44 Book Four (11 page)

“All right. All right, you baby.”

We walked inside, taking a seat at a table next to the window.

I stopped by 10 Barrel once in a while when Ty was working. They had good food and I liked the atmosphere. But I wasn’t so hungry now so I just ordered a Coke.

David clasped his hands together on the table and leaned forward.

“So, Abby Craig, tell me what you want to talk about.”

I smiled. David was a smart guy. He reminded me of Kate sometimes, being able to read people’s emotions and always knowing when a customer was anxious or mad. I didn’t bother with insisting that I had invited him out just for fun and small talk.

“Mo,” I said.

“Yeah, no kidding.What’s with you two? Feels like the North Pole when I’m around you guys. What happened?”

I didn’t want to tell David everything, just enough to get him to help me.

“I asked about one of her tattoos and she freaked out.”

He nodded.

“You asked about Spenser, right?” he said.

“Yeah,” I said, playing it up a little. “Big mistake.”

“No, Abby Craig. You were just being inquisitive. Don’t beat yourself up that way. I did the same thing when I started working there and the next minute I thought I was a gazelle at a Serengeti watering hole, taking my last sip of water before a lion had me for breakfast.
Watch out says that bird
, if you know what I mean.”

The waiter brought out our drinks and David took a sip of his beer.

“She’s just a very sensitive girl. And most people don’t realize that. It’s hard to tell, but she’s hiding a lot of pain behind all that makeup and fuchsia hair.”

I laughed.

“What’s so funny?” he said.

“I didn’t know she had fuchsia hair. I thought it was brown or something.”

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “I am always forgetting about your color blindness thing. She changes her hair color like every other week. But just up front here.”

He moved his hands around his head.

“Sometimes it’s pink, sometimes green. I’m a natural dirty blonde, in case you were wondering.”

He ran his fingers through his hair, showing me.

“So what? Does it look like I have white hair to you?”

“Kind of a salt and pepper look.”

“Eeww,” David said. “That’s such a bummer, Abby Craig, not seeing colors. Have you always been that way?”

I shook my head.

“No,” I said cautiously. I didn’t want to get into my story. “I can remember what most colors look like. But someone has to say what they are and then I’ll try to visualize them.”

I told him about Kate and how she was painting the house and how she always was telling me what the colors were but how they were pretty much all shades of gray to me.

“Yuck,” he said. “Can’t they do something for that? It’s like the 21
^st
century. They can do anything.”

I shrugged as I sat back in the seat.

“Maybe someday,” I said. “Hopefully.”

The waiter stopped by our table and asked how everything was and David started talking to him about how he had to wait two hours one time back in the summer to get a table with his friends outside. When the waiter left, he started talking about the different people who worked at Back Street over the last year. I tried to think about how to get our conversation back on track.

“David Norton,” I said, interrupting him. “I need your help.”

That seemed to do the trick.

“Tell me what you need,” he said, his face serious.

“How did Spenser die?”

He looked around, as if checking to make sure Mo wasn’t sitting behind us. The tables were filling up, but she wasn’t there.

“He was killed by a hit and run driver one night out on China Hat Road. They found his body by the side of the road in the morning. Sad, huh? It was a while ago, like three years. Spenser was a lot younger than Mo, but I’m guessing they were really tight.”

“So it was an accident,” I said.

“Yep. The woman who hit him turned herself in the next day. She did a little time for it. Get this. She was talking on her cell phone at the time and said that Spenser just ran out in front of her. But Mo said she doesn’t believe the bitch. She says that she must have swerved into him as she was gabbing and didn’t pay attention.”

A heaviness hung over us as I thought about what Mo had gone through.

I glanced around. There were a lot more people now and they all seemed so happy, laughing and drinking, meeting up with friends. I wondered why some people were so lucky, while others weren’t.

“I’m surprised she talks to you about it,” I said. “She was very clear that she didn’t like to talk about Spenser at all.”

“Well, I have a little trick with that,” David said. “Alcohol. She only talks about things like that when she’s hammered. You know, I see her out at the bars a lot. We hang together sometimes.”

He sighed, played with the paper wrapping from my straw.

“But I promised her that I wouldn’t ever say anything about this. And now look at me. Big Mouth Jones. It’s your fault. You’ve filled me with beer and I’ve spilled my guts.”

“I thought your last name was Norton.”

“Norton. Jones. What’s in a name?”

He was kind of kidding, but I could see that he also felt bad. He drained his glass.

“Well, this is all on me,” I said.

“Damn right it is, girlfriend,” he said, pouting. “And by the way, I’m not cheap.”

He signaled the waiter and ordered another beer and some French fries.

“I appreciate it, David. Really. Thanks.”

“Look. Just leave her alone and she’ll come around and eventually return to the six words a day she used to say to you. That’s my best advice. Just don’t mention Spenser again.”

I smiled.

The young waiter came back with the food and David told him about how I was dating Ty.

“I know Ty,” the waiter said, smiling. “You must be Abby.”

“Yeah,” I said.

“I’m John. He talks about you all the time. Good to meet you.”

I smiled shyly, not knowing what to say. He left and I rolled my eyes at David.

“What? Everybody in the place needs to know that BB is off limits,” he said. “There’s too many cute young things working here. I’m just looking out for you, Abby Craig.”

I couldn’t help but laugh and I was glad the mood of our conversation had lightened up. And then I made a decision.

“You see,” I said.

It was an awkward start, but David was listening.

“Well, I see ghosts sometimes. And I’ve seen Spenser and I’m just trying to help him.”

I couldn’t look at David as I spoke, resting my eyes instead on the dog tied up outside to a chair. When I glanced back, he had a huge grin on his face and his energy danced around him.

“That’s fantastic. But for reals? You’re serious? You’re like that girl on that TV show who wears those wigs and false eyelashes? I love her! Have you seen her new series?”

“No. Yeah. It’s true. I see ghosts.”

“Wow,” he said. “Just wow.”

He leaned back and ate some of the fries, moving the plate over between us. I took a few.

“So you think he wants to tell her something? Like the winning numbers for the Lotto?”

“I don’t know. But it’s something serious. I don’t know what it is. Maybe there’s more to how he died and he’s trying to tell Mo. He’s sad. And lost.”

“Oh, my God. Maybe something’s going to happen to Mo. Is it your experience that ghosts come back to warn people?”

I shrugged. I didn’t really have that much experience with ghosts. Just three. And they were all so different.

“I’ve only talked to a few of them. Maybe he just wants to say he’s sorry for something. Or that he misses her. If they were close, it’s probably something like that. That’s my guess, but I’m not really sure.”

Kings of Leon poured out through the speakers. It was getting crowded. I looked at my watch. It was already close to four.

“I couldn’t agree more,” David said, listening to the music as he eyed John from behind. “I wonder if these guys were thinking of a delicious little waiter when they wrote this song. Probably not, huh?”

“David, please try to focus here. The bottom line is that I need Mo to listen to what I have to say. Spenser is around me because of her. And he keeps popping up.”

“Scary.”

“It is scary.”

I told him about how Spenser showed up in the goal box when I was practicing soccer.

“That doesn’t surprise me. He was a player on one of those club teams. The family was really involved in all that. Like, traveling all weekend, going to California and Idaho for tournaments. That’s what Mo told me once anyway.”

“One more thing,” I said. “I know this is probably asking for the moon, but I hope you can plug that hole you have in your gut just this once. I really don’t need this getting out all over town, you know, that I see ghosts.”

“For you, Abby Craig, I’ll stick a cork in it where the sun don’t shine.”

“Too much information, David.Way too much information.”

CHAPTER 23

Kate was in the kitchen making dinner and I brought out my computer and sat in the living room googling Spenser McSorley to see what I could find out. When I saw all the stories on his accident, I kicked myself for not doing it sooner.

There wasn’t really too much beyond what David had told me, but there were a lot of articles covering the basics. Straight forward crime accounts about how a student from High Desert Middle School had been killed in a hit-and-run accident. I also found some photos. It was nice seeing Spenser without scars and smiling. I found his sixth grade school portrait, pictures of him with his soccer team, and shots of him with his family that showed Mo as I had remembered her from high school.

Spenser McSorley seemed like a happy kid, posing for the camera like he had his entire life in front of him.

I wondered if he had had Olympic soccer dreams too. He was a good athlete. He played goalkeeper on a club team that had gone on to win the State Championship. It didn’t surprise me. I could tell he knew his stuff that day when we played together on the field. Even though his ghostly hands now put him at a decided disadvantage.

Judy Elgin had confessed to hitting Spenser on a foggy night in March at about 10 p.m. She pleaded guilty to manslaughter, admitting that she was on her cell phone at the time but insisting that it wasn’t the cause of the accident. She said that Spenser darted out in front of her suddenly, running out from an open field onto the quiet road.

She was given an 18-month sentence but was released after serving three.

“Dinner is ready,” Kate said.

I walked over to the kitchen and helped bring out the plates and silverware. It was simple, a roasted chicken and a salad, but it hit the spot.

Later I filled her in on what I had found out. I told her as we opened up boxes of ceramic tile that had been stacked in the corner next to the door.

“Now I remember,” she said. “It was such a terrible story. It was only about a month or so after your accident. Kyle covered it and had to go out and interview the parents. It was heartbreaking. Poor Mo.”

“Yeah.”

“I wonder if Ben was working in the emergency room that night.”

“Maybe, huh.”

“Did you read Kyle’s story?”

“No. I tried to get some of those stories off
The Bugler
website, but they wanted a credit card first.”

“Yeah. Pretty stupid policy,” Kate said. “We get a lot of complaints about the pay wall, but the editor refuses to lift it. Caveman thinking there. Maybe with the newspaper going bankrupt last year they need the money.”

I laughed.

“Just let me know what you want and I’ll get it for you from the online archives.”

But I had what I needed and told her. Kate held up a tile and studied it.

“I love those,” I said.

“Me, too. I’ve never put in tiles before. It should be interesting.”

“Do you want some help? I was going to watch the
Monster Man
finale, but I could just record it.”

“Not tonight. I wasn’t going to start putting them in yet.”

“Okay, just let me know,” I said.

“So you have a day off tomorrow?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Promise me you won’t go in, even if Mike calls. You’ve been working too much lately.”

I had already decided to let the phone go to voicemail if he called, but it was nice that Kate suggested it.

“Promise.”

“So, what are you going to do?” she asked.

“I’m not really sure. Soccer practice. Drop by the bank. Not too much beyond that, really.”

She was quiet and I walked over to my computer and closed it.

“Abby, I want you to tell me the truth.”

I stared at her for a minute, trying to figure out what she was talking about and where the conversation was headed.

“What do you mean?”

“Why aren’t you taking those sleeping pills?”

“I don’t know. They scare me a little, I guess.”

“But do you ever sleep at night anymore? I hear you walking around all the time out here. And you look exhausted.”

I looked at her, a little sheepishly.

“Sure I sleep.”

She shook her head.

“No you don’t.”

“I take a lot of naps. And I sleep late in the mornings. I’m okay. Really.”

“I think it’s time to take them.”

That was all. There was no long, drawn out discussion or insistence. But it was in the way she said it, her voice steeped in worry, full of dread. Like she saw something I couldn’t.

Like she saw what was coming.

CHAPTER 24

“I’m going to get some more beans from the back,” David said to me in a low voice. “I’ll be back in ten minutes or so.”

That seemed like a crazy long time to fill a container, but we weren’t that busy so I didn’t care. Maybe David was going to take his break back there.

I was relieved that he hadn’t called me a ghost whisperer or something like that when I came in to start my afternoon shift. Actually he had been really cool about my secret so far, not once acknowledging that I saw ghosts. He didn’t even make any jokes about it when we were alone. I didn’t know how long it was going to last, but I was hoping that me telling David would pay off in the end and that I wouldn’t get burned.