Lucky Stars (Ghosts and Reincarnation #5)(143)
She nodded. “Of course, Jack, I make coffee every day.” She paused then finished, sounding somewhat disgruntled as if she missed having the chore of making coffee, “Or I used to before I moved in with you and started to get waited on hand and foot.”
He was surprised at that juncture to find himself fighting back a smile.
She was blossoming and it wasn’t happening slowly. She trusted him. She trusted his love. She trusted in their future. And she knew he’d keep her safe. So he had the best of both because he had his cute, sweet, imperfectly perfect Belle and he had the Belle she gave him when he flipped on her switch.
Instead of smiling, he dipped his head, touched his mouth to hers, followed her to the bedroom, closed the door behind them and as she moved around getting dressed, he pulled on a long-sleeved, black t-shirt.
Dressed, he walked out, closed the door again and saw Gretl sitting outside the door.
Baron was sitting in the living room where he found Dempsey.
“Beautiful dogs,” Dempsey muttered.
Jack made no comment about his dogs.
Instead, he said, “Belle’s going to make coffee in a minute. But you’re going to explain now.”
Dempsey grinned. “I could use some coffee.”
Jack’s head cocked to the side. “Did you miss the ‘now’ part?”
“Right,” Dempsey muttered, moved to the window, glanced out over the rooftops to the obstructed but nonetheless lovely view Belle had of the sea then he turned back to Jack and crossed his arms on his chest. “This legend, Bennett, Addison, Caldwell, the children, the murders, it’s very well-known.”
“You disturbed my Sunday with Belle to tell me something I’ve known since I could process thought?” Jack asked, losing patience.
“What I mean is, it’s known widely. St. Ives. Penzance. Land’s End. Falmouth. Even as far as Newquay.”
Dempsey had covered a great deal of ground in the last few days.
He still was not telling Jack something he didn’t already know.
“It’s legend,” Jack agreed. “Legend with over two hundred years to travel widely. It’s known beyond Newquay, Dempsey. It’s written about in books. This doesn’t explain why you think Miles is Caldwell reincarnated.”
They heard the bedroom door open. Dempsey’s torso shifted to the side to catch a look out the door of the living room to Belle moving through the landing thus Jack’s body shifted to block his view.
Dempsey’s eyes shot to Jack and the grin came back.
“Protective,” he muttered.
“You’ll meet her soon enough,” Jack returned then went on. “And you’ve investigated her. If she was yours, you’d be the same bloody way. Now, focus. What did you find?”
“Ghost tale,” Dempsey got to the matter at hand, “told around campfires. Kids telling it to scare the hell out of other kids.”
“Dempsey,” Jack warned low.
“For centuries, Bennett,” Dempsey returned. “A shocking story, heartbreaking, brutal. So much so, there are not one but three local historians who’ve made it the focus of their field of study. And not only that, it was shocking, heartbreaking and brutal back in the day. It stunned local residents. Joshua and Brenna Bennett were popular, Brenna especially. She was adored. Her murder marked the locals. The fact that her children were taken made it worse. So there’s a good deal these historians could study. And they shared it all with me.”
“Explain,” Jack demanded.
“Diaries of local residents, letters kept, archives of constabulary records. I haven’t had time to go through it all thoroughly but the primary theme bled through almost immediately,” Dempsey answered.
“And that theme would be?” Jack prompted when Dempsey didn’t go on.
“Bennett and Caldwell had a lifelong feud,” Dempsey replied and Jack felt his body get tight.
Dempsey continued.
“It was not private. It played out very publicly and started when they were young. It followed them into adulthood and business. Caldwell was not well-liked and, the story goes, this was because he was a cheat and a poor loser. Further, although Caldwell was not a peasant, not common, his family didn’t have the kind of money the Bennett family had, still, he was ambitious. And most of that ambition was centred around besting Bennett. Unfortunately, Bennett was richer, smarter and better looking than him and always won. Caldwell didn’t like this. From what I read, as boys even to young men, Bennett participated in these various contests, whatever they were and, in the end, they included the pursuit of women. However, as Bennett matured and turned his mind to the family business, he lost interest in Caldwell and his competitions. In fact, Bennett was often in London and not in Cornwall at all. That said, it was widely believed that Caldwell still smarted that the games ended before he could best Bennett at least once.”
As engrossed in the story as he was disturbed by it and its further similarities to his own life, Jack still heard Belle moving about the house so he lifted a hand. Dempsey fell silent and his eyes cut to the door.
Jack turned to see Belle standing there, looking curious and tentative, her gaze on Dempsey. She was wearing jeans so faded they were nearly white and had a frayed split in one knee. She was also wearing a white slouchy sweater that was loose-woven and had a wide neck so he could see her white vest at her shoulders and through the weave. She’d pulled her hair back in a ponytail but tendrils had escaped and framed her face. Even nearly first thing in the morning without makeup, she looked just as casually chic and adorably charming as she actually was.