Following Christopher Creed (20 page)

Taylor was sitting close to me, and considering all she'd told me at the crime scene last night, I mumbled to her, "Is he behaving himself?"

"Well enough," she said with a sigh. "He's drinking a beer.
That
we can deal with."

I rolled my eyes, feeling helpless. Mary Ellen scooted around Justin and grabbed my arm, announcing to the harem, "This is Mike. He's blind. But he is very cool. Be nice to him or I will knock you senseless."

"Why?" asked a girl who was smoking with one hand and studying her nails on the other. "When was the last time you saw me be nice to anybody?"

"Last time I kicked your ass."

Unfortunately the girl took Mary Ellen's threat as a challenge. She got up, put her arms around my neck, and stroked the back of my head. It was pure sarcasm. She reminded me of Julia Stiles in some evil-chick movie role.

"Should I be nice to you?" She had snake eyes, full of bluster.

I felt RayAnn lose it beside me, sink down into a lawn chair, and mutter, "...like an episode of
Women Behind Bars.
"

I turned and found her eyes. In high school RayAnn had spent many a weekend going mountain climbing or hiking or skiing with a crew of a dozen or so homeschooled kids. But she told me she'd found herself at only three or four parties like this in all of her pre-college years. She'd said she preferred being in an outhouse with the door shut to the smell of stale cigarettes and stale brew. I had been at even less. One, I think. We'd been a coupla dorks. But once you get to college, it's all history, I tried to remind myself.

"You're on your own," she said hotly, "
si tu vis a rester ici avec ces perdants.
" If you really must stay here with these creatures.

I didn't feel like I had a choice at the moment. I unwrapped the girl's arms from my neck, realizing I could get her claws in my face next, but I was doing my best to hunt for where Justin was.

Behind me. He shoved the lawn chair into the back of my knees until I sat. The girl sat in my lap. "I don't understand why I should be nice to you," she said, flipping the bird in my face, probably something about Mary Ellen saying I was blind.

She was jerked up so quickly that she screamed. "
Ouch!
Tear out my hair, why don't you?"

"You want me to?" Justin twisted her arm around until she sat down on the rocks, cussing a blue streak. "Don't be stupid, Deanna. He's got a girlfriend here. He wants you as bad as he wants an STD. He
can
see, and he just saw what you did in his face. C'mon. Do it in
my
face."

"Just leave it alone," I suggested to him, seeing that he had probably scared the girl half to death.

Having Justin Creed in your face could be a bit shocking, but to my amazement this Deanna girl put her head on her knee and started crying, rubbing her sore and shocked head. I seemed to remember from high school that the meanest girls are the first to fall out when someone is mean to them.

Justin started explaining his behavior to me, though he rubbed her hair. "Ooops. I'm not watching again. Remember I said the counselors always told me I don't watch people? Not good with the details. Deanna, I only got about six of your hairs wrapped around my fingers! Here ... you want 'em back?"

She gave him a good piece of her mind, until he took both of her cheeks in his hands and kissed her on the forehead. "You're right about everything. You feel better now?"

He crawled back up onto his throne. My next problem was Mary Ellen, who didn't sit in my lap but knelt beside me and threw her arm around me like we were best friends.

"Mike got me to turn over a new leaf!" she announced loudly. "I'm not going to be a bitch anymore."

A thunder of clapping and laughter sounded off, and I realized we were surrounded by at least a dozen people.

"How'd you get her to do that?" Some guy raised a bottle to the moon for a swallow.

I didn't get the impression that these people found Mary Ellen especially mean. It was just one of those funny, mutual punch lines that everyone thinks of at once. Still, I sensed that a part of her wanted to be serious.

"Mike is a great listener. And he asks good questions. He made me realize that I have an evil side. And I don't want to have an evil side. So, I don't have to."

"Ooooh, let's test her out!" I recognized Kobe Lydee's voice and a sound like a steel-toed boot kicking a sneaker sole. He cracked up laughing, but it was way too hard a kick, and Mary Ellen screamed in pain.

I found Justin's face, the balls of his hands to his temples. "Children ... children!" he let go and yelled. "Apologize, Kobe, you moron!"

Kobe simply fell over on his side, howling with laughter at the sky.

"You broke my ankle, fool!"

"Let me see it!" Justin beckoned to her, and she skidded away from me up the rock until her foot was in his lap. "Who threw this party, eh?
Who
paid for all these refreshments, brought out these lawn chairs stolen from his own backyard, and lit these stinky torches?"

"You did ... you did..." voices chimed.

"Because I can take all my refreshments and buzz on out of here and end this thing as quickly as it started." The mood dropped from a twelve to about a four. "Why did I bring you all out here tonight?"

Nobody answered right away. He was looking down Mary Ellen's sock, asking her to wiggle her toes. He took her word for it that she could, as her foot was in a sneaker.

"It's a bruise," he said, rearranging her jeans back down over her sock and patting her calf. "You'll live."

"But it hurts!"

He stared around at everyone, opening his arms, and she fell into them.
Smooth, smooth. Who would have ever thought Chris Creed's brother?
These kids were well into whatever brew he had packed away down by the water, were dangerously unstable, but he told them to simmer down and they simply did it.
He got what he expected.
When he was among this many people, his mania made him seem like the leader, the life of the party. It appeared like a plus instead of a minus.

"I want everyone to have fun, but why are we here? Why do I need my friends around me right now?"

Nobody said anything.

"Hel-lo?" he tried again.

Mary Ellen finally answered. "Because some of us have been seeing lights. Across the field. Out in the woods."

I sensed heads turning, and I turned slowly to find the place that had lit up this afternoon.

"They're all looking at that same spot," RayAnn murmured. "Definitely we're not the only people to have seen it. There's nothing over there now."

"The foundation is still there," Kobe said, nudging me, "of the house where the Jersey Devil was born. The infamous home of Mother Leeds and her thirteenth child..."

"Did you
have
to bring him?" Justin asked Mary Ellen. "Dude! There is no Jersey Devil, and you are so lucky I'm so unsober. I will break
your
ankle later."

"I'm entitled to my free speech," Kobe said in a disarming voice. I didn't get the feeling either of them was looking for a fight.

"I saw the light this afternoon, and I have two witnesses." Justin pointed emphatically at RayAnn and me. I felt a lot of eyes on me and heard RayAnn saying "We did see a light."

There were some
ooooh
s and claps of approval, as if we had expertise of some sort. I didn't sense RayAnn bringing out her iPhone for further explanation, and that was a good thing, too. It occurred to me that Justin's friends had come to love him when he was slightly manic like this. His confidence was huge. It gave others confidence, not understanding that he was walking a tightrope.

"You know what
I
think that light is. Today I was totally positive I saw my brother over there, waving a lantern. I ran over and by the time I got there I was, like, doubting myself. What did you guys see?"

"It ... was weird," I said, and let it be. I felt torn, wanting to show him the frames RayAnn took and explain, but also wanting to protect him from devastation in front of his friends.

"I have good reason to think it is my brother. If my brother comes walking out of those woods tonight, I will need my friends around me, so they can tote me to the hospital when I have my heart attack. If my brother
doesn't
come walking out of those woods tonight, I will need my friends around me because I will be super depressed, and you can stop me from throwing myself in the water, okay?"

"What makes you think it's your brother?" one girl asked.

I took it some of these people did not have all the in
side scoop, because she asked seriously. Nobody who had the inside scoop laughed.

His jaw bobbed a couple times, and out of his mouth finally came "Because I tried quantum thought to bring him here. And then I get these two e-mails, and then people start seeing lights out in the woods. You can say quantum thought is not real all you want. But nobody can argue with how this happened.
He's out there. I can feel it.
"

He gazed at the spot where we'd seen the light, invisible to me now, over my left shoulder and across the field. I rolled my eyes privately.

"Can we ... go over there and search around?" the same girl asked.

"If you like water moccasins," Justin said. "I got lucky today, but I'm not trying it again unless we see those lights."

"What's a water moccasin?" RayAnn whispered to me.

"Poisonous snakes. Indigenous to New Jersey," I whispered back. I could tell she was staring at me, but I was staring at Justin.

"I understand there was a torrential downpour yesterday when I was still up at rehab. The field on that side of the woods turns into a swamp, and unless you've got army boots, you're likely to get an ankle full of venom."

"What are you going to do if you see him?" the girl asked. Good question.

Justin said, "If I see my brother, then I will know that quantum thought has worked. In that case, I will wish protection all over myself from the water moccasins, knowing I will receive it, because I got it the first time. I will simply run the hell over there."

I could hear Kobe mumbling under his breath, and this time Justin picked up on it.

"Look. Whoever thinks I'm loony tunes, go the fuck down by the water and get out of my personal space. I'm not kidding. I'm not laying a hand on anybody; just go. I don't want people's doubt mixing up with my belief and tainting it. Not tonight. If you're a doubter, I will be able to single you out if you hang around. And then I will knock the shit out of you."

It took about ten seconds for a couple of jackets to rustle, and maybe four or five people went down by the water, including Kobe. The rest stayed.

"So, what do we have to do now?" the same girl asked.

"Nothing," Justin said. "It's all been done. Just wait. Believe. Have a party. Cavort and—"

Justin didn't get to finish. What was suddenly shining from that spot across the field was a large, very real flashlight, in the hands of a male. A silhouette was moving this way, water moccasins or not. A bunch of girls screamed so loud, I thought Lanz probably went deaf way back at the car.

J
USTIN WAS GOOD TO HIS WORD,
rising from the rocks and sprinting to a point about fifty feet closer, but then he stopped dead in his tracks. We all moved to him, and I got locked in a clatter of shoulders, unable to find RayAnn.

"It's not my brother ... go back ... not my brother," Justin was saying, though I was unclear on how he knew that.

"It's
alive,
" another girl added, and I hoped to God it wasn't the cops. Chief Rye would not likely share anything further with me if he found me out here partying with the underworld again. A flashlight beam shined in all our faces, so I couldn't see who it was until he was almost on top of us. I should have guessed.

Richardson stopped in front of Justin, who was swaying dangerously.

"Oh my God, Bo. You scared the life out of me."

"Return my texts and e-mails, and I won't have to chase you down." He clapped Justin on the back of the neck and pulled him close. Justin embraced the guy, who was tall and strappy and lean—typical army recruit. I was actually shocked. I expected someone a lot bigger. His eyes were big and black, but sad. He made an attempt at a smile.

"Jeezus, this place has changed. Used to be a boon hangout." He kept his arm around Justin, talking to everyone as we made our way back to the rock pile. "Only, back then, we hung out on the north side of the field and this side was water moccasin heaven. Amazing how a few northeast storms will change things. And back then, we had more trees. I know a guy, says he was out here the night the lightning struck in ... what? Thirty-five places?"

We reached the rocks, but Justin didn't sit down this time. The kids were riveted, and the girl with all the questions finally asked, "What does he say happened?"

"He usually doesn't. He sits in the house taking meals through a straw. It blew all his teeth out. Now, there's one rumor that's probably true. Anyway..."

I heard some whispers behind me, to the effect of "Who is this guy?" It seemed Justin's relationship with Bo was separate from his school friendships.

"What's up with you?" Richardson asked him, holding the back of Justin's neck and kind of pulling him backwards, away from him. "You look like shit. I never expected you to turn into the stellar athlete Matt is, but what is this I hear blowin' on a breeze? You're not turning into a junkie. No way, my man."

"No ... it's complicated." Justin kind of collapsed into a sit at the edge of a rock, and Bo sat beside him, his arm glued around Justin's shoulder. "Sorry. You just scared the hell out of me, that's all. I thought you were Chris."

"You thought I was
who?
" Bo did a double take, checking the path where he came from, then eyeing Justin suspiciously.

"Never mind ... long story," Justin said.

"I ain't got time for long stories." Bo looked around at the crowd, finally making an introduction. "Hi. I'm Bo, Darla Richardson's brother. I used to party down here, too. You mind if I give you some advice?"