Closing Books (Ghost Of The Past)

by Trisha Grace

  “This is not enough proof that someone is out to hurt her?” Kate said, waving her hands as though she was showcasing Lydia.

  “That’s just how they work. Can we take her home?” Evelyn asked. No point getting pissed off over the system. They always had rules and procedures to follow. Some were absolutely idiotic, but they’d follow it anyway.

  “I won’t recommend it. I think she should stay and be kept under observation, at least for a few more days. Besides, she gets the morphine here. She needs it.”

  Evelyn turned to look at Lydia, then to Kate. “I think she should stay, too.” She knew Kate would want Lydia to be well taken care of, but Kate couldn’t leave Lydia here alone, not with everything that had happened.

  “Dan and I will stay with her.” Evelyn didn’t want Kate staying over here, not even if Tyler agreed. It was way too dangerous.

  The last time Lydia meddled with the case, Kate’s house got burned down. This time, Kate would probably be the next target as well.

  “No, we’ll—”

  “No, I’ll stay,” Joseph interjected.

  “But you’ve already been working all day,” Kate pointed out.

  He shook his head while he said, “You think I’ve never pulled a double shift before? Look,” he said before either of them could continue, “Go home, eat something, and we’ll talk tomorrow. She’s not going to get better with either of you sitting here and worrying.”

  Evelyn nodded. “He’s right, and I don’t think it’s safe for you to be here.”

  Kate rolled her eyes, and Evelyn quickly added. “They chose to come after you the last time, what makes you think this time it’ll be any different?”

  “You should go,” Lydia said with her hand against her throat, and her brows puckered.

  “All right, all right,” Kate conceded. She gave Lydia a soft squeeze on her leg and stood.

  Except for Joseph, everyone went back to the mansion. That night was the quietest dinner they’d ever had at the mansion. Everyone had different things on their minds, and though Evelyn wasn’t physically harmed, she couldn’t help but feel drained.

  The ride back to her house was equally silent. Dan hadn’t said much since dinner, and she couldn’t help thinking he had something on his mind.

  “You all right?” Dan asked as they entered her apartment. “You haven’t said much since we left the hospital.”

  “Everyone was quiet; tired, I guess. I don’t know.” She sighed and plopped onto her couch.

  Dan walked over, pushed aside the pile of clothes on her couch, and sat next to her. “I’m not letting you stay here alone tonight. I’m not letting you stay here until this whole thing blows over. Why don’t you pack some stuff and stay at my place for a while? I’ve got a spare room anyway.”

  Her head snapped up, and she shook her head. “No, I’m not going to run. If he wants to send someone, let him come. I’ve got a gun.”

  “You had a gun when Kate’s house went up in flames.”

  She opened her mouth to retort, but was silenced by his kiss; a sudden, fierce kiss. A kiss of possession, of fear, of concern, and of love.

  “Don’t fight me on this,” he said. His voice was soft, but it was clear he meant it as a command rather than a plea. “You don’t have to protect yourself. You have me now.” His lips returned to cover hers.

  Her heart thumped hard as her hands fisted in his shirt. She yielded to his kiss and felt herself being pulled closer into his chest, his arms enveloped her as his lips continued its unrelenting kiss.

  “I cannot, I will not, risk you getting hurt.” He paused and gazed into her eyes. “I love you, Eve.”

  She hooked her arms over his neck and pulled his lips back to hers. She realized then, that Dan was the first man who’d ever told her those three simple words. She grinned and held on to Dan, unwilling to let him go.

  She almost agreed without a second thought. Almost.

  The accuser in her mind chided her. She should know better. With all her sleeping idiosyncrasies, she was only going to embarrass herself or scare the hell out of Dan.

  Her arms dropped to her side and she leaned back.

  “Dan, I get nightmares and—“

  “I know, and I don’t mind. If you wake up from a nightmare, I can accompany you.”

  “When I sleep at a new place, I wake up at the slightest noise or maybe even non-existent noises.”

  He shrugged. “Like I said, I don’t mind.”

  “I may scream.”

  He grinned and moved in close. “Just make sure that if the police show up, you don’t let them arrest me.”

  She scowled at him. “I’m not joking.”

  “Neither am I.” He removed his smile, and she closed her eyes as she felt his warm touch moving lightly down the side of her face. “Trust me.”

  The next morning, Evelyn walked into Kate’s office, yawning.

  “Didn’t sleep well?”

  “Didn’t sleep enough.”

  “Marianne packed them for you.” Kate pointed to the brown bag sitting on the coffee table, right next to a set of home decor magazines that she had fanned out, ready for clients to browse through.

  There was a meeting room catered for the clients, but sometimes, the meetings clashed and Kate would require another place to speak to the clients.

  It didn’t happen often.

  They met most of their clients in their own homes. It was more convenient for the clients, and Kate and Evelyn could see the house for themselves. But Kate still kept everything ready in case she had to meet a client in her office.

  Everything in Kate’s office had a place. Kate knew exactly where all the forms and contracts were; the portfolio of all her clients, all labeled, arranged in alphabetical order, all neatly placed in the cabinets. When opening any of the folders, there wouldn’t be any loose forms or papers chucked within. Everything would be filed neatly in the different sections she had labeled inside.

  Evelyn had always found it scary whenever she called Kate to ask for a file, and Kate could tell her exactly which cabinet to open, which color the file was, and exactly which section she could get the document from.

  Even the cabinets in Evelyn’s office were packed and maintained by Kate.

  They had a system between them.

  Evelyn stacked everything up on the corner of her desk, then Kate would get so irritated at the sight of the stack that she would file them for her.

  Sometimes, Evelyn would return and think, for a moment, that she’d gone into the wrong office.

  So when Evelyn strolled in, she immediately noticed the difference in Kate’s office. A new laptop bag was leaning against the couch. Kate always placed her laptop bag under her desk, so that it wouldn’t look messy when clients came in.

  “Whose laptop is that?”

  “Ty got it for Lydia.”

  “That was fast.”

  Kate nodded and got up from her chair. “He even downloaded all the stuff back into her laptop. Have you moved your stuff over to Dan’s?”

  “No, maybe tonight or something. I was too tired last night.”

  “Okay. Eat your breakfast, I’ll make coffee.”

  Evelyn slumped onto the couch and opened the bag. It was a tough decision to skip breakfast; she really didn’t want to miss Marianne’s breakfast, but it looked like she didn’t have to. She pulled out the three boxes and took in the aroma of the food as she opened them.

  She held the fork in her hand and debated on which of the boxes she should attack, eventually popping a piece of peach with a pancake into her mouth. She chewed and was about to reach for the magazine when she noticed the laptop again.

  Curious at what Lydia had been working on, Evelyn picked up the bag and took out the laptop.

  She scanned through the different files and documents, not looking up even when Kate returned with a cup of coffee for her.

  “I don’t think you should look at that while you’re eating,” Kate said, placing the coffee in fr
ont of her.

  Evelyn chewed on her lips and continued to browse through some of her documents. “She’s not just looking at your parents’ case. She’s looking into everything; she has all the information on the various victims and cases that your father believed David Morgan was involved in.”

  “She was trying to find evidence, so I guess she had to be thorough.”

  “No, it isn’t just that. It seems like she’s trying to solve all those cases as well.”

  There weren’t just newspaper clippings. Lydia did some serious research, trying to piece together the timing and whereabouts of David Morgan through various socialite parties printed in different newspapers. She even went to the detectives in charge of the different the cases and interviewed them.

  She had collected detailed notes on every murder linked to David Morgan.

  “Oh, no. Don’t.”

  “Don’t what?”

  “Eve,” Kate said, slamming the laptop close. “Don’t get involved in the cases. I want to get whoever hurt her, but don’t get involved in the cases. All this happened so many years ago, I don’t want you to be chasing after ghosts like she is.”

  “I thought you wanted to catch the son-of-a-bitch?”

  “I do.”

  “How are you going to get the guy if you don’t help her?”

  “There are cameras in her building. Someone must have seen something. There are other ways, we don’t have to get involved. These cases are over a decade old…”

  “People like them don’t stop, Kate. For all you know, he may still be killing; just that he’s gotten better and managed to keep it under wraps.”

  Kate pursed her lips into a thin hard line, the way she did whenever she disagreed with Evelyn.

  “Maybe we’re all wrong about Lydia. Maybe she isn’t obsessed with your parents’ case, maybe she meant it when she went on and on about justice and all,” Evelyn said.

  “Maybe. But the girls are dead. No matter what we do, we can’t bring them back.”

  “So we should just turn a blind eye because we don’t want to trouble ourselves?”

  “Eve—”

  “If my caseworker, teacher, or the school nurse had been half as passionate as Lydia is, maybe I would never have gone through what I did. Maybe that was why your father went ahead with the prosecution even though he knew the dangers he might face. People like your father and Lydia would’ve saved me, Amy, and Leah.”

  She stared at Kate, and continued when she saw her sigh. “We can’t bring back the dead, but what about those he’s still hurting? There’s a chance he’s still killing.”

  Kate scrutinized her face, then shook her head and sighed. “Ty’s going to kill me, but what the hell. If you want to do this, I’ll do it with you.”

  Evelyn gave her a grateful smile. “You don’t have to.”

  “And let you go crazy along with Lydia? Forget it; you’re stuck with me to keep you two in line.”

  “You sure?” Evelyn asked.

  When Kate’s grandmother started to get confused due to dementia, Kate began suspecting there was more to her parents’ death than the car accident that her grandparents’ had told them.

  Kate didn’t know if she should find out the truth and fight for the justice her parents deserved. She had asked Evelyn, and Evelyn was the one who had told her not to chase the ghosts, not to burden herself with things of the past.

  She knew Kate didn’t want to dive into the case and be reminded of how her parents were ripped from her life. Kate was one who believed in holding on to the good memories; she would rather relive the wonderful times she had with them than to focus on how she had lost them so suddenly.

  With her own dark past, Evelyn was certain that nothing good would come out from the past. There must have been a reason for Kate’s grandparents to lie.

  Now, after seeing Lydia’s notes and perhaps with the change in perspective, Evelyn could see the reason behind Lydia’s relentless pursuit and, in a way, even respect her for it.

  But Evelyn didn’t want to drag Kate through the past if she didn’t want to.

  “I wish my parents were still alive, but I don’t blame them for dying. I didn’t want to get involved because no matter what happens, I can’t bring them back,” Kate said. “But you’re right, if he’s still hurting someone now, we can’t ignore it simply because it’s the convenient thing to do.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  That night, Dan and Evelyn ended up having dinner at a restaurant near her workplace. He’d sensed something was wrong the moment she got into his car.

  She hadn’t said much, only telling him about her day at work and the chest that she had completed.

  Dan hadn’t heard much of what she was saying. He kept glancing over in her direction, trying to figure out what was wrong. She was all smiles that morning; what could have happened to change her demeanor so quickly?

  She sat across the table from him, spinning the phone in her hand.

  He sighed; maybe she was having second thoughts about moving in with him. He didn’t know what had happened during the day to change her mind, but he wasn’t going to allow her to stay alone until the threat of David Morgan ceased to exist.

  Going through the motions, he placed his order and waited impatiently for the waiter to repeat the order and leave.

  He’d already come up with a list of logical reasons why she shouldn’t be staying alone and he was ready to start convincing her.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” Evelyn stopped spinning her phone and reached for the glass of ice water. She took a sip, but continued to hold the glass to her lips.

  He waited for her to begin the speech of how she was safe at her place and how she could take care of herself.

  Instead, Evelyn placed down the glass and chewed on her lips, her hands returning to play with the phone.

  Dan wondered if he had always been an impatient man. He never seemed to have a problem when negotiating with his clients, but waiting for Evelyn to speak her mind was exasperating. “Is this about moving over to my place?”

  “No, no of course not.”

  He was stumped by her answer. He had only considered that as the reason for her weird behavior, but perhaps it was more serious. Dan ran his hand through his hair and narrowed his eyes at her. “We had a deal. Three months.”

  She broke into a smile and stopped twirling her phone. “Okay, I think I’m making it worse. I’m not freaking out about us.” She reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. “It’s about the David Morgan thing, and I’m worried that you won’t like what you’re about to hear.”

  “Anything would be better than keeping me in suspense.”

  “I’ll remind you of what you said.” She grinned and continued. “I saw Lydia’s notes today. She isn’t just working on her parents’ case; I think she’s working to close the cases that her father was prosecuting as well.”

  “Okay.”

  “I want to help.”

  His brows arched and he relaxed against the back of the chair; relieved that her behavior had nothing to do with them, not directly anyway. Then, he smiled. “So you’re worried that I would be unhappy? You’re concerned about what I think.”

  She glowered at him. “Did you actually hear what I said?”

  “Yeah, and it sounds like you were worried that I’d be angry with you.”

  She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yes, Dan. I was worried that you would disagree or get pissed that I’m sticking my nose into it.”

  “I was under the impression that you didn’t agree with what she’s doing.”

  “I didn’t. I thought she was just using her so-called justice to defend her reasons for lying to Kate. Maybe it started out that way, but based on her notes, she isn’t just focusing on her parents. Maybe we’re wrong.”

  “And you think she deserves a second chance?”

  “Yeah, and I don’t know, but I have this gut feeling that whatever David Morgan did, he’s still doin
g it.”

  “And you want to help Lydia stop him?”

  “Yes.”

  Dan considered Evelyn’s words. He had to hold his tongue and stop himself from telling her that it was way too dangerous. “Did Kate ask you to help?”

  “No, I asked her.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I don’t want to turn away like how my teacher and caseworker did.”

  He nodded, not knowing what else to say.

  She obviously felt strongly about helping Lydia. It could help heal her of the past, but a warning had clearly been issued through Lydia, and he didn’t want to think about the consequences if they all dived in.

  It was selfish, but her safety was his priority.

  She must have sensed his concerns. She gave his hand another squeeze. “I’ll be safe. I’ll stay at your house. You can be my chauffeur, and I promise I won’t go anywhere alone. I’ll keep you and Kate informed of my whereabouts.”

  “You came prepared.”

  “We went through it in the office.”

  “Huh,” he said. “That’s why we’re having dinner outside. You don’t want to be there when Kate gives Tyler her speech.”

  She bit her bottom lip as the corners of her lips grew into a smile. “She already told him in the afternoon. And, I wanted to tell you this in private.”

  “That being the second reason.”

  “They were equally important.”

  “I’m sure.” He scowled at her. “All right, so how close is Lydia to nailing that guy?”

  “I haven’t read through anything in detail.”

  “Take your time with dinner, then we’ll go over to Ty’s.”

  “Tonight?”

  “I want to see what Lydia has and see how we go about being amateur detectives.”

  For the first time in a rather long time, Dan had to ring the bell to the mansion. Marianne opened the door and cocked her head toward the stairs. “They’re upstairs in the study room. You kids want anything to eat?”

  “Nope. We already had our dinner.” Dan said. “How’s Ty?”

  “Was that why the two of you skipped dinner?”