Haunting Ellie

by Patti Berg

He thought he heard voices outside. Were those drops of water raining down from above?

  Directly behind him he could hear Elizabeth, her every breath a loud and raspy wheeze.

  Oh, Lord. Help me get her out, Jon prayed silently. Fast.

  Please.

  Moments later he recognized the black-and-white linoleum tiles he was crawling over and knew they’d reached kitchen. He crawled over the remains of a fallen door, knowing it had to have led to the basement stairs. If he’d had time, he would have said a prayer of thanks, but flames spread across the floor, coming ever closer, and he forgot everything but getting Elizabeth out.

  The heat was becoming so oppressive it was blistering his skin. He began to cough; his lungs burned.

  Again he wanted to lay down; to go to sleep, but he forged forward. Shoving aside timbers and debris, pots and pans and broken dishes that had embedded themselves into their path. He clawed at them, growing tired, until Elizabeth crawled up alongside him.

  “We can do this together,” she said, and somehow managed to get close enough to kiss him softly, a kiss that restored his resolve.

  They cleared the opening to the basement as flames begin to lick at the heels of his boots. “Hold my hand while you go down,” he instructed Ellie. He crawled over the hole to get out of the fire’s path, and as soon as Elizabeth was out of harm’s way, he followed her quickly down the steps.

  Another explosion rocked what remained of the hotel, and Jon grabbed Elizabeth and jumped across heaven knows how many feet of dirt, carrying her with him into Alexander’s grave. Together they ripped the slats from the entrance to the tunnel and as soon as it was cleared, Jon turned around. “Come on, Alex.” He held out a hand to his great-grandfather.

  Alexander shook his head. “I can’t go.”

  “What the hell do you mean, you can’t go? I’m not about to leave you behind.”

  “I’m dead. This stuff can’t hurt me. Besides, you need all your strength to get out of here.”

  “The hotel’s gone, Alex,” Jon shouted. “There’s no place left to haunt, and once these walls totally collapse, you might disappear completely. Where will you be then? Heaven? Hell? Or stuck in limbo somewhere?”

  “Doesn’t matter. You’re the only ones who matter to me now,” Alex cried. “Please. Go.”

  Jon looked back at Elizabeth. Tears and dirt and way too much blood stained her face. “Start moving down that tunnel,” he told her. “Don’t worry about spiders or webs or darkness or anything. Just get to the end of the tunnel and get out of here before the fire barrels in after us.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’ll be right behind you.” He kissed her quickly and shoved her away, then he pulled himself out of Alexander’s grave and stood before the man he refused to leave.

  “I’m not going without you.”

  “Stubborn fool!”

  “Damn right. Something I must have inherited from you. Now, step inside and let’s get going before that fire gets down here.”

  “It’s going to hurt.”

  “Burning alive doesn’t sound like a great alternative.”

  “I wouldn’t know. I never experienced it.” Alexander laughed; Jon frowned.

  “Okay. Okay. But we can’t go yet,” Alex said, offering his great-grandson a weak smile.

  “Why not?”

  “Give me one second, that’s all I need.”

  Alex disappeared in a flash of light. Jon labored to breathe. His throat was dry; it felt on fire. He couldn’t take the heat much longer, and he needed to know that Elizabeth had made it safely through the tunnel, that she hadn’t made the mistake of turning around and coming back to find him.

  He couldn’t wait much longer for Alex, but he couldn’t leave him, either.

  Still, he jumped back into the grave, hoping the air there would give him some respite from the heat, from the flames that were leaping down the stairs, coming at him at a quickened pace.

  And then he saw the flash of light again, the ethereal streak that could only be Alex.

  “What the hell took you so long?”

  “There were a few things I couldn’t leave behind. Now shut up and hold these.”

  Jon grabbed the ledger he and Elizabeth had found at Matt’s, Amanda’s locket, the photos of Amanda, and a piece of pink stationery.

  “Edges are a bit singed in the ledger, but it’s fine other than that,” Alex said. “And I couldn’t leave without all that I have left of Amanda.”

  “No, I guess you couldn’t.”

  “So, are you ready?”

  Jon nodded, and an instant later Alex’s spirit merged with Jon’s body.

  Jon staggered, grabbing the edges of the grave. Knives stabbed at him. His muscles seemed to wither.

  And he heard Elizabeth scream.

  Hell and tarnation, boy! Let’s get out of here.

  Jon shoved the ledger into the waistband of his jeans and the remainder of Alexander’s belongings in his pocket. He stumbled a time or two as he entered the tunnel, but shoved his hands against the cold, dank earth, using the walls to support his body and keep him upright. He moved slowly, concentrating all his efforts on the end of the tunnel, and on finding Elizabeth.

  He shoved the pain from his mind.

  He thought about kisses.

  He thought about soft thighs.

  He thought about red hooker boots.

  “Ouch! You stepped on my foot.”

  “Ellie?” Jon whispered, reaching out and touching her face in the dark.

  “Who else did you expect to find down here?” she answered back with laughter in her voice.

  “I told you to get out.”

  “And you said you’d follow, but you didn’t.”

  “But you screamed,” Jon yelled. “What happened?”

  “I kicked something. Feels like a metal box.”

  “You had me scared half to death!”

  Elizabeth laughed in spite of the mess they were in. “I didn’t scream because I stubbed my toe. I just needed some way to make you hurry, and I figured that would work. Now, give me your hand and let’s get out of here.”

  By the time they reached the end of the tunnel, Elizabeth had wrapped her arm around his waist and he’d slung an arm over Elizabeth’s shoulders for support, needing her strength in order to walk.

  I told you I shouldn’t go with you, Alex bellowed inside Jon’s head.

  “You’re here and you’re staying put,” Jon belowed back, right before he and Elizabeth hit the dead end.

  “We can’t go any further,” she said.

  “It’s going to take a whole lot more than a dirt wall to keep us down here,” Jon roared. Using what little strength he had, he pounded his fists on the barrier that stood between them and freedom. Somehow, he forget the pain. All he could think of was Elizabeth and getting her out of this makeshift grave.

  Hit the wall above you.

  Thank God Alex was with him. Thank God Alex was thinking clearly when his own head felt like it was being crushed in a vise.

  Jon raised his hands above him until his fingers felt something solid and hard. Wood.

  He stretched upward and pushed. Nothing. He pushed again, but it was too high and he couldn’t get any leverage.

  He grabbed Elizabeth around the waist. “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “I’m going to lift you up, and you’re going to get that opening cleared.”

  “You can’t lift me, Jon. You don’t have the strength.”

  “The hell I can’t!” He took a deep breath, then one more, and attempted to lift, but he couldn’t get her high enough. Instead, he knelt down. “Don’t argue, just get on my shoulders.”

  There was so much pain shooting through his body he couldn’t feel the extra weight on his shoulders. Somehow he stood, straightening his legs. “Are you close enough, Ellie? Can you push on the door?”

  “I’m pushing, “I’m pushing,” she called down to him, and there was no doubt in his min
d that she was using all her strength. He could feel the muscles of her legs tightening around his neck and shoulders with each push.

  “It’s open!” she shouted. “We can get out.”

  Jon felt her weight lift from his shoulders, and he knew she was safe. Reaching up, he wrapped his fingers around the exit and slowly pulled himself to freedom.

  It was pitch black in the bank’s basement, if that’s where they were, but they could feel heavy crates stacked everywhere. They pushed and climbed and stumbled, somehow making it to the other end of the room, where they found and climbed a flight of stairs.

  The door at the top was locked, but it didn’t put a damper on their escape efforts. Jon shouldered his way through, splintering the wood down the center. He slammed into the door again and busted a hole big enough to climb through.

  The bank’s front entrance door was another story completely. It was locked; it was solid. There was no way to escape to the outside.

  Jon heard yet another explosion. He jerked around. Had a bomb gone off?

  But it was only Elizabeth, standing in front of the bank’s shattered plate glass window, the metal box she’d found in the tunnel clasped tightly in her hands. She grinned sheepishly. “You’re the mayor,” she said, shrugging. “The citizens of Sapphire, not to mention the bank’s owner, might not understand if you were the one who broke it.”

  They were going to wonder what he was doing in the bank in the first place, not to mention how he’d gotten inside. But that was all beside the point.

  Jon felt free and without fear for the first time in what seemed like hours. All he wanted to do now was kiss Elizabeth, and he did. He kissed her with pain and fever and passion. She tasted like dirt and smoke and ashes and blood, and he figured it was a taste he’d love for the rest of his life.

  You two ever going to get out of here?

  Alex had a point.

  Jon kicked the remnants of glass out of the window with his boot and stepped out into the frigid night air. He reached back for Elizabeth, pulling her to safety and into his embrace.

  Suddenly he pushed her to arm’s length. “We’ve got to get you to the hospital or the doctor.” He ran his fingers through her hair, over her scalp. “I don’t know where that blood’s coming from, but…”

  Elizabeth touched his brow with cool, soothing fingers. “It’s not my blood, Jon. It’s yours. You’ve got a gash on your forehead.”

  “Ah, hell”—he grinned—“a little blood never hurt anyone.”

  “If I’d known we were going to end up out in the cold,” she said, slipping back into his arms, “I would have worn something warmer to our party.”

  He curled dirty fingers beneath her chin and tilted her face up so he could get a good look at her. “God, you’re beautiful.”

  A tear rolled down her face, streaking through the soot, and as she rested her head against his chest, she began to cry.

  Jon wrapped one hand around her back and smoothed her hair with the other. He looked down the street to the area where friends and neighbors were standing, hosing down what remained of the old hotel. Flames leapt high through the wooden structure, lighting the faces of Harry and Andy, who stood with Libby and Jack, their heads hanging in sorrow.

  “Come on. I think we need to calm the fears of a few people,” Jon said, allowing his arm to drape over her shoulder for support as they walked toward the crowd. Now that they were safe, now that the adrenaline had quit pumping through his veins, the pain and weakness returned.

  Harry looked up first, and a slow grin spread across his smoke-blackened face. He nudged Andy, then ran toward Elizabeth and Jon. “You don’t look too good,” Harry blubbered, trying to squeeze a little laughter into his words.

  “We look alive, don’t we?” Jon asked.

  “Yeah,” Harry said, sliding another arm around Jon for support.

  “We’re all alive—somewhat,” Jon stated, winking at Elizabeth. “That’s all that matters at the moment.”

  Andy and Jack threw blankets around Elizabeth and Jon’s shoulders, and Libby gave them cups of fresh strong coffee.

  “Let’s get you two into the cafe,” Harry said, trying to steer Jon across the street.

  Jon pulled away, took a sip of coffee, and felt a little strength building inside. He had no intention of going anywhere. He sensed Matt was outside, hiding somewhere, and he planned to confront him.

  “Where’s Matt?” Jon asked, sensing his former cousin was responsible for the explosion.

  “Mourning,” Andy stated, then laughed. “His own demise, that is.” He pointed to a spot past the burning hotel where the old Sapphire fire engine and half a dozen trucks were parked. “Would you believe that lady he was with at Elizabeth’s welcome party is an undercover warden? Hell of a shock to me. Even more of a shock to Harry. Anyway, she saw Matt running away from the hotel right before the place blew up. She has him handcuffed to the steering wheel of her pickup. I get the feeling she doesn’t care too much for your cousin.”

  “He’s not my cousin,” Jon stated, realizing how good the words sounded.

  “What do you mean, he’s not your cousin?” Libby asked.

  Jon just smiled. “I’ll explain later.” He wove his fingers through Elizabeth’s and they walked together down the road. He had more strength now. He didn’t know why, he just did. Maybe anger had washed away the pain.

  He was just a few yards from the truck when he saw Matt’s white-toothed smile. “Well, I see you made it out of there.”

  Jon raised a fist, but Elizabeth grabbed hold of his arm and held him back.

  Slowly, Jon lowered his hand and pulled the ledger from under his belt. “Is this what you were trying to destroy?” Jon asked.

  Matt chuckled, but the laughter wasn’t in his eyes. He looked scared to death, haunted by a future he’d spend in prison.

  “How did you know we had the ledger?” Elizabeth asked. “We left everything just as we found it.”

  “The moose head tilts to the right. Tonight it tilted to the left.” Matt laughed again. “Next time you break into someone’s place, you’ve got to be more careful.”

  “Is he giving you trouble?”

  Elizabeth turned at the sound. Blue-eyed, flame-haired, much-too-beautiful-to-be-real Francesca walked up to them. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she was wearing camouflage, yet she looked like she’d just stepped off the cover of Vogue. Heavens! She was absolutely beautiful, even dressed like a man, but Elizabeth couldn’t work up the energy to despise her any longer.

  “Sorry I didn’t get here sooner,” Francesca said. “I had to find another vehicle when Matt took off with the truck we went out in. I thought he might be up to something and I couldn’t risk letting him get away. Had to leave my partner behind to deal with all the others, which I don’t usually like doing.”

  Jon frowned. “Partner?”

  Francesca nodded. “It’s not something I announce to the world. It’s usually a way of throwing the people we’re after off track. It worked like a charm this time around, especially with Matt. It appears he’s going to have a few attempted murder charges to fight in addition to arson, not to mention poaching. And we got three of his friends at the same time. One’s a senator.”

  Elizabeth clutched Jon’s arm. “My brother was out there, too,” she said to Francesca. “He probably doesn’t deserve any special favors, but...”

  “What kind of favors were you hoping for?”

  Elizabeth and Jon jerked around at the sound of her brother’s voice. He had a blue bruise on his jaw and a grin on his face.

  “I’d like you to meet my partner,” Francesca said, as Eric stopped at her side.

  “Partner?” Jon could sense the rage welling up inside Elizabeth. He felt her muscles tense. “You could have told me,” she hollered at her brother. “I’ve been worried sick that you were going to get arrested and thrown in jail for the rest of your miserable life.”

  Eric laughed. “Sorry, Elizabeth. It
was all part of the plan.”

  “Was making Jon suspect me part of the plan, too?”

  Eric looked at Francesca and shrugged.

  “That was my idea, Elizabeth,” Francesca said. “We couldn’t let Matt suspect anything.”

  “What about hitting me in the cafe?” Jon asked, looking directly at Eric.

  “All part of the plan.” Eric grinned as he slapped Jon on the back. “No hard feelings, I hope?”

  Jon shook his head and grinned as he watched Eric massage his jaw. “Maybe you’ll think twice next time you decide to pick on someone bigger than you.”

  “I rarely run into anyone bigger than me,” Eric said. “You were a definite surprise. So, how’s your chin?”

  Jon rubbed a thumb over the spot where Eric’s fist had connected with his face. “Can’t feel a thing. What about your knuckles?”

  “Never slammed them into steel before, but that swing sure made Matt a believer in my sincerity.”

  “Then I guess it was all worth it,” Jon said, glancing at Matt, who was still handcuffed to the truck. He slowly pulled the ledger out from under his belt and handed it over to Eric. “You might be able to forgo some of your undercover operations once you take a look at the information in here.”

  Eric flipped open the ledger and ran a finger down one column and smiled. “Looks like entertaining reading.” A moment later, Eric and Francesca were thumbing through the pages, completely forgetting Jon and Elizabeth existed.

  Jon drew Elizabeth close, and for the first time since they’d walked out of the bank, looked at the gray steel container she clutched in her fingers. “Is that what you stubbed your toe on?”

  Her anger from a few moments before seemed to subside. ‘Yes, and it’s getting heavy.”

  Jon took it out of her hands, shoved his thumb under the latch until it loosened, and popped open the lid. He spent a few moments looking through the contents. “Interesting.” He smiled down at Elizabeth. “Seems we have some property deeds here from the late 1800s.”

  Thunder and tarnation! I might get a little more revenge before I’m through!

  Jon laughed at Alex’s words, then turned to Matt, who’d been uncommonly quiet during the exchange of the past few minutes. “Let’s see now,” he said. “You’re going to prison for poaching, arson, attempted murder, and God knows what else. That should put you out of commission for a few years. And when you come back, you’re going to find out you have nothing much to come back to.” Jon patted the box. “Inside here is all I need to make you leave Sapphire permanently.”