CHAPTER 17: TELLING MARCUS THE TRUTH

Unknown POV

Earlier that evening, Red Mask gets back to his house. A woman comes out to meet with him. “Did you do what you said you would?” The woman asks him. “No I couldn’t. That little bitch interfered before I could pull the trigger on the both of them.” Red Mask replies. “What little bitch?” The woman asks him.
“Gina Rossi. That’s who.” Red Mask replies. “We’ll have to get rid of them another way then.” The woman says. “How? They killed more than half of my men now. I barely made it out alive with these two behind me.” Red Mask replies as he points to the men standing behind him. “Plus the cops are all over Marcus’s place now.” Red Mask says. “You just let me worry about the cops. I just came out here to tell you that your father wants to meet with us in his office.” The woman says. “What the hell does he want now.” Red Mask says as he enters the house with the woman following behind him.

They head up the stairs towards an office. A man with dark hair and sunglasses turns around in his chair just as Red Mask and the woman enter his office. “You wanted to see us dad?” Red Mask asks. “Yes. I just got word that Lawrence Smith was arrested for murder.” The man says. “Shit. How bad is it?” Red Mask asks.

“Pretty bad. They found five bodies in his basement.” The man replies. “That asshole is going to rat us out to the cops.” Red Mask says. “No he won’t because he knows that we’ll kill him. And besides he doesn’t know what we look like and what our names are. He knows nothing.” The man says.

“But what I really want to talk to you about is the shit that you tried to pull tonight. You got my best men killed!” The man yells at Red Mask. “It wasn’t my fault that the bitch interfered! I would have pulled the trigger on Marcus and Mateo if she hadn’t come along.” Red Mask yells back at him.

“I told you to not kill Marcus until I say so! Now the captain of the LAPD is upping the security at Marcus’s house. He put officers there that aren’t on our payroll!” The man replies. “I told you that it was a bad idea but no you wouldn’t listen to me.” The woman says as she points at Red Mask. “You shut the fuck up you whore!” Red Mask yells at her.

“Hey she’s right. You should have listened to her but instead you follow your own stupid ideas. Just like you did when you killed Andreas Castellano.” The man yells at him. “Hey I still got the job done. That was our plan!” Red Mask yells at him. “Yeah and then you got rid of his body by throwing it in some lake before anybody could find him. You messed up the plan!” The man says. “Yeah whatever. I did what you told me to do.” Red Mask replies.

“You fucked up. That’s what you did. You better hope that they don’t figure anything else out because our asses are on the line. You stay out of this until I tell you otherwise.” The man says as he points at Red Mask. “But dad…” Red Mask starts speaking. “No but dad. I’ve had enough of your shit. I’ll take care of Marcus Castellano my way.” The man says as he looks at the woman.

“As for you. Tomorrow I want you to dress up nicely and pay Captain Baldwin a visit at the precinct. You know what to do.” The man says to her as he slaps her ass. “Ugh disgusting.” Red Mask says as he turns around to leave. “Get out.” The man says to Red Mask.

“Gladly. I don’t want to see you fucking that trash.” Red Mask replies as he leaves the room.

“The old man thinks I’m going to do as he says. He’s got another thing coming.” Red Mask whispers.

Gina POV
“What the hell.” I say I wake up screaming. I just had a nightmare. The same one like the one I had a few nights ago only this time it was more vivid. I felt like someone was drowning me while my hands and feet were tied up.. I look around and the room is ice cold and the windows are frozen. Like thin pieces of ice are sticking to it. I can even see my breath coming out of my mouth. That’s how cold it is.

As I look at the foot of my bed, I see the shadowy figure standing there again. “So this is your doing.” I say as I look around the room. I’ve never experienced anything like this before tonight. This ghost must be a something special that he can pull something off like this.

“I’m going to ask you again and I hope that this time I will get an answer. Are you Andreas Castellano?” I ask the figure as I switch on the light on the nightstand. The figure starts moving around a lot and then it gets clearer before it’s arms and legs starts bursting through an invincible barrier. It manages to fully break free from the barrier while water splashes all over the floor.

I can see that it is a man but he’s now standing with his back to me. “Turn around.” I ask the spirit. The spirit starts turning around and as I suspected, it really is Andreas Castellano that has been trying to communicate with me. “Mr. Castellano?” I say and he nods at me. I look at the clothes on his body and I notice that they are the same ones from the clip on the fake video but they are all wet.

“You weren’t stabbed somebody drowned you didn’t they?” I ask him. He tries to say something but when he opens his mouth, water starts coming out. “You were trying to show me.” I say just as the door flies open and Marcus comes running in. “Babe are you okay? I heard you screaming.” Marcus asks me. “Yeah I’m fine. It was just a bad dream.” I reply. “Why is it so cold in here?” Marcus asks as he looks at the frozen windows. “How in the hell did that happen?” Marcus asks as he points to the iced up windows. He gets up and walks over to the heater to switch it on.

A ghost did it but how do I tell him that? “Uhm Marcus. Was your dad buried or cremated?” I ask him. “He was buried.” Marcus replies. “Was the funeral open casket or closed casket?” I ask him. “Closed casket. Nobody was allowed to see my dad’s body. Not even me.” Marcus says. “Who arranged the funeral?” I ask. “Armando Garcia. The VP of Castellano Holdings.” Marcus replies. “The one that’s missing in action?” I ask.

“Yeah the one that stole money from the company and made me take the fall for it. The one who called my dad his friend and who also said that I was like a son to him. The piece of shit.” Marcus replies. “He was the one that made you sign those documents.” I say as I look at Andreas, he has an angry look on his face. “I promise you that we’ll find him. I already got my guys out looking for him.” I say.
“Yeah and when I see him again, I’m going to punch that piece of shit in the face. Armando was like family and I can’t understand how he could do this to me.” Marcus says.
“We need to exhume your dad’s body and take another autopsy report.” I say and Marcus gives me another confused look. “Why?” He asks and I sigh.
“Marcus I have something to tell you.” I say as he walks back over to me. He sits on the bed and then wraps his arms around me. “Babe you’re so cold. Let me get you a jacket.” Marcus says as he gets up and walks over to the closet. He takes out a jacket and then walks back to the bed.

“I know that your dad wasn’t stabbed to death. Someone drowned him in the pool.” I say and Marcus gives me a confused look. “How do you know that?” Marcus asks me. And here it goes. The moment of truth. I have to tell Marcus my secret and I don’t know how he is going to react.

“Because your dad showed me.” I say. “That’s impossible.” He says. I look over the end of the bed and Andreas is still standing there. “Not impossible. Remember earlier you asked me if I believe in ghosts? And I told you that I said no.” I say. “Yeah.” Marcus replied. “I lied. I do believe in ghosts because I can see them.” I say and then Marcus starts laughing. “No way.” He says.

“Yes way and you’re father is standing right there.” I say as I point to the end of the bed. Marcus looks to where I’m pointing at and he shakes his head. “Babe there’s nothing there.” Marcus says. “It’s true. I’m not lying.” I say. “Okay I believe you.” Marcus says. I look at him and I know that he thinks I’m crazy. He has that look on his face.

“No you don’t. And I’ll prove it to you.” I say to him before I turn my attention towards Andreas. I noticed earlier that there was another photo of Marcus and his dad on the little book shelf in the room. “Were you the one who kept knocking the photos over in the house?” I ask Andreas. He tries to answer me but again there’s only water that is coming out of his mouth so he just nods at me again.

“Go and knock that photo over. Just like you do the others.” I say as I point to the photo on the bookshelf. “I don’t see how this is going to prove that ghosts exists?” Marcus says. “I just told your father to go over there and do as I say. Maybe then you’ll believe me.” I reply. “Okay.” Marcus says. Andreas walks over to the bookshelf. He reaches his hand over to the photo before tipping it over with his fingers.

I turn to look at Marcus. He has a shocked look on his face. “Is it really my dad?” Marcus asks. “Yes. I told you it’s him. He’s been visiting you a lot.” I say as I look at Andreas as he smiles at Marcus. “Why didn’t you just tell me that you could see ghosts?” Marcus asks. “Because people would think that I’m crazy.” I reply.

“I would never think that. I just wished you would have told me.” Marcus says as he wraps his arms around me. “I miss you dad.” Marcus says. “I know he misses you too.” I say. “Dad what happened to you? Who killed you?” Marcus asks. “You’re dad because there’s water coming out of his mouth. I only saw how he died but I didn’t see by who.” I say to Marcus as I look at Andreas. “Do you remember who killed you?” I ask him. He nods at me.

“Can you show me like you did earlier?” I ask him and he nods at me again. He asks me to come closer to him by motioning with his fingers. I get up off the bed and I walk closer to him. Andreas wants to put his hand on my head but suddenly the walls starts shaking and then the room starts getting darker.

“What’s happening?” Marcus asks as he grabs hold of my arm to keep me from falling. “I don’t know.” I say just as a black figure starts coming out of the shadows. Andreas looks at it and starts mouthing the word no. The black figure storms towards him and they both slam against the wall before disappearing. The windows rattle from the impact. “What the hell was that?” Marcus asks me.

“Some black figure came and took your dad away before he could show me who killed him.” I reply. “Why?” Marcus asks.

“I think someone or something is trying to stop your dad and us from catching the real killer.” I say. “Fuck. That was intense.” Marcus says as he pulls me closer to him. “I’m sorry that I didn’t believe you earlier.” Marcus says. “I know you didn’t so that’s why your dad and I had to prove to you that ghosts really do exist.” I say as I look up at him
“First thing tomorrow morning, I’m calling the city council to ask permission to exhume your dad’s body.” I say. “I don’t think we’ll get anything done tomorrow because it’s Sunday. Nobody will be at the offices.” Marcus says. “I know but I have to try. The sooner we get this done the sooner we’ll have the results that we need. I also need to call Gavin and hear of he managed to get the footage from the other camera.” I say.

“Okay. I just wish my dad could have stayed a little longer.” Marcus says. “He’ll be back.” I say making Marcus smile at me.
“Now I know why you were always talking to yourself.” Marcus says as he kisses me on the forehead. I used to talk to ghosts all the time when I thought no one was watching. “You saw me?” I ask. “Yeah. At school when we were younger. Remember you used to wait for me in the parking lot after I had football practice. I always saw you bending down on your knees and it looked like you were petting something invincible.” Marcus says.

Now I remember. There was always this ghost dog that used to hang around our high school and he used to run up to me while I was waiting for Marcus to finish football practice. I used to pet him when no one was around. Clearly I was wrong about that.

“Yeah about that. It was a ghost dog that used to hang around school.” I say. “Really?” Marcus asks. “Yes really. I called him Scout.” I say. “Do you think that Scout is still there?” Marcus asks. “I don’t know. Maybe. I can’t help him cross over because he’s a dog.” I say. “You help people cross over with your gift?” Marcus asks me.

“Yes and that’s what I love most about this job. I helped Amanda cross over earlier.” I say earlier. “Whose Amanda?” Marcus asks me. “She’s one of Lawrence Smith’s victims and she’s also Detective Luke Hanson’s sister.” I say. “Wait was she here this morning with Lawrence?” Marcus asks me as he turns around towards the bed. “Jip. Right here in your house.” I say. “And she was the one that lead you to those bodies?” Marcus says and I nod at him.

“Damn you got connections girl.” Marcus says. “I told you.” I reply. “Let’s get back to bed and I’m sleeping on that side of the bed. I’m not leaving you alone again.” Marcus says.