Page 18 of Ghost Hunters 2

Chapter Nine

“Could this be what’s held you and the Inn in limbo all these years?” Jillian asked Tilly. “This alliance?”

“Yes, I think so,” Tilly said.

“What difference can that bag really make though?” Dino asked Jillian while still sceptical.

Jillian shrugged and put the items back into the bag. “I’m not an expert, Dino.”

“Because for the first time in forty years the bag isn’t buried anymore,” Bane explained. “Whatever time loop this dark aura guy put on the Inn won’t be in place this year. If the fire consumes the Inn again, this time it will be for real.”

Jillian stared at him. “Then it will be gone forever?”

He nodded. “Sorry about your wasted investment but the land will still be here.”

Jillian sighed. “Ok so right now he doesn’t know we have the pouch. So we have one more day to find a way around the fire.”

“There is one more thing we have to do before the fire happens,” Tilly stated.

“You mean besides running away?” Dino quipped.

“Not going to work,” Bane cut in again.

Dino looked over at him. “And why not?”

“I got a call from your grandfather, Frank. He said they...” Bane paused and shook his head. “Couldn’t get here.”

“From town?” Jillian asked Bane. “What happened?”

“They get to the road you turn on to come up the drive and then they are back out on the county highway. He said the girls went on foot and then they also ended up back at the SUV.”

Dino stared at him. “What? That makes no sense.”

“It does,” Matthew spoke up. “Remember what I experienced. All those years ago? I kept trying to get here and couldn’t. Like I was stuck in this never-ending loop.”

“It is too close to the fire date now,” Tilly said.

“Exactly.” Matthew nodded in agreement.

“I need to talk to Claire before it all happens,” Tilly said. “I want her to know that I forgive her for her part in what happened to me.”

Matthew hugged her then looked into her eyes. “Can you really do that? Forgive her? She brought us so much trouble.”

Tilly raised her hands and placed them on either side of his face. “My darling man, I know Claire has done many things wrong in her life, I won’t say that she hasn’t, but she isn’t malicious. She just never thought things through all the way.” She glanced over at Jillian. “Part of what’s kept this loop going is the fact that Claire feels responsible for this mess. She feels guilty that she allowed George to take over. She has to know that I can forgive her.”

“I don’t know why that would be important to you. After all, she did contribute to your death,” Dino told them.

“Forgiveness, son,” Bane interjected. “It is the ultimate gift.”

Dino again glared at his ex-hitman father. “And how would you know anything about it?”

“I was forgiven by my first wife for sins that were darker than I care to speak of. She had the capacity to forgive the things I did. It then helped me to try to be a man that deserved her forgiveness. Then my personal take on it also makes sense. Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die.”

Jillian burst into laughter.

Dino whipped his head around to stare at her.

She shrugged and defended her amusement, “Come on, it was funny! My mom had the same opinion about forgiving people. She used to tell me that forgiveness says you are given another chance to make a new beginning.”