~ ~ ~
Jace couldn’t stay for the funeral. He couldn’t stand to see the grief of Lindsay’s parents and Lance in the days following the accident. He gazed in surreal disbelief as he stood on the street corner in Little Bend across from the packed funeral home.
She died on impact; he learned, relieved she felt no pain. Further examination of the truck found the brake line was cut. Wilson ordered a full investigation after that, firing Dooley as soon as he went back on the job. Retirement didn’t seem to be in the cards at that point.
Jace watched Deborah Morgan collapse in Jack’s arms when Gary Wilson arrived to inform her that her daughter was dead that night. The pain of watching them all suffer her loss was nothing next to his own.
“We going or what, Boss?” Sal asked sadly and his eyes filled with compassion. “You can’t do anything for her anymore.”
Jace nodded and was miserable to leave, knowing if he hadn’t come at all Lindsay would still be alive. Going back was even harder now, but there was no reason to stay. He led the ghosts to the ripple out at his old farmhouse. It was still there.
He concentrated on it until it opened, reminding everyone to stay together and hold each other’s hands. He looked back at the world before he stepped through the opening with a devastated expression. It seemed unchanged even though Lindsay was no longer in it.
The group of Newbies made it to the end and wound up on the street in front of Deadhead’s Lounge. Jace swore under his breath as he sealed the opening and glared at the group of ghosts who acted like tourists now.
“Trust me, you don’t want to go in there,” he told them and ushered them down the road. “We gotta hurry up. We’re gonna have demons all over this place in minutes.”
Jace lead the group down the fifteen city blocks, following behind them and looking around warily for signs of pursuit. He was relieved when they got to Merrick’s warehouse. He punched in the code and heard the buzzer. The door opened and his group of Newbies all rushed inside, looking around in wonder.
Merrick must be out on patrols, Jace thought in relief. He also realized they were going to need a lot more uniforms for the new group. He got them to sit in the warehouse and wait as he went up the stairs to Merrick’s apartment. He wondered where Daphne was. She was probably freaking out he was four days late getting back.
He opened up the door and called out to Merrick. No answer. He called for Daphne. No answer. He frowned and walked in flipping on the lights. He opened the door to the spare bedroom and it was empty.
Sighing and still feeling the pain of Lindsay’s death, he went out to the fire escape to think before Merrick arrived and played twenty questions with him. He sat down and stared over the dark city, seeing demons flitting across the street, seeing Deadheads chasing each other. His heart felt like it was fractured in two.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up, thinking it would be Daphne.
Jace stared into the blue eyes that made him weak since the eighth grade, saw her smile of welcome. Without asking how or why she was there, he grabbed her and pulled her into his arms. He buried his face in her neck, smelling her, feeling her body warm and real against his. When he could finally raise his head, he regarded her with a sad expression.
“Cameron cut the brake line in the truck that night,” he offered and wanted to apologize to her for dragging her into all of this.
“Then he did me a favor,” Lindsay whispered with little regret as she looked up at him. “I remember everything before I hit that tree, Jace. I never wanted anything as much as you at that moment. Nothing seemed worth having without you there with me.”
“This isn’t what I wanted for you, Lindsay,” he protested and her finger came up and silenced his words.
“Remember when you said that everything happens as it’s supposed to?” she asked with her heart in her eyes. “Maybe this is our second chance to be together, Jace. For however long were here. It’s better than a lifetime without you,” she told him breathlessly and raised an eyebrow. “Besides, Merrick says I’m a natural born demon slayer with real potential. We’ve been working on my shooting while we waited for you to get back.”
Jace laughed and held her close as she regaled him of all she learned in the last four days. She even made friends with Murdoch. Daphne left to go stay with Drea. She thought it was for the best when she learned who Lindsay was from Merrick.
“Welcome to Oblivion, Lindsay,” he whispered as he held her tightly and lifted her off her feet, kissing her finally and praying neither of them ever passed on. He could live with the pitfalls of surviving in this place, the gritty realities of everyday life here, anything, with her by his side.
~ ~ ~
Marnie opened the pack of pictures on the kitchen table. Nobody else seemed willing to in the weeks after Lindsay’s death. They all hesitated to look to see how happy she was that day she graduated. None wanted to face the reality of what happened later that night.
She flipped through them, getting misty-eyed to see those of Lindsay with her parents when something caught her eye. She stared at the photograph and held it up to the light, frowning at the defect in the picture.
Her eyes grew wide as she made out the arm around Lindsay’s shoulder in the photo, nearly transparent. She would have thought it merely a trick of the light until the shape standing next to her was seen.
Tears filled her eyes as she saw the outline of Jace standing next to her in the photos. She scrambled and looked at every picture now, holding them up to the light to see he was in every one. She looked at Lance. He was sitting in the living room watching TV.
They were moving to Georgia in the morning. Boxes and bins filled the apartment. She wondered if she should show them to him. He took Lindsay’s death the hardest. Showing him the pictures wouldn’t make him feel better right now. Only time could do that.
Marnie relaxed to know that she wasn’t losing her mind that day the ghost tossed the adoption brochure into the trash, making her decision to keep the baby. The paternity test results came back, answering the question they all feared to know. The baby was Jason Turner’s. Marnie was content to know a mistake turned out to be a godsend.
The horror of what Cameron and Matt did to Jace was all over the news. She could hardly believe him capable of Jace’s grisly murder, or cutting Lindsay’s brake line that night. Matt Lauder confessed to everything.
Matt was charged with both murders and awaiting trial. Sheriff Wilson decided not to retire and fired Dan Dooley for misconduct. Everyone was relieved when Cameron’s body was found in the woods. He’d been shot multiple times in a suspected drug killing.
Marnie never believed anything good could ever happen to girls like her. She never believed in fate or miracles until she saw the brochure fly across the room. Seeing Jace standing next to Lindsay in the pictures encouraged her belief that he was there that day, guiding her to make the right choice to keep her baby. She believed everything happened for a reason now, inspired by what she saw with her own eyes.
Cameron might have cheated the couple from having a life together but it was clear to her they were together in death. She wiped the tears that fell, tears of relief and happiness, and put the pictures up. When Lance was ready to see them, she would show him proof that some things do last forever.
THE END
Oblivion Page 74