Audra woke up to voices. They were unintelligible at first but then she recognized her mother's voice.
"I don't know," she was saying. "Let's give it one more day, then I may need to make arrangements to stay indefinitely."
"Mom?" Audra's voice sounded weak and distant in her own ears.
"Audra?"
Audra felt her mother's hand on her forehead as if she were checking for fever. Audra opened her eyes slowly and her mother came into focus. Her brown eyes were tired, her blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. It took a while for Audra's thoughts to collect.
"Where am I?"
"In Atlanta."
"What happened?"
"You fainted Dear."
"Again?" Audra tried to remember. "I was at the airport." Her mother gripped her hand, as if bracing herself for the worst. "Sheriff Miller called…" Audra trailed off and gripped her mother's hand in return. "No," she whispered.
"Oh, baby," her mother hugged her as best she could around the wires and tubing. "I'm so sorry."
"How?" Audra closed her eyes tight to shut out the pain of the truth.
"I don't know, honey," her mother said.
"I need my phone." Audra tried to sit up. "I need to call Ethan."
"Audra…"
"No!" she yelled. "I need to hear his voice. Where is my phone?"
Audra's mother hunted in the bag of belongings that came to the hospital with Audra and handed over her cellphone. Audra punched Ethan's number. When his voicemail picked up, she almost said hello. She listened to the greeting and then came the beep.
"I'll take the job," she whispered. "I'll take it."
Three weeks later, Audra found herself in Washington D.C., standing in front of the powers that be of the Pentagon. Eric and Yolanda had taken her place at the initial debriefing and Audra came up subsequently to fill in any missing details. She gave them a debriefing of all of the facts up until she left for the airport. Eric stood to repeat the final details concerning the death of Ethan Cole.
"At approximately one-thirty in the morning, Agent Pierce observed a surge in the same energy observed in connection with Principal Shelley over the hospital and over Ethan Cole's house in the country. Agent Pierce made a call to me, and I tried to reach Sheriff Cole on his home and cellphone. Agent Yolanda Eagles tried to get through to the Agents at the hospital but couldn't.
"Agent Joshua Kane and I drove to the Sheriff's house while Agent Yolanda Eagles drove to the hospital. Agent Pierce called into the hospital and was put through to the nurses' station on Principal Shelley's floor. By that time, the Principal had flat lined and passed away. By the time Yolanda got there, time of death had been called at one-forty-five.
"When Agent Cooper and I arrived at Sheriff Cole's residence, we forced entry through the front door and found him in his own bed, deceased, no signs of anyone else there. Autopsy shows a burn mark consistent with Shelley's past victims on his chest. His heart was crushed."
Audra closed her eyes against the pain of those final words.
"Is there anything that you would like to add, Ms. Wheeler?" a man in a military uniform with a lot of brass asked.
"Yes." Audra stood back up. "I think that it is time to incorporate specters into the Bureau's efforts involving specters and unexplained phenomena. I believe if we had been working with the specter community, this case would have been solved far sooner and we could have saved more lives. The same things that make them a threat also make them perfect assets."
"I understand that you have taken a great deal of personal loss in this case. While specters could be assets, I'm afraid they are too much of a liability at this point."
"With all due respect, this unit has been in operation for nearly five years and aside from mischief and non-violent crimes, we haven't had any evidence that specters are more of a threat to the living, than the living," Audra announced.
"Thank you, we will take that under advisement," another brass loaded uniform interjected. "Is there anything else?"
Audra thought about Ethan's words to her. She remembered him asking when the last time a case felt real, like the one she was on. She'd had to admit that nothing she'd ever done had seemed as important as that case, and it turned out not to involve a single specter, other than the final victim."
"Yes," Audra finally answered. "Consider this my two week notice, I quit." She dropped her badge, specter shield, specter zapper, and handgun on the table. She'd get a new gun soon, knowing for certain that for now, it was only the living she had to worry about.
As Audra made her way back to her New York apartment, she made a mental list of all of the things she'd have to do in the next two weeks in order to move to Specter, Georgia properly. She had to give her apartment notice, go through the things she wanted to keep, donate, or throw out, hire movers, find another apartment in Specter, buy a car, cut off the cable, turn off the water and the power, and have her mail forwarded.
When she got to the apartment, she looked around. None of it mattered. Taking a deep breath she walked to her room and found the suitcase that still had her Specter shopping trip purchases packed away inside. She picked it up, threw her keys on the counter and walked out of that apartment for the final time.
She called a taxi and found herself on the next plane to Atlanta. After landing she made her way from the concourse to the monorail. As she rode the monorail once again towards the parking and ground transportation, Sheriff Miller appeared beside her, causing a little bit of commotion with the other riders.
"Coming back home?" he asked, already knowing.
"Yes." Audra was happy to see Sheriff Miller but was disappointed that it wasn't Ethan as a specter that came to welcome her back. "How is Ethan's house?"
"If you are asking me if I've seen him there, the answer is no, Dear. I'm sorry. Would you like to stay there when you arrive?"
"Not just yet."
"You have a room whenever you want it. Cordero is okay to room with but I'd love to have a woman around the house again. Gwyn is back to her own life as it were, working in the library. Apparently, she's a riot with the college crowd. No time for her old specter dad."
"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. Say hi to Cordero for me in the mean time."
When she found herself outside of the airport and heading towards ground transportation, she saw a driver holding a sign with her name on it.
"I'm Audra Wheeler," she said.
He handed her a card and a set of keys.
"Ms. Margret Shelley sent this for you. She says she has covered your stay at the B&B for as long as you need." The driver pointed to a brand new silver convertible BMW sitting in the no parking area. A meter maid was two seconds from ticketing it.
"Wait…" Audra said, reaching for her badge that was no longer there. "I'm here," she said, standing next to the car.
"Get moving," the meter maid snapped and Audra quickly put her bag in the trunk and slipped behind the wheel.
When she cleared the airport and made it to the highway south, she turned the radio to easy listening country music. She hoped for the entire duration of the two-hour drive that Ethan would show himself. But, he never did.
When she got to the B&B it was close to dark. The clerk greeted her with a sympathetic smile. She looked at her pre-arranged room key and found that she was put in the same suite that had housed the command post.
"I'd like a downgrade."
The clerk looked at her as if she were nuts. "The room is paid for."
"Please," Audra said.
"Would you like the last room you stayed in?"
"That would be great."
Audra reentered her room and paused for a moment as she remembered the first time she'd come there with Ethan. She looked to the four corners of the room, again expecting him to appear. When he didn't, she stripped her clothes off, tossing them to the floor on her way to the bathroom to shower. When she stepped out of the shower she quickly dried off, tossed the towel to the floor and hopped in bed. Picking up the remote, she turned on the television.
"That's right," Mayor Broner was saying. "This fall we are groundbreaking on the largest shopping mall in the United States, right here in Specter, Georgia with a themed ghost town, amusement and waterpark inside."
"How do you feel about current legislation being debated in the House and Senate calling for the exorcism of specters all together?" the unseen reporter asked in her trademark doubtful tone.
"It is my hope that Specter, recent events aside, be seen as a shining example of the possibilities there are when we allow our loved ones who have passed on to enjoy this space with us and treat it as their paradise," the Mayor answered. His sudden one-eighty attitude about specters made Audra uneasy.
The image on the screen switched to that of Lieutenant Governor Harold Spinks.
"Not so long as I'm Lieutenant Governor. The residents of our great state of Georgia do not want to be associated with ghosts and goblins. The town of Specter may be willing to play with the devil's children but there will be plenty of time for that in the real afterlife. I am personally working with the southern FBI office to build a database of information for our citizens as well as all people to prepare and protect themselves from these entities that do not belong here."
Audra shut off the television. While she felt it was quite sinister to profit off of the specter phenomenon in such a commercial way, Audra would give anything to just turn around and see that Ethan had chosen to come back and spend his heaven here on Earth with her. As she turned over and waited, she fell asleep with that prayer unanswered.
She awoke the next morning, dressed, and took the BMW over to the Shelley mansion. She was surprised to see that high-powered specter shields surrounded the yard. As she walked up to the door she noted several specter shields on the roof as well. She rang the bell. Margret opened the door herself and pulled Audra into a hug. In the three weeks since Audra last saw her, Margret had lost at least fifteen pounds. Her eyes had dark circles around them, and Audra took note of several gray strands of hair she was sure had not been there before.
"What time did you get in last night?" she asked as she ushered Audra in and walked her past the grand staircase to the drawing room.
"It was just getting dark, but I was so tired. I would have brought the car back last night but…"
"Brought it back?" Margret asked. "That's your car. I bought it for you."
"Oh, Margret, I can't accept that."
"You can and you will," Margret said as she pointed Audra to the settee. "What's your poison?"
"Just a white wine," Audra said.
She watched Margret closely and noticed a slight trembling in her fingers. "Are you alright?" Audra asked.
Margret poured them both wine and came to sit next to Audra. "I don't think I will ever be alright, Audra. Not after…" Margret took a sip. "You saw the specter shields? I didn't want to take a chance. In case she came back." Margret threw back all of her wine and stood to pour more.
"Margret, I doubt she's coming back," Audra said, trying not to betray the secret of the specters.
"How do you know?"
"I have information." Audra nodded. "I could tell you but then…" Audra drew her finger across her neck.
There was a strange silence and then Margret let out a heartfelt laugh.
"I see why he liked you so much." Margret grabbed the wine bottle and brought it back to the settee. Audra could see the unasked question in Margret's eyes.
"I haven't seen him," Audra told her. "Not yet."
"Let me know if you do. Tell him I said hi. I'm so sorry…"
"I'm sure he would want to speak to you…"
"No," Margret said quickly. She poured another drink and tossed it back. "No, no, no. I loved him, but I think after everything, the dead should just stay dead."
There was a long pause as Audra remembered feeling that way before coming to Specter.
"I should tell you why she killed him." Margret's eyes dropped and widened. "I remember everything so clearly now. She told me while I was drugged that she would kill him for taking me away from her. She said she was all I had. Without her, I would live and die alone. She knew he was the only person who ever really cared about me. She said she would kill him to teach me a lesson."
"She was insane, Margret. That's why she killed him."
Margret shook her head sadly. "If I hadn't loved him…"
"When was the last time you left this house?" Audra asked, concerned.
"I came here from the hospital and I haven't left since. I hired a living staff. I can afford it you know." Margret twisted her fingers. "They want to build an amusement park to them."
"Margret, specters don't hurt people," Audra said.
"Not yet. But they could. I know it. Maybe the ones here now are tame but… what's coming?" Margret's voice made her words sound like the venting of an irrational fear, but Audra knew her thinking was very logical. Audra knew something was indeed coming next.
"Margret, who stays here with you?"
"Just me."
"Where is Brendon?"
"I don't know. He disappeared after he found out what… grandma did. I know I'm traumatized. When I found out Abigail was my mother and… But, imagine his entire world was a delicate bubble that just burst everywhere."
Audra nodded.
"You met my father, Eli Shelley." Margret sighed. "He wrote to me the day you went for a visit." Margret shook her head. "He asked me to visit… I want to but, I don't think I can leave this house. It's the only place that I feel like I'm safe... from them. I wrote him back. I told him that I always loved him the most. He could get out any year now. He served the minimum."
Audra remembered the suspicion that Eli had not been the one driving that car that killed Amanda Stuart. She wanted to ask Margret what she knew about it, but thought better of it.
"Please, have brunch with me," Margret asked.
As Audra had no place else to go, she accepted.