Forty-Four Box Set, Books 1-10 (44) (117 page)

When I reached the Jeep, I froze in my tracks.

There on the windshield, tucked under one of the wipers, was a single wet rose.

CHAPTER 40

I couldn’t bury my head in the sand any longer.

Now I knew. There was no doubt about it.

Nathaniel was back.

That night I did my ritual three times. I prayed for the strength I would need. I stared at the ceiling, trying to come up with a solution. Then I closed my eyes and listened to the settling of the house, hoping it was just that.

I wondered whether Nathaniel realized what had actually happened when he died. Like the living, sometimes ghosts just saw what they wanted to see.

But whatever either one of us was or wasn’t sure about, I knew one thing.

It was time to face him.

CHAPTER 41

Fat raindrops pounded on the rooftop overhead.

“I’m calling Noah and reserving us some seats,” David said as we watched the storm through the front windows. “Almost makes me glad I’m inside working here today.”

“I’m with you there,” I said.

According to the weatherman, the storm was supposed to last the entire week. It was a warm system flowing in from the south, unusual for this time of year. Temperatures were in the 50s, with strong winds and heavy rains. The trees outside were taking a beating. The streets had already started to flood and small whale spouts shot up as cars drove through the pools of water in front of the café.

Our lights flickered on and off throughout the morning and Mike was stressing about it. There had already been some power outages reported in parts of the city. The storm seemed to be keeping customers away as well and there wasn’t a whole lot for us to do. 

“So is it going to be like this all day?” David said, looking over at me.

“What, the weather?”

“No, silly. I’m talking about you being such a sad ass.”

I turned and squinted at him like I didn’t understand.

“Okay, first off, the real Abby Craig would have laughed at
sad ass
, because that was way funny. And second, since you got here, all you’ve been playing are old Cure CDs. I’m just about at my wit’s end. One more
Disintegration
song and I’ll burst into tears!”

“That’s just my favorite album to listen to in the rain. I put it on for atmosphere.”

“Oh, sure, because there’s not enough atmosphere out there. It’s raining cats and
atmosphere
out there, Abby Craig.”

“All right, all right.”

“Hmmm,” he said. “There’s something you’re not telling me. Is it about your old school pal? Is he still doing okay?”

“No, no,” I said. “He’s doing a lot better.”

“Okay, well, what about that boyfriend? Did he decide to stay in Potato Town or something?”

I looked over and smiled.

“Ty’s coming home soon,” I said.

“Well, don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched, Abby Craig.”

Suddenly a gust blew three of the patio chairs into the parking lot. Mike came out from the back a moment later and David helped him bring them in. When they finished, I handed them fresh cups of coffee.

“Thanks,” Mike said. “Sometimes you just have to ride it out. Coffee’s good.”

“Vodka’s better,” David whispered.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kate’s Subaru pull up. She got out of the car, battling the wind as she walked to the door. I could tell by her face that something was wrong. I guessed that it probably had something to do with the FBI and Jack Martin.

But I had guessed wrong.

CHAPTER 42

Jesse’s dad was dead.

“I’m so sorry, Abby,” Kate said after telling me. “I know how much he meant to you.”

We sat down at a table. She told me that she had heard about it on the police scanner at work. After she learned that a body had been found at a motorcycle garage on the south end of town, she had made a few phone calls and confirmed that it was Mr. Stone.

I didn’t cry after she told me. I just sat there.

“Can you leave here and go home?”

I shook my head.

“I only have another hour. Tell me what happened.”

“One of his friends found him this morning in his shop,” she said. “He’s the one who called it in. It probably happened last night. They think it was a heart attack.”

I knew he was in his late sixties and that his health was starting to go. But the last time I saw him he seemed fine.

“I wanted you to hear it from me,” Kate said, giving me a hug before she left. “I’ll see you at home. Drive carefully.”

I sat there picturing him lying there on the cold garage floor all night. All alone.

***

When I got home, I let the tears go.

I had held it together until then, finished my shift, and then spent an hour searching the park in the rain for Jesse.

That’s why I hadn’t been able to find him all this time. He must have sensed this was coming.

When I went to the bathroom to wash my face and saw the mirror, a horrible thought entered my mind.

What if it hadn’t been natural causes? What if it had been Nathaniel?

Was he just seeking revenge anywhere he could get it? He told me in the vision I had last Christmas that I wasn’t in danger, but he didn’t say anything about the people I loved.

I realized that I hadn’t been able to help any of them. And it was only a matter of time before he killed Dr. Mortimer too.

Even in death, Nathaniel Mortimer had the upper hand.

CHAPTER 43

I sat in a sea of beautiful, rich colors.

They blinded me at first. Iceberg blues, bell pepper yellows, bruised purples, and blood reds. Bright hues and shades that stung my eyes with their beauty.

As I focused, I realized that the blocks of brilliant color were actually clothing. Vibrant shirts and sweaters worn by the dozens and dozens of people surrounding me.

They laughed and talked, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Mesmerized, I just stared at the colors, drinking them in. They were intoxicating.

Then I noticed that everyone was starting to look down into the room below. A room behind a plate of glass.

***

A hush came over the small crowd. A silver gurney was pushed up against the wall. There were several large machines next to it.

I had seen a room like this once before, in the hospital. It was an operating theater, where doctors performed surgeries while people watched from above.

From a door down below, two men walked out, dressed in green scrubs. A mist rolled around them. I couldn’t see their faces, but I saw the sharp glint of the blades. The crowd cheered and stood, their thunderous applause filling the amphitheater.

They held their knives and faced each other. A drum started rolling.

“Do it!” the man next to me yelled.

“Kill him!” a woman screamed.

Then I recognized one of the men. It was Nathaniel. He looked up at me and smiled, sending a chill through me. Then I saw that the other one was Dr. Mortimer. He looked scared.

“No, Nathaniel!” I screamed. “Don’t!”

The audience went mad, cheering as each man took a swipe at the other.

“Kill! Kill! Kill!” they all started chanting together.

I stood up, pushed my way to the front, and threw myself against the glass partition, banging on it with both fists.

“Leave him alone, Nathaniel!”

A loud blast suddenly swept through the crowd, followed by an eerie silence. And then, one by one, the people around me started disappearing until I was the only one left.

I looked back down and saw a pool of dark red blood creeping across the floor. There was a body next to it, face down.

He was still holding the scalpel in his hand, his brother dead at his feet. His gown was covered in blood.

The fog danced and closed in around him, but I saw his twisted expression for a second.

His eyes were feral.

CHAPTER 44

I stood in the hard rain as the old priest spoke of faith in a shaky voice.

Kate was there too, along with Jesse’s uncle and a few of Mr. Stone’s friends. I was hoping to see Jesse here in the graveyard, but I didn’t. Still, I knew he wasn’t far away. I could feel his pain all around.

He would come when he could.

My eyes scanned the cemetery grounds. I glanced along the pathways and tombstones, and over by the gate at the entrance.

As the priest talked about God’s love and the Valley of Death, I saw him.

Finally.

Up on the hill, dressed in black, watching the funeral in the rain.

***

Nathaniel Mortimer looked the same in death as he did in life, at least from a distance. He was still tall and slim, dressed in a well-fitted suit with his hair neatly pulled back in a ponytail.

He didn’t move. He stood perfectly still, a black statue in the storm.

After the service I said goodbye to Kate and stood by the grave with a pool of muddy water at my feet. I waited until everyone left. Then I looked up at the sky and watched the gray clouds rush by and said a prayer for Mr. Stone and another one for Jesse. Then I recited the verse from my nightly ritual, asking for protection.

I exhaled and made my way over to meet him.

As I walked toward him, I saw those small cat eyes bright in the distance. I passed the stone angels and tombstones, pushing hard against the wind. I slowed down as I got closer, amazed at how he looked less like a ghost than I had expected. He wasn’t nearly as translucent as Jesse, and with each step I took, he seemed to look more and more alive.

The shadow, the formless blackness was gone. Nathaniel Mortimer was now in its place.

That same familiar coldness sliced through my heart the way it always did when I was around him. And then as I came within 10 feet of him, I stumbled, my body suddenly void of all energy.

“Hello, Abby,” he said.

“Nathaniel,” I said, staggering back against a nearby gravestone.

I didn’t want him to sense my weakness. But it was taking everything I had not to fold and crumble to the ground.

“Sorry about that,” he said.

He stroked his chin slowly.

“I’m still adjusting to being, you know, dead. I suppose this is a good place to practice. Although, I’m rather pleased with my progress so far.”

I didn’t say anything.

“Oh, there are some things I miss, of course. The taste of expensive sherry on my tongue. The sun on my face. But there are so many other things available to me now. You, for example. It’s been quite enjoyable, watching you take baths. And other things.”

“Stop it,” I said.

“I’m glad you can finally see me. I’ve been waiting.”

“More like hiding,” I said.

He laughed a little, brushing off the comment as if it were a crumb on his sleeve.

“Perhaps,” he said. “But I knew that it was just a matter of time. We both knew that, isn’t that right? We cannot stop this special connection between us. Not even in death.”

“There is nothing between us. Nothing.”

He looked down at his fingernails and smiled.

“It’s time for you to leave, Nathaniel,” I said. “You don’t belong here.”

He sighed and then casually looked back at me.

“You’re as beautiful as ever, Abby. Do you know how powerful your light glows in my world? That’s probably why you have such trouble with those pesky dead things stalking you. It’s so very easy to find you. It would be wise to learn how to cloak it at times. There are so many here, drawn to you like moths to a flame. Some of them mean you harm.”

“Like you?” I said, glaring at him.

He smiled.

“There was a time when I can see why you would say that. But that time is gone forever.”

“In the vision you said you wouldn’t hurt me,” I said. “But you’re killing everyone I love.”

“The old grease monkey?” he said and chuckled. “Surely you’re not suggesting that I was responsible for that? Come, come. The man lived on beer and bacon. His arteries had shrunk to the diameter of a strand of your hair. I had nothing to do with it.”

I felt dizzy. I wiped the rain off my face.

“I don’t believe you. You’re a killer.”

“Oh, I’m not arguing that point,” he said. “But I can assure you I didn’t come all this way to kill an old man with a weakness for motorcycles. You should ask your little ghost friend. He’ll tell you. But really there is no need. If you look inside your heart, you already know.”

He was right. Although I had considered the possibility, now it just didn’t feel like what had actually happened. Jesse’s dad was old and sick. But I wasn’t going to admit that to Nathaniel.

“I just know that when you show up, death always follows,” I said. “And here I am with you, in a graveyard, burying someone I love. And what about Derek?”

I heard a very faint howling over the sound of the pounding rain.

“As you told those fine police officers, it was an accident. Now, I won’t deny that I followed you up to the waterfall. And let me tell you that the run up there was pure exhilaration. Do you know that in life I never ran? Not even when I was a small child. It just never occurred to me to do so, I suppose. But that night, I ran right beside you all the way to the top. And it was astonishing. I was there with you, Abby, right by your side. Your heartbeat in my ears, your warm breath on my face, your grunts. It made me feel alive.”

Had I had the strength I would have been sick at that moment. But as it was, all I could do was take shallow breaths and try to stay conscious. I didn’t know how much longer I could hold on.

“But please know that his fall from the cliff was purely an accident. When I was with you, deep in your energy, there was this sudden surge between us. You must have felt that as well. I still don’t understand it completely, but it was literally electrifying. Perhaps it was…
love
.”