Forty-Four Box Set, Books 1-10 (44) (119 page)

“Abby, explain to him that many things exist outside his limited beliefs,” Nathaniel said. “And tell him that it’s time for the truth.”

I repeated his words for Dr. Mortimer, who had his head in his hands.

Nathaniel began circling like a shark stalking its prey.

“Jesus,” Dr. Mortimer said.

“Jesus has left the building,” Nathaniel said, his eyes growing black.

With the help of the chair in front of me, I somehow found the energy to stand. One painfully slow row at a time, I began making my way toward the front of the room. It felt like an eternity but I finally made it to where Dr. Mortimer was sitting.

Meanwhile, Nathaniel seemed to grow stronger, more and more real.

Dr. Mortimer looked up at me.

“Abby, can you really see him?” he said.

“He’s there, on your left.”

“Oh, my God. Are you really here, Nathaniel? What do you want?”

“I think you know what I want, Benjamin.”

I repeated what he said.

“Tell him that I’m so sorry about what happened on the island, Abby.”

Nathaniel smiled.

“He hears you,” I said.

“Tell Benjamin that it’s time to tell the truth. And tell him I’ve come to…”

All of a sudden, I heard barking coming from somewhere out in the hallway. Then I saw that same flash of fear pass over Nathaniel’s face as it got louder. A moment later the ghost dog ran into the room.

“That damn dog again,” Nathaniel said, under his breath. “Abby, I need to finish this. Would you be so kind as to control that animal for just a few more minutes?”

“What makes you think he’ll listen to me?” I said.

The ghost dog stopped in front of me, baring its teeth, growling at Nathaniel. I noticed that I suddenly felt better. My dizziness was beginning to fade. And so was Nathaniel.

“If you keep your dog away from me, I promise to play nice,” he said.

I reached out and touched the dog for the first time, sinking my fingers into his soft fur. He stopped barking and sat down at my feet. But his eyes stayed glued upon Nathaniel.

“I’m holding you to your word,” I said.

He nodded at me and then looked back at his brother.

“You know, Abby, Benjamin won’t always be under your protection like this.”

“If you have something to say to him, go ahead. Otherwise, you need to leave.”

“Very well. It’s time. Time you knew that your favorite Mortimer is not what he pretends to be. He is my blood brother, after all.”

CHAPTER 49

“Nathaniel,” I said. “It’s common for people to be confused following their deaths. It’s understandable.”

“You’re the one who is confused, Abby. But that’s
understandable
because you’ve been misled and lied to.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.

“Tell her, Benjamin. Tell her.”

As I watched them, the ghost dog quiet at my feet, I flashed back on the vision of the two of them fighting in the arena and Dr. Mortimer looking at me with those eyes.

“Tell her,” Nathaniel whispered again.

Dr. Mortimer almost seemed to hear him, jerking out of his stupor.

“Abby,” he said. “You need to know what really happened that day.”

He started breathing hard. Nathaniel glanced over at me, his cat eyes flickering.

“What do you mean?” I said.

“It was all a lie,” Dr. Mortimer said. “There was no struggle for the gun. There was no accident.”

 “I had so much to live for,” Nathaniel said, looking at me. “I had my work. There were still so many experiments to perform. I had just scratched the surface. And I had done the impossible. I had found love again, with you. But he robbed me of all that.”

“When I walked into the bedroom that day we got to the island, I found Nathaniel with a gun,” Dr. Mortimer said. “He was pointing it at me.”

“I thought he was one of the storm troopers,” Nathaniel said. “But when I saw that it was you, dear brother, I put the gun down on the bed.”

They were quiet for a moment.

“I picked up the gun and opened the chamber,” Dr. Mortimer said. “I began to take out the bullets. But then the horrible things he had done took over. All the people he had killed. The hell he had put you through. He couldn’t get away with it.”

He was sobbing now as he went on.

“I knew what would happen. His people would buy off the DA or get to the jury. He would come out of it unscathed and begin again. I knew that he would never stop. He had a taste for it, a raging thirst that would never be quenched. Standing there with that gun in my hand, I knew what I had to do.”

“Get on with it, Benjamin. Finish your story. Finish it. Like you did that day on the island.”

“I put a bullet back in and took aim at his chest. He put his hands up. He didn’t think I would do it. I could tell from the look in his eyes. My finger began to tighten around the trigger. He smiled. And then I shot and killed him.”

He slumped over in his chair.

I couldn’t believe it.

“But Kate…” I said. “I thought she was there.”

“No, she only came in later. After it was done. Kate believed my lie. She didn’t know.”

“You see, Abby,” Nathaniel said. “Good and evil bleed into each other the way the blood left my body that day. The good doctor isn’t the hero you thought he was. He was judge, jury, and executioner. What was that you said to me in the graveyard? ‘That’s not for you to decide, who lives and who dies’?”

He stepped closer to me, but the ghost dog stood up quickly and growled. I could hear voices out in the hall.

“I’m leaving now,” Nathaniel said. “You’d have to agree it’s been entertaining and most enlightening, but I grow weary of all this blubbering. And, Abby, you’ll be happy to know that I’ve had a change of heart. You see I do have one after all. Originally, I had other plans, but I’ve decided to let him live. For now. After being in your presence again, I realize that I truly do miss the finer things in life. It was very sweet of you to offer long walks in the snow and an occasional peck on my ghost cheek, but I don’t think that would suffice. No. As you know from personal experience, I was once able to bring back the dead. And with the help of my brother, I can do it again. This time I will bring myself back to life. It’s worthy of an experiment or two, wouldn’t you agree?”

“You’re insane, Nathaniel,” I said as the dog snarled at him. “You need to move on. You need to find your place.”

“But why, when I have Benjamin here? With his guilt and his broken moral compass, with his money and his connections, I will revive my research and take it to new heights. I will conquer Death itself. You’ll see.”

Someone was coming. Nathaniel began walking away, whistling a tune from a familiar opera, but then stopped.

“One more thing. Abby, I’ll be sending along a present to you shortly,” he said. “Just a token of my appreciation for spending time with me. As always, it’s been a pleasure. I admire you greatly.”

“Don’t,” I said. “Leave me alone. That would be the only present I’d ever want from you.”

“There will be no gift tag attached. But I think you’ll be able to tell that it’s from me.”

He smiled once more before disappearing like dust in a breeze.

Two security guards came in and rushed up to Dr. Mortimer. They must have thought he had been injured by the chandelier because he was holding his head, still sobbing in the chair.

CHAPTER 50

I walked along the river until I found him, staring out at the water. I knew he would be there.

“Hey, Jesse,” I said.

“Craigers,” he said, smiling.

I reached up and gave him a long hug. He was even more pale than usual, and sad, his dad’s death still heavy in his heart.

“I’m so sorry, Jesse,” I said. “I loved him and I miss him so much. How are you doing?”

“These things are never easy. No matter what side you’re on, it hurts.”

I nodded.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been around,” he said.

We started walking down the stone path, heading toward the bridge.

“Before we talk about my dad, tell me about what’s been going on.”

I told him about Derek and then about Dr. Mortimer. Jesse took it in stride.

“Did you know that it wasn’t an accident?”  I asked.

“Yeah. I had my suspicions. The doc was right to think his brother would never stop killing, or that he would ever leave you alone. He made a decision. He has to live with it.”

“But he also has to live with the fact that he’s a killer, too. I’m not sure he can.”

I hadn’t seen Dr. Mortimer since that afternoon in the conference room. He wouldn’t return my calls.

“But I want him to know that I’m not judging what he did.”

“Are you sure?” Jesse said.

I didn’t answer right away. Nathaniel’s words about good and evil floated around in my head.

“I don’t think anybody has the right to take a life. But on the other hand, I kind of understand what he did. It’s a hard thing. I wished it hadn’t happened. Any of it.”

“Well, it’s nice to see that your light is back to normal,” Jesse said. “The mad doctor was bleeding you dry.”

“Yeah, I finally figured out that he was the cause of all that. He was draining me of all my energy. And it seemed that the weaker I got, the stronger he became. But I’m not sure why he left.”

“I think your dog helped chase him away.”

“Why does everybody think that he’s my dog?” I said.

“Because he is,” Jesse said. “You asked for him, remember?”

I shook my head.

“The part in that prayer you say every night. You know, where you ask for protection against the darkness? The dog heard it and answered the call.”

I thought about it.

“Seems that you have friends in high places, Craigers. You’re not alone out here.”

I took a deep breath. I had been so wrong about the dog. I was sure he was connected to Derek.

“I guess the thing that threw me was that he didn’t always show up at the same time as Nathaniel’s ghost,” I said. “Sometimes the dog was a little late.”

Jesse laughed.

“You think it’s so easy, Craigers? Welcome to my world. We can’t always be where we want to be. I would have liked to have helped you with all this, but I couldn’t get here this time. I’m proud of you, though. You handled it, and without any help from me.”

I smiled.

“I like that you have a four-legged friend to watch over you. I hope he sticks around.”

“I hope so too,” I said. “Because Nathaniel isn’t gone for good. He told me that he’s planning on finding a way to come back to life.”

“Of course he is,” Jesse said, shaking his head.

We watched a family of ducks floating by in the gentle current of the river.

“Those were good days here when we were kids,” Jesse said.

“Yeah. I hope Derek can find himself again.”

“Me too.”

“Are you ready?” I asked, taking his hand.

“Let’s do it.”

***

We drove out on the highway and pulled off the road and into the dirt parking lot. I cut the engine. I took a deep breath as we stared at the garage. It was the first time I had seen it closed up like that, with a big silver padlock on the door. A “For Sale” sign was already in the side window.

Jesse sighed, but then tried to smile.

“You okay?” I asked.

“I’m gonna miss this place. It’s been here my entire life, and then some. I loved coming here and watching him work.”

We got out and went up to the garage. Jesse walked around the building, looking in all the windows. I gave him time alone. He came back after a while.

 “You know, for what it’s worth, Nathaniel was telling the truth about my dad,” he said. “He had nothing to do with it. It was just his time. He was old. Life had been hard on him. And I didn’t help matters.”

“He seemed good, Jesse. He was happy.”

“Yeah,” he said. “He was doing better at the end, but maybe it was too late.”

“Have you seen him?”

He smiled a sad smile.

“Yeah. We had a good, long talk.”

But there was something in the way he said it that didn’t sound right. He looked at me, his face frozen in that sadness.

“You sure it went all right?” I said.

“There’s a dirt trail out back that goes into the forest. Let’s walk there for a little while.”

“Okay,” I said.

It was a beautiful early spring day, not typical for this time of year. The sun was out, bright and full, and a warm wind blew through the trees, sounding like whispers.

“Tell me what’s going on,” I said.

But he was quiet. We walked in silence, passing a small herd of deer eating from bushes near the trees.

“We talked about everything. And for a long, long time. Days, it seemed. He just kept going,” he said, laughing a little. “He told me about all the motorcycle trips he had been on in the last few years, and then about the different bikes that were in the shop, and then he started in on his beer brewing. Oh, my God. How he had to cook the mixture to just the right temperature, how he had to be careful of mold, how he sterilized everything, his tricks for getting just the right amount of carbonation. The old man wouldn’t shut up! It’s like he had been saving up all his stories for me for five years. I barely got a word in.”

“But I know you loved every minute,” I said, laughing.

He shrugged, but then smiled. 

“I’m glad you two finally got to meet and talk,” I said. “And without me. It’s funny because now I’m the one who will have to give you messages for your dad. Tell him I loved the red ale by the way.”

Jesse looked sad again.

“What?” I said.

“He’s gone, Craigers. I don’t see him anymore. He moved on.”

“Oh.”

I should have figured that out on my own. That was why Jesse was so sad.

“So you won’t see him at all anymore?” I said.

“No, not unless…”

He sighed. I looked up into his eyes.

“Tell me,” I said.

“He said that I should follow him. That I was hanging on to something that I needed to let go.”