The last time that Melinda had checked her watch it was already 12:15 and still Rick wasn't there.

"I wonder if he got held up in traffic." Delia spoke starling Melinda. There hadn't been a noise in the store in 10 minutes.
"What traffic Dels? This is Grandview." Melinda said laughing slightly.
"That's true."

Silence came over the little store again as they quit talking to wait on Rick to get there.
Melinda sat and played solitaire on her laptop while Delia sat across the store from her and flipped through a book, that she wasn't actually reading. Delia wouldn't admit it, but she was worried about Melinda. Delia didn't really believe in ghosts, but she said she would keep an open mind for Melinda's sake and occasionally come along with her on her 'adventures'. Her and Melinda had quickly become friends when they had first met. They had been through a lot together already and Delia found herself worrying about her friend more than usual lately. She wouldn't tell Jim or Melinda that though, because Melinda would just brush off her concern saying that she could handle the ghosts and it would just make Jim worry about Melinda even more. The last time that Melinda had been hurt, Jim had been frantic trying to find her and didn't calm down until they had actually found Melinda and he had her in his arms again. If he knew that Delia was worried about her friend then Jim wouldn't even let Melinda leave the house, even though they both knew that no matter where they stuck Melinda, the ghosts would find her when they needed her help and that there wasn't anything that they could do to stop the ghosts from finding where Melinda was 'hiding' at.

By 12:25 Melinda was starting to get a bit worried and as she picked up her cell phone to call him, who should walk through the door? None other than Rick himself, arguing with himself about possession.

"You okay?" Melinda asked him when she noticed he wasn't on the phone, but arguing with himself and not someone else.
"Yeah fine." Rick responded noticing Melinda and Delia staring at him oddly.

"So what did you need to talk to me about?" Melinda asked.
Rick got a confused look on his face like he didn't know what she was talking about.

After a moment or two of silence, his eyes glazed over a bit and his face contorted and it looked like he was trying to fight something off that was over-taking him.
"He knows that you're trying to help her. He's sending Shadow after you. She's a sniper. You've been warned."

Then just as suddenly, Ricks eyes came back to focus and his face looked like he had won an internal war.

Delia looked at Melinda strangely and Melinda returned the look.

"What do you know about Amber Hagerman?" Melinda asked Rick trying to break the strange silence that had come over the three people.
"Not much actually." Rick replied. "I know her killer hasn't ever been caught and that anyone that has gotten close to finding her killer has died. And that she was only 8 years old when she was abducted from a Winn Dixie parking lot and killed. That's about it though. Why?" He asked curiously.
"No reason." Melinda responded quietly.

"I've got to go." Melinda said after a moment of thinking. "Call me if you need me." She told Delia and Rick before rushing out of the store without ever saying good-bye.

--

Melinda ran out to her car. She took off slowly so that she could make sure her breaks still worked. She had an odd sense of foreboding. She thought for sure that something bad was going to happen in the next week. Her breaks were fine though. As she was driving over to the library to do a bit of research her mind wondered off. 'Who's Shadow?' was the only thing running through her mind over and over again. The only thing she knew about her was that she was a sniper. She didn't know what Shadow looked like, what her real name was, where she was from, or anything. She realized that she had made it to the library and pulled into the parking lot and parked her car.

Walking into the library she wondered how she would find out who this Shadow was when she didn't have anything to go on. 'I'll talk to the ghosts.' She thought to herself.

The first thing she noticed when she walked into the records room was that the old man wasn't sitting at the desk in front. Thinking that it was odd, but brushing it off easily enough, she just walked to the darkened section of the records room where she knew she would find some spirits around.

"I thought I told you to stay out of here." Said a particular ghost. One that knew everything about the records place and just the spirit that Melinda had been looking for.
"I know what you told me." Melinda responded, "But I need your help."
He stared at her for a moment before saying, "You're looking for help about Shadow."
"Yes." Melinda told him not thinking that it was strange that he knew who and what she needed help on.
"She's good." He replied, "One of the best assassins out there. Everyone wants to hire her when they want someone killed. She only works with certain people though. Usually murderers. She doesn't like to take out people for cheating on their husbands or wives. She has morals."
"Oh wow, an assassin with morals." Said Melinda.
"Do you want my help or not?" Asked the ghost.
"Of course." Melinda replied sweetly.
"Then shut your trap and listen up because I'm not repeating any of this for you."
When he knew that Melinda wasn't going to speak again, he continued on with what he knew about Shadow, this assassin that wanted Melinda dead, the assassin with morals.