The Locker (19 page)

Then I stared out through the tangled limbs and into the soft, silent shadows.

I never expected to see the eyes staring back at me.

I never expected to see them there only a few feet away, or the branches pulling slowly apart around them, or the long silhouette uncoiling itself from the rest of the tree—

My mouth opened in a scream, but before I could get it out, a hand clamped down over my lips.

“Shhh … do you want to wake the dead?”

“Tyler!” I screamed anyway, muffled as it was, behind his fingers. “Tyler, what are you
doing!
”

“If I take my hand away, you have to promise you won't make any noise,” he said patiently against my ear. “Promise?”

“
What are you doing?
” I demanded again.

There was a long, hesitant silence.

Then, “Watching you,” he said softly.

I stiffened in his grasp and tried to twist free, but he was too strong.

“It's not what you think,” he insisted. “I was worried about you, that's all. Now will you promise to be quiet so I can let you go?”

This time I nodded. I felt the pressure ease on my mouth, and his hand slid away.

“Tyler—” I began furiously, but he held his finger to his lips to shush me.

“You'll stir up the whole neighborhood,” he warned. “You've got to be still.”

“What are you doing hiding up here in this tree!”

“What are you doing
crying
up here in this tree?” he countered.

I got quiet then. He was looking at me so intently that I finally had to drop my eyes.

“Come on,” he said, reaching out to me.

“What? Where are we going?”

“Never mind, just come on. It's okay—I won't let you fall.”

I saw his arms reaching out to me … I saw the encouraging nod of his head. After a long moment I held out my own arms and felt him gather me up against him and lift me out over the windowsill.

“Tyler—”

“Shhh … don't be afraid.…”

“What if we fall—we're up so high!”

“We're not going to fall—I come up here all the time.”

“But, Tyler—”

“Don't worry, Marlee, you're safe with me.”

I put my head against his shoulder so I wouldn't have to see the ground far below. He kept his arms tight around me, maneuvering almost effortlessly through the branches. I knew we were moving farther and farther out on one particular limb away from the house, and when Tyler finally stopped and lowered me down, I realized I was cradled in the protective circle of his arms.

“Tyler,” I tried again, but he sighed and gave me a gentle shaking.

“Trees help you think,” he said matter-of-factly. “They're good for the soul.”

“I can't believe I'm doing this.”

“Stick with me, and there'll be lots of things you won't believe.”

Once more I felt his lips move upon my ear, and I tried to suppress the shiver that coursed through every vein in my body.

“Cold?” Tyler asked and held me tighter against him.

“Why are you doing this?” I mumbled.

“Why not?”

“What if someone sees us up here?”

“No sensible person would be up at this hour spying on trees. Will you relax?”

Again his arms tightened around me. I could feel the warmth of his skin, and the calm beating of his heart through his shirt. I could feel his hair soft against my cheek, and the touch of his chin as he rested it lightly on top of my head.

“Tell me why you were crying,” he said quietly.

I didn't answer right away. A thousand emotions shot through me, all too painful to go into.

“Tell me,” he said again.

“I guess … because I was tired.”

“And
I
guess … that's not really the reason.”

There was a smile in his voice, and his lips vibrated softly against my ear.

“Do I have to do something drastic to get you to talk to me?” he murmured.

I felt his head lower. I felt his mouth barely nuzzle against my shoulder.

“You
are
cold,” he scolded gently. “You're shaking like a leaf.”

And I didn't mean to say it, but it came out before I even realized. “I'm so scared,” I whispered.

“Of me?”

I couldn't answer. I didn't know.

“Of me?” he asked again.

He tilted my face back. His lips brushed my forehead, my eyelids, the tip of my nose. I caught my breath in surprise, and he was kissing my cheeks now, my ears, and as my pulse raced out of control, his lips covered my mouth, gentle yet demanding. His fingers smoothed my hair back from my face and traced down each side of my neck, and as I trembled violently beneath their touch, they slid slowly down my arms … and up again to my shoulders … then down once more, finally slipping around my waist, where they stayed.

Pressed against him, I moved my head upon his chest and felt his cheek touch mine. His breath was soft and calm beside my ear, but his heartbeat had quickened to match my own.

“Marlee …” he whispered, “what is it?”

And I didn't want to cry—told myself I wouldn't—but his touch was so tender and his voice was so kind …

“It's Suellen,” I choked. “No matter how hard I try to shut her out, she won't go away. I keep finding out things about her that I don't want to know.”

A cold breeze swayed the branches above our heads. Tyler's hold around me tightened.

“What kinds of things?” he finally asked.

And every instinct was warning me not to say anything, not to tell him what I'd discovered—
he'll think you're so weird
—
he'll never want to be with you ever again
—but I felt so warm, so safe inside his embrace—safe like I hadn't felt in such a long time.…

“I know Suellen's dead,” I said quietly.

I waited for him to say something, but he didn't. As the minutes dragged by, a muscle clenched slowly in his cheek, and the line of his jaw went rock hard.

“Tyler?” I whispered.

“How do you know she's dead?” He seemed to have trouble getting the words out, and I reached up to touch his face.

“I can't really explain it to you. It's just that I see things … feel things. They happen, and I can't stop them.”

“But you're … sure … about Suellen? You're sure she's really dead?”

“Yes,” I said sadly. “I'm sure she's dead, and I'm pretty sure her body's hidden somewhere close to here.”

He gave a start, as if the corpse of Suellen Downing might suddenly materialize out of the darkness.

“Where?” he asked sharply, but I shook my head.

“I don't know, exactly. But near here—near this town. Somewhere.”

“Have you … told anyone?” he murmured. “The police?”

Again I shook my head. “Who would believe me? I know how all this sounds—I can't even expect
you
to believe me. I don't have any kind of proof—who's going to listen?”

He seemed upset. I could feel the tenseness of his muscles as his hands locked around my waist. Turning my head a little, I could see his wide dark eyes fastened on the night sky above us.

“What's it like, Marlee?” His voice was low, his lips barely moving as he spoke. “When you get those feelings? When you know all those things?”

So I tried to tell him, tried to explain to him how it was, what happened, how I felt. I didn't expect him to understand, really. It just felt so good to let it all out, to feel warm and safe for a change.

When I finished, he wasn't looking up at the sky anymore. He was looking down at me, and his eyes shone softly and steadily through the shadows. I could tell they were focused full on my face, and their calm intensity made little shivers go up my arms.

“Have you told anyone else about this?” he asked.

“Only Jimmy Frank.”

I knew I shouldn't have said it, because I'd promised not to, but it slipped out before I could stop it. Tyler kept quiet, but I could feel his muscles tightening, one by one, and his whole body going rigid. He let go of my waist, and his hands clamped down hard on my shoulders.

“You … told Jimmy Frank?” he sounded slightly dazed. “Why?”

“Oh, no.” I groaned. I covered my face with both hands and made a sound of disgust in my throat. “Oh, Tyler, I can't believe I just said that, after I swore I wouldn't.”

“Wouldn't what? What are you talking about?”

I felt so guilty I could hardly bear to look at him, but he pried my hands away from my eyes and stared at me so intently, that I didn't have much of a choice but to explain.

“Please don't tell him about this.” I sighed, thoroughly angry with myself. “He'd be so embarrassed if he thought you knew—”

“Don't worry,” Tyler murmured. “Your secret's safe with me.”

I nodded, relieved, and tried not to leave anything out. I told him about going to Suellen's house, and the van breaking down, and Jimmy Frank finding us on the road, and the feeling I'd gotten about Suellen being with someone she knew on the day of her disappearance.

“Then Jimmy Frank told me
he'd
been sensing Suellen ever since she disappeared,” I said earnestly. “And then, when we were in his truck, he saw Suellen's ghost in the road, and that's when he swerved into a tree.”

“Why did he see her in the road?” Tyler asked.

“He thinks because I was with him.”

“And what do you think?”

“I … I don't know.” I shook my head miserably. “I don't know what to think about anything. All I know is that I wish all of this were over with!”

“Is it possible,” Tyler went on slowly, “that you and Suellen are tied that closely together? That you're starting to pick up more and more information about what happened to her? That you could actually solve what no one else has been able to?”

Again I shook my head. “I don't know,” I whispered.

His arms slipped around me. He drew me close against his chest, and his lips brushed my ear.

“Do you think,” he said very softly, “that you could find Suellen on your own?”

I didn't answer. I felt hot and cold all at once, and I couldn't tell if it was from Suellen or from Tyler or from my own exhaustion.

“If I went with you to help?” Tyler added.

His voice was low and persuasive. I closed my eyes, and the night spun in a dizzying whirl.

“I can't just make it come,” I said shakily. “It comes when it wants to, and there's never any warning—”

“But do you
think
you could?” He held me tighter. His fingertips traced along my spine, and I gasped in confusion. “Do you think,” Tyler persisted gently, “that you could find her if you tried?”

“I … I might.”

This time he pulled slowly back from me. His eyes settled on my face, and after a moment he gave me a wink.

“Come on. Let's get you inside.”

“But I'm so scared, Tyler,” I protested as he helped me back along the tree to the window. “You don't understand—I know I should help for her family's sake, but I don't want to. I just want her to leave me alone.”

“But she's not going to, is she,” Tyler said matter-of-factly. “Not till you find her. Not till everyone knows the truth. And only you can do that.”

I sighed. “I want it to be over.”

And he stopped and looked down at me, and there was this faint little smile on his face, but no smile at all in the soft depths of his eyes.…

“It will be,” he promised. “Soon.”

22

W
hy do I have to clean?” Dobkin asked irritably. “It's not my party. I haven't even been invited.”

“You don't have to clean. You just have to come with me because I can't leave you here by yourself.”

“You could if you wanted to.”

“Well, I don't want to. And stop being difficult.”

I glanced over my shoulder at him, then sighed and repositioned myself at the living-room window.
Friday afternoon at last … no locker to face for two whole days.

Of course the roaches hadn't been there this morning, just like I'd known they wouldn't be. I'd spent all day in a fog, wondering if they'd been real or if I'd only imagined them.

I didn't know which was worse.

“I'm sick,” Dobkin complained, startling me out of my worries. Again I turned around to see him frowning behind me.

“You're not sick. And what have you got in your hand?”

“A rag,” he mumbled.

“Doesn't look like a rag. Looks like a bandanna or something.” I narrowed my eyes at him and sighed. “Did you take that from Jimmy Frank's truck the other night?”

“You were bleeding on me. I was going to give it back.”

“Well, take it with you. He's probably been wondering where it is.”