Ghost Writer - Pandora Pine Page 0,34
folder Crenshaw handed him was sitting on the back seat of the Thunderbird. Jude didn’t want to touch it. He got the feeling Cope didn’t either. His husband acted as if it were somehow contaminated and would spread to them.
“I wanted to beat his face bloody,” Cope muttered.
Cope’s statement answered several of Jude’s questions, but brought up a new one. “Why? I mean, aside from the obvious fact he’s a jerk.”
“That rat bastard knew which items were of value to Bertha and he’d jack up the prices to screw her.” Cope bit off each word like a snarling dog.
Jude snorted. “Do you think she knew?” He had a feeling the answer to that question was a firm yes.
“Of course she knew. Nothing gets by our Bertha. He makes me want to grab my cauldron and mix up a little mischief.” Cope sighed. He turned out the window looking lost in his thoughts.
Figuring out what was going on with the typewriter was the important task at the moment. Jude couldn’t help wondering if the spirit had been some kind of religious zealot. “Question.”
Cope turned back from the window looking more tired than Jude had ever seen him. More tired than the first week they’d had Wolf home and the baby was having a hard time settling in. “Shoot.”
“The hymns must be some kind of message. I mean out of everything the spirit could have typed, he or she chose lyrics to popular church songs. What if this person is some kind of religious fanatic?” Jude didn’t know where that would get them. There were a lot of fanatical people in Massachusetts.
“I’d been thinking along similar lines, but why only lyrics? Why not excerpts from sermons? At least then we’d have a better chance of identifying who we’re dealing with.” Cope sighed.
“If you were a zealot, it would come as a great shock to realize you were a ghost, right?” Jude bit his bottom lip to keep from laughing.
Cope snorted. “I guess that would be one hell of a surprise. To think you’re heading for Harpsville and end up trapped on this side with your old typewriter as a companion. Not exactly heaven on earth.”
“Then throw in the fact that this spirit can’t communicate the way it did before…” Jude trailed off. Talking about this spirit brought up the question of his own mortality and what he thought he knew about the afterlife. The Navajo people believed when you died, you ended up in the underworld. Their biggest fear was that the spirit of the deceased would return to earth. Jude supposed the only thing that would be a bigger shock than ending up as a restless spirit trapped on Mother Earth, was finding out the ancient Navajo beliefs were untrue.
“Dying is a messy business, Jude.” Cope set a hand on his knee. “Even when the soul is ready to depart, there can still be confusion and fear. People who die suddenly don’t have a clue what’s happening to them. They don’t realize or won’t accept they’re dead. Other people still have business to finish on this side. Some go peacefully into the light. Even still, there are challenges for the newly departed.”
“What if death isn’t what you expected?” Jude supposed that was really the heart of the matter.
“I don’t understand.”
“The Bible talks about the streets of heaven being paved in gold. What if they’re not? What if your loved ones aren’t waiting to welcome you home? What if there’s no heaven? No hell? What if everything you spent your life believing in and counting on was a lie?” Jude’s heart pounded in his chest. He supposed what happened to him after he died was more important than he’d thought.
Cope was silent. Jude had a feeling he was thinking about what he knew about heaven and the afterlife. “I imagine there would be spirits genuinely upset. If you lived your life a certain way only to find out at the end it didn’t matter.”
“That’s where my mind was heading. Do you think these spirits might have a hard time coping with their new reality?”
“Wouldn’t you?” Cope’s voice was gentle. “I think every new reality is hard to cope with, even if you’re expecting a change.”
Jude nodded. “I don’t think I would haunt my Thunderbird out of spite.” At least he didn’t think he would. He’d also spent enough time with Cope to know spirits didn’t always have a choice.
He parked the car in front of their house. Jude figured why sit at