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 Is he here? Can he make me hear him? For such a levelheaded businessman,
Ethan was proving looks could be deceiving. He never questioned why a ghost would
need his help. He just tried to cooperate.
Tell him no, I can t make him hear me. It would only happen if it was a matter of life and
death and involved you or a couple of other reasons I can t explain. You re the only one I could
do it for, for now. Just tell him Ruthie Simpson has been hurt. She s lying in a pool of blood on
the floor of our your apartment. It looks like she s been there for a while.
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I relayed the message to Ethan and he was heading for the door before I was
finished talking. I tried to get out of bed to follow him. I wanted to be there when he
found Ruthie or he might scare her. I was yelling for him to wait when Maddie entered
the room.
 What s the matter? Are you all right?
 Maddie, talk to Michael. He s here, there s a problem. I ve got to go with Ethan but
he just went back to his room without me. Maybe you d better go to him first and tell
him he has to take me with him. He doesn t know Ruthie. I do.
While I d been talking I had been pulling on the clothes I d worn earlier. To get
them to me, Michael was throwing them at me. I watched Maddie leave and dressed as
fast as I could. When Ethan came back I had on the skirt and blouse I d worn to work
two days ago. He didn t waste time, just picked me up and headed to the door. Maddie
was talking to Michael.
Charli, tell him I ll be there when you get there.
He was gone yet I didn t see him leave. Maddie was the last thing I saw before we
hit the top of the stairs and she was standing there looking terrified. I don t know what
Michael said to her but it certainly got his point across.
Vivien met us at the bottom of the stairs, holding our coats out to me. I took them so
Ethan didn t have to stop.
When we got to the car, he left me at my door to put myself in and was around and
in with the car started by the time I got my door closed. Something about this should
have frightened me but it didn t.
All I could think about was Ruthie.
The car shot down the driveway. Someone in the house must have pushed the
button for the gate because it was open when we got there. Ethan didn t even slow
down. He was busy calling someone on his cell phone as he drove through the nearly
deserted streets. I couldn t hear him well but it sounded like he was calling an
ambulance. How he would explain this I didn t want to think.
We beat the ambulance there by about two minutes. He literally ran up the stairs
with me, slowing by the time we got to the third floor. When we reached the landing for
my floor he stopped, breathing hard. He put me down, held his finger to his lips to tell
me not to talk and crept toward my door. He turned the handle and it opened. It hadn t
been locked. He disappeared inside and for a minute I heard nothing. When he
reappeared he walked up to me and lifted me.
 Michael was right. She s badly hurt, Charli. Don t be shocked by the amount of
blood you see. It s a head wound and they bleed profusely. It was done some time ago.
The blood on the floor around her is drying and sticky. You just sit there and let me
look after this.
He went back to the door and yelled down to the paramedics. I could hear them
cursing the elevator as they ran up the steps. Ruthie was not very heavy, which was in
their favor, but they would have to carry her down four flights of steps. Behind them,
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puffing as he came, was Stan Medlar. When he saw Ethan and me, he slowed. He knew
he was in trouble he just didn t know how much.
I left him to Ethan and went back to watching the EMTs work on Ruthie. They had
her on the stretcher in no time, and while one of them gathered up everything they d
been using on her, the other two started for the door. It was obvious the third man was
staying with us while they took Ruthie to the hospital.
Ethan had also called the police and they must have passed the stretcher on its way
down. Two young, uniformed officers walked into the scene, trying to look as if this
was old hat to them. But one look at their faces told me neither of them had seen so
much blood before. In fact, one of them was looking around as though he d be sick.
I pointed.  Down the hall.
I knew how he felt. If Ethan hadn t warned me, I d probably have been in the
bathroom instead of this chair.
I suddenly felt a warmth at my side and when I looked I could make out Michael s
presence.
Just nod, Charli. Is she still alive?
I nodded my head slowly, twice.
Thank God.
It seemed a strange thing for a spirit to say, but I wasn t going to start asking
questions with all these people here.
Charli, when they ask how you knew she was in trouble, jump in before Ethan can say
anything and tell them you had a premonition. You made him drive you here.
Again I nodded. Then we waited. When they asked the question Ethan looked at
me, and as if it was the most natural thing in the world I told them what Michael had
told me to say. I really didn t think they d believe me, but they took me at my word.
Nobody thought it strange I would have a premonition in the middle of the night when
I should have been asleep. Obviously things weren t as normal in the real world as I
thought they were.
 Ma am, do you know if she has any kin we should notify? This from the young
policeman who d used my bathroom.
 None I know of. There was a son but she never talks about him. Someone in the
building said they thought he was dead.
 Okay. Well, if there are any more questions we ll be in touch. Turning to Ethan,
he continued,  Thank you, sir, for the numbers. I ll stay in touch with you. And I ll give
the hospital your number as a contact.
 No. Ethan, I want to go to the hospital, be there for Ruthie when she wakes up.
 Ma am, please. You ve got to be warned. The EMT who d remained with us
turned my way.  She doesn t have much chance. She probably won t make it.
The tears threatened to overflow. I looked down and watched the fabric on my
chair s arm. A pattern was being repeated, over and over, a slight dent was all I could
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see as if a finger was tracing lines over and over. Michael must have been touching it.
Whenever he d been stressed by anything, he d drawn squares on the closest available [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]