This is Your Afterlife (24 page)

“I called the paramedics,” he explains.

“We'll tell them it was false alarm and get out of here.” I wobble as I move to the door, but force my legs to carry me.

Dan grabs my elbow and gives me a fierce look. “You nearly died. At least let 'em check you over.”

Roughly, I draw him to my chest and kiss him deep and hard. Our heartbeats hammer in time, but it's not long before a strong, confident voice inside my head joins the chorus. It's not Grandie's voice. It's mine. Telling me where Mara has gone not only to remember Jimmy but to join him in death. I'm not letting her go without confessing.

Then she can go jump for all I care.

In a husky whisper, I say, “No need. I'm alive and kicking butt. We need to get to the waterfall.”

Everything starts and ends there.

* * *

Dan helps me up the last few stairs to the top of the waterfall. Mara stands on the granite edge, head bent toward the water. She doesn't move or acknowledge our presence. It's like she's under a spell. Hypnotized.

Dan clamps my hand so hard it's like he's trying to fuse his flesh with mine. “You should let me grab her. She's already tried to kill you once today.”

“And she failed.” Grimly, I extricate myself from him. “It's okay, Dan. I think I can get through to her.”

“You think?” His blue eyes plead with me. “Keira...let me back you up.”

My heart flips. I want to tell him right then that I love him for caring. I stand on tiptoes so our lips almost meet. We hover there for a moment, both of us hesitant. A crow squawks, and I abruptly crash onto flat feet as the bird flaps its ebony wings. Is it trying to tell me something? Like, hurry up?

I press my palm against Dan's warm cheek and I smile reassuringly. “I've got this. I just want to see where her head's at before we rush her. Wait here till I give you a sign.”

Blotting out the concern on Dan's face, I carefully make my way over the slippery ground and stand beside her, willing myself to stay calm. Hysteria isn't going to help diffuse the situation.

Besides, she's motionless and unblinking. Unless she has jungle-cat reflexes, I can't see her lunging at me for a second attempt on my life. Her hands clutch something so tightly I'm afraid her thin bones will splinter and break through her skin.

I set my phone to record mode. I pray it'll pick up our voices over the noise of the waterfall. “Hey, Mara, what are you doing here?”

She looks at me with surprise. “You're alive.”

“No thanks to you,” I say before catching myself. I don't want to provoke her, because clearly she's disturbed. “Mara, I thought we were friends.”

“I mustn't have put in enough cacao,” she says, her eyes glazed.

“I'm not going to offer any recipe suggestions,” I say in a flinty tone.

She twitches. “A couple of Christmases ago, I told my mom how much I missed Dad. So she hired a private detective to find him. When he couldn't track him down, she hired another. And another. All of them said it wasn't their fault he didn't want to be found.

“One night, we watched one of those shows where people talk to a real, live psychic on TV.” She laughs mirthlessly. “Mom didn't believe them, but I kept turning it over in my mind. What if...? You know?”

“So I found a ‘real, live psychic' in Emerson. He didn't ask me any questions. He just held a photo of my dad. I walked out of there with an address. And a warning about...expectations.” Mara shakes her head, eyes narrowed. “Dad was exactly where the psychic said. In a homeless shelter. Out of his head on drugs, alcohol, or whatever makes a man forget he has a daughter.”

In a dull tone, she continues, “My father still didn't want me. The psychic was right.”

Part of me feels sorry for her. But I quash that sympathy right away. I'm not going to buy into her sob story, not if she's trying to milk it as an excuse for her crimes. “So when you figured I could use my gift to find out who killed Jimmy, you had to bump me off?”

Would she have another crack at silencing me, and this time in a less subtle way? Warily, I glance at the falls, then at Dan.

Mara shrugs off the accusation and closes her eyes as if to block out my existence. “I really loved coming up here with Jimmy.”

What was once a beautiful escape from school will now forever be remembered as a grisly murder scene. While Mara's eyes are still shut, I motion for Dan to come closer, behind Mara. With trembling hands, he videos us on his phone. Smart guy. Judging by his white-knuckled grip, I guess he'd rather use put those hands around her neck her instead.

Mara turns to me. A faint jingling alerts me to the keys in her hand. I shudder under her gaze. “When we were kids, we would ride our bikes all the way out here. Just the two of us. I thought we'd do that for the rest of our lives.”

It's hard to hold back a retort. I can't. “Then why did you kill him?”

The tears break through the barrier of lashes. Mara shakes her head. “You know what I hate about bad guys in movies? I hate that they explain their motivations in a long, uninterrupted, self-indulgent monologue, giving a blow-by-blow of how they committed their crimes and why. All it does is buy the so-called hero time to plan a counterattack. That's not my style.”

I'd like nothing more than to punch her lights out. But that's not my style, either. At least she acknowledges she's the villain around here. But can I get her to say the words
“I killed Jimmy Hawkins”
?

“Jimmy's family deserves to know the truth. From you.”

Myriad emotions contort Mara's face. Fear. Bitterness. Guilt.

“I've loved that family since I was three years old, when we moved next door. They'll hate me. I just...I just couldn't bear it.”

“Do you think it'll be easy for them to go on without Jimmy? Isn't that worse?”

She collapses sideways on the ground and sobs. “All I want is for Jimmy to come back.”

At first, my revulsion over what she did to Jimmy and to me melts like snow under a blazing sun. I cast another dizzying glance at the water tumbling over the rocks below.

Wasn't so long ago that I admired Mara for quietly commanding respect while leading the
Bugle
team. People often describe her as being capable.

Now I realize she's capable all right—of murder. I ease us away from the edge, trying to take away another opportunity for her to kill me, too.

Hoarsely, I say, “You can't bring him back, Mara. You can't undo what you did.”

In a desperate tone, she says, “It was an accident. It really was! Jimmy fell!”

The vision I experienced told me there was much more to it than that. I
had
to get her to admit exactly what happened. “The initial fall might have been an accident. And he might have survived. But then you pushed him down the waterfall and ran. Just like you ran from me after you fed me chocolate. You
knew
I was allergic.”

“You don't have anything on me,” she cries.

For a terrifying few seconds, I allow a thought to cling to my brain—that she really could finish me off so I can't prove she murdered Jimmy. If I let her.

“You could confess. To the police,” I say. Mara shakes her head and stares down at the water. She still hasn't noticed Dan practically breathing down her neck. In a gentle tone, I continue, “Think of what a relief it'll be when the truth is out there, not just for you, but for the Hawkins family. You love them, don't you? Give them some peace.”

She refuses to look at me.

Dan and I exchange an emotional look. He nods encouragingly.

Behind him, Jimmy materializes. He shuffles a deck of cards with his large, ghostly hands. Very special, antique cards.

Where the hell has he been? And what's he doing with Sophia?

“Who's Sophia?” Jimmy asks.

My jaw goes slack. He can read my mind?

“Yeah, I can.” A smile spreads across his face. “Guess I picked up another skill.”

Mara sniffles. I throw her a wary glance. I'd love to know how, why, when and where Jimmy's new talent for telepathy kicked in. Can he read
all
my thoughts?

But
that discussion will have to wait.

Listen to me, Jimmy, we've got to deal with Mara.

“I know.” He continues shuffling cards like he's got all the time in the world. Which, of course, he does. “You want to know where I was? Hanging out with some family members. My dog Toby. He had bone cancer when I was ten. Man, it was good to see him again! He can play fetch forever. Literally.”

Well, that's nice, Jimmy, and I really want to hear more, but for now...we've gotta get Mara to confess to your murder.

His blue gaze flicks to her. “I had no idea she was that messed up. I mean, our whole lives we lived right next door to each other. If I'd known she had a thing for me...I don't know, maybe I would've dated her.”

And maybe she wouldn't have killed you.

“Death's unstoppable. Everything always turns out the way it should. I didn't
want
to die before graduation, but it wasn't my call. I had to accept it.” He plucks a card from the middle of the deck and holds it up to his forehead. I'm glad to see his gash is completely gone. “I
have
accepted it.”

Wait a minute. What have you done to my cards?
Instead of the intricate gold leaf drawings on the card, there's a boring old six of diamonds. I squint, trying to ignore Dan's puzzled expression. After a while, he seems to register that I haven't spaced out completely. He nods with understanding.

The diamond illustrations soon become a lot more interesting. Spinning slowly at first and then faster and faster. They sparkle like bona fide diamonds. The card's background deepens in color, midnight blue.

“It's the real thing, Keira. One of a kind. A gift.” Jimmy smiles cryptically. He flings the card at Mara's feet and plucks out another. A wolf. Its golden eyes glint. Behind it, a pearlescent full moon rises.

For the first time in what seems like a million years, I grin from ear to ear. Only one person in this town, and most likely the world, has a Halverston Wolves keychain embellished with real gems.

Or
had
one. Jimmy. And now it's in the hands of his killer.

“That's his keychain in your hands there,” I say.

She opens her palm and looks at the keychain like it's a wonder of the world. Sunlight catches the jewelled colors of the wolf insignia. Mara snaps her fingers over the keychain and pockets it. “No. Every second person in this town has a keychain just like this one.”

“Only one person had a keychain with real jewels in it. Jimmy.” I stare hard at Mara. Her mouth falls open a little. Guess she didn't realize how valuable the key chain is. “You pushed him down the waterfall, you drove his car away. Then you panicked and abandoned it. But you didn't get rid of the keys. Why not?”

She flinches, and I know I've hit a nerve. “You think this is your “Gotcha!” moment, Keira? You've got nothing.”

Maybe it's because I'm out of arm's reach or maybe it's because I'm crazy, but I want to keep the pressure on her. “You took them as a souvenir. Isn't that what killers do?”

Deep red blotches spread over her face and neck. Her words push through gritted teeth. “Don't push me. I'm warning you.”

“Oh, you're warning me?” My voice sounds strong, but my insides are wriggling with fear. “Did you warn Jimmy before you pushed him over the waterfall?”

“No!” Her scream reverberates across the valley. Birds flee the trees in protest. “It wasn't like that!”

“Then tell me. What happened?”

Mara sends me a look of pure hate. She keeps her hands jammed in her pockets. The keys jangle.

The angrier she gets, the calmer I feel. Shaking my head, I chide, “You shouldn't have taken the keys, Mara. Now they're tying you to Jimmy's murder. Big mistake.”

“It wasn't a mistake!” she snaps. Her green eyes are wild. Unhinged. “I
wanted
to keep them. Not a souvenir like you said. To remind myself that…that I killed the one person I loved. I killed Jimmy and I couldn't bring him back.”

Dan's anguished moan reaches my ears. I tremble, knowing how hard it must be for him to hear Mara's words. He lowers the phone.

I fight to keep my tone even. “So you confess?”

“To loving him?!” she shrieks.

Glossy brown strands of hair escape her high ponytail. The calm, straitlaced newspaper editor I thought I knew is unravelling before my eyes.

“To
killing
him!” Dan finally explodes. “Jesus, Mara. Why? Why did you kill my brother?”

Her eyes widen in shock. It's like she only just noticed Dan on the cliff. Listening to everything. Seeing everything. Recording everything.

With a trembling finger, she points at the phone. She takes a step toward him. Her feet slip on the rocks, but she recovers. “What are you doing with that?”

“What does it look like?” he growls, standing his ground. Jimmy stands with him in solidarity. He guides Dan's arm upward, keeping the camera trained on Mara. I'm not sure if Dan's aware of his brother's interference. “Anything you say
will
be used against you.”

Face red with fury, Mara whirls toward the waterfall. She looks over her shoulder at us defiantly. Her mouth twists in a grotesque smile. It turns my blood to ice. She inches closer to the edge.

As much as I hate Mara at this very moment, the last thing I want is for her to jump.

“Mara, get away from there. It's a long way down. Come with us. We'll take you to your mom.”

She frowns. “Keira, how stupid do you think I am? You'll take me straight to Charlie.”

“How about you go straight to hell?” Dan suggests. And I'm pretty sure he means it.