Joyce & Jim Lavene - Taxi for the Dead 02 - Dead Girl Blues

by Joyce Lavene

  Addie had kept Jacob’s childhood bedroom exactly as it had been before he’d gone off to college. When we’d married, we’d shared one of the larger rooms with our own bathroom.

  After Jacob’s death, I’d started keeping everything I could find about the area where we’d died and the other deaths that had happened there on the desk in his old bedroom. It gave me a place to put up poster board and pin newspaper articles about other accidents and deaths on that curve. I hadn’t wanted Kate to find it.

  And that was the one part of our lives that I had managed to keep from her sharp little mind. She still thought her daddy had died in a car accident.

  When I was in Jacob’s old room, I was surrounded by his superhero posters and collectibles of everything from horses to Frankenstein. There was a globe in one corner and a hanging mobile of the solar system above me. There was so much hope for the future here, a future cut short by our tragedy.

  Looking up the name Tim Rusk had given me at the bar was easy on the laptop. Gerald Linker was a decorated veteran of two tours in Iraq as well as various other military missions. I found pictures of him and his wife, Julie, on their wedding day. They’d only been married a short time when she had died. There were no children.

  I studied Gerald’s lean face in his army uniform and then compared it to the photo of him the day after the wreck that had killed his wife. He hadn’t been shy about telling everyone that Julie’s death wasn’t normal. He’d spoken out for months, questioning the police findings.

  He’d claimed that someone had been waiting in the woods that night and had taken her from their pickup truck. He’d gone all the way to the governor’s office—no doubt getting there with good PR from his military career, but that was as far as it went.

  A few days after his visit to the governor, Gerald had been thrown in jail for public drunkenness and assault. He’d gotten into a bar fight and seriously hurt the other man. After that, it was downhill for him until he was taken to a mental hospital for observation.

  There was nothing mentioned about him after that.

  I sat back in Jacob’s old chair and looked around at his teenage belongings. No wonder Gerald had finally given up. The system could beat anyone down. I’d known that and had tried just to be grateful that I had the next twenty years to spend with Kate. I’d followed Abe’s strict orders to stay away from looking into Jacob’s death.

  In short, I’d been a coward. Time was passing quickly, only seventeen years left to find out what had happened that night.

  I saw Addie standing in the doorway and turned off the laptop. It was already six-thirty a.m. Time to get Kate up and ready for school soon.

  “Did you find anything new?” she asked with the apathetic air of someone who was used to disappointment.

  “Maybe.” I told her what had happened. “I’m going to see Gerald Linker as soon as I can. Maybe we can compare stories and come up with some new ideas.”

  Her thick face was much clearer now than it had been when she’d first returned as a ghost. Lucas had been helping her become more solid, learning about her ghostly powers.

  “Why not today, right away? What else do you have to do?”

  “I have to investigate a magic user’s death. Remember Harold the Great?”

  “The magician? Sure, although I think of him as Harold the mediocre. He couldn’t even make balloon animals at Kate’s party. Why are you investigating his death?”

  “Because Abe wants me to. Turns out he was a real sorcerer. He worked for Abe for a while. Abe thinks Lucas may have killed Harold to get his position.”

  “Well, that’s just stupid. You can tell Abe I said that too. Ignore him. Go talk to this Gerald person. Do what you need to for my son.”

  I switched off the desk lamp. “I will. You know I will.”

  “Sometimes I wonder.” She disappeared, and I ran upstairs to take a shower and change clothes.

  Lucas was already up—he didn’t sleep any better than I did most nights. He was in the shower already. I took off my shorts and T-shirt and jumped in with him.

  “Why is the water always boiling?” I winced as the water hit my skin. “And why are you always cold? No one has a fire in the summer. Is it some magic thing?”

  He handed me the soap. “I don’t know. All I know is I feel cold all the time. No matter what I do, I can’t get warm. Do you want me to come with you this morning to look at the dead sorcerer?”

  “Yes.” I grabbed the shampoo and dumped a small amount on my short blond hair. “Thanks. I know you don’t like Abe.”

  He smiled. “But I like you, Skye, and I would do anything to repay your kindness.”

  “I think you’ve repaid that already.” We switched places under the water, after I’d adjusted the temperature. “Addie loves you. So does Kate. And what’s this about repairing that old rusted pickup in the yard?”

  He shrugged. “The engine was very rudimentary. I traded some of Addie’s apple butter for the parts I needed. Did you know her apple butter and jam are famous? They have the picture of the inn on them.”

  “Anyone can do that,” I explained. “But I think the jam and apple butter were pretty good. People bought them like crazy when she was alive.”

  “And she stopped because of her death?” He shivered as he stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. “I shall speak with her about it. Perhaps we could continue her legacy and bring in some extra money.”

  I turned off the water and took the towel he offered me. “I’m sure she’d like that. Have you ever made jam or apple butter? It’s one of my least favorite things to do.”

  “Not surprising. Addie says you’re not a home-maker. I assume that means you are uninterested in anything about the home. That explains the conditions you were living in before I arrived.”

  “Smart ass.” I flicked him with the end of the towel. “I have better things to do.”

  He put his arms around me. Lucas never tried to kiss me, though we frequently had sex.

  “Did Jacob not require home-making skills of you as his wife?”

  “No. He liked that I was a cop and didn’t care that I’d never ironed a shirt in my life.”

  “He was an intelligent man, it seems.”

  “Yes.” I moved away from him and scrounged in a drawer to find clean work shorts and a tank top. I could feel him watching me as I dressed and dried my hair. “Is something wrong?”

  “No. I was just thinking that you are unlike any woman I have ever known. You don’t require silks nor furs and jewels.”

  “So you remember women from your past?”

  “They are like ghosts, flitting though my mind. I couldn’t tell you their names or where I know them from.” He put his hands to his head. “It maddens me.”

  I tossed the damp towel in the hamper knowing it would be washed and dried before I got home. “Maybe you shouldn’t try so hard.”

  “You mean because I might be an evil sorcerer from the past as you read on your computer. People feared me and were glad to know that I had disappeared.”

  “No, because you might be putting too much pressure on yourself. The answers will come when you’re ready. There’s a reason you can’t remember anything.”

  “Why aren’t you afraid of me?”

  “Maybe because I’m already dead.” I shrugged as I ran a comb through my hair and stared into my blue eyes in the mirror. “Or maybe because you’ve been nice to everyone—except Jasper. I have to wake Kate. See you downstairs.”

  Kate was already up when I reached her bedroom. She ran to hug me, her brown eyes wide awake and looking toward the new day.

  “When did you get home, Mommy?”

  “I’m not sure what time it was.” I hugged her. “At least you were asleep. How was school yesterday?”

  “It was okay, except that the teacher put me in a group with snotty Suzy Smith.” She opened her eyes wide and tossed back her light brown hair. “I’m not doing any of this. My mother is a lawyer, and she’ll hav
e our nanny do it for me.”

  I laughed at her high-pitched, snotty-girl voice. “Did you tell the teacher she plans to cheat?”

  “The teacher won’t listen to me. Everyone knows about Suzy. It’s just the way it is.” Kate threw her pajamas on the bed and took out the shorts and T-shirt she’d chosen to wear to school.

  “That’s the time you should say something,” I encouraged her. “Nothing should just be the way it is.”

  “Everything is like that, isn’t it? You’re dead and still walking around. Grandma is a ghost. Daddy is dead. I can’t do anything about those things. They are the way they are.”

  I sat on the bed as she brushed her teeth and combed her hair, her earnest little face breaking my heart. “That’s not the same. Some things you can change. They don’t have to be the way they are.”

  “How do you know the difference?”

  “You have to look at each situation and ask yourself if you can change it. I can’t change that I’m dead. I can change what I do with my time while I’m here.”

  “So like I can’t change that I have to go to school, but I can keep Suzy from cheating.”

  “Sure.” I wasn’t sure if that was true or not, but I didn’t want her to give up on her life already without trying to make things right.

  Addie appeared near the window. “Lucas is making fruit and bagels for breakfast. You should both get down there. You’re running late.”

  Kate laughed. “Oh Grandma. Lucas can’t make fruit, even if he really is a sorcerer. Fruit grows on trees.” She looked at me. “Can he make bagels, or can you only get those in the store?”

  “You can make them, smarty pants,” Addie replied. “But I think these are from the store. Are you ready to go?”

  “No. Not really,” Kate replied. “I don’t want to go to school today. I’d rather stay home.”

  “You only have a few days left before summer vacation,” I reminded her. “Besides, you love school.”

  “It’s so close to summer.” Kate stared out the window. “And something feels funny.”

  We talked about her funny feeling all the way downstairs. Coffee was brewing, and Lucas had already toasted bagels and sliced strawberries.

  “Good morning.” He put a cup of Kate’s favorite tea in front of her. “What’s all this about funny feelings?”

  Addie stood at the table as we ate. I didn’t need to, but it made Kate feel better when I ate with her.

  “I don’t know.” Kate shrugged as she crammed strawberries into her mouth, her lips red with them. “It’s like something is coming. Something bad.”

  “Don’t be silly, chicken feet,” Addie chided, using her pet name for Kate who always walked on her toes. “Nothing bad is coming. You’re going to finish school and have a wonderful summer.”

  Lucas shoveled a mound of sugar into his coffee and topped it off with heavy cream. “You shouldn’t ignore her. Children have a sense of the world that adults have lost. Something bad might indeed be coming.”

  “I think it may be that she’s about to finally lose that tooth.” I frowned at Lucas, hoping he’d get the idea that we didn’t want to talk about something bad coming. “If that doesn’t come out soon, something bad will be me wiggling it until it falls out.”

  Lucas didn’t say anything else about Kate’s random musings until we had dropped her off at school for the day. The Festiva had died out twice while we waited in the school drop-off line. I held my tongue until we were alone.

  “You can’t encourage her to get morbid about her life,” I told him as we started toward Nashville. “She lives with a zombie, a sorcerer, and a ghost. Her life will never be normal. The least she can have is a happy childhood.”

  “Even children can be unhappy,” he said. “And they frequently recognize trouble when we are too busy to notice. There is magic in her, as there is in you. I can sense it. Don’t ignore her prophecy, Skye. It may be important.”

  Chapter Eight

  Even though the showers that had been anticipated the day before had never materialized, thick gray clouds hung over Nashville, obscuring the skyline in many places. Traffic was just as heavy going into the city, and drivers were just as impatient.

  I made an unscheduled stop at the mechanic’s shop where Abe usually had the van repaired. It was still out in the yard with no work done on it.

  “I’ll get to it when I can,” Bernie promised from under a Honda. “I’ve got work piled up. I told Abe I was too busy to work on it right away. He should’ve sent it to one of his other mechanics.”

  “Just give me some kind of estimate,” I coaxed. “Or maybe you have another car I can use. This thing is a piece of crap. I barely got here today.”

  Bernie peeked out at the old Festiva. “I ain’t got nothing else, honey. You better talk to Abe. I’m sorry.”

  “I could take a look at it,” Lucas offered. “Not the van, but the engine on the small car. I fully understand how they work.”

  “Let’s get to the mortuary first. Maybe you can do something with it there.” I glared at Bernie who shrugged and went back under the Honda. “How am I supposed to pick up zombies if the car won’t get there?”

  I got in the Festiva and gunned the engine. The car shuddered and coughed until it died out again. So much for anger helping the situation.

  “This is as good a place as any.” Lucas had me open the hood.

  “I guess it can’t hurt for you to look at it.” I got out and watched him. “How did you learn about cars?”

  He started messing around with something in the engine. “I studied the engine in the old truck since we clearly needed another tool for going places when you weren’t home. It’s very simple, based on electrical principles. Magic is roughly based on the same ideas.”

  “But you haven’t been able to purposely access your magic—have you?” I studied the side of his face as he keenly went through the wiring in the engine.

  “Not purposely. If there are spells or incantations, I don’t recall them. But this I understand. Get back in and start it again.”

  I felt like it was a waste of time, but I did as he asked. The little engine started right up and purred like a kitten. I put my foot on the gas, and it revved loud and steady. It didn’t even die out.

  “You fixed it.” No one was as surprised as me. “You could open a mechanic shop and make a lot more money than you could on jam and apple butter.”

  He closed the hood and got in the car. “That might be true. I hadn’t considered it.”

  “Just kidding, Lucas. Why are you so worried about making money anyway?”

  “Because there are certain needs that cannot be met by bartering in your society.” He glanced out the window as a man in a gray Jag stuck his finger up at me for pulling out too slow. “I hope to help you meet those needs. Perhaps that will lessen the work you need do for Abe.”

  He smiled, and I glanced away, pretending to be intent on the road. He almost made my poor dead heart dance in my chest again. That bothered me. I didn’t want to have those softer feelings for him. We helped each other. That was enough.

  “Do you ever wonder if you’ll remember who you are some day?” I asked.

  “Are you concerned about it? If the spells and incantations return to me, I could become the man on the computer, the one everyone dreaded.”

  “I’m not worried about it, Lucas,” I reassured him. “I only care about what you are now. Besides, half of that stuff from the past isn’t true anyway. And we’re only guessing that you’re the same person.”

  “So you have no faith that I can spare you from the dark one’s subjugation.”

  I knew he meant Abe. I also knew that I didn’t want to be spared unless my life was going to continue. “You know I signed up for this, right?”

  “After he convinced you that it was necessary to keep Kate from being alone.” He stared at me when we’d stopped for a light. “He was lying.”

  “He’s been doing this a long time.” I didn�
��t mention that Abe knew who he was and how to use his magic. That seemed rude. Lucas was doing the best he could. No point in rubbing it in.

  “And we don’t know anything for sure about me or my magic.” He said what I was thinking. “You don’t trust me.”

  “I trust you a lot more than any other man in my life right now. You live with us and interact with Kate. I wouldn’t let that happen if I didn’t trust you.”

  “Perhaps I meant that you don’t trust my magic.”

  “Maybe.” I smiled at him. “Maybe not so much.”

  “Thank you for your honesty.”

  I pulled the Festiva into the back parking lot at Simon’s Mortuary. It was a pathetic looking place that needed a paint job and a new roof. Abe didn’t seem to be big on home improvement either. There was a large, dirty window in the front of the mortuary where two older mannequins stood dressed in 1950s apparel with a casket between them.

  Not that any normal humans used this facility. Only Abe’s LEPs were brought here. This was where he cut the silver cord that bound us to him—the official end of our twenty borrowed years.

  Brandon, who’d worked for Abe at the mortuary for almost all of his extended life, said Abe took his magic energy back when he cut the silver cord. That was why Abe could only have so many zombies at one time. His magic only extended so far. Which was why he also needed a magic user of some type to protect him.

  I didn’t know if Brandon had guessed that or if Abe had told him. But he was about to find out the truth since he’d been with Abe for nineteen years. I hoped he didn’t run. I didn’t want to be the one who had to bring him here at the end.

  “Skye—” Lucas tried to continue the conversation about his magic.

  I pushed open the car door, not wanting to discuss something so difficult. I’d only just begun to believe magic was possible. I couldn’t knowledgeably argue with him one way or another.

  Brandon came out the back door, and I didn’t have to. He was a strange little man who’d been a friend to me since I’d woken up in the mortuary on a slab. He seemed to know so much more than he was sharing, claiming to be too frightened of Abe to say anything more.