CHAPTER NINE

"Gus, are you doing alright?" asked Mary.

She walked slowly toward the ghost, who was seated in the grove of their little island. She didn't want to startle him. Mary almost laughed at that. The thought that she might startle a ghost seemed a bit odd, but then again, this was Belle Fleur. Grace, Faith, Lauren, Erin, and Alexandra were with her, smiling at the man.

"Oh. Oh, hello, ladies. Please forgive me for earlier. I'm not sure what came over me," he said, shaking his head.

"You're confused, Gus. We do strange things when we're confused," said Lauren.

"I wish I could remember it all. But I can't," he said with a sad expression.

"Why don't we start with your sister?" said Mary with a smile. "Will you tell us about her?"

"Elizabeth was a beauty," he smiled. "She was ten years younger than me, a surprise baby for our folks. But she was the apple of my eye and our parents."

"She sounds lovely," smiled Lauren.

"She was stunning. Dark hair and eyes, beautiful complexion. But she was smart, too. Not like me."

"I'm sure you were very smart, Gus," said Erin.

"No. No, not me. I always had trouble learning. Always had trouble in school. Teachers even said I was dumb. My parents sent me to a special school. They were much kinder there, and I was able to learn important things so that I could help people and make a difference in the world." Faith looked at the other women, then back at Gus.

"Gus, did you have a learning disability? Were you dyslexic?" asked the beautiful woman.

"I-I'm not sure. I was taught to do everything in love," he said, staring at them. "Am I really dead?"

"I'm afraid so," said Grace, smiling at the man. "But if we can find out why you haven't transitioned yet, then maybe you can move on and be with your parents and your sister."

"I'd like that," he smiled. "I've been very lonely. At least, I think I have. Elizabeth, she married a man named Hector and moved to Mexico. I never liked him much. He called me retarded."

"That's awful!" said Alexandra. "We don't use that word here. Not ever. You might have had some learning challenges, Gus, but there was nothing wrong with you."

"I wish someone had said that to me when I was alive," he said with a sad grin. "I got my trucking license, so I guess I wasn't totally stupid. I finished high school, got a diploma and all. I think I went to a different school after that. I just had trouble understanding things sometimes. People confused me."

"People can be confusing," smiled Faith. "If you were able to get your trucking license, you were able to read well enough. Did you often fix your truck?"

"Oh, yes. All the time," he laughed. "I couldn't afford mechanics to do things for me, so I learned to fix most things myself."

"See, you're smart. I can't do that," said Alexandra, "and I have a high IQ." Gus laughed, shaking his head.

"Elizabeth was smart like that. She wrote to me every week telling me about how she was doing. Then it all stopped," he frowned.

"Why? Why do you think it stopped?" asked Grace.

"I'm not sure. I decided to drive down there and see her. I didn't take the trailer, just the truck. I wasn't hauling anything, so it wasn't a problem getting through customs. She said she lived in a real nice area, but when I got there, it wasn't nice at all."

"Do you remember the name of the town?" asked Faith.

"Ures," he said. "Hector was meaner than before. He was angry at me for coming down there without calling them. I noticed that Elizabeth was pregnant and wanted to stay with her for a while, but Hector made me leave."

"Why?" asked Mary.

"I don't know. Before I left, I gave Elizabeth some money and told her to find a way home. I hate myself for that, for leaving her there alone with him. I should have kidnapped her and made her come with me."

"It wasn't your fault, Gus," said Lauren.

"It was. I told her to find her way home, and she hired a man to take her across the border. He had her in the back of a van with some others. He parked that van in the Peak Wilderness area and left them. The doors were locked from the outside. They couldn't get out."

"I'm so sorry, Gus," said Erin. "But I agree with Lauren. It wasn't your fault." Mary looked at the other women, hoping that Gus could help them figure some things out.

"Gus, were you trying to find out who killed your sister?" she asked.

"I knew who killed her. It was Hector. But no one would listen to me. They said he was an honest businessman, and I was just a slow-witted truck driver," he frowned.

"Gus, I don't think you're slow-witted at all. What's Hector's last name?" asked Mary.

"It was Garcinez."

"Was?" frowned Erin.

"Yes. He died about a year after my sister. Got what he deserved and was killed by a rival gang."

"Then whatever was happening with you and your truck, with the O'Noth Circus, didn't have anything to do with him or his gangs," stated Faith.

Gus stared at her for a moment, then stood, pacing back and forth. He placed his hands on the side of his head and then turned back to them.

"I think I need to go now. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light," he said quietly. And with that, he disappeared.

"Shit," muttered Alexandra. "I thought we were getting somewhere with him."

"Me, too," said Mary. "I'm not sure if it's all connected, but I would like to know more about his sister's death and the murder of her husband. But his reaction when we spoke of the O'Noth circus was definitely strange."

"I've got the death record here and the police report," said Alexandra, staring at her computer screen. "It's as he and Code said. She's listed as a battered wife who attempted to escape from her husband in Mexico. The man she paid to get her across the border, along with five other people, left them in a van in the desert, locked from the outside. He claims he did as instructed and that someone else was to pick them up.

"Gus made multiple calls to the authorities blaming Hector, but they weren't able to locate him in Mexico. Almost a year to the day, Hector was murdered in the streets by a rival gang."

"Still, he had to have been devastated by her death," said Erin. "I wonder if that event is what triggered his episodes of confusion. I mean, sometimes traumatic events can cause issues like that."

"It's true," nodded Faith. She looked around the grove, almost hoping to see Gus return to them. "Still, of all the ghosts we've had here, he's the strangest. His memory issues, behavior, all of it."

"I think the guys need to find out the details of that tractor-trailer that held all those people. I don't think any of us is na?ve, but I don't buy that Gus would have done that intentionally to anyone," said Lauren.

"I couldn't agree more," said Mary.