The next morning Melinda was walking across the square towards her store when she noticed that there was a sign up in front of the Grand View Theater. "Tonight. Judy Shepard on: The Legacy of Matthew Shepard. This coming Saturday: The Laramie Project."

"Mom!" came Matthew's voice.

Melinda shrieked and whirled around to find Matthew standing beside her. "Matt!" she said, "You startled me!"

"Sorry," Matthew said quickly. He looked at the sign and then back at Melinda. "Do you think you could help me talk to my parents?"

"I can try," Melinda said. "I'll go to the talk and meet you at the theater. We'll talk to your mother afterwards."

"Okay," Matthew said, then vanished.

Melinda continued on and entered the store. She stopped when she saw two police officers standing in the middle of the room. Delia was behind the counter. "May I help you?" Melinda asked uncertainly.

One of the police officers stepped forwards. "We just stopped by to give you the reward money," he said.

"Reward money?" Melinda echoed, taking the check.

"The two young men who were beating up on Kirk Jenson were escaped convicts, Miss Gordon," the other police officer said. "There was a reward for whoever gave the police the lead that led to their re-arrest."

"Who were they, anyway?" Delia asked.

"Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson," the first police officer answered.

Delia's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh," she said. "Those are the two men who escaped just a few days ago, aren't they?"

"Yes, ma'am," the second one said. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to be going." And with that the two of them left the store.

"Excuse me," came the voice of Rick. Melinda looked up just in time to see him press himself against the door frame to allow the second police officer to pass. "Never play around with a police officer," he said. "They have guns." With that he squinted one eye and pretended to pull a trigger on an imaginary gun pointed at Delia, and said, "Pow!" Melinda and Delia rolled their eyes. "I just heard the news that mis Melinda here is famous," he added. "Found the two dorks who escaped from federal prison, and, I see…" he looked closely at Melinda's check, his eyes widened, and he whistled before continuing, "…received quite the chunk of change for it, too! Maybe I'll go hunting after criminals. That's more money than I see in a years time."

"I didn't do it alone, Rick," Melinda said. "Matthew helped me."

"Matthew who?" Delia and Rick chorused.

"Matthew Shepard," Melinda said.

"The ghost of the guy who was killed?" Rick exclaimed, eyes wide.

"Yeah," Melinda answered.

"Whoa!" Rick exclaimed. "Has he been following the guys around or something?"

"I think he has," Melinda said, "At least, after they escaped."

"Now they're caught and he's gone, right?" Rick asked.

"Wrong," Melinda said.

"He didn't…go to the dark side…did he?" Rick asked.

Melinda shook her head, "No," she said. "He just wants a chance to talk to his family one more time before he goes. We're going to the talk given by his mother so he can do that." Rick started to say something and Melinda cut him off, "Alone," she said.

Rick pouted. "Okay," he said. Then he looked at his watch. "Well, I would sure like to hang around and chat, but I have to scoot. Have a class to get to in ten minutes. Bye!" With that, he left.