The Messenger: A Novel

by Burke, Jan

  “They’re pointing between us,” she said. “Because we’re together?” she asked indignantly.

  Tyler repeated the question.

  She turned to Tyler. “It’s a little phony of them to act as if they care about me now.”

  But they did care about her. Of that, Tyler felt sure. They didn’t blame her for their deaths, so they weren’t haunting her out of vengeance. They lingered to protect her. And here he was, sitting on a bed next to their daughter, and he could not deny that he desired her. No wonder they had chosen this moment to appear.

  He looked down into her tear-stained face. “Are you all right?” he asked. “Is there a way to get rid of them?”

  “Believe me, if I knew of one, I would have used it a long time ago.”

  “I wonder if there is some way I can help you with this.”

  She studied his face. He had already become used to this, he realized, this straightforward, unabashed examination of him. Hours ago, he had decided to let her take her time to see whatever she could see in his eyes, the set of his mouth, whatever else it was she chose to stare at, and had not taken offense. Of course, it gave him a chance to study her in return.

  “You aren’t making me a project, are you? I mean, I’m not just some poor soul in need of assistance?”

  He smiled. “No. Far from it.”

  Her attention was diverted. “They’re gone.”

  He breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Sorry about that.”

  “You have nothing to apologize for. Are you going to be okay?”

  “Yes, thanks.”

  He stood up. He wondered if he was imagining the disappointment he saw on her face. He turned out the light and settled on the floor next to her.

  “Maybe I shouldn’t stay in here,” she said. “I’m afraid of what the ghosts might do to you.”

  “Shade won’t let them do anything to me. But we need to figure out what they want, I think.”

  She brooded in silence over that. After a few minutes, she said, “I feel guilty, taking your bed from you.”

  “Don’t. I’m fine. Truly.”

  Eventually, she fell asleep.

  He listened to the rhythm of her breathing, watched her face in repose.

  He did not doubt that something had drawn them together—his ability to free up her communication with her ghosts was just one more sign of that. He was equally sure that despite the strong attraction he felt for her, he had a choice in the matter. He simply had no desire to look elsewhere. Something about Amanda just felt…right.

  He thought of her acceptance of him, and felt a kind of contentment unlike any he had ever experienced. Something more than gratitude—although he was indeed grateful.

  He desired her, but he wasn’t going to hurt her, or fail to proceed with caution. He would not spend the next two hundred years regretting carelessness with her.

  Shade got up and stood next to him long enough to accept a few soft scratches on the ears and chin, then left to stand on the deck again. There, he intently watched something out in the woods. The ghosts must have relocated. Or perhaps Colby was enjoying himself by teasing the dog. If so, he wouldn’t get away with that for long.

  It was nearly dawn when Shade came in to settle beside him.

  Tyler watched the sky lighten—just before, contrary to all his intentions, he fell asleep.

  33

  He awoke before she did, showered and dressed, and took a phone call from a doctor he had worked with in the past. He returned to the bedroom in time to see her stirring into wakefulness. She smiled up at him and stretched in a feline way—uncurling to extend her arms, back arched, toes pointed. He felt his mouth go dry.

  “Good morning,” she said.

  “Good morning.”

  Her eyebrows drew together. “You’re dressed. Do you have to leave?”

  “Not right away, but yes.”

  “Can I go with you?”

  “Sorry,” he said. “For my own part, I wish you could. But for this gentleman—”

  “It’s okay,” she said, a little too quickly. “I don’t want to suffocate you.”

  “It’s not that at all,” he said, trying to rid himself of images of certain wonderful ways to find himself “suffocated.”

  “Do you have time to have breakfast together?”

  “Yes, that would be great.” He called Ben on the intercom and asked that they be served in the private parlor off his bedroom.

  When he took her into it, he said, “Having sitting rooms off bedrooms is something from another era, I suppose, but it’s a feature of the past that I find comfortable.”

  If Ben was surprised to be serving a young woman who was dressed only in a nightgown and a robe, he did not betray it by so much as a smile. But when Tyler passed the kitchens with Shade on his way out of the house, he heard Ben whistling—as much a first as the breakfast arrangements.

  He drove to a hospital near downtown Los Angeles. As arranged by the doctor who had called, he was taken to a ward where a homeless man lay dying.

  The dying man’s breathing was irregular. His gray hair lay in long, thin strands on his pillow. His frame was thin and covered by wrinkled, leathery skin. His cheeks were hollow and his open mouth revealed that his few remaining teeth were badly decaying.

  Tyler had never seen him before in his life.

  “Dr. Riley said you might know who he is?” the nurse asked hopefully.

  “Yes,” Tyler said, taking the dying man’s rough hand in his own.

  Horace Dillon, and I’ve got family in Orange County. He gave Tyler the name and phone number of a niece who lived in Newport Beach. She doesn’t know I’ve been living like this—haven’t seen her in about three years—but tell her I got enough saved to pay for my own burial.

  “His name is Horace Dillon,” Tyler said, and repeated the contact information for the niece, along with a warning that she would have no idea that her uncle was homeless or had been ill. The nurse hurried away to make the call.

  Kind of you to be here with me. My niece won’t get here in time, but that’s all right. We weren’t all that close, but she’ll see I get a headstone and she’s welcome to anything left after that. She’s married to a wealthy man, but a burden is a burden, and I never wanted to be one to them.

  There was, Tyler noticed, no rancor in this. Horace gave Tyler the banking and burial plan information his niece would need.

  Before you go, though, Mr. Hawthorne, I got a little information to give to you.

  Thank you—please feel free to call me Tyler.

  Always hard for me to address my seniors by their first names, but all right. First, I must say I pity you.

  He was not the first of the dying to say this to Tyler, but today it rankled.

  There’s no need, Mr. Dillon. Right now, I’m the happiest I’ve been in centuries.

  Because of the young woman, you mean. But that’s why I pity you. I wouldn’t want to have to make the decision you’ll be making.

  Tyler nearly let go of the man’s hand.

  Don’t blame the messenger! Shouldn’t have to say that to you, of all people. Now, I only have a few seconds here, so listen. It’s up to you. You’ve longed for a way to be where I am, but you know you have to pass this work on. She’s the one, if you’re ready. Give her the ring. Then let Shade find the other dog.

  Other dog?

  You already know what I mean. The question is, will it be her or you?

  What?

  She’s the one, Tyler. The next one to do your work. If you want to give her the job—up to you. Oh, and beware of an old enemy. That’s all I can say, except, thanks again for being here with me. I wouldn’t have wanted to be alone. Keep the faith, Tyler.

  “Wait!” Tyler cried out. “No! No!”

  The nurse and a doctor came rushing in, and after a flurry of effort that no one expected to revive the patient, the nurse gently told him what he already knew, that his “friend” was dead. Tyler knew she mistook
his stunned reaction for grief. With shaking hands, he gave her the bank and burial plan information for Horace Dillon’s niece.

  “Don’t you want to wait for her?” the nurse asked.

  “She doesn’t know me,” he said, and left.

  He was never sure afterward how he found his way back to the van, because he was lost in a fog of disbelief. He crawled into the back of the van, knowing it would not be safe—for others—if he drove in this state. Shade watched him anxiously.

  “Did you know?” Tyler asked as Shade moved closer. “Did you know from the start that I was supposed to hand this—this misery on to her?”

  Shade made a soft keening sound.

  Tyler put an arm around the great dog’s shoulders, burying his face in his fur. “I can’t,” he whispered. “I can’t damn her to this.”

  34

  As she showered and dressed, Amanda decided that as much as she wanted more than slumber parties with Tyler, sleeping near him had left her feeling surprisingly contented.

  She found a book about the Napoleonic Wars in Tyler’s library, and took it to Brad’s room, where she offered to relieve Ron and Alex from their watch over her cousin.

  They thanked her and smiled at her in a way that instantly made her believe the whole household was probably aware of the fact that she had spent the night with Tyler. Amanda quickly dismissed any thought of explaining that they were probably assuming too much. Let them assume.

  Brad’s bruises had emerged, changing to dark purple, making his condition look even worse than when she had checked on him the night before. But the swelling was going down and Alex assured her that he had been sleeping quietly.

  She had been sitting there for two hours, so lost in thoughts of the previous evening that she had not made much progress in the history book, when she heard Brad murmuring in his sleep. His eyebrows were drawn together, and his body began to twitch beneath the sheets. He made small sounds of distress, as if he were caught in an unhappy dream.

  “It’s all right,” she said softly, trying to soothe him without waking him.

  His eyes opened, but for a moment he did not seem to see her.

  “It’s all right,” she repeated, setting the book aside.

  “Amanda?” He seemed surprised to see her, then looked around the room, puzzled.

  She kept her voice low and gentle. “You’re at Tyler’s house. Remember? I imagine you must feel really stiff and sore today—in fact, you probably feel worse today than yesterday, but I can call someone to help you take a hot shower—that might loosen you up a bit—”

  But before she could say more, he had recalled his situation. To her dismay, he burst into tears. “Oh my God…oh my God…Amanda, I’m so sorry—”

  “Don’t start that again,” she said sharply.

  It brought the sobs to an abrupt halt. He looked up at her in surprise.

  “I mean it, Brad. Quit it. I had all the remorse I needed from you yesterday. More than enough.”

  She handed him a tissue, and he wiped his face with it. She studied him for a moment as he calmed down. She was glad to see that his pupils looked normal, that the glazed look was gone. And other than the problems caused by his lips being cut and swollen, his speech was clear—all good signs.

  “That’s better,” she said. “Listen to me. What’s most important is that you recover, and you aren’t going to do that by getting upset. I’m fine. Better than fine, in fact, and I probably owe some of that to you.”

  “Amanda, listen to me—I’ve put you in terrible danger.”

  “If you’re talking about holding that knife to my throat—I guess I didn’t believe you really wanted to hurt me. Where were you supposed to take us?”

  “Somewhere in the Valley. I was supposed to call to get instructions after we drove over the pass. Evan and Daniel were going to meet me. I—I’m so ashamed, Amanda. I don’t know how you can forgive me.”

  “You were scared. You’d been hurt. You weren’t yourself. That’s how.”

  “But, Amanda, about the knife—that’s not what I meant about putting you in danger.”

  She raised her eyebrows.

  “Well, yes, that was putting you in danger, but that’s not the worst of it. They asked me why Tyler had left the party, and I told them it was because of you.”

  “What? That’s so not true.”

  “Yes, it is!” he protested. “When you took off, he started to follow you out the door. Called out to you. Rebecca tried everything she could think of—including practically wrestling him into staying. But he wasn’t there for more than a few minutes.”

  She thought this over. “He didn’t follow me. He rode ahead of me on his motorcycle.”

  “Maybe he didn’t want you to feel nervous. It’s not as if there’s anyplace to go off that road other than the freeway.”

  She decided not to tell him about Tyler’s desert retreat.

  “He had to know you were headed back home,” Brad said.

  “Hmm. I’ll ask him about it.”

  “Whatever! The thing is, Amanda, now they know about you.”

  “Don’t blame yourself, Brad. If they’re after Tyler, they would have connected me to him sooner or later.”

  “What’s going on between you two?”

  “We’re friends. Maybe more than that. I don’t know.”

  “I knew he liked you, but you didn’t seem that interested in him. Tyler said you were staying here for your safety, but it sounds as if—”

  Before he finished his sentence, the bedroom door opened. Rebecca stood in the doorway, a look of shock on her face. She hurried to Brad’s bedside. “God almighty, Brad! Did Tyler do this to you? I swear I’m going to call the cops!”

  “No!” Brad said. “Don’t you dare call the police! It wasn’t Tyler!”

  “Rebecca, calm down,” Amanda said quickly. “Brad needs peace and quiet, not drama.”

  Rebecca turned on her. “Oh? And who died and made you Nurse Ratched?”

  Before Amanda could answer her, Alex came into the room and said quietly, “Leave this patient’s room immediately or I will personally throw your bony ass over the front gate.”

  Rebecca seemed utterly dismayed. Amanda wondered if it was because Rebecca was, for once, the second most beautiful woman in the room, or if it was the fact that Alex clearly was relishing the possibility of the gate toss. Rebecca turned toward the bed and said, “Brad?”

  “It’s okay, Alex,” he said. “Just a misunderstanding.”

  “All right,” Alex said, “but Tyler left very clear instructions that if your sister arrived here and her visit was upsetting to you, we should escort her off the premises.”

  “Maybe you should come back later,” Brad said to his sister.

  Rebecca’s expression changed. “No, please—okay, look, I’m sorry. I’m just worried and upset! Which I think would be totally understandable! Please don’t make me leave, Brad.”

  “Okay, but get a grip, all right?”

  She looked ready to object, forced herself not to speak, and nodded.

  He said to Alex, “We’ll be okay now.”

  “Yes, I’d like to be alone with my brother,” Rebecca said.

  “No way in hell,” Alex said with a smile.

  “I’ll stay with them,” Amanda offered. “It will be all right.”

  Alex hesitated, then nodded. “All right. If you need me, call. I mean that. Tyler won’t be happy with me if Brad suffers some kind of setback.”

  “I’m his sister!” Rebecca said.

  “Right,” Alex said, “the one who was too drunk to notice he was missing for a couple of days.” With that parting shot, she walked off.

  Rebecca did have that puffy, day-after-the-party look. Not at her best. She was probably massively hungover.

  “So what happened to you?” Rebecca asked when the three of them were alone.

  Brad looked down at the bedding and began to fidget with the comforter. Without looking up, he said, “Some
people I know turned out not to be so nice.”

  “Who?”

  “You don’t know them.”

  “Who?” she persisted.

  “These people aren’t playing around, Rebecca! I don’t want you to go after them!”

  “It won’t be necessary for Rebecca to go after them,” a low voice said. Amanda turned to see Tyler standing in the doorway.

  35

  Tyler!” Amanda said with relief. But as she looked at his face, she sensed that something was troubling him. She wanted nothing more than to take him aside and ask him what was on his mind.

  “Tyler!” Rebecca said, and launched herself toward him, pulling him into an embrace.

  He managed to evade a kiss. He gave Amanda a look of such helplessness, she couldn’t stifle a laugh.

  He disengaged himself from Rebecca—not without a little difficulty—and came to Amanda’s side. “You all right?” he murmured, and put an arm around her waist. He held her close.

  Now what does this mean? she wondered. Was he just trying to get Rebecca to back off? But he seemed anxious about something, and she doubted it was Rebecca. So she smiled up at him and said, “Absolutely fine. But I’m worried about Brad.”

  “How are you doing, Brad?” he said.

  “I’m feeling a lot better,” Brad said. “I—maybe everyone could give me a minute to shower and get dressed, and we could talk in another room?”

  “Certainly,” Tyler said. “But are you feeling up to that? It would probably be better for you to move around a little if you’re feeling strong enough, but don’t push yourself. We still haven’t learned what substances you were given—the doctor said that may take some time.”

  “Substances?” Rebecca said.

  “Yes,” Brad said. “I was drugged. Actually, while I didn’t enjoy it, that was the best part of what they did to me. It eased the pain a little.”

  “Brad—”

  “I know you have a lot of questions, Rebecca. Everyone else does, too. But why don’t all of you get out and let me dress, and we’ll talk more in a few minutes.”

  The wait for Brad was tense but did not result in violence, Amanda was pleased to note. Ron and Alex sat close to each other on one sofa. Tyler and Amanda sat next to each other, if not quite so close, on the sofa directly across from it. Shade lay at their feet. Amanda still sensed some uneasiness in Tyler, but this was not the time to ask about it.