Dream Dancer (Ghosts Beyond the Grove Book 2) (10 page)

15.  Treading Water

     Hearing that Zach was in excruciating pain was bad enough.  But hearing that he was begging for death made my heart sick.  I didn’t care what the universe was trying to tell me—being still wasn’t going to cut it.  I had to find the answers and I had to find them now. 

     I needed to be alone to think things through.  After Clay left, I sat down at my desk and began noting all of the loose ends I still needed to chase down.  Once I had my list made, I rewrote it in order of priority.  Finding Josette landed the number one spot.  Usually loath to asking for help in times of trouble, I swallowed my pride and realized that I wasn’t going to be able to do this alone. 

     As I was about to pick up the phone and start dialing home, I realized what time it was.  It was 3 am already.  Where had the last few hours gone?  If I hadn’t known any better, I would have sworn that I time travelled from midnight directly to where I was now.  No one I knew would be awake and willing to talk to me at this hour.  Even with the time difference between Ohio and Arizona, Roxanne would be in bed by now for sure.

     Again, I was being forced to be still.  There was no way I was going to get any sleep tonight.  So I laid out all of the pieces of the puzzle on my desk and tried to see how they could possibly fit together.  I started with the actual objects I had gathered—the moonstones and the feathers.  Then I broke open a fresh pack of index cards and wrote each concept on its own card.

     I worked through it chronologically—from Chicago to Arizona all the way back to where I was now.  Who was my mother afraid of?  Was she being haunted too?  Roxanne said that she heard Mom say that “he” was getting closer so even if it
was
a ghost, it wasn’t a doppelganger.  Ugh.  My frustration was an ever-tightening knot that was dangerously close to suffocating me.

     I decided to give my brain a rest and start getting ready for work—five hours early.  During the time that I normally allotted for that activity, I had other plans in mind.  As soon as the clock struck an at least mostly appropriate hour for communication, I was going to be calling, texting, and emailing everyone I needed help from.

     Starting with Shelly, I worked my way around that communication chain until I got to Roxanne.  Everyone was more than willing to do their part—except for one of them.  The person I least expected to bail on me, did. 

     Rachel was a bad liar because she had a terrible time hiding her emotions.  When she stuttered and stammered her way through the conversation, I knew something was up with her.  While she explained that she probably wasn’t the best person to help me since she would be returning to Florida soon, I knew she was hiding something from me.  But what?  Why would she balk on a plan to help her own brother?  I asked her what was wrong but she denied that anything was.

     The last thing I needed was more mystery in my life so I resolved to not count on her to help.  The last person I needed to contact was Addie but I wanted that conversation to be in person.  I needed another tea leaf reading—stat.  And if we found that stupid bee in my cup again, I swore I would hurl that hunk of ceramic straight at the wall.

     Either my time off, my sleepless night, or a combination of the two threw me completely off of my game.  By the end of my shift, there were coffee beans all over the floor and I looked like I’d taken a dip in Lake Latte.  But I couldn’t care less about how I looked.  I asked Derek if he thought Addie would be up for a quick visit from me and he nodded his head vigorously.

     “Most indubitably, fair maiden!  The peculiarity of your circumstances intrigues her.  Go forth and share your tales with my beloved.”

     Derek was one of the quirkiest people I’d ever met—charming yet undeniably odd.  But once I really thought about it, practically everyone in my life was.  I was a magnet for anyone and anything out of the narrow confines of what society considered normal.  Some days it was a burden; other days it was a blessing.  If I didn’t have weird people in my life, who would be there to help me deal with my own quirks, right?

     I climbed those rickety fire escape stairs up to their apartment without once fearing a collapse and an imminent, painful death.  I was focused.  I had purpose.  I was going forth instead of being still.  I was making progress.  Zach was going to pull through this because I was never going to give up the search for answers.  I wasn’t just his cheerleader anymore—I was his whole damn offensive line.

     While I was giving Addie a more detailed account of what was going on, I finally figured out what had rekindled the fire lit under my behind.  It wasn’t simply the fact that Zach was being haunted—no, it was more personal than that.  He was being haunted by someone who looked exactly like me.  A true wolf in sheep’s clothing as it were.  How
dare
my doppelganger use Zach’s love for me against him!?  Against both of us?  Whoever this dead ringer for me was—and yes, pun intended—she was in for the fight of her (after)life.

     Over a cup of tea, I explained who Josette was and why I so desperately needed to find her—even if I had to pay someone to do it for me.  That’s when I hit a stroke of good luck which was a feeling I wasn’t well acquainted with.

     “Before you go hirin’ a private investigator, let me see if I can pull a few strings for ya.  Granny has a cop on her payroll for, well, sticky situations.” 

     Addie paused awkwardly which made me slightly more frightened of her dear, old grandmother than I already was.  What could she mean by “sticky situations”?  No, scratch that.  Curiosity wasn’t going to kill the cat this time around.  Nope.  The less I knew about Queen Elva’s operations the better off I would be. 

     “Any-whoo,” she continued, side stepping the mention of what I assumed were illegal voodoo-type activities.  “I’ll give her a quick call and see what she can do to help.”

     As I waited impatiently for an answer from Addie, I checked my email to see if Roxanne had replied but she hadn’t.  In my message to her, I thanked her for the lead on Josette.  I also told her about the moonstones I got while in Sedona and that I needed to know what made them change color. 

     While I didn’t directly ask Roxanne to make the four hour trek from Tucson to see Salma, I did throw out a few small hints.  Okay, they were actually big hints.  Big, fat, elephant-sized hints.  I would be disappointed if she didn’t take the bait, but I wouldn’t be upset with her—she’d helped me so much already.  I was trying to avoid the extra expense of flying back out there.  I was trying to be responsible about this whole “going forth” thing.  But if worse came to worse, I would plant myself on another plane simply to get the answer.

     Addie’s phone call lasted a full half hour—that was twenty nine minutes longer than I deemed necessary.  I would never be able to get used to their southern ways.  I was someone who liked to get to the point then move on to the next issue in sixty seconds or less.  In my opinion, anything more than a minute constituted fiddling around.  And Queen Elva Lafay was a first class fiddler.

     Their conversation weaved in and out around mundane things before Addie got to the real reason she’d made the call.  They even discussed at great length a recipe for Cajun crawfish gumbo before the important topic surfaced.  When I heard a lively debate regarding whether or not shirts should be tucked in, I nearly lost it.  I shot Addie the stink eye then pretended to play my imaginary violin to hopefully give her the hint that she was fiddling around.  It worked.  A minute later, their conversation ended and Addie presented me with a small slip of paper.  On it was a name and a phone number.  Detective Karl Bailey.  I now had professional help in tracking down Josette.

     “Here ya go!  Granny’s gonna give him a quick call first to let him know you’ll be contacting him.  Good luck.  I hope he finds her for ya.”

     “Thanks, Addie.  I’m going to head home now.  I got zero sleep last night.”

     “Wait!  You can’t go until I read your tea leaves.  Hurry up and finish your cup.”

     I was so tired that I forgot one of the main reasons I stopped to see her.  With one last swallow, I drank what was left then performed the usual ritual.  She wasn’t going to find a single bee inside there—not this time.  No, I was clearly going forth again.

     When I looked inside that cup, I discovered that Mom had a wicked sense of humor.  But I was far from being amused.  I was definitely correct in saying there wouldn’t be a single bee.  Instead there was a virtual swarm of them. 

     “Well if that ain’t one of the weirdest things I ever did see! Look at all those cute little bees, Ruby!”

     Not seeing what I hoped to see in that cup really stung—no pun intended this time.  With all of the new leads I had, this couldn’t possibly be the right time for me to be still.  I listened half-heartedly while she explained the meaning to me.

     “Bees are the sign of hard work that pays off in happiness.  It’s a
good
sign, Ruby.  Why do you look so sad?”

     “It wasn’t what I wanted to see.  I’m ready to take off on another adventure—not sit here waiting to see what’s going to happen next.”

     “It will happen when it’s supposed to happen.  But in the meantime, think about the parallels.  Bees work hard but for a sweet reward.  Zach’s your honey—you’re going to get him back in the end.  Go with the flow—don’t fight it.  Have a little patience.”

     “The only time I’m patient is when I’m asleep—so that’s what I intend to do ASAP.”

     “Yes, you’re going to need all of the energy you can get tomorrow.  It’s Halloween weekend—Poe’s Corner is going to be crawling with zombies!”

     Ugh.  I’d forgotten all about that.  Halloween used to be my favorite holiday yet this year it almost passed me by without notice.  I guess when your entire year was chock full of ghosts and everything else that goes bump in the night; there was no need to celebrate it anymore.

     I drove home feeling slightly depressed but clinging to one last hope for the day—my phone call to Detective Bailey.  He would have much better luck finding Josette than Roxanne or I ever would.  He would have access to police data bases all over the country.  The tea leaves were wrong this time.  I would have Josette’s information in a matter of a few hours.  This definitely wasn’t time for me to be still.

     Detective Bailey answered my call on the first ring.  He was clearly not a fiddler.  He was a touch on the sarcastic side yet laughed after almost every sentence.  I got the impression that he was the kind of cop who got things done—even if those things weren’t always legal.  And for Zach’s sake, I was okay with that.  When I asked him how long he thought it would take to find Josette, he gave me the answer I didn’t want to hear.

     “A few days maybe.  Unless this woman really wants to stay hidden.  In that case, it could be a few months—or, hell, maybe even a few years assuming I find her at all.  I’ll give you a call on Monday.  I should know more by then.”

     Months? 
Years
?  He had to be kidding me!  I was going to have a hard enough time just staying sane until Monday!  I remained patient throughout the rest of our conversation but screamed into a pillow as soon as it was over.  Frustration, forced patience, and being still were going to be the death of me.  Mentally, I was barely staying afloat.

     Tired yet overwhelmingly restless, I paced the length of the apartment multiple times to ease the nervous energy building up inside of me.  Once I felt a bit calmer, I called Shelly to let her know that I now had a private investigator of sorts to help me out.  Then, I sat down at my desk to write.

     While my body was ready to crash for days on end, my mind was aflutter with thoughts of nothing but Zach.  I hated the fact that he ended up in the psych ward, but at least I knew he was safe in there.  As long as he stayed locked up, I had one less worry on my mind. 

     Around eight ‘o clock, I took a melatonin tablet to help ease my brain into dreamland.  But after the dream I had that night, I wished I hadn’t.  Dreams—one more thing to add to the list of things that were going to be the death of me.

16.  Slow Burn

     “You were quite adamant when you got here that you wanted no visitors.  What made you change your mind?”

     Dr. Landon asked that question casually yet I knew he was going to analyze my response thoroughly.  He was going to pick it apart piece by piece the same way she was deconstructing my brain.  Slowly and with intent.  I had to weigh my words—my tone of voice even—very carefully.  My plan to escape depended on it.

     “I feel stronger now.  I’m ready to see my family again.”

     “You used the word ‘family’, yet your sister is the only one you’ve asked us to contact.  Why is that?”

     See.  That’s exactly what I was talking about.  He was poking around in my mind with a pointy object—singling out anything that appeared suspect.  But I was too smart to fall into his trap.

     “Rachel is my twin sister.  She understands me in ways that no one else can.  I want to start transitioning myself back into the real world and she’s the best place for me to start,” I said with unwavering confidence—ignoring the fact that
she
was standing behind me breathing hotly down my neck.

     “I see.  I will take your request into consideration but frankly, I’m afraid that the ‘real’ world, as you put it, may not be in your best interests at the moment.  I’ll let you know my final decision in a few days.”

     Again, this wasn’t my first rodeo.  I knew what he meant by that.  He meant that he was going to watch me like a hawk for the time being.  I couldn’t slip up in even the slightest of ways.  I had to act normal no matter what
she
tried to do to me.  It was a damn good thing that she couldn’t read my mind. 

     So after our session was over, I returned to my room with a pleasant smile on my face.  All the while, she followed me—her scent enough to drive any man wild with desire.  But not me.  Not now.  This wasn’t the right time and certainly not the right place.  I had to block her out—for now.

     With each passing day, I made small steps of progress toward my ultimate goal.  I felt dead inside yet I managed to smile when it was appropriate, laugh when it was necessary.  Her mental torture eased over time but never quite dissipated.  Once I was out of here, though, things were going to change.  I was going to take control of this relationship.  She was either going to be mine forever or it was going to be over—over in the sense that I would no longer live feeling like I was only half alive. 

     I was either going to have all of her love or I was going to die—either option seemed equally sweet.  It took me forever to convince Dr. Landon to grant my request to see Rachel.  But I already knew that would happen from the start.  What I didn’t expect was for Rachel to drag her feet on helping me.  I was acting perfectly sane and normal—what was her problem?

     Her visits were sporadic and far between.  And she never smiled once the entire time she was there.  She nagged at me worse than even Mom would have.  She begged me to stay right where I was until I felt “better”.  That’s when I told her the lie that made her change her mind and I finally earned my ticket to freedom.