Twisted (28 page)

 

He saw Pete's head roll back against the seat. His breathing slowed, growing more and more shallow, until finally it stopped. But he was patient and waited for another ten minutes, crouching on the far side of the hearse and peering in through the passenger's window.

He moved quickly then, pulling the rags from the exhaust pipe and stuffing them back into the garbage can. Then he dragged the can to the back of the hearse and jammed it up against the tailpipe. Everyone would assume that Pete had backed the hearse too close to the garbage can and when he'd started the engine, the exhaust fumes had killed him. It would be another accident, the sixth in a row. It would scare them all so much that Jennifer and Tim would refuse to hold another séance.

J
ennifer gave a deep sigh of contentment. Someone was stroking her hair. When she'd been a small child, her mother had always come in to wake her that way, and Jennifer smiled and snuggled down a little deeper under the blankets. The touch was loving and gentle, and she felt warm and cherished.

“Jen . . . time to get up.”

Jennifer sighed again and then she began to frown. The words were the same, but it hadn't sounded like her mother's voice. “Mom?”

“No, Jen.”

There was a hint of laughter in the much deeper voice and Jennifer's frown deepened. It must be her dad, but why was he waking her? He always left for work early, at least an hour before she got up. “Dad?”

“No, Jen.”

This time the voice actually laughed, a deep, rumbling sound, and her eyes flew open in shock. It was Tim! But what was Tim doing in her bedroom?

“Your hair's incredible, Jen.” He reached out to stroke it, again.

“Sorry . . . I guess it's an awful mess.” Jennifer began to blush. Her hair had always been horrible in the morning. “I'll brush it and tie it back right away.”

“No. Don't do that.” Tim smiled down at her. “It's so pretty this way. I think you should leave it loose. All those beautiful colors . . . it's like a rainbow.”

Jennifer smiled in pure happiness. If she'd had any doubts about Tim, they were firmly erased by what he'd said. He liked her hair when no one else did. He'd just compared it to a beautiful rainbow! Tim was wonderful and they were definitely made for each other.

“You'd better get up, Jen. It's eight o'clock and the sun's out. It's a little warmer, too. Maybe they'll be able to get through to us today.”

Suddenly it all came back: the haunted lodge, the séances, the notes, and all the horrible accidents. Jennifer's eyes lost some of their sparkle and she reached up to hug Tim. “Is everybody okay?”

“Everybody's fine. They're still sleeping, but Pete is up. I saw him outside in the hearse. He must be looking for something.”

“Thank God!” Jennifer gave a huge sigh of relief. “I couldn't help worrying about him after he got that note.”

“Me, too. Let's go up and change clothes, Jen. I don't want to wake the others just yet.”

They went up the stairs. Tim waited in her room while she took a quick shower, and then she waited in his room while he did the same. Fifteen minutes later they were sitting in the kitchen, side by side at the long table, sipping steaming cups of hot chocolate.

“I'm so glad the sun's out!” Jennifer smiled as she glanced out the window. “I bet Pete is, too. He's been out there a long time.”

“I know. I wonder if I should go out and help him.”

“Let's both go.” Jennifer pushed back her chair. “We can even take him a cup of hot chocolate.”

As they stepped out the door, carrying a cup of hot chocolate for Pete, Tim began to frown. “I don't like this, Jen. He's still slumped over in the front seat. He was like that when I saw him early this morning.”

“Maybe he fell asleep. He was really tired.” As Jennifer spoke the words, she felt her heart start to pound in fear. What if Pete wasn't sleeping? What if he was dead?

“Pete?” Tim tapped on the driver's window, but Pete didn't sit up. He didn't even move.

“Tap on the window again, Tim. He could be a really sound sleeper.”

Tim knocked on the window and called his name, but Pete still didn't move. He turned to look at Jennifer and the fear she was feeling was mirrored in his face. That was when Jennifer spotted it, the empty brandy bottle on the floor of the front seat.

“I think I know what's wrong.” Jennifer pointed to the empty bottle. “If Pete drank that whole bottle of brandy by himself, he's probably passed out cold.”

Tim looked very relieved. “I'll open the door and check. Get ready to help me catch him, Jen.”

“Okay. Let's take him into the kitchen and sober him up before the rest of the guys find out.”

“Good idea. I don't want to see him fired, do you?”

“No.” Jennifer shook her head. “I don't like it, but I can't really blame him. This whole weekend's been a terrible strain and he was just fine up until last night.”

“Okay . . . here we go.”

Jennifer stood to the side as Tim opened the door. But Pete didn't tumble out, groaning and holding his head, as both of them expected. He just fell into their arms as stiff as a board and Jennifer stared down at him in shock. “Tim . . . Pete's not drunk! He's . . .”

“I know.” Tim didn't give her time to finish her sentence. “Go get the guys, Jen. I'll handle it until they get here.”

Jennifer didn't say a word. She just turned around and hurried back to the lodge. And as she ran, words thumped through her head like a chant, in time with her steps. Another note. Another death. Another note. Another death.
When would it all stop?

 

“Okay. We have to talk about this.” Tim stood up in front of the river rock fireplace. They were all gathered together, sitting on the couches or on the floor and Tim was in charge. “There's only six of us left.”

Everyone nodded. What Tim said was true. The only ones left were Tim and Jennifer, Tommy and Lexie, and Dale and Brian.

“What should we do?” Lexie sounded nervous. “These can't be accidents, can they? I mean . . . it's statistically impossible for any group to be so incredibly unlucky.”

“I agree,” Tim said.

“But that means there's a murderer on the loose, killing anyone who gets a note from Kelly!” Jennifer's voice was shaking. “And since we're the only ones here, the killer must be a member of our group!”

There was a tense moment of silence as they all glanced around, turning away the moment they met anyone else's eyes.

“No.” Dale shook his head. “Look . . . we've known each other all our lives. We started first grade together and we're going to graduate together.”

“Right . . . if we manage to live that long,” Lexie said.

Jennifer couldn't help it. She giggled. Leave it to Lexie to see the humor in an impossible situation.

“Okay. I deserved that.” Dale grinned at Lexie. “And I realize that what Jennifer said makes sense. But I just can't believe that one of us is a killer!”

Tommy jumped up. He looked very excited. “Hold it, guys! Maybe the killer isn't one of us. There's another alternative we haven't even considered.”

“What's that?” Jennifer stared up at him hopefully. No one wanted to believe that the killer was right here in the room, perhaps even sitting next to them.

“What if this whole thing has nothing to do with Kelly's death? There could be another person here, hiding here at the lodge, someone who's so afraid of being discovered that he's killing us off, one by one.”

“Good one, Tommy.” Lexie giggled. “Do you really think Michael Myers from
Halloween
is holed up in the basement?”

Everyone cracked up except Dale.

Dale sighed deeply. “Very funny. Let's be serious. Tommy might have a point. There could be someone hiding in the lodge. We didn't check out every room when we got here.”

“But why would anyone hide here?” Lexie asked the question. “It's miles from the nearest town!”

“You just said it,” Brian stated. “Because it's miles from the nearest town. Think about it for a minute. If you wanted to hide out somewhere, what better place is there than this? It's miles from other people, it's heated, and there's food in the pantry. What more could you want?”

“Okay.” Tim took charge again. “Let's assume that Tommy's right and there really is someone else here. Since the victims all received notes from Kelly, those notes must be setting the killer off.”

“That's right,” Dale said. “I think this is the time for all of us to be totally honest. Who's been writing the notes?”

“Not me.” Jennifer shook her head. “Believe me, I'd tell you. This whole thing is getting really scary. But I swear I didn't write those notes and I don't know who did!”

Everyone turned to look at Tim, but he shook his head. “I didn't write them, either. And I don't know who did, unless . . . Brian?”

Brian shook his head. “Not me. I just do special effects. I thought you were writing them, Tommy.”

“No way!” Tommy sounded outraged. “I didn't want Tim and Jen to do the séance in the first place. And I certainly didn't write any notes!”

Lexie patted him on the arm. “We believe you. And just for the record, I didn't write them, either. That leaves you, Dale.”

“Not me.” Dale looked baffled as he shook his head. “Then . . . how did they get here if none of us wrote them?”

There was silence for a moment and then Jennifer sighed. “Maybe Pete did. He was very encouraging about our skit, and he seemed to like the séances a lot. He might have tried to help by writing the notes.”

“That's a possibility . . . I guess.” Tim didn't sound convinced. “If you're right, there won't be any more notes.”

There was silence again as everyone thought about Pete. And then Tim took charge again. “We're going to stick together at all times. No one goes anywhere alone. Got it?”

“How about the bathroom?” Lexie raised her eyebrows.

“We'll check it out first. Then you and Jen can go in together. The road crew should be here in a day or two and until they arrive, we're going to do everything in a group.”

One by one, they nodded. Tim was right. But Jennifer didn't say what she was thinking. What if the killer got frustrated because he couldn't kill just one of them? What if he came out in the open and killed them all at once?

 

Someone was lying. He knew it. But no one in the group was willing to admit it. They'd even blamed Pete for the notes and there was no way that Pete could have written them. Pete had come to Foothill High this fall, a month after Kelly had died. Unless he'd talked to Miss Voelker about it, Pete would have had no way of knowing the shade of lipstick that Kelly had worn. He couldn't have known about her teddy bear seals, or the pin Tommy had given her for Christmas, or her scarf printed with lilacs. The author of the notes had known Kelly personally, and that meant he or she was a member of their group.

He didn't believe in Kelly's ghost. That was ridiculous! Someone here, someone very much alive, suspected that Kelly had been murdered. And until he figured out who that someone was, anyone who was unlucky enough to receive a note from Kelly would simply have to die.

I
t was one in the afternoon and the rain had started to fall again. Jennifer glanced out the window and sighed. It was turning into a gloomy day and there was still no sign of the road crew. Even the cheery fire they'd built in the fireplace did nothing to lift her spirits.

“I think I'll try to catch some sleep before it gets dark.” Lexie sounded depressed, too. “Tonight's Halloween and that might set the killer off. I want to stay up all night, just in case.”

“Good idea,” Tim agreed. “Let's all take a nap. We'll be safe if we stay here together.”

They all stretched out on the couches or on the floor, huddled together in a tight little group. Jennifer didn't feel like sleeping so she closed her eyes and tried to think of something pleasant, something that would distract her from the awful things that had happened.

Tim. Jennifer smiled. Why hadn't she realized that she was in love with him before this Halloween weekend? She'd assumed that he was only a friend, but she'd cared about him much more than she'd thought. Jennifer remembered something her mother had told her once, something she'd thought was ridiculous. Now, years later, her mother's words made a whole lot of sense.

“How do you know you're in love, Mom?” a twelve-year-old Jennifer had asked.

“Don't worry. You'll know.” Her mother had laughed. “Just remember, Jennifer . . . the basis of true love is friendship.”

Jennifer had frowned and asked the first question that had come into her mind. “What does that mean?”

“It means that if you don't have friendship, your love won't last.”

Jennifer had nodded, but she remembered thinking that her mother was crazy. Friends were one thing and boyfriends were another. But now she understood what her mother had meant. She loved Tim, but he was also her friend. Tim was someone she could talk to, someone she admired, and someone who felt exactly the same way about her. He was kind and gentle, the sort of man she'd want for the father of her children. That was why she wanted to spend the rest of her life with . . .

Jennifer's eyes popped open in alarm. Her thoughts and feelings were leading her down a path she wasn't ready to take. She didn't want to get married quite yet. She wanted to wait, to live on her own, to be independent for the first time in her life. There was no way she'd go straight from her parents' house to an apartment she'd share with her husband. She wanted to finish high school and go on to college. And when she earned her degree, she wanted to start her career. Once both of them were established, it would be time to talk about marriage.

Jennifer shut her eyes again and smiled as she thought about married life. There they'd be, sitting side by side in the living room, after the children had gone to bed. They'd be talking and laughing at something one of them had said. Tim would be a research chemist and she would be an elementary school teacher. She would tell him about the students in her class and he would discuss the important work they were doing in his lab. They'd have lots of friends, people they'd met along the way. There would be friends from high school and college, teachers from her school, and coworkers from his lab. They'd have relatives, too. There would be two sets of parents, and Tommy, who would visit with his wife. Perhaps Tommy might even marry Lexie and then her best friend would become her sister-in-law!

The dream was so delightful, Jennifer giggled out loud. And then she felt something tickling her ear and she giggled again.

“Jen?” Tim's lips brushed her ear as he whispered, “Are you still awake?”

Jennifer blushed. It was a good thing that Tim couldn't read her mind! “Yes, Tim. I'm awake.”

“Are you too nervous to sleep?”

Jennifer shook her head. “Not really. I was just thinking about something.”

“It must have been something good. You looked really happy.”

“It was.” Jennifer blushed even harder and changed the subject before Tim could ask her what it was. “How about you? Aren't you sleepy?”

“Not really. But since we're both awake, why don't we stand guard?”

“That's a great idea.” Jennifer threw back the blankets and stood up. “Come on, Tim.”

They were very quiet as they tiptoed past their sleeping friends. Lexie was curled up in a ball on one of the couches and Tommy was on the floor, right next to her. Dale was next to Tommy, sleeping on his back and snoring softly. And Brian was next to him, completely covered by his sleeping bag.

“Look at Brian,” Jennifer whispered. “I'd better fold back his sleeping bag. He can't get any air that way.”

Tim watched as Jennifer reached out and folded back the sleeping bag. Then both of them gasped as they saw that the sleeping bag held a rolled-up blanket and the pillow, bunched up to look as if Brian had his head under the covers. Brian wasn't there!

Tim turned to Jennifer in alarm. “We've got to find him! He could be the killer's next target if he's gone somewhere alone!”

Brian wasn't in the kitchen or in his room. And his parka was still hanging on the rack by the door so he hadn't gone outside. They searched the spa and both floors of bedrooms, but Brian was nowhere to be found.

“Where is he?” Jennifer knew she looked worried.

“I don't know, but there's one last place to look. Let's try the manager's office on the mezzanine.”

Jennifer and Tim headed up the stairs at a run. Brian had used the manager's office for his headquarters while they were doing the skits. It was the nerve center of the lodge with a bank of telephones and the microphone for the PA system, and Brian had adopted it as his private office.

“Do you hear a radio?” Jennifer stopped as they reached the mezzanine.

“I hear it. And I think it's coming from the manager's office.”

The door was partially open and Tim glanced in. When he turned back to Jennifer, he looked worried. “Brian's sitting at the desk, reading a note . . . and it's written on Saddlepeak Lodge stationery!”

Jennifer's face turned pale. All the notes from Kelly had been written on Saddlepeak Lodge stationery. “It could be an old note. I know Brian kept them. Come on, Tim. Let's sneak in and read it. I want to make sure!”

Brian was staring at the note so intently, he didn't notice as they slipped in the door and tiptoed up behind him. Jennifer leaned closer so she could read over his shoulder, and what she saw made her start to tremble. The note was from Kelly, just as they‘d suspected, but this was a new note, one they'd never seen before. Kelly had written that she was going to give herself a birthday present. She promised to name her killer at the stroke of midnight, tonight on Halloween!

Tim nudged Jennifer and then he pointed to the envelope that had held the note. Unlike the others, it didn't have a name. The envelope was perfectly blank and Jennifer frowned as she realized what that meant. This new note from Kelly, this certain death sentence for anyone who received it, could have been meant for any one of them.

Jennifer was about to ask Brian where he'd found the note, when Brian did something so crazy that she gasped out loud. As they watched, Brian picked up a pen and wrote his own name on the envelope.