Forty-Four Box Set, Books 1-10 (44) (113 page)

“David,” I whispered. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure, otherwise we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

It was stupid that I had even asked. David would know.

“Oh, and one more thing,” he said. “Apparently, he liked the product so much, he bought the company.”

It took me a moment, but I understood what he was trying to say.

“You mean he’s a dealer?” I said.

David looked at me like I was child who had just been told there’s no such thing as Santa Claus.

“Does it smell like coffee in here? Does a bear poop in the woods? Does Lyle have big hair, Abby Craig? Yes, yes, and yes!”

CHAPTER 28

“Can you get that?” Kate yelled from her bedroom.

It felt like old times. I got up from the sofa and walked to the door.

I took a deep breath and opened it.

“Abby?” he said. “My God, it’s so good to see you.”

Other than being a little thinner, Dr. Mortimer looked exactly the same, his smile kind and warm. He was rugged, tan, and handsome as ever, and had let his hair grow out. He looked like he had stepped off a mountain trail in the Himalayas after a month-long climb and was ready to go again. His eyes sparkled.

My lasting vision of him was of a broken man, sitting over his dead brother. I was glad now to have something to replace that with.

He gave me a long hug.

“It’s good to see you, Dr. Mortimer,” I said.

He stared at me for a moment as I took his coat and umbrella, hanging them on the rack.

“Abby, look at you, you’re beautiful,” he said. “And you’re all grown up! Are you doing okay? Are you feeling well?”

“Yes. I feel great.”

“And soccer?”

“Yeah, still playing soccer.”

I laughed, remembering how happy it made him when I was able to play my favorite sport again. For a while he used to come to my rec games and cheer on the sidelines when I even touched the ball.

“How was your flight?” I asked.

“Long,” he said, sighing. “They don’t make it easy. It took me longer to get to Bend from Boston than it did coming back from India. But now I’m here. That’s what counts.”

We sat down in the living room and he looked around.

“The place looks great,” he said.

“Yeah, Kate went through a home improvement phase last year. She should be right out.”

A second after I said that, I heard her heels on the wood floor in the hall. As she came out, I saw that she had changed out of her sweats, and was now wearing a nice pair of dark jeans, a button down shirt, and her new gray Frye boots. Dr. Mortimer lit up like a lamppost when he saw her. They embraced in the middle of the room for a long time, and when she pulled away I saw that her eyes were moist.

“It’s good to see you again, Ben,” she said.

“You look amazing,” he said. “Like always.”

“Can I get you some wine?” she said. “We have a good Malbec.”

“Sure. I’d love some.”

When she returned from the kitchen, we sat in the living room and talked. It was a little stiff the first half hour or so, but as the night progressed, it felt more and more relaxed, like we were all old friends getting together and catching up. Kate and I had a lot of questions about India, but Dr. Mortimer kept bringing the conversation back to us, asking about our jobs and soccer and then about the culinary program I told him about.

It was almost like the past year had never happened, like that island had never existed. I knew we would never completely forget, but it was nice to feel like we had finally put it somewhere in the past. We all needed that.

Kate told Dr. Mortimer about the staff cuts at
The
Bugler
and her job search.

Everything was going along fine. Until I asked him about the future.

“So are you moving back to Bend?”

Kate immediately stood up and brought back another bottle of wine. Dr. Mortimer held his hand over his glass.

“I’m good, Kate. I’ve got a busy morning.”

He turned to me.

“We’ll see, Abby. I haven’t made any firm decisions about where I’ll land just yet.”

Kate looked over at me and held up the bottle, but I shook my head. She poured another glass for herself. She seemed nervous suddenly.

“Okay, I’ve got to ask,” Dr. Mortimer said, clasping his hands around his knee. “Did you two get a chance to look over the website?”

I had written him about it already, complimenting it and wishing him luck. I was hoping that we didn’t have to talk too much about it, not tonight anyway.

“Yeah, Ben,” Kate said. “It looks great. What a great project to be involved with. It seems like your organization is really helping a lot of people.”

He smiled.

“We try. But it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Our resources are limited. In fact, you probably saw that I’m on a fundraising tour out here, speaking to doctors, administrators, and assorted philanthropists, trying to raise some of the money we need to help even more people. I’ll be at more than a dozen hospitals in these next few months.”

“I did see that,” she said. “Very impressive.”

I stayed quiet. He looked over at me.

“What about you, Abby? Tell me again what you think about it all.”

“It’s great,” I said. “Is this what you’re doing now? I mean, it’s like your job?”

“For now, I guess. That’s a good way of putting it. But once I’m done touring, I’ll be back in the emergency room.”

“Here?” I asked.

“Possibly,” he said, his eyes locked on Kate. “They’ve offered me my old job back at St. Charles, and I’m still thinking about it. I’ll be over there this week because they’re a little shorthanded. But I’m pretty flexible as to where I live. Really, I think I can be happy working at an ER in any city.”

Kate cleared her throat before draining her glass. The energy around her was moving faster.

“When did you decide to start this charity?” she said quickly.

As he talked about it, my mind began to wander. I hoped I didn’t appear rude, but I felt tired suddenly, like I had that night at the pub with Derek.

And then I saw something out of the corner of my eye. There was something moving in the house. A shadow.

It stopped next to Dr. Mortimer for a moment. As I sat there, almost too exhausted to even look at it, the dog began to bark. I turned toward the window.

When I looked back at the shadow, it was gone.

I slowly walked over to the window and stood there.

“See something?” Kate said.

“No,” I said. “Just checking.”

Feeling the energy return to my body, I sat down. I tried to focus on the conversation while still keeping an eye out for anything unusual. But whatever had been here was now gone. Everything seemed back to normal.

“Well, I don’t want to end this lovely evening, but I better be going,” Dr. Mortimer said after a while. “I’ve got to get an early start tomorrow.”

When we stood up, I saw that the energy between them was bright, fast, and powerful. Nothing had changed. They still loved each other.

It had been a good visit, easier than I had expected. And somehow I had survived the evening without having to sign up for anything.

Kate helped Dr. Mortimer with his coat.

“Abby, I would love to talk with you more about the charity,” he said as I handed him his umbrella.

Almost
survived.

“I’m not trying to talk you into anything, I promise. But do you think we can meet tomorrow sometime? I’d love to go over some of my plans with you. I’d like your opinion.”

“Sure,” I said. “I work until four, but then I’m free.”

“Great. I’ll be at the hospital, but I can meet anywhere. Just give me a call when you’re ready and I’ll come by and pick you up. Maybe we could go for an early dinner.”

“Okay,” I said. “Bye, Dr. Mortimer. It was awesome seeing you.”

“Bye, Abby.”

I took the wine glasses to the kitchen. I could hear Kate gently laughing and Dr. Mortimer’s low voice floating through the house. I was glad that we were all friends again.

But as I rinsed out the glasses, I thought again about that darkness I had seen moving around. It was something, but I didn’t know exactly what. Maybe Jesse would know.

Dinner with Dr. Mortimer tomorrow wouldn’t be so bad, I told myself. I wasn’t looking forward to telling him that I had no interest in helping out with his organization if it meant public speaking, but I would tell him. He would understand.

And then we could talk about other important things. Because whether he wanted to or not, there were things we needed to talk about.

CHAPTER 29

After he left, Kate and I sat back in the living room and talked long into the night. But she didn’t confess to what I had already picked up on. That she was still in love with Dr. Mortimer.

“He seems great,” she said.

“Yeah. It’s good to see him so full of life again.”

She smiled, her energy still buzzing around her like a thousand small fireflies, lighting up her face.

We went to bed sometime after one.

I put on my pajamas, washed my face, and lit the candle. I said the verse an extra couple of times as I thought about that hovering darkness. It wasn’t Nathaniel. I would have seen his ghost. It had to be something else.

I called Jesse’s name as I stared up at the ceiling. Jesse would come if he could. Maybe the fact that he wasn’t showing was proof that all this wasn’t so serious. Maybe I could find him at the park in the morning.

I looked out the window. Everything was quiet. A cold fog had settled in, thick and eerie, so I couldn’t see the fence or the frozen pond.

I closed my eyes, and almost instantly fell asleep.

***

The barking was deafening.

Much louder than ever before.

I shot out of bed as I glanced at the clock. 3:15. I rushed over to the window and saw the ghost dog, sitting on the wet grass, looking at me out of the fog.

He wouldn’t stop barking. I tried to talk him down, whispering gently, but it didn’t do any good. There was an urgency to him, from his intense eyes to his bristling coat to his thundering bark. He paced back and forth in the snow, as if he were trying to tell me something.

But I didn’t understand.

Maybe it had something to do with Derek. He said it wasn’t his dog, but maybe he had lied. Or maybe he knew more than he had told me about the dog. He could have run him over with his car. Or maybe Derek needed help again and he was afraid to ask.

I took the phone from my nightstand and called him. But his machine picked up. Over and over and over again.

Something inside told me he was in some sort of danger.

“He’s in trouble,” I mumbled.

I threw on my jeans and sweatshirt and headed out into the foggy darkness.

CHAPTER 30

As I drove down Skyliners Road deeper and deeper into the forest, I thought about Derek. I realized I didn’t know him at all.

The boy I had known when I was a child was gone. There was someone else in his place now. Someone who, according to David, used and sold drugs. Someone who drank too much and shouted incoherently in the middle of the night.

Maybe I was clinging to the past, a past that was as dead as Jesse, but I still felt a strong bond to him. Derek needed help. I was sure of it. I just hoped I wasn’t too late.

I was worried I’d miss the turnoff, but my internal GPS told me to slow down and a minute later I found myself going up the driveway to Derek’s house.

The lights were on. All of them.

He wasn’t alone. There were several other cars parked out front. Derek’s wasn’t one of them, but I figured it must be in the detached garage.

I cut the engine and sat for a minute, thinking. The blinds were open and I could see people inside. It looked like there was a party going on.

I got out and walked toward the porch. Loud bass sounds thumped through the walls. Two women were dancing in the center of the living room and a few people were sitting on sofas and chairs, watching them.

I rang the bell, but no one came. I knocked on the door with my fist.

I was about to knock again when the door opened.

“Yeah?” a man said.

“Is Derek here?”

“Who wants to know?”

“Oh, let her in, Gus,” a woman’s voice said. “Paranoia will
destroya
.”

Some of the others started to laugh.

I stepped in and looked around. They all seemed high.

“Is the music too loud?” one of the others said.

“Or are you here to party?” the man who opened the door said.

“I’m looking for Derek. I’m a friend of his.”

“For someone who just got into town, Derek’s gotta lot of friends,” he said, nodding toward the coffee table. “Of course with blow this fine, it’s understandable. Very understandable.”

His eyes were bouncing around inside his head.

David had been right.

“I got a seat for you right here, baby,” one of the other men said, patting his leg.

“Thanks, no. Like I said, I’m looking for Derek. Is he here?”

I was sounding like a broken record and hoping I wouldn’t have to break something over the head of the next one who called me baby.

“He was here just a minute ago,” one of the women said. “He’s a good dancer.”

That set off another round of laughter.

I pulled out my phone and tried his number again. A cell phone on the entryway table started ringing.

“Damn it,” I said through clenched teeth.

“Don’t sweat it, honey. I think he said something about wanting to see the waterfall again,” one of the dancers said. “One last time.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, the
one last time
part.

I walked back toward the door.

“Don’t say goodbye or anything,” the dancer said.

I didn’t. I went outside and walked over to the garage. I looked in through one of the small decorative windows on the door. It was dark, but as my eyes adjusted I could see well enough to know that Derek’s car wasn’t there.