The Ghost Files 3 (21 page)

“Hurry up,” Dan calls down to me. “We’ll store our stuff here. We need to find Lacey.”

I shake my head and climb up after him. We dump everything into the built-in storage locker. “You like?” he asks as he reattaches the lock.

“Can’t wait to go out on the lake
,” I grin. I love the water. “How many people will it hold?”

“Six easily,” Dan says and helps me back down. “We might need it if you’re right about Eli showing up. I know Ava wants to meet you
, so she’ll probably tag along, too.”

“Who?” I ask, confused.

“Ava Malone.”

“Your sister?” I frown. I hate meeting new people.

Dan nods. “Ever since they told her about you getting the best of Eli, she’s been dying to talk to you.”

I groan. Great, what must she think of me?

“Don’t worry so much, Mattie.” Dan laughs at my expression. “She’ll love you just like everyone else does. Now get a move on. We’re wasting time.”

The lake shoreline is so much different
from that of the New Jersey beaches. There’s no sand here, but soft grass leading down to the water’s edge. A small forest surrounds the lake, making it feel isolated. The clear blue water makes me think of lazy, magical days. It’s peaceful here.

At least until we round a bend and come face-to-face with a massive number of teens having fun. Some play a volleyball game while others lounge in the grass watching. Not much conversation
—as if you could hear yourself think with that blaring music. Most of the girls are dressed in little bikinis and I flinch. That’ll never be me in a bathing suit because of my many, many scars.

“There she is,” Dan says, jarring my attention back to the landscape. I look to where he’s pointing and recognize Lacey from Addison’s memories. Her brown hair is pulled back into a ponytail and she’s lying on a blanket
, sunbathing.

When we reach her, she looks up at Dan and frowns. Yup, the girl is definitely hiding something. I can tell by the way she fidgets. Most people can’t lie well and just seeing Officer Dan makes her nervous. Most girls would think it’s because Dan’s cute, but…hey, I’m a pro when it comes to spotting liars. Lacey knows Officer Dan is on
to her.

“Hi.” I plop down before Dan can open his mouth. “I’m Mattie.”

“Lacey,” she says automatically. I almost grin. Got to hand it to the South. They sure do raise polite kids. It’s ingrained in them from birth, I think. They might cuss you so viciously on the inside it’d truly make a sailor blush, but on the outside, they’re all polite and smiley.

“I know,” I tell her. “Dan told me about you. I was hoping you could help us.”

“I already told him everything.” She won’t look either of us in the eye.

“Addison was my friend, too,” I say softly.

Her head jerks up and she narrows her eyes at me. “I know all of Addy’s friends.”

“No, you don’t
.” I shake my head. “Did she tell you about the guy she met? The one she was supposed to hook up with the night of the party?”

She frowns, clearly suspicious.

“You can believe me or not,” I tell her bluntly. “I don’t care what you think. What I
do
care about is finding out what happened to my friend. You can either help me or I can
make
you help me.”

The coldness in my voice matches the look in my eyes. It’s a look I’ve given to loads of people over the years when I wanted them to realize I could hurt them and not think twice about it.

“How do you know her?” she asks, shrinking away from me.

“Long story,” I say. “I’m done asking nicely, Lacey. Tell Officer Richards
exactly
what you know before I ask him to walk away for a few minutes.”

“He’s a police officer,” she argues. “He wouldn’t let…you…” Her eyes widen when Dan turns and starts to walk away. “Wait!” she calls frantically. “Wait!”

“Ready to talk?” I ask her, my face wearing my nastiest smile, just full of teeth.

“I want to know what happened to her too,” Lacey says, her voice almost timid. “I just…”

“Look, let’s just cut the BS, okay? You know something and not telling us isn’t going to help Addison. So spill it!”

“I
did
see something that night.” She sighs. “If I hadn’t been so drunk, maybe…”

“Your self-pity isn’t helping anyone,” I tell her. I’m not unfeeling and if I’d been in her shoes, I’d probably feel guilty too, but I don’t have time to make her feel better. I need to get these drama queens off my back. “What did you see?”

“I saw someone,” she says at last. “A guy. I don’t know what he looks like, so don’t ask. I couldn’t really see through the bonfire smoke. He was standing at the edge of the trees and I saw Addy walk into the woods with him. I figured she’d just hooked up with someone, ya know?”

“Why didn’t you tell the police this?” Dan asks.

“Because she didn’t want people to blame her,” I mutter and get to my feet. “She was drunk, and instead of looking out for her friend, she partied.”

Lacey flinches from the disgust in my voice. Dan frowns at me, but I glare right back. I can’t believe how selfish people are. If she’d told the police this before, they might have found a clue.

“Where?” I ask.

“Where what?” Lacey repeats.

I almost growl at her. “Show us where you saw them disappear into the woods.”

“I don’t remember,” she confesses. “I was really drunk and that night’s pretty much just a blur.”

“General vicinity?” I ask, annoyed. I never understood how girls could get so drunk they didn’t remember
anything
. Don’t they know how dangerous that is? It’s how they end up being raped, killed, or both. They should have more self-respect than that.

“East side of the lake,” she whispers, scooting away from me. I flash her another toothy grin. It’s my best ‘don’t mess with me or I’ll cause you bodily harm’ smile.

“We need to take the boat to reach it,” Dan tells me when I glance up at him. His expression is comical. He forgets so easily how snarky and mean I can be when I want to. “The east side isn’t as populated, so it’s easier for kids to party.”

Well
, that makes sense. This side of the lake houses an apartment complex and the west side is littered with expensive homes. I doubt the residents would appreciate the noise factor of an out of control teenage party.

“Let’s go,” I say and start back to the dock.

“Can we hold off for a few minutes?” Dan asks. “I see a couple friends I want to talk to.”

Even though I want to set out immediately looking for clues, I sigh. Dan looks so eager. Time enough later to discuss the idiot who failed to report something significant to the police. “Sure,” I nod. “I’ll stretch out by the boat.”

The ground is warm. I can feel the heat seep into me, but it does little to dispel the cold. It’s over ninety degrees today, but to me it could be ten degrees. I wish I could get my hands on my sketchpad. The scenery is gorgeous and I could sit here all day and draw until my fingers cramped up too much to move them.

I stretch out and stare up at the clouds. This has always been a favorite past time of mine. My mom and I used to stare up at them and we’d take turns trying to find shapes in the fluffy white puffs. We’d giggle like fools when one of us came up with something particularly funny.

I smile softly, thinking about those memories. It’s gotten easier to remember her and I’m glad. Even though she did some awful things, she was my mom and I’ll always love her even if I can’t forgive her. Just last year, I wouldn’t have been able to say that. I guess maybe Dan’s right and I really
am
growing up.

“Matts?”

I turn my head and see my ex-boyfriend, Jake Owens, sprinting towards me. Jake is a cutie. He has that all-American, boy-next-door vibe going on. I would say he’s one of the sweetest guys I’ve ever met if he hadn’t bailed on me last year without so much as a breakup text after the Olson incident. It still hurt that he hadn’t cared enough to even check on me.

“Jake
.” I nod and sit up. He falls down beside me and I notice just how good his ripped abs look. He’s the captain of our football team. Everyone is sure he’s getting a full ride to his choice of colleges because of his epic skills on the field. I’ve seen him play and he’s really good.

“Thought that was you
.” He grins, his eyes twinkling. “How ya been?”

“Really?” I ask snidely. “You have the nerve to ask me that now, months later?”

He winces and has the good grace to blush. “Yeah, I’m sorry, Matts.”

“Whatever.” I turn and stare at the boats bobbing in the water.

“I really
am
sorry,” he tells me. “Can I explain?”

I shrug, not really caring at this point one way or the other. When I look at Jake now, I don’t get butterflies like I used to. Jake is someone I let myself care about. Then he let me down. Story of my life.

“I freaked out,” he admits. “That day in the diner when you beat the crap out of Tommy, I saw the girl everyone else talked about. The foster kid with a record. It wasn’t until later that I realized your record
didn’t
matter. You were my Matts and that’s all I cared about. I tried calling you, but your phone went straight to voicemail. I went to the house the next day and there were police cars everywhere. Mrs. Olson told me you were missing.”

He stops and scoots until he’s
in front of me, so I’ll look at him. He gives me that soft smile of his and again, it does nothing for me. “I was so worried about you. The whole time you were missing, I kept thinking if I hadn’t been such a jerk, you might have been okay. You’d have been with me or I might have stopped you from getting taken if I was there. It ate away at me, Mattie. Then when Dan found you, my parents and I were at the hospital all night until we found out you’d be okay. I came by a couple times to check on you, but you were either asleep or Dan was there. I felt guilty, Mattie, and I guess I decided to take the classic idiot’s way out and not face you.”

“That’s just stupid,” I tell him. “And immature.”

“I’m a guy, Mattie.” He laughs. “We do stupid stuff. I owe you an apology and I wanted to say how sorry I was for how crappy I behaved. You deserved better and I’m sorry I didn’t give you better.”

“Yeah, well…”

“If it makes you feel better, Meg has given me hell for it from the moment you woke up and is still harping on about it.”

“Meg?” I frown.

“Yeah, she saw me yesterday and read me the riot act. I told her I would apologize when you got back from New Orleans. When I told her I hadn’t, she went off. That girl really cares about you. Wish I had a friend like that.”

Why would she do that? I thought she hated me after I belted her one.

“Why are you frowning, Matts?” Jake asks.

“Nothing,” I say and go back to cloud staring.

Jake stretches out beside me. “You see that big one right there? It’s like…a fat cat.”

“No.” I laugh. “More like a fat squirrel.”

“No way!” he argues. “It’s a cat.”

“In your dreams,” I say. “Now that one looks like a cone of ice cream.”

“Yeah, it does.” He turns over to look at me. “Can you forgive me, Mattie?”

I sigh. He’s asking a lot. I don’t forgive people very easily; after all
, Jake broke my heart.

“Don’t answer right now.” He smiles a little. “Just think about it, okay?”

I nod. I
can
do that.

“What are you doing here?” I ask. “I didn’t think you knew anyone up this way.”

“I don’t,” he says. “My brother, Paul, invited me along. His girlfriend lives on the lake. We’re going out on their boat later.”

“Cool.”

“I miss you,” he says suddenly. “I was over at Target yesterday and saw a girl on those rollie shoes you love so much making the security guy chase her through the store. My first thought: Matts would do that.”

I totally would, and have on more than one occasion.

“So, Matts, do you have a new boyfriend?” Jake asks softly.

I look up into those baby blues and want to feel something. Jake was an awesome boyfriend up until the whole abandonment thing. He’d been kind and sweet, making me feel like I’d been worth something for the first time in my life. Jake was also the only boy I’d ever seriously considered having sex with.

Here he was, explaining and apologizing. And if I was the same person I’d been a few months ago, I might have jumped at the chance to grab onto him again. I’d been desperate to feel worthy of love, that someone
could
love me. Now, I don’t need anyone to
make
me feel loved. There are people who care about me now. I mean something to them, despite my shortcomings. I don’t need a jerk in sheep’s clothing to make me feel good about myself. Might as well put an end to that hopeful look in his eyes right fast.

“No…”

“YES!” a male voice shouts.