Oblivion (36 page)

“Keep smiling, Cameron’s watching,” he told her and her gaze followed his to where Cameron sat glowering back at her.

“Flip him the bird,” Jace told her and she giggled.

“No, I’d rather let him know he didn’t ruin this for me,” she said and smiled even wider as Cameron turned back around in his seat.

She was glad Jace was there when the final address was given to the Class of 2011. Cheers went up with their caps. The applause was deafening. Jace managed to catch her cap in midair by focusing on it, bringing it back to her lap.

He walked with her to where her family sat, still smiling.

Lindsay got hugs and more pictures were taken with her brother and Marnie who arrived late. She was glad Jace was there standing next to her during the pictures, making her smile even deeper. He was draping an arm around her and she leaned into him, feeling the day turned out absolutely perfect when they finally headed to the car.

Her mom was teary-eyed and engulfed her in a tight hug. “My baby is graduated!” she exclaimed once more and Jack smiled indulgently at her.

“Let’s go back to my place. I got burgers and dogs,” he was saying and looked over at Bill and Margene. “You two are welcome to join us. It’s Lindsay’s day.”

Bill declined and Margene looked irritated, obviously wanting to go.

Lindsay was glowing after the ceremony. Sara hugged her and looked up at her with a smile.

“Didn’t I tell you I had this?” she said.

“Yeah, you did good. Sounds like something Jace would do.”

She smiled at that and rejoined Lindsay’s mom and Jack. Jace stood with her and looked less pleased now.

“I’m following Cameron and sticking to him like glue. I’ll meet you at your place to wait for Wilson.”

Jace ran than, a blur that flew across the school parking lot and beyond. She shook her head, still amazed by some of the things he could do. Her heart clenched at the thought of his leaving tomorrow. This would be his last night in her world. It seemed fitting they tie up this loose end before he left.

“Lindsay, hurry up!” Deborah called as they headed to the car. “We want to get ahead of the traffic.”

She picked up her steps and followed, feeling better every step she took. This day couldn’t have been more perfect if Jace was alive to be here and graduate with her. This was it. The rest of her life lay out in front of her and beyond. Suddenly she was excited about the future, even if the guy she loved wasn’t going to be there.

Lindsay learned a lot about herself. She was stronger than she’d ever realized. She could survive without Jace. Just knowing he made it back one last time to help her through this gave her the courage to keep going, for him.

The barbecue was a festive affair. She received gifts when they were cutting her cake. Jack bought her a beautiful leather satchel for school and it was filled with school supplies. She stared at it in surprise, knowing how much it must have cost. Her mother was beaming as she hugged her. Lance got her a new laptop and hugged her tightly when she started to cry.

It was a perfect day and she was sad when she made her excuses to go and get ready for the party. She would have liked to hang out with her family, not track down and worm a confession out of Cameron. It had to be done.

She arrived two minutes ahead of Sheriff Wilson. He came into the apartment and handed her a gift. She was touched when she opened it and saw the silver pen set with her name engraved on them. She didn’t know what to say.

“Let’s do this thing, huh?” he asked and opened a case on the table to show her the listening device. He showed her how it worked. It would be a live microphone on her end and recording at his. He assured her it worked. He sat in his car to listen to her talking before he told her it was a go.

He came back inside and stared at her soberly. “I’m going to get as close as I can without tipping anybody off I’m there. We need a buzz word if you’re in trouble.”

“Like a code word?”

“Yeah, you say this word and I’m on him.”

“Ok, how about if I say just say the word ‘buzz’?”

“That’s real original,” the Sheriff said with a chuckle. “Fine, you say the word buzz and I’m there.”

Sheriff Wilson left and Lindsay scooped up the microphone. It pinned inside her bra and she was comforted to know he would move in as close as he could when she confronted Cameron. Jace assured her he would be there the whole time.

Lindsay was nervous as she went to her bedroom to change. Jace would be here any time now. She wondered why he followed Cameron. She knew he used his status as a ghost to listen in on people. He hoped to listen to Cameron and his friends and learn of their plans. He knew this was Cameron’s last chance to get to her too. He wouldn’t waste such an opportunity, knowing he was leaving the next day for his grandparent’s house.

Lindsay knew everyone counted on her getting a confession from Cameron. She just prayed she could stay alive to do that. The car bomb was just a warning, meant to scare her. She had no doubt he meant to kill her; knew it when he confronted her in Merriman’s and glared back at her at commencements. He wouldn’t be satisfied until she was dead.

~ ~ ~

“She won’t show up. She’s scared out of her mind,” Matt said and rolled his eyes. “I say we get her out of the apartment. Go have some fun with her.”

Cameron’s eyes gleamed as he drove away from the school. “She’ll show up. Dooley says she’s been snitching for Wilson all this time.”

“What are we gonna do?” Matt wanted to know, looking excited, his eyes taking on a feverish glow.

“The same thing we did to Jace,” Cameron replied and gazed at his companion with a feral look in his eyes. “It was all perfect until that bitch got to Marnie and she changed her story.”

“Yeah, too bad he died so quick too. I only got to stab him a few times. You said I could do more this time,” Matt whined.

“I get her first,” Cameron said coldly and glared at his friend and partner in crime. “She wrecked my life.”

“What are we going to do with all those people up there, Cameron?” Matt asked.

Cameron looked thoughtful. “I’ll think of something. You just take care of what I asked you too. She’s not getting out of there alive.”

“Can I kill Marnie at least?” Matt asked in a plaintive voice. “You never let me do hardly anything!”

“We risk enough killing Lindsay right now. Everybody on that mountain tonight needs to be my alibi that I was there the whole time. I need you to be visible and everybody will say they saw me. You just do what I say.”

“What if somebody finds out?”

“They’re going to be so trashed none of them are going to know which way is up. Besides it’ll be dark and you’ll be wearing my jersey and hat. Just stay away from the bomb fire.”

“Cameron, I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

“I’m not leaving here until she’s dead!” Cameron said coldly. “Everything would have been perfect if she hadn’t wrecked things!”

       “You still think his ghost is after you?” Matt asked and giggled.

“He came back for her. I don’t expect anybody to believe me,” Cameron said harshly. “She can join him now for all I care,”

“Whatever! Just let me slice up Marnie. You promised!”

“My ex-girlfriend can wait. I know where she’s going. She won’t see it coming. We’ll go on a little road trip in a few months and get her then.”

“Can I cut her first this time?” Matt asked hopefully.

“Yeah, you can do whatever you want this time.”

Matt looked pleased and sat back in the passenger seat and went back to playing with the radio.

Jace sat back in the backseat with a look of rage in his eyes, longing to kill Cameron and Matt both. It wasn’t just Cameron that day. He absorbed their words in shock. Matt helped him with the killing. They did it together. He recalled nothing of Matt attacking him. He’d been too far gone, bleeding out and dying by then; unaware his assailants switched out.

The fact they’d done it for the enjoyment of it disgusted him. Knowing they meant to kill Lindsay and later on Marnie made his decision. Whatever happened tonight; these two boys he’d known since grade school weren’t leaving that mountain. He wouldn’t want to leave this world knowing he left these two monsters behind.

They killed for fun in some sick perverse way he couldn’t imagine. They would kill again; he was sure of it. The cops weren’t even looking at Matt as a suspect. Even if Lindsay managed to get Cameron to confess tonight; Matt would still be out there on the loose. He waited in the woods that day when Cameron lured him out there. They worked together.

If Cameron walked away from this as they feared; they would be going after Marnie too. Jace wished he could summon his focus to flip the Mustang and kill them both. He didn’t dare use any bit of his energy now. He would need every bit to protect his girlfriend from these two deranged killers.

~ ~ ~

The group of ghosts all listened to Jace in horrified silence. Sal looked outraged. If Artie could have barfed, he would have.

“What do ya want us to do, Boss?” Sal asked with a cold gleam in his eye. “We want in on this.”

“I’m asking you to help me take them out if it comes to that.”

Silence greeted his request. The ghosts all looked afraid and muttered to themselves, clearly unwilling to go that far, even for their new friend.

“We can’t take that chance, Jace,” Sal said sadly and shook his head. The old, Italian man met his gaze bleakly. “We’re still waiting to be saved, Boss.”

Jace fumed as he paced within their group. The dozen or so he managed to round up lacked his control. They were good at making noise but their skills weren’t developed as they should be for what he needed them to do. Now, they seemed unwilling to believe him that nobody was ever coming for them.

“These guys like killing people,” he told them and his face was grim. “They’ll do it again. I heard them talking about it. They do it for fun!”

“Wait a minute,” Artie grumbled. “We can’t do what you want us to do. We’ll be stuck here forever. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m out. I’m not risking going to Hell for anything.”

Jace lost patience then. He had an hour before he met Lindsay. He didn’t have time for this. He decided the ghosts deserved to hear the truth.

“Nobody’s coming!” he told them in a grating voice and shook his head. “You got lost or something. They aren’t coming for you. You’re just stuck here. You’re worse off than I was on the other side. People cross over in that place at least.”

Sal looked angry at that. “You mean we been standin’ around waitin’ all this time and nobody’s comin’ for us?”

“That’s right,” Jace said and eyed them sadly. “I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. I wish I could tell you different, but look around. I bet most of these ghosts have been here a long time already.”

“What year is it?” a woman asked and looked miserable.

“It’s 2011,” Jace told her and she looked dazed.

“I’ve been here almost fifty years,” the woman said and looked like she would cry. “I wasn’t a bad person. I drowned in my pool. Why am I here still?”

“I died of leukemia,” the hippie said and looked sad. “Guess somebody forgot me.”

“How’d you die, Sal?” Jace asked, seeing they all believed him and digested his news.

“I choked on a piece of my wife’s leftover cannelloni,” he muttered and rolled his eyes. “Bada Bing; this is bad news, guys. I don’t know about you but I ain’t waitin’ here no more.”

“It’s the truth,” Jace told them all. “I don’t know why you all got left here. All I can tell you is whether you help me or not; you’re still gonna be here when it’s all over.”

“I’ll help ya on one condition,” Sal said and frowned. “I wanna get outta here. You take me back wherever you came from and I’ll help ya wack these two clowns.”

“You got a deal,” Jace told him, grinning at his words.

“I ain’t hangin’ around here no more,” Sal said in disgust and looked at the others. “What do ya say? You guys in or not?”

Artie was the only one who seemed the most resistant. He glared and stomped away, walking through the walls of Cameron’s neighbors house to pout.

“Don’t mind him, kid,” Sal said and grinned. “He’ll come around.”

“I meant what I said,” Jace called out, speaking to all twenty of the ghosts. “You help me and you can go back with me. People from there have crossed over. You stay and you take your chances.”

Sal smiled at him. “I’ll talk to them, kid. Where do ya want us to meet you?”

“Merriman’s parking lot at seven o’clock,” he told him. “I need to finish this tonight. We leave tomorrow.”

Sal nodded and he left him to handle the other ghosts all arguing and talking amongst themselves. Jace left knowing Sal would work them all over. The old man knew nobody was coming, unlike the others. He’d been there since the forties. He should know.

~ ~ ~

Lindsay was dressed and ready when Jace got there. From the look on his face as he walked through her bedroom door without warning, he wasn’t real happy.

“Lindsay, I need to talk to you before we do this,” Jace said and by the look on his face and his tone she slid onto the edge of her bed, wide-eyed.

“What is it?”

“Cameron didn’t kill me by himself, Lindsay. He had help.”

“What do you mean?”

“Cameron lured me out there. Matt was waiting for us, Lindsay. They did it together.”

She looked horrified and didn’t know what to say.

“This is too dangerous,” he said and looked shaken by what he learned. “Now do you see? Even if you get a confession from Cameron; Matt’s still walking’ around free. They plan on going after Marnie next. You can’t go tonight! I won’t put you in danger. They’re expecting you to show up.”

“Why would they expect me to show up? They just blew up my car and he threatened to kill me downstairs. Why would I go to his party?”

“Dooley told them your working for Wilson,” Jace said grimly. “That’s why Cameron never confessed. He knew you were wearing a wire the whole time. It’s done, Lindsay. It’s over. They’re planning on killing you tonight.”

“Then we need to go more than ever, don’t you see?” she asked and looked frantic. “If he gets away with this; he knows where to find me and Marnie. He’ll bide his time, Jace. He’ll go after us later.”