by Tess Lake
By the time I returned to my office on the mainland, my mini freak-out had escalated to major freak-out proportions. I’d seen what I assumed was a full Spanish galleon sailing out on the waves. Unlike the night on the lighthouse, it wasn’t greenish-colored and see-through. It looked like a fully real ship sailing around. That was, until it vanished.
Between the pier and my office a few trees appeared in the middle of the road that definitely didn’t exist and I drove through one before I could stop. There were birds wheeling overhead and I knew some of them were real and some of them were the past.
When I got to my office, I raced upstairs and locked the door behind me. I called the mansion, hoping that Aunt Cass would pick up, but no one did. Trying to calm myself, I went over to the window and looked out on the street.
The tree had vanished but there was a man carrying a musket walking down the street. Unless he had a costume party to go to, he definitely wasn’t real and he wasn’t a ghost. A woman walked right through him without breaking her step.
He vanished around the corner and I let out a sigh of relief that was quickly cut short when a group of children in manacles and chains appeared, shuffling along the center of the street with their heads bowed. There was a man walking behind them with a whip that he cracked over the top of their heads. As I watched in horror, cars drove right through them.
The man looked up at me and I saw a look of recognition cross his face before he and the children vanished.
I decided abruptly that I would go to Traveler to speak with Molly and Luce. At least if they were around, I wouldn’t go crazy on my own. Then they could take me to Big Pie and I could tell my mom and aunts what was happening. Together we could come up with a plan. From what Aunt Cass had said about what had happened to Grandma, I’d have to go out to Truer Island and sit in a cave until it was over. It was definitely something I wasn’t looking forward to, but I didn’t have a choice. Pirates and slave children were walking the streets.
I took a few minutes to compose myself before I locked up my office and went downstairs. I walked outside in time to see a red truck pull up at the curb. Jack bounded out of it and came over. He smelled like sawdust.
Could there be worse timing?
“Hey, Harlow, come for a very early lunch with me.”
I checked my watch. It was only ten o’clock in the morning. Despite how miserable I’d felt today and how tired from yesterday, seeing Jack made my heart skip a beat. He had tiny fragments of sawdust in his hair.
“So this is your plan? Drive to my office and ask me to come to lunch?”
“Well, we haven’t had very much luck so far. The first time you go to France without any warning. The second time, some guy stands on your leg and then gets bludgeoned. I don’t want anything to go wrong. So I have some food and coffee and the park is right down there and my truck is right here. Come with me and hang out for half an hour.”
With everything that had gone wrong recently it sounded absolutely divine. My resistance quickly melted.
Besides, there weren’t any ghosts or the past or whatever it was in sight right now. The park really wasn’t that far from Traveler, so if anything happened I could get over there quickly.
“Okay, let’s go.”
I got in Jack’s truck and we took off. It was a very short trip to the park. Inside the truck smelled like wood, male and old leather. I kept my eyes on the road ahead but in my peripheral vision, I could see Jack’s arm, strong with muscle.
At the park Jack pulled out the same picnic blanket we’d used at the Festival of Lights and a cooler from the back of the truck. We walked in and found a spot under the shade of one of the trees.
There were very few people around at this time of day. Some elderly residents were exercising or walking their dogs, but most people in Harlot Bay were at work or at home. There were a few tourists scattered around. I assumed most of them were still out on Truer Island.
Jack unfolded the picnic blanket and we sat down. He opened the cooler and passed me a sandwich wrapped in wax paper.
“Before you say anything, this sandwich is amazing. Restaurant quality.”
“Okay, I believe you,” I said, laughing. So this was my second date? A sandwich in the park? I’d had worse.
I unwrapped the sandwich and bit into it. It was like an explosion of flavor. Sun-dried tomato, pesto chicken and avocado on a bread that had a slight herb flavor to it.
It was absolutely delicious.
“Where did you get these?” I mumbled through my mouthful, unable to stop myself.
“I made it. Bread too. It’s one of my many talents.”
He filled two plastic cups with hot coffee and passed me one before taking a sandwich himself.
We sipped our coffees and ate in the sun in blissful silence.
Eventually, Jack spoke.
“I guess we have some things to talk about?”
“I suppose so,” I said, not really knowing where he was going with this. But I was full of sandwich and the coffee was delicious, so I didn’t mind.
“Well, I was working as a private detective when we first met, hunting down Preston Jacobs, who as far as I can tell disappeared off the earth nine weeks ago. That was my last case, so I thought I’d tell you that I’m not working as a private investigator. It’s also why I didn’t answer many of your questions.”
I sipped my coffee and nodded. “It’s okay. I work as a reporter, so you didn’t have to tell me everything.”
“What do you think happened to Preston Jacobs?”
I definitely didn’t want to lie to Jack, but there was no way I could tell him the truth – the supernatural entity that had been living inside Preston Jacobs for thirty years had consumed his entire body and killed him.
“Rich guy like that could go anywhere. Although… personally, I think something caught up with him for all the bad things he did and I don’t think anyone is ever going to find him.”
“I think someone put him in a hole. It’s a shame, because his victims and their families never got closure. But sometimes that’s the best you can do.”
Oh, I didn’t want to be having this conversation.
“So are you staying in Harlot Bay now?” I said to change the topic.
“I think so. I wasn’t going to dive straight back into housebuilding, but Jonas already has some leads on good land and it looks like there might be an opportunity here. Besides, we’ve always wanted live somewhere warm and sunny. I think he told you we grew up in Canada?”
“Yes, he…” I trailed off as people popped into existence all around us.
Not two feet away was an old woman, hunched over, wearing rags. All around her were angry men and women. Some of them were carrying large stones and they were shouting at her so loud I could barely hear anything Jack was saying to me. They were crying out, “Witch!” and then one of them threw a stone. She looked at me with pleading in her eyes. They all vanished before it hit.
“Harlow, are you okay? I didn’t poison you with my sandwich, did I?” Jack joked.
“I’m fine. Had a couple of late nights.”
My heart was thudding like crazy.
“It’s too bad our night got cut short at the festival.”
“Where did you go, anyway?” I asked, taking a few deep breaths.
“I saw a man running away so I followed him. He vanished around a corner. Came back to grab my car and drive the streets to see if he’d emerge again, but no luck.”
“Still have those police instincts?”
Jack smiled and rubbed his hand on the back of his neck.
“I guess so.”
So he hadn’t gone bolting off for no reason. I suddenly realized that maybe Jack could help look into Franklin Cordella. Maybe he’d find something that I could give to Sheriff Hardy other than my illegal photo.
“The man who was attacked was Franklin Cordella. I think he’s a traveler who has been moving from town to town. Do you think you could do some background
work on him?”
“You want me to go back to being a private investigator five seconds after I got out?”
“Your skills are probably still sharp.”
“I’m a builder now. Or a carpenter. I’m not sure.”
I saw a familiar figure out of the corner of my eye. It was Holly, walking by the park with a tall man with a black beard. They weren’t ghosts. It was the past come to life.
I had to follow them.
“Really sorry to run, but I have to go. Thanks for the sandwich and coffee. Let’s do it again.”
Then… I did something crazy.
Jack had been looking out the front of the gardens at whatever I had been looking at (which he couldn’t see). For some reason unbeknown to me, I leaned forward to give him a kiss on the cheek but at that moment he turned back to me.
Instead of his cheek, our lips met.
For an instant the entire world vanished and there was just Jack in front of me, his lips, a slight touch of his stubble and the scent of wood shavings and grass. It was a brief kiss but my heart suddenly thundered in my chest before I pulled away.
“That was unexpected,” Jack said with a half smile.
I couldn’t stop to explain, couldn’t stop to kiss him again even though I wanted to. I’d seen Holly and her dad. So, looking like the crazy person I’m sure he thought I was, I bolted away from the park and around the corner.
Holly and her dad were still visible but further down the road than I would have thought, given their slow stroll.
I jogged after them, but then saw them flicker out and then reappear maybe thirty feet up the sidewalk. I put on a burst of speed to catch up to them, but every time I came close they flickered and jumped ahead. One paralyzing moment on a street corner, I thought I’d lost them before they reappeared down the street, still holding hands.
I still hadn’t a clear look at Holly’s dad’s face yet and I was hoping I could so I could help describe him to Sheriff Hardy.
I ran down the street, feeling my legs burning, and again regretted my general lack of fitness. This time as I drew close to the past versions of Holly and her father they didn’t flick away from me. They turned and walked into a house.
It was painted dark brown and made of wooden slats. The garden was lush and blooming and there was a freshly painted green fence out in front. It look like a little slice of heaven.
I grabbed the gate and pushed it open to follow them when the past that was displayed in front of me vanished.
It had been overlapping the present, concealing it. The present house was run-down, the brown paint flaking, and the garden was dead. It was a complete wreck and I wasn’t sure if anyone still lived there.
The gate under my hands was splintered and it squealed when I opened it. I walked up to the front door and knocked on it, but no one answered.
For the briefest of moments I considered breaking in, but my intuition screamed at me to get out, now! There was no way I was going in there alone.
I noted the address, turned away and walked back to town.
Chapter 14
I’d planned to hide out at Traveler with my cousins, but now I had a clue I couldn’t let go.
I returned to my office and like any good modern reporter I hit the Internet see what I could find. Franklin Cordella was very quickly a dead end. There were too many of them. House painter, a few teachers, pizza shop owner, computer programmer and a whole lot of children. There were no photos connected to any of these.
I got further with the address of the creepy house. It was owned by Jason and Schapelle Greenway. They had minimal information available but I did manage to find a few photos. One was of Jason dressed in full combat gear, holding a paintball gun. He was wearing a helmet and goggles so I couldn’t make out his face.
I found a slightly blurry image of Schapelle. She had sharp features and didn’t look happy.
I couldn’t find any connection between the Greenways and Holly or Franklin. After that, the trail went cold.
I tried to get myself to work (following Aunt Cass’ advice to stay busy) but my mind kept drifting back to Franklin Cordella. That intuition was back again, gently pushing at me. Something bad was going to happen.
Oh, really, intuition? That’s what you have for me? Real helpful.
A cup of coffee later, I managed to force myself to write almost a complete article on the upcoming restoration of the ice skating rink. I was pondering the ending when for no reason at all I found myself back on the Internet looking up what Carter had written about me and Zero Bend.
This was an extremely bad idea and within two minutes I was boiling mad. Carter had locked away the articles with a note telling the reader to buy the print edition of the Harlot Bay Times, but the headlines and small sample of text were more than enough to tell the story.
One headline: Zero Bend has Affair with Local Reporter?
Another: Local Reporter goes on Drug Rampage.
Oh, he was so dead.
I couldn’t believe Carter would stoop so low. He prided himself on producing a newspaper that was as factual as he could make it. Yes, he had accused the police force of corruption because the Big Pie bakery had given them an extra donut once, but most of the time he told the truth. Now he had apparently thrown away his principles and dived into the sewerage of online journalism, where a question could become a headline and rumors mixed together and rewritten enough times were suddenly fact.
I searched through his website to see if he’d written anything more about me, but I couldn’t find anything else.
I did discover he’d written an article about the lighthouse that as far as I could tell didn’t mention me or my cousins. The fire had caused extensive damage and the lighthouse would need to be assessed for structural stability.
There was no work that I could do after that. I wanted to smack Carter Wilkins in the face and then shortly after that smack my cousins for telling me it was typical Carter Wilkins snark and I should ignore it.
I knew it hadn’t been my imagination that I had been getting some strange looks around town and now I had the reason why! Carter had told everybody that I’d been having an affair with Zero Bend and then I’d gone on a “drug rampage.”
I locked up the office and drove home with the air conditioning blasting, hoping that the chill would calm me. It worked somewhat and by the time I got home I’d stepped down from wanting to murder Carter Wilkins to merely wanting to injure him severely, perhaps using a waxing strip and taking off both his eyebrows in one rip.
Adams was waiting for me at the door.
“I’m gonna die!” Adams said, flinging himself dramatically on the floor to roll around.
“Well, I’d better get you some food then,” I said and served up some dry cat food. While Adams was eating, I had a quick shower, revived somewhat, and went back to the kitchen in time for Molly and Luce to come home from work.
I say this with all the kindness and love in my heart, but they looked like a pair of drowned rats. They both had red faces and scraggly hair and smelled like coffee and sweat. They collapsed together on the sofa.
“Another busy day at Traveler?”
“Glarg,” Luce said, not even bothering to open her eyes.
“We gotta hire some staff or I’m gonna die,” Molly groaned.
Their weakened state was almost enough to make me hold back on talking about Carter Wilkins and his articles and how they’d hidden how bad they were from me.
But not quite.
“I was on the Internet today. Happened to read some of the articles Carter wrote,” I said.
Luce opened one eye and sort of sleepily looked at me.
“We told you not to do that,” she murmured and closed her eye again.
“You both told me it was standard Carter Wilkins snark and I shouldn’t –”
I cut off short when a tree appeared in the middle of the room. It was the past come to life again. This time there was no shimmer around it. It looked real.
I would have believed it was real if it didn’t neatly slice through the ceiling without leaving a mark.
“You see this?” I asked. There must have been something in my voice that made both of them sit up.
“See what? What’s wrong?” Molly asked.
I edged around the tree (for some reason I didn’t want to touch it) until I was in front of the sofa. I reached out and touched my cousins on their shoulders. They both gasped.
“There’s a tree!” Luce exclaimed.
“This power is getting really weird,” Molly said. I took my hands off them and turned around to see the tree vanish.
“Mom said this happened to Grandma April and she had to live in a cave on Truer Island until it went away,” I said.
“That could be a good idea. How are you going to know what’s real and what’s not?” Molly said.
Further pondering on the topic was cut short then when someone knocked on the front door. Molly and Luce leapt up like they’d been electrocuted.
“Boys. It’s the. Them. Will and Ollie. Here,” Luce babbled.
“I get the shower first!” Molly declared. She took off towards the bathroom with Luce close behind her. They fought and scuffled at the bathroom door but Molly had the advantage and soon she was inside. She slammed the door behind her.
Luce turned to me.
“Let them in and tell them that we will be out shortly,” she said, pointing a finger at me. She fled into her bedroom and closed the door.
I went to the front door and opened it to find Will and Ollie standing there with bemused expressions on their face.
“So you heard everything?” I asked.
“Pretty much,” Ollie said.
“Come on in, then,” I said and stepped aside.
Despite the fact that Luce and Molly had been going out with Will and Ollie for the last two months or so, they were both still in the very early stage of their relationships. We’d all hung out a few times together, but I hadn’t really had any time to spend with the boys without my cousins around.
“Take a seat. They’ll be out soon.”