Wraiths of Winter (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 3) (10 page)

Okay, just talking about that creepy old place made
my skin crawl so I decided to change the subject. “Do you
have any pictures of her?” I asked.

Drake pulled out his wallet and handed me a photo. It
was a picture of Allison taken in front of the Bantam Theater.
She was pretty in a unique sort of way.
Her face and its
features were small and pixie-like.
Her hair was short and
spiky with flecks of red woven in with her natural brown
coloring.
Despite the lack of facial piercings, she instantly
reminded me of someone. That someone was Crimson.

Drake finished his beer and stood up. “I don’t know
how you guys think you can help but I appreciate the gesture.
Just be careful and don’t forget—you’re dealing with a killer.”

He walked away quietly but his words hung in the air,
repeating over and over again in my mind. “You’re dealing
with a killer.”

8. Melt, Refreeze

Rachel and I hatched a quick plan to scope out the
coffee shop and the cemetery after work on Sunday. Neither
of us even mentioned the Bantam Theater. I felt an unspoken
agreement that we would investigate the theater only as a last
resort.
Zach drove me home and promised to pick me up
Saturday at eight for our mystery date. After hearing Drake’s
sad story of love tragically cut short, Zach and I held each
other longer than usual before we said goodbye.

Work sucked on Saturday. With only three weeks to
go until Christmas, it looked like everyone in town was going
to find a candle or two under their trees.
I was already
overwhelmed with “holiday cheer” even before two old ladies
started wrestling over a Baby Jesus candle.
I broke up the
melee then retreated to the stockroom to break out a new box
of babies.

As I was pulling them down from the shelf, my phone
started to vibrate in my pocket. Taking a quick peek out into
the shop to be sure the brawling grannies were still behaving,
I pulled out my phone and checked to see who the message
was from. It was from Lucas.

“Bored in Burgh. Wish u were here. ”

He wished I was
in
Pittsburgh with him?
I was
flattered. But I shouldn’t be flattered—should I?
And what
was up with the smiley face—was he just being friendly or
was it something more?
I was contemplating an appropriate
response when the grannies started fighting over yet another
candle.
I had to get out there before they knocked each
other’s dentures out. Quickly, I typed out a reply.

“Work sucks. Wish I was in the Burgh. ”

I was too busy to think about Lucas for the rest of my
shift. But after the door was locked and I was finally alone, his
text and my reply were at the forefront of my thoughts.

Would he misinterpret my reply to mean that I wished
I could be with him? I left my phone in the back after sending
it so I had no idea if the conversation ended there. I snatched
it from the stockroom on my way to the safe and saw that I
had two unread texts.

Once the money was safely locked up, I sat down at
Rita’s desk to read them. One was from Zach, the other from
Lucas.

I read Zach’s first. His consisted of a reminder to
bundle up for our date.
Passing it over without a reply, I
clicked on the one from Lucas.

“Comin back next weekend—wanna join?”

I could swear that my heart stopped for a millisecond
then beat doubly fast to make up for it. Why was I surprised?
Just because he apologized for hitting on me didn’t mean he
stopped liking me.
Did he think I was hinting for an invite
when I sent him that text? Out of nowhere my phone started
to vibrate and I nearly dropped it. It was Lucas again.

“2 search 4 my adoption records 2gether.”

Was
that relief I felt or disappointment?
Was
it
possible to feel both emotions at the same time?
It had to be
because I did.
Relief because his offer was innocent and I
wouldn’t have to argue with Zach over Lucas’s intentions.
Disappointment because…why exactly
was
I disappointed?
The whole situation was super confusing.

I couldn’t dwell on it now. Zach had something fun
planned for me tonight. He was so good at it, too—he always
knew just the right things to say and do.
The only date we
ever had that went badly due to anything he could control
was Boone’s pool party. Now that Zach’s anger and jealousy
were under control, I would never have to worry about a
night like that one again. Quickly, I finished closing the shop
and texted Lucas back to let him know I was onboard for the
search. I texted Zach to let him know I wouldn’t forget to
dress warm and then I was on my way.

Dressed in my favorite tunic sweater, the skinniest
jeans I owned and boots that left me breathless the first time I
saw them, I got into Zach’s car with a confident smile on my
face. I wasn’t going to let recent events spoil our date. I
deserved a good night out with my boyfriend just as much as
the next girl—even more, as a matter of fact.

“You look beautiful, sweetie—warm, too!” Zach said as
I settled into the passenger seat of his Neon and threw my
parka in the backseat.

“Thanks. You said to bundle up so I took advantage of
it and broke out my favorite sweater. You look great, too, by
the way.”

Great was hardly the word for it. Being the Norse god
that he was, winter looked amazing on him. His eyes were
bluer against the snowy backdrop and I could easily picture
him sailing an icy Scandinavian sea.
Or snuggled up with me
by a roaring fire. Winter was such a cozy, romantic season
anyway but looking the way he did only magnified it.

“Where are we going?” I asked, sliding as close to him
as I could manage without actually climbing into his seat with
him.

“You’ll see,” he said smiling proudly. “You’re gonna
love it.”

He drove in the opposite direction we normally took
and away from town.
Despite the warmth of my sweater,
when we drove past the sign to Silver Lake, a cold shiver crept
its way along the length of my spine.

Clay. I knew ghosts couldn’t feel the biting chill of the
wind but the idea of him haunting that desolate spot alone
made me unexpectedly sad. Now that I knew he was dead, he
didn’t seem half as creepy to me as he did when I thought he
was flesh and blood.
Wow—that sounded freakish even to
me
. I was now more comfortable with ghosts than I was with
living people. What was my world coming to?

Snow started to fall as we made our way down the
winding back road. We passed several cars heading the other
direction but it still felt incredibly remote.
It was kind of like
a scene from a horror movie. You know, the ones where an
unsuspecting couple breaks down on an unfamiliar stretch of
highway and gets killed by some crazy family of cannibals.
But that didn’t happen in real life, did it? Just in case, I asked
Zach to lock the doors.

“So the girl who willingly seeks out ghosts is afraid of
something after all?” Zach teased me with a laugh.

 

It
was
a little silly so I laughed, too. “I’ve watched too
many horror movies I guess.”

The thick of the trees thinned out until a field of
parked cars was visible.
Just past the cars, I could see what
brought us here in the first place. Ice skating.

“Oh Zach! I’ve always wanted to learn how to ice
skate—how did you know?” I couldn’t take my eyes off of the
skaters as they glided around on the ice.

Zach looked pleased. “I
didn’t
know—I just thought it
would be something romantic you might enjoy.
Looks like I
was right.”

He parked the car and we walked out to the ice hand
in hand—another perfect date courtesy of Zach Mason. There
was no conflict in my head
or
my heart—
he
was the boy of my
dreams.
It felt like I was at the top of the Ladder of Ultimate
Happiness.
Not a single thing could possibly ruin this night.
So instead, a series of events chipped away at my happiness
until not a trace of it was left.

It all started with Misty. Okay, she didn’t actually
do
anything
to me—for once—but her mere presence was
enough to affect my mood. Knock me down one rung on the
Ladder.

Hate her or not, Misty was an excellent skater.
Not
only was she good at the actual skating part, she had an
incredible presence on the ice. If I didn’t already know how
supremely evil she was, I would have thought she was an
angel. Misty was dressed in ivory tights and a light pink tunic
sweater—a fluffy confection of cashmere cotton candy. Her
hair flew around her like a blond halo, fluttering softly back
into place as she came to a stop. I was going to look like as
graceful as a lumberjack next to her.

A small trailer by the side of the ice bore a sign
proclaiming “Skate Rentals”. Zach led me over and told the
attendant what sizes we needed.
I was definitely impressed
that he knew what size shoe I wore. How many boyfriends
would pay
that
much attention, right?

We sat down on an empty bench and changed into our
skates.
Zach stood up on the thin blades effortlessly so I
assumed I would do the same.
Wrong, wrong,
extremely
wrong. Another backslide down that Ladder.

As I put my weight down on the blades, my ankles
buckled and I wobbled back onto the bench. “How do you
make that look so easy?”

“I don’t know,” Zach said with a puzzled look. “I’ve
never seen anyone have that much trouble. Maybe your laces
just aren’t tight enough—let me see.”

I lugged my heavy, bladed foot across his lap.
Zach
tightened the laces until I thought my foot was going to fall off
and then did the same for my other leg.

“There—now try.”

 

He seemed positive that he had fixed the problem so I
stood up fully expecting to look like a pro. Wrong again.

At least this time I could stand—barely.
I took one
step and nearly fell. Frustrated, I sat back down on the bench
and watched Misty as she glided effortlessly around the ice.
Immediately, I slipped into self-pity mode.

“You go ahead—I’ll just sit here and watch you.” This
was one of those moments meant to test your relationship. He
was
not
supposed to go out on that ice and leave me alone on
the bench regardless of what I was telling him to do.

Zach frowned. “I can’t just leave you here while I go
have fun without you.”

That was the right answer. But I decided to push it
anyway. “No, go ahead—I’ll be fine.” What can I say? I was
PMSing pretty hard and watching perfect Misty do her perfect
turns in her perfect outfit made me want to just sit there and
be perfectly pissy.

Zach studied me like he was questioning my sincerity
but in the end he took my words at face value. “Okay, if you
don’t mind. I just want to take a few laps around then we’ll
leave and go find something else to do.”

The Ladder of Ultimate Happiness now felt more like a
sliding board. I sat there stewing over the fact that Zach did
what I told him to do. Any good boyfriend should know that
you have to read between the lines in situations like this,
shouldn’t he? How could he
not
know that “I’ll be fine” was
girlfriend code for “Don’t you
dare
have fun without me!”?

I took off the skates and sat there watching Zach fly
around the ice like a hockey star.
Misty kept her distance
from him but I caught her staring as Zach shifted his foot,
came to a quick stop and sent a spray of ice crystals into the
air.

“Show off,” I grumbled under my breath and then
looked around quickly to see if anyone heard me.
Of course
they didn’t, they were all out on the ice, too.

Show off or not, he was true to his word and returned
to the bench after only three laps.

“I’m sorry this didn’t work out like I planned, sweetie,”
Zach said as he removed his skates and returned both pairs to
the man in the rental trailer. “Since my plan was an epic
failure, I’ll let you decide what you want to do instead now.”

Good question. What
did
I want to do? I
wanted
to
put those skates back on and magically turn into an Olympic
figure skater but that was never going to happen.
So my
second choice was to go home and wallow in my misery.

“Just take me home—we can watch a movie
or
something.” Preferably not a movie involving ice skating.

 

“Are you sure? You look so pretty tonight. You should
be out having fun instead of sitting at home!”

 

His cheerful attitude was starting to annoy me. “I’m
positive.”

 

“Okay, then,” he replied quietly, suddenly seeming to
get that I wasn’t even remotely happy.

We got into the Neon and started to drive back to
Rosewood. About a mile from the skating rink, the car began
to swerve out of Zach’s control and he fought the steering
wheel to stay on the road. Thump, thump, thump! The noise
came from somewhere on the passenger side. Something was
definitely wrong with his car.

“Dammit!” Zach exclaimed as he eased on the brakes
and brought us to a stop.

“What’s wrong? What was that noise?” I asked. My
dismal time at the rink was overshadowed by the fact that his
car now seemed to be trying to kill us.

After a long
string
of curse words, Zach slumped
against the steering wheel and mumbled, “Flat tire.”

Whew.
What I thought was
the start of a fiery
explosion was just a flat tire. Zach knew enough about cars
that it should be no problem at all. “Oh,” I said happily,
“That’s a relief! I thought the Neon was transforming into a
Decepticon or something.”