Oblivion (18 page)

“Yeah, I’m just waiting for Merrick.”

“Can you come here a minute?”

Jace didn’t want to be anywhere by the hot redhead who put his whole life into perspective in one sentence. He was angry and wanted to rail at life’s injustices. Taking it out on Daphne wasn’t happening. She only stated the obvious. He was just angry she was right.

“What is it?” he asked as he went to the room. She stood at the window. He was thankful she put her pants on. She had her back to him.

“You’re mad at me,” she stated and didn’t turn. “I have a bad habit of saying what’s on my mind and being blunt. You get that way being a waitress all your life. People are always telling you their problems.”

“No, you would make a great therapist or a shrink. You were right, about everything. It doesn’t help to know the life I lost wasn’t one I was living for myself anyway.”

Daphne turned and smiled sadly. “Yeah, I feel that way too. I loved my son, but I kept feeling like I cheated him out of having a better life when I got pregnant by Aaron. I knew by then he would be a rotten father and a crummy husband. It was too late.”

“Then we both learned something new today,” Jace said and smiled. “It’s becoming a habit and I’ve only known you seven hours. A good thing I wasn’t a regular at your diner.”

“I’m going back to check on my son,” she said and he could see nothing would deter her. “I just want to know Jacob is safe and happy with my parents and his father isn’t blamed for my death.”

“I’m going back to check on Lindsay and my family,” Jace replied and his brown eyes filled with admiration. “I’d rather spend eternity wandering there than the next fifty here chasing deadheads.”

“Jace, I don’t think this is the message we’re supposed to take from this place, but I can’t get past my baby.”

“I can’t get past my girl and my family. You don’t need to tell me. I can’t pretend that I’m happy to realize I was doing everything Lindsay wanted, but that isn’t her fault, it’s mine. Had I been confidant I wouldn’t lose her then; I might have taken those risks.”

Daphne grinned. “I never thought I’d ask this; but how do you haunt a house?”

“We don’t have a manual here in Oblivion, but it can’t be too hard.”

“When do we leave?”

“What do you mean ‘we’?” Jace asked.

“I thought we could leave together and meet back,” she ventured softly. “You’re coming back, right?”

“We can’t leave the door open. That’s why they forbid it.”

“Why can’t we close the door for one another? The buddy system?”

Jace grinned. “I knew you had more skills than just being a waitress. How much time do you think we would need?”

“How about two weeks?”

Jace realized what they were doing would land them in deep trouble with Raymond but he didn’t care. He had a murderer to catch and his girlfriend and the kids needed him. Even if he got tossed to the demons upon his return, it was worth it to see Cameron Chase get his.

“That’s enough time to say goodbye and set things to rights.” 

 “That’s all I mean to do and I’m going first,” she assured him with a glint in her blue eyes.

 “You just want to make sure I come back,” he accused and smiled.

“Yeah that too, but I don’t want to haunt Aaron forever, just two weeks to see if he had anything to do with this.”

  They regarded one another with mutual relief. For now they both had secrets from the group. Jace would do what he promised Merrick and fulfill their expectations of him, but he would protect his own from Cameron. He couldn’t allow the chips to fall where they may. Too much depended upon Lindsay following through with her plans. His brother and sister’s futures also weighed heavily upon him too.

Despite the twinges of uncertainty that he and Lindsay wouldn’t have lasted that year of separation, he still loved her as much as when he was alive. Hope didn’t die with him they would have worked all those problems out had he lived.

 Despite Daphne pointing out the flaws in their perfect love, it certainly did not lessen his feelings of loss and anger to be denied a life with Lindsay.

Thinking about her now made life in Oblivion bearable. Lindsay was like that white light he failed to see upon his arrival, leading him back to her side. Two weeks didn’t seem like enough time to set matters to right. It didn’t seem fair. To stay any longer would be foolish and make leaving them all harder. He would go back to make sure the ones he loved were back on track, nothing more.

Jace’s brown eyes grew cold to think of Cameron. The friend he was betrayed by so cruelly would think he got away with his murder. He could only imagine how Cam covered it up that day. He knew no one would ever believe he did it. The face Cameron showed to the world was a far cry from the savage one filled with rage that stabbed him to death upon the ground next to his truck.   

What troubled Jace the most was why Cameron did it? He was second choice for the football scholarship. His best friend knew it was his when he found out Jace wasn’t going with Lindsay.

Cameron set up his sleeping with Marnie over the holidays as a favor, assuring him he was fine with it. Jealousy didn’t factor into his actions at all. It didn’t make sense. If it wasn’t the scholarship or Marnie; why did he kill him?

Why did it matter to him so much to know? He was dead by Cameron’s hand, no matter the reasons. He wanted to know what was worth killing him for. It burned within him.

He didn’t buy Merrick’s assessment it was a thrill-kill thing for Cameron. The killing was done out of rage, pure unadulterated rage. The flashes of the attack left him shaken and filled with fear for anyone who crossed paths with his killer. He remembered more of that day in fragments that made him cringe in remembrance.

Jace just got done showing Cameron the ring, telling him his plans when his friend asked that he pull over. Cameron seemed surprised he was asking Lindsay to marry him. He remained strangely quiet after that.

Jace just leaned over to put the ring back in the glove box when the first blow fell from behind through the window of his truck. The knife had been driven into his neck, severing his jugular. He gasped and stared in horror and surprise as Cameron stood outside the window with the bloody knife. His blue eyes were cold and flat, devoid of emotion.

Jace fell against the door, holding his neck where blood poured from the wound when Cameron yanked open the truck door and let him fall to the ground. He was helpless as the knife descended again and again into his writhing body, until he knew nothing but blackness and the pain and horror were gone.

Cameron deserved to get his now, despite Merrick’s talk of Karma and the law of averages bad people met a bad end. He always believed in what went around came around. For the first time in his life and death, he wasn’t content to let it come out in the wash. No, the boy who cost him everything would pay before it was all over.

Chapter Eleven

Lindsay managed to avoid Cameron another couple days. He caught her leaving her apartment, pulling up behind the station wagon and blocking her from backing out. Fear hammered in her chest as she saw him get out of the black Mustang and approach the car window. He was smiling, despite his loathsome actions towards her. The urge to run him over was strong when he came up behind the car.

“Hey Stranger,” he said pleasantly, a question in his blue eyes. He sounded friendly but his eyes held a glimmer of anger in them. “I heard you were sick. You don’t look sick.”

Lindsay looked at him in stunned silence for about a full minute; unable to understand how he could act like nothing ever happened.

“Are you for real, Cameron? Are you really going to pretend you didn’t put something in the schnapps? I didn’t drink enough to get that wasted!”

He grinned and raised an eyebrow. “I thought you needed a little help loosening up, Lindsay. Come on, I didn’t do anything to you. I got an eyeful, but that’s it.”

She resisted the urge to scream for help, her fear coursing through her in waves at his casual dismissal of drugging her. The thought of his seeing her unclothed that night made her feel bile rise in the back of her throat.

“Get away from my car, Cameron,” she said coldly and eyed him like an insect. “Maybe some girls around here don’t mind being date-raped by you, but I have a real problem with it. You’re lucky you didn’t do more than look. I certainly won’t put myself in that position again.”

“We both know before Jace died you were dying to get laid,” he said smugly and rolled his eyes. “I was just helping it along.”

“Help yourself away from my car if you know what’s good for you!” she snapped and was infuriated by his laughing at her.

“Really Lindsay, the way you horde that pretty little body of yours makes me wonder if somebody didn’t do Jace a favor by putting him out of his misery.”

It was all she could do to keep from going off, her anger out of control now. He was baiting her and she knew it. She calmed herself with remarkable ease and glared at him, revving her engine.

“Unless you want a piece of me imbedded in the side of that car; I suggest you move it,” she warned threateningly and the station wagon jerked backward before she slammed on the brake. “Stay away from me Cameron. You come near me again; I go to the Sheriff and tell him how you score so many girls around here. They might stay quiet, but I won’t.”

He looked angry now, his eyes filled with fury. “Yeah, I heard you already talked to the cops. What did you tell them, Lindsay?”

She could see he knew something. When Sheriff Wilson came over to fit her for the wire he warned her things would happen very fast now. Cameron would be arrested and make bail as soon as his fancy lawyer was called from Helena. Obviously this was the reason for his visit today. She was glad she wore the wire just to get used to it, even if she was only going to meet her dad for lunch.  

“The truth; that you’re a total psycho who drugs girls to get them into bed and kills their boyfriends, you sick miserable piece of shit!”

That seemed to awaken the sleeping demon within Cameron. His eyes filled with rage, darkening and growing frightening. She knew real fear then. They were behind Merriman’s grocery store with no witnesses about. She was warned to get him in public for her own safety. His baiting her and her fear had made her speak rashly.

“I think Jace’s death must have caused a breakdown, Lindsay,” he said smoothly despite his obvious anger. “I didn’t kill him.”

“It must be hard to know you killed Jace and got the scholarship that was his,” she taunted with a smile. “All that work and we both know you aren’t even smart enough to take the SAT and use it.”

“Shut up!” he said harshly and bore down on her, forcing her back inside the car; his face filling the open window. “I got a new tutor! One that’s better than you! I’ll pass, no thanks to you.”

“I found the ring, Cameron. I know you took it from Jace the day you killed him,” she continued, seeing him unravel before her eyes. He was shaking and livid now. “I went to the cops and I hope you fry for what you did to him!”

“They can’t prove anything!” he snapped and smiled coldly, his hand reaching out to touch her. She shrank back from him.

“Keep thinking that, Cameron. I plan on being at your execution,” she jeered and laughed as she saw him stiffen and his face flushed almost beet red. “You think you got away with it, but they know it was you!”

“Like I said, Lindsay,” he informed her through clenched teeth. “I’d like to see them prove it. My lawyer says I’m going to beat this. I’ll see you in Georgia, baby. You’ll pay for going to the police; you and Marnie.”

“You leave her alone!” Lindsay cried and slapped him away from her car window, her eyes wide with fright. “She didn’t tell them anything they didn’t already know, Cam! You set yourself up when you stole the ring.”

Cameron stood back and folded his arms across his chest and looked unimpressed.

 “Oh come on, since when do you stick up for Marnie? The little whore sold you down the river and told me you forced her to go to the cops. My lawyer tells me I can beat that. All I have to say is Jace gave it to me to hold onto for him and I forgot about it. It proves nothing, Lindsay. If I were you; I’d be careful about throwing accusations around.”

“You don’t scare me, Cameron,” she said harshly, tears in her eyes. “You don’t have the element of surprise anymore like you did with Jace. I see you coming.”

“Actually you won’t see it coming at all, Lindsay,” he warned her coldly. “I heard your Ma is moving in with Miller and you’re going to be all alone here. Just think, one night you come home I might be up there waiting for you, babe.”

Revulsion shone in her gaze. “Are you threatening me, Cam? Not a good idea now that you’re being charged for killing Jace. If I were you, I wouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.”

He looked really mad then, but he still hadn’t admitted to killing Jace. She just needed to push him harder to get him to confess.

“It must be hard being second best to Jace all your life, Cam. Even Marnie said Jace was better in bed his first time than you ever were.”

Cameron’s face looked white with fury and he reached for her then, his hands clawing at her and trying to yank her out of the car window, his hands digging into her arm. She kicked at him and dragged herself into the passenger seat to get away.

“You snotty little bitch! You’re gonna pay for this!” he snarled and came in the window after her.

She was out the door before he realized it. She kept the car between them.

“You better kill me, Cameron, because if I find you waiting for me one night, you aren’t leaving my apartment alive.”

He punched the top of the car and glared at her.

“Why did you have to go and screw things up, Lindsay? You couldn’t leave it alone, could you? No, you went snooping around my room and had to go run to the police. When I get out of this, and I will, I won’t forget this.”

“I’m going to make sure you burn for what you did to Jace, Cameron,” she flung and enjoyed the uneasy look in his eyes.

“We both know he couldn’t make you happy. He’s a Turner! You would marry trash like that? It would have all been perfect if you hadn’t found that ring, Lindsay. Watch your back, babe. I have something you don’t. I got friends. When I put the word out you fingered me to the cops; you won’t have a peaceful moment in this town.”