“Oh, wow. That’s really terrible,” Bobby exclaimed.
“Heart-wrenching.” Mira craned her neck to read a portion of the article.
“Here. Take it,” Tamara slid it over to her. “I read the whole thing already before I got here. I never come here without the morning paper because it’s not like Paul supplies any complimentary ones for his customers.”
“Thank you,” Mira replied.
Bobby and Tamara engaged in conversation about work while Mira continued reading the article concerning the tragedy. She sensed that something about the report was wrong and looking closely at the blurred photo of the family, she realized that she recognized the husband—Kurt Jacobs. It was the same man she’d seen that morning in the doorway of her kitchen. Her heart sank and she just knew her suspicions about the reported claims were right. He’d obviously sought her out for that very reason and Mira had a strong feeling she hadn’t seen the last of him.
4
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Mira stopped by her mother’s house on the way to the class reunion meeting. Before pulling onto the carport, she saw Rosie sitting outside on the porch of the Morrison’s house with Ashley. The two girls had remained good friends ever since the Morrisons moved across the street from the Cullens. Their friendship reminded her of how close she and Monique Constantakis used to be when they were teenagers.
“Hi, girls!” Mira waved from the car.
“Hi, Mira!” Ashley hailed while Rosie walked over.
“I’ll be right back,” Rosie told Ashley.
She was at the car door by the time Mira was ready to get out. “Hi, Mom.”
Mira got out and gave her daughter a hug. “How are you doing, honey?”
“I’m fine, Mom. You just asked me that this morning though.”
“But now it’s evening.” Mira arched her eyebrows as they walked toward the front door together; her arm parked around Rosie’s shoulders. “Miss me yet?”
Rosie looked up at her. “How could I? You call like a gazillion times a day. Even Nana’s getting tired out it. She said you should be enjoying married life instead of calling us all the time.”
“Mom said that?” Mira frowned.
“Yep. She said she’s gonna tell you too.”
When they entered the house, Mira found Sara sitting in the living room watching a comedy show with her feet lying flatly in a pedicure pan filled with water.
“Look who’s here, Nana,” Rosie said. “It’s the operator.”
“The what?” Mira looked at Rosie.
“That’s what we call you now behind your back.”
Sara laughed. “Hi Sweet Pea. I see Pumpkin’s already filled you in. Come sit down over here with me.”
“Are you two actually making fun of me for calling and checking up on your guys?” Mira sat next to her mother while Rosie took a seat across from them on the sofa.
“Calling to check up once, twice, even three times a day is normal, honey,” Sara replied. “But when the number of times increases kind of dramatically, you’re on operator status. Know what I mean?”
Mira scoffed. “You two are something else! I was there thinking you both would’ve missed me so much after I’d moved out, and I wanted to make sure you’re okay, and all the while you’re perfectly fine without me—living it up and enjoying yourselves. Just like I never lived here, huh?”
“Oh, honey!” Sara squeezed her hand. “We do miss you, but we don’t live that far away and we always see you—ever since you got back from your honeymoon. If you’re worried about us, don’t be. We’re fine. Aren’t we, Pumpkin?”
“Yes, we’re fine, Mom,” Rosie said. “I’ll spend Saturday with you and Bobby, okay?”
“Swell.” Mira nodded.
Sara leaned over and gave Mira a hug.
“So, where’s Bobby?” Sara asked.
“He’s at home.” She glanced at her watch. “I can’t stay; I have to attend the reunion meeting I told you guys about.”
“It’s great that you’ll be seeing all your old friends again, Mom,” Rosie commented.
“We’re not that old.” Mira smiled.
“Anything over thirty is old,” Rosie countered. “Ask anyone my age.”
Sara grimaced. “Well, I guess I’m ancient then!”
“You are!” Rosie agreed.
They all laughed.
* * * *
Mira arrived at her former school at a quarter of six. Several cars were parked in front of the two-story building on the southern side of the campus where classes were held and others on the northern side of the parking lot which faced the auditorium. Adjacent to the classroom on the lower floor were the administrative offices and in between the two main buildings were the track field, volleyball, tennis and basketball courts. It was the first time Mira had returned there since graduating high school.
Pulling into a parking space, a stream of fond memories flooded her mind. There was a nostalgic feeling in the air—one she felt good about. Her years at Mizpah Senior High were mostly happy ones, except the year when Gordon Picewell was their eleventh grade P.E. teacher. He was known as a tyrant who mercilessly meted out punishment to kids who couldn’t keep up on the track during sprints or who weren’t very athletic. Mira couldn’t stand sight of the man, especially when she witnessed how horribly he’d treated Sally-Jo Petersen one day when they were out to P.E. Sally-Jo was the daintiest girl Mira had ever seen and no one was neater than she was. Every strand of her hair was always in place and even her P.E. outfits had obviously been perfectly ironed. In her class, they all knew she hated to sweat; thought it was yucky and with her four-foot-ten stature, she never ran too fast—not even at a normal pace when it was warm-up time. Picewell always picked on her for being prissy and Miss Cute, as he called her, and it was never in a humane way.
“Pick up speed!” He yelled at her one day when she was jogging around the track. The rest of the students were done and Sally still had three more laps to make. She picked up speed a bit and Mira could tell she was trying, but just wasn’t a fast runner. So in retaliation, Picewell made her go around three extra times, and when she was finished, he called her derogatory names, mocked her—walking back and forth like he was a tranny model on the runway—and embarrassed her to the point that he made her cry right there in front of everyone. That was a rough day for Sally. Mira tried to cheer her up after class and sat next to her in every subsequent class for the remainder of the day. She and Sally hadn’t been close friends, but she always thought that in spite of Sally’s vanity, she was a nice girl.
Mira also knew another side to Sally-Jo, which was she sometimes tried to fit in with what Mira deemed was the wrong crowd. She was sure Sally’s grades had plummeted after she’d become best friends with three privileged brats—a long-legged, black-haired junior model named Randa Maynard; a medium-height brunette with braces named Abigail Shofer and a tall, slender blonde named Christie Hopkins. In Sally’s mind, they were definitely the “in crowd” because they shared her passion for fashion and were equally as vain. Mira always had a bad feeling about Randa, Christie and Abigail, and was not looking forward to seeing them there at the meeting that night.
She could see the heads seated in a classroom slightly to the right of where she’d parked. Before getting out, she took one last look at herself in the rearview mirror; fixed her hair a bit and took a deep breath in. Fifteen years had passed since she’d seen most of her former classmates and she knew she’d gained a few pounds, but she figured most, if not all of them had as well. Monique, for one, had clearly gained quite a bit of weight since they were teenagers, but she was just as pretty as before. Mira blocked the negative “weight talk” out of her mind, tossed the strap of her purse over her shoulder and proceeded toward the classroom.
As she approached, she could hear the chatter of some familiar voices. And when she arrived at the door was unsure of how to feel when she saw fifteen of her schoolmates sitting at those old, all-in-one desks and cha
irs, and looking somewhat older. For a moment, she wondered what she’d expected.
“Hello everyone,” she said.
“Mira Cullen! Is that you?” Monty Abramson got up from his desk and hurried over to her.
“It’s Doctor Mira Cullen to you!” Monique Constantakis emphasized with a smile.
“It’s so good to see you!” Monty gave her a warm embrace. “It’s been so long, hasn’t it?”
“More like forever,” Mira replied.
Everyone there cheerfully greeted her as Monty invited her to have a seat. Randa, Abigail and Christie were there too, decked out in the latest styles. They hailed Mira, but didn’t seem so enthused. There was no sign of Sally-Jo and Mira figured she’d be joining the others sooner or later.
“I’m glad you came!” Monique sat at the desk over to Mira’s right. “This reunion is going to be awesome!”
“I’m sure it will be.” Mira smiled.
Shortly afterwards, Gaylene Thompson—their class valedictorian showed up, along with Ben Jones—prom king, who’d lost all of his good looks over the years. Mira suspected from the way his face looked that he had trouble with alcohol. Rhaina Hall, who was famous for having sleepovers with the girls she called her bestest friends, appeared stressed and rather unfriendly for some reason. She didn’t seem the least bit interested in greeting anybody and Mira wondered why she’d even bothered to show up. Tori Callendar, an Asian guy who’d tipped the scales at nearly three hundred and fifty pounds as a teenager, walked in a new man who’d clearly dropped a ton of weight and was in great shape. Happy to see Mira, he went over and gave her a hug. They hadn’t seen each other since graduation.
Mira remembered having a lot of compassion for Tori because he was such a loner, and although she’d never heard anyone tease him, she always felt he was holding a lot of pain inside. She’d gone out of her way to be his friend and to try to get him to open up, if only to her. Over time, he did and they had a good friendship. She’d regretted losing touch with him because he was so special to her, but she was pleased to see he’d really done well for himself, physically and otherwise.
He’d pulled up a desk next to Mira.
“So, what do you do, Tori?” she asked.
“I’m in the electronics business. Own a couple of stores in town. One on Forth Avenue near here.”
“You mean—Shadow Gadgets is your business?” Mira was surprised.
“Yup.” He nodded.
“That’s wonderful, Tori! I had no idea. Not that the name would give it away.”
“I always knew Tori was going to be something great beneath all that shyness,” Monique chimed in.
“Nah… you couldn’t know,” Tori retorted.
“Why not?” she asked.
“Because I never thought you noticed me for a second. I used to have a huge crush on you—I bet you didn’t know that.”
“You did?” Monique was taken aback.
Mira chuckled, then jabbed Tori on the arm. “You never told me that, Tori!”
“You mean…for you to go right back and tell Monique and ruin my three years left in this blasted school?”
“Come on! You know if you told me that in confidence, I wouldn’t have breathed a word to Monique.”
“You would’ve kept that secret from me, Mira?” Monique frowned.
“I’m afraid so!” She laughed.
Mira glanced over to where the three spoiled brats were. By then, the room was packed full of their classmates. “Hey, have any of you seen Sally-Jo since we graduated?” she asked.
“You mean, you didn’t hear?” Monique returned.
“Hear what?”
“Sally’s dead, Mira,” Monique lowered her voice. “Apparently, she was murdered while at college.”
“Murdered? No, I didn’t hear that.”
“She attended the same college as those three princesses over there as they’d made a pact to stay together after high school graduation. And staying together meant also attending the same college.”
“How was she murdered?” Mira probed.
Tori glanced at Monique, then said, “Someone used a big, butcher knife on her. Stabbed her more than twenty times. It was all over the news. Where were you?”
“Probably off to medical school,” Mira said, softly. “I’m so sorry to hear that; Sally-Jo was a nice girl. Guess her friends over there took that kind of hard?”
“I doubt it,” Monique answered. “I don’t think any of them ever thought that much of Sally. Think they only looked at her as a third wheel—guess you’d say, a fourth wheel.”
Mira was stunned by the news.
Monique went on to tell her how Abigail, Randa and Christie all landed high-paying jobs in the corporate world and how it was rumored that they’d slept their way to the top of the ladder.
“Did y’all expect anything different out of them?” Tori asked.
“I didn’t!” Monique said, quickly.
Mira didn’t bother to respond.
After a while, Monique joined other organizers at the front of the room, and they discussed the latest plans for a reunion ball scheduled to be held the following month. It was clear to Mira that they’d already met concerning the topic at least on one other occasion and they used that meeting to update everyone on the arrangements.
By the end of the meeting, Mira was excited about the reunion, as she felt like she was with another family—many of whom she’d come to love and respect during her time in high school.
5
_________________
Mira was standing next to the bed folding clothes as Bobby slept soundly on the living room couch. He’d drifted off to sleep out there about an hour after she’d returned home from the meeting.
Humming along to an oldie her dad used to love, she thought she’d heard a distinctive sound coming from the master closet and turned to see what it was. From the open doorway of the little room, darkness greeted her. And deciding she’d probably heard nothing of significance, she continued folding the white tee shirt in her hand, yet an uneasiness followed.
A minute later, she heard the sound again; this time it was louder. It sounded as if someone was sliding hangers across the steel bar. This time, Mira dropped the shirt and slowly proceeded over to the closet. She noticed that with every step forward, anxiety accompanied her and she even felt a bit fearful for her own safety. She soon thought she heard quiet sobbing which might’ve been the source of the inexplicable angst she was feeling.
Her heart rate became erratic and she dreaded what she was advancing towards, simultaneously knowing ignoring it was not an option. She’d learned years ago as a child that she must face her fears and it’s what she’d taught Rosie to do the instant she realized they shared the same gift.
Bobby hadn’t bothered to attach an actual door to the master closet although provisions had been made for one. Arriving at the open doorway, Mira flipped on the light switch located at the left side of the entrance and looked inside.
Suddenly, everything was quiet and nothing at all appeared to be out of place. Stepping inside, she looked up toward the rods where the clothing was hung and didn’t know what to think. Perhaps she was hearing things, but she couldn’t be sure.
Turning to leave, the figure of a person gradually came into full view. It was the man she’d seen in her kitchen two days prior whose identity she’d recently learned was Kurt Jacobs—the man who’d reportedly run his family off the edge of a cliff in a murderous-suicidal rage. He was standing a few feet away from her, but this time he appeared more ashen than before and his eyes were filled with tears.
“I know who you are…” Mira said, “…and what you did to your wife and infant child. The baby was innocent, for God’s sake! He had no part in you and your wife’s issues.” She felt a bit of anger as she spoke to him.
Immediately, he shook his head.
“You had no right to take anyone’s life. How can you ever be at peace?”
He stood there gazing at h
er through dull, lifeless eyes filled with ghostly tears, then suddenly he started approaching her and with each step he took, Mira felt more uneasy. With an unnatural speed from that short distance, he rushed toward her, and instantly with a jolt, she felt something pass through. Feeling slightly dizzy, she turned and found him on the other side of the room. It was at that moment she saw Kurt driving his wife and baby on that fateful night. She felt the heated emotions, heard the arguments, and saw the .38 caliber pistol. She heard shots fired just before the car veered off the road toward the embarkment. Then she saw it fall over the cliff.
“My God!” Mira exclaimed, staring at Kurt. “This is horrible!”
She knew she had to do something.
6
_________________
The following morning…
Already dressed and with her purse tossed across her shoulder, Mira leaned over and kissed Bobby on the cheek. He’d just only rolled over.
“I’m going out for a bit and will see you later,” she said.
“Where are you going?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.
“I’ll let you know when I get back.”
Bobby looked at her intently. “You’re not gonna tell me? What if something happens to you? I wouldn’t know where you were.”
“I’ll explain everything when I return,” Mira insisted.
“Honey, this isn’t the way married couples operate.”
“You can give me the lecture later, Bobby. Right now, I have to go. Love you.”
She proceeded to the door and gave him a loving glance before walking out.
Bobby shook his head knowing she was going to do what she felt she had to in the manner she chose to do it. He was used to her and knew there was no sense getting frustrated about it.
The Cornelius Saga Series (All 15 Books): The Ultimate Adventure-packed Supernatural Thriller Collection Page 86
