Ghost Detectives Bk. 01: Discovery

"Don't you think the evidence is just a little too perfect?"

"It happens that way sometimes. Look, James, what do you want me to say?"

"There's not even a mention of that Courtney woman. Don't you think that a little unusual? Morris doesn't even know she exists or the other two women. Surely, she'd have mentioned them to him, after all, they met at least every week for lunch and once or twice a month in the evening, and from what we know, they have been to her home at least once that we know of, and probably more than that. You would think all three women would have at least been contacted by the investigative team as part of their normal enquiries."

"Maybe they have been interviewed and it will come out in the trial. There is no reason for the public to know until then. You are battling not just against the tide, but a tsunami on this one, leave it go."

When they arrived home, John was already in the house waiting for them, having earlier let himself in using the key they had given him. Carolyn looked at him and without speaking a word John knew she was thinking the same as him.

"Go on say it you two, I'm wasting my time."

John tilted his head. "I think the game is up as far as he's concerned."

"My thoughts exactly."

James wasn't prepared to let it drop just yet and wanted to watch the flat where the four women had met; already, he'd searched the records and Courtney was the sole owner.

"What's the fascination with this case," voiced Carolyn. She was starting to feel she hadn't heard the whole story and it was niggling her, no, more than a niggle. Last week it was a niggle, this week it was frustration against her husband and brother.

John looked at James as if to say, you need to tell her.

He knew he should have said something long before now, but her staying with her mother and the shame he felt over her father, he didn't know how to broach the subject. He had never kept anything from her before and felt the paralysis of guilt, and had trapped himself in a dilemma of his own making. Now was the time when her brother was here to back up his story. He looked toward John who nodded assent and he told her all that had happened over the last few months.

She stared at James, her anger building towards him and her brother. "You believe all this rubbish," she spat out, "do you take me for a fool?"

"More than believe it, how do you think we won the lottery? James gave me the numbers."

That stopped her in her tracks as she started to process what he had said. "Let me get this right, you are saying we can go into our future and what we see comes to pass a few weeks later here."

"No sis, James can, I can't. I'm not sure about you."

She shook her head and gave them both a sceptical smile. "Come on, you are winding me up. The lottery was just a lot of good fortune and as for the rest... Stop it you two."

"I'm sorry love, I should have told you straight away but with Ken and all that had happened and with you being away looking after mam, it has been eating me up for weeks."

It hit her. You knew didn't you, how can you stand there, you knew!" she shouted at him, "and you did nothing." Tears forming in the corner of her eyes. "I trusted you, and you lied to me."

James flopped down, totally defeated by her onslaught.

"There was nothing he could have done to stop it, sis, he didn't even tell me. What he went through was hell for that week and had to stay smiling and positive in front of us. He gave us his all for that week when inside he was burning with self-doubt, guilt and uncertainty while knowing there was not a darn thing he could do to change anything and while we rejoiced, he grieved for what was to come and had to pretend to celebrate with us."

Tears streamed from her eyes, anger mixed with love, mixed with disbelief, mixed with grief churned inside her mind. She was a profiler, and she was failing fast to profile, to accept or not accept what she had just heard. The two people before her, she loved with all her being. She knew them as she knew herself, and slowly her thought patterns settled. "You are asking me to accept the impossible, and yet it has happened. I am going to my room to think this through. James, can you sleep in one of the other bedrooms tonight, I need a little time alone. John, we'll talk tomorrow."

The following morning over breakfast, James reiterated what he had said the night before with John affirming. After a sleepless night and much soul searching, she accepted and believed their explanation.

"I should... You should have told me straight away, and John... I am annoyed," she hesitated. "I do understand, but you must tell me everything from now on. Are you two listening, everything," she empathised, and both nodded their agreement.

"I have donated two hundred thousand pounds to the battered women's refuge." The last thing he wanted was for her to find out before he told her.

"I haven't noticed any money coming out of our account."

"I won the money betting on the horses."

You don't bet on the... right, I see," she smiled and kissed him. "Where do we go from here?"

"It's not that simple. We cannot change the future. From what I have experienced so far, the timeline of history is sacrosanct. Whatever happens in the other dimension, will happen in ours. The only latitude we have is that we can only change the future providing what we change will not affect the timeline of history or it will come back and bite us," enlightening her about the terrorist attack and how their intervention cost more lives.

"If we go forward with this... I see what you are saying, but how will we know if we do something in our dimension to stop something from happening - I can't get my head around it."

"It means that if we stop something from happening and are successful, and what we do affects the timeline of history, what would have happened, will happen, and history will reassert itself as if we hadn't intervened, thereby bringing the historical timeline back into symmetry."

Her mind twisted and twirled. "We'll have no way of knowing."

"Exactly, not until after the event, but from what I've seen so far, if it is going to happen, the timeline will reassert itself very quickly."

"How is it you are able to pass through but John cannot?"

James looked at John for him to reply. "I believe it's to do with how molecules are grouped together at the micro level. It's a lot more complicated than that, but the simple answer is James' molecules are aligned in such a way that he can move from one dimension into the other unimpeded. That's my best scientific guess."

They walked from the breakfast room into the library and she tried to walk through the window, but like John, nothing happened. James walked up to the window and disappeared, and after a few seconds, reappeared. Whatever residual doubt lingered, James's action had obliterated it. She stared at him for a few seconds, walked over and hugged him.

"Are you saying there is another me and you there and this house... I need to get this right, this other us are they living in this house in the other dimension?"

"Yes, the other us are a replica of what we are here. The house is situated in the same location, have the same occupants, furniture, decoration, all very much the same but I'm not sure how exact they are, there may be differences. What happens in the other dimension will eventually happen in ours, but there is a time difference, a catch up period of around a month, give or take a week or so, but it's not exact and no matter what we do to stop it from happening, if it in any way alters the timeline of history, what we do will be undone as if it had happened without our intervention."

"What we do will not make a difference, so we are impotent to change anything?"

"I'm not saying that, impotent only if we try to alter the timeline of history, otherwise, we can change a sequence of events and it will self-right itself sometime in the future."

"How will we know?"

"We won't know until after the event."

She looked at her husband and turned to John. "You are both saying, and let me get this right, that because you intervened in the terrorist attack, a lot more people unnecessarily died to correct the timeline of history."

"It seems that way, sis."

"That puts us in one hell of a situation," she gasped.

"There is a positive."

"Where?" she shouted at her brother.

"Only a small percentage of people or events will affect the timeline of history over the longer term. From what I've researched, most of what we could do to prevent a bad event from happening in our dimension, which has already happened in the other, should work in our favour. I believe most events over a longer period will right themselves."

"Tell that to the families who needlessly died at Waterloo. I'm sure they'll be happy to hear you say that," she spat. "This is a damned if you do and a damned if you don't enigma."

"What you say I can't disagree with, but we can do a lot of good with this gift if we handle it correctly. I think we should use it to help society generally where we are able. James, what is your take on it?"

James looked at Carolyn before speaking and cautiously back toward John. "Let me be clear of our options. Carolyn, you are saying leave well alone and John, you believe we should run with our gift and help society where we are able."

They both spoke simultaneously. "Yes!" coming from opposite corners.

"It seems as if I have the swaying vote but before we discuss this further, I want to look a lot closer at the Morris murder. Can we all agree to investigate a while longer?"

Brother and sister looked at each other waiting for the other to speak. Eventually, Carolyn nodded her agreement followed shortly by John.

"What do you want us to do?"

"John, when I dig around and find out about the Westley woman, can you gather as much information as possible on the other two. Carolyn, I want you to take a closer look at the evidence around the murder and get in contact with his lawyer. I'll go and see Morris again and obtain his permission to allow us to have access to all information his lawyer is holding."

Chapter Seven

James was at the prison and asked Morris if he knew anything about the three women, naming each one of them and asking him if he knew why his wife met with them regularly. He wasn't aware of these meetings and had never heard of any of them. When told they were at his house on that Wednesday he looked at James as if he had horns sticking out of the side of his head and assured him that they had never been inside his house. He knew this was either a blatant lie or he really had no idea.

"Were you in the house the whole time?"

"From the time my wife left until the police turned up to arrest me, I hadn't left the house," he adamantly maintained. "I admit I was drunk, passed out a few times and drank again into oblivion, but no way did any one, especially three women, come to the house."

"Well they did and spent at least a half an hour there, leaving by the back entrance, and a man carried a large parcel from your house, placed it in the boot of your car and drove off."

"That wasn't me. I have already told you," growing agitated, "I never left the house."

"I know they were there, where were you?"

"I have said and say again," he shouted, "in the house." The officer in the room moved forward but James held his hand up to say everything was under control.

"How much had you to drink by that time?"

"God, man, I was drunk, stop asking me the same damn question. I haven't got a hope, have I? I might as well plead guilty and get it over with despite what I said the last time you were here. My lawyer is adamant for me to plead diminished responsibility and not waste the court's time which is my only hope, he says, of my getting a reduced sentence."

"I'll ask once again. Do you know a Debra or a Jennie or Courtney?"

No, should I?"

James was giving nothing away. "You tell me?"

My lawyer is Westley but what has that got to do with my situation?"

"How did you come to get that firm to act for you?"

He thought for a few moments, perplexity crossing his face. "Just turned up I suppose, not really sure."

"Did you know that the name of one of the women your wife was friendly with is a Westley?"

"Coincidence, perhaps."

"A too convenient coincidence, don't you think?"

His eyes lit up. "Where are you taking this?"

"Not sure yet, I need to check if there is any link. The Westley woman is a circuit judge and it seems strange that the firm that is acting for you has a Westley in the name."

Morris sat up in his chair a new rush of hope surging through his body. "Should I change my lawyer, is that what you are saying?"

"That's down to you but I would do nothing until I am able to check on the link."

"Why are you doing this, what's in it for you? You're not one of them crime writers, are you?"

"No, I'm a psychologist and the woman that was with me last time is my wife. She's a professional profiler and medical doctor."

Anger rose in his eyes. "Am I a guinea pig for one of your intellectual experiments? I think you should go."

"We both think you are innocent or I wouldn't have come back here."

"With all the evidence against me?"

"A little too much evidence if you ask me."

"You are saying this is all a set up?"

"Not sure, but as I said, I believe you didn't kill your wife."

"At least someone believes in my innocence. Even my own family believes I am guilty and should plead for mitigation, and that's my mother speaking."

"Let me check a few things out first, say or do nothing until I get back to you. If you are asked about my visits, just say what I do and we are undertaking research. No point in alerting them to our true nature until we are ready.

Immediately he left the prison, he phoned Carolyn and brought her up to date. Her appointment was that very afternoon with Morris' lawyers and he instructed his wife to say that she was undertaking research into the criminal mind, interested in this case as a criminal profiler, to give no indication as to her true nature regarding the situation and check the link back to Courtney Westley.

At their house that evening, Carolyn informed James and John that Courtney had worked as a partner before she was appointed a judge, and her brother Simon Westley was a senior partner and main owner and the actual lawyer handling the Morris murder case. This posed the obvious question of conflict of interest, but nowhere in her discussion with him did he mention the link between his sister and Sandra Ellis. She smiled at James and said Simon invited her out to lunch and she accepted.

"I'm not taken with your logic on this one. Why lunch and where?"

"Next Wednesday at the Hilton Plaza restaurant."

"Expensive!" Her brother grinned at her.

"You two, stop sniping, what better way to learn what we need to know, he is interested in my role as a profiler."

"He's interested in more than that. You stay in the open always, no flat or anywhere secluded."

"I intend to," she shot back. "This case is starting to smell and from the whiff I've had so far there is definitely something rotten going on. I'm slowly moving over to your corner, love."

"He would have known, or he will soon, that I've been to see Morris so how do you intend to handle that little dilemma?"

"I've pre-empted that problem, I told him of your interest as a psychologist and you are helping me with my research and that you are convinced like the rest of us of his guilt. He also stated he thinks he will be able to convince him to plead guilty and throw himself onto the mercy of the court for a lesser sentence."

"You seemed to have closed all ends."

"I'll enquire into the guy's background," said John. "Did you mention about her alleged affair?"

"Yes, one of my first questions, and he stated it was a figment of Morris' imagination. I'll glean more information over lunch. He's out to impress, so it shouldn't be too difficult. We need to find the man with whom she was having the affair, that must now be our priority and who the man was you saw at his house."

"You're not going to get anything out of him even if he knew of the affair, I'm sceptical over this lunch. From what we have already identified, he has written him off as guilty and wants to wash his hands of the matter and move on as quickly as possible; also, why is a senior partner giving so much attention to this case?"

"I accept your concern, but can we now concentrate of a list of questions I'll ask him without drawing out his suspicion?"

The three of them each wrote out a list of questions individually and later conferred to arrive at a final list which Carolyn studied. The Wednesday morning, she dressed to kill, wearing a brown pleated skirt just above the knee, a white button fronted blouse, flesh coloured stockings, and red high heeled shoes. Outwardly respectable, almost, hinting towards malleability for the right person. Simon had already taken his seat in the restaurant when she arrived and he stood when he saw her approaching the table; he helped with her chair making sure she was correctly seated before he seated himself. She gave him her killer smile to show him her gratitude and thanked him for inviting her to such a grand place for lunch.

"You look particularly attractive; your dress sense is impeccable."

"Thank you, Mr Westley."

"Call me Simon. "I think we can do away with formalities, Carolyn," emphasising her name with a disarming grin.

Matching his grin with her own brand of alluring charm she said, "I am glad to be here Simon."

"Tell me exactly what a profiler does," quickly checking himself realising he sounded a little too condescending. That is the last thing he wanted to sound like at this stage in the game of seduction. "I am interested, we could well use a person with your experience and expertise as a consultant with our firm," throwing out a little positivity to counteract his earlier comment. Looking intently into her eyes at the same time showing intense interest, impressing her with his undivided attention to every word she spoke.

"I profile a person from information I have and from interviewing them, that's the reason I am here today."

Unconsciously, he pulled his face a little back from hers. "Of course."

"I am undertaking research into the murderer Ellis."

He grimaced. "I see you have already convicted him."

Time to bring James into the conversation. "Is there any doubt? My husband is helping me with my research and has visited Ellis, and is in no doubt he is guilty." Her affirmation showing him she was on his wavelength.

"Your husband is a very astute man and I must say, a very lucky one to have you as his wife." Throwing it in as if an unimportant afterthought. "Does he know you are lunching with me today."

"I haven't mentioned it to him, why, do you want to meet him?"

"No, unless you think I should."

She radiated one of her coquettish smiles. "No, I can't see any benefit, lest you wish to meet with him."

"I'll give that a miss, let's keep this lunch among the two of us."

"I can run with that."

"I can't discuss the case, you know I'm his defence attorney, but I will say if he has any sense he'd take a plea bargain, but generally without specifics that is altogether another matter."

"You intermated earlier that your firm may be looking for a profiler, are you serious or were you just saying that to boost my ego?"

He could feel his knot tightening around her and gave himself a congratulatory smile, this seduction would be easier than he thought. "Serious, very much so. We have over twenty qualified lawyers, a group of paralegals and a full contingency of administrative staff. Additionally, we service an assemblage of high profile clients that would welcome a person like you when hiring staff, besides the criminal profile work we can pass your way."