Relentless: Three Novels (16 page)

“Anything, sweetheart.”

“Actually, I need two things. The first thing is just a piece of information.”

“Like what?”

“Over at the Matthews house, there are a lot of women buried in the yard.”

“Yes. I didn’t know it then, but I knew it after I died.”

“Do you have any idea if the police were already looking for him for those other murders?”

“Yes, he’s the infamous River Killer.”

Nikki gasped and felt faint. “Okay, that was more than I expected to find out, but we can work with that.”

“Work with that?”

“Go to the police.”

“No. Jimmy would be implicated.”

“No, Mom. He was twelve. And he can easily blame it on the River Killer. I think that the police will take that and run with it. And so will the media.”

“In that case, I’m sure you’re right, Nikki. What was the other thing you wanted?”

“Do you still love Daddy?”

“Of course I do, baby.”

“Will you be brave and go get him from the Matthews back yard and you and Daddy can go into the…where do you go from here?”

“Into the light.” Her mother hesitated. “I’m scared to leave our house.”

“Mom, please. Go get Daddy. His spirit is under like a 50-ton boulder in the back yard. And there’s some sort of evil spell keeping him there.”

“I know where he is and what was done to him.” Her mother started to cry. “I’m not scared of what you think I am scared of.”

“What are you scared of? Why are you crying, Mom?” Nikki asked.

“I’m scared that he won’t forgive me. That he won’t understand why I kept it a secret.”

“He will.”

“How do you know?” asked the spirit of her mother.

“Because I forgive you. And I understand.”

“Why do you?”

“Because I love you.”

“I love you, too. Okay, I’m going to go over there. And if you don’t hear from me again, you’ll know that I went. That
we
went.”

“Wait, I won’t hear from you again?” Nikki asked.

“That’s how it works.”

“Then I guess this is goodbye, Mom. I love you. Tell Daddy I love him, too.”

“I will.”

The line went dead.

Chapter Thirteen

“Nikki, do you realize how crazy this all sounds?” Brad said, wiping the sleep from his eyes as she related her adventure.

“Yes, I do know it’s really crazy. But, Brad, it’s true. It’s all true.”

“Were you and Tara smoking pot when you were over there?”

“Brad, you know I haven’t smoked pot since college. I’m being serious.”

“Honey, I know you think you’re being serious, but it’s all crazy talk.”

Nikki shook her head, and her blood began to boil from anger. Then it hit her. She knew exactly what she could do to prove to her husband that she wasn’t crazy.

“Okay, Brad, since you don’t believe me, why don’t you call your grandfather’s old telephone number and see what happens?”

“Why would I call my grandfather’s old number on a toy phone?” He began to laugh out loud.

“Well, it couldn’t hurt, could it? Can’t you just humor your crazy wife and dial the number?”

Brad could see his wife was very upset and he was starting to really worry for her sanity.

“I already used the phone to call people who died.”

“I want to see you use it again, while I am standing here, so I know you aren’t just humoring me, but that you really believe it’s real.”

“Okay, honey, give me the toy phone.”

“It’s in the bedroom. Come with me.” Brad followed Nikki into the bedroom to get the phone. Nikki handed her husband the toy phone as they both sat at the end of the bed. Brad looked at his wife and rolled his eyes.

“Dial,” she said.

Brad picked up the phone and dialed the number. “Too bad it doesn’t have speaker phone, so you could hear, too,” Brad joked.

Nikki rolled her eyes back at him. “This is serious! Is the phone ringing?”

“No, nothing. Yet.”

“Wait a little while longer.”

Brad held the receiver by his ear for a few seconds more and then hung up.

Brad sighed. “Nikki, this is only a toy phone. I think you need rest.”

Nikki shook her head at Brad. “I know you think I’m acting crazy, but it’s true. I swear.”

“I know, honey. Just relax and lay down.” Brad helped Nikki to bed. “You just need a good night’s rest and everything will be okay.”

Nikki realized at this point that it was useless to fight about it. There was nothing she could prove anyway. Not until the cops started digging up Jimmy’s back yard. Her half-brother, Jimmy. Her big brother who had saved her and Tara from a mad killer, their biological father.

Brad removed his clothes and put on a pair of old basketball shorts. He slid into bed next to his wife and gave her a kiss goodnight and rolled over, facing the opposite way. As soon as Brad closed his eyes, he heard the sound of the phone ringing. He didn’t recognize the ringtone. The family didn’t have a home phone anymore, and the sound of the ring was neither one of their cellphone ringtones. Nikki, on the other hand, knew exactly what the noise was. It was the toy telephone ringing like a phone from an old black and white movie.

Brad sat up in the bed. “What is that noise?”

“What do you think? It’s the toy telephone.”

He gave her a strange look. “I didn’t know it
rang
.”

“It doesn’t,” Nikki answered firmly.

“Then why is it
ringing
?”

“Why don’t you answer it and find out?” At this point, the ringer on the phone became louder with every ring.

Brad got off the bed to pick up the phone. “Hello,” he said, unsure of what to say.

“Brad, it’s Grandpa. I’m sorry I missed your call. It takes me a long time to get up and answer the phone.”

Brad’s face fell and he dropped the phone as if it had burned him.

* * *

Neither one of them got any sleep that night. Nikki had never seen her husband so scared in her life. On one hand, she was relieved that she wasn’t the only one experiencing the strange calls from the grave. On the other hand, she didn’t like seeing her husband so shaken up—it made her very nervous. She thought he might faint after the phone call.

He was silent for a long time after that. Once he broke his silence, he demanded that she tell him everything she had experienced with the haunted toy phone. And he also demanded that she tell him everything she had experienced at Jimmy’s house.

Nikki told Brad everything this time, leaving nothing out.

“Why didn’t you tell me all of this much, much sooner?” he demanded.

“It’s not like you would have believed me. I just told you tonight and you were about a second away from committing me to a facility. But it’s true. It’s all true. The River Killer lived at the end of our street in the nicest house in the neighborhood, with the greenest lawn.”

Brad shuddered. “I’m sorry. It’s just so strange. And scary, especially how you found out.”

“Trust me, I know it’s scary. I practically wet my pants.”

“Where did you get this demented phone?”

“I told you. It was in the house where I grew up. And it was my mom’s toy before it was mine.”

“But where did it come from before that?”

“I don’t know. A toy store? A curiosity shop? Who knows?”

“Well, let’s take it back.”

“To my old house? I’m never going back there.”

“Maybe if we take it back there, it will be out of our lives and we can go back to some semblance of normalcy.”

“We’re normal.”

“Nikki, you skipped school tonight. Did you even realize?”

She put her hand over her mouth. “Oh my gosh. I guess the toy phone sort of did take over our lives, but it helped, too. And we talked to our loved ones on it.”

“Let’s take it to your old house.”

“I guess it can’t hurt. I’ll get Katie dressed and we’ll head down there.”

Nikki headed up the stairs to dress her daughter. Brad sat on the couch, trying to make sense of all this. Nikki returned downstairs with their sleepy daughter.

“You ready?” she asked.

“Yes.”

The three made their way to the car.

“Mommy, can I get another toy from the house?” Katie asked.

“I don’t see why not, unless Jimmy cleaned up the house for the buyers who were supposed to come.”

The drive to her old house seemed to take forever. And because it was night, the broken windows looked like dark fangs waiting to eat them up.

“Um, I forgot. I don’t have a key.”

“I think we can just throw the phone through a broken window.”

“But we can’t go in and look for more toys?” Katie asked.

“Not tonight, sweetie. Maybe another time.”

Katie sighed, disappointed.

Nikki got out of the car holding the old toy telephone. She told Brad to stay in the vehicle with Katie. Nikki walked toward the dark house and held the phone tightly in her hands.

“Hi, Mom? Are you in there or did you go to get Daddy? Anyway, I think we are done with this phone. I loved talking to you, but it causes a lot of problems in our lives to have this power to just…”

She couldn’t even finish her sentence. She just threw the phone through a broken window and ran back to the truck.

Katie was asleep in her car seat.

“Let’s get the heck out of here!” Nikki whispered.

Brad peeled out of the driveway like he was going to put out a fire.

As soon as they were out of the neighborhood, Nikki turned around to see how Katie was doing in the back seat and gasped when she saw the toy telephone on the floor.

“Oh, Brad,” she said. “We apparently can’t get rid of the toy telephone. It’s in the back seat.”

He jammed on the brakes, pulled over and repeatedly hit the steering wheel with his fist. He said, “Apparently, we are not done with this toy phone yet.”

Chapter Fourteen

Brad decided to go to a local fast-food restaurant. Nikki and Brad sat down and ate their hot breakfasts as Katie played. She wasn’t hungry and they sure weren’t going to make her eat at this hour.

“All of this is so surreal,” she said.

“What, eating McDonald’s fast food in the middle of the night, not to mention our daughter has the entire Playland area to herself?” Brad said. “When has that ever happened?”

“No, not that. I am talking about this whole thing where you find out all the secrets that have stolen your happiness all your life and then you realize that when you tell them, hell is going to break loose even more?”

“Yeah, that’s going to be a pain for you and Tara and especially for Jimmy, who saved your butts. But I was actually talking about this: I’ve never been one to believe in the supernatural, but now, I gotta admit, some of it is extremely compelling,” said Brad. “At first, I was just pretending that the phone was magic. But then it really
was
magic.”

“I know, and now it’s happening in our own lives. Supernatural happenings have affected our past, our present and our future. Thanks to the haunted toy phone and the spirits of our loved ones.”

“Yeah, but apparently, we can’t get rid of that haunted toy phone,” Brad said. “I wonder if we can sell it or give it away?”

“Yeah, but who’s going to buy an old toy telephone?” she replied.

“You’ve been saying we need to have a yard sale for a while. We have all that stuff in the garage.”

“That’s a perfect idea. When do you wanna have it?”

“Tomorrow! The sooner we get rid of the phone, the better,” Brad suggested.

“Great, Iet’s hurry home, so we can get things ready.”

Brad nodded his head. “I’ll let Katie know we’ll be leaving in ten minutes.”

“Before we go, I want to let you know I’ve come to a decision in another area.”

“What?” he said.

“Night school is too much for me. I am just exhausted all the time. I can barely drive myself home after class.”

“I did worry about you burning the candle at both ends. So, what do you want to do? You know I will support your decision, no matter what.”

“Thanks, Brad.” She swallowed hard. “This is hard to say, because I know online school is so much more expensive than going to community college in person, but I was hoping to change our plans for putting Katie in full-day kindergarten next year and using that $3,000 that we saved for her tuition for me. That way, I can go to online college and get my same degree. And then I’ll just put Katie in half-day kindergarten because it’s free. But I would be home for her and not missing you so much at night and exhausting myself. And you.”

He nodded.

“Is it selfish? I know the money was for Katie, but I cannot drive to the campus and do this and be a mom and a wife, too.”

“No, it’s not selfish. You
are
exhausted, but that doesn’t mean you should give up your dream of getting your degree.” He paused. “I was going to save it for a surprise, but I’m getting a big bonus at the hardware store next month. So, Katie will still be able to do full-day kindergarten next year and you can use the upcoming bonus for online college.”

“Oh, Brad! You’re amazing!” Gratitude swelled her heart.

“Yes, I
am
amazing.” He laughed. “I was hoping to use the bonus for a vacation, but your education, and Katie’s, are more important than taking Katie to ride, ‘It’s a Small World, After All.’”

“But you won’t get to enjoy your big bonus.”

“Yes, I will. I’ll have you home every night with me again. I’ve missed you, too, but I haven’t had the heart to complain. You work so hard at your dream and I respect that.”

They hugged.

“You’re the best husband ever.”

“No, I’m selfish. I would gladly pay three grand to have you not so exhausted all the time.”

She smiled, very happy that it had worked out.

Nikki’s cellphone rang in her purse. She answered it. “Hello?”

“Nikki, it’s Don. You’re up early. I was going to just leave a voicemail. I have some new information on the case for you and Tara.”

“You do?”

“Yes. Are you two able to come into my office in the next hour or so?”