Wiccan, A Witchy Young Adult Paranormal Romance (5 page)

Though I’d seen it happen, I still
didn’t have much in the way of truly useful details, not the kind
the cops would need anyway. I mean, Lisa’s name, the actual spot of
grass on which she was going to die and the fact that her attacker
would have long red hair doesn’t really make a very compelling
case.

Regret washed through me,
making my eyes sting with unshed tears. I should’ve just gone to
Lisa and warned her. Even if she’d thought I was crazy, she
probably would’ve thought twice about getting near anyone she saw
with long red hair. But if not, surely she would’ve at least
avoided the woods on that side of campus. It might not have made
any difference, but at least I would have tried to do
something
to help her and
something was infinitely better than not telling her at
all.

Scooting my book off the desk into my
bag, I got up and left class. I went to the restroom and splashed
cold water on my face. When I looked at my reflection in the
mirror, all I saw was the face of a coward staring back at
me.

What if what I thought was an innocent
assumption had resulted in a girl’s death? How could I live with
myself? Another wave of nausea washed over me and I raced into the
stall behind me.

I heaved into the toilet repeatedly,
though I never actually vomited. It did feel, however, like my
insides were pushing their way out through my nose.

When I’d rinsed my face off for the
second time and swished some water around in my mouth. I hoped
against hope that those three girls weren’t talking about
Lisa.

On the tail of that thought, denial
rode in, reminding me that it could still be a big mistake. The
girls really could have been talking about someone else. There
could have been other girls dressed like a guy; it was a costume
party after all. And there had to be a few more guys names Jake in
school. It was probably just a colossal coincidence.

Then another little voice,
one far less appreciated, piped up inside me and asked
But what if it wasn’t
?

********

After I’d managed to pull myself
together enough to leave the restroom, I went straight home. I
changed into some shorts and a tank top and then sat down in front
of the computer. I wanted to see if I could find a number for Lisa
on the student website. A cell phone number was what I was really
hoping to find, something very personal that she was not likely to
go very far without.

And, with the first trace of good luck
I’d had in an otherwise crappy week, I found her cell number. I
hesitated only briefly before I punched the number into my cell
phone and hit the send button. It rang four times and then put me
through to her voicemail, which told me nothing. She could be dead
or she could just be busy. That didn’t help at all.

That night, surprisingly, I slept
pretty well. It was the next morning that turned out to be a little
more bothersome. I woke with a weird foreboding that I hadn’t felt
before. Though I had no idea what it meant, I had the distinct
feeling that I’d see Lisa again today, but maybe not in a very good
way.

I dressed for school and went to all my
classes. Nothing strange or unusual happened. I kept my ears open,
but there were neither whispered rumors about Lisa nor funny
stories or references to her. There was simply no mention of her at
all. Not that that was necessarily a bad sign. I’m sure the student
body had gone a day without talking about Lisa Bauer
before.

And yet that feeling of foreboding
persisted.

That night over supper, Mom made
mention of my haggard appearance.

“
Are you staying up on the
computer all night? You look tired,” she said, her brow creased
with concern.

“
I’ve just had a lot of
reading for school. That’s all,” I said vaguely, staring down at my
plate and stabbing peas with my fork.

Mom reached over and put her hand on my
forearm. When I lifted my head, she looked deep into my eyes. “Are
you sure you’re alright? Is there something wrong at school?
Or—”

“
No, Mom,” I said, pulling
my arm away. “I told you everything’s fine,” I snapped. Then when I
realized this would not take me in a direction that I wanted to go,
I took another tack. “You’re right,” I said with a bone weary sigh.
“I’m just tired. I’m going to get my reading done earlier tonight
so I can go to bed at a decent hour.”

Mom nodded, satisfied that I was
acknowledging the problem and taking steps to correct it. She was
as strict about her “steps” as AA was about theirs. And, though it
had taken eighteen years, I’d finally learned how to “handle”
her.

She was easier than Dad. She was
placated more quickly and painlessly than he was. When he caught
scent of something in the air, he was like a blood hound; he
wouldn’t let it go until he got to the bottom of it.

Fortunately, Dad had already finished
dinner and was firmly ensconced in the recliner in front of the
television. I could hear the news drifting out of the living room,
which is one of the myriad reasons I spent so much time in my room.
The news made me either want to commit murder or suicide. It varied
depending on whether they were talking about politics or the
unhealthy state of the world. Either way it wasn’t a pleasant
experience for me so I avoided it like the plague. I caught enough
bits and pieces of what was going on from overhearing Dad’s shows
during or after dinner to stay basically informed. And, at
eighteen-almost-nineteen years old, I didn’t require anything more
than that—just the basics.

“
Roger, do you want a piece
of pie now or are you going to wait until later?”

A low grumbling came from
the living room; it sounded a lot like
I’ll wait,
but only Mom and Dad could
be sure. I didn’t speak that language and I had zero desire to
learn.

I got up and took my plate to the sink.
“I’ll get it, Mom.” I went back to the table for her plate since
she was obviously finished. “You want a piece now?”

She smiled up at me, one of
those smiles that says
I have the best
daughter in the whole world.
I smiled back,
pleased. That was just the reaction I’d wanted. It wouldn’t do
anybody any good for her to worry about me. It just made both of
our lives harder. So I’d do what I had to in order to make sure
that she didn’t. It was the least I could do.

I dished us both up a huge piece of
apple pie and topped it with ice cream, caramel and just a dash of
cinnamon sugar. While I ate it, I was temporarily transported away
from all my troubles. Sweets had always had that magical affect on
me. It’s a mysterious yet beautiful thing. It’s a wonder I didn’t
weigh three hundred pounds. So far I’d been lucky, though, and was
blessed with a petite figure.

When we had both practically licked our
bowls, I cleaned up the dishes for good measure. By the time I went
to my room, Mom was seated on the end of the couch near the
recliner, basking in the perfection of her life and her family. And
that’s the way I wanted it to stay.

Despite the dark cloud that had
followed me around all day, I managed to fall asleep quickly. I had
just drifted into a dream about Jake and Detective Grayson
competing against one another at a track meet when a pounding at my
door woke me.

“
Mercy,” Dad said softly
from the other side of the panel. “Mercy!” He called louder when I
didn’t answer right away.

“
What?”

The door opened and Dad poked his head
into my room. “Do you know a girl named Lisa Bauer?”

I shot straight up in bed, my heart
dropping into my stomach like a ball of lead. “Yes.
Why?”

“
She’s on the news. Her body
was found in the river. It was trapped in some debris along the
shore almost eighteen miles downstream.”

I felt lightheaded and strangely numb,
like I was still dreaming. I squeezed my eyes shut and hoped that
was the case, but the faces of Jake and Detective Grayson didn’t
return and when I opened my eyes, my dad was still at the door with
a worried expression on his face.

“
When did they find her
body?”

“
Just have. I guess maybe an
hour or so ago. You know how quick the news people pick up on stuff
like this.” Dad pushed the door open wider and stepped inside to
sit on the end of my bed. “How well did you know her?”

“
Not very well. I had a
class with her and saw her around campus, stuff like that.” I said
as vaguely as I could, trying to hide my distress from him. “D-Do
they know what happened to her?”

“
They haven’t said. I’m sure
they won’t release cause of death until after the coroner’s had a
chance to look the body over.”

“
Are they sure it’s
her?”

Dad shrugged. “I guess. I doubt they’d
announce it if they didn’t have some kind of positive
identification.”

I nodded pensively, my mind spinning
off in a thousand directions at once. I didn’t know what to say,
didn’t know what to do. I’d put off helping her too long and now it
really was too late.

It was suddenly hard to breathe. That
crushing realization settled on my shoulders, on my heart and
lungs, like a thousand-pound weight. I had to get up and move
around so I pushed my covers aside and stood up. “I guess it’s all
over the news?”

Dad nodded.

“
I’ll watch it with you for
a while if you don’t care,” I said, heading toward the door.
Silently, Dad got up to follow me. I walked into the living room
and sat down in Mom’s spot on the couch; she’d gone to bed long
ago, I’m sure. She was a bank teller and, even though she could
sleep a little later, for some reason she consistently got up at
the crack of dawn anyway.

As Dad moved to the
recliner, he stopped in front of it, leaning over to kiss me on the
forehead.
Ahh,
I
thought. Now I get it. He’s sympathizing with Lisa’s parents. He
was glad it wasn’t
his
daughter they’d just pulled from the Potomac.

I knew my parents would be excessively
protective of me now, more worried than usual about my welfare.
Until things died down and Lisa was forgotten anyway. And I
couldn’t ease their minds by telling them that she’d known her
attacker, intimately in fact, and that neither I nor any other
student at school likely had anything to be concerned about. No,
I’d just have to let them worry, right along with most of the other
parents of my schoolmates because the alternative would bring them
much more grief in the end and I refused to put them through
that.

Dad flipped from channel to channel,
getting bits and pieces of coverage on all the news stations. None
of them had as much information as I had, though, and it was eating
away at me. Why hadn’t I been more courageous, more selfless? Why
hadn’t I acted sooner? Would it have mattered?

Almost an hour later, Dad scooted to
the edge of his chair. “You staying up or do you want me to cut it
off?”

I uncurled my legs and stood. “Nah, I’m
going to bed, too.” I turned to walk back to my bedroom and Dad’s
voice carried softly to my ears.

“
I love you,
Mercy.”

I looked back over my shoulder and Dad
was moving off through the dark house toward the master
bedroom.

“
Love you, too, Dad.” I saw
him stop and turn back to me before continuing on to bed so I knew
he heard me.

It goes without saying that I had a
terrible night. What sleep I did manage to get was haunted by clips
of Lisa’s murder and vicious attacks of conscience in between. I
woke feeling worse than I had when I’d gone to bed.

********

It wasn’t until Saturday afternoon that
I got a call from Detective Grayson. I had wondered if he would try
to contact me. Thankfully, I’d given him my cell phone number, so
when I saw the unfamiliar number pop up on the screen, I had enough
foresight to take the call in my bedroom.

Though the circumstances
were anything but funny or ideal, I couldn’t help a grin of
satisfaction when he introduced himself. I badly wanted to
say
Told you so,
but I refrained. That would be in the poorest taste
ever.

“
I guess you’ve been
expecting my call, haven’t you?”

Though his voice had the hard edge of a
cop, there was still something warm and pleasant about
it.

“
To be honest, Detective, I
didn’t quite know what to expect. I guess I’d hoped this could be
prevented altogether.”

“
Where were you Monday night
between the hours of eleven pm and two am?”

In my mind, I did a double
take. This was hardly the direction I’d expected him to take. It
was an unforeseen and terribly bothersome angle I hadn’t
considered. Could my plan to help Lisa have backfired? Did they
suspect
me?

“
Um, I was here at home all
night. Why?”

“
Is there anyone who can
corroborate that?”

My voice dropped to a loud whisper.
“Yes, but will you need to speak with them?”