Bumpy Roads - A Mary O'Reilly Paranormal Mystery (Book 11) (The Mary O'Reilly Paranormal Mystery Series) (15 page)

Clarissa was curled up on her bed, sobbing.
 
She kept seeing Mary lying on the floor with
blood all around her. She hadn’t been moving.
 
Just like her mom at the bus station. Maybe Mary was already dead, but
no one would tell her.
 
She killed Mary,
just like she killed her dad and mom. Mrs. Gunderson was right, she was nothing
but trouble.

She took a deep shuddering breath and sat up on the bed.
Pulling a few tissues from the box on the nightstand, she wiped her eyes and
nose. She had to decide what to do next. Even if Mary wasn’t dead, she knew
they wouldn’t want her anymore.
 
She had
wanted to make Mary not want to be married to Bradley anymore; she had wanted
Mary to be angry with her.

But she remembered the look on Mary’s face when she came
into the kitchen. It wasn’t anger; she was sad.
 
She looked at Clarissa and she was sad.
 
Clarissa had been ready to yell at Mary.
 
She had been ready for Mary to yell back and tell her she didn’t want
her to be her daughter anymore. But she didn’t think Mary would be sad.

I should be the one
who’s dead
, Clarissa thought.
Then I
wouldn’t be a problem at all.

She slid off her bed and walked over to her nightstand,
opened the top drawer and pulled out the photo Bradley had given her. He found
it in her old house when he was trying to find her and her mom.
 
The photo showed Clarissa with her mom and
dad.
 
They were laughing together.
Another tear slid down her cheek.
That’s
where I belong
, she thought,
with my
mom and dad in heaven.

Remembering Maggie’s suggestion about finding her dad at her
old house, she had an idea.
 
Maybe her
dad could take her to heaven with him.
 
Maybe they could just carry her up through the stars and she wouldn’t
ever have to worry about being alone again. She could just be with her mom and
dad.

She looked down into the drawer and saw the sliver of china
from Mary’s chest. Putting the photograph down, she carefully picked the china
up, tenderly held it and rubbed the smooth side. Another tear ran down her
cheek as she remembered Mary giving it to her.
 
She remembered how Mary had hugged her, even after she had broken it.
Maybe Mary had loved her after all.

Taking another deep breath, she put the sliver back in the
drawer and closed it. It was too late now.
 
Mary was probably dead and Bradley would be angry with her.
 
She paused in her thought process and shook
her head.
No,
she thought,
he wouldn’t be angry. He would be sad too.

Picking up her backpack, she put the photo in it and sliding
the drawer back open, she pulled out the sliver of china and carefully placed
it in an outside pocket.
 
Then she packed
up some of her clothes and tucked them tightly inside.

Looking around her room one last time, she sadly shook her
head.
I need to go,
she thought.
They will be happier when I’m gone.

Hitching her backpack onto her shoulder, she let herself out
of her room and walked slowly down the stairs.
 
Rosie was on her hands and knees cleaning up the blood on the kitchen
floor. When she looked up at her, Clarissa could see that Rosie was still
crying.
 
She must hate me too.

“Clarissa,” Rosie said, wiping her eyes with her
handkerchief. “What do you need dear?”

“I, um,” she swallowed because her throat felt tight. “The
Brennans called and said I should go over there so you could go to the hospital
and be with Mary.”

“That’s funny,” Rosie said, getting to her feet. “I didn’t
hear the phone ring.”

“I picked it up fast,” Clarissa lied. “It probably didn’t
even ring downstairs.”

“Well, let me get my coat and I’ll walk you down,” she said.

Clarissa shook her head. “That’s okay, really,” she said.
“They’re going to be watching for me.”

She hurried to the closet and grabbed her coat, heading to
the door.
 
She grabbed a hold of the knob
and started to twist it, and then she stopped and looked over her shoulder at
Rosie. “Nana Rosie, could you do me a favor?” she asked.

“Sure, sweetheart, what do you need?”

“When you get to the hospital, will you please tell Mary
that I love her and I’m sorry I made her sad,” she said, fighting back her
tears.

“Of course I will,” she said. “And don’t you worry, she’ll
be back from the hospital in no time and you will all be one happy family
again.”

Clarissa nodded, opened the door and slipped out.

Bradley looked down at his ringing cell phone, surprised to
see the dispatcher’s number appear. “Alden,” he said.

“Hey,
Chief
, it’s Jody. I thought
I’d let you know we just received a 911 from your new address,” she informed
him. “A little girl called saying that her mom fell and she was bleeding and
wouldn’t get up. We’ve sent an ambulance and they’re on their way to the
hospital with a female adult.”

Panic filled his heart and he forced himself to be calm.
“Did they give you any more information?” he asked, already running out the
door and heading to his car.

“She was responding, but she seemed to be having a
conversation with someone who wasn’t there,” she said. “So they were concerned
about hallucinations caused by a concussion.”

He nearly laughed hysterically.
It must be Mike
, he thought.

“Thanks, Jody,” he said. “I’m on my way to the hospital. Can
you contact Ashley and let her know where she can reach me?”

“Sure thing Chief,” she said. “I hope she’s okay.”

Bradley started the cruiser and didn’t think twice about
turning on the sirens and speeding toward the hospital.
She hates hospitals
, the thought kept running through his mind,
I need to be there before she gets there.

He pulled in right behind the ambulance and ran to the back
door before they had it opened. “How is she?” he demanded.

The confused paramedic looked at the frantic Chief of
Police. “I don’t know if we can tell you…,” he began.

“She’s my wife, dammit,” he growled. “So tell me how she’s
doing.”

“I’m fine Bradley,” Mary said weakly, as the other paramedic
opened the back doors. “Thanks for being here.”

He ran to her side, took her hand in his and walked
alongside the gurney. “Hey,” he said softly, searching her for injuries.
“Fancy meeting you here.”

“Hey,” she replied, taking a deep breath. “Do you know that
more accidents happen in the home than anywhere else?”

“Really,” he asked, touching her face gently. “Well, then,
where can we go to make sure you’re safe all the time?”

The hospital doors slid closed behind her and she gripped
his hand tighter.
 
Then she looked over
at Mike who was walking on the other side. “Don’t leave me alone,” she said to
both of them.

“I right here with you, babe,” Mike said.

“What he said,” Bradley said, earning him a strange glance
from the paramedics.

The emergency room doors opened and they were met by the
attending physician. “I’m going to have to ask you to wait for her outside
while I examine her,” he said.

“Sorry, doctor,” Bradley said. “She under my protection and
I have to be with her at all times.”

“You tell him,” Mike said. “We’re like Secret Service. We
really should have stopped to get some sunglasses.”

Chuckling softly, Mary nodded, wincing at the pain. “He
really needs to stay with me,” she said.

He looked down and saw the fear in Mary’s eyes and nodded,
smiling down at her. “Okay, let’s take you in exam room three and have a look
at you.”

“Thank you, doctor,” she said.

A nurse followed them in and took her blood pressure and
temperature, and then recorded them on her chart.

“So, can you sit up?” the doctor asked.

“Yes, I think so,” Mary replied, trying to maneuver herself
to a sitting position with Bradley’s help.

Turning off the overhead light, the doctor shined a penlight
in Mary’s eyes and then away from them, then into them again. “
Mmmm
-hmmm,” he muttered, turning on the light and jotting
down notes.

He took a small rubber mallet from his pocket, tapped it
against her knee and her knee jumped in response. “
Mmmm
-hmmm,”
he replied again.

Then he faced her. “So, I understand you blacked out,” he
said. “How long were you in that state?”

“I don’t know,” Mary replied. “I was unconscious at the
time.”

He grinned. “Obviously your verbal response and cognitive
abilities are just fine.”

“Why thank you, doctor,” she said. “May I return the
compliment?”

Chuckling, he jotted some notes down in her chart. “So,
seriously, other than your head, what else hurts?” he asked.

“My lower back is pretty sore,” she admitted. “I don’t know
if I hit something on the way down or I just tensed my muscles before I hit.”

“How did the accident occur?”

“I was hurrying into the kitchen and didn’t see a piece of
paper on the floor,” she said. “I slipped on the paper and tried to take out
the edge of the butcher-block countertop.”

“Ouch. Okay, let me take a look at your head.”

He examined the bump on her head.
 
He let out a slow whistle. “Well, you did a
good job with this one.
 
No wonder you’re
sore. I’d like to run some more tests; just to be sure you don’t have any internal
injuries.”

“What kind of tests?” Bradley asked.

“I’d like to do CT scan, just to rule out any internal head
injury,” he said. “And then, just to be sure there aren’t any injuries to her
kidneys, I’d like to do a urinalysis. The aching could simply be muscular, but
I’d rather be safe than sorry.”

“How long am I going to be here?” Mary asked.

The doctor smiled at her. “What, you’re already tired of my
amazing bedside repartee?” he asked.

“Nothing personal, but I have this thing about hospitals,”
she said.

“Let me see how quickly we can get those tests run and
reviewed,” he said. “And I’ll get you out of here as quickly as possible.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I really appreciate it.”

Clarissa hurried around the side of the house and back
through the yard to the alley.
 
She
didn’t want to run the risk of anyone seeing her.
 
She paused for a moment behind the
garage.
 
The afternoon sun was beginning
to move toward the west and the sky was already beginning to darken.
 
In a few hours it would be completely dark
and cold.
 
I could stay
, she said to herself,
I could stay and see if Mary is okay.

But what if she isn’t
okay,
the unbidden thought crept into her mind
, what if Mary is in a coffin, just let like my mother.

The mental image of Mary lying lifeless in a wood coffin at
the funeral home caused her to feel sick to her stomach.
 
She looked at the house and shook her head.
They don’t want me there anymore.

Her head bent down, tears welling up in her eyes, Clarissa
walked down the alley toward the next street.
 
The only solution was to find her father.
 
And the only place she would have a chance
was at her old house, where Maggie said he might be.

“Hey, Clarissa, wait!”

Clarissa turned quickly to see Maggie riding down the alley
on her bike toward her. “Where are you going?” she asked as she slid to a stop
next to her.

“I can’t tell you,” Clarissa replied. “You need to go.”

Maggie shook her head. “No, I’m not going to go until you
tell me,” she replied. “I can tell you’ve been crying. What happened?”

“I think I killed Mary,” she whispered.

“What?” Maggie shouted, incredulous.

“It was an accident,” Clarissa said, “but I caused it.
 
She’s at the hospital with Mike and Stanley.”

“Are you going to the hospital?”

Wiping a sleeve over her teary eyes, she shook her head.
“No, I’m going to my old house,” she said. “I’m going to find my daddy.”

She decided not to tell Maggie that she wanted to die and be
with her parents.
 
She knew it just make
Maggie upset. “I need to see if he’ll talk to me,” she said. “Maybe because I
can see Mike, I’ll be able to see him too.”

“But you can’t go by yourself,” Maggie said. “I saw that
man, the man with ghosts in his car, watching your house this morning.
 
I think he wants to catch you.”

A flutter of fear blossomed in Clarissa’s chest, but she
rejected it. “No, he won’t try and get me,” she said, “Because I saw him at the
school when my dad was there. He knows my dad is the police chief.
 
And I know his name, it was on his tag. Ray
Giles.”

“But if you know his name, he might want to get you because
he doesn’t want you to tell it to your dad,” Maggie argued.

“Maggie, I have to go,” Clarissa said. “I just have to.”

Maggie slid off the seat of her bike. “Then take my bike,”
she said. “So you can go faster.”

“I can’t take your bike,” Clarissa said. “I don’t know when
I’ll come back.”

Shrugging, Maggie pushed the handlebars into Clarissa’s
hands. “That’s okay,” she said. “I can just use one of the boys’ bikes if I
need to.
 
You take it, just in case.”

Clarissa laid the bike on the ground and wrapped her arms
around Maggie. “You are the best friend I ever had,” she said.

“I wish you wouldn’t go,” Maggie said, hugging her friend
back. “I wish you would just come to my house and we could figure everything
out.”

Shaking her head again, she stepped back and picked up the
bike. “I can’t Maggie,” she said. “I’ve done too much bad stuff.
 
I have to go.”

“My mom says when people love
you,
they forgive you for bad stuff if you’re really sorry.”

“I’m really sorry,” Clarissa said, climbing on the bike.
“But I don’t think people love me enough for that.”

She pushed down on the pedal and the bike started to
move.
 
“Goodbye, Maggie,” she called and
rode away from her friend.