Lady Justice and the Ghostly Treasure Read Online Free PDF Page B

to get a bottle and drown my sorrows. Then something reminds me how lucky I am to be working at all. At least I’ve got the forty bucks to keep a roof over my head.”
        “Hang on a cotton-picking minute,” said Rick Branch from #6. “Listen to yourselves. There’s obviously something very weird roaming the halls at night and I don’t like it.” He turned to Wheeler. “Can you get rid of it?”
        Wheeler thought for a moment. “Yes, I could do that. Is that what you all want?”
        After a moment of silence. “Not me.” “Me either.” “Hell, no!”
        Wheeler looked at me. “Well, Walt, it’s your hotel. What do you think?”
        Everyone looked at me expectantly. I was not about to banish anything that might give these poor souls a measure of comfort.
        “Brother Cyrus stays!”
        A chorus of cheers went up --- except for Rick Branch.
        “You guys are bat shit crazy,” he said, stalking off. “I’m out of here.”
        “I have one question, Mr. Wheeler,” I asked. “Why, after a hundred and eight years are we just now seeing Brother Cyrus? He’s never shown himself before.”
        “Good question, Walt. I asked that myself. Let me put his reply in modern day terms you might relate to. In the Star Wars movie, Obe-Wan Knobe says he feels a disturbance in the Force. Brother Cyrus has felt the same thing here. Something is about to happen at the hotel that will change everything.”
        “Change? How? Change for the good or otherwise?”
        “That’s yet to be determined, but I did learn one thing. This whole distortion of the Force is centered around one person.”
        “Who?”
        He pointed. “Mary Murphy!”
        I saw the look of astonishment register on Mary’s face.
        “Me! Why me! I ain’t done nothin’!”
        “I’m not sure,” Wheeler replied, “but we might learn something from a life reading.”
        “What’s that?”
        “It is a comprehensive reading that ties together your soul's past, present and future. A psychic life reading may help you gain greater understanding of how your present circumstances came to be and what to work on or expect for your future.”
        “Will it hurt?”
        “Goodness, no.”
        “Well, I guess maybe we could do it. If I’m gonna be stirrin’ things up around here, I want to know why.”
        “Good. Let’s go to your apartment and we’ll get started. Walt, you can come too if you want.”
        “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
        Mary noticed the tenants watching her intently. “What the hell you lookin’ at? Go about your business. Oh, and Feeney, go get the ‘For Rent’ sign and stick it in the yard. Now get!”
        The tenants scattered and we headed inside.
        Wheeler pulled two chairs together facing one another and asked Mary to sit. I found a chair across the room.
        Wheeler took his seat across from her and took both of her hands in his. “Just relax. Let your mind wander. Think about your early life and the experiences that have made you who you are.”
       For the next fifteen minutes, the room was eerily quiet. Wheeler never spoke another word. His eyes were closed and every so often I would see his head twitch.
        Then suddenly his eyes opened and he shook his head.
        “My goodness, Mary. You’ve certainly led an interesting life. I sensed there has been a void in your life dating back to your early childhood. A part of you that was taken away and never replaced. Does that mean anything to you?”
        She thought for a moment and nodded. “Yes, it does. I have a twin sister. We were separated when we were five and I haven’t seen her since. I have always felt that a part of me was missing.”
        I nearly fell off my chair. I had known Mary for years and I had no idea she was a twin.
        At that moment there was a knock on the door.
        “I better