Beautiful Dead 02 - Arizona (12 page)

Do you have any names?' I'd asked, thinking maybe they would include Charlie Fortune and some other El erton vigilantes who every now and then decided to big themselves up by coming out to Foxton to nail widespread rumours of ghosts and weird happenings.

Sorry, I don't.' Anyway, Lee pointed out lie was new around there

and names wouldn't mean much to him. 'Hunter said they're not from

El erton.'

'Wow, your fame is spreading,' I'd muttered as Phoenix kissed me goodbye. 'Soon the whole county wil come looking.'

I'd sounded flippant, but I was seriously worried. The number of 82

vigilantes who believed something weird was happening out at Foxton was growing. There was talk in the bars of figures seen on the ridge late at night, then came the story about the county surveyor who had been scared half crazy, and now the weird wind that had spooked Jenna Hal 's horse. I wondered how long Hunter and the Beautiful Dead could keep the secret of their existence safe ...

Daring?' Laura brought me back with a jolt. You hear me? We're grounding you for the whole of today.'

Parents do that they gang up against you by using the big 'we' al the

time, like they're a huge army defending an empire and you're one smal foot soldier.

'We want you to clean your room and then start on the kitchen. We want you to eat Sunday lunch with us then do al your schoolwork before supper. Did you hear what we said? You're not to leave the house.'

How many years was it since Laura had laid this one on me? What made her think it would work now?

Stil , I decided not to put my head up above the stockade to get shot at

- just for today I would stay grounded because I needed thinking and planning space.

I whizzed the vacuum cleaner over my rug. Do I take Phoenix's parting advice and go to Brandon for more help? I wondered.

if things turn ugly, go find my brother,' he'd said as he ran down the hil with Lee.

Emptying my trash bucket into a black bag, I decided no. Brandon shares information with Kyle Keppler, I recal ed, and no way did I want that to escalate. I'd agreed with Phoenix that I'd stay away from Kyle, so did I go out to Forest Lake and track down Sable instead? Taking out the trash, I decided yes, because we were running seriously short of time since Hunter's punishment. Yes, for sure - then tried to work out how I would find her address.

So maybe I would drive out to Forest Lake on the off chance, buy a cup of coffee in a diner, ask a few harmless questions ...

'Hey, Darina, how did Miss Jones react?' Jordan cornered me after school next day. 'Did she rip you to pieces for dropping out of the concert so late into rehearsals?'

I was looking for a quick exit, wanting to head out to Forest Lake to 83

fol ow my plan. 'She laid the guilt thing on me,' I muttered. 'But I don't care. I wanted out.'

'I don't blame you. I know how hard it is for you since Phoenix.'

'Thanks.' Don 't be nice to me, Jordan! Sympathy gets to me and makes me crumble.

'No way do I agree with Hannah,' she went on.

That's better give me a sly, manipulative comment to grab hold of

'Why what does Hannah think? That I'm a wuss for dropping out, that I only ever think of myself and anyway I owe it to Summer, blah-blah?'

'Al of the above,' Jordan nodded.

As it happened, Hannah was walking out of school with Logan. They were arm in arm, real cosy. I raised an eyebrow in their direction.

'Since when?' I asked Jordan.

'Why do you care?' she smirked.

'No way!' The saying about protesting too much sprang to mind. My 'No way' had at least ten exclamation marks after it.

'Huh,' Jordan said, splitting off and leaving me free to head for my

car.

I took another glance at Hannah and Logan. She had her mouth to his ear, whispering something. He shot a look in my direction then laughed. I got in my car.

Forest Lake was an hour out of El erton - a town that lived on its past, with an actual narrow-gauge steam railway, a museum and a row of shops sel ing handcrafted saddles and Stetsons. Not many tourists make it this far though. The main street was deserted that Monday afternoon. I parked my car, walked past a shop sel ing Native American jewel ery and

greetings cards, into the only diner in town, where I ordered coffee and

sat by a window overlooking the quiet street. Now that I was there, coming seemed like a dumb idea. With nothing better to do, I texted Laura to say I was at Jordan's house, doing schoolwork.

An old guy came in and ordered fresh doughnuts to go. A skinny

white-and-brown dog walked along the sidewalk. Once in a while, a car

drove into the parking lot of the convenience store opposite.

'Do you need anything to go with your coffee?' the waitress asked from behind the counter.

'No - thanks. Actual y, I'm looking for Sable Jackson but I didn't 84

bring her address with me.'

Sorry, I can't help. I don't know any Sable Jackson.' The waitress wiped the top of the counter. 'We do have a Sable here in town, but she's Sable Keppler.'

'Sure.' I kicked myself for the mistake and tried to cover tip with an embarrassed laugh. 'She married Kyle last year. I came over from El erton. I guess I'l drive on back and pick up her address.'

No need.' More wiping - this time of the silver espresso machine. 'You'l find Sable's house right behind the main street, number 505 -

turn left at the lights.'

I was up and out of there, my coffee undrunk. 'Thanks!' I cal ed over my shoulder. I jumped in the car and drove to the lights, throwing a left as the waitress had told me. I crawled along a street cal ed White Eagle

Road, looking out for 505.

I wasn't expecting much, but Sable and Kyle's house didn't even meet the image I had in my mind. The house stood behind a wire fence that kept in two German shepherd dogs standing guard over a run-down shack with a broken porch. There was a child's strol er tipped on its side, grass

growing up between the cracks in the yard. When I saw a woman talking

to a man through the open door, I cruised on by.

So, from the glimpse I had, the woman was in her early twenties with straight black hair down to her waist, dressed in jeans and a white shirt

-

a smal er, less upmarket version of Arizona, I realized. The guy was also dark-haired ... and definitely not Kyle Keppler.

At the top of the street, I turned the car and drove back down.

Sable and the guy were out on the porch now and the dogs were sniffing at the wheels of the Harley Softtail parked by the door. He put an arm around her waist to kiss her goodbye.

So Kyle cheated on her and now she's cheating on him. It was an obvious conclusion. Where does the baby fit in? What happens when Kyle finds out?

The guy stepped down from the porch, set the strol er upright, then started the Harley. He yel ed something to Sable above the roar of the engine.

I was too busy quietly spying to hear or see a truck turn off the main

street and pul up outside 505. It was only when the door slammed that I 85

switched my attention to the driver and saw that it was Kyle.

Whoa! Suddenly I was in the middle of a Jerry Springer situation -

'My wife found out I'd cheated and is seeking revenge by openly sleeping around!'

I slowed to a stop and waited for the anger explosion.

Whoa again! Kyle picked his oil-stained denim jacket out of the back of the truck, unhitched a length of wire fence and stepped into the yard. The dogs bounded up to him. He said hi to the Harley guy and stopped to talk. Then he turned and spotted my bright-red convertible with me inside. It took him a while to compute enough time for me to freeze and feel very afraid then he got it: I was the nuisance kid who'd paid a visit to Mike's Motors to quiz him about Arizona.

Kyle Keppler moved fast for a big guy. The dogs barked as he sprinted out of the yard, across the street. I stepped on the gas just as he reached my car and grabbed the door handle. For a split second he dug in his heels and hung on as my tyres squealed from a standing start, then he let go.

In my mirror I saw the dark guy run to join him. The dogs were stil barking and Sable was retreating into the house. I got out of Forest Lake and drove back to El erton, breaking every traffic regulation in the book.

I was stil shaking when I reached home and found that Laura and Jim were out at work. I had the house to myself and plenty of time to regret what I'd just done. I took deep breaths, paced from room to room, tried to tel myself that Kyle hadn't recognized me after al .

'Darina?' Logan said, stepping on to the porch and peering in through the open kitchen window.

I jumped a mile. 'Don't creep up on me like that!' I yel ed.

'I didn't creep I knocked on the door. You didn't answer.'

'Maybe I chose not to,' I pointed out. 'What do you want, Logan?'

'I came to apologize. I know it looked like I was laughing at you, but I wasn't.'

'When? What are you talking about?'

'Earlier, with Hannah. I worked it through afterwards. It wasn't what you thought.'

'So you know what I'm thinking again?' I sighed, but inside I was 86

glad for once for Logan's visit. 'Come in, tel me about it.'

He stooped as he came through the door, suddenly seeming tal er than I'd realized and too big for our wooden kitchen chairs. 'Maybe Hannah

she might want it to be the way you saw it, her and me, you know - but

it's so not true.'

'Did what you just said actual y make sense?' I queried, deliberately making him suffer. ' Or is this some kind of riddle?'

'Hannah and I are not an item,' he announced after he'd drawn a deep breath. 'She asked me to go to the movies tonight but I turned her down.'

'And you needed to tel me?' My eyes were wide, I was stil toying with him. 'Listen, Logan, feel free to go to the movies with Hannah any time you like.'

He frowned, leaned back on the flimsy chair, looked up at the ceiling. 'I hate what's happened between us lately,' he told me. 'When did we get into these games?'

It was my turn to take a breath. The way he looked at me, with hurt in his eyes, got through to me. 'When I fel in love with Phoenix?' I suggested. 'I'm serious. Ever since then, things went wrong for you.'

Slowly Logan let the front chair legs touch the ground. He nodded. 'You're right, it's true.'

'I can't help you. It happened. I loved - love Phoenix more than the world. You have to let me go.' I leaned across the table and touched his hand. 'Let me go, Logan, and we can be friends again.'

I thought maybe we took one smal step in that direction before Laura came home from work and Logan left.

'Logan looked sad,' Laura remarked. She wore the jaded look she

always had after a day sel ing cut-price clothes in the mal .

'We're al sad,' I told her, and that was enough to shut her up.

Next morning, early, Jim picked up a cal on his way out of the house.

' Darina ! ' he yel ed up the stairs. 'It's that old guy with the flowers Peter Hal .'

I ran down two at a time to grab the phone. ' Peter, this is me. How's Jenna doing?'

Jenna's good. It's Raven I'm cal ing about.' 'What happened to him? Where is he?'

That's the problem. I just arrived at the house and you wouldn't believe the atmosphere. Frank was here, and Al yson too. They told me they got a cal from Raven's school. The kid's gone missing.'

'When?' I gasped.

'Early this morning. Possibly even late last night. Al yson's stil on the phone, gril ing them about when he was last seen. Frank already set off for the school in his car.'

That's bad,' I groaned.

'Very bad.' Peter sounded cut up, his breathing was al wrong. *I

needed to talk. You're the only person I can tel .'

'So you need me to look out for Raven if he heads back to El erton?' It was hard to imagine that the kid would be able to make it alone, but I promised Peter anyway. 'What about you - what wil you do? OK, don't answer that. Stay where you are. I'l come right over we'l talk.'

Peter Hal met me at the Taylors' gate and quickly took me into an annexe to the side of the main house. 'We don't need to let anyone know you're here,' he explained.

'Any news?' I asked, taking in the orderly array of gardening tools, plant pots and fertilizers. There were magazines stacked neatly on a shelf and a corner of the room with a sink, a kettle and coffee mugs. 'Did they

find Raven?'

Peter shook his head and tried hard to keep his voice steady as he spoke. 'They decided he took off late last night - Frank just reached the school and cal ed home. Al yson is speaking with the police department

in Shepherd County.'

'Wil she go and join Frank?'

'I doubt it. She's the type to leave the authorities to do their work while she continues on with her routine. Al yson knows Frank can deal with things at the school.'

'That's so not the point. How come she isn't going crazy like any other mother?'

'Al yson isn't any other mother,' he reminded me. 'Besides, this isn't

the first time Raven has done this. The other times it worked out - either the school or the cops found him within a couple of hours and brought him back.'

'But this time you're not so sure?'

There was a pause. 'He never took off in the middle of the night 88

before. Since Arizona passed, the stuff he's doing gets weirder.'

'He misses her,' I said quietly. 'Maybe he doesn't understand that she won't come back.'

Peter had his back to me and was staring out of the window, watching the main house. He stiffened as he saw the door open and Al yson Taylor walked out. 'Stay out of sight,' he warned.

I ducked back into a dark corner, hearing the sound of a car engine start up and the smooth swish of tyres down the drive.

'She's heading for the TV station,' Peter reported. 'It's OK, you can relax.'