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"This way, over here," he called. "Follow me, Robby. I'll keep you safe."
Robby had grown suspicious of Phillip. He knew that he must not really exist but struggled to believe that Phillip was only in his mind, an imaginary person who, somehow knew all about him and even told him things that he couldn't have known. And now he was sprinting out of his Gramma's house, answering the beckoning call of someone who no one believed was real except him.
Robby grabbed Phillip's extended hand and was quickly pulled into a thicket of shrubs and small trees. His heart was racing, and his breathing was heavy. Phillip turned to Robby, placed his index finger over Robby's lips to tell him to be quiet. When Phillip's finger touched his lips, Robby felt his heart slow to a normal beat and his breathing instantly calmed.
"I need you to stay quiet," Phillip said, winking quickly at Robby. "It will all be over in a minute."
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Rita saw Robby sprinting through the deep snow of her backyard, and she saw someone grab Robby and pull him out of sight. She couldn't recognize who it was but assumed it was someone working with the trooper and trying to set a trap for her. She slowed her charge as she neared the end of her backyard, and then she stepped cautiously onto the Marginal Way.
The storm coupled with the moonless night made it hard for Rita to see more than a few feet in front of her. She risked shielding her face from the driving snow with her left arm, knowing that doing so could cost her precious moments if she needed to fire another slug from her shotgun.
She moved through the thick snow, towards the top of a small hill. She had always loved this one spot of the Marginal Way. When she and Luke would bring Jack to the area, she would always insist that Luke and Jack pose for a picture on the very spot she was now approaching.
"This is the highest point on the Marginal Way," she would say every time. "It is a close to heaven as any other place in this world."
Luke and Jack would pose, some years willingly and some years, especially the final years of Luke's life, reluctantly. She never understood why the simple act of standing and smiling for a picture was such a chore, such an assumed violation, but she didn't bother to question her husband and her son. She had her expectations and was always determined to see her expectations met.
As she reached the crest of the slight hill, with the trees lining each side offering her a reprieve from the blinding snow, Rita quickly returned her arm to its proper position on the shotgun.
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There she was, no more than ten feet from him. He had waited so long, waited until his strength was enough to do what he so wanted to do. He knew that this day would come, and now that it was upon him. He wondered why he felt immobilized.
Wasn't it she who cast him into the world to which he was now confined? Wasn't it by her hands that he was made to choose one path or another, neither of which offered any promise of hope? Wasn't it this woman who made his other life so meaningless? He could find no reason to stay his hand, no reason not to end the threat she posed to the young boy who stood beside him.
But he knew that his action needed to be swift. He couldn't risk her seeing him, recognizing him and ending his attempt in a blink of an eye. Still, there was the young boy by his side. Certainly, he thought, his life is worth the risk.
He leaned silently towards Robby, patted him on the head and whispered, "Close your eyes." As he watched Robby close his eyes, he turned his gaze towards her. She was standing there, still, so close. He watched her survey the area around her, looking for her prey. He readied himself as she turned her back towards him.
Using more strength than he knew he possessed, he leaped from his hiding spot, arms and hands extended and stiffened. His lunge was certain, directed, and steady, as his hands, finding their one-time form, slammed into her back.
Rita's head snapped back from the tremendous shove, her arms sent flaying out to each side. She threw her right foot out in front of her body instinctively, hoping to capture her balance. That foot landed and slid on the ice beneath the heavy snow. The left foot, sent forward by instinct, landed a few feet further. Still, her balance avoided her. She felt herself falling forward much too fast to call upon her legs to repeat their steadying attempts. She couldn't turn to see what or who had caused her to lose her balance, yet, somehow, she recognized the touch as being familiar. They were hands that she felt pound against her back; of that she was sure. But whose hands? Who owned hands controlled by such an evil brain? There was only one. One person that flashed across her scrambled thoughts. But how?
She screamed in anger as she realized that her fall was not going to end quickly. She disappeared off the Marginal Way's path and fell in awkward plea towards the rocky coastline thirty feet below.
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He knew he didn't have time to verify that his actions were fully completed.
"Robby," he said, turning back to where he had just launched his attack, "come with me, quickly."
Robby grabbed his friend's hand and kept pace with him as he moved quickly away from the house and from the highest point of the Marginal Way. When they were more than 100 yards away, the realization struck Phillip. He stopped running, turned to face Robby, and dropped to one knee.
"Robby," he said, his voice cut with emotions, "I have to leave you soon."
"Where are you going?" Robby asked.
"Your mother and father will be here very soon. They will make sure you are safe and sound. I can't leave you here out in this storm all alone. I will wait until they arrive."
"What will they do to you when they see you?" Robby asked, afraid that his friend had done something wrong.
"They will know who I am."
"And then what?"
"I will have to leave you."
"For how long?"
"Forever."
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Maggie knew that her jaw was broken and that her balance was suspect at best. But when she didn't see Robby where she had left him and couldn't find him in the kitchen with Derek, she bolted outside, hoping that Robby had seen her stick-arrows and was halfway to her car. She paused when she saw Derek trying to steady himself on his feet.
"Where's Robby?" she cried.
"I don't know," Derek mumbled.
"He went outside," Mark Irish called from a few feet away. "Rita went after him."
Maggie turned. Her still-cold feet hit the snow before Derek could find his balance. Maggie was no further than 20 feet away from the house when he forced himself to garner whatever reserves he had left and charged out of the house after her. The combination of his unsteady gate and the deep, slippery snow sent Derek crashing to the ground. Though he tried to direct his fall, he landed directly on his right shoulder, testing its ability to hold the joint in place, and finding that it was still too weak to pass such a demanding test.
Maggie heard Derek moan in pain behind her, but she had only one focus – finding Robby before Rita did. As best she could, Maggie ran towards Perkins Cove, where she hoped Robby was safely in her car. Tears of both pain and terror streaked across her face and became frozen on her broken jaw. She forced her legs through the heavy snow, ignoring her pain and forcing out of her mind her fears of how she might find Robby.
Behind her, Derek had regained his balance and was quickly gaining ground. He knew that yelling to Maggie to slow down or to stop would be a waste of energy, so he focused all of his remaining strength to push himself faster.
He had run a little more than 200 yards when he saw Maggie. She was not moving. She was standing on the path, holding her hands to her face, staring at something further down the Marginal Way. When Derek reached her side, Maggie held out her hand to stop Derek from proceeding.
"Maggie," he said, "where is Robby? Why did you stop chasing after him?"
Maggie turned quickly to face Derek, her beautiful green eyes filled with tears ready to make their decent, then pointed to two figures 100 feet further down the Way. Though it was dark and visibility was
greatly diminished, Derek recognized that the smaller of the two figures standing 100 feet away was Robby.
"Stay here," he said to Maggie.
"I'm not staying anywhere," Maggie shot back. "That's my son, and no one is going to take him away or keep me away from him ever again."
As Derek and Maggie walked closer to Robby and the man who was on one knee in front of him, Derek pulled the picture that he had found in Maggie's attic out of his pocket. He gave it a quick glance, studying the face of the man he assumed to be Jack's father, Luke.
"Your mother and your friend Derek is coming," Phillip said to Robby.
"Why did you tell me that Mr. Cole needed to be stopped the other day when you were in my bedroom?"
"Because he was trying to help you, Robby. I knew he'd find the truth sooner or later, and I was afraid that he'd find the truth before I could save you."
"Will he recognize you?" Robby asked, suddenly aware.
"Remember everything that I told you, okay?" Phillip said. "And though I won't be able to visit you anymore, I'm pretty sure that I'll still be with you. In your heart," he said, patting Robby on his chest. "And please tell Mr. Cole that I am sorry about hurting him in the attic. Tell him he is just too good at figuring things out."
"I'll tell him. I promise."
"And will you tell your dad something for me, too?" Phillip asked as he felt his body becoming strangely lighter, as if the wind would soon be able to lift him and carry him wherever it was that the wind called home.
"Sure," Robby replied.
"Tell him that I'm sorry that I wasn't a better father to him. Tell him that I am proud of him. Tell him that I've always loved him."
Derek and Maggie were just a few feet away before they paused. They waited for Robby and the man Robby was speaking with to acknowledge their presence. The man slowly stood, turned towards Derek, then slowly faded into the snowstorm as he walked backwards into nothingness.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
The State Police made it to Rita Bryant's house 30 minutes after Mark Irish called. Their first task was to search for Rita Bryant. They found her floating in the near freezing ocean. The coroner would later determine that the cause of her death was exposure. Her fall off the Marginal Way and onto the rocky shoreline rendered her incapable of pulling herself out of the water. By the time her body was discovered, she had frozen to death.
The ambulance struggled through the snow, but was able to get Jack Bryant to the nearest hospital, where he was quickly sent to surgery. Maggie was treated and released, thankful that her jaw suffered only a mild fracture. She was back in her home with Matthew, Robby, Derek, and John when she received the call from the hospital, telling her that Jack was out of surgery and was expected to make a full recovery.
Though exhausted from the day's events, Maggie insisted that Trooper Irish tell her everything he knew. Mark spent 20 minutes explaining, as best he could about why Jack was innocent, and that Rita Bryant was now the only suspect in the murders of Luke Bryant and Ron White.
The next morning, Derek and John drove Maggie and Robby over to see Jack while the State Police brought Matthew to see his mother, who was awake and out of immediate danger. Jack was resting in his private room and greeted Maggie and Robby with a smile and a few tears when they came in.
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"I still don't know exactly what happened," Derek said the next day as he and Maggie sat at Maggie's dining room table, "but I have to believe that Phillip won't be visiting Robby anymore."
"Phillip was Jack's father, wasn't he?" Maggie asked.
"Maggie, I can't say for certain, but all evidence points that way. Based on the article that Ron was getting ready to have published, it seems that Jack's father was Phillip and that the reason he didn't want Robby to tell anyone what he looked like is because if he were recognized, he would be sent to....wherever it is that ghosts are sent to after being recognized."
"And the person you chased on the Marginal Way yesterday? You said you thought it was Ron White? Could you have sent him to that same place, too?"
"I hope not," Derek said. "Ron's letter that he wrote to me asked me not to look for him, just in case his theory was true. I really don't know what we just went through."
"Neither do I," Maggie said through a thin smile. "But Jack told me everything, and I think I still have some things to go through before..."
"I know," Derek said before Maggie could finish her thoughts. "Jack was protecting you from the truth about his mother, and protecting Robby from what he believed his mother was planning to do."
"Jack told me that his mother's father was involved in the satanic ritual that his father witnessed. Jack told me that Luke told him everything he saw that night of the satanic ritual a few months after it all happened. Rita knew about her father's interest in satanic worship, which probably made her go so far to the other side."
"And once she went a bit too far, there was no coming back. I guess she found out about her husband having an affair with Vanessa Jones's mother and felt the need to erase any remnants of her husband's evil bloodline."
"Including Jack and Robby," Maggie said with a shudder. "Jack felt the need to keep me and Robby safe from his mother. He told me that his mother often told him that one day, she would be called upon to cleanse the evil bloodline of Jack's father. I think that's why Jack kept Vanessa Jones and her son a secret from me as well. If I knew who they really were, Jack probably thought that his mother would find out as well. I still don't know why Jack didn't tell me everything years before it all blew up, but he promised to tell me everything once he gets back home."
"Probably good to know that he wasn't cheating on you and that Matthew was his nephew and not his son?"
"Yeah, it is," Maggie said. She knew what Derek felt about her, and she knew what she was feeling towards him. "I know that I told you that you and I would..."
"Maggie, stop," Derek said. "You need to work things out with Jack. It looks like, though he had some bad judgment, that he was only focused on keeping you and Robby safe from his mom. I can't fault him for that."
"I know," she said as tears once again graced her eyes. "Who knows what the future will bring?"
"I hope it brings nothing but happiness for you and Robby. Jack, too." Derek stood, extended his left hand to Maggie. "I think this case can be officially closed. If I ever write a book about my cases, this one will sure be hard to explain."
Maggie grabbed Derek's hand and pulled him into a long embrace.
"Call me if Rita starts haunting you, okay?" Derek said as he broke the embrace.
"Your number is saved in my favorites."
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Derek cancelled his return flight and arranged with the rental agency to extend his car rental and return it back in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. He knew the drive would take him at least 12 hours, but Derek felt that even that long of a drive wouldn't give him enough time to process everything about the case.
As he crossed the bridge over the Piscataqua River and entered into the State of New Hampshire, Derek's iPhone sounded its ringtone.
"I hear through the grapevine that you've left town."
"I did, Father. Heading back home for some recovery time."
"I was hoping that you'd stick around a while longer. There are still a lot of unanswered questions about Jack and his mother," John said.
"I think the police will figure everything out pretty quickly," Derek responded. "What they won't figure out, what none of us will figure out, is what the heck really happened on the Marginal Way. Robby says that Phillip pushed Rita over the cliff, and the police are saying she slipped and fell. Since Robby is the only one who saw what really happened, I have to believe his story."
"And doing so requires a leap of faith," John said.
"And quite a leap it would be. But, since I saw Robby's friend evaporate before my eyes, I think I've already made the leap. Still don't understand why whatever Robby's friend was, called itself Phillip."
/> "Derek," John said, "if what we believe is right and Robby's friend was Luke Bryant, him calling himself Phillip makes sense. Luke was a ghost hunter and certainly must have read about the Phillip Experiment. If Ron's theory was right, Luke would have wanted to give no clues to his true identity. Using the name Phillip was probably his attempt to throw off Maggie and Jack from figuring out who he really was."
"Still," Derek said, "there's a whole lot of questions that I guess will never be answered."
"Certainly has to be one of your strangest cases?" John asked.
"I can't imagine ever working a case like this one again. But, based on my last two cases, I'm keeping an open mind."
"I suppose that R&R Investigative Agency is no longer open for business." Father John Flannigan's voice was a mixture of remorse and joy. "As sad as I am about my private investigator career being over, it does feel good to go out on top."
"Father," Derek said, a smile crossing his face, "as good of a partner as you made, you're a much better priest. I think you followed your proper calling."
"Please don't forget about us."
"I don't think that's possible. Plus, I can't even think of a reason why I would want to try to forget. Thank you, Father."
"How about you plan on spending some time up here this coming summer? I promise not to suggest a visit to the Marginal Way."
"Drinks at Fitz's, perhaps?"
"First round is on me. God bless you, Derek Cole," John said.
"Bless you, my child."
Those of the Margin: a Paranormal Suspense Thriller (Derek Cole Suspense Thriller Book 2) Page 21
