Forty-Four Box Set, Books 1-10 (44) (81 page)

She was rambling and crying now.

I didn’t want to tell her I had the same exact feeling.

I could feel the bile coming up my throat. It sounded like the vision. Paloma was out there somewhere. Driving. Out there with
him
. I fought off the overwhelming sense that we were too late.

“Have you, uh, checked the hospitals?” I said, hating to ask.

“No,” she said. “
Dios mío
. Please, God, no.”

“Rosie, she could be a lot of places. Let’s take it one step at a time. You check the hospitals and I’ll try to find out what I can. We’ll find her, Rosie. We’ll find her.”

Before hanging up we agreed to call each other back with updates.

I knew that if he had the power to kill her, he would. I just prayed he wasn’t strong enough yet.

I went over to the door and opened it, watching the broken flower pots fill up with hail.

Paloma was somewhere out there in the storm.

CHAPTER 37

I knew I had to find Jesse. The evil haunting Paloma must have been the darkness he had sensed around me. I wasn’t sure what he could do, if he could help me find her. But I had to try. I didn’t know where else to turn.

It was just past nine when I got to the park.

The hail had stopped but it was still raining hard. Thunder boomed overhead.

“Jesse,” I whispered as I walked through the deluge.

The park was deserted. I followed the lighted path over to the basketball court.

“Jesse, please, I need to talk to you.”

His words screamed in my head as I circled the park twice in the hard rain. How he had been having trouble finding me and how it might not be up to him when he had to leave. And that maybe he couldn’t get back to me.

I hoped to see a tall figure wearing a baseball cap, standing somewhere, anywhere.

But I didn’t.

“Jesse! Please, Jesse.”

The more I called in vain, the more I was gripped by the almost certain knowledge that he was Paloma’s only chance. 

“I have to talk to you.”

Nothing.

He wasn’t there.

He wasn’t anywhere.

It was hopeless. Completely hopeless.

I turned to head back to the parking lot.

And that’s when I saw him.

He was standing in the shadows, by the river, staring at me.

His eyes were glowing.

I shuddered.

A black, ominous mist floated around him as he started moving toward me.

I could see his face now. The hair was back down over his forehead. I couldn’t see the bullet hole. But I knew it was there.

The ghost of Clyde Tidwell kept coming closer and closer, his horrible eyes burning brighter and brighter with an evil I wouldn’t have believed possible.

Staring.

Coming for me.

Closer.

Closer.

I backed away, trying to break free from his spell.

“Run,” I heard someone scream in my head. “Run!”

I found my legs and sprinted as fast as I ever had in my life, hearing the sound of his laughter all the way back to the Jeep.

CHAPTER 38

The meat and potatoes and carrots and onions had come together.

I lifted the lid, the sweet aroma of the stew filling my nostrils. I took a taste.

That’s right.

I gave it another stir and then chopped the fresh parsley I had picked from the garden. It was torture having to wait while everything simmered, the vegetables giving themselves over to the beef.

The heat from the oven made me sweat. I wiped the moisture off my forehead, took the biscuits out, flaky and golden.

That’s right.

Kate walked in.

“Abby,” she said. “What are you doing here? And what’s that?”

I followed her finger to where she was pointing.

“Dutch oven, sis,” I said. “Cooking food how it’s meant to be cooked. I picked it up today while I was out. Hey, dinner in ten minutes. Hope you’re hungry!”

She gave me a strange look and then left. I poured the whiskey. Then I ladled the stew into bowls. I lovingly slid the biscuits onto a plate. It was time to eat.

Kate walked back out and gave me a hug. Boy, did she smell divine. Like flowers in the rain. I handed her a drink and raised my glass.

“Now don’t get roostered,” I said.

“What?” Kate said, smelling the whiskey and then looking at me. “I guess you’ve been hanging around David a little too much.”

I just smiled, laughing a little.

She dug in, just like I was hoping. She needed to put a little flesh on her bones.

We sat there eating, the flavors sharp, so sharp on my tongue.

“This is delicious,” I said with food still in my mouth.

“Is Ty coming over?” she asked.

“Ty?”

“Yeah, is he coming or is he working tonight?”

I paused, trying to think. My mind was sluggish. All day, it had been so sluggish.

“Working,” I said finally, with authority.

I had a headache.

“Well, thanks for making dinner. It’s, ah, good. Have you heard from Paloma yet?”

I shrugged.

“No,” I said. “Well, yes, in a manner of speaking.”

There it was again.

She was giving me another strange look.

I played with the food in front of me. My stomach suddenly didn’t feel right and my head was aching now.

“More?” I asked.

“No, thanks. Abby, are you okay? Did something happen at work?”

She moved closer to me, studying my eyes, the expression on her face growing stranger.

“Work?” I said.

“Yeah. Work. You had an early shift, right?”

“No,” I said, holding my head in my hands. “Day off. It feels like I haven’t slept in a long time. A real long time.”

“Why don’t you go take a nap? You don’t look so good. Go on. I’ll see you for a movie later.”

I went to my bed and fell into a deep, deep sleep.

CHAPTER 39

I didn’t open my eyes until morning, the light dancing with the shadows from the leaves on the floor of my bedroom, the birds chirping.

I sat up. It was just after eight. I had slept through the entire night.

“Here she is,” Kate said, walking in and handing me her phone. “It’s Ty. He said your phone isn’t working.”

“Hey,” I said to both of them at the same time.

“What happened to you yesterday?” he said.

“Sorry. I fell asleep. Did we have plans?”

“Well, not really, but it felt like I haven’t seen you in a long time. So I stopped by after work, but you were lights out. You’re just getting up now? You feeling okay?”

“Yeah. I feel, I don’t know, really rested. I hope you weren’t worried or anything.”

“No,” he said. “I just wanted to see you. Hey, have you heard from Paloma yet?”

I suddenly remembered. The dream. Paloma. The park. I was supposed to check in with Rosie. I wondered if she had learned anything.

“No,” I said. “Listen, can I call you back?”

I hung up without waiting for him to answer.

Kate came back and took her phone.

“Okay, Abby, I gotta get going.”

She moved closer and studied my face.

“You look better. I’m glad you got some good sleep.”

She started to leave but then stopped.

“Oh, hey, I didn’t get a chance to clean up last night. See what you can do. Looks like you were planning another dinner party or something.”

“What? Sure.”

“See you later, Abby.”

A few seconds later I heard the front door close.

I picked up my phone. It was out of juice. I plugged it in. I would have to call Rosie from work.

I got up and took a shower. I got dressed, put on a little makeup, and headed out to make some coffee.

My mouth dropped open as I stood in the doorway, staring at the kitchen.

Every cookbook in the pantry was out across the granite counter. All 22 of them, my entire collection. All opened to recipes with the corners folded over, black illegible scribbles from a fat marker on the pages.

This is what Kate was talking about. She thought I was planning another dinner party.

She thought I had done this. 

But it wasn’t me.

CHAPTER 40

I didn’t want to scare Kate, but she had to know about the break in. I tried to text her but the message wouldn’t go through. I knew she was busy all morning. I would try her again later.

Someone must have broken in. It was the only possible answer.

It must be connected to what Jesse had been talking about.

Someone was after me, and they had broken into the house last night.

I shivered at the thought as I drove to work. Jack Martin was locked up, but maybe there were more. Maybe there were others who wanted to continue Nathaniel Mortimer’s experiments.

I walked in and said hello to Lyle who was at the register with a customer. He gave me an odd look.

“Hi, Abby,” he said finally. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah,” I said, a little flustered. “I’ll be up here in a minute.”

I put on my apron as Mike came up, scratching at his beard.

“So, ah, Abby,” he said. “What happened to you yesterday?”

“Happened? What do you mean?”

“You never showed up for your shift. You didn’t call in or anything. We left a bunch of messages.”

I shook my head.

“I was here yesterday. Remember? I stocked the storeroom and did inventory. I signed in and everything. I was working with Lyle.”

Lyle was eavesdropping and walked over.

“No,” he said. “That was the day before. I wasn’t even working yesterday.”

“What? No, that was yesterday.”

“Lyle, can you help the next customer?” Mike said.

I followed Mike into the back where he shuffled through papers and handed me the timesheet. I searched for my name, relieved when I found it. I showed him.

“Abby,” Mike said. “That was for Wednesday.”

“Yeah. Yesterday. I was here.”

“No. It’s Friday today. Yesterday, on Thursday, you never showed up for your shift.”

As I stared at the paper, his words sank in.

“So, today is Friday?” I asked slowly.

He nodded.

What was I doing yesterday? I couldn’t remember. Everything was fuzzy.

“Mike, I’m so sorry,” I said. “I must have just gotten mixed up. I wasn’t thinking, I guess.”

“That’s okay,” he said, rubbing his beard again. “It happens. No worries. Mo came in and covered for you. Mostly, we were worried ‘cause we couldn’t reach you. I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Yeah. Sorry again. I really don’t know what happened.”

***

During my break I tried to check my messages, but there was something wrong with my phone. It had power and I could see that I had several messages, but I couldn’t access them. My fingers felt strange. Puffy or something.

“I just don’t understand it,” I said to Mike later.

“It’s okay, Abby,” he said. “Really, it’s no big deal.”

When Mo came in, I thanked her for covering for me.

“Sorry, I just spaced out.”

“Been there,” she said.

David showed up for the last two hours of my shift. I was happy to see him.

I told him about Paloma being gone.

“I’ll make a few calls,” he said. “Maybe some of my peeps have seen her.”

I thought that almost 24 hours had passed since Rosie had seen her last. She would probably be able to file a missing persons report. Whatever good that would do.

I had to try to find Jesse again.

It had felt like only a few minutes had passed since I started my shift. But the clock didn’t lie. It was time to go home.

I walked through the door and took out my phone. It still wasn’t working.

David was out in front on a break.

“I’ll call you later if I hear anything,” he said. “Oh, and I wouldn’t dream of telling you what to do, but if I did I would tell you that you better apologize to Mo when you see her. Or give her a call tonight. Girlfriend was pissed off and you don’t want her stewing, believe you me.”

“What do you mean apologize?” I said, stopping and looking at him. “I already thanked her for covering for me yesterday.”

“No, not that,” he said. “Something you said to her earlier while you guys were in the back.”

“But I was never even in the back,” I said. “I was out helping customers all day.”

David’s face broke out in a huge grin.

“Boy, someone needs to get home and get some rest, Abby Craig,” he said. “You were back there doing inventory for like hours. Mo said she went to help out and you went all Miami Cannibal on her and chewed her head off. Called her a bunch of names. She was steamed.”

I still didn’t know what he was talking about. I shook my head and walked to the parking lot.

I drove down the street, thinking what a strange day it had been. It started raining again. My stomach was suddenly woozy. I stopped the Jeep and kicked open the door and then threw up in the street.

“What’s going on?” I whispered, bent over in the rain.

I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and rubbed my face on my sleeve, the stench of vomit all around.

CHAPTER 41

I walked into the house, my head pounding.

“Abby, where have you been? Ty called. He’s looking for you.”

I walked past Kate and stared at the television.

“You’re all wet. Have you been out in the rain? Are you okay?”

She reached over and put her icy hand on my head.

“Oh, my God, you’re burning up,” she said. “Abby, you’re sick. I’ll be right back. I’m getting the thermometer.”

“I’m fine,” I said to her back.

I heard heavy rain on the roof, the sound of it tearing through my skull. I sat on the sofa, but slipped off the leather onto the floor.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” was the last thing I remembered saying.

***

Ty pulled me closer.