"Casey Daniels - Pepper Martin 01 - Don of the Dead" - читать интересную книгу автора (Daniels Casey)

"But I'm proving to you that I'm not. By showing you this here birthmark."

I still didn't get it. I guess the spacey look on my face spoke volumes.

Gus made a sound like a growl. "Once you check into it, you'll find out that birthmark is real and then
you'll know I'm not one of them there figments because your mind couldn't make up something that you
don't know nothing about.Capisce ?"

I did. I think. "You mean that when I know the birthmark is real, I'll know that you're really aтАФ"

"A ghost. Yeah."
 The fact that it all made so much sense only made me feel shakier than ever. I dropped back into my
chair. I propped my elbows on my desk and cradled my chin in my hands. I tried to work through the
whole thing logically but I couldn't get from Point A to Point B because I couldn't get past Point A.
"What's up with that, anyway?" I asked Gus. "How come I'm the only one who can see you?"

He looked up at the ceiling. Like he was praying for patience. "Don't you get it? You fell. And hit your
head onтАФ"

"On your mausoleum." The blood drained from my face. It left me feeling chilled. "You mean because I
smacked my head on your graveтАФ"

"You're the only one lucky enough to be able to see me."

"It's weird."

"I don't make the rules. And let me tell you, I don't like it. Used to be better in the old days when I had
final say."

"Then who does?" It wasn't like I thought I could talk whoever was in charge into changing anything. But
somehow, I hoped I might be able to get a better handle on how it all worked. "If somebody can make
me see you, then somebody can make you go away. Right?"

Gus laughed. Not like it was funny. More like he'd never heard anything so stupid. "Let me tell you the
way I understand things." He sat back down and leaned forward, pinning me with the sort of look I
imagined had intimidated more than one mobster in its day.

"Most of the dead are just that. Dead. They're here. They're gone. Over and done with. You know what
I mean?" He didn't wait for me to say that I pretty much did. "But then there's me," he said, "and I've got
what you might call some unfinished business."

"And the unfinished business is why you've been hanging around for thirty years?"

He pointed his index finger at me and brought his thumb down on it. Like he was shooting a gun. He
winked. "You got it, baby. The way I understand this thing, I can't leave until all the unfinished business in
my life is settled. And let me tell you something, I'm sick to deathтАФyou'll excuse the expressionтАФof
hanging around this place. Nothing but a bunch of stiffs and not one of them interesting."

"And you're looking to pass on. Or pass over. Or go to the light or whatever they call it."