The Accused and the Damned: Book Three, the Eddie McCloskey Series (The Unearthed 3) by Evan Ronan Page B

medium. I can’t explain it with words.”
    “Try real hard.”
    Giles stood, started pacing. “All spirits have an energy. If you’re attuned to it, you can feel when they’re around. Over the years I’ve encountered ghosts of both sexes. You get a sense of gender. It’s no different than when you hear someone coming up the stairs. You can tell if it’s a man or woman by the sound of their footsteps and how they move, without even seeing them.”
    “So what happened on that first trip?”
    “I got the spirit to visit.”
    Eddie gave him an incredulous look. “How?”
    “I just reached out to her. You know, Edward, since I split with Tim, I’ve learned a lot of things. And discovered even more.”
    Eddie rolled his eyes. “You just reached out to her? Giles, you’re full of shit.”
    Giles motioned with his pointer at his chest. “Cross my heart. I got her to visit. She didn’t stay long.”
    “Hold on. You asked her or got her? Which is it?”
    The man’s eyes went wide and he shook his head quickly. “Asked her. What did I say? Did I say got her?”
    “What did she do for you?”
    “Not much. Really, I just felt her there.”
    “What did you tell Anson?”
    Giles looked down. “I told him that they had nothing to worry about. That the spirit wasn’t dangerous.”
    Eddie closed his eyes and shook his head.
    “This is really my fault.” Giles’s voice was suddenly thick. He wouldn’t meet Eddie’s eyes. “I was wrong about the spirit and … I should have convinced Alice to let me do more work there. She and Anson were in a bad place, and I was worried about rocking the boat so I didn’t push as much as I should have.”
    “But you went out there a second time.”
    “I did.” Giles paced the room excitedly. The man acted like he was still on the hunt as he recounted his adventures at the Ketcher house.
    “What happened?”
    Giles stopped pacing. “It didn’t go as well as I’d planned. The spirit kept visiting then dissipating. I couldn’t get her to stay. Alice was at her wit’s end and was expecting more of me…but then I couldn’t deliver. She wanted me to get rid of the ghost. I told her I couldn’t.”
    “Couldn’t or wouldn’t?”
    Giles tilted his head to the side. “Wouldn’t. What right do I have to do that? And in my defense there’s no surefire way of getting rid of a spirit. I could have tried any number of things and not been successful.”
    “If you were trying to get it to dissipate, what would you have done?”
    “There are ways.”
    “Name them.”
    “Some people use salt.”
    Eddie tried not to roll his eyes.
    “I like to use my life force.” Giles touched his shirt, near the belly button. “It’s stored here. We learn to harness it in martial arts. It also connects us to the other worlds.”
    Eddie stood up. Giles had always been flamboyant and unorthodox, but now he was claiming to be able to summon and dispel ghosts and sense their presence without any of the traditional equipment.
    “I’m calling it a night.”
    * * * *
    Ross stopped in the morgue on his way out the door. Han was in the attached office, reading something on his computer.
    “Got any more good news for us?” Ross asked.
    “My official report. Just putting the finishing touches on it.” Han punched a few keys.
    Ross said, “You mind if I read over your shoulder?”
    Han shook his head.
    Ross stepped behind the man and bent at the waist to see the monitor. Han had filled out the standard form the medical examiners used and now appeared to be editing and revising.
    “Any changes from what you told me before?” Ross’s eyes flew down the page. Most of the report was canned language that had been recycled dozens of times over.
    “No. Her neck is still broken.”
    Ross caught Han smiling as he cleaned up the spelling in the body of the report. The only new addition was the finding of Anson’s skin under Alice’s fingernails. It had gotten under three of the five nails on the