Sam slowly followed the old man as he hobbled into the kitchen.
"You'll have to forgive me," he said politely "my hip went out a few years ago and I'm not very light on me feet any more."
"That's all right." Part of Sam had wanted to ask if he really thought she cared, but it was hard to be acidic towards someone who could easily be a grandfather.
"I suppose you're wondering why you're here."
"That's putting it mildly," Sam retorted.
"Sit down." He gestured towards a small kitchen table and she sat. "Coffee?" He held a pot aloft.
"That would be nice."
He poured her a large mug of thehot black liquid and set it down in front of her. Sam stared at the coffee for a moment without touching it.
"Is something the matter?"
"Um, do you have any milk and sugar?"
"Oh, of course!" The old man sounded as if he'd just had just had a murder mystery solved for him. Within moments a carton of milk and a large container plastic sugar container were set on the table along with a tea spoon. "Now, where do I begin? Where do I begin?" He muttered as heshuffled around the kitchen grabbing things for breakfast.
"Well, you could start with your name."
He placed a large loaf of bread and a knife on the table and stuck his hand out towards Sam. "My name is Quentin Heine. But most people just call me Heine."
Sam took the proffered rough hand and shook it. "Sam Manson."
Heinecontinued shufflingaroundfor a bit longer while hemumbled to himself incoherently. Sam wasn't sure if he was talking to her or not so she kept quiet and sipped her coffee watching him carefully. After returning with hard boiled eggs, jam, cheese, and plates, he finally creakingly settled into his own chair.
"So now that, we've gotten the names out of the way, what do I tell you first?" He gestured towards the food in front of him. "Help yourself! You must be starving after your flight last night!"
Sam eyed the loaf of bread in front of her. She was dying to know what this man had to say but she could feel her stomach rumbling. "Thank you," she said reaching forward to cut herself a piece of bread. "First of all why don't you tell me where I am?"
"Montana." The old man said helping himself to bread and eggs. He chewed for a moment and then turned his attention to his coffee.
Sam tried to be patient but it looked like he wasn't about to volunteer any more information. "Would you mind being more specific?"
"I'm sorry?"
"I mean, Montana's pretty big. Where in Montana am I?"
"Oh!" He cried again as if another great mystery had been solved. "You'll have to forgive me, I'm terrible with people. I'm much better with ghosts. You arein my home. On my ranch, fifty miles North of Hardin. It's not much of a ranch, though. I'm too old to manage cows or even take care of a couple of chickens." He seemed genuinely apologetic about this.
"And how did I magically appear here?"
"Well," Heine sighed focusing on the coffee cup cradled in his worn hands. "You have your boyfriend to thank for that. Or at least he was your boyfriend. He's dead now. But I suppose you know that. Tell me, how did it happen?" He looked at Sam curiously.
"Accident in his parents' lab." Sam replied.
"Ahh. Tragic, I'm sure. Well, as you know- or perhaps you don't, in which case I suppose this whole incident is much more of a shock to you- after he died, he became a ghost and an extremely powerful one at that. I discovered him a few months ago when a couple of my pets, a pair of mountain lion ghosts, ran into him while running errand for me. I became very curious about him and when I had to let one of my ghosts go I decidedI shouldseek him out. I sent my lions back to find him, just so I could see what he could do, and honestly I wasn't in the least disappointed."
"What do you mean, 'your ghosts?'" Sam interjected.
"I'm an aamil." The man shrugged as if he had just said, 'I'm a plumber.' "I collect spectral artifacts and manipulate ghosts. It's really nothing remarkable, mostly a matter of practice. All you needare the right tools and the right know-how. Most ghosts are very weak-minded. I bring them into my power and then keep them there by offering the thing they are most fixated on. They get what they want and I get what I want. After a few years when their obsession has spent itself I let them go and they usually pass on. In fact it's probably best that they meet me. Being in my service tends to speed things up, I suppose." He started chuckling and Sam looked at him curiously. "But your boy, your boy, oh! I asked him what he wanted, what he thought about most and he wouldn't tell me." Heine shook his head. "It took me days to get him under my control. Do you realize that? Days! He's very strong, that one. Every time I thought I had him, he'd snap back." The old man got up and walked over to the coffee pot. "More coffee?"
Sam shook her head. "No, thank you."
Heine poured himself another cup of coffee and sipped contemplatively. Finally he sat back down. "What was I saying?
"You were telling me about asking Danny what he wanted."
"Oh yes, that." Heine sipped at his coffee for another moment. "He wouldn't tell me. It was as simple as that. Finally, I asked him if he could find it and bring it back. That seemed to set a spark in him, so I told him to do just that. He left yesterday and now," he gestured at Sam, "here you are."
"What are you going to do with me?"
"I'm not sure."
"Well," Sam was suddenly hopeful. Heine seemed odd but there was the possibility that he wasn't malicious, slim though it may have been. "Why don't you drive me to the nearest town? I can contact my parents and get home from there."
To her surprise, Heine laughed. He laughed loudly and violently, grabbing the edge of the table for support.
"I'm sorry, darling. I can't do that," he said finally calming down. "If I let you go we'll have a very angry and very powerful phantasm on our hands and that is something neither of us wants to deal with. No, you'll stay here."
Sam looked out the window, wondering if she could walk the fifty miles to the nearest town.
"And don't think of running away, either," he said, practiacally reading her mind. First of all its fifty miles to town and almost none of it is on the highway. Chances are you would have to walk the entire distance, since most of it is dirt road and a good chunk of it on my property. You won't be hitching a ride out here. Secondly, it would most likely seriously upset your friend and neither of us wants there." Heine grinned and Sam couldn't tell if it was because he amused or pleased with the situation.
"So what am I supposed to do?"
"You'll stay here, until we figure something out. You can have the run of the place, my house will be open to you. You'll make your boy happy because you don't want him upset and I don't want to lose my wunderkind. If we can get him to fixate on something else, then you can go. Until then, you will be a good girl, do you understand?" He leaned across the table, his eyes boring into Sam's.
"Because you do not want to rile me up."
Sam walked along the dirt road away from the house, a borrowed jacket pulled tightly around her. She was afraid to take off in any other direction, in case she lost sight of the house and got lost in the endless, unchanging plains landscape. Heine had suggested following a line of fence but she stuck by the road, anyway. The landmark made her feel more secure and she also wanted to see if the crazy old man had been telling the truth about the distance to town and paved roads.
The wind whipped around her hair and she kept her head down to keep the dust of the road from blowing into her eyes and mouth. As she walked she took stock of what she had learned. Heine could control ghosts but it seemed he couldn't do it with the same absolute power that Freakshow had been able to do. He was also mad as a hatter and even though he seemed nice, she was afraid he could be dangerous. And he didn't seem to be aware that Danny was only half ghost or that Sam was no stranger to ghosts herself. There were definitely cards she could play against him, should the time come.
One of the first things Sam had to do, she decided, was talk to Danny. She was supposed to "keep him happy" so she imagined she'd be left alone with him. If he wasn't buried too far in there, then maybe she'd be able to get through to him. In that case, staying was also in her favor.
Sam heard a screeching noise and looked at the sky trying to find its source. A pair of hawks were circling each other in the sky. The girl stood by the road, watching the large birds, marveling at how graceful and menacing they could be in the same moment. Then above the hawks she saw a pair of shapes streaking through the sky in the direction of the ranch house. It appeared that Danny had returned early.
