Jeff Resnick 08 Shadow Man by L. L. Bartlett

Author:L. L. Bartlett [Bartlett, L. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781940801704
Publisher: Polaris Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

I intercepted Omega on Louie’s floor at the end of the corridor. She looked dead tired, no doubt from the seemingly endless days and nights she’d spent at Louie’s bedside.

“Ah, Mr. Resnick,” she said in greeting.

“Call me Jeff. Excuse me, but would you have time to have a cup of coffee and a chat with me before going to see your patient?”

She flashed a toothy grin. “I was wondering when you’d get around to asking. But we must make it quick. Mrs. Barton is expecting me shortly.”

It didn’t take much persuasion to convince her to skip the vending machine coffee for the real stuff in the hospital cafeteria. We got our brews and settled at a table in a corner, away from the visitors and staff, where I hoped we could speak freely without being overheard.

I’d rehearsed several ways to bring up the subject of Louie’s disembodied spirit, but Omega saved me the trouble.

“You have a gift,” she began.

God, I hated that word. “Some might call it that.”

“I, too, have such a gift, but not as pronounced as yours.” She shook her head and took a sip of her coffee. “I was born with it, but I sense that you attained yours in another way.”

“My grandmother told me I always had it, but it wasn’t until I suffered a skull fracture that it—” I paused to think of the best descriptor. “Blossomed.”

“And you’ve been communicating with Mr. Susskind for how long?”

I told her the circumstances of Louie’s and my first meeting, and some of what we’d spoken about—but not everything. I wasn’t sure how much I could trust this so-called voodoo lady with the pentagram pendant. Time was short, so I figured I’d better start asking questions and getting answers.

“Louie told me he’s said some nasty things about you.”

“I would not know that,” she began, but then seemed to change her mind. “Exactly. I cannot communicate with the near-dead in the way that you do, but I do absorb feelings and attitudes. Mr. Susskind is a very angry man. He feels his work on this earth is not complete.”

She had that right.

“Can you hear him speak?”

“Not exactly. It’s more like a voice from far away, but not being able to decipher the words.”

I nodded. “Why do you think he’s hung on for as long as he has?”

Omega’s eyes widened. “Because of you. Since you arrived, he has hope that you may solve his earthly problems. This holding pattern he’s in has confounded the doctors and nurses,” she admitted.

“And his children?”

“I am only privy to Mrs. Barton’s thoughts on that.”

“And what does she think?”

“She worries he’s suffering. I have assured her he isn’t. Do you concur?”

“Maybe suffering emotionally—about the brewery.”

She nodded.

“Has Teresa indicated she’d like him to move on?” I asked.

Omega shrugged. “She would not be the first. I’ve often noticed impatience from family members. They love their dying relative, but waiting for the inevitable—an outcome they cannot change through prayers or good thoughts—is an agony they don’t know how to bear.

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