Nearly Departed (Spring Cleaning Mysteries) (38 page)

Smoke slowly lowered his arm and dropped his gun.

"I'm sorry," I mouthed at him.

"
You really need to learn when to keep your mouth shut," he said.

"
Speaking of which," Marcus said, pressing his gun into my back. "What was it Smoke didn't want you to say in front of me last night?"

I looked to Smoke for guidance. He shook his head.

I said nothing.

I could guess what he was thinking
. That without him, Uncle Bernie was the only person who might watch over Halley. Except for Angel.

Grabbing my hair, Fontaine yanked my head backward.
"Tell me."

My scalp stung and tears filled my eyes. I grit
ted my teeth against the pain, "Go to hell."

Smoke lunged forward, but Cusak hit the back of his head with the butt of his gun. Smoke fell, stunned, but didn
't lose consciousness. He swayed dizzily on his hands and knees.

"
Tell me!" Marcus demanded.

"
Smoke!" Angel appeared at her brother's side.

My heart broke as I watched her kiss his shaved skull.

"You shouldn't be here," I told her.

She turned to look at me. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

"You should go," I urged the little girl. Dead or not, she shouldn't see her own brother killed.

"
You're a fucking lunatic, lady!" Cusak shouted, obviously thinking I was talking to him.

The space between us shimmered, as Lacey suddenly showed up. She looked from Cusak to Smoke assessing the situation.

"Tell him I'm here, Vicky" Angel pleaded. "He needs to know he's not alone."

"
Smoke!" I called, trying to get his attention.

His blue gaze wa
s cloudy when it settled on me.

"
Shut up!" Marcus tried to imbed the muzzle of his gun in the side of my head.

Ignoring the pain, I struggled to deliver Angel
's message, even if it was the last thing I did. "It's cold."

Smoke stared blankly at me.

"Do you understand what I'm telling you? It's really, really cold."

Realization dawned over his features. He nodded.

Angel smiled.

And all hell broke loose.

A giant chill washed over me, and I shuddered uncontrollably. Fontaine did too, which dislodged his gun from my temple.

Pulling away from him, I turned to see that Martin had grabbed Fontaine from behind and was trying to choke the life out of him, much like Lacey had done to me the night before. Whirling back toward Smoke, I saw Cusak taking aim at him.

"Look out!" I screamed.

Before he could get off a shot, Lacey threw herself at him. She was able to bat away his arm just as he squeezed the trigger. The shot missed Smoke by inches. He tackled Cusak to the ground and they struggled for his gun.

Angel screamed.

I leapt toward Smoke and Cusak, but fell to the ground as a searing pain lanced through my side. Instinctively I covered the pain with my hand and found it to be warm and sticky. I pulled it away and saw that my fingers were covered with blood.

I looked back at Fontaine and Martin. Despite the ghost's efforts, Fontaine was trying to point his gun at me.

"
US Marshall, drop your weapon!" A voice boomed from behind Smoke and Cusak.

Shots were fired
, and when I looked back, Smoke was slumped on the ground.

"
NO!" I screamed.

A bullet whistled past my ear. I didn
't know whether it was from Fontaine or the unseen Marshall.

"
Run!" another voice urged, close to my ear.

So I did.

I ran back to the river. All my life I'd been terrified of its current, but now, without thinking, I stumbled into it. Desperate to get away from the madness on land, I almost let myself get swept away, but self-preservation had me hugging the shoreline.

I thought of my parents as I made my escape. About how awful it would be for them to lose me like this of all ways. Imagining my mother
's horror at the idea of my drowning to death, I decided that it would be better to be shot dead than to allow the current to take me, so I stepped away from the water's edge.

A blur of
shimmering light charged at me. It hit me so hard I was knocked into the river. Fortunately it wasn't deep, so my head stayed above water.

I tried in vain to free myself from the grip of my attacker, but Lacey wasn
't deterred.

"
You're my unfinished business," she told me as she slowly and inexorably dragged me into deeper water despite my attempts to fight back.

"
Cusak would never have killed me if you hadn't poked your nose into the case. I tipped my hand trying to warn Smoke off, and I died for it. Now you'll die for it too."

Suddenly Lacey
's grip was ripped away from me, and I was alone in the swirling water. Terrified, I tried to find the riverbed with my feet, but couldn't. I flailed wildly, trying to keep my head above water.

"
I've got her!" Felipe called. He had both arms wrapped around Lacey's waist and seemed to be holding her easily despite her struggle to free herself.

I sank
, and when I resurfaced a moment later, sputtering, they were gone.

I thrashed abou
t, desperately trying to stay above the surface, but the current pulled at me relentlessly. I didn't want to drown again. "Help!" I cried, but I knew no one would hear.

I was too cold and tired and weak to win my battle with the river. I made one last, half-hearted attempt to save myself
, and then I let myself sink. I let the current drag me away. I gave up.

I'd been dead before.

I
drowned once when I was a little kid.

I hadn
't remembered it being so painful.

Or so noisy.

My lungs felt like they were on fire. I wondered if that meant I was in hell. I was kinda disappointed by that thought. I'd tried to be a good person. Sure, I'd failed on occasion, but most of the time I'd been pretty decent.

People were calling my name. I wondered if spending eternity without a single moment of solitude was some kind of hellish torture.

The last time I'd died, I'd slipped into a peaceful oblivion, but now it felt as though I was being tugged at.

"
You have to fight, Vicky," a muffled voice commanded.

I struggled to find the voice through the swirling mist that surrounded me. Finally I focused on Martin
's face. His whole face. He was a good looking kid when a bullet hole hadn't blown away his chin.

"
You have to fight," he said again. "He's coming for you."

"
Who?" I wanted to ask, but I couldn't form the word. Jerry?

Then Martin was gone
, and it was blessedly silent. My lungs didn't hurt any more either. I was just floating.

And I was okay with that.

Until
he
showed up.

Suddenly my ribs were being crushed and I was being dragged upward, out of the peaceful mist and back into dark, cold water. The current pulled at me, but it was no match for the insistent force of nature fighting it.

I sensed pressure against my mouth. The first bit of warmth I'd felt in what felt like forever. And then it was gone.

"
Breathe, dammit. Breathe."

I forced my heavy eyelids open and saw blue eyes staring back at me.

"Don't you dare die on me, Tori," Smoke pleaded.

I didn
't understand. I'd seen him die. Heard the shots. Seen his body slumped on the ground. Trying to figure it out was too much exertion. My lashes fluttered closed.

"
Stay with me, Tori."

Everything went black.

*  *  *

The bright light hurt my eyes.

When I tried to cover them with my hand, a stabbing white-hot pain shot through my body. I groaned.

"
Easy, kiddo. You've been through a lot."

I squinted against the light and focused on Mike. His head floated above me like a giant, helium balloon.

"You have a big head," I told him.

He chuckled.
"And you are on some heavy duty drugs."

Martin wandered into my line of vision. Once again he was missing the lower part of his face.

"Am I dead?"

Both Martin and Mike shook their heads.

"Are you sure?"

"
You came close, and you gave everyone a hell of a scare," Mike said, "but I swear to you that you're here in the land of the living."

"
My mom and dad know?"

He nodded.

I winced. "Are they okay?"
              "They just left a little while ago. Venus drove them home so they could get some rest. They'd been here for days."

"
Days?"

Martin held up three fingers.

"Three days." Mike confirmed. "The doctors kept saying you'd wake up when you were ready, but, to be honest, I'm not sure anyone believed them."

A male nurse bustled in.
"Well hello there, Sleeping Beauty. Nice of you to rejoin us. The doctor is on her way." He looked at Mike. "Are you family?"

"
Friend of."

"
Then you'll have to leave."

"
I'll call your folks and tell them you're awake," Mike called as he was ushered from the room.

"
Smoke?" I called after him.

"
No cigarettes for you, young lady," the nurse ordered.

I struggled into a sitting position, groaning as the incredible pain wracked my body.
"I need to know what happened…" I said weakly before slumping back onto the bed.

The nurse leaned in and whispered conspiratorially.
"Just between us?"

I nodded.

"You died."

*  *  *

After enduring three straight days of medical examinations and tests, and Martin's constant companionship, the doctors decided I was well enough to go home. Or at least home to my parents' house, since they had a bedroom and bathroom on the first floor. I wasn't up to climbing stairs.

While I
'd pretty much recovered from drowning, my gunshot wound, along with all the other bumps and bruises I'd collected during my ordeal, made getting around difficult. Mike and Venus, who appeared rather chummy for a former couple, drove me from the hospital to Mom and Dad's. Once there, everyone fussed over me for an hour, making sure I got settled comfortably.

When the doorbell rang, they all shared a nervous look.

"If you're not up for visitors, your father can tell them to go away," Mom offered.

"
No, no, it's fine," I assured her. I hoped it was Smoke at the door. A three pound bag of black jelly beans had been delivered to my hospital room with his name signed to the card, but besides that, I hadn't heard from him.

"
Okay, then." She and Dad left the room.

"
We're going to head out too," Venus said. She pressed a kiss to my cheek.

"
But if you need anything, anything at all, just call." Mike pressed a cell phone into my hand. "Even if it's just because you need an escape."

I thanked them both and watched them leave. I fidgeted nervously, waiting for my visitor to make his entrance.

I gasped when he did.

I
'd been shielded from any and all news coverage about what had happened to me. When I was told someone was heading over to fill me in and to ask me questions, I'd anticipated seeing Smoke. Especially since he hadn't come to visit me…or even called.

I hadn
't expected to see the man who walked into my room with a distinct limp.

"
Hello, Vicky."

I blinked at him, my mind trying to process what my eyes were seeing.

"Do you mind if I sit?" Without waiting for a reply, he pulled a chair up beside the bed, and carefully lowered himself onto it. "You look good," he said with an easy smile.

"
So do you." Considering I'd thought Detective Alan Reed had died on the riverbank, he looked damn good. "The last time I saw you, you were shooting at me."

Alan shook his head.
"Not at you, at Marcus Fontaine. I tried to tell you to duck, but I guess you couldn't hear me over the rushing water. I was trying to protect you."