Between a Wolf and a Hard Place

by Terry Spear

  They saw Stanton sitting in the melting snow off the road, CJ’s taillights glowing red as he pulled over to park up ahead.

  Brett pulled behind CJ’s car and parked. He and Ellie got out to hear the brothers’ story.

  Vernon and Yolan had splinted Stanton’s leg using a couple of tree branches and Vernon’s shirt torn into strips.

  “The ambulance is on its way,” CJ said. “So what happened exactly?”

  “Shorty told us to get out of the damn car, or he was going to kill the lot of us,” Vernon said.

  “You heard him?” Brett asked. “All of you?”

  “Well, no,” Vernon said, both he and Stanton turning their attention on Yolan.

  “He spoke through you,” Ellie said to Yolan.

  “That’s what Stanton and Vernon told me. I blacked out and don’t remember anything. Not until Vernon shoved me out of the car and I hit the pavement.”

  “Sorry, but at least Shorty slowed down for a few minutes so we could get out. Shorty inhabited Stanton’s body and used him to do what he wanted. Stanton didn’t have control, but he was in denial that Shorty had taken over his physical being,” Vernon said.

  “So you pushed Yolan out of the car and…?” Ellie prompted.

  “I told Stanton to jump while he had the chance. I jumped out after Yolan, who was just coming to. The car sped up, and Stanton was still at the wheel. I ran after the car and grabbed the driver’s door handle, yanked the door open, and seized Stanton’s arm. I expected him to fight me because he wasn’t leaving the car. Then I realized Shorty was controlling him. I jerked Stanton out of the car before it roared off, then took that side road. At that point, Stanton fell, landing harder than we had on the paved road, and broke his leg.”

  “Are you all right?” Ellie asked Yolan, who nodded.

  “Hell, I’m the one who was injured,” Stanton said, annoyed.

  “Do you want to come with us?” Ellie asked Yolan. “We’re going after the car.”

  “Yeah, unless you want me to drive it. If that’s the case, I’ll pass.” Yolan gave her a half smile.

  “No. You’re going to help me get rid of Shorty or the car.”

  “That works for me.”

  “Hey, we need to return the car to its owner in good shape,” Stanton said.

  The ambulance’s siren told them it was on its way, and Ellie, Brett, and Yolan climbed into Brett’s car.

  “Vernon?” Brett offered.

  “I’ll go with Stanton,” Vernon said. “He’ll be hell to live with if one of us doesn’t go with him to the clinic.”

  Stanton grunted.

  “Don’t get yourselves killed over this,” CJ warned. “We’ve got enough damned ghosts running around.”

  “We’ll be careful.” Brett had no idea how they were going to manage that. He drove his car to Lover’s Lane and saw the fresh tracks in the snow. “It’s a one-lane road, so if he decides to come back while we’re trying to catch up to him, we could have a collision.”

  “Will he be able to pick up speed out here? The road is rough, and it curves so much.” Ellie was staring straight ahead, Yolan in the back peering between them.

  “His car is bigger and heavier, but everything you mentioned will help to slow him down.” Brett glanced in the rearview mirror. “Yolan, you need to sit back and put on your seat belt.”

  “Can’t see anything from back here.”

  “You’ll fly headfirst into my windshield if he hits us with any force.”

  Yolan snapped his buckle in place.

  “So you said the side road goes to Lover’s Leap. Does it loop around, or would the car have to come back this way?” Ellie asked.

  “It dead-ends at a cliff. To my knowledge, no one has ever leaped off there, but it is a scenic spot where trysts occur occasionally, I’ve heard.”

  “Not you though, right, Brett?” Ellie was smiling when she asked.

  He laughed. “Not me.”

  “Why in the world would the car go this way and not continue on down the main road?” Ellie asked.

  Yolan cleared his throat. “This is where Shorty turned to lose the feds and the local sheriff’s men, but they saw his tracks in the snow, continued to follow him, and then shot at his car. He hit the tree and died.”

  “I remember hearing that story. At the time, I didn’t know about the bank-robber part of it or the shooting. Just that someone had hit a tree and died out here. It was that tree right there.” Brett slowed down so everyone could get a look at the pine tree.

  Some of the bark was gone, there was a big dent in one side, and the tree was leaning over a bit, despite how tall it was.

  Brett drove past the tree.

  Ellie’s heart was beating faster like his was. “So the road has a turnaround up ahead?”

  “Yeah, and a parking spot. It’s always been a narrow road, but the trees have encroached even more.”

  They heard a distant crash, and Ellie looked at Brett. He wondered if the car had driven off the cliff. But then they heard the engine revving up and the horn sounding ahh-woo-gah, and Brett knew the Plymouth was headed back their way.

  “It’s coming.” Brett started to back up, but the curves were making it difficult as he looked backward and twisted and turned the wheel, navigating down the narrow road. The Plymouth’s engine roared as it approached. They’d never make it back to the main road and out of the Plymouth’s path in time.

  “Brett!” Ellie braced for impact.

  “God, we’re all going to die!” Yolan shouted.

  Brett wanted to sock him for being such a damn alarmist. Brett’s car nearly slid into a tree on an icy patch. “Keep your cool, man.”

  “I had to say it,” Yolan said, and this time his voice was unsteady, but he sounded like he’d been trying to make a joke. “They always have an ass screaming that in a movie.”

  “Brett!” Ellie grabbed his arm.

  He turned to see the menacing car with the big steel grill and heavy-duty bumper only feet away. A man wearing a suit, tie, and white hat with a black band around it stared back at him. He looked to be mid-twenties, his face clean-shaven and his expression hard.

  Everyone braced for the car to strike. It hit—and yet nothing happened. It was as if the Plymouth had driven straight through them and vanished behind them.

  In shock, all three of them sat there staring out the back window.

  Was the car still parked at Lover’s Leap?

  “The bang we heard earlier.” Ellie sighed with relief. “Do you think he drove the car off the cliff?”

  “Maybe.” Shaken, Brett drove back toward the cliff, having a devil of a time fathoming that a ghost could have taken the car, destroyed it, and created a ghost car. Ellie had had years to process this stuff. He was such a newbie that it all seemed so unreal. Disquieting.

  Her heart was racing like his was, so it must have been just as genuine for her, and she was just as upset about it as he was.

  When they arrived at the parking area, they saw the car sitting at the edge of the cliff, the engine running. It looked tangible. Was it?

  Brett wasn’t sure what to do. Should he block it in, move out of its path, or park next to it? At least if he parked next to it, the car couldn’t hit his.

  He left space between them and parked. The car’s engine was still revving. “What do you want to do?”

  “I think it’s already done. I think that’s the ghost car, though it looks so real.” Ellie got out of the car, and Brett and Yolan hurried after her.

  Suddenly, the car tore off over the cliff and fell to its demise on the rocks below. No resounding crash occurred this time. They all moved to the edge and stared down at the crumpled car on the jagged rocks, the river rushing by. On the bank stood a man wearing the same 1930s suit, white hat, and shoes as the car’s earlier driver.
He glanced up at the cliffs, tipped his hat to them, turned, and walked across the river. He didn’t wade in it, instead floating on top of it, and then his body faded to mist and he was gone.

  Brett wrapped his arm around Ellie. She was shivering, either from the cold or the shock of it.

  “Hell, the owner isn’t going to believe we had nothing to do with this.” Yolan folded his arms and blew out his breath in the frosty air.

  Ellie cast him an annoyed look. “You had everything to do with it.”

  “How do you figure?” He gave her a growly look right back.

  “You drove the vehicle in winter.” She looked back down at the car. “I think he’s found his resting spot.”

  “He got away.” Brett didn’t think he’d ever make it as a ghost psychologist, but that’s what he assumed had happened. The ghost had to make his escape from the Feds and other police officials, and then he could go on his way.

  “Yeah. The feds can’t chase him anymore. And”—Ellie glanced at Yolan—“no one else will ever drive his car again.”

  Yolan snorted. “Stanton is going to be pissed.”

  “Better pissed than dead.” Brett moved Ellie back to his car. “Ready to go home?”

  “And do what?” Ellie asked.

  He knew she meant about the piano.

  “I’ll call the movers and have them take it back to our house.”

  Yolan climbed into the car. “Maybe we should toss it down there with the car.”

  Ellie rolled her eyes at him.

  “Hey, what if they hit it off?” Yolan actually looked serious.

  “My great-aunt and a bank robber?” Brett could just imagine her scolding the guy for taking up a life of crime. He backed up, turned around, and headed toward the main road.

  “So what do you want me to do?” Yolan asked.

  “Go with CJ to the hospital. We have other business to take care of,” Brett said.

  “I can help. I’d much rather help you try to deal with your great-aunt’s situation than see Stanton at the hospital.”

  “We’ve got this.” Ellie relaxed a little in the seat.

  Brett sure hoped so because he truly wanted his great-aunt to be happy, but he didn’t want her to disturb them if she chose to play the piano at inopportune times.

  He called CJ and asked if he was still there.

  “Yeah, just determining what happened here by the tire tracks in the snow. What happened with you?”

  “We’re returning. Can you give Yolan a lift to the hospital?”

  “Sure. What about the car?”

  “At the bottom of the cliff.”

  “Okay. I heard a really distant bang but then heard your engine, so I knew you were still driving and figured you were okay.”

  “Yeah, we’re okay, but Lover’s Lane visitors might have a ghostly experience if they come this way.”

  “The car’s really at the bottom of the cliff?”

  “Yeah. No more ghost story for Stanton.” Brett made it to the main road, drove to the site where CJ was parked, and let Yolan out.

  CJ leaned against Brett’s car door as he rolled down the window. “I’ll go check it out.”

  “Can we leave it there?” Ellie asked.

  “This land is pack territory. If the Plymouth’s owner wants to pay to haul it out of there, he can. It would probably cost too much to be bothered with. He can just get the insurance money and go from there. Otherwise, I’m sure Darien will agree to leave it there as a wildlife refuge.”

  “Just be careful when you drive that way. If the ghost car comes at you, threatening to smash you, it seems real.” Brett didn’t want his brother having a heart attack over a ghost car.

  “Or it might be gone now completely,” Ellie said.

  “Okay, gotcha. Come on, Yolan. We’ll take a drive on Lover’s Lane, take a look over Lover’s Leap, and then I’ll get you back to town.” CJ waved at Brett, then they took off.

  “At least that resolved the issue of anyone driving the car and causing an accident,” Ellie said.

  “As long as he doesn’t scare somebody to death on Lover’s Lane. I can see word spreading and everyone heading that way to see the car at the bottom of the cliff and attempting to witness the ghost car.” Brett couldn’t quit thinking of what had happened to them. “Why did the car come back toward us after it crashed? I would have thought that if Shorty had found peace, the car wouldn’t have been driving on Lover’s Lane again.”

  “He died when he crashed his car into the tree, yet the need to get away must have been so great that he was tied to that car until he could make his escape from those who would incarcerate him. By sending the physical car over the cliff, he made sure no one else could have it. He must have realized that he couldn’t have escaped the men going that way. That he had to head back the way he’d come, return to the main road, and disappear. That’s when we saw the ghost car drive through us.”

  “Then we saw him with the car at the bottom of the cliffs,” Brett said.

  “Right. He was ready to leave his physical car behind. He tipped his hat in greeting, thanking us for releasing him.”

  “We didn’t.”

  “Shorty was a man who was used to being in charge. He wasn’t going to go quietly. He had to prove to himself that he could do it. Don’t you think?”

  “Could be. What if we had buried the car near his body like you had first suggested?”

  “It might not have worked. It’s really hard to second-guess what a person is thinking, whether alive or in spirit. I think this was where he needed to be to actually be free.”

  Brett was glad, as long as they didn’t have any more trouble with Shorty’s ghost.

  When they arrived at the MacTire sisters’ house, no one was there. Brett suspected Laurel and Meghan were at the inn.

  He kissed Ellie. “I’ll help you pack some of your clothes and take them to our new home. And I’ll move things around at the house again so the piano can be dropped off.”

  “Okay, sounds like a good idea.” They packed her clothes in a couple of suitcases, and she called Meghan to ask if she could use hers too.

  Brett hauled the bags downstairs and out to the car, so glad he and Ellie were now mated. He still couldn’t believe he had seen a ghost car drive straight through him. It was so real that he’d expected to hear the crash and he’d been so worried that Ellie might be hurt.

  “Movers will be here in just a bit. I’ll be back after I get this done,” he said.

  “Maybe you should just stay there and be ready for us.”

  “You might be right. I’ll unpack your bags and then move the furniture and wait. And I’ll see if anyone can have a memorial display box made, pronto, to store Matilda’s dress and parasol.” He gave Ellie one long, lingering kiss and hug and hoped they wouldn’t have any further trouble with Matilda.

  Chapter 21

  “Well?” Laurel asked as she and Meghan dropped by the house after Brett left, as if they’d been watching out the inn windows and hadn’t wanted to intrude, which Ellie was glad for. She’d found some boxes and had packed a few personal things she also wanted to take to the house.

  “She played music while we made love, either to accompany it as background music, or so she wouldn’t hear us,” Ellie said.

  Laurel laughed. Meghan looked shocked.

  Ellie taped up the box. “She played for us this morning too. A nice, soft wake-up tune.”

  “So she’s still here,” Meghan said, exasperated.

  “Yeah.” Ellie told them about Matilda’s clothes in Theodore’s steamer trunk. Her sisters were shocked like she knew they would be. “We’re having the piano moved back to Brett’s house. That way you’ll have peace. I’m not sure about us. Still, she never did anything while the piano was there before, so maybe that location will make the diffe
rence.”

  “What about the wedding?” Meghan asked.

  “We haven’t talked about it yet.” Ellie wasn’t even sure if Brett would want to have one.

  “Well, decide already! I need to know what to wear,” Meghan said, eager to participate in a wedding.

  “Victorian gowns.” Ellie didn’t hesitate.

  “Should we have the wedding at the inn, then?” Meghan asked.

  Laurel laughed.

  “I mean your wedding.” Meghan smiled at Ellie.

  “I don’t even know if he’ll want a wedding. It’s not something we have to do.”

  “Yes, he will.” Laurel spoke with authority.

  Ellie and Meghan laughed. Ellie knew if Brett was waffling about that, Laurel would tell CJ and he would set him straight.

  “CJ called me about the bank-robber ghost.” Laurel grabbed a cup of jasmine tea.

  “Did he and Yolan see any sign of the ghost car or Shorty when they drove down Lover’s Lane?”

  “No. CJ said he was expecting it because Yolan kept telling him it wouldn’t be real, as if Yolan was trying to reassure himself that it wouldn’t be.” Laurel stirred honey in her cup of tea.

  “Yolan was really scared when he saw it run into us. Thankfully, it wasn’t the physical car.” Ellie fixed herself a cup of mint tea.

  They heard the movers park their truck, and Ellie tensed. “I hope that Matilda doesn’t play the piano while the men are moving it.”

  Laurel greeted the movers, and one of the men said, “Haunted, eh?”

  The women all looked at him as if he’d turned into a ghost.

  He smiled, showing off a missing tooth. “We get one of these once in a blue moon. Sometimes folks move them, thinking they’ll get rid of the ghost in their home. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes the new owner sends it right back, saying the piano doesn’t work. Guess we’ll have to start having a disclosure clause on pianos.” He began placing a pad on the piano. “Was this the property of a person who died a violent death?”

  “She…might have,” Ellie said, not really wanting to give any details about it.

  The mover raised a dark brow as he covered the piano with another furniture pad. “She, eh? So I guess a disclaimer clause wouldn’t work in all cases. Hey, did you know that you have to disclose if someone died in a house now if you’re trying to sell it? People will believe in anything these days.”