Blur (Blur Trilogy) (13 page)

CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE

Even though T
y
was mostl
y
backlit, his face was partiall
y
visible and he was giving Daniel a stead
y,
unflinching gaze. “B
ye
rs.”

Daniel dropped the edge of the plastic pool. “Get awa
y
from the car, T
y.
”

He appraised Daniel as, one b
y
one, his three friends emerged from their hiding places along the edge of the road.

If Daniel remembered correctl
y,
one of the bo
ys
had a pickup; the
y
could have easil
y
transported the pool in that.

The
y
must have overheard
yo
u talking to Nicole at school, offering to drive her out here.

But were the
y
reall
y
close enough to hear
yo
u? How long were the
y
planning this? Was—

Right now all that mattered was getting Nicole out of here.

T
y
nodded toward his three friends, who approached the car.

“Step back,” Daniel ordered them.

But one of the gu
ys
tried the driver’s-side door and cursed when he found it locked.

Daniel started toward them. “I said, get awa
y
from the car.”

But the other gu
ys
just circled it, unsuccessfull
y
tr
yi
ng all the doors. Daniel heard Nicole call out for him from inside the sedan.

Alright.

That’s it.

He rushed T
y,
who flicked out an automatic knife as soon as Daniel made his move. “Uh, uh, uh. Be a good bo
y.
” While Daniel slowed to evaluate things, two of the other gu
ys
flanked T
y
while the third pounded on the car windows,
ye
lling for Nicole to open the doors.

Daniel’s hands balled into fists. “You reall
y
do not want to do this.”

T
y
glanced toward his friends, who edged in closer to him, then e
ye
d Daniel. “I think it’s
yo
u who doesn’t want to do this.”

Whether he got benched next week or not, Daniel was going to do whatever it took to protect Nicole, even if he had to take on all four of these gu
ys
.

From his
ye
ars of pla
yi
ng football, he knew he could take a pounding, but T
y
had a knife. Getting into a fight with him tonight might ver
y
well mean getting sliced up or stabbed.

But if that’s what it took to keep Nicole safe, that’s what he would do.

Daniel realized that if he were on his own it wouldn’t have been worth it to stick around and he probabl
y
would have just walked awa
y,
left the car, made his wa
y
home to get his father and bring him back to pick up the car.

But he wasn’t alone.

Nicole’s being here changed ever
yt
hing.

The bo
y
who’d been banging on the windows stepped into the darkness and clicked on a flashlight. A moment later he said, “Aha.” When he returned, he was holding a large angular rock. “This should do the trick.”

He e
ye
d the side window.

“Drive awa
y!
” Daniel called to Nicole. “Go!”

But she didn’t.

Time to move.

The gu
y
with the rock seemed to pose the biggest threat to Nicole, so Daniel went for him first.

He sprinted toward him, and as he lifted the rock, Daniel tackled him hard, sending him hurtling off the road, into the underbrush.

Somehow the bo
y
managed to hold on to the rock as the
y
landed, and he tried to smack Daniel with it, but Daniel stopped him and was able to get it awa
y
from him.

As he was about to toss it into the woods, he felt two gu
ys
grab him under his armpits and pull him backward toward the road. He tried twisting to the side, but the
y
were holding him with a fierce grip and he couldn’t wrench free.

The
y
threw him onto the pavement.

Rolling to the side, he was on his feet in an instant.

Daniel held the rock high. “Whoever goes an
y
closer to the car is going to regret it. Now get out of here before someone gets hurt.”

The bo
y
that Daniel had tackled was climbing out of the ditch cursing, but his e
ye
s were on the rock and he didn’t seem quite as aggressive as before.

However, T
y,
who was still holding the knife, took two steps toward Daniel until he was standing onl
y
a couple paces awa
y.
His knife’s blade gleamed wickedl
y
in the headlight beams.

Fog swirled around them both like anxious smoke.

“Nicole,” Daniel shouted. “Drive awa
y.
Now.”

She called out something to him, but he couldn’t understand the words and she didn’t leave.

T
y
and Daniel each held their weapon. Neither backed down. Neither looked awa
y.

Daniel cocked his arm back. “I can throw a football through a tire at thirt
y ya
rds. I won’t miss
yo
u from ten feet.”

A flicker of uneasiness crossed T
y’
s face. He screwed his mouth into a sneer. “Did
yo
u hear what the
y
found in Emil
y’
s notebook?”

Daniel didn’t answer.

“Word gets around.”

“What are
yo
u talking about?”

T
y
shook his head slowl
y.
“I can’t believe
yo
u don’t know. I was at the lake. I saw
yo
u there.”

“When? What? This morning?”

“Right.” But it was more of a scoff than an
yt
hing else. He signaled for his buddies to follow him, and then the four of them slowl
y
retreated and merged into the mist
y
darkness.

Daniel guarded the car until a pickup truck that’d been pulled off the road about a hundred feet ahead of him roared to life, and T
y
and his buddies sped off. Then he went for the door handle as Nicole hit the unlock.

Opening the door, he asked if she was oka
y.
She nodded, but her breathing was rushed and ragged.

“Did
yo
u call 911?”

“I didn’t think to,” she said. “I was . . .”

“Oka
y.
I’ll be right back.” Daniel quickl
y
moved the pool the rest of the wa
y
off the road and then joined her in the car.

When she reached for his hand, her fingers were trembling.

“It’s alright. Let’s just get out of here, oka
y?
” He felt her fingers intertwine with his. He didn’t pull awa
y.

She nodded again. “Yeah.”

After a moment, he let go of her hand, pulled the car forward, and the
y
drove in silence until Nicole asked, “What was all that about a notebook?”

“Just T
y
being T
y.
”

But Daniel wondered if there was some wa
y
T
y
actuall
y
had found out what was in Emil
y’
s notebook.

“What did he mean, he saw
yo
u at the lake?” Nicole asked.

“I was there this morning. I didn’t see him, but there were a couple cars in the parking lot when we got back to it. I didn’t recognize them, but he must have been there somewhere, watching us.”

“Us?”

He hesitated. “Stac
y
was there with me.”

“Oh. Sure,” she said softl
y.
“That makes sense.”

“Listen, I’m no
t—”

“Don’t worr
y,
no, no, I get it. Seriousl
y,
it’s oka
y.
”

He wanted to explain ever
yt
hing: that he’d asked Stac
y
to the dance, but she’d blown him off and not shown up or even texted him to tell him she wasn’t coming, but he couldn’t find the right words.

A few minutes later the
y
arrived at Nicole’s house, and Daniel waited until she was safel
y
inside and had texted him that the doors were locked before he backed out of her drivewa
y
and headed home, all the while wondering about what exactl
y
might be in Emil
y’
s notebook.

And wh
y
T
y
might have been at the lake this morning too.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX

Inside the house, Daniel’s dad was sitting in the living room on the couch. A CNN news show quietl
y
droned on in the background from the television mounted on the wall. He asked him how the dance had gone.

“Oka
y.
”

“You’re home a little earl
y.
”

“Things wrapped up sooner than I thought the
y
would.”

“But
yo
u had a good time with that new girl, Stac
y?
”

Daniel couldn’t think of an
y
reason to hide the truth from his dad. “Actuall
y,
she never showed.”

“Oh. I’m sorr
y
to hear that.”

So am I.

I think.

“Yeah.”

Daniel decided not to bring up driving Nicole home or the confrontation with T
y
and his friends. “So when do
yo
u think
yo
u’ll hear from the FBI lab?”

“Depends how man
y
tests the
y
end up doing. I told them to put a rush on it, but I’m not reall
y
expecting to hear an
yt
hing until the middle of the week at the earliest.”

Ask him. Go ahead. What could it hurt?

“He
y,
did
yo
u hear an
yt
hing about Emil
y’
s notebook? The one from school, the one that was found in her locker?”

Now his father muted the TV and gave Daniel his full attention. “I don’t know an
yt
hing about a notebook.”

“Oka
y.
”

Daniel headed for the stairs, but his dad called, “Hang on a second.”

When he turned to face him, he saw that his dad’s expression had hardened.

“What’s going on here?”

“What do
yo
u mean?”

“All this interest in Emil
y
and her death.”

I keep seeing her appear to me . . . .

“I just . . . She knew how to swim.”

“She knew how to swim?”

“Yeah. I talked to her brother at school the other da
y.
He told me.”

“Her brother told
yo
u.”

“Yes. Ever
yt
hing points to her not drowning b
y
accident.”

His father took a deep breath. “Listen, I don’t want
yo
u poking around this an
ym
ore. If the FBI finds an
yt
hing unusual we’ll handle it, but I don’t want
yo
u doing an
y
more snooping around.”

“I’m not snooping.”

“Yes. You are.” He leaned forward. “I want
yo
u to promise me
yo
u’ll leave this alone.”

“Dad,
I—”

“Promise me.”

Daniel was quiet.

“Daniel?”

He remembered the words he’d heard as he was waking up on the football field
ye
sterda
y:
Sta
y
on this. Seek the truth. Learn what happened.

“Oka
y,
” he said at last. “I promise.”

“Alright. Good. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

As Daniel headed to his bedroom, he berated himself for l
yi
ng to his father.

No, he couldn’t leave this alone, not when Emil
y—
o
r her ghost or whateve
r—k
ept appearing to him. Somehow he had to make it all stop.

And now, apparentl
y,
he needed to do that in a wa
y
that wouldn’t attract the attention of his dad.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN

Daniel got read
y
for bed.

Who would know what’s in that notebook?

T
y
did, or at least he thought he did.

One other person came to min
d—R
onnie, Emil
y’
s twin brother, the bo
y
T
y
and his friends had shoved into the locker the other da
y
at school. He would probabl
y
know.

Daniel didn’t have Ronnie’s phone number, but he found his Facebook page, clicked to the message link, and stared at the empt
y
text box that popped up on his screen. All he had to do was leave a question for Ronnie and he could untangle this, finall
y
get some answers, finall
y
nail down what was going on.

As he was tr
yi
ng to figure out what to write, his phone buzzed with a text.

He checked the screen.

K
yl
e: he had something he needed to talk to Daniel about and asked if the
y
could get together tomorrow; lunch at Rizzo’s?

The
y
agreed on noon.

Even though no notifications were showing up on his phone’s screen, Daniel checked again for an
y
messages from Stac
y.

Nope. Nothing.

Oka
y,
well, that relationship looked like it was over before it had even begun. If he didn’t hear from her tomorrow he would tr
y
to find out what was going on when he saw her at school Monda
y,
but honestl
y,
that was one conversation he was not looking forward to having.

His thoughts shifted back to Nicole, to those brief moments when she’d held his hand after T
y
and his friends took off.

Nicole.

Stac
y.

He was starting to feel caught in the middle of something that was going to end up hurting someone no matter how things turned out, and he didn’t like that prospect one bit.

Going back to the message box on Ronnie Jackson’s page, he tried to decide what to do, whether or not to contact him.

As he evaluated things, he reviewed what he knew.

At the funeral, Emil
y
had told him that Trevor was in the car, but that he shouldn’t have been. Later, he realized that Trevor was her dog. But since that information had appeared in an article in the paper, it was something that he might have been aware of, at least subconsciousl
y,
before the funeral.

She’d told him to find her glasses, which he ended up locating near the spot where she died.

Broken. Awa
y
from the water.

She knew how to swim.

From her casket, she’d grabbed his arm and left a mark. If Nicole was right about ghosts not having flesh and bones, that
yo
u couldn’t touch them, then it wasn’t likel
y
he’d encountered a ghost.

But if not that, what?

The next clue, if that’s what these apparitions reall
y
contained, was Emil
y’
s necklace. Sure, she was wearing it in some of the photos, but wh
y
would she have held it up to him during the game? Was she tr
yi
ng to tell him something?

And if so, what?

It was like the
y
were all things that he didn’t consciousl
y
remember, but afterward realized were lodged in some secret part of his brain like those memories of his grandmother’s kitchen were.

And then there was the notebook and T
y’
s comment the other da
y
about K
yl
e and Emil
y.

Honestl
y,
Daniel had no idea how all this fit together, except that it was looking more and more like Emil
y
had not died b
y
accident.

Also, it seemed like she wanted something from him, and he had the sense that it was a lot more than just having him find her glasses on the beach.

Yes, he’d promised his dad that he would stop looking into this, but how could he do that, how could he leave it alone, when there were so man
y
weird things going on, so man
y
coincidences that couldn’t possibl
y
all be coincidences?

At last he decided he needed to go ahead and take a specific step to resolve things, even if it was just a small one.

He slid the cursor into position in the message box on Ronnie’s page and t
yp
ed, “I have a question for
yo
u. Can
yo
u text me tomorrow?” Daniel left his name and number and hit send.

Tomorrow morning he could spend some time sorting through ever
yt
hing, then meet up with K
yl
e for lunch and find out what was up.

Hopefull
y,
he would also hear from Ronnie and Stac
y.

And he could begin to resolve the things that were going on, the things that felt like the
y
were ripping though the fabric of his sanit
y.

The fabric of
yo
ur sanit
y?

Another phrase that sounded like something K
yl
e would have come up with, not Daniel.

Just like the one about the vultures picking awa
y
at
yo
ur dreams.

He needed to get a grip on himself.

Yes, he did.

Before the fabric ripped all the wa
y
through.