The Ghosts Of New Orleans (A PARANORMAL RESEARCH AND CONTAINMENT DIVISION (PRCD) CASE FILE) Read Free

sunset on the horizon. She slowly turned,
amazed that he remained standing so near.
    “You are English, yes?” he asked quietly, his eyes never leaving the
horizon.
    Eloise nodded, “Yes, yes I am English. American.”
    The eye that she could see seemed kindly, the dark brown depths
surrounded by well-earned wrinkles.
    “You come to help us?”
    “Yes, I hope to help,” she answered, “I hope to bring you peace.”
    He shook his head sadly. “No peace, no peace for my home.”
    “Where is your home?” Eloise insisted, “I could help…”
    Then he turned to her and she gasped involuntarily. The side of his
face that had been hidden from her view was missing.  Only a gaping hole
remained where it should have been.
    “I have no home. I sleep in the waters,” he shook his head sadly once
again and faded from her sight.
    The audio on her meter was silenced. 
    “If only he had faith,” she whispered as she started her engine, put the
SUV into reverse and drove away.

Chapter Two
    Strains of Sarah McLachlan’s “ I Will Remember You,” poured out of
the mobile headquarters of the PRCD when Eloise opened the door.  The
refurbished top-of-the-line motor home interior was dark, the only light coming
from the various instruments stacked on shelving on either side of the home.
Because they needed sleeping quarters for three and a bathroom area, the
office/lab space was condensed into a small 8 x 8 foot space.  However, every
inch, from floor to ceiling had been utilized with the most high-tech equipment
available.
    Sally Dawson, the agency research guru, sat crossed-legged in an office
chair leaning forward into the blue light emanating from her computer.  Her
spiked black hair with fuchsia highlights almost glowed in the light. Her black
t-shirt and black jeans nearly made her body disappear into the confines of the
black leather chair.  As Eloise watched, Sally blindly reached over to her
tissue box, pulled out a tissue, blotted her eyes and blew her nose.
    Eloise hurried to the desk.
    “Sal, what’s wrong?” 
    Sally looked up, a line of black mascara running down her cheek, and she
pointed wordlessly to the screen.   Eloise turned her attention to the screen
where photos of dogs abandoned during the flooding flashed onto the screen in
time to Sarah’s melodic voice.
    “Isn’t that the saddest thing you have ever seen?” Sally asked with a
sob.
    Instantly Eloise’s mind went back to the picture of Andy’s mother
crumpling in sorrow at her doorway. She shook her head to clear it of the
memory.
    “Yeah, Sal, it sure is.”
    Sally blew her nose once more and then really looked at Eloise. 
    “You look beat,” she said, as she clicked her mouse to close the site
with the dog photos, “You okay?”
    Eloise shrugged. “Yeah, rough day at the office,” she smirked.
    She dropped her shoulder harness and backpack on the empty desk next to
Sally and then laid a manila envelope on a stack of more envelopes.
    Sally looked at the envelope and then at Eloise.
    “Did he resist?”
    Eloise sighed, fought for the sadness to remain below the surface and
then said calmly, “No, he was fine.  He was good. He had family waiting.”
    Sally grinned.
    “Then it’s okay.”
    Eloise nodded, thinking back to the poor woman whose life would never be
the same.
    “Yeah, it was okay. So, any messages for me?” she asked, changing the
subject.
    Sally nodded and reached for a pile of printouts in an inbox next to the
computer.
    “Mostly it’s the usual stuff – memos from headquarters,” Sally said,
reading the titles of the memos. “Expenditures, reimbursements, increases,
health insurance information, annual reviews. Do you want any of this stuff?”
    Eloise grimaced. “Can you file it for now?” she asked.
    Sally smiled, nodded and dumped the pile in the garbage.
    Eloise was startled. “Really, I wanted you to file it,” she said.
    “Not to worry, this is the government we work for; we’ll be