Elly's Ghost (23 page)

“Our ballistics
people just matched the bullets in both teenagers to a weapon found on one of
the dead men at the highway. Elly’s story also confirms you two never met any
teenagers.”

Jay explained
where he was, and they hung up. He waited by the end of the driveway. When the sheriff
arrived, he put Jay’s backpack in the trunk, and then he apologized and told
Jay he had to read him his rights because of the warrant. Jay knew he was just
doing his job and didn’t protest.

“How is Elly
doing?” Jay asked from the backseat.

“Much better. Her
family is with her now. She’s going to be okay thanks to you.”

The sheriff
turned down the police radio. “You know, I expected Elly to get out of here
first chance she got.”

“I read in the
paper that she’s still here.” Jay said.

“That’s right. She
said she won’t leave until you’re free of all charges.” He smiled at Jay, who
smiled back.

Despite being
under arrest, a sense of awe flowed through him at what the sheriff said. Elly
was still here because of him. Any worry of being imprisoned disappeared at the
thought of Elly waiting for him.

As they
approached the police station, there was no sign of anyone. Jay knew police
channels were openly monitored, especially by the media. He’d expected to see
TV cameras filming him being taken to jail. He knew it meant Sheriff Neuhaus
hadn’t used the open police channel to inform anyone what he was doing.

They pulled into
an open garage stall at the jail, and the door closed behind them.

“Thanks for
bringing me in,” Jay said, as the sheriff helped him out of the squad car.

“My pleasure,”
Sheriff Neuhaus said.

* * *

Chris Pender’s
phone rang as he was eating lunch. It was Jay’s sister, Sarah, who told him to
turn on the television.

He ran into the
living room and found the broadcast already under way. Across the bottom of the
screen were the words, “Jason Tessier arrested.”

“… as you can
see behind me here, the jail is in the distance, and the streets are filling up
with supporters. The crowd has grown to a couple hundred people. No one has
seen Jason except the sheriff and Jason’s attorney. We have sources who say the
attorney was hired by Ms. Wittenbel. And that’s not all she’s doing to support
Jason. There will be a ‘Free Jason’ concert tonight on a local farmer’s land.

“District
Attorney Jack Coleman did not return our calls, but we do know that Montana
Attorney General Susan Wells, who served many years in the Marine Corps’ Judge
Advocate Division, is planning to come here tomorrow to meet with local law
enforcement. This all comes right after the news of the arrest of former record
executive Victor Fines by Italian customs officials. He is believed to be the
mastermind behind the attempted kidnapping. Pressure is mounting on the DA’s
office, but District Attorney Coleman released a statement saying he fully
intends to charge Jason Tessier with multiple counts of first-degree murder.”

“Oh, shit!”
Chris said loudly.

The idea that
his best friend would be charged with murder made him angry. He thought of the
comments Elly had made on Saturday outside the hospital. He’d only been around
Elly for a short time, but he knew the DA had a fight coming. With all of the
support Elly had, he didn’t envy the man.

* * *

Elly’s dad opened
the curtains of the rental house and found a crowd of photographers and
cameramen pointing their lenses at him. With the news that Jason Tessier had
been arrested, the number of reporters had grown. “What a circus. There must be
a hundred people on the street,” he said to Elly before closing the curtains
again.

The sheriff had
called Elly to tell her Jay was in custody, but he said for now Jay could only
see his attorney. The knowledge that Jay was safe let her relax for the first
time in days. She knew it would be just a matter of time before she could see
him again. Now she needed to focus on keeping him out of prison.

Elly sat with
her computer in her lap. “Look at the hits on my website.” Elly’s publicist had
added a “Free Jason Tessier” section, including the email and mailing addresses
for the district attorney. Elly’s Twitter feed was up and running, and she’d
already reported how happy she was with the number of fans showing their
support for Jay.

Alex sat down
next to her. “How many?”

“Last night I
had 64,000 supporters,” she said. “Now I have 126,000.”

Brent held up
the annual with Jay’s senior year picture. “You know, Jason does look like a bad-ass
Marine type.”

Elly handed the
laptop to Alex and slid closer to Brent. “Here, look at this picture of his
whole class. You can see him standing off to the left.”

“He could
probably kick my ass with little effort,” Jeremy said.

“What is he
like?” Brent asked.

Elly shrugged
her shoulders. “He is thoughtful, friendly, smart, and—”

“Ha, you just
described a combat Marine as friendly and smart,” Jeremy said.

“Well, he is,”
Elly said defensively. “He was quiet and humble, and he always put my safety
first.”

“Now the Marine
is humble.” Alex rolled his eyes.

Elly knew there
was no way they would understand until they met him. “You know what? I’m not going
to tell you anything else.”

“Ignore these
two idiots.” Brent pointed at Alex and Jeremy. “Come on, what was he like?”

Elly rolled onto
her stomach. Brent had always been the mature one of the three, and at least he
seemed to understand. “When we were in the woods, he wasn’t very talkative, but
he was really nice to me. That’s what I mean when I say humble. He was a
complete gentleman to me the entire time. He treated me like a normal person.
He’d never even heard of System Override. It didn’t matter to him who I was. I
mean, his plane was gutted by a fire, and he didn’t even ask me to help him pay
for it.”

Jeremy sat up.
“You like him.”

“Oh, yeah,” Alex
said. “You can tell by looking at her.”

“There’s a lot
about him to like. That’s more than I can say about the three of you.”

The surprised
look on Brent’s face told Elly he’d realized she was serious about Jay.

Brent smiled and
said, “I’ve never heard you talk about a guy like this. He must really be
something special. I can’t wait to meet him.”

Elly smiled back
at Brent, happy at least one of “The Three Stooges” had figured it out.

“Elly, is this
guy boyfriend material?” Alex asked.

“Maybe.” Elly looked
at Alex. “What if I do want him to be my boyfriend? Is that a problem?”

“Oh, my God.” Jeremy
pointed at her. “You made out with him, didn’t you?”

Elly’s face
turned bright red. “No, I didn’t!” She wrapped herself in a blanket.

“You’re lying,”
Jeremy said.

Elly looked
away. “I’m not lying.”

“She looks away
when she lies,” Jeremy said.

“And then she
says, ‘I’m not lying’ when you accuse her,” Alex said.

“I’m not …”
Elly’s face contorted, and then she let out a frustrated groan. She pulled the
blanket over her head.

“I knew it!”
Jeremy said.

“I’m sorry, Elly,
you were saying something?” Alex asked.

“Hey,” Jeremy
said, “I think you and the friendly, smart, humble Marine would make a great couple.”

“Come on. Don’t
pick on me,” Elly said.

“It’s okay to
admit you like him,” Jeremy said. “That’s all right. What happens in the woods
of Montana, stays in the woods of Montana.”

“Ah, I hate all
of you!” Elly curled into a ball on the floor under the blanket.

“We know you too
well, Elly.” Jeremy held his fist out to Alex who tapped it with his. “We
busted that one wide open.”

“You know it,”
Alex said with a smile.

“Oh, I hate this
sitting around waiting,” Elly said.

“You wouldn’t
get bored if you could find a friendly, humble Marine somewhere,” Jeremy said.

“I hear Montana has some,” Alex added.

“Hey!” Elly
shouted and then broke down laughing with the others. She had to admit it was
good to be back with the band, even if they enjoyed harassing her. They were
her family, and she hoped they would like Jay when she introduced him.

* * *

At 6:00 PM Pender
pulled into the large field already filled with cars. Three tractor-trailers
were arranged in a semicircle. The flatbed trailer in the middle acted as the
stage, and the other two were filled with audio equipment, including several
large speakers. A couple food vendors had set up shop near the back, and several
hundred people were already waiting near the stage for the concert to begin.

The media were there,
filming the people pouring into the field that Elly had rented. Several
journalists were interviewing people near the stage, while others stood next to
their camera people waiting for their live shots.

The concert
started at 7:00 PM with Elly thanking everyone for coming. Three songs in,
Pender got a call from an unknown number.

“Hello.”

“Pender, this is
Jay.”

“Holy crap! What
the hell is going on? Where are you? Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.
They’ve just quashed my warrant. I’m free to go. Can I get a ride?”

“Where are you?”

“I’m still at
the police station.”

“I’m on my way.”

* * *

Jay greeted
Pender with a hug and then shook hands with Fredrick Adolphson III, thanking
him for everything. Outside they found the parking lot relatively empty.

“Please take me
home,” Jay said as they climbed into Pender’s truck.

“No way. We’ve
got a pit stop to make.”

“What? Where?”
The last thing Jay wanted was to go somewhere that might have cameras.

Pender filled
Jay in on all the searching he’d been doing with Glen, Elly, and Elly’s brother,
Nick. “I get the distinct impression this girl likes you a lot. You know that,
right?”

Jay looked at
him but said nothing.

“Jay, I just
told you Elly Wittenbel likes you, and I hope you fully understand what that
means.”

“What does that
mean?” Jay asked, humoring him.

“It means you’re
the luckiest guy I know, so don’t mess this up!” Pender smiled at Jay who
looked at him and smiled back.

Pender drove
down a long gravel road as the stage and a crowd of about two thousand people in
the distance came into view. The parking area had filled up, and a police
officer directed them to the overflow parking in a field on the other side of
the road.

“What is this?”
Jay asked.

“It’s Elly’s ‘Free
Jason’ concert,” Pender said.

They got out and
heard Elly’s voice belting out a song. Jay instantly felt energized when he
heard her voice. Excitement was building inside him with every step as they walked
across the road to the makeshift entrance. It hit Jay that all of these people
were there in support of him, and he had Elly to thank for that. He began to
feel uneasy about being the center of attention, yet he knew they all deserved
his respect as they were part of the reason he was free.

The stage was
visible from the entrance, and Jay’s smile was involuntary as he spotted Elly
holding the microphone. He stopped to watch as she appeared to float across the
stage with her newly curled hair and tight-fitting red dress with lipstick to
match. She looked absolutely beautiful.

“Come on.” Pender
pulled out his cell phone. He dialed a number and then said, “Hey, we’re in the
back by the entrance. Okay.” He stopped talking and waved to someone on his
right.

Sarah and her
husband Jim walked toward Jay, each holding one of Kelly’s hands.

“Uncle Jay!”
Kelly shouted and ran toward him.

Jay’s niece was
now seven and had grown at least six inches since the last time he’d seen her.

“Hello,
beautiful.” Jay picked her up. “It’s good to see you!”

“I missed you!”
Kelly rested her head on his shoulder.

Jay hugged Sarah,
who was now in tears.

“Welcome home,
little brother,” she said.

“It’s good to be
home,” Jay said.

Jim embraced Jay
and welcomed him.

Sarah wiped her
eyes. “You’ve had quite the homecoming.”

“You could say
that. It’s been a strange one,” Jay said.

“We’re glad to
have you home,” she said.

“I’m sorry I
didn’t come and see you when I got in,” Jay said.

“You don’t have
to apologize,” Sarah said. “Pender explained everything. We understand. Luckily
for Elly,” Sarah motioned at the stage, “you were in the right place at the
right time.”

Kelly told Jay
how she’d made a welcome home sign for him. He told her he couldn’t wait to see
it. He was finally feeling like he was home.

Sarah glanced at
Pender and motioned toward the stage. “Take him. I’m sure Elly will be happy to
see him. We have to take the munchkin home.”

Kelly protested,
then asked Jay, “Will you come and see me tomorrow?”

“I promise I
will.” Jay hugged everyone and said good-bye.

Another song
ended, and Elly took a bow. “Thank you so much for coming out in support of
Jason Tessier,” Elly said. “It means so much to me.”

Jay smiled as
the band began their next song. Hearing Elly’s voice removed the apprehension
that had been growing inside him. He took in the crowd around him and then stared
up at Elly in the middle of the stage. A “Free Jason” banner was hanging high
above the stage. He thought about how Elly hired Adolphson, who had manhandled
the DA at the sheriff’s office and gotten the warrant removed. Jay knew Elly
had done it all for him, and he wanted more than anything for there to be a
place for him in her world.