Spirit Seeker (18 page)

Painfully clutching the arms of the chair, I
forced myself to be still and wait,
I won’t run. I won’t. I can’t!
I silently screamed at myself.

A sudden stillness overpowered the room, and as I watched, unable now to look away from the door, the red haze parted. Out of the stillness and into the doorway stepped … Cody.

H
olly?” Cody said, and the vision shattered. “You shouldn’t have come here.”

I was too shaken to answer. I remembered what he had said:
I want to be honest with you. There’s something I have to tell you
. Sara had interrupted him, and he hadn’t finished. Had he been going to confess to the crime? I’d believed in his innocence without question. I’d worked so hard to prove it. Was all my effort for nothing?

I was too numb and hurt and sick to be afraid of Cody. “The police were here, looking for you,” I said.

“I know. I spotted the car. I waited, then drove into the garage after they’d left.”

“How’d you get in without a key?”

“I got my keys back. Didn’t I tell you?”

He walked over and sat in the chair Glenda had chosen. “It’s funny,” he said. “I thought I
could run somewhere, just get away from everything. But there’s nowhere to run. They’ll be back here. The neighbors will watch for any sign that I’m around. And the lake house will be watched too.” He leaned back and sighed. “There’s nowhere to run, Holly. Nowhere at all.”

“They found the murder weapon,” I told him. “And the money and credit cards and the jewelry your parents were wearing.”

Cody just shrugged. Then he closed his eyes for a moment, and his face sagged with exhaustion. “Oh, Holly, you don’t know how much I wish I hadn’t gone back. The first argument I’d had with Mom and Dad was bad enough, but then I came home again to get the keys and we were all so angry we were shouting at each other, and I threatened my parents. Why did I do it? I hate myself for it. Now, when I try to remember them, I can only think about the arguments.”

“Wait a minute, Cody.” Shocked, I suddenly realized exactly what he’d just said. I’d heard the words before, but they hadn’t registered. “What can you tell me about the murder weapon and the things taken from your parents?”

He opened his eyes. “Nothing. I don’t know anything about them.”

“But your Uncle Frank does.”

“You mean the police showed him?”

I wiggled to the edge of my chair. “Cody, where’s your sleeping bag?”

“What?”

“Where is it?”

“I don’t have one. I borrowed Frank’s.”

“Is it the same sleeping bag you brought back from your parents’ lake house?”

“Yes. When I told Frank I was going to drive to the lake to pick up some clothes, he asked me to bring the bag back for him.”

“So your uncle knew you were going.”

“That’s what I said.”

“Cody!” I grabbed his arm. “Frank told the police—and us—that your parents had complained to him about your threats. If you threatened them when you came back for the keys, then Frank was at the house
after
you left the second time.”

Cody struggled to take in what I’d said, and when it finally made sense, his eyes grew wide. “Frank was in the house after I left?” Cody shook his head. “No, Holly. You’ve got to be wrong. Frank couldn’t have killed my parents. He’s a nice guy. He’s tried to help. He’s taken good care of me.”

“And he’s been appointed as your guardian.”

“Well, yeah. He’d pay the bills and sell the house and …” Cody broke off, groaned, and clapped his hands to his forehead.

“Frank made it look like
I
did it, Holly? Can that be true? Why?”

“Greed,” I said. “He wanted the money.”

“But won’t he have to put most of it in trust or account for it to the courts?”

“If he’s dishonest, he won’t follow the rules.”

“I don’t get it. He could have killed me, too, but he didn’t.”

“If you were murdered with your parents, then Frank would have looked guilty. This way you’d go
to prison, and he’d have the use of your money. Or maybe you’d run away. If the police saw you and chased you, you might even have been killed.” I shivered at the thought. “Frank encouraged you to run, didn’t he?”

Cody couldn’t shake the horror. It twisted his face. “What will we do, Holly?” he asked. “Nobody will believe us.”

“Dad will. We’ll tell him. Your uncle won’t get away with his plan.”

“Yes I will. It was a good plan.” Frank spoke to us from the doorway.

Cody started to rise, but Frank pointed a handgun at him. “Stay where you are, Cody.”

Frank turned to me and said, “You should have done what Cody told you to do. You shouldn’t have come here.” He smiled. “Especially after telling me that whatever it was you were going to investigate had some connection with this house. All I had to do was come here to find you.”

I was almost too frightened to breathe. My chest hurt so much it felt as if someone were standing on it. Frank had committed one murder, and I knew he’d kill us. Who’d be able to stop him?

The telephone was next to my elbow, but it was useless. I’d never be able to call 911 or Dad. Close to panic, I thought:
Oh, Dad, Dad! I wish you were here! I wish you could hear me!

Someone can hear you.

As the words came into my head, I pictured Glenda. She had reached my mind before, hadn’t she? Maybe she could again. With all my energy
and will, as Cody talked to his uncle, I tried to contact Glenda.
Help us, Glenda! We’re in danger! Help us!
ran like an unending tape through my mind.

“You had a key I didn’t know about,” Cody said.

Frank nodded. “I knew about the extra key in the garage. Getting a duplicate made was easy.”

Cody’s eyes filled with tears. “How could you kill your own sister, Frank? How could you do any of this?”

Frank shrugged. “Holly told you. Money. I badly needed money. Your parents had it, and I didn’t.”

“You won’t shoot us, Frank. You can’t. There won’t be any way to explain it.”

Frank smiled again, as if he was having great fun with this game. “I won’t have to explain it,” he said. “The police will come and tell me all about it. Holly knew where you were going. You arranged to meet her here. She wanted you to give up, but you wouldn’t. So you shot her, then killed yourself. Very touching. Very, very sad.

“Get up,” Frank suddenly said, but before we could obey him, he waved the gun at us. “No. I changed my mind. Stay where you are. That’s as good a place as any.”

Glenda!
Desperately my mind cried out,
Glenda! Send someone to help us!

I heard a car screech to a stop outside the house. Another followed it. “Police! Open up!” a voice yelled. As the front door shook with hammered
blows and the back door slammed open, I grabbed Cody and dived for the floor.

“I was about to call you, Detective Campbell.” Frank’s voice was smooth as Dad, Bill, and some backup police charged into the room. “I caught Cody and Holly here and planned to hold them until you arrived.”

“No way!” I yelled as an officer hauled me to my feet and another one grabbed Cody.

“Dad!” I shouted. “Frank committed the murders and tried to make it look like Cody did it. And he was going to kill us!”

Frank shook his head sadly. “Poor Holly. She’s so determined to prove that Cody’s innocent, she’ll say anything.”

I forced myself to calm down. “Just listen, Dad. You told me you were fair, and you are. So just listen. Please!”

Frank smiled. “She’s probably going to tell you some wild, unbelievable story,” he said.

“I’m not going to tell you anything,” I answered, thankful that I’d repeated every single one of Glenda’s actions. Now it was my turn to smile. “I’m going to play a tape for you. Everything that was said in this room has been recorded.”

A
fter Frank had been taken downtown to homicide headquarters, Bill made arrangements with someone from Child Protective Services to take care of Cody.

Cody grimaced. “I’m not a child,” he insisted.

“You’re sixteen, son,” Bill told him. “Legally, that means you’ll get the supervision and care you need.”

Dad told me to go home, but he let Cody walk to the door with me.

“Holly,” Cody said, when we were out of Dad’s hearing. “Remember, when we were at my uncle’s house, I told you I had something to tell you?”

I nodded, and he said, “It’s hard to say after all that happened and all that you did for me. I’ll never forget it. Never! It’s just that you and me … well, I mean, we’ve always been good friends, and I hope we always will be. I didn’t want you to think you had to wait around for me if I was convicted and sent to prison. That would have made me feel terrible, because you deserve to have a life.”

Still troubled, he went on, “And right now I guess I’m not ready for anything but trying to make sense of my own life.”

I thought of how I’d wondered, for just an instant, if he had wanted to tell me he was guilty. I would never let him know what I’d thought. I would never let anyone know. I interrupted. “It’s okay, Cody,” I said. “I feel the same way. We’re good friends, and for now that’s all. Okay?”

I walked toward Mom’s car with a sense of relief so huge it carried me along like a balloon.

I glanced at Glenda’s house. The telepathy had worked, she’d sent for help, and I wanted to thank her for what she’d done. But as I started across the street, I saw Glenda’s next-door neighbor, Mrs.
Marsh. She gestured toward the police cars. “Has there been more trouble?” she asked.

I skipped all but the most important news. “Cody’s been proved innocent,” I answered.

“I knew Cody was a nice boy,” she said. As I reached the walkway to Glenda’s house, Mrs. Marsh said, “If you’re looking for Glenda, you won’t find her at home. Her sister’s ill, so she drove to Beaumont to take care of her.”

“But I sent her a message. I thought …”

“She asked me to collect her mail. It’ll be waiting for her when she gets back.”

“Holly!” I heard Sara cry as she raced from Mrs. Marsh’s house.

She hugged me, bursting out, “You’re not hurt! I’m so glad!”

I hugged her back. “Sara! What are you doing here?”

“I knew where you were going! I knew what you’d do!” she said. “So I drove over here, I saw your car, and I knew you didn’t belong in that house. Then I saw Cody’s uncle drive up. He had something in his hand. I didn’t know for sure what it was, but it looked like it could be a gun. I was so scared, it was hard to think. Glenda wasn’t home so I banged on Mrs. Marsh’s back door, and she let me use her phone to call your dad.”

“It was
you
who saved us?” I hugged her again and burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny? What happened in there?” She backed off and searched my face. “You’re not having hysterics now that it’s over, are you?”

“No, I’m fine.” I stopped laughing and tried to explain. Remember when you said Glenda was using the power of suggestion with me? Maybe you were right, although I’m glad I didn’t find it out until after I …”

“Make sense,” Sara said. “What are you talking about?”

“Follow me home, Sara,” I said, “and I’ll keep my promise. I’ll tell you all about it.”

M
om had heard what happened, and her face was a mixture of happiness at seeing me and anxiety that I’d been in danger.

Sara had a million questions for me. Finally, as Sara was leaving, she winked at me and said, “You took care of Cody’s problem. Can you get rid of your guilt about Paula now?”

“I hope so,” I said.

“If I’d been the one who hadn’t told on Mindy, you would have forgiven me, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course!” I said.

“Then stop beating yourself with guilt. You ought to be able to forgive yourself as easily as you can forgive other people.”

“Is anybody ever able to do that?”

Sara’s smile stretched into a grin. “Probably not. But work on it, Holly. Okay?”

“Okay,” I answered and grinned right back.

* * *

W
ednesday. 10:00
P.M.
When Dad arrived home, he found both Mom and me waiting for him.

“Jake … thanks for calling and telling me what happened,” Mom said.

He smiled at Mom, but I had plenty of questions for him and couldn’t wait.

“Cody was afraid of that woman who claimed she saw him in a convenience store. Where did she come from?”

Dad looked up, surprised. “There wasn’t any such woman. That didn’t happen.”

“Then Frank made up the story!” Furious, I said, “He was trying to frighten Cody into running. Frank’s a greedy, horrible monster!”

Mom put a hand over mine to calm me down. “You’re the only one who really believed in Cody,” she said. “I—we—don’t approve of all the methods you used to try to help him, because even though they worked, you put yourself in danger.”

“Both you and Dad said I was obsessed, and maybe for a while I was,” I admitted. I wound my fingers through Mom’s and smiled at her. “I used to be on your side. I got angry at Dad for neglecting us and spending so much time on his cases. But I understand now why he does.”

I could see hurt in Mom’s eyes, so I quickly added, “I’m still on your side, Mom, but I’m on Dad’s side too. I found out he was right when he said after a crime takes place, everything happens fast. It
is
a matter of working nonstop to catch the truth before it disappears.”

Then I grabbed Dad’s hand, too, and held them
both tightly. “Maybe things between you can’t go back to the way they used to be, but don’t give up. I love you both so much, I’m asking, please, just try.”

At first, Mom didn’t answer, but Dad spoke up. “Lynn, all Holly asked was that we try,” he said. “We can at least try. I know I will. I promise.”

As Mom stared back at him, her gaze softened. “Yes, Jake,” she said. “I do want to try.”

I grinned at them both, so happy I could hardly stand it.

But there was one more thing left to do. I sat on my bed with a pen and a pad of notepaper on my lap. Glenda had tried in her own strange way to help, and she deserved to hear what had happened directly from me—but by mail, not in person. I felt easier at a safe distance from Glenda.