
She thought for a moment or two and then looked up at all of them and said. "If it was her then there is a whole office full of people she could take over"
"Yes and we have to figure out how to stop her from doing that."
"Yes but I would like to know where she found out about Ashley and me and where we were located."
The judge spoke up then after setting there with his wife keeping quiet and taking in what was taking place between Jake and Jackie. "I think I can answer that for you Jackie although I don't know how they worked it all out. Jake came across a civil war unknown soldiers grave with the soldier still there. We have been working on getting him across but the research hasn?t been panning out and it looks like he just might be the link to your sister and how she found you."
"How?"
"It looks like Jake has been led on a goose chase to keep him occupied while she does her dirty work down here. Of course there was some truth in what he has said but he made a few mistakes in the places he was at and the battles he fought in. Still I think I am going to keep working on the project he made a couple of references to some stolen Union Payroll in gold coins and apparently they were real incidents that happened."
All were quiet for a few moments taking in what had been said up to that point when the judges wife decided she had something to say. A former lawyer who had spent her entire working life dealing with corporate deals she was a small woman in statue but a giant in intelligence. The judge was a smart man who loved to spend his retirement time with Jake and history but she still loved to keep her hand in the law circles around Florida whenever she could get a case to work on.
She had figured out Jackie's secret within two months after coming to Florida to finally live with the judge after their new house was finished. She never made a fuss about what she had figured out and did not approach either her husband or Jake but instead she went straight to Jackie and confronted her.
"Look I know I am not part of the click around here but there is a question I would like to ask Jackie."
She turned to Jackie and looked at her.
"Jackie when you are in the body of a live person can anyone else also get into that body with you or take the body away from you?"
"I don't know but if that can happen or not but I can find out tomorrow with a couple of my friends here in town."
"You mean there are more ghost here in Fort Walton??
Jackie laughed. ?Missy there are more than a few ghost in every town in this country and I know just the people to use as guinea pigs tomorrow."
Jake had an idea who she was talking about and wondered if that was a good idea.
"Jackie it could cost more than it is worth if you are going after the ghost hunters camped out on the beach."
"Oh come on Jake those people need to be taught a lesson."
"Ok but just make sure the only thing you do is teach them a lesson and don?t harm them."
Jake turned to Ashley to see how she was handling everything and he saw she had a laugh in her eyes and he knew she was going to be alright. She was still fragile but in some ways she was a secure woman who could hold her own in any situation thrown at her. The problem now was finding a way to counter Jackie's sister from taking over Ashley's body. He knew there was no way she could ever mess with Jackie or her new earthly body.
"Ok people I guess there is nothing else to do today about this mess so let's head out to the deck and enjoy a good meal on the grill and watch the ghost hunters make asses out of themselves this evening chasing ghosts."
The next morning Jake and Jackie were out on the deck at the break of dawn watching the sun come up and enjoying a cup of fresh coffee as they always did when both were in town at the same time. The evening had went well with lots of laughter at the people on the beach running around with silly machines that really did not work and saying they were detecting signs of ghost residue.
The deck had been equipped with a state of the art stainless steel grill and extra large and comfortable lounge chairs as Jake and his friends spent a lot of time there in the summer and a lot in the winter months when the weather was warm enough.
This morning both were setting in their favorite chairs quietly watching the sun rise up over the water of the gulf of Mexico contemplating what the day was going to bring and how they were going to find Jackie's sister and what to do with her once she was found.
"Why does the past keep coming back to haunt me Jake?"
He looked over at her and saw tears in her eyes, something he had never saw. "Jackie you have a long past and most of it is full of pain and heartache. You know the old saying the good die young which you were but you also had a mission in life you did not get to complete. This is just another part of the past not satisfied yet and it?s up to us to make sure it gets satisfied."
They talked no more for over an hour just setting and watching their environment come alive, the sun rising, joggers making use of the fresh empty beach and the old timers out with their metal detectors.
Finally close to eight o:clock they knew it was time to get the day started and Jake got up and leaned over and planted a light kiss on her forehead. "Lady we are going to come through this so buckle up and lets' go fight the battle." Then he turned and walked in the house.
His kiss surprised her so much so almost dropped her empty coffee cup on the deck. Jake had never ever attempted to kiss her under any circumstances and she found she liked the touch of his lips on her skin. This was something she would have to watch for in the future, she didn?t want Jake to get hurt. There was no way there could ever be anything between them, but then again there was a lot between them.
Getting up she looked down the beach and saw the van parked almost on the sand and knew where her quinea pigs were going to be today. She walked into the house to check on Ashley and then she was going to gather up a few friends in the ghost world to do some experiments today. She had to be sure of what would happen if someone tried to take away a possessed body. She had to cover every avenue she could to make sure there were no deviations in the process.
Ashley had made her way to the kitchen table and having her first cup of coffee when Jake and Jackie came into the room. She saw a strange look on Jackie's face as she looked at Jake when he poured another cup of coffee for himself. Suddenly she figured it out and laughed out loud causing Jackie to also look at her strangely.
"No Jackie my great great aunt has not entered my body. I just noticed something I guess I should have known would happen some day." She had had a small fling with Jake and saw most of the time his mind was not on the relationship and now the answer was there. He was in love with Jackie and unless she was mistaken Jackie was also in love.
"And what is that Ashley?"
"Oh nothing Jackie but sometime in the near future you and I are going to have a girlie talk with each other."
"Hummm?
"Jake want are we doing today since I can?t be alone."
"First I want Jackie to get one of her friends to shadow us all day and make sure Jolene is not along for the ride as we get some things done down at the foundation."
"What are we doing there today?"
"Well first your office has to be cleaned up from all the blood on the floor and we going to be having meetings all day with the people you have working there and try to make some sense of what has been going on."
"I guess I made a real mess of the foundation from what I saw yesterday. Has everyone been drawing a paycheck from me and not showing up for work unless I was there??
"Not everyone but yes most of them including Mr. Thompson whom we all did interviews with when he was hired, so don't carry this on your shoulders we are all to blame. Today we are going to make some adjustments with your personnel if that is alright with you. We didn't do a very good job the last time helping you with hiring your employees."
"Jake you, Jackie and the judge have went to extremes to make sure my life run perfect and after all I have been through with my health, losing the farm, my ex-husband problems I can't ever thank you enough.