Wayward

by Skye Knizley

  “Dr. Lee?”

  As soon as she said his name, he vanished, like turning off a light switch. Cadence stood there for a moment, shivering in the sudden cold, but he did not reappear and she returned to find Nikki packing their leftover pizza into a zip-top bag.

  Nikki looked up and immediately stopped what she was doing. “Ceej? What’s wrong?”

  Cadence sank into a chair. “I think I just saw a ghost.”

  “In my bathroom?” Nikki shoved the pizza into the fridge and joined Cadence. “What kind of ghost?”

  That was one of the things Cadence loved about Nikki. She never lost her cool, never accused Cadence of lying when something weird happened, she just accepted and did what she could to help.

  “It was black, like a shadow, but when I tried to touch it, it became Dr. Lee,” Cadence said.

  “Wow! You know, most girls would scream and run away, not try to touch it,” Nikki said. “Are you sure it was a ghost?”

  Cadence blinked. “What else could it be?”

  Nikki looked at her hands. “Maybe… a hallucination? I mean, you’ve been through a lot, Ceej and he just died. Maybe your brain thought you needed to see him one more time?”

  Nikki was right, she had been through a lot. Things were finally resuming something that might be called normal, then the doc being shot and a ghost in the bathroom… maybe she was just tired. Then again, it had seemed so real. She could smell the aftershave he wore, and the peppermints he kept in his jacket pocket. She’d seen the blood on his face and the frightened look in his eyes. If she was going crazy, her mind was doing a great job with the hallucinations.

  Finally, she shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think it was Dr. Lee, and I think he was trying to tell me something. He looked afraid.”

  Nikki gave a shrug that said, “okay, not a hallucination,” and pulled up her own chair.

  “What do you think he wanted to tell you?”

  “I don’t know,” Cadence said. “I just feel like he was trying to communicate.”

  “Ooh! I bet he was trying to tell you who his killer is!” Nikki said. She jumped up and hurried to her bedroom, returning with a yellow and black hardback book. There was a teenage girl on the cover, holding a flashlight.

  “In this book, Nancy Clue gets a message from a ghost that helps her find his killer!”

  Cadence gave her a look. “You do know you’re fifteen, right? You sound like a tween on coke.”

  Nikki tossed the book down on the table. “I’m not saying it’s just like that, dweeb, but what if? You said he was trying to communicate.”

  It wasn’t as crazy as it sounded. Cadence had read books, real books not junk from the mystery section, that suggested ghosts were stuck on earth because of unfinished business. Maybe Nikki was right, Dr. Lee was trying to tell her something.

  “Fine, what does Nancy do to talk to the ghost? I’m guessing there isn’t a 1-900 line.”

  “After seeing him a few times, she figures out where the crime scene was and goes there, and he’s able to communicate with a notebook,” Nikki said.

  “He was killed at his office−”

  “Awesome! I’ll get a clean notebook and then we’ll go out to his office,” Nikki said. Excitement was almost bubbling off her, Cadence had never seen her so bouncy before.

  “And then what?”

  “Then we get your car and go solve Dr. Lee’s murder,” Nikki replied.

  Cadence watched her run off to her room, hair trailing behind her, and shook her head. She had a bad feeling about this.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The drive across town to Dr. Lee’s office took longer than expected. The roads were slick and though the Mustang had snow tires, traction in the deep snow wasn’t the best. Cadence drove slowly, careful not to lose control of the precious vehicle. After half an hour they arrived at the small office block where Dr. Lee and several other physicians kept their offices. He was on the second floor at the end of the hall, with easy access to the rear stairs. A single police car was parked in front of the building and Cadence recognized the young deputy is being a new guy named Val Sanford. He was drinking from a Styrofoam cup and singing along to the Christmas songs on the radio.

  “Looks like Val isn’t really paying attention,” Nikki said.

  “He’s guarding a crime scene that’s already been investigated,” Cadence replied. “We probably wouldn’t pay much attention either.”

  She turned off the Mustang’s lights and guided it through the lot to the rear entrance, out of sight of the singing deputy. The building was dark, with only a handful of holiday lights glowing in some of the offices. It was only two days till Christmas and it was the middle of a snowstorm, nobody in their right mind was working late.

  The back door was locked, but Nikki made short work of it with one of the pins from her purse. Her father, Jerry, was the best (and only) locksmith in Lobo and she’d inherited his skills. The lock clicked and she pushed the door aside with one hand.

  “Open says me,” she said with a grin.

  Cadence smiled back. “Great, we can share a cell down at juvie for breaking and entering.”

  The stairwell was dark, lit only by an emergency light far above and the twinkle of Christmas lights in the window. It was quiet, and for some reason that made Cadence feel uneasy. The hair on her neck tingled and she could feel a trickle of sweat at the small of her back.

  She pushed the feeling away and started up the steps, her boots quiet on the carpeted treads. At the top, she cracked the door and peered into the hallway beyond. It was typical of a small-town office building, with blue carpet tile and walls painted a dull beige color. A handful of cheap paintings decorated the walls and a wreath hung askew on the far wall, otherwise the corridor was empty.

  Dr. Lee’s office was at the end of the hall, and Cadence led the way, her senses wary of a threat she knew couldn’t be far away. Her nerves were screaming at her to go back, that this was a bad idea, but she knew for Nikki, that was half the fun.

  The door to Lee’s office was broken and hung limply from the top hinge. Yellow police tape blocked the door and a crime scene label was stuck to the wall, advising that entering the scene was a crime. Cadence slipped under the tape and into the lobby, with Nikki close behind.

  The office wasn’t big, Dr. Lee took only a handful of patients outside the hospital, but was tastefully decorated. The paintings on the wall were limited editions or high end prints from local vendors, the chairs were comfortable chrome and leather affairs and the magazines on the small end tables were recent rather than six months old.

  If it wasn’t for the blood stain in the center of the grey carpet, Cadence could almost have believed she was here for a visit, that Clara, the receptionist, would appear in the small glass window and call her name at any moment. But that much blood brought reality back into sharp focus.

  “Now what?” She asked, staring at the stain.

  Nikki squatted beside the blood and poked it with a tentative finger. “Now we try to make contact with the ghost.”

  “Right. Of course,” Cadence replied with a hint of sarcasm. “And we do that how?”

  Nikki opened the shoulder bag she’d brought with her and began setting candles and incense on the floor. “Don’t worry, one of us came to class prepared.”

  She set the candles around the stain and lit them in a pattern that Cadence didn’t understand, but that Nikki had obviously memorized from her book. She then lit the incense and knelt beside the stain.

  “Come on, Ceej, you have to close the circle,” Nikki said, extending a hand.

  Cadence rolled her eyes. This seemed like ridiculous nonsense from an old book, not something that would attract the attention of the dead. Or undead. Even D&D had simpler rules than this. She shook her head and knelt opposi
te Nikki anyway, then took her hand.

  “Now what?”

  Nikki made a face. “Don’t be so negative, babes.”

  She then closed her eyes and squeezed Cadence’s hand. “Dr. Lee, we call to you across the Veil, can you hear us? Give us a sign if you’re there.”

  The words echoed in the small space, then silence fell again broken only by their breathing and the soft sputter of the candles. They waited for several moments, then Nikki spoken again, louder this time.

  “Dr. Lee, we know you tried to reach CJ, please talk to us. How can we help?”

  There was still silence, but Cadence felt the odd sensation return, the feeling that she was being watched. It was accompanied by a detectable drop in temperature and the feeling that the room was getting darker. She turned her head to look behind them spotted Dr. Lee standing near the wall, a look of pain and misery etched on his face.

  “Dr. Lee?” She asked.

  Nikki spun and shrieked in excitement. “It worked!”

  Dr. Lee stepped closer. “CJ, I don’t have much time, you have to tell Officer Phoenix, they’re looking for you.”

  “Who is?” Cadence asked.

  “I don’t know. Men dressed in black, they had your photo but couldn’t tell me your name. They had badges and demanded I give them your medical records,” Dr. Lee said.

  “Did they murder you? Was it the Men in Black?” Nikki asked. Lee didn’t seem to hear her, his gaze was focused on Cadence.

  “I refused to give them anything, and they got violent. Cadence, you have to tell Officer Phoenix, if they found you here, it is only a matter of time before they find your home. Please−”

  He turned, as if interrupted by something they couldn’t see, then faded away. As he vanished, the candles went out, along with the lights, leaving them kneeling in darkness.

  “That was intense!” Nikki whispered. “What do you think he meant?”

  Cadence fished in her pocket for the lighter she kept there. “I don’t know, why would anyone be looking for me?”

  She flicked the lighter and raised the flame high, but there was no sign of Dr. Lee.

  Nikki started gathering her things. “Oh, I don’t know, a mysterious girl left for dead in the trunk of a car, maybe they want to give you a lifetime supply of cheese?”

  Cadence stood and walked to the spot where Dr. Lee had been standing. The room was even colder there, she could feel it through her clothes. Colder and the energy she could feel made her skin itch.

  “I don’t think anyone wants to give me cheese,” she said, waving a hand through the cold spot. It was near freezing, so cold frost formed on the sleeve of her jacket.

  “That was sarcasm, dork,” Nikki said.

  Cadence blinked and glanced at her. “What?”

  Nikki hefted her bag and stepped closer to Cadence. “Dude, are you okay? Did the ghost freak you out?”

  “No… not exactly. Part of me feels used to seeing weird things. But, I mean−”

  She trailed off and looked back at the spot where Lee had been standing. There was blood on the wall, spattered next to a hole where the bullet that killed him had come to rest.

  “What?” Nikki asked. “What’s wrong?”

  Cadence met her eyes. “Why would anyone die to protect me?”

  It was a good question, one that hung in the air between them. Cadence knew Nikki didn’t have an answer, all they really knew about her history was that she’d been left for dead. She still had no memory, no past, nothing that would provide a clue as to why Dr. Lee had been killed.

  Nikki hugged her from behind. “I think a better question is, why would anyone kill to find you?”

  Cadence nodded and touched a finger to the bullet hole in the wall. She didn’t know, but she was going to find out.

  They spent the next hour searching through the medical files. There were several labeled Cadence Phoenix, but they only contained copies of her immunizations and sports physicals. Cadence felt certain that someone, either Clara or Dr. Lee himself, had set them up as dummy files for the Men in Black. Where, then, was the original file, the one with her session notes and x-rays? Had the Men gotten it, or had Dr. Lee stashed it somewhere for her to find?

  The answer lay behind a painting in Dr. Lee’s personal office at the back of the practice. Nikki made short work of the safe they found and together they rifled through the collection of files, most of which were for names Cadence didn’t recognize. Among them, however, they found a thick file of notes about her, as well as a sealed envelope with her name written in Dr. Lee’s sprawling hand across the flap. Cadence sorted through the file while Nikki opened the envelope with her knife.

  At first, the file contained few surprises. It began with the emergency field report after she’d passed out, then photos taken at the emergency room showing her emaciated condition and the tattoo on her shoulder, her broken hands and bruised wrists. These were followed by treatment reports that looked as if they might have been written in ancient hieroglyphics. Penmanship wasn’t one of Dr. Lee’s strong suits.

  In the middle of the file was a wire-bound collection of their session notes, where Dr. Lee had struggled to make sense of her continued memory loss while probing what memories she had. In recent sessions he’d tried everything from rhythmic tapping to hypnosis, with limited success. At the end of the collection, however, he’d written a phrase she didn’t recognize: MK Ultra. He’d circled it so many times he’d left an imprint in the paper.

  Among the additional scraps was the same phrase, repeated once or twice on prescription notes and receipts, followed by SPS Ultra, MK-Alpha and D-IX serum.

  “Ceej,” Nikki said quietly.

  Cadence didn’t look up from the notes. “What?”

  She felt Nikki standing beside her, and was surprised when she dropped an old photograph on the table. It was black and white and depicted a group of young men and women riding in the back of an old half-track that carried United States Army markings. One face stood out in the photo: her own, complete with blonde hair that peeked out from beneath the heavy-looking helmet she wore.

  “That looks like you,” Nikki said in the same soft voice.

  Cadence picked up the photo and held her lighter closer to the image. “It can’t be, this looks like the fifties or sixties, Nikki. I’m barely sixteen.”

  Nikki sighed and looked away. “You’re right, I know, it looks like Vietnam or something, but she looks just like you.”

  “Maybe my mom or grandmother?” Cadence asked.

  There was no mistaking the face in the photo. She knew it as well as she knew Nikki’s. It was hers, which meant the connection between her and the woman in the image was uncanny. But it couldn’t be her, Dr. Lee estimated she’d been born in 1971 or ‘72, which meant it wasn’t her in the old photo.

  “Where did you find this?”

  “It was in the envelope Dr. Lee left,” Nikki said. “With this.”

  She held up a key ring with a single small key. It looked as if it fit a padlock or perhaps a safety deposit box, but there was no number or other clue as to where it might fit.

  “Dr. Lee wanted you to have them. He might have even died to hide them,” she continued.

  Cadence took the key and put it back in the envelope along with the photo, and stuck it in her pocket. She was about to go back to the file when her danger sense alerted her that something was wrong. She held a hand up for Nikki to stay where she was, then crept to the door. At first, she didn’t see anything, then she noticed two shadows moving along the wall down the corridor. They stopped just outside the main door, then came into view; two men wearing black suits with fedora hats and red pocket squares. As the men entered, they drew pistols from beneath their jackets.

  “Shit,” Cadence whispered. “We need to find a way out of h
ere!”

  “Who is it?” Nikki asked.

  “The bad guys,” Cadence replied.

  Dr. Lee’s office had two large windows that looked out on the parking lot, two bookshelves pressed against the back wall, a wide desk and a small television with video recorder he used for some of his sessions. A narrow door led into his private bath, which was nothing but a single toilet and a sink, with no windows or other exits.

  “Get under the desk,” she hissed.

  Nikki didn’t hesitate, she wriggled into the knee space beneath the desk, where Cadence joined her. It was a tight fit, but they managed, pressed almost nose to nose in the confined space. She watched Nikki’s eyes widen in fear as the door creaked open, and they heard footsteps on the carpet, growing closer. A flashlight beam stabbed out and crisscrossed the floor just beyond the desk, then vanished to examine the surface.

  “I found the file,” a deep voice rumbled.

  “Looks like someone cracked the good doctor’s safe,” the second man intoned. His voice was flat, emotionless.

  “Whoever it was, they’re gone. Let’s go, we got what we came for,” the first man said.

  Their footsteps receded and Cadence snaked from beneath the desk, her fear confirmed. They’d taken her file.

  “Where are you going? They could still be out there!” Nikki whispered.

  Cadence straightened. “They took the file, I have to see if I can get it back.”

  She hurried to the door and glanced into the corridor. The two men were almost to the door. She waited until they were outside in the corridor then followed, sticking to the shadows as much as possible. When she reached the door, she glanced through the crack and saw they were heading toward the second floor lobby and elevators, rather than taking the stairs. That would give her almost two minutes, by her reckoning.