Suggestion

“I… don't have much in the way of good news.” The detective takes a breath, "The law isn't always kind. Your body, with matching fingerprints, dental records, ID… and oh yes, identified by your boss by sight… is sitting in the morgue. Your **** certificate will likely be officially issued today or tomorrow. Your work will be unable to pay you shortly, as the Social Security Administration and the IRS will soon have you filed as ‘dead’. Your landlord will rent out your apartment to someone else. Your bank will freeze your accounts pending an inheritor coming forward to claim them, and eventually hand over the funds to unclaimed property with the state. You have a few days, maybe a week, to gather up what scraps of your life you can before everything falls apart. You can carry things… I would advise closing all your bank accounts and maxing out your credit cards on instant cash ASAP. Talk to… you won't be able to pay a therapist easily… maybe a good priest?... to try and sort out why you're still here. Visit your friends, say goodbye…” the man shrugs.

“...thanks. Umm… can you delay the **** certificate? I'd like to cash in my ROTH if it won't be mine shortly, and…”

“...it wouldn't be the first time I asked a coroner to delay the paperwork as part of an investigation. I can buy you an extra week or two, sure,” the man opens his phone and sends a text, “...there. Copied his boss, too. I mostly do that when I think delaying news that the person's dead will make the perp relax and be easier to catch, but ultimately I'm just asking him to shift some priorities around and do other work first. It's no trouble… he WILL process your corpse eventually, though.”

“Thank you…” the woman pauses, “I suppose I should go home and start closing out my life… how am I going to… I don't even know how to phrase this.”

The detective pauses, “Off the record?”

“My testimony is apparently worthless anyway.”

“Corner of eighth and main, there's a six-twelve gas station…” the detective digs what looks like a poker chip from a pocket, “Betsy has the late shift Monday through Friday. Give her this, tell her Dan sent you and is calling it in. She runs a cash only side business and can help you with your ID. It's going to take her a few days, and won't pass muster if anyone goes looking for the original paper… but it'll be good enough to rent an apartment and get a job most places. Needless to say….”

“I won't spread it around” the woman sticks three fingers out, bringing her pinky and thumb together, raises the hand from her pelvis to her neck, down to the center of her chest, then goes left, right, center again, and back down where she relaxes the hand, “I get that you sometimes need contacts that aren't entirely in the light to get the bad actors.”

“Great… I'll walk you out,” the man shakes his head, “at least now I know I can close the case as an industrial accident.”

The two head up, and the detective adds, “By the way… there's a lot of things that only bind you because you believe they do: Walls and gravity are pretty big ones. With practice you should be able to fly and walk through walls.”

Wendy blinks, “How? Also… how do you…”

“Look, I work homicide,” the detective begins, “it's not the most common thing in the world, but there's enough people that gather up the emotional energy needed to hang on to the material world for a time that I run into ‘em. Few are very coherent - they're all utterly obsessed with SOMETHING… except you. ‘Normally’ - as much as ghosts can be called ‘normal’ - the strength of the ghost corresponds very well to the strength of their obsession. A ghost that's calm enough to carry on an actual conversation is going to be barely there: Invisible in the light, unable to move a feather, and transparent when visible at all. Meanwhile, a ghost with enough strength to open a door and be seen in the sun is going to be so crazy as to try and kill anyone who comes close to their obsession. You seem perfectly sane, and yet so strong that you seem to be alive. That just doesn't happen… but here we are. Still: Everything else is the same. Bullets whiz right though you because you don't choose to interact with them: With a little practice, that will also apply to things you can actually see, too. To start… you should probably close your eyes when stepping through walls, possibly back through them. For flying, picture invisible steps in front of you, maybe.”

“So it's all about tricking myself?” The ghost considers.

“At first. Young ghosts walk everywhere and close their eyes to go through walls. Old ghosts…” he pauses and shudders, “...not so much.”

The winter wonder woman puts things together, “You've seen ghosts kill.”

“...yeah. He reached in, grabbed her heart, and…” the detective takes a breath, “...and in the end, I had to give the ghost exactly what he wanted to get rid of him. May he rot in the hell.”

Wendy wonders about the obvious, “Couldn't you just have a priest exorcise him?”

“I tried it. It worked, but not in a way that I was comfortable with,” The Detective Dan Ger takes a breath, “**** him out of that house and kept him from coming back… but that just resulted in an angry spirit that wandered nearby rather than stayed in one place. He went after everyone who reminded him of his killer, even slightly.”

“So how….” Winter starts, and trails off.

“I solved his **** well enough for my own conscience,” The man takes a breath, “convinced a judge that a specific guy in for armed robbery was going to be useful for that investigation, and… well, the killing stopped after that.”

“Hmm.” ‘Not sure how I feel about that….’ the cold ghost thinks, “anything I should watch out for?”

“Yes: Cold iron… or rather, North Pointing Iron.” The man shrugs as they reach the door of the police building, “It was an old translation problem when dealing with damaged manuscripts. The symbols for ‘cold’ and ‘north’ in the original language were almost identical and…” he trails off at the look on Wendy's face, “...and is of no interest to most people. Anyway… avoid magnets. A fast moving magnet hitting your form will disrupt you temporarily. They can't really kill you: Small disruptions will fade after a few hours, and if you're fully disrupted you'll just reform back at your old haunts after a few days…” he grins, “...but I have it on good authority that it really hurts.” He pauses, “Umm, do you need a ride home, or…”

“I'm fine,” Wendy shakes her head, “I know how to use the bus, and I'm not in a hurry. Go get the villains.”

Detective Dan nods, and heads back into to the building….