by E. C. Bell
“Yes,” I whispered. “You saved me.”
“Yeah, I did, didn’t I?” Karen said. She looked up at the rest of her team, floating above her. “We all did.”
“Police!” the officer yelled as he ran through the gate. “Don’t move!”
I did exactly what I was told as he looked over the scene.
“Are you okay?” he finally asked.
“I think so,” I said. My voice sounded like I was still being strangled, and my throat hurt. A lot. But at least I was alive.
“Is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“Just stay back for a second, ma’am,” the cop said. He checked Andy for weapons, then touched his neck, looking for a pulse.
“He’s alive,” he said, then turned to me. “What did you do to him?”
“I protected myself,” I said. My throat hurt so badly I could barely speak. “That’s all. I just protected myself.”
“Why didn’t you run?” he asked. He couldn’t take his eyes from Andy’s unconscious body, from the scratches and punctures that covered his face, hands, and neck.
“I tried,” I said. “But he caught me.”
He snorted. “Looks like he should have let you go.”
He quickly handcuffed Andy on the ground, then took me by the arm. “Come with me to the car,” he said. “While we wait for the ambulance.” He shook his head. “I’m still not sure how you did that.”
“Did what?”
“Damaged him like that.” He clicked his tongue. “That looked like he was at the bad end of a gang swarming.”
“I took self-defence classes,” I said. “What can I say?”
He led me to his sedan, and gently put me in the passenger seat. That’s when I remembered Millie. I could hear her crying, still tied to the fence.
“My dog,” I said. “Can you get my dog?”
He nodded and retrieved Millie. Handed her to me, then called for an ambulance.
I closed my eyes, and tried not to think of Andy’s fingers on my neck. I must have made a sound, because Millie curled into my lap. She stared up at me with her big eyes, and laid her head on my chest. And that undid me completely.
I started to cry, and couldn’t stop.
JAMES ARRIVED AT the same time as the ambulance. He threw himself out of the car, and then he was beside me, holding me, tight.
“You’re hurting me,” I said.
“I don’t care,” he mumbled into my hair. “My God, Marie. I told you I should have come. I could have protected you—”
“I did all right,” I said. “After all, he’s the one being loaded into the ambulance, not me.”
James looked over at the emergency crew as they loaded Andy onto a stretcher and put him in the ambulance. James frowned. “You did all that?” he asked.
“No,” I said. “Karen and the rest were there. They stopped him. They did that.”
“Remind me never to piss off a ghost.”
Andy woke up as the emergency crew began loading him into the ambulance. I frowned when I realized he was screaming my name.
I grabbed for the door handle, but James held me. “Just let him go,” he said. “The police will handle it.”
“But he’s telling them it was me,” I said. “I have to tell them what really happened. I have to.”
“Tell Sylvia,” he said, and pointed as Sylvia’s car drove into the parking lot. “She’ll understand about the ghosts. I don’t think the emergency crew will understand, or care.”
James was right. I needed to talk to Sylvia.
As I told her everything that had happened I could see the ghosts standing on the top row of the bleachers, watching us. Karen was with them, and she glowed the brightest of them all.
I didn’t know if that was good or bad and I was starting to hurt everywhere so badly that, for the moment, I didn’t care. Karen wasn’t going anywhere, after all. But it looked like I was. Sylvia had ordered me to the hospital to get checked out and have trace evidence collected from my body, since Andy had attacked me.
At least I wouldn’t have to wait forty years for justice.
JAMES STAYED WITH me for the whole hospital experience. The doctors tried to run him off but he would have none of it.
“I’m never letting her out of my sight again,” he said. Which was sweet but a little over the top. I tried to tell him to relax, that I wasn’t in any danger any longer, but he wouldn’t listen to me, either.
“I should have been there,” he said. “At the diamond. I’m never letting anything like that happen to you again. I’m going to protect you from all that’s bad in the world, even if you don’t want me to.”
“You’re sweet,” I said. He wouldn’t be able to do it, but I liked the thought of him trying. That thought actually pushed me over the edge again, and I started to cry. He didn’t freak out, though. Just held me until I finally quieted.
Then it was time for the professionals to do their jobs. They scraped under my fingernails, and I tried to remember if I’d scratched him. I didn’t think I had, but hoped they’d find something besides dirt. They swabbed the blood from my hand, from Andy’s broken nose. And then they took pictures of me. Of my face, and my neck, and my shoulders, and my arms. The bruises were starting to purple nicely, and I looked like I’d been through a war.
Sylvia told me we could talk tomorrow. “I want to talk to Andy first,” she said. “And he won’t be out of surgery for a couple more hours.”
“Surgery?” I gasped. I’d heard something snap when he fell, but had never imagined that it would take surgery to repair it.
“He broke his leg in three places,” she said. “He was suffering from osteoporosis. Guess that’s what he gets for not drinking milk.”
I tried to laugh, I really did, but I couldn’t. I was too exhausted. I just kept thinking about Karen and the rest of the ghosts swarming him. Hurting him so badly that he needed surgery.
“Can I get out of here?” I asked. “I really want to go home.”
“Sure,” she said. She patted James’s arm. “You look after her.”
“You can count on it,” James replied.
He helped me dress, so I could leave. “I’ll get you home,” he said. “And tuck you in bed.”
“I can’t go home yet,” I said.
He looked at me and shook his head. “You have to see the ghosts,” he said. “Don’t you?”
“I do,” I said. “You’ll stay with me, won’t you?”
“I told you,” he said. “I’m not leaving your side again.”
I FELT STRANGELY proud when I saw that more yellow caution tape and been draped over Diamond Two’s fence. The police were still there, working the scene, and the cop standing by the gate started shaking his head before we even got within talking distance.
“You can’t go in there,” he said.
“But—” James started. He stopped abruptly when the cop held up his hand.
“Not a word more,” he said. “I know who you are. Sergeant Worth gave me strict instruction not to let you in here, no matter what you say. She says you need sleep more than you need anything else. Got it?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I got it.”
“So, what are you going to do?” James asked when we turned away from the officer.
“I’ll get her to come to me,” I said. I walked a few feet further, then put my hands to my mouth in a makeshift megaphone.
“Karen!” I called. “I need to talk to you now!”
“There’s no Karen in there,” the confused cop said. “I think you should do what Sergeant Worth suggested. Go home.”
I ignored him. Called Karen’s name again and watched the light in the diamond brighten. She’d heard me.
“Meet me in the parking lot!” I yelled. Then, before the cop could say anything more, I grabbed James by the arm and pulled him back to the car.
“They’re coming,” I said. And then we were surrounded by ghosts. Karen walked out of the brightness of their
light and stood before me.
“You wanted to talk to me?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said. “I do.”
James’s eyes did that glance everywhere thing when he realized that I was talking to a ghost.
“Andy’s under arrest,” I said. “And you’ve been avenged. Haven’t you?”
Karen stared at me for a moment, then nodded. “I have,” she said.
“Have you given any more thought to moving on?” I asked.
“I have,” Karen said. “But we have the rest of the season to play. I’m not going anywhere.”
“What about after?” I asked. “Do you think that maybe you’d consider it after the season?”
“Not right now,” she said. Then she smiled. “But maybe talk to me in a few months. After I see my family. You know, when they confirm whose body they dug up.”
“All right,” I said. That was the first chink I’d seen in Karen’s armour. The very first.
“I might want to do that,” a voice said, behind me. I turned. It was Rita Danworth. “After the season’s over.”
She looked at Karen. “I’m sure Robin Vickers will show up next season. She can take my place. She’s a much better utility player than I am, and you know it. Besides, I’m tired, and what we did to Andy—that scared me. I don’t want to do anything like that anymore.” She reached out and touched Karen’s arm. “I get why you needed that, I really do. And there are others who probably feel the same way, but Karen, I think it’s time for me to move on.”
“I understand,” Karen said. She looked around the circle of ghosts. “Any more of you want to talk to Marie? I won’t cause a fuss this time, I promise. Just as long as you promise to stick around to the end of the season, that is. Otherwise, I’ll figure out a way to haunt you. I really will.” She glanced at me. “Could I do that?” she asked. “Haunt someone who’s moved on?”
“I’ve never heard of it before,” I said. “But I get the feeling you can do whatever you want.”
“I want to do that moving on thing, too.” Joanne pushed her way to the front, and stood in front of me. “I don’t want to feel so angry anymore. I’m tired of it. Tired of everything, really. Can you help me?”
“I can,” I said. “I can help you with everything.” Then I smiled. “Once ball season’s over, of course.”
“Of course,” Joanne said. “I owe it to the team.”
They disappeared, after that. Drifted off in all directions, going to wherever they went when they weren’t playing ball. Soon, it was just Karen and James and me left.
“So, I’ll see you tomorrow?” I said.
“Of course,” she said.
“And after the season’s over—if you decide it’s time—you’ll be able to find me, right?”
“At the Jimmy Lavall Detective Agency?”
“That’s right.”
As she went back to her spot on Diamond Two, I turned to James.
“Can you take me home?”
“I’d love to,” he said, and pulled me into his arms. “I would absolutely love to.”
Marie:
Inquiring Minds Want to Know
I SLEPT THAT night, better than I had in months. Maybe longer. When I opened my eyes and looked at the alarm clock beside James’s bed, I saw that it was five thirty. Five thirty in the morning.
“Maybe it was Karen,” I whispered, then looked down at James’s sleeping face. He jerked once and then opened his eyes and stared at me.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
I smiled and pointed at the clock. “I think maybe I am,” I said.
He looked at the time, smiled, and pulled me into his arms. “How do you feel?”
“I ache absolutely everywhere,” I said. “But other than that, I feel pretty good.”
Actually, I felt better than that. I pulled myself loose and stood. “I think I’m going to make you breakfast,” I said.
“Oh?” he laughed. “Toast and coffee?”
“Hey, I’m feeling so good I might even try to make bacon and eggs,” I replied. “You know. Do the whole thing.”
“I’m shocked, but pleased,” he said. “I’m going to take a shower while you make this thing you call breakfast. Call if you need any help.”
“You can be a bit of a smart arse, you know,” I said, slapping him lightly on the arm. “I can make bacon and eggs.”
I hoped.
JAMES WAS OUT of the shower and sitting at the dining room table watching me butcher basted eggs when my phone rang.
“Will you answer that?” I asked. “My hands are full.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to do that?” he asked. He looked like he really wanted to take over, but I shook my head. I’d started. I would finish. Somehow.
“No,” I said, and grabbed a fork. “Scrambled eggs would be all right, wouldn’t they?”
“I guess,” he said, and rolled his eyes. Then he answered my phone.
I hacked at the destroyed basted eggs with the fork, trying to break them up enough to be able to legitimately call them scrambled. Then I realized that the tone of James’s voice had changed. Something was wrong.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “She’s not available for an interview. No. If you want information on the case, you should contact Sylvia Worth. That’s right. Sergeant Sylvia Worth with the EPS.”
“What’s going on?” I asked as he disconnected. “Who was that?”
“A reporter,” James said. “From the Sun.”
I frowned. “A reporter?”
“He wanted to talk to you about what happened at Diamond Two,” he said.
“Why would he want to talk to me?” I asked. “The cops handle that stuff, don’t they?”
“Yeah,” James said. “They usually do. But somehow the reporter got your name.”
The phone rang again. James picked it up, and looked at it. “Global TV,” he said. “You want me to—”
“No,” I said, and grabbed the phone. “What do you want?”
“I just need confirmation,” the silky smooth voice said. I thought it sounded like Ellis Wheeler, the talking head for the local news. “Were you the woman who was allegedly attacked by Andrew Westwood?”
“How did you get my name?” I asked.
“Andrew Westwood alleges that you attacked him,” Wheeler said. “And that you told him a ghost made you do it. Tell me, Marie, did the ghost of the body the police dug out of Diamond Two tell you to kill him?”
“What?” My heart was pounding so hard, it felt like I was going to have a heart attack. “What?”
“Hang up,” James said.
“Just tell me your side of it,” Wheeler said. “Inquiring minds want to know.”
“Hang up!” James yelled. So I did. Too late, of course. Far too late.
“Westwood’s telling the press that I attacked him,” I said. I dropped into the nearest chair, feeling like I was about to puke. “And he’s telling them about Karen. That Karen told me to do it.” I gasped as my chest constricted. “Jesus, what am I going to do?”
“Don’t talk to any of them,” James said. “Not until we talk to Sylvia. She’ll know what to do.”
He grabbed my phone and called Sylvia as I took the burning eggs off the stove. I dumped them into the garbage and listened to James explain to her what had just transpired.
She spoke for a long time. At first James jumped up and tried to interrupt her, but then he sat back down, and just listened. Finally, he said, “I’m putting you on speaker. She needs to hear this.”
“What do I need to hear?” I said. He shook his head, hit the button, and then put the phone in the middle of the dining room table.
“I’m so sorry about this,” Sylvia said. “We think the ambulance driver talked to the press about Andy Westwood and his allegations. They’ve already run it on the morning news.”
“Run what?” I asked.
“Your story. They’re saying that you told Westwood a ghost convinced you to hurt him. We
stwood’s lawyer is involved, too. He told the media that you were the one who attacked Westwood, not the other way around. That you’re crazy. He’s trying to win this case through the media before it even goes to trial, Marie.”
“But you know the truth,” I said. “Just tell them the truth.”
“Westwood passed a polygraph, Marie. He’s telling the truth, or thinks he is.”
“Jesus,” I whispered. “What am I going to do?”
“Tell Marie about her psychiatrist,” James said, his voice furious. “Tell her.”
“Are you talking about Dr. Parkerson?” I asked. “What about her?”
“She called my office. She saw the story on the morning news, and said she has grave concerns about you. About your ability to tell the difference between reality and fantasy.”
I stared at James, hoping that he’d something—anything—that would stop Sylvia from speaking, but he looked devastated.
“She’s my shrink,” I said. “Don’t I have patient doctor confidentiality, or whatever?”
“Not if she’s convinced that you are a danger to yourself or to others. She says that you attacking Andy Westwood proves that. Marie, she wants you committed for thirty days. She feels you should be under observation, for your own safety.”
“But—but she can’t do that,” I said. I stood and picked up the phone, holding it so tightly in my hand I was surprised it didn’t break into a million pieces. “She can’t, can she?”
“I’m afraid she can,” Sylvia said. “The papers are being signed as we speak.”
“You’re going to get a lawyer,” James said.
“I don’t think a lawyer will help,” Sylvia said.
“I don’t care!” James roared. “I’m getting her a lawyer, and I’m putting a stop to this before it even starts.”
“Once those commitment papers are signed, you have to go to the hospital,” Sylvia said. “Come in now, and I’ll make sure that everything’s done properly. That you’re treated decently. Until we can prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Westwood is the one who attacked you.”
“So it’s all about the evidence,” I said. The smell of burnt egg was overwhelming me. I needed to lay down for a minute. Or wake up from this nightmare, once and for all. “Isn’t it?”
