The Ghost Files 3 (25 page)

“Mattie!”

I hear Eli running towards me, but my eyes refuse to leave the ground in front of me. There are raised lumps of dirt all around me. I can easily count eleven, but I’m sure if I look behind me, I’ll see more.

Arms wrap around me and I melt into them. Eli. I didn’t even realize I’d been shaking until his heat invades me. I don’t think it’s just the cold
, though. Fear and shock. Yup. That’s got to be it. It’s not every day you stumble upon a killer’s burial ground.

“Mattie.” Dan is
on his knees in front of me, his hands framing my face. “Are you okay?”

I raise my hand and point behind him, not trusting my voice.

He looks and lets out a string of curse words. Eli is murmuring in my ear, but I’m not paying attention. All I see is the bracelet on the wrist. It’s Addison’s. I remember her putting it on the night she went to meet the guy who killed her. Those poor girls. There’s more than even I realized.

Where are they
, though? Why aren’t the girls here? Most ghosts show up around their bodies, and considering they’ve been trying to kill me, I’d assume they’d be here, but no. There is an absence of cold here. There’s no ghost energy anywhere near here.

“You’re bleeding.”

I see Ava pulling off her shirt. She must have put it on after I went to sleep. She’s dabbing the scrapes along my arm and then presses it against my bloody knee. It didn’t even hurt until I looked at it, but now that I’ve seen it, it’s hurting like nobody’s business. I wince as she presses on it.

“I think she’s in shock,” Ava says, her eyes worried.

“Yeah, I think she is too, Sis,” Eli agrees. “You might grab Caleb and Mary before they get here. We don’t want any more people trampling over the crime scene.”

“Crime scene…?” Her voice trails off and she sees what the rest of us do. Her brown eyes get huge when she nods and walks away from us, heading for the trees.

“NO!” I make her stop and look at me. “Don’t…don’t go in there by yourself.”

“What’s wrong?” Eli asks. “Hilda, you’re even whiter than before.”

“Don’t go in there,” I whisper. “There’s something in there.”

“Someone’s in there?” Dan stops speaking into his phone and stares from me to the woods. “Did you see someone?”

“Not someone,” I shiver.
“Something.”

“A ghost?” Eli frowns.

I shake my head. “Not a ghost, it’s something else, something dead and empty, but not a ghost. It…it chased me and I almost…I almost didn’t get away.”

“Shhh,” Eli whispers, hugging me tighter. “It’s okay, Mattie. You’re safe now.”

“Mattie.” Dan squats down in front of me. “You said someone chased you?”

“Where
were
you?” I ask, the accusation deep in my voice. “I woke up and everyone was gone! Why did you leave me alone?”

“Mattie, we didn’t go anywhere,
you
did. We were on the dock, unloading the food from the boat. When we looked to where you and Mary were sleeping, you were just… gone. We’ve been trying to find you for over an hour.”

“I swear you were gone,” I whisper, confused. “No one was there. I called out and you didn’t answer.”

Dan’s face becomes troubled. “Mattie, are you sure you didn’t…”

“Didn’t what?” I ask.

“Remember when we went to rescue that old lady’s pet and you fell through the floor? You just sorta disappeared in front of me. Are you sure you didn’t do that again?”

“I fell through The Between then, Dan,” I say. “There wasn’t any snowy stuff anywhere this time. I just woke up alone and went looking for you in the woods…no, wait. There was something in there and I had this urge insane urge to go in and find it.”

“It lured you in there?” Ava asks, horrified.

“I thought I was dreaming,” I confess. “I don’t know why, but I had to go in those trees. Then I got scared, Dan, worse than when I was trapped with Mrs. Olson. That thing, it…it didn’t have a soul. It was just
empty
.”

“Chalk it up to another thing to question your father about
.” Dan sighs. “If you managed to go from point A to point B without us seeing you, it’s just become harder to protect you.”

I nod and my eyes stray back to the hand. “That’s Addison, Dan.”

“What?” he asks, startled. “How do you know that?”

“The bracelet,” I tell him. “I remember her putting it on.”

Dan lets out a slow breath. “The police are on the way. We need to get off the crime scene. Mattie, do you feel up to going back to the boat? We’ll be with you this time, so you’ll be safe.”

My heart rate goes into overdrive, but I nod. I won’t let it terrify me to the point I won’t face it. I did win our last altercation.

“Good girl.” Dan smiles at me. “Ava, stay close to us. I’ve already texted Caleb and Mary to meet us at the boat, too.”

Eli helps me up and then we make our way through the dark woods. I can still feel it watching
me, but no one else seems to be able to sense it. Dan and Eli both watch me, especially when I jump at small sounds. I think they expect me to freak and flip out, but that’s not me. I don’t do terrified for long.

We make it back to the boat in about thirty minutes. Caleb and Mary are both waiting when we emerge from the woods. She runs straight to me and throws her arms around me, forcing Eli to let go.

“Where were you?” she shouts into my ear and I wince. “Do you know how much you scared me?”

“I was in the woods,” I tell her. “I’m sorry I scared you.”

“Cavalry is here,” Caleb says, pointing to the water. Six boats are headed for us and I sigh. It’s going to be a long day. We’re in for hours of questions. All I want to do is go find my father and demand answers, but that’s going to have to wait until the cops are done with us. Joy.

Chapter Twenty-One

I stare at myself in the mirror, nervous about how I look for the first time in forever. Nancy set up a supervised introduction for me and my father.
She’ll be there the whole time, refusing to let Dan or Eli come with me. Dan, however, will be waiting outside in his truck. He doesn’t trust Zeke and nearly had a fit when Nancy balked at him intruding on this meeting. Nancy wanted me to have time alone with my father so I could begin to get comfortable with him. She says I use Dan and Eli like a comfort blanket and I need to stop doing that.

Personally, I don’t think that’s true, but Nancy knows me better than anyone except for Dan, so maybe I do. I am a little self-conscious today, though. Nancy wanted me to wear a dress, but I don’t own one. I’m a jeans and tee shirt kind of girl. I have two skirts, but they
’re party wear—for high school, not a formal meeting with one’s father. I’d be embarrassed to wear those things. Instead, I put on my nicest jeans and a green tee that makes my hazel eyes look softer.

Nancy smiles when I emerge from the bedroom, but I can tell she’s upset about my choice of clothes. Instead of scolding me, she ushers me out the door. I don’t think we’re late, but who knows. Maybe Zeke changed the time or something

It’s not until we’re pulling into the private parking area of an uptown high rise apartment complex that I realize
why
Nancy is being so weird.
She’s
nervous! I watch as she fidgets with her hair and straightens her dress in the elevator up to the penthouse apartment. O…M…G! I think Nancy has a crush on Zeke!

I frown, not sure how to feel about this. I mean, he’s still married to my mother, even if she
is
in some kind of zombie-like state. Nancy shouldn’t be crushing on Zeke. Before I can think too much about it, the elevator doors open and we’re in a hallway looking at massive double doors.

“Relax, Mattie,” she tells me and rings the doorbell. “I’m right here and I promise I won’t leave you alone.”

I force my hands to unclench and let out the breath I’m holding. Nancy’s right. I might be upset with her having…
thoughts
…about my father, but she is the only other person in my life I sorta trust. Dan’s outside the complex, too. He texted me a few minutes ago to say he’d arrived well ahead of us. It’s not like Zeke’s going to hurt me, anyway. He’s my father, right?

My mouth hangs slightly open when an older gentleman dressed in formal black and white answers the door. My dad has a butler? I mean come on, a butler?

“Mrs. Moriarity,” He smiles warmly at Nancy. “Good to see you again.”

AGAIN?
Nancy’s been here before today? So not cool, Nancy.

“And you must be Mattie,” he says
, bringing my attention back to him. His blue eyes, despite his age, are sharp and brimming with laughter. They remind me of Eric and my gut twists at the thought. I miss Eric so much and it hits me at odd times, like right now. I wish he was still here, constantly nattering at me and teasing me mercilessly. He would have gotten me through today.

“Yes,” I murmur.

“I’m Montgomery.” He holds the door open wider. “Mr. Crane is on a call that he had to take. He asked me to apologize, but the call couldn’t wait, as much as he’d like it to. Would you like something to drink while you wait?”

He
escorts us into what I guess might be the main living area of the apartment. I don’t see a TV, but there are two cozy couches and an armchair surrounding a very elegant black coffee table. I’m a little overwhelmed. Signs of wealth surround me. I’ve been to Meg’s house tons of times and she has a NICE house, but it’s nothing like this. This place screams old money. I mean, come on! Dude has statues in his living room! It makes me feel completely out of place and I want nothing more than to bolt out of here.

“Mattie?” Nancy nudges me.

“Hmm?”

“Montgomery asked if you wanted something to drink,” Nancy reminds me gently.

“Oh…um…no, thank you.”

“Let me know if you change your mind, Miss Mattie
.” Montgomery smiles kindly at me before leaving the room.

“You okay?” Nancy asks.

“I don’t know,” I say. “I’m just not used to all this.” I wave at the room in general. “I didn’t grow up like this. What if…what if I end up embarrassing him or something?”

“Never happen, Mattie.”

My head whips around. Zeke is standing in the doorway. He’s dressed much more casually today, in jeans and a button-down blue shirt. His hair is pulled back with a leather tie and he looks much younger than he did before.

“Mr. Crane.” The bite is back in Nancy’s tone and she’s got that protective look back on her face. Did I misread her before? This does not look like a woman crushing on a man. Or, maybe she doesn’t want him to know she’s crushing on him? Either way, I feel much better.
This
is my Nancy, not the one who is lusting after a married man.

“Mrs. Moriarity,” he greets her warmly, despite the frost in her voice. “A pleasure, as always.”

See, that’s what I mean. He has impeccable manners. I don’t. I probably would have just said hi or ignored her altogether. Does he expect me to learn all those perfect manners? I don’t want to make him look bad in front of his friends. Dang it, I just want to go back to Mary’s!

“Now, Mattie.” Zeke turns his attention back to me. “You could never embarrass me, even if you tried your hardest.”

Nancy snorts. “You don’t know our girl yet.”

That makes me smile. I’ve embarrassed Nancy on sooo many occasions.

“Oh, I’m sure she’s more than capable of it.” Zeke laughs. “I just don’t care. The
only
thing that matters to me is I have my child back.”

A warm fuzzy feeling fills me at his words, despite my better judgment.

“You’re concerned about not knowing how to act around people who were raised with money, yes?” he asks.

I nod.

“One thing you’ll learn about the Cranes is that we’ve never cared what anyone thinks about us. If you wanted to walk around in the middle of a party wearing a hotdog suit, it wouldn’t bother me. I’d just smile and shake my head and laugh with you.”

“Sir,” Montgomery interrupts us. “Mrs. Banks wanted me to let you know lunch is ready and to ask where you want it served.”

“On the balcony, Montgomery,” Zeke replies. “Thank you.”

Wow. The balcony is like an oasis.
Beautiful flowers are everywhere and the furniture is white and blends in perfectly with the garden scenario. I could sit here for hours and just draw to my heart’s content.

The smell of food distracts me when my stomach rumbles loudly. I hadn’t really eaten yesterday since I’d spent most of it at the police station answering questions
, and then I’d been too nervous this morning to even think about food. Unfortunately, my stomach is now protesting rather loudly.

“
Your mother does that, too.” Zeke laughs and pulls out a chair for me. “She used to blush six shades of red every time it betrayed her when we were first dating. Took her a while to realize I didn’t care. I found it endearing in her
and
in you.”