Beautiful Dead 03. Summer

by Eden Maguire

  he asked.

  This isn't a joke. There's definitely a drugs link - you see what I'm saying?'

  That Thorne planned a shoot-out and your friend Summer was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sure, I see. And I have to tel you, Darina, that on this occasion my senior officer was way ahead of you.'

  This made me sit right back in my seat. 'And?'

  Jardine checked the date on his multi-function wristwatch. 'Today's 135

  the twenty-ninth. That makes it the twenty-seventh when we pul ed in Wil Stone for interview.'

  'And?' I said again, this time hardly audible.

  'Stone had an alibi for the day Summer died. He was at the hospital, visiting his sick mother.'

  'You believed him?' What a corny story - how could the cops be so gul ible?

  'It checked out. Even the heads of drugs cartels have sick mothers, you know. Plus, we got a warrant to search Stone's property, including the contents of his gun closet. There was no weapon there that matched the gun responsible for Summer's death.'

  'So he got rid of it. That doesn't prove anything.'

  Jardine clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. 'But the alibi, Darina ...'

  'He was at the hospital at the exact time Summer died?'

  'Check. Stone texted Thorne to say he couldn't make Starbucks, that his mother was in the ER and they had to make a new time to meet. It's al on record.'

  I closed my eyes, tried to breathe evenly, felt hope slip away. I clutched at one last straw. 'Maybe Stone got someone to deputize,' I suggested. 'Say he sent another member of the gang to do the deal with

  Thorne.'

  Jardine sighed as he looked at his watch a second time. 'Go home, Darina,' he said. 'I'm into official me-time, ready to do some fishing.'

  I seemed always to be in the car, always losing hope.

  'What do I do now?' I asked out loud.

  The hood was down, a wind was blowing and I was longing with al my heart for support from the Beautiful Dead.

  'I'm out of ideas,' I confessed. 'There's only JakB left on my list, and the guy scares the crap out of me.'

  Suddenly the weight of not sleeping and eating for two days, of picturing Summer in permanent torment, for ever in limbo, got through to me.

  'Hunter, Phoenix, I need your help,' I begged.

  When they didn't reply with invisible wings and halos of shimmering light I knew I'd been abandoned. I drifted through the streets, hardly knowing where I was, feeling the loneliest I'd ever felt in my life. 136

  The isolation was intense - I was looking around for help and

  knowing that I was in this alone, that Summer had only me to rely on and time was racing on, sprinting towards the finish, running out.

  The certainty sent me spiral ing into a panic that made every normal thing on the road suddenly seem unreal and threatening. A woman stepped off the sidewalk without seeing me and making me swerve wide. She stood in the road acting like I was to blame. Then a guy on a Harley overtook on a bend, cutting back in front of me much too close. My foot hit the brake and my engine stal ed for the second time that day.

  By now my nerves were shredded. I re-started the car with a trembling hand, tel ing myself that the place to head was home and bed, but doing exactly the opposite by pointing the car in the direction of Deer Creek.

  I drove on slowly, like I was in a dream, ignoring the horn blast of a Porsche driver who wanted me to pick up speed. As he overtook, I caught sight of a guy with a shaven head giving me the finger.

  An angry guy with a gold wristwatch in a black Porsche. Wil Stone maybe?

  My unreliable mind cranked up my stress level another notch into

  undiluted paranoia. The local drugs baron was on to me - he already knew I'd spoken to the cops, he'd made it his business to learn every detail of my life - where I lived, who my friends were, what car I drove.

  But no - the Porsche was past me and accelerating, the roar of his engine fading as he disappeared round the bend. Tears of relief trickled down my cheeks.

  Don't cry while you drive - it should be in the Highway Code, along with using a cel phone and talking to the undead. I wept and by the time I reached Deer Creek I could hardly see the track. I parked in the spot where Phoenix and I would always meet, where I'd waited for him the night he died.

  'Hey, Darina,' he said, reaching out to open my car door.

  It was midday and the sun was shining on Deer Creek. The water was

  crystal clear.

  'Hold my hand,' I told Phoenix, and when he took it I shivered at the 137

  coldness of his touch. 'How did you know I'd be here?' I asked.

  'It was more than a guess,' he admitted. 'I made it happen.'

  'You planted the idea in my head?'

  He nodded. 'It seemed a good place for us to meet.'

  'It is.' I remembered deciding to drive home but inexplicably coming here instead. 'How long have you been around?'

  'I took over from Dean after you left Jardine's office. There's been someone watching over you twenty-four/seven.'

  'And I felt so alone,' I sighed. 'I wish sometimes you guys would give me a signal.'

  'Against Hunter's orders,' he reminded me, leading me down to the water's edge then striding from rock to rock to reach a large boulder in the middle of the creek. He climbed on to it and offered me his hand to

  help me up. 'He figures someone from the far side might get suspicious.'

  'Can't he take pity on me once in a while?' I stood unsteadily beside Phoenix on our favourite rock, dizzied by the smooth, strong flow of the water around the boulder. 'Truly, this is the worst I've been.'

  'Hunter doesn't do pity,' he reminded me. 'His focus is on Summer.'

  'How's she doing?'

  'Not good. It's weird she's shutting down.'

  'Stil giving up?' I asked. I held tight to his hand, scared by the current at our feet and remembering how weak Summer had been the last time I saw her.

  Phoenix sat down on the rock, letting his legs dangle over the edge and inviting me to sit next to him. 'She's not fighting, she's kind of slipping away. I think she's ready to leave.'

  'She can't do that - not until tomorrow. Tel her she has to give me

  another twenty-four hours.'

  Phoenix tilted his head to one side, half looking away. 'It's hard to reach her. She sits on the steps in the barn but she's not there, she's a mil ion miles away, drifting, losing contact.'

  'Oh don't!' I cried. 'How did we get here, Phoenix? I had so many

  ideas on clearing up Summer's death but none of them worked out - 138

  Fichtner, Oscar Thorne and Wil Stone-'

  'There's stil JakB,' he cut in.

  I shook my head. 'I don't know any more. Sure, he's weird, but is he a kil er? You know when he trapped me in the storeroom - he cried like a baby. I looked at him and I thought, No way is this guy capable of shooting the girl he worships.'

  'But we don't know how his mind works. He's not like you and me,

  Darina. He lives in a fantasy world.'

  'And we don't?' I asked, stil clinging to Phoenix's hand and suddenly seeing the irony of the situation. 'You cal this real?' Me sitting in the middle of Deer Creek with my Beautiful Dead boyfriend.

  He smiled self-consciously. 'You know what I'm saying. If we're

  looking for an irrational psychopath, JakB exactly fil s the slot.' Pausing for a while to look me straight in the eye, he reached out to stroke my hair. 'Don't do what Summer is doing, you don't surrender, you hear?'

  ,Is that what you see when you read my thoughts - surrender?'

  He nodded. 'And failure. You figure you've let Summer down and it eats away at your confidence.'

  'We have less than twenty-four hours,' I sighed. 'It's true, I do feel hopeless deep, deep in the pit of my stomach.'

  'That's not the way I see it,' he argued, leaning out over the water and watching our reflection. 'Look at what you achieved - a mil ion times more than
Summer ever expected.'

  'Such as?'

  'Such as making contact with her parents, working on the anniversary concert, dealing with Logan's funeral, plus fol owing al the leads as soon as they were thrown up.'

  'Not enough,' I muttered, feeling more and more drawn to the pul of the current beneath our feet. I imagined slipping into the water, feeling its icy touch as I sank down to the stony bed. 'Phoenix, I'm exhausted.'

  So he wrapped me in his arms and softly kissed the top of my head.

  'We used to swim here,' he reminded me. 'The water's deep, remember?' 139

  'It made our skin tingle, even in summer.'

  'There's a ledge on the far bank. We sunbathed.'

  I nodded and let the memories wash over me of Phoenix when he was

  alive - his skin tanned, his flesh warm to the touch and a strong heart beating in his chest.

  'I wanted to lie in the sun with you for ever. That's what love means to me, Darina - you, the sun, clear water.'

  'I never asked you this before,' I said softly. 'Maybe I didn't want to know.'

  'Asked me what?'

  'Before me, before us did you ever ... were you ever in love?'

  He paused for a while, then shrugged. 'I thought I was a couple of times at my last school - the usual crushes.'

  'Yeah, I real y don't want to hear it,' I said, backtracking like crazy. 'You're going to tel me they were blonde and beautiful size zeros.'

  Phoenix's laugh was rare but when it came, like it did now, it was low

  down in his throat and covered me in a warm glow. 'The first girl was named Skye and she was dark-haired. Her dad designed websites for major car manufacturers. When I asked her out on a date she quizzed me over my dad's occupation. No dad, I said. So with Skye I was never out of the starting-blocks.'

  'That's sad,' I said with a grin on my face. 'Number two?'

  'Caroline Garrety. I spent six months worshipping her, having imaginary conversations, figuring out which movie we would see when I final y asked her out on a date.'

  'And?'

  'I asked her one Hal oween to share a horror movie DVD at my place. She looked straight through me and told me no offence but she wasn't ready to start dating yet, thanks.'

  'How old was she?'

  'Eleven. I was twelve.'

  'You're crazy!' I laughed.

  'I love you,' he told me and kissed me until my breath was gone.

  And in the background, just rising above the sound of water running over pebbles, I could hear Summer's voice singing her 'Red Sky' song about not having time to say goodbye.

  140

  There was no sleeping that night either Summer's last one on the far side. But sleeping was what Hunter ordered for me, and he took Phoenix away so that I could rest.

  'I won't sleep!' I protested when Phoenix got ready to leave. We were sitting in my car at the end of my street.

  'You need to rest. And Hunter needs me back at Foxton Ridge. Donna

  is stuck in the barn taking care of Summer, so he wants me on patrol at the Government Bridge camp ground. He's expecting weekend visitors, and if they stumble across the old ranch house, they have a habit of getting curious.'

  'I know,' I sighed. 'And the last thing you al need on Summer's final night is working to set up barriers against far-siders. I understand.'

  Phoenix made it plain he didn't want to leave. 'We've already cruised the streets looking for JakB,' he reminded me. 'You asked if anyone had seen him in the music stores, the cafes, al the places he might hang out. No one even knows he exists.'

  But he can't vanish off the face of the earth. He's around here somewhere.'

  'Wait until tomorrow. If he's so crazy about getting into the concert,

  that's when he'l show up again.'

  'You're right.' The low sun had left the streets in deep shadow, the light was grey and cool. 'I'l go home and check my laptop. Maybe something wil show up.'

  Cool.' Thinking that he'd convinced me to stay indoors, Phoenix was

  ready to leave. He frowned and used his mysterious energy to create a faint glow around his whole body - the sign that he was about to dematerialize. 'I love you,' he said softly.

  'I love you,' I mouthed back, stil wil ing him to stay, but knowing he 141

  wouldn't.

  The light grew brighter, more dazzling until Phoenix disappeared.

  Exhaustion came over me the moment he left. I just had enough

  strength to drive home, park my car and head inside.

  Hannah cal ed,' Jim reported as I passed through the kitchen. She said she'd texted and didn't get a reply.'

  Pul ing out my phone I switched it on and read her message: WHAT'S

  THE STORY WITH YOU AND LUCAS?

  NO STORY, I texted back.

  SAW U 2 DRIVE OFF. LOOKED LIKE A STORY 2 ME! she came

  back.

  I switched off my phone again and went wearily upstairs, flipped open my laptop, logged on. I Googled angelvoice.

  Comments about Summer's concert were arriving thick and fast.

  Can 't Wait until 2moro!

  So happy but so sad can 't believe it's a whole year! Has anybody out there got a spare ticket?

  I paused on this one, disappointed to see that it was from a fan named

  LilyZee. I scrol ed again - surely there would be a similar desperate

  message from JakB.

  But no - Summer's 'number one fan' had gone to ground. There was no green skul icon, no last-minute effort to buy a ticket and get through the doors of the concert hal by legal means. And I found the absence more sinister than a hundred crazy messages. I was beginning to think I'd been wrong and that JakB could literal y vanish off the face of the earth.

  When final y I turned off my computer and lay on the bed, ful y clothed, I couldn't stop running through different scenarios in my head. The one that cropped up most was that JakB had somehow managed to get hold of a ticket. He would be there in the morning, merging with hundreds of other Summer fans, slipping into the theatre, making his way

  to the front of the auditorium with a weird smile. I Would be halfway 142

  through my 'Red Sky' duet with Hannah and I would look down to the front row. He would be staring up at me, and the look in his eyes would say: I won!

  He would be right. I hadn't nailed JakB. Summer's kil er would walk away a free man.

  Outside my window the wind blew. Through the open drapes I saw clouds drift across the face of the moon.

  Out at Foxton, Donna was taking care of Summer, who was total y shutting down, accepting an eternity of doubt.

  I lay on my bed waiting for the dawn.

  Light showed in the sky. I showered and changed into black denims and short leather jacket, was out of the house and waiting in the school car park before anyone else showed. If JakB did turn up, I wanted to be sure

  to be there.

  Parker Simons and Ezra Powel were the first to arrive, pul ing up by the side door of the theatre to unload some heavy techie stuff. The janitor came out of his office to unlock the door and let them in. Miss Jones drove into the car park soon after. Then the performers began to trickle in. Jordan arrived in Lucas's truck, Christian showed up soon after on his black Kawasaki. None of them except Hannah noticed me parked in the far corner.

  'Darina, are you coming?' she yel ed from the side door. 'Yeah. You go ahead,' I cal ed back.

  'You're sure you don't want me to wait?'

  'No. I'l be there,' I promised. It was thirty minutes before the concert was due to start and fans were arriving. I was searching for an old red saloon in amongst the smart SUVs and shiny coupes.

  Hannah looked unsure but decided to go on in. Meanwhile I saw a red car cruise by the main gate. My heart missed a beat. A red car, but was it JakB? Why hadn't he turned into the car park? Getting out of my car, I ran up to the street.

  The red car was stationary, waiting for a light to turn green. I looked 143

  more closely - it was
too new and shiny. The lights changed and the car pul ed away.

  It was when I made up my mind that it was time for me to go inside

  the building and search there that I saw him.

  I was on foot, crossing the car park when a figure stepped out from behind the row of tal redwoods planted as a wind break to shelter the main school building. My heart played up again, almost stuttering to a total halt.

  'It's al good,' JakB told me in a calm voice. I was about to say happy

  voice, but the guy's emotions were too weird to fit that. He had a smile on his face, but he sounded flat and detached. 'I talked with Summer. She understands.'

  'I knew she would,' I said careful y, trying not to let him circle me and back me into the trees. This was my last chance - I had to talk to him, make him confess. At the same time I was scared out of my head.

  'She told me she didn't care about the concert. She's not into big gestures of appreciation.'

  'Right,' I agreed. 'She's a private person. What matters is staying close to those few people who mean a lot to her.'

  'You can't break the bond we have together she told me that.'

  My God - those staring eyes! I was certain they were the eyes behind the aviator shades, taking aim across the mal and firing. Meanwhile, JakB had somehow managed to back me up against the rough bark of one of the redwoods and I was raising both my hands to protect myself.

  'Stronger than death,' I said through dry lips. 'Total y unique.'

  'Especial y now,' he whispered. His face was so close to mine that his features were blurred. 'I knew from the day she died that I was the one.'

  'She chose you?'

  He nodded. 'Before she died I was nothing, just like a mil ion other 144

  guys who loved her music. But I stuck with her beyond the grave, I didn't let her go. Now I'm the only one.'

  'I get it. She had to die to see you were special ...'

  'What are you doing?' Hannah ran across the grounds and grabbed JakB from behind. 'You back off from Darina, you hear!'

  I let out a long sigh. The guy had been lining up his toes on the edge of the cliff, about to plunge into confession. 'Hannah, it's cool ...'

  'It is so not cool!' she yel ed, shoving JakB off balance. 'Darina,

  you're coming with me and we're going to cal Security!'

  As she was dragging me away, JakB regained his balance and watched us leave.