Reunion (A Psychological Suspense with Murder, Mystery and the Paranormal) (22 page)

“All right. So you had a spooky dream about Mr. Ray. What makes you think he’s alive?”

“Please, do not give him that kind of respect. I mean, don’t call him mister, not around me anyway.”

“Sure. I understand.”

“Okay. Well, I know this might sound weird, but in my vision David died just like we were all told he did. He shot himself. He felt the pain and lost consciousness. But in my dream, he came back. He says he’s not dead. And like I said, this wasn’t your run-of-the-mill dream. This was the most powerful and realistic vision I’ve ever had.”

Silence.

• • •

Larry wasn’t convinced. What a waste of time, he thought. Nothing Nick’s said proves anything. He chuckled and responded with a smirk on his face.

“Now who’s pulling whose leg, Nick? That’s a pretty fascinating story. You don’t suppose the town and the authorities would have said something if David was still alive? I’m sure we would have all known if he had lived, because someone would’ve tried to kill him!” Larry rolled his eyes. “Come on, Nick. Don’t you think there might have been a trial or a hanging if he’d lived?”

“I know it sounds crazy, but what if something had happened? What if—”

Larry interrupted.

“What if what, Nick? What if he rose from the dead? Or, what if he just faked his death? Please… explain to me how that’s even possible.”

Nick threw his hands in the air and leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling, shaking his head. Larry noticed that, although he looked frustrated, his voice tone came across as absolutely confident.

Nick turned his gaze back to Larry and his hands flopped on the table.

“I guess you’re right, Larry. It’s not possible, is it?” Nick followed Larry with his eyes as the sheriff walked around the table. “Then again, it’s not possible for a ghost to skewer a boy on top of a flagpole and burn an image of its face into glass either, right?” Nick looked away and said, “Can I go now?”

Larry knew that Nick had made a good point, but he didn’t pursue any more questions. He struggled, balancing the paranormal with reality. He wasn’t sure what he believed. After what he had seen at the school, he thought anything was possible; that is, anything but Nick’s assertion. He realized that Nick and his information had to remain incarcerated to keep the story out of the media.

Larry called the attendant to open the door. It buzzed open and he took Nick back to his cage, telling him that he could not release him that night but that he would look into it the following morning. Nick grumbled and protested but had to give in. In fact, he remained in jail indefinitely without bond. Larry felt secure in knowing that his one and only loose end sat safely behind bars. Yet he remained troubled. Nick’s final point continued to haunt him.

He thought to himself, Nick’s right. After what I’ve seen, anything’s possible.

Larry returned to his office and sat down in his worn-out chair. His eyes roamed the four walls that surrounded him, scouring every square inch of the memories and awards that decorated the room. In a matter of minutes he relived his star-studded career in Crescent Falls law enforcement. He looked at the pictures on the wall, which spanned the course of his twenty years of service. His eyes studied old photographs of the city softball league, award ceremonies, and fund-raisers, fishing trips, newspaper clippings, and his time in the academy. He sat there at his desk and chuckled to himself.

Twenty years is a long time, he thought. Twenty years of work, family, and my children had vanished in what seemed like a flash. Then something in that thought struck him as odd. His mind raced back through time and the snapshots of his life. He realized that this wasn’t just a twentieth reunion for the group of survivors; it was his twentieth as well.

Suddenly, he felt as if something had punched him in the stomach. He remembered how it had all started. A single memory instantaneously brought him back to Nick’s last comment. Twenty years ago Sheriff Harold Flynn had retired from the force. Harold had also encouraged Larry to run for sheriff in his place. He had, and he’d won. Larry remembered being so caught up in the excitement of it all that he didn’t question his predecessor’s reason for early retirement. Why had he retired so young, he wondered? What was his hurry? Harold hadn’t been a day over fifty-five.

It all began to make sense when Larry realized that Harold had retired several weeks after the massacre. He looked at a picture on his wall where Larry and other deputies surrounded Harold at his retirement party. Harold didn’t look very happy. In fact, he looked distressed. Larry stood up and walked toward the picture. He removed the frame from the wall and held it close to his eyes. The men in the picture were holding beer bottles high into the air as they brushed streamers and confetti out of the way, waving their final goodbyes and singing, “He’s a jolly good fellow.” Casually dressed in Dockers and a sweater, Harold looked out into the crowd as if he were contemplating something far more worrisome than his retirement.

After that, Harold and his wife had moved to Florida. Of course he’d called to congratulate Larry when he won the election, but he’d never heard from him since. Harold then passed away four years later. Larry stood for several minutes holding the picture, wondering what had weighed so heavily on Harold’s mind? What had caused him such grief that he had to leave so suddenly?

Larry hated unresolved questions and took pride in finding answers. He set his mind to discovering what had troubled Harold that night. For days, he struggled with Nick’s revelation regarding David Ray and Harold’s mysterious retirement, trying to fit all the pieces into some sort of pattern that made sense.

• • •

Tanner and the two women waited at the school entrance to see what all the commotion was about. An ambulance pulled up to the front entrance of the school and two paramedics rushed in with their medical gear. The lights and siren acted like a magnet, pulling the old classmates away from their work. Paul opened the door and the paramedics rushed out of the building.

Tanner watched the paramedics roll Mike away on the gurney. He turned away to avoid seeing the blood smeared across Mike’s face. The scene reminded him of the incident with the sickle and David Ray’s head.

“Tanner? You okay?” asked Lana.

Tanner took a deep breath of fresh air to avoid passing out.

“I don’t know. I’ve…not been feeling very good since the thing over there with the sickle.” He closed his eyes and thought, this is what I was afraid of. But I can do this—I can beat it. I just have to hang in there.

“What thing?” asked Maria.

Lana quickly told Maria what had happened, while Tanner walked out of earshot to stretch and breathe.

Maria gasped when Lana told her about David Ray and the head. She looked at Tanner with concern and said, “Wow, Tanner. That’s rough,” as he came back to join them.

Tanner raised one hand and said, “Thanks! I appreciate the show of support.” He was still struggling. His knees were on the verge of buckling. The girls grabbed him as he swayed and helped him to sit down.

“Thanks. I’m feeling pretty dizzy.”

Lana put her hand on his forehead. “And you’re getting a fever. Maybe that’s where the vision came from. You’re probably coming down with something and your mind is just playing tricks on you.”

Maria agreed. “Yeah. You’re probably right, Lana.”

Tanner grunted as he sat in the grass.

“Do we need to have the paramedics take you to the hospital too?” asked Lana, half joking.

Lying on his back, Tanner answered, “No. Just—” He caught his breath. “Just give me a second. I’ll be okay. I think it was just too much to take in at once, that’s all.” He knew there was more to it than that. He could feel a dark presence all around him—reminding him of his feeling on the day of the shooting.

“All right, buddy, just take it easy,” insisted Maria. She gently took Lana’s arm and led her away for a private conversation and to give Tanner some space. The two women walked side by side toward the big oak tree.

• • •

“Listen, Lana, I think he’s going to be all right. He’s probably suffering an emotional overload by being here. I mean, the school, the sickle and the ambulance, it’s probably just too much for him. In fact, we’re all at risk of a relapse under these conditions. Makes you wonder if it’s worth it.”

“It was a little unnerving seeing that man carried out of there like that. But why am I okay, while Tanner’s battling his emotions?”

“I don’t know. No one knows for sure what causes one person to react to a traumatic experience in a different way from someone else who experiences the exact same thing. There are way too many variables to consider. But I do know that Tanner’s strong. He’ll bounce back. He’s a fighter. I wouldn’t shut the reunion down over one little relapse. We should expect more of them. We should
all
expect them.”

Lana whipped her head in Maria’s direction, in shock over her statement.

“We should?”

Maria laughed. “Lana, obviously, you’ve managed to slip through the cracks. A reaction like Tanner’s is cued by a combination of what he saw, his upbringing and God knows what else. I’m a trained professional in dealing with PTSD, and I still have vivid memories that come out of nowhere sometimes. And, I have to follow a mental checklist on how to live out my interpersonal relationships without coming across as too dull or not empathetic. It’s like the only people I really understand…are people like me.”

“I…I’m so sorry, Maria. I didn’t know. I thought you had it all together. I thought you were healed somehow.”

“No, I’ll never be fully healed. I’m just better equipped to deal with it.”

There was a brief pause. Lana cleared her throat.

“Well, what about Tanner? What can we do to help him?”

Maria looked in Tanner’s direction. He had wobbled to his feet.

“Let’s just get him to his hotel. He could use some rest.”

Lana smiled. “Okay.”

The two women watched Tanner in silence. Then Lana cleared her throat and looked directly at Maria.

“Have you heard from Noah?”

“I’m sorry…not a word.”

• • •

Kate stood next to Bryan, the worried look back on face again. She watched the paramedics load the maintenance man into the back of the ambulance. Bryan crossed his arms defensively.

“Come on, Kate. He just fell from his ladder. Guys do that sometimes when they’re working.”

“But what if he didn’t, Bryan?”

Embarrassed, Bryan said, “Shhh.”

“Don’t shush me!” she protested. “What if David Ray is in there like Nick said?” Bryan looked around to be sure no one was looking. He grabbed Kate’s arm and ushered her away from the ambulance.

“Listen, Kate. You’ve got to forget about Nick. He’s a drunk and he’s a loser. He’s been playing you for twenty years. Besides, he’s going to be in jail for quite a while. Is that who you want to believe? Is that who you want to trust?”

“I don’t know!” Kate looked away.

Bryan took hold of her shoulders, demanding her attention.

“Kate, you’ve got to understand, old buildings like this always invoke a sense of fear in people, especially because of the history of our school. Like any abandoned building, there have been rumors and ghost stories about this place for years, but its all just a bunch of old wives’ tales and hocus-pocus. Don’t get me wrong, the building makes noises, creaks and moans from time to time, but it’s not what you think. It’s not David! That’s just Nick spouting off because he’s pissed at the world and he’s pissed at David for taking away his brother. And he’ll never be right unless he can somehow bring him back. But he can’t, Kate! None of us can go back. We can only move forward.”

Bryan paused. He was in uniform and afraid that they were being watched; otherwise he would have taken her in his arms. He wondered if he had really taken care of Nick for good. He thought to himself, what if she goes back to him? What if she finds out about my lies? Eh, we’ll get through this and we’ll be together like we were meant to be.

“Do you really think we’re going to be okay?” Kate asked.

Bryan looked at Tanner and the ambulance. In his heart he wasn’t sure, but he answered, “Yeah, Kate. We’ll be fine.”

T
he day before the reunion, Larry Richards walked down the musty stairwell into the city archives. He had struggled with his thoughts for far too long and decided it was time to take action. Nothing made sense—not the ghost, Harold, Chris Haden, nothing. I’ve got to dig deeper, he thought.

Ready to find answers, he entered the dimly lit storage area. An older woman sat at an antique office desk reading a stack of city documents. She looked as antique as the desk in front of her, with grey hair, a flower-and-lace dress and bifocals on a pearl lanyard. Each wrinkle on her face marked a decade’s worth of living. When Larry approached the desk, she lifted the bifocals to the base of her nose and raised her head. A brass nameplate sitting on the desk read Rosemary Bloom.

“What can I do for you, honey?” she said in a mousey squeak.

“Well, ma’am, I needed to look at some old files.” Larry removed his hat.

Slightly hard of hearing, she repeated herself.

“What’s that, darlin’?”

“Files! I need to see some files!” Larry shouted with care. He knew Rosemary had been employed in municipal government for many years. Well respected and known by most city employees as
Rosie
, she had a reputation for jealously guarding the secrets of the city council in her vault and for resisting all attempts to put them in a computer system. As the city had so little money and also so little need for archiving, nobody insisted or bothered her much.

“Okay. Okay,” spluttered Rosemary, who had turned her hearing aid up. She grabbed a set of keys that hung on a rack behind her. “What files do you need to look at, Sheriff?”

“HR…Retirement papers.”

“OH!” Rosemary stopped dead in her tracks. “I got the wrong set of keys!” She turned around and stretched to exchange one set of keys for another. She looked up at the sheriff and smiled.