Those of the Margin: a Paranormal Suspense Thriller (Derek Cole Suspense Thriller Book 2) (27 page)

"Robby," he said, turning back to where he had just launched his attack, "come with me, quickly."

Robby grabbed his friend's hand and kept pace with him as he moved quickly away from the house and from the highest point of the Marginal Way. When they were more than 100 yards away, the realization struck Phillip. He stopped running, turned to face Robby, and dropped to one knee.

"Robby," he said, his voice cut with emotions, "I have to leave you soon."

"Where are you going?" Robby asked.

"Your mother and father will be here very soon. They will make sure you are safe and sound. I can't leave you here out in this storm all alone. I will wait until they arrive."

"What will they do to you when they see you?" Robby asked, afraid that his friend had done something wrong.

"They will know who I am."

"And then what?"

"I will have to leave you."

"For how long?"

"Forever."

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Maggie knew that her jaw was broken and that her balance was suspect at best. But when she didn't see Robby where she had left him and couldn't find him in the kitchen with Derek, she bolted outside, hoping that Robby had seen her stick-arrows and was halfway to her car. She paused when she saw Derek trying to steady himself on his feet.

"Where's Robby?" she cried.

"I don't know," Derek mumbled.

"He went outside," Mark Irish called from a few feet away. "Rita went after him."

Maggie turned. Her still-cold feet hit the snow before Derek could find his balance. Maggie was no further than 20 feet away from the house when he forced himself to garner whatever reserves he had left and charged out of the house after her. The combination of his unsteady gate and the deep, slippery snow sent Derek crashing to the ground. Though he tried to direct his fall, he landed directly on his right shoulder, testing its ability to hold the joint in place, and finding that it was still too weak to pass such a demanding test.

Maggie heard Derek moan in pain behind her, but she had only one focus – finding Robby before Rita did. As best she could, Maggie ran towards Perkins Cove, where she hoped Robby was safely in her car. Tears of both pain and terror streaked across her face and became frozen on her broken jaw. She forced her legs through the heavy snow, ignoring her pain and forcing out of her mind her fears of how she might find Robby.

Behind her, Derek had regained his balance and was quickly gaining ground. He knew that yelling to Maggie to slow down or to stop would be a waste of energy, so he focused all of his remaining strength to push himself faster.
 

He had run a little more than 200 yards when he saw Maggie. She was not moving. She was standing on the path, holding her hands to her face, staring at something further down the Marginal Way. When Derek reached her side, Maggie held out her hand to stop Derek from proceeding.

"Maggie," he said, "where is Robby? Why did you stop chasing after him?"

Maggie turned quickly to face Derek, her beautiful green eyes filled with tears ready to make their decent, then pointed to two figures 100 feet further down the Way. Though it was dark and visibility was greatly diminished, Derek recognized that the smaller of the two figures standing 100 feet away was Robby.

"Stay here," he said to Maggie.

"I'm not staying anywhere," Maggie shot back. "That's my son, and no one is going to take him away or keep me away from him ever again."

As Derek and Maggie walked closer to Robby and the man who was on one knee in front of him, Derek pulled the picture that he had found in Maggie's attic out of his pocket. He gave it a quick glance, studying the face of the man he assumed to be Jack's father, Luke.
 

"Your mother and your friend Derek is coming," Phillip said to Robby.

"Why did you tell me that Mr. Cole needed to be stopped the other day when you were in my bedroom?"

"Because he was trying to help you, Robby. I knew he'd find the truth sooner or later, and I was afraid that he'd find the truth before I could save you."

"Will he recognize you?" Robby asked, suddenly aware.

"Remember everything that I told you, okay?" Phillip said. "And though I won't be able to visit you anymore, I'm pretty sure that I'll still be with you. In your heart," he said, patting Robby on his chest. "And please tell Mr. Cole that I am sorry about hurting him in the attic. Tell him he is just too good at figuring things out."

"I'll tell him. I promise."

"And will you tell your dad something for me, too?" Phillip asked as he felt his body becoming strangely lighter, as if the wind would soon be able to lift him and carry him wherever it was that the wind called home.

"Sure," Robby replied.

"Tell him that I'm sorry that I wasn't a better father to him. Tell him that I am proud of him. Tell him that I've always loved him."

Derek and Maggie were just a few feet away before they paused. They waited for Robby and the man Robby was speaking with to acknowledge their presence. The man slowly stood, turned towards Derek, then slowly faded into the snowstorm as he walked backwards into nothingness.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

The State Police made it to Rita Bryant's house 30 minutes after Mark Irish called. Their first task was to search for Rita Bryant. They found her floating in the near freezing ocean. The coroner would later determine that the cause of her death was exposure. Her fall off the Marginal Way and onto the rocky shoreline rendered her incapable of pulling herself out of the water. By the time her body was discovered, she had frozen to death.

The ambulance struggled through the snow, but was able to get Jack Bryant to the nearest hospital, where he was quickly sent to surgery. Maggie was treated and released, thankful that her jaw suffered only a mild fracture. She was back in her home with Matthew, Robby, Derek, and John when she received the call from the hospital, telling her that Jack was out of surgery and was expected to make a full recovery.

Though exhausted from the day's events, Maggie insisted that Trooper Irish tell her everything he knew. Mark spent 20 minutes explaining, as best he could about why Jack was innocent, and that Rita Bryant was now the only suspect in the murders of Luke Bryant and Ron White.

The next morning, Derek and John drove Maggie and Robby over to see Jack while the State Police brought Matthew to see his mother, who was awake and out of immediate danger. Jack was resting in his private room and greeted Maggie and Robby with a smile and a few tears when they came in.

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"I still don't know exactly what happened," Derek said the next day as he and Maggie sat at Maggie's dining room table, "but I have to believe that Phillip won't be visiting Robby anymore."

"Phillip was Jack's father, wasn't he?" Maggie asked.

"Maggie, I can't say for certain, but all evidence points that way. Based on the article that Ron was getting ready to have published, it seems that Jack's father was Phillip and that the reason he didn't want Robby to tell anyone what he looked like is because if he were recognized, he would be sent to....wherever it is that ghosts are sent to after being recognized."

"And the person you chased on the Marginal Way yesterday? You said you thought it was Ron White? Could you have sent him to that same place, too?"

"I hope not," Derek said. "Ron's letter that he wrote to me asked me not to look for him, just in case his theory was true. I really don't know what we just went through."

"Neither do I," Maggie said through a thin smile. "But Jack told me everything, and I think I still have some things to go through before..."

"I know," Derek said before Maggie could finish her thoughts. "Jack was protecting you from the truth about his mother, and protecting Robby from what he believed his mother was planning to do."

"Jack told me that his mother's father was involved in the satanic ritual that his father witnessed. Jack told me that Luke told him everything he saw that night of the satanic ritual a few months after it all happened. Rita knew about her father's interest in satanic worship, which probably made her go so far to the other side."

"And once she went a bit too far, there was no coming back. I guess she found out about her husband having an affair with Vanessa Jones's mother and felt the need to erase any remnants of her husband's evil bloodline."

"Including Jack and Robby," Maggie said with a shudder. "Jack felt the need to keep me and Robby safe from his mother. He told me that his mother often told him that one day, she would be called upon to cleanse the evil bloodline of Jack's father. I think that's why Jack kept Vanessa Jones and her son a secret from me as well. If I knew who they really were, Jack probably thought that his mother would find out as well. I still don't know why Jack didn't tell me everything years before it all blew up, but he promised to tell me everything once he gets back home."

"Probably good to know that he wasn't cheating on you and that Matthew was his nephew and not his son?"

"Yeah, it is," Maggie said. She knew what Derek felt about her, and she knew what she was feeling towards him. "I know that I told you that you and I would..."

"Maggie, stop," Derek said. "You need to work things out with Jack. It looks like, though he had some bad judgment, that he was only focused on keeping you and Robby safe from his mom. I can't fault him for that."

"I know," she said as tears once again graced her eyes. "Who knows what the future will bring?"

"I hope it brings nothing but happiness for you and Robby. Jack, too." Derek stood, extended his left hand to Maggie. "I think this case can be officially closed. If I ever write a book about my cases, this one will sure be hard to explain."

Maggie grabbed Derek's hand and pulled him into a long embrace.

"Call me if Rita starts haunting you, okay?" Derek said as he broke the embrace.

"Your number is saved in my favorites."

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Derek cancelled his return flight and arranged with the rental agency to extend his car rental and return it back in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. He knew the drive would take him at least 12 hours, but Derek felt that even that long of a drive wouldn't give him enough time to process everything about the case.

As he crossed the bridge over the
Piscataqua River and entered into the State of New Hampshire, Derek's iPhone sounded its ringtone.

"I hear through the grapevine that you've left town."

"I did, Father. Heading back home for some recovery time."

"I was hoping that you'd stick around a while longer. There are still a lot of unanswered questions about Jack and his mother," John said.

"I think the police will figure everything out pretty quickly," Derek responded. "What they won't figure out, what none of us will figure out, is what the heck really happened on the Marginal Way. Robby says that Phillip pushed Rita over the cliff, and the police are saying she slipped and fell. Since Robby is the only one who saw what really happened, I have to believe his story."

"And doing so requires a leap of faith," John said.

"And quite a leap it would be. But, since I saw Robby's friend evaporate before my eyes, I think I've already made the leap. Still don't understand why whatever Robby's friend was, called itself Phillip."

"Derek," John said, "if what we believe is right and Robby's friend was Luke Bryant, him calling himself Phillip makes sense. Luke was a ghost hunter and certainly must have read about the Phillip Experiment. If Ron's theory was right, Luke would have wanted to give no clues to his true identity. Using the name Phillip was probably his attempt to throw off Maggie and Jack from figuring out who he really was."

"Still," Derek said, "there's a whole lot of questions that I guess will never be answered."

"Certainly has to be one of your strangest cases?" John asked.

"I can't imagine ever working a case like this one again. But, based on my last two cases, I'm keeping an open mind."

"I suppose that R&R Investigative Agency is no longer open for business." Father John Flannigan's voice was a mixture of remorse and joy. "As sad as I am about my private investigator career being over, it does feel good to go out on top."

"Father," Derek said, a smile crossing his face, "as good of a partner as you made, you're a much better priest. I think you followed your proper calling."

"Please don't forget about us."

"I don't think that's possible. Plus, I can't even think of a reason why I would want to try to forget. Thank you, Father."

"How about you plan on spending some time up here this coming summer? I promise not to suggest a visit to the Marginal Way."

"Drinks at Fitz's, perhaps?"

"First round is on me. God bless you, Derek Cole," John said.

"Bless you, my child."

Recognition and the Return

(FIRST DRAFT)

By Ronald White

January 2014

In 1972, I was asked to witness what I later learned to be a psychological experiment in Toronto, Canada. The experiment was called the "Phillip Experiment," and its mission was to determine the psychological impact of the power of persuasion and the human need to believe in life after death. The results of the experiment, however, provided results quite different from what was expected.

The team of psychiatrists and psychologists created a fictional character named "Phillip." They created details of his life, timeframes of major life events, and created a series of challenges and successes that Phillip experienced throughout his life. They also gave Phillip a date of death. In other words, they both gave Phillip life and ended it.

The test subjects were given a plethora of information about Phillip, whom they were told was an actual human being, who lived and who died. Each test subject was expected to know as much about Phillip as possible. Once the psychiatrists felt that the test group was ready, they asked the group to try to make contact with Phillip by participating in a séance.

I was invited to the third séance and was not afforded the luxury of knowing the truth behind Phillip. I accepted the invitation, curious as to why men of science would be conducting a controlled study that included participants trying to make contact with a departed soul. Never one to believe in claims of the paranormal, I attended the séance with the intention of reporting that any claims of contact with the "other world" were fabricated and sensationalized stunts.