Chapter Twenty-Six

Cleo

As soon as Ellie rounded the corner, I switched off the flashlight and dropped to the floor. Inky darkness immediately pressed against my spine, and my panic ballooned. The lack of light felt solid…thick and smothering, giving me the feeling of being deep underwater, disoriented, blind. I wanted to move forward, but suddenly couldn’t remember which way that was.

As soon as my eyes adjusted, I realized the darkness wasn’t quite as heavy as I’d first thought. I could see the faintest of faint glows ahead of me, coming from around a corner. I crawled toward it as quickly as I could, a moth to a flame.

I was thankful for the bedlam that I could clearly hear. It allowed me to move much more quickly than I’d have dared without its camouflaging noise. I jumped violently when Ellie screamed, and barely kept from echoing it with my own. The silence that followed chilled me to my core.

I had no plan when I peeked around the corner; I only knew I had to do something. The first person I saw was Jonas, hands tied behind him. I clapped a hand over my gasp, not wanting to give myself away. They’d hurt him! Blood was dripping from his nose and off his chin, making dark, wet stains on his shirt. He was staring directly at me, almost as if he knew I’d be at this exact place, at this exact moment. A flicker of some emotion I didn’t recognize flitted across his face, then he smiled. It was only one side of his mouth and only the corner tilted up, but I saw it, and my heart swelled.

Then I saw Ellie. She was lying in a puddle of blood that grew while I watched. Her eyes were open. Was she dead? No, that was a blink. She was alive, but not for long if she kept losing blood like that. The jagged gash at her temple drooled a steady stream of red. Just beyond her, Lily was struggling to get to her feet, hampered by the fact that her hands were tied behind her.

Spencer barked, “Clean this up! I want this over…now!”

His words triggered everything happening at once.

Spencer’s henchmen drew their guns. One took a step toward Lily and the other toward Jonas.

I scrambled forward on all fours, screaming bloody murder at the exact moment I saw a flash of fiery red in front of me. Lily finally lurched to her feet and shrieked, “Rose!”

Immediately, Spencer’s men looked as if they’d been hit by an unseen linebacker. They soared through the air like muscle-bound marionettes pulled by invisible strings, crashing violently into the dirt wall of the tunnel, and then collapsing into an unconscious heap, their guns thudding to the dirt floor. One of those guns skidded across the floor toward me as if kicked by an unseen foot. I snatched it up at the same moment Mark pulled his weapon.

Then all action stopped.

Four people still stood: Lily, Jonas, Mark Spencer, and me. Or was it five? In my periphery, I kept seeing that same flash of red, but when I turned my head, there was no one there. I couldn’t allow myself to dwell on it. The situation was too tense. We all stood there, out of breath, and staring warily at each other. Now what?

I’d never shot a gun before, never even held one, but I was pretty sure from watching TV, that a point and click method would do the trick. There was just one problem with that plan, and it was a big one. While I was aiming my gun at Mark Spencer, he was aiming his, not at me, but at Jonas! How did he know? How could he possibly know that Jonas was important to me? I couldn’t breathe and my hand started shaking so badly, I was afraid that if I tried taking a shot, I’d end up hitting anything but my intended target.

Spencer studied me like a specimen under a microscope, then laughed, but his eyes were cold and hard…deadly. “Didn’t your daddy ever teach you that children shouldn’t play with guns?” His folksy drawl was mocking. “Maybe you better put that thing down before you hurt yourself, little girl.”

His words stiffened my spine, steadied my hands. Little girl? I’d show him! “Who said I was playing?” It would’ve been the perfect comeback if my voice hadn’t cracked on the last syllable.

His smile faded, face hardened. “Put it down, girl, or I’ll shoot him.”

“Don’t do it, Cleo,” Jonas warned. “He’s going to shoot me anyway. He’s going to shoot all of us. There are never witnesses. You know that.”

“Shut up, Holmes!” Spencer snapped, then smirked at Jonas’ surprised expression. “Yeah, I know your last name’s not Knight. You write for the paper. I didn’t get to where I am today by being an idiot.”

Tears stung my eyes, but I impatiently blinked them away. I flicked a glance at Jonas. “I did what you said.” My eyes went back to Mark, and added. “It’s all taken care of.”

Mark narrowed his eyes. “What’s taken care of?”

I gave him a tight-lipped smile. “You. Even if you kill us all, you’re still going down.”

“Do not regret growing older. It’s a privilege denied to many.” Lily’s announcement might’ve seemed funny if this hadn’t been a life and death situation. Even so, I felt the strangest urge to giggle, but fought it back. Now wasn’t the time for hysterics.

Spencer’s jaw clenched. I could see the muscle working back and forth. I’d definitely gotten him thinking, looking for a way out. When he spoke, his voice was low and cold…like death.

“Well, he won’t be writing the story!”

His words set everything into a blur of motion, but to my eyes, the scene moved at half-speed, like a movie played at half-speed, frame by frame.

Mark and I fired our guns simultaneously. Of course I missed, and my quaking legs collapsed, dropping me to my knees.

At the moment the guns fired, Lily lunged in front of Jonas and they both fell to the ground like lead weights.

The exact instant he pulled the trigger, Mark Spencer screamed in agony as his arm jerked up and out like someone hit it with an invisible bat. His weapon sailed back over his head and into the tunnel; a soft thump sounded somewhere in the darkness; his arm dropped and dangled helplessly at his side,

A half a second later, there was a muffled pop that came from my right; then a surprised expression spread across Mark’s face as he gazed down at the small red dot staining the front of his shirt, as if not understanding what he was seeing.

My gun thudded to the floor, and I followed it.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was sunshine. Stripes of warm yellow painted the bedspread, my arms. I was in my own bedroom.

I shuddered. What a dream! No…what a nightmare! I stared at the dust motes floating in the beams of light, quietly urging that brightness to chase away the shadows in my mind.

I frowned. But it had seemed so real…could I have imagined darkness that oppressive? The cold sneer on Mark Spencer’s face? The pool of blood growing around Ellie’s still form? Jonas and Lily falling to the ground?

I gasped and sat straight up in bed, horrified, my heart pounding. It hadn’t been a dream! It had really happened! Oh, God! Jonas! Lily! Were they all right? Were they—

Just then, my bedroom door swung open, and I jumped so violently, I felt like I cleared the mattress by at least a couple of inches. Jonas walked in, carrying a tray. Relief and something else flashed in his eyes as soon as he saw me. He hurried across the room, setting the tray down on the bedside table before taking a seat on the bed, facing me. One hand grabbed mine; the other tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, and then tilted up my chin, searing my skin. He studied me carefully. “How do you feel?” he asked.

“I’m fine. Are you okay?” My eyes flicked to the white gauze taped at his hair-line, to the tape across his swollen nose. My fingers gently touched his head. “What happened?”

“One of Spencer’s shots grazed me. Oh, and this…” he pointed at his nose. “Turns out, noses don’t fare very well when they’re smashed against a wall.”

My heart squeezed inside me. “What?”

He shook his head slightly. “It’s okay. I’m fine. It could’ve been worse. I don’t know how he missed. It was an easy shot.”

A vision of Mark’s arm being violently whacked by something unseen, just as he was firing the gun, filled my mind. “It was Rose.”

His eyebrows shot up and he winced at the movement. “Huh?”

“Rose knocked Spencer’s arm so he’d miss.”

“Who’s Rose?”

“Lily’s sister.”

Something in his eyes flickered at the mention of Lily name. “Baby, there was no one else down there.”

“Rose is a ghost,” I managed to whisper around my heart that was suddenly wedged in my throat. “Where’s Lily?”

Jonas’ face grew a little paler. “Her sister is a ghost?”

“I’ll explain that part later, Jonas…where’s Lily?”

His eyes were grave. “She’s all right, but she’s at St. Joe’s. She’s been shot. The bullet that Mark intended for me got her, instead.”

A million questions exploded in my brain, as I scrambled out of bed and headed to my closet for clothes, but they’d have to wait. I needed to get to the hospital. “I’ll be ready in a minute.”

****

“Okay, now take up where you left off,” I demanded as soon as we were in his car and on our way. “How did Lily get shot when Mark was aiming at you?”

“She dove right in front of me just as Mark squeezed off two quick shots. One of them hit her in the shoulder, the other grazed my head. We’re both fine,” he added quickly when my mouth popped open. “She lost a lot of blood, both from the gunshot and the beating Mark gave her, but thankfully, no bones were broken, and the doctors were able to remove the bullet. They’re “cautiously optimistic,” which I think means she’s going to be fine.”

“Oh, thank God,” I breathed a prayer of thanks, then something in my brain clicked. “Wait a minute! Did you say two shots? Seriously? He fired twice, hitting two different people in spite of having his arm knocked out of the way? And I couldn’t hit him once? At nearly point blank range? Jeez, I’m pathetic.”

“I didn’t see anybody knock his arm,” he pointed out.

“I told you. It was Rose; Lily’s sister.”

“Oh, right. The ghost.” He flashed me a questioning look. “You said you’d explain about that.”

“I will. Tell me the rest, first.”

I could tell by the look on his face that he didn’t want to let me off the hook that easy, but he finally continued, “You don’t have to worry about your shot missing Mark. Ellie took care of it for you. In all the melee, a gun landed near her. She picked it up and managed to shoot him…right in the chest. He died on the way to the hospital.”

Dead? Mark was dead? How was I supposed to feel about that? Yes, he was a slimy, underhanded creep who deserved to be punished for what he’d done, but this… I swallowed hard, having a hard time wrapping my head around the permanence of it all.

“What about his men?” I finally asked

“One of them is in a coma. He suffered a severe head injury when he crashed against the wall.” He glanced at me and asked, “Rose, again?”

I nodded, and he drew a deep breath before continuing, “The other one is also in the hospital—under police surveillance—but he’s recovering well. He’s already copped a plea with the FBI agents who flew to Savannah from Charleston after my boss called them. The guy’s already told them everything they wanted to know about the counterfeiting operation and all the murders. Of course, he’s pinned everything on Mark and the other guy. It’ll be interesting to see what the unconscious one will have to say, if he ever wakes up.”

“I guess it’s all’s well that ends well, then, but I can’t help feeling sorry for Ellie. That must’ve been a hard thing for her to do; shooting Mark like that. I think she was actually in love with him. Maybe for the first time ever. But…maybe it taught her a lesson, and when she recovers, she’ll choose future boyfriends a little more wisely.”

When Jonas made no reply, I glanced his direction. The muscles in his jaw were working; his expression was tense; his knuckles white where they gripped the steering wheel.

“What?” I asked. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Cleo…Ellie didn’t make it, either.”

His voice was so quiet that I wasn’t sure I heard him right, but his whispered, “I’m sorry,” told me I had.

I blinked the sting from my eyes, but more tears blurred my vision, and more. I couldn’t seem to stop them. I leaned my head back against the headrest and let them flow. Ellie was dead? My one-time friend and now nemesis was gone?

Jonas was trying to explain, “When Mark flung her away from him, her head whacked—really hard—against the wall. I saw it. She dropped like a sack of sand and there was blood everywhere. I don’t know if it was losing all that blood or if she injured her brain with that hard hit, but the paramedics were never able to get a pulse.” He reached over and squeezed my hand. “I’m sorry,” he said again, and then was quiet, giving me time to grieve.

Why was I crying? Ellie had been nothing but a thorn in my side for years. I should feel relieved, but as hard as I tried at that moment, I couldn’t remember any of the bad stuff, only the good…when she used to be my friend.

After a minute or two, I used my sleeve to dry my eyes, and sat up.

I quietly explained to Jonas all about Rose, and the flash of fiery red that I’d seen right when Lily had yelled out her sister’s name, but I don’t think he believed me. I don’t know what kind of explanation he was telling himself about Spencer’s men flying through the air, and crashing into the wall like they had, or how Mark’s shooting arm had ended up dangling uselessly at his side, but I’d let him work it out.

I stared out the window, smiling sadly when Jonas squeezed my hand. The scenery whizzing past the window didn’t interest me. I had too much to think about.

To say that finding Lily had changed my life would be a major understatement. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I’d still be the painfully introverted, terminally shy, and extremely lonely girl I’d been if it hadn’t been for that fateful day in Forsyth Park. God had definitely been smiling on me, and I would never stop thanking Him. Lily had opened my eyes to the fact that I’d just been watching life go by. Somehow, she’d gently—or maybe not so gently—led me along, enabling me to jump on for the ride. Had it been all those quirky sayings? Her outlandish appearance? Her attempt to make ghosts happy with a bag full of glitter? Whatever it was, I knew I could never thank her enough, but I’d try.

****

I pushed open her hospital room door and stepped in, then smiled in relief.

Lily was awake. She was hooked to several beeping, whirring machines. I could see where her shoulder was bandaged, an unnatural lump under the pale blue hospital gown. She had a clear tube attached under her nose, piping in oxygen, I supposed. Another tube was taped to the back of her left hand; its other end led up to a hanging bag, which dripped in regular intervals. Her hair was a mess, and dark bruises marred her pale skin along the left side of her face where Mark had slapped her, but I’d never seen her look more beautiful.

And she wasn’t alone.

A handsome, distinguished, silver-haired man turned around as soon as we entered, smiling a welcome. He wore a doctor’s white jacket and had a stethoscope hanging around his neck. The chair he sat in was pulled up close to the bed, and he was holding Lily’s right hand.

Lily beamed when she saw us. “Cleo! Jonas! I’m so glad you’re here. I’d like you to meet Michael.”

****

We stepped out into the hallway and I breathed a sigh of relief. All seemed right with my world. Christmas was just a couple of days away and I’d been granted the best gift ever. I smiled up at Jonas, happier than I ever remember being. He squeezed my hand, sending me a warm smile in return.

“Jonas!” a voice called from behind us.

His eyes changed in an instant, from melted to frozen chocolate, tension radiated from him in waves. I heard him groan, “Oh, no,” just before he turned toward the voice, his face painted with a thick layer of dread. Who in the world would cause this type of reaction? I turned around to see for myself.

The blonde woman beamed at us—correction…she was beaming at Jonas, not me—as she hurried down the hallway. She was one of those long-legged beauties men tended to go ga-ga over, not the gangly, coltish kind. No, no, she was runway model tall, regal, slim—well, except for some significant surgically enhanced curves that had me suddenly feeling very inadequate. I fought the urge to cross my arms over my chest, staring at the miles of suntanned perfection that made my hackles rise until I was sure I resembled a porcupine. Who was she?

The woman was breathless by the time she reached us. A delicate wave of expensive perfume caught me in its wake. “Jonas! It’s so good to see you again!”

“What are you doing here, Jill?” he asked in a dead-sounding voice.

Jill?

“I don’t see you for three years and that’s the response I get?” Her light laughter held a hint of reproach, then she glanced at me. “You must be Cleo.”

Hold on! I blinked in surprise. She knew my name? How could she know my name, and I not know a thing about her? Who was this woman? I narrowed my eyes at Jonas. “Aren’t you going to introduce us?” I asked him.

I watched the muscles work in his jaw before he spoke. “Cleo…meet Jill Parker. Jill…this is Cleo Davis.”

So…this was Jill. I remembered the night at Moon River when I’d seen her name on his phone and my heart sank. The sophisticated, obviously professional woman standing in front of me made me feel like the gauche school girl that I was, and threatened to drag the old Cleo back from where I’d banished her. What was this woman doing here? Was she a doctor? Did she work here? Visiting someone? What?

Jill acknowledged the introduction with the briefest flicker of a smile in my general direction before turning her attention back to Jonas. Her laughter trilled. “Oh, Jonas, surely you can do better than that, darling.” One of her finely plucked eyebrows rose, and she rested her well-manicured left hand on his arm in a very he’s-mine-so-don’t-get-any-ideas kind of way, giving it a gentle squeeze. “After all, I am your fiancée.”

Time stopped. The earth tilted a little further on its axis, before everything sort of…crashed. I caught a flash of a diamond ring on the hand clutching Jonas’ arm, and a brief glimpse of his stricken expression, before I spun around and dashed toward the elevators. My eyes were so full of tears, I didn’t know how I kept from bowling over the orderly pushing the meal cart, but somehow I managed to zigzag around him. As I skidded to a stop in front of the bank of elevators, I thought I heard Jonas shout my name, but by that time I was sobbing so hard that I might’ve imagined it. One set of doors were just sliding shut, and without knowing whether the elevator was going up or down, I slipped in.

The doors shut in Jonas’ anguished face.