Elly's Ghost

by John R. Kess

Jay walked away from the highway, but his brain pulled him in different directions. He thought about turning around and going back.

  Jay knew Elly was safe in police custody, and he was happy he completed his mission of getting her out alive. Part of him knew he was leaving Elly to deal with what he’d done and that wasn’t right. On the other hand, he didn’t want any headlines to read “Marine Wanted for Murder.” The police would want to talk to him, but he wasn’t ready to answer any questions just yet. More than anything, Jay wanted time alone. It was the single thing he desired when he came home from Afghanistan, and now he wanted it even more.

  “What am I doing?” he mumbled to himself.

  He questioned whether he was justified in walking away or if he was just being a coward. The urge to escape won.

  Jay headed deeper into the forest, away from the highway. He wondered if Elly would ever forgive him.

  * * *

  Elly’s mind was racing. She spoke as fast as she could so they would leave to help Jay. “He drove so fast, it hurt my eyes. He knew the helicopter was looking for us. When he spotted the police car he stopped and told me to run to it. He told me he was going back to slow them down. That was the last time I saw him. Did you see the motorcycle?”

  “We saw it abandoned on the road,” Beckholm said. “We’ll find him. Elly, you’ve referred to this person as ‘he,’ but you’ve never said his name. What is his name?”

  Elly stared at the table as the room went quiet. She could feel them looking at her, bewildered by her silence. She thought of how Jay asked her not to say his name. She’d been lying next to him in the tent when she promised she’d keep his name a secret.

  Beckholm glanced at Nick and then over at the sheriff. Both men shrugged. “Elly, did he tell you his name?”

  She stared at the table. “I can’t tell you.”

  Beckholm looked at Nick. “Elly, we need to know. When we find him, we need to know he’s the one who helped you.”

  “No,” Elly said sharply. “He saved my life and he asked me not to …”

  Beckholm set down his pencil. “He asked you not to give us his name?”

  Nick stepped from the corner and put his hand on Elly’s shoulder. “We’re all here to help you. These men want to help your friend. To do that, they need to know who they’re looking for. Please tell us.”

  “I can’t.” Elly put her head down on the table. It was the one thing Jay had asked her to keep to herself. She had been careful not to mention he was a Marine, but she felt like she was failing him no matter what she did. She wanted him found more than anything. She wanted to know he was okay.

  “We’re sending in a search team,” Sheriff Neuhaus said, “but if we don’t know who we’re searching for, somebody might get hurt. It might be one of my men or your friend. I can’t let that happen.”

  Elly was nauseous as she pressed her forehead on the table.

  “Elly,” Nick said.

  “He told me his name is Ben Chase,” Elly said. The guilt crawled from her stomach through her chest and settled behind her forehead in the form of a headache. She wondered if Jay would ever forgive her.

  Nick put his arm around her.

  The sheriff scowled, stroking the stubble on his chin. “He told you his name is Ben Chase? Benjamin Chase?”

  Elly spoke into her arms. “Yes.”

  “Did he say he was from around here?” he asked.

  “He did.” Elly lifted her head. “Why? Do you know him?” Elly saw the sheriff exchange looks with the other officers. “What’s wrong?”

  “Benjamin Chase died in a hunting accident a few years ago,” the sheriff said. “Whoever told you his name was Ben Chase was lying to you.”

  Elly was dazed. She remembered Jay saying his friend had died in the forest. Jay had lied to her. Her heart ached at the realization that he didn’t want her to know his real name. Why did he lie? Was it his way of telling her he didn’t want her in his life? Did he plan this all along? Elly’s headache worsened.

  Another officer entered the room and handed Sheriff Neuhaus a sheet of paper and whispered something to him.

  The sheriff let out a large sigh. “The search group looking for your friend just found two more bodies.”

  “Oh, God.” Elly covered her mouth. “No.”

  “I know this is hard, but I need you to come with me to the morgue to ID the men who tried to kidnap you,” Sheriff Neuhaus said. “We have several bodies there already, and the two new ones will be coming as soon as forensics is through at the scene. Can you do that?”

  Elly nodded, but she had trouble standing. “It can’t be him.”

  * * *

  Sheriff Neuhaus led the way as Elly, Beckholm, and Nick followed him into the morgue. The white concrete block walls reminded Elly of the halls of her high school. Her nose was attacked by the smell of rubbing alcohol and formaldehyde.

  Elly saw the first body covered with a sheet and stopped. She closed her eyes and thought of Jay.

  “Elly,” Neuhaus said, “I need you to tell me if you recognize any of these people.”

  Nick walked with her to the first body. The coroner removed the sheet. The face was that of an older man with a mustache and massive amounts of bruising around his neck.

  “This one was found Tuesday night at a small camp,” Sheriff Neuhaus said. “He died from a broken neck.”

  Elly knew it must be one of the men Jay had killed the night he went to see who was following them. Elly’s stomach started doing flips at the sight of the body.

  “No, I’ve never seen him.” She turned away.

  The coroner pulled the sheet back from the next body. “How about this one?” The man had been shot in the chest and was much younger than the previous man.

  Elly shook her head. The pain in her stomach grew.

  After more bodies she didn’t recognize, they pulled back the sheet on Belgrade’s body.

  “That’s the pilot,” Elly said.

  The next sheet made Elly pause. This was the body of the man who almost found her and Jay while they hid under the downed elm tree. She remembered his searching eyes and how he held his shotgun.

  Elly turned to the sheriff. “This man was searching for us. He walked right by where we were hiding.”

  Beckholm nodded.

  “How about this one?” the coroner asked.

  Elly immediately recognized the man who’d been searching with the other man. “He was also trying to find us. These two were together.”

  “You said you never saw a young woman, is that right?” Beckholm asked.

  “That’s right.”

  “Then we don’t need to see the girl or the young man found with her.”

  The side doors opened and two bodies, still in body bags, were wheeled in. Elly’s hands started to tremble, and she began to cry. She knew these were the two Beckholm had talked about. The pain in her stomach was almost unbearable. Her hands were shaking.

  The coroner unzipped them as Elly clung to Nick’s arm. Slowly, Elly let go and walked to the two bodies. The first was an older man, so she moved on to the other.

  “Are either of these two the man who helped you?” the sheriff asked.

  The second body was also an older man. Elly shook her head. “No.” She realized she’d been holding her breath.

  “Are you sure?” Beckholm asked.

  “I’m sure.” She walked back to Nick, “Neither of these two is him.”

  Her stomach was bloated, and a pain developed in her throat. She ran to a garbage can and threw up. Nick helped hold her as what little was in her stomach exited.

  Nick and Agent Beckholm escorted her out of the building.

  Elly’s headache hit so hard that Nick had to help her walk to Agent Beckholm’s car. Overwhelmed by exhaustion, she didn’t put up a fight when they told her they were going to take her to the county hospital for observation. Once there, Elly managed to take a long hot shower before being helped into a hospital gown and into a bed with c
lean sheets. She refused a sedative, not wanting drugs of any kind in her system, and begged everyone to leave her alone so she could sleep.

  But Elly couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t stop thinking about Jay. Now that she was back in civilization, she was completely uncomfortable without him. She desperately wanted to know he was okay. The fact that he hadn’t been among the bodies at the morgue did little to keep Elly from worrying about him.

  Jay had been through so much, having lost his parents and his friend and going to war. She thought her maturity was laughable compared to his. She remembered him calling her out on her Vicodin addiction. He’d also told her he wouldn’t like being famous, and she wondered if being with a well-known singer was out of the question. Elly pictured the last time he’d seen her when he left her on the highway, and then she wondered why he lied to her about his name.

  And now he’d disappeared, like the ghost he’d once called himself. Why hadn’t he been found? Didn’t he want to be found? The thoughts swirled in her head, and she was forced to admit she loved him even though she hardly knew him. She didn’t care that he’d lied to her. She remembered kissing him as they held each other for the last time, when they’d woken up in the tent together.

  Elly wanted him back more than anything. She tried to tell herself he was a Marine and could handle himself in the woods, but it was useless. She needed to know he was okay, and she began to fear the worst.

  Chapter 20

  FRIDAY

  The Secret Service agent outside the president and first lady’s bedroom relaxed when he realized the sound of rapid footsteps belonged to the first daughter. “Good morning, Celeste. Moving kind of fast this morning, aren’t we?”

  “Is my dad in there?” She pointed at the bedroom door.

  “Yes, ma’am.” The guard knocked. “Mr. President, your daughter is here to see you.”

  Celeste ran through the door.

  “She’s alive!” Celeste shouted. “It was just on the news. She’s still alive!”

  Celeste found her dad at the bathroom sink.

  “Good morning, sunshine,” The president shut off his electric shaver. “I just heard.”

  Celeste stood in front of a television showing live CNN coverage. A reporter was talking, and the small hospital Elly was in appeared in the background.

  “This is great!”

  “It sure is.” He dropped to one knee and put his arm around his daughter. The two listened as the broadcast continued.

  “… made a brief statement this morning, saying she is in good health, and has been reunited with her family. Sheriff Neuhaus declined any questions, saying only that this is an ongoing investigation and the sheriff’s office is cooperating with other agencies. No word about the circumstances behind how Wittenbel came to be found in western Montana even though her plane crashed in the Pacific five days ago.”

  Celeste scampered off to get ready for school.

  The president returned to shaving. He was looking forward to a full report during his lunch with FBI Director Holtz.

  * * *

  The local high school was a flat, one-story brick building only one-fifth the size of the school Elly and Nick had gone to in Baltimore. Nick parked the rental car in one of the visitor spots across from the entrance. He walked into the building and ignored the “Visitors must register at the office” sign, surprised there were no guards or metal detectors. The lobby was decorated in the blue and yellow school colors and full of students heading to their next class.

  “Hey, man,” Nick said to a teenage boy. “Where’s the library?”

  “Down there.” The student pointed down a hallway.

  Nick found the library and, from the doorway, spotted the kind of low shelves that always seemed to hold reference books, dictionaries, and yearbooks. He walked confidently across the floor, hoping everyone was too busy to notice him. He found the yearbook for what he had learned was Benjamin Chase’s senior year. It took only seconds to find a photo of him in the class of ninety students. Nick grabbed the yearbooks for Ben’s sophomore and junior years, checked again that no one was watching, stuffed them in his bag, and walked out.

  The hospital was only a mile from the school. Nick could see boom antennas from several news vans as he neared the building. One of the reporters was giving an update on the “situation” as Nick sneaked back into the hospital.

  Nick’s name was on the VIP list. The sheriff’s deputy watching the wing where Elly was resting let him pass.

  The shades were closed in Elly’s room, and a second table had been brought in for the bouquets of flowers pouring into the hospital. It smelled like a floral shop.

  Nick noticed his sister’s frown, even as she tried to smile. She was clearly exhausted, as if an invisible lead blanket were pressing down on her.

  “Good morning, Elly.”

  “Hi, Nick.” Elly spoke softly.

  “It’s not that good, is it?” Nick asked

  Elly shook her head. “No.”

  “Mom and dad should be here soon.”

  Elly nodded.

  “The sheriff told me he’d call if he heard anything,” Nick said.

  Elly stared at the ceiling, looking like she was trying not to cry.

  Nick put a bag of Tropical Skittles on the table next to her bed.

  “Oh, thanks,” she said.

  “I know they’re your favorite kind.”

  “Are they still yours, too?”

  “Of course. We’re twins, aren’t we?” Nick smiled. He pointed at the door, “If you want, I can come back later.”

  “No, stay. I need some company.”

  Nick pulled up a chair and chose his tone carefully. “Elly, I’ve been awful to you the last few years.”

  Elly’s eyes met his.

  “Every opportunity I’ve had to be a brother to you, I failed. And then at dad’s birthday party, I … I’m so sorry I said those terrible things to you. Can you ever forgive me?”

  Elly swung her feet over the edge of the bed, holding her arms out. Nick stood and hugged her.

  “Yesterday,” Elly said, “when you walked into that room in the police station, I realized you’d been looking for me. There was no way you could’ve gotten here so fast if you hadn’t. I knew you really cared. That meant so much to me. Of course I forgive you.”

  “I had to find you.” Nick slowly let her go, and she climbed back into bed.

  “I have a few things to show you,” Nick said. “Agent Beckholm gave me this last night.” Nick pulled a folded sheet of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Do you recognize him?”

  Elly stared at the photo of a clean-cut blond man who appeared to be in his late teens. He was proudly holding up a large fish. “No.”

  “That’s Benjamin Chase,” Nick said.

  Elly let the photo fall into her lap. “I can’t stop thinking about him. I have to find him—”

  “Elly,” Nick said, cutting her off. “First there is something you might want to consider. Are you sure you want him to be found?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “The reason I ask is because I get the impression the police may want to charge him with homicide.”

  Elly’s eyes widened.

  “They have all those dead bodies and—”

  “Nick, he saved my life! There is no way they’re charging him with anything. We have to find him.”

  “Why?”

  Elly pulled her legs to her chest and rested her head on her knees. “When those men tried to kidnap me, he stopped them. Just like Kevin, he didn’t even hesitate. He risked his life to save mine when he could have just stayed hidden. For the past five days, he’s put my safety first. Everything he did was to make sure we came out of those woods alive.”

  “Elly, he gave you a fake name.”

  “And I know he had his reasons. Look, everywhere I go I have to question whether or not I can trust people. He’s the first person I’ve met in over three years who didn’t want anything from
me. I trusted him in a way that I’ve never trusted anyone outside my family or the band. I need to know he’s okay.”

  “Then let’s find him.” Nick handed her the yearbooks. “First, we need to figure out his name.”

  “Where did you get these?”

  “In town,” he said with a smile.

  Elly pored over them as Nick sat next to her on the hospital bed. The determination showed on her face, and Nick knew the man who helped Elly must have made quite an impression on her. She suddenly stopped scanning the pages. “That’s him.” The picture was a younger, smiling version of Jay. “His name is … Jason. Jason Tessier.”

  “They’re going to find him, Elly.” Nick met Elly’s eyes. “Look how easy it was for us to find his name. And when they know who he is, they’ll probably issue a warrant for his arrest.”

  “No way,” Elly said. “I won’t let that happen. Give me your phone.”

  “What are you going to do?” Nick handed her his phone.

  “If there’s a shark in the water that’s going after my Marine, I need a bigger shark to scare it away.”

  * * *

  “What do we know?” District Attorney Jack Coleman demanded as he strode into the sheriff’s office. Neuhaus introduced Beckholm.

  “We just got word from Los Angeles,” Beckholm said. “Keith Darwitz, the man they arrested in connection with this case, admitted the now-deceased Michael Belgrade called him Sunday from a motel room not far from here. Search warrant for the room is on its way from the judge right now, and we are assembling a team to check it out. They’ll be ready in about thirty minutes.”

  Beckholm continued with additional details about Darwitz. He revealed what he knew about each of the four dead men found at the camp and the four found at the highway.

  “Who killed them all?” Coleman still hadn’t pulled out a pen.

  “We don’t know. According to Elly—”

  “Yeah, I know, some dead kid named Ben,” he said sarcastically. “Tell me you have something better than that.”