Drowning in Amber (A Marie Jenner Mystery Book 2) (40 page)

Stewart wasn’t acting crazy because he was a nasty man. He was acting crazy because Luke was haunting him.

We just had to get out of here. I wriggled on my chair. Man, now I did have to pee!

THE CHICK COP
kept Marie and James answering questions for another hour and a half, just to be a bitch, I think. It looked like poor old Marie’s back teeth were floating, the way she beat it to the restroom.

I followed her there, thinking we were going to talk, but she told me to bugger off. So me and James stood outside the door and waited.

She sure took her own sweet time. I almost went in a couple of times to see if maybe she’d fallen in or something, but I didn’t. Did the gentleman thing and didn’t feel like I deserved her glower when she finally pushed the door open.

Apparently she’d been waiting in there for me. Hey, how was I supposed to know?

“Let’s go to the hospital,” James said. “We need to check on Honoria. Make sure she’s all right. And you have to get your head checked.”

“No,” Marie said. “I have to go somewhere else first.” She looked up at him with those big eyes of hers, and I watched James melt. Man, the guy had it bad.

“Where do you need to go?”

“To Angus Stewart’s house.”

James opened his mouth and then snapped it shut. “Why?” he asked, his voice tight and high, like he already knew the answer, just needed her to confirm it.

“Trust me,” she said. “It’s the only way to save Stewart.”

“We were just in Sergeant Worth’s office!” James exclaimed, scurrying after her. “If he needs saving, why didn’t you tell her to do it?”

“Because she can’t do what he needs, James.” Marie smiled over her shoulder at him and even I melted a little bit. “But I can.”

“And we need to go to his house?”

“Yes. Because his son’s still there.”

“But Luke’s dead,” James said.

She looked down at her feet. “Yes.”

“And you think he’s still—there.” James’s voice had gone flat, like he was trying his best to work out a difficult algebra problem in his head and was failing.

But I understood. I understood absolutely.

“We gotta go,” I said. “We gotta go, now.”

“Yes,” Marie said. Her voice was quavering like she was terrified. Which she probably was. “Please, can we go? I’ll explain everything as soon as I do this.”

“Promise?” He stopped and grabbed her by the hand, forcing her to stop, too.

She stared into his eyes for a long time, then slowly nodded her head. “I promise,” she whispered.

I hoped she would. The guy deserved to know the truth about the woman he was absolutely head over heels in love with.

I knew for a fact that she didn’t realize how he felt about her, and I wasn’t even sure he knew how he felt himself. But I could feel it coming off them in waves and felt a brief spurt of envy.

I’d screwed up my life, no doubt about it. I hadn’t even fallen in love, but the regret about that felt like a distant ache. It was probably better that I’d never been in love, or had kids. Looking at the way I’d lived, I should probably be relieved that I hadn’t procreated. I hadn’t had the chance to screw up the next generation.

No, the one thing that I really, truly regretted was not being able to say goodbye to Luke. That boy had been my best friend, no doubt about it. And I’d let him down terribly at the end. If I could have had one wish, it would have been to have a do-over where he was concerned.

It looked like I was going to get my final wish.

At last.

IT WAS A
pretty quiet drive to Stewart’s house, I must say. I think Marie was regretting what she’d promised James, and I think James was regretting going along with Marie about going to Stewart’s place without any evidence as far as he could see. I didn’t really blame him—I wouldn’t have bought it either. Being dead, well, that kind of changes a person’s perspective on things, but I could get where he was coming from.

“We’re here,” Marie whispered, pointing at Stewart’s house. “Just pull up front and wait. I’ll be back soon.”

“What—” James started, then shut his mouth, and shook his head. “Right. I get all the answers after you’re done. Right?”

“Right.” Marie didn’t actually look like she believed her own words. “Do me a favour though. If you see Stewart pull up to the house or whatever, please let me know.” She twittered anxious laughter. “I don’t want him to catch me in there.”

“I will,” he said. “Be careful.”

She got out, and I followed her.

“You want to know how to get in the house?” I asked.

“Not yet,” she muttered.

I looked back at James, who was watching her progress up the walk. “Why not? You’re going to tell him all about me when we’re done here anyhow. What’s the deal?”

“I haven’t decided yet how much to tell him,” she said stiffly.

“Oh come on!” I barked. “You promised the guy!”

“I know!” she cried. “Can we talk about this in the house?”

“Fine.”

“Do you know where a key is? Please say under a rock by the front step!”

“Under a rock by the front step.”

She stopped and stared at me. “Are you kidding?”

“Yeah, I am,” I replied. “Last time I was here, there was one in the mailbox.”

“What cop leaves the key to his house in the mailbox?”

“I guess the one who knows nobody would be stupid enough to steal from him.” I shook my head. “I wasn’t, anyhow.”

“Really?” She walked up the steps and pulled open the mailbox, then ran her fingers across the bottom.

“Really,” I replied. “He’s got guns. Lots of them.”

“Oh.” She pulled her hand from the box and opened it, smiling triumphantly. On her palm sat a house key.

“Told you.”

She put the key in the lock and turned it, then blanched when we heard someone inside yelling.

She turned to me, her face ashen. “Prepare yourself,” she whispered.

“Prepare myself? What do you mean—”

But by that time, she’d swung the door open, and I was face to face with Luke.

He looked at me and almost faded from sight.

“Eddie,” he whispered. “What are you doing here?”

“I don’t know,” I whispered back. Then everything went black.

LONG STORY SHORT
, I fainted. Yeah, yeah, a ghost fainting, how pathetic can a guy get, right? I came to with Marie leaning over me.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

I didn’t bother answering her. I needed Luke. “Where is he?”

“He’s—hiding,” she said. “I’m sorry. I should have warned both of you it would be a bit of a shock.”

“Damned straight you should have.” I struggled to sit up, then gave up and stayed on the floor. “He’s been stuck here the whole time?”

“Yes.”

“By himself?”

“Yes.”

“That’s brutal.” I turned my head and looked down the hallway, and thought I could see a hint of light from around the corner that led to the kitchen. Man, she wasn’t kidding. He
was
hiding.

“Luke, bro!” I called. “Come here!”

He stuck his head around the corner, and I almost laughed. He was as bright as Casper in those stupid cartoons.

“Man, you scared the shit outta me, dropping like that,” he replied. “If you weren’t already dead, I woulda swore—”

“Yeah, well, nothing that dramatic.” I hoped I couldn’t blush. That whole fainting thing was pretty embarrassing, and I didn’t want to dwell on it.

“Eddie,” Marie said. “It’s almost time.”

“I know,” I said. “Just give me a minute.”

“But—”

“Just one minute,” I snapped. I turned away from her and looked at Luke.

“Man, it’s been an age since I’ve been in this house,” I said.

“We used to have some good times here, didn’t we?” Luke asked. He slid to the floor beside me and stared up at the dusty light fixture above our heads.

“We did have some,” I said, even though it wasn’t exactly the truth. His father never let him have any fun at all. But hey, whatever. He could remember the place any way he wanted. His death.

“You should stay,” he said. “We can hang out. Just like the old days.”

I turned my head and looked at his translucent profile. He wasn’t glowing as brightly as he had before. Didn’t know what that meant and couldn’t work up the energy to care. I was so tired.

“I don’t think so, Luke. She’s going to help me leave.”

“But you just got here.” He didn’t turn his head. Just stared hard at the light above our heads like it was the only thing that mattered anymore.

“Not here,” I said and waved my arms. “I gotta leave all of this. She told me. I don’t have to just hang around, Luke. I got a choice about that.” I blinked. “I bet you do, too.”

“Really?” He flopped his head to the side and stared into my eyes. “You think so?”

“Really.”

“How?”

“I have a gift,” Marie said. “I’ll help him.”

Luke glanced at her. “Will you help me, too?”

“You think you’re ready to leave this house and go to the next plane of existence?”

“I sure am tired of being stuck in here.” He looked at me and his face creased in concern. “Is something wrong?” he asked. “You’re—disappearing.”

“He’s right,” Marie said. “I can barely see you.”

“Is that good?” I felt light. Like I was barely attached to this world any longer.

“It is if you’re ready,” she said.

“Take me with you!” Luke cried, struggling to roll over on his side. “I don’t want to stay here alone anymore.”

“Can I take him with me?” I asked Marie, and then I laughed. I sounded like Luke was a dog in the pound or something.

“You can help me help him,” she said. “If you want.”

“I want.”

Marie walked between us and put her hands where our chests would have been if we had been alive. Her touch soothed me until I felt that the only thing holding me to the earth was her hand and then her voice.

She talked about letting all that was earthly go. Luke asked her some question, and even though I was right beside him, I could barely hear his voice. I don’t know if it was because he was speaking so low, or because I just wasn’t hearing anything of this earth any longer. Whatever it was, she leaned over him, looked him in the eye, and answered him.

“No,” she said. “It won’t hurt.”

Good
, I thought.
He’s had enough of that
.

I felt warmth under her hand and then saw the light begin to swirl around her.

“Make your choice,” she said, her voice calm, soothing. “Make your choice and move on. You have nothing more to learn. You can move on.”

The light from my chest moved up her arm. Wound around and around, and then began to intertwine with light winding up her other arm. Light from Luke. I could feel his strength in that light, even as I offered him mine.

“Come on, buddy,” I mumbled. “This is going to be great.”

Then I saw the light. And by fuck, it was beautiful.

I LAY ON
the floor for a while after Luke and Eddie moved on, wishing there was someone I could convince to get me a big drink of water and a nice warm blanket. I felt like I’d been run over, and I didn’t want to move.

But I did. We had a client to go see, and an office to look after, and a prickly police sergeant to deal with. I dragged myself out of that house, locked the door, rubbed my fingerprints off of the knob, walked down the stairs, remembered the key, which was still in my hand, wanted to cry but didn’t have the liquid reserves to do that, so just tossed the key in the general direction of the mailbox, and floundered back to the car.

James was properly shocked at my appearance and made me sit through a rather thorough check for bullet holes. Apparently, he had decided that I looked like I’d been shot.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” he asked when he got tired of looking for blood.

“Yes. Let’s go see Honoria,” I muttered, pushing his hands away from me and trying, without success, to do up my seatbelt.

“What happened in that house?”

I was going to say “I did a double,” but was pretty sure he’d misunderstand, so I didn’t say anything. I just flailed away with the seat belt, then fell back against the seat with a sigh that sounded more like a groan of pain than relief when I finally heard the dry click as the two pieces connected and I was finally safe.