Forty-Four Box Set, Books 1-10 (44) (98 page)

Kate didn’t know the part about the opera music, and I didn’t feel like getting into it now.

“Maybe,” I said. “But maybe something a little more like Louis Prima or Dean Martin. Or maybe Chet Baker. Even though I don’t think he was Italian.”

Kate looked at me and raised her eyebrows.

“Really?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I guess Lyle’s been rubbing off on me,” I said. “All he’s been talking about lately is opening up a jazz biscuit bar.”

She laughed.

“That definitely sounds like him,” she said.

Kate left and returned 10 minutes later while I was putting together the ingredients list. I double checked everything. The list was long. It would take me at least an hour, maybe longer, to get it all. I was hoping I could count on some of the guests to bring wine.

Kate pulled out the stool next to me and sat down.

“So who’s on the guest list?”

“Well, Erin and your four friends from
The Bugler
. David and Lyle. Paloma and her sister. I invited Mo, but I don’t think she’ll show. And Dr. Krowe, too. I invited him.”

“Oh, remember Tony’s having his Christmas Eve party tomorrow night. I hope you can make it.”

“I might be a little late,” I said. “But I’ll be there.”

“Good,” Kate said. “I think the party could go one of two ways. With all the layoffs and everything it might turn into people just crying in their beer. Or it could go in the opposite direction, a chance for people to have a good time and forget about their troubles for a few hours. And this is probably the last of Tony’s parties. If he’s going to find another job in journalism, it’s not going to be in Bend.”

“That’s so sad.”

I waited for Kate to say something else about it, but she was quiet. I wasn’t planning on saying what had been on my mind since she first told me about the layoffs until after Christmas, but the opening presented itself.

I took a deep breath.

“Kate, since you brought that up, I’ve been thinking about something.”

“Yeah?”

“I’ve made a couple of resolutions for the new year,” I said, pacing back and forth behind the counter. “But they involve you, so I need your help.”

She turned and looked at me.

“I’ve been thinking that you need to get on with your life and not live chained to me and my problems. You need to go after your dream. Life’s too short. It’s time to update your resume and get that job you’ve always wanted. Maybe the problems at
The Bugler
are really a good thing. Like a blessing in disguise. I know it’s probably not that way for Tony and those others who lost their jobs. But maybe it’s the push you needed. That I needed. It’s not where you should be anyway. Not anymore.”

Kate stood up.

She started to say something but I held up my hand.

“I don’t want to hear it if you’re going to argue with me,” I said.

She smiled, a tear forming under her left eye.

“No,” she said. “I’ve been thinking about it too. But you’re wrong about one thing. You’re not a chain. You’re my baby sister.”

She got up and walked toward me.

“Well, I’ll always be good with that,” I said as she hugged me. “I just want to make sure I’m not your
big
baby sister.”

We smiled at each other through the tears.

“What was the other thing?” she said, rubbing her face.

“The other thing?”

“You said you had made ‘a couple’ of resolutions.”

“Oh, yeah. Well, it’s kind of connected with the first thing,” I said. “It’s just that I don’t want to involve you as much with all my ghost stuff. I really appreciate all your help, but I don’t think it’s fair. To you, I mean. It’s my problem, my burden, my gift, or whatever. Not yours. You have your life and your job. And, I guess, this is mine now. I mean, I can tell you about it sometimes, like you tell me about stories you’re working on. But that’s all.”

She was quiet for a minute.

“And you have your mind made up?” she said finally.

“Yeah, I do.”

“Well, I guess I still have a few days then,” she said. “To try and help. Before New Year’s, I mean. Before these resolutions kick in. So let’s stop wasting time.”

“All right,” I said, smiling.

“Still no luck convincing April?” she asked.

“No,” I said. “I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”

 “Well, I don’t know how useful it is, but I’ve found out some things about her boyfriend.”

“What?” I said.

“I just did a check on him at work and ran his name through the state crime database. He’s got two DUII’s in this past year and one assault charge three years ago involving the woman he was living with.”

“April?”

“No, it was some other girl. He pleaded guilty and did a little community service for it.”

“I wonder if April knows about that.”

Kate shrugged.

“Hard to say,” she said. “There’s probably a lot of women who might look past that and convince themselves it doesn’t matter. Or maybe she really doesn’t know. The way you describe her, it sounds like she could go either way.”

“Well, thanks. Thanks for looking into him for me.”

“I hate to sound like a broken record, but just be careful, Abby,” Kate said. “Don’t get too close to them, all right?”

“I’ll be careful,” I said. “I promise.”

She started walking out the kitchen and then stopped.

“Hey, is it okay if we have one more guest for dinner?” she said.

“Sure,” I said. “Who?”

She paused and then smiled awkwardly.

“Evan,” she said. “Just someone I’ve been seeing.”

I nodded.

“Yeah. Of course,” I said, trying not to sound too surprised. 

She smiled again and said good night.

I started putting away the cookbooks and magazines. I was happy that Kate had found someone. Someone new. But it made me a little sad too.

Dr. Mortimer had waited too long.

CHAPTER 45

It was snowing harder now, really coming down. I stood in the alley.

The church bell rang once, but it was only a soft prayer, faint as a whisper.

I squinted up into the snow. It was so beautiful. Floating down, down, down.

When I looked back I saw the blood. More blood than ever.

April was in the middle of it. But there was something else this time. A dark shape lying next to her. Covered in a sea of bright red blood.

I stepped closer.

I knew April must still be alive if the bell was still ringing. As I knelt beside her I glanced up and saw a shadow coming toward me in the distance. It was the ghost.

“Save her,” she said again as she hovered over me.

I looked down at April, but it was too late. She was dead.

But she wasn’t alone. The body next to her also had a slash across her throat.

I screamed when I recognized her face, having seen it thousands of times.

I was dead too.

CHAPTER 46

I couldn’t stop shaking, even after a long hot shower. I couldn’t catch my breath.

I knew now that it wasn’t just about saving April anymore.

I remembered when Dr. Krowe had asked me how I would feel if the shoe was on the other foot. If someone came to me and told me they saw me die in a vision. Well, I didn’t have to imagine anymore. I knew how it felt. I didn’t like it.

I tried to talk myself down as I headed over to Back Street. I must have been just getting too close to everything. Maybe it had all seeped into my subconscious and shown up in a dream, a nightmare. Not a vision. Just an everyday run of the mill dream. A dream that didn’t mean anything.

But I knew better. It wasn’t a dream.

And whatever it meant, I knew I couldn’t just leave it alone. I had to find April and make her listen to me. Whatever it took, we were both on the line here.

“Hey, Abby,” Mike said as I walked in. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, yeah,” I said. “Just a little frazzled.”

“‘Tis the season,” he said. “Hey, I have something for you. Here.”

He handed me an envelope.

“It’s that time of year,” he said. “Just a token of my appreciation for everything you do around here.”

I opened it. It was a check for $200. I totally wasn’t expecting it.

“Oh, my God,” I said.

“Merry Christmas, Abby,” he said, giving me a hug, the pompom from his Santa hat hitting me in the eye.

“Mike, this is too much.”

“No. It’s not. You all are the reason we’ve done so well this year. Just do something fun with it. Now, onto business. Oh, I hate to ask but can you cover for David again? He called to say his meeting was pushed back at the last minute until today.”

“Sure, of course,” I said. “And thanks, Mike.”

I went to the back, stuffed the check in my purse, and smiled. This was a good place to work.

***

I was running late. I was supposed to have a drink with Paloma. After that I still had to do all the shopping for tomorrow night’s dinner. And after that I was meeting Kate at Tony’s party.

At least it wasn’t snowing. That was a huge weight off my mind. The forecast held steady. They were still insisting that it would snow. All the signs were there. The sky was light gray. The temperature was right, hovering just around freezing. But so far, except for a stray, lonely flake here or there, nothing had happened.

“Hey, Pal o’mine,” I said, giving her a hug when I walked in.

We were at Cascades Lakes Lodge off of Century. It was just after seven.

“What’s good here?” Paloma said, looking at the menu.

“I know the beer’s good,” I said, remembering when Ty and I had come here once. “Other than that I don’t know.”

She told me how her job at the Astro Lounge was going. And about her sister and how they were going back to Tucson for New Year’s to visit their parents and some friends. Then she asked me about my vision. It had only been a few weeks since we had been to Portland but it seemed like so much had happened. I gave her a quick update, only hitting the major points.

“I wish I had some insight for you regarding this April chick,” she said when I had finished. “As you know, I’m the one who came looking for you with my problem. I don’t have the first idea how you would approach someone like that.”

“So you and Rosie are still coming over tomorrow night, right?”

“You know it, girl,” she said.

She looked down at my beer, most of it still there.

“Still getting over Clyde, huh?” she said, holding up her half full glass. “Me too.”

We laughed.

We talked for a few more minutes and then it was time to go.

“Hey, Rosie and I are exchanging presents tonight, you know, it’s what we do, and then we’re going to St. Matthews. You’re probably busy and all, but maybe you could meet us there. If you want.”

“That sounds nice,” I said. “I’ll see what I can do. Maybe I’ll see you there.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of extra special this year too,” she said. “They have a new bell they brought over from an old church in Assisi, in Italy. Anyway they’re going to ring it for the first time tonight at the midnight mass. Either way, I’ll say a prayer for you, Abby.”

“Thanks,” I said. “What happened to the old bell?”

“I don’t know if they ever had a bell,” Paloma said. “When I blew into town a couple of years ago, they had this sad ass electronic chime, sounded more like a doorbell than something worthy of a church. Anyway, that broke down last year. I guess they’ve been saving up for a real bell since then.”

The pieces of the puzzle were suddenly coming together. It was going to happen tonight.

At midnight.

CHAPTER 47

After talking with Paloma I now knew why I hadn’t ever heard the church bell before in real life. They didn’t have one. More importantly I had learned that they were going to ring the new bell for the first time tonight at midnight.

This fit in with the visions. I had heard at least seven bells and then lost count. Before, I had placed the time of the murder between seven and midnight. Now with what I knew there would be no bells at seven, eight, nine, ten, or eleven. But there would be at midnight. Twelve bells. And the last vision had made it clear that April and I would be dead by one o’clock.

I looked at the Jeep’s clock.
8:34
. There was still time.

As I flew down the aisles of the supermarket, trying to block out the Christmas muzak I had heard nonstop now for more than a month, I thought about what I had to do. I had to find April and try to make her understand. One last time. Failing that, I had to be in the alley at midnight.

I had to find a way to stop her murder. And mine.

“It’s started,” the box boy packing my groceries said with a smile. “The snow.”

My heart sped up at the thought that my timetable was off, wrong in some way. But by the time I made it out to the parking lot, it had stopped. There were just a few flakes frozen on the windshield.

I hurried home, put away the perishables, leaving everything else out on the counter. Then I went into Kate’s bedroom and got what I needed.

I grabbed my down jacket, locked the front door, and walked back out into the night.

***

I was breathing hard, the defroster having a difficult time keeping up with me. I pulled the Jeep in front of the apartment building and took yet another deep breath.

I looked at my watch. It was just past nine.

There was still time to stop it.

I checked my phone. There were three messages from Kate. I went ahead and called her back, trying to sound normal.

“Abby, where are you?” she said without any greeting.

“Sorry. I’m running late. Paloma and I were catching up and time got away from me. But I got my shopping done.”

“So are you on your way over now?” she asked.

“Well, yeah. Soon. I have to put things away and change first. See you in about an hour.”

“An hour?” Kate said, her voice loud over the laughter in the background. “But Tony just lives a mile away. What are you doing?”