Grim Judgment

by Jennifer Reinfried

  The walk home went way faster than the one to the bank, mainly because I anticipated a cop car squealing up behind me with every step I took. By the time I got home, I was truly sweating. I hurried to my room and emptied my pockets onto the bed. I won’t lie, I stood there staring at the heap of crumpled bills for a long time. Eventually, I began to laugh, and looked around my room for a place to hide it all. I remembered the case for my dad’s guitar and fell to my knees to drag it out from underneath the bed.

  I stared at the money for another short while after I had transferred it all into the case. Fuck, I thought. This calls for a celebration. I changed, then took three hundred in twenties and slipped them into my wallet. I slid the guitar case back underneath my bed and went to the living room to call a cab.

  I shouldn’t have gone.

  You have no idea how badly I’ve wished I was able to go back in time and stop myself from going to that particular club on that particular night, because it was that night, that bar, that band that shaped the following miserable years of my life. But no. I went to the bar, Rusty’s. I stood in the crowd and watched some weird new wave band called Ghost Haus. I had more than one drink. I bumped into that pretty girl with the raven black hair and orange sucker who had been in Permanent Records last year. I struck up a conversation with her, having to yell over the music while leaning against the bar. She didn’t seem uncomfortable in the least with her face so close to mine.

  Her face. That face was going to lead me into the worst years of my life.

  Chapter Nine

  NOW

  2016

  Jaxon had been driving in silence for an hour, replaying the events of his day over and over in his mind. When he had seen the cop holding a gun to his brother’s head, something inside of him had snapped. He’d yanked on the officer’s arm using only his mind, without even looking, just as he had done on the roof to Nate, and to Alex. The bullet she fired sliced into the side of their truck instead of Shawn’s skull. While she had been marveling at her weapon, Jaxon shot a small shockwave from his body and knocked her over. Right on her ass, he thought with a grin, delighted at the ease with which he now used his abilities.

  “Hey.” His brother’s voice cut through the silence of the truck and pulled Jaxon’s mind away from the absorbing memories.

  “Yeah?”

  “I need to clean up, man.” Shawn raised his hands slightly. They were crusted in dried blood and flecks of white. Jaxon could see strands of dark hair stuck to his brother’s skin. “It feels gross,” Shawn continued. “Not to mention smells awful.”

  With a quick look around their passing surroundings, Jaxon said, “Well, we aren’t really near anything. I’ve been taking back roads ever since we stopped and stole those other plates at that bar. Which was genius, by the way.”

  “Heard about it once in a TV show. Or a movie. I can’t really remember.” Shawn sounded tired.

  “Genius,” Jaxon repeated with a snort.

  “Yeah.”

  “Dude, you okay? I’m looking for a rest stop, but we’re literally in the middle of nowhere right now.”

  “I’m good. I’m just drained. Didn’t get much sleep last night, because of the funeral. Hell, I haven’t been sleeping well at all. Been thinking about Cassie, about everything that’s happened, what you told me about those people on the roof that saved us. About the powers you decided to hide from me.” Shawn paused, then said, “The possibility of getting my sight back.”

  Jaxon smiled widely. “I can’t believe they’re going to fix you, man.”

  “I still can’t wrap my mind around it. I mean, how? If it were so easy, why didn’t they come to me sooner? Why not when I was younger? Why let me go through life blind?”

  “Ask him,” Jaxon said. “Colorado’s only eighteen or so hours away. If we keep switching out our plates every few hours, we’ll get there easily.”

  “It’s just so unreal. All of this.”

  Jaxon reached over and squeezed his brother’s shoulder.

  “I thought we were best friends.” Shawn was frowning. “What you did on the roof—”

  “We talked about this already. I told you, it only started about a year after Julie’s death. I started seeing the black fog here and there. I didn’t know what it was.”

  “But you didn’t say anything to me. To anyone. Why?”

  “It felt...familiar. I don’t know. It was like I’d seen it before, and knew it wasn’t anything bad.”

  “Sure, but you still could have talked to me.”

  Irritation flushed hot in Jaxon’s throat. “I know. Like I said before, I know. But you were busy being Grim, trying to take down Vance. You had enough on your plate, going out over and over. Nearly getting killed sometimes. What was I going to do, tell you about my own problems and make things worse?”

  “Uh, yes.” Shawn turned his head in Jaxon’s direction, brow furrowed. “That’s what brothers do, they help each other. Look out for each other.”

  “I get it, but it could have stopped us from taking out the criminals that killed my Julie.” Jaxon’s voice was almost a growl. “I wasn’t going to let anything stand in the way of that, even if it meant I was a little freaked out.”

  Shawn sighed and changed the subject. “You said it started a year after Julie’s death. How long were you holding back once this started? Or have you been able to call those...those things since then?”

  Jaxon stretched his neck to the right, tension pulling at his muscles. “No. I had no idea I could even control them until recently. Like, a few months ago.”

  “You spent that long dealing with this alone?” The concern in Shawn’s face was evident. “What the hell?”

  “I told you. Stop guilting me, okay? Once I realized the wraiths were real and I was somehow pulling them to me from...I don’t know, somewhere, I started practicing. But first I discovered the other ability.”

  “The telekinesis?”

  Jaxon nodded. “Yeah. I was getting better, stronger, mostly while you were with Emma.” He shot a look at Shawn, who frowned again and cast his eyes downward. “I’m...I’m sorry about her.”

  A long quiet passed between them.

  “That list,” Shawn said. “I’ve been thinking about it. Henry went missing shortly after Vance was imprisoned, never turned up again. I’m convinced Vance found out about him, killed him. He’d been gathering evidence to put the guy away, which worked, but then why did Cassie hold on to the rest of the names?”

  “I’ve been wondering the same thing myself.” Jaxon’s eyes stayed fixed on the road ahead of them, but one name in particular flashed through his mind. His upper lip twitched, and he pushed the memory away for the moment. Night had fallen an hour ago. Trees whipped past on either side of the truck, drab in the darkness, the only hints of color picked up in the vehicle’s headlights as they made their way down the deserted country road.

  “What if Henry was trying to blackmail Vance?” Shawn asked. “For money, or, I don’t know, drugs or something?”

  “If he was one of Vance’s top dogs, wouldn’t he have enough money to begin with?”

  “True.”

  “To tell you the truth,” Jaxon said, “I don’t care why Henry had that list. What pisses me off is that Cassie never turned it over to you as his note asked. Hell, even if Henry hadn’t gone missing, she should have given it to you.” He paused. An idea formed in his mind. “With that list and those photos, we could take down every Vance employee we can find.”

  “Wait, what?”

  “Well, yeah. What are the cops gonna do? One already tried to kill us.”

  “But if we take it to cops outside of Redborough, ones that haven’t been swayed by Vance—”

  “No.” Jaxon shook his head sharply.

  “Then what the hell do we do? That list is old, Jax. Henry went missing last year, months ago. How can we be sure how accurate it is?”

  “Doesn’t matter. We can still look for them, still take them out. What’s wi
th you? We’ve been trying to eliminate Vance employees for two years, and suddenly, you want to turn to the cops? Can you imagine the damage it would do to kill them all off? From the high ups to the drivers, if we took justice into our own hands, we would have Vance begging from his knees within days.”

  “Jax, I don’t know...”

  “What are you talking about?” He glared at his brother in the darkness, hands tightening on the wheel. “This is exactly what you’d have wanted before, a way to take down Vance and his empire. How can you say no to this?”

  “Look, I’m not saying we shouldn’t,” Shawn replied. “I just don’t think it’s wise to do it now, when our faces will no doubt be plastered all over Redborough and the surrounding areas. I know we’ve been careful getting out, with the plates and all, but we don’t know how far Vance’s influence has spread. You yourself said there was a note on Henry’s list about more employees in Chicago. That’s over two thousand miles away from Redborough. Besides, I’d prefer it if I could get my sight back before we go on some vigilante murder spree.” He grinned in his brother’s direction.

  “Fine, fine,” Jaxon said sullenly. “We’ll get our asses to Colorado. But right after you have whatever surgery is waiting for you, we’re leaving.”

  “What, no time for me to recuperate? Just slice my eyes open and run off?”

  “Shut up, dude, you heal in like, days.”

  Shawn cocked his head, an eyebrow raised. Jaxon rolled his eyes.

  “Okay,” he said. “We’ll stay a little while.”

  “I just don’t think it’s wise to use these people then ditch them.”

  “I’m sure they’ll understand.”

  “Right. Just like they’ll understand I killed a cop today.”

  “Self defense. Seriously, aren’t you the mighty Grim? She was a criminal, and if you hadn’t killed her, we’d both be dead right now, and she’d get away with it.”

  “No, I get that. But the longer I have to sit and smell her head goo on my hands...”

  “Ah, shit, I’m sorry. I keep forgetting.”

  “Cuz you only think about yourself,” Shawn joked.

  “Shut it, or I’ll pass up this gas station up ahead.”

  “Asshole. You wouldn’t.”

  “Try me.”

  —-

  Isaac used a cheap metal fork to push his scrambled eggs around on a thin, ceramic plate. His eyes were heavy. He knew he needed sleep, but food was the priority at the moment, and he had finally pulled over into a small town called New Pine Creek, which had the tiniest population he’d ever remembered seeing. There was a homey twenty-four-hour diner open, its lights blazing bright in the night. He’d left Vance’s car in a darker area of the parking lot and hurried inside, eager to down an early - very early - breakfast.

  “Not hungry, cutie?” A woman’s voice snapped him out of his moroseness, and he smiled a fake smile up at the waitress, a plump redhead with lipstick brighter than the red neon lights of the building’s sign.

  “I thought I was.”

  “Well, how ‘bout some more coffee then? A lil’ warmer upper?” She held up the pot she was carrying.

  Isaac looked at the glass container in her hand and shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”

  “Got a lot of driving to do?” she asked as she topped off his mug.

  “Yeah.”

  “Where you headed?”

  Isaac laughed and ran a hand through his hair. “To be honest, I’m not sure yet. Hoping to hear from a friend soon.”

  The waitress’ lips turned down ever so slightly, but she didn’t prod him further about his destination. He glanced at his cell phone, directly next to the plate of eggs he was torturing, but its screen remained dark.

  “Girlfriend or wife?”

  “Huh?” Isaac glanced up at the waitress, who was smirking at him with a knowing look. “Oh. Well,” he hesitated. Ah, fuck it. “Girlfriend.”

  “She run out on you?”

  Isaac laughed. “Yes and no, actually.”

  “You proposed and she got scared?” The woman leaned forward on the counter, elbows on its surface, her chin in the palms of her hands. Her eyes were greedy, eager for a good tale to spread to her friends long after Isaac had left, so he shrugged and gave her what she so desperately wanted: a story.

  “I was going to propose to her.”

  “But you didn’t?”

  “There wasn’t time. See, she had this crazy ex-boyfriend.”

  “Oh, no.” Her eyes widened.

  Isaac nodded seriously.

  “She ran off, back with him, then?”

  Instead of the truth, Isaac continued to spin his tale. “He convinced her to leave me, scared us both shitless. She left with him.”

  “Why would you follow after them if she’s with him?” She stood and looked at Isaac, one hand on her hip.

  “Well,” he took a bite of his eggs, chewed, then continued without swallowing. “She’s the one.”

  The waitress’ intense lips smiled. “But what are you going to do about the other guy? Her ex?”

  He’s splattered all over Sycamore Street. “I was hoping that when I found her, she’d see how much she meant to me and change her mind.” He washed his food down with a long pull from his orange juice. “Might not happen, but she’s worth every moment to me.” Isaac felt a twinge of depression as he looked at his phone again, its screen still blank.

  The bell on the door behind him sounded suddenly, and the waitress smiled and moved to seat the new patron. “I hope you find her,” she said before she was out of earshot.

  Isaac grinned at her retreating form, but the smile faded quickly as he looked down at his cell once again. He let out a deep sigh, trying and failing to release the melancholy anxiety he’d felt since leaving the safe house earlier. The car Vance had provided him had a plug for his charger, but neither Grant nor Emma reached out to him, dragging him further into his abjection. At least she ditched the phone Vance gave her.

  Isaac stood and tossed a few crumpled bills on the counter next to his plate and mug of coffee, trying to dismiss the most difficult knowledge of his defective plan: he had no idea where he was going, and if he couldn’t get in touch with Grant or Emma, Jaxon might find her before he did.

  Isaac slid his phone off the counter and exited the diner, cool California air welcoming him back to the outdoors. He headed to the car Vance had provided him, a classy white Mercedes AMG C63 coupe.

  Before he reached it, however, he felt a vibration in his pocket. He knew deep down the call would most likely be from Vance or Grant, or even a telemarketer who had no concept of the time of day, but his pulse still increased as he dropped the keys to the vehicle in his scramble to pull out his cell. Isaac squinted at the bright screen and felt his heart stop: the number showed up as unknown. He drew in a deep breath and savagely swiped his screen.

  “Emma?” he said loudly seconds before the phone was to his ear. “Emma?”

  There was silence at the other end.

  “Please, Emma. Are you there?” He put a palm against his car, hunched slightly, keys ignored in the gravel of the small parking lot.

  “I’m here,” came her soft reply.

  “Oh, God.” Isaac felt elation mixed with anguish, concern with trepidation. He was grinning and breathing quickly, eyes closed at the onslaught of emotion her voice had caused.

  “Isaac,” she said.

  “Emma, where are you?”

  “I needed to make sure you were all right.” She ignored his question, and he instantly knew that no matter how often he were to ask, she still wasn’t going to tell him. He quickly pulled his phone away from his ear and began a text message to Grant: Track the following number. NOW.

  “Emma, I’m fine,” Isaac said as he hit send. “Are you?”

  “Yes. I’m okay. I’ve been having such nightmares...but other than that, I’m okay.”

  Isaac closed his eyes. “Let me help you,” he uttered. “Please.”

&nb
sp; “Help me? With the nightmares?” She let out a soft laugh. “How would you do that?”

  “Please, Emma, tell me where you are. I’ll come to you, I don’t care how far it is.”

  “Isaac, I can’t. If Jaxon’s looking for—”

  “Does anyone else know where you are?” Isaac’s phone buzzed against his ear and he glanced at the screen. The text from Grant read: You know you woke me up, right? I’ll run it.

  “No,” Emma was saying. “I spoke with Grant once, before I even got out of Oregon. He said you were going to be taken to Vance, in a secure location.”

  “Yeah, I was there. Then I left. Last night. He let me go.” Isaac texted Grant back: Hurry. I have her on the line.

  Shocked silence filled the air.

  “How? Why?”

  “I’ll explain everything later.”

  “Go back.” Emma’s voice was tight with worry. “Jaxon’s out there.”

  “I don’t care. Please, don’t do this to me.” Isaac was close to getting on his knees next to the Mercedes and begging.

  “To you? Isaac, if he found you, if he hurt you or killed you, do you know what that would do to me?”

  “But you—”

  “I’m far away, thousands of miles. You aren’t. You need to get back to Vance, let him protect you.”

  “But who’s protecting you, Emma?” Anger joined the teeming mass of emotion Isaac was feeling.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “Not if he finds you.” The thought of her on her own, alone and scared in Jaxon’s grasp, tore at his heart, and he thumped a fist against the roof of his car. “We can run together. We’ve been wanting to disappear for so long, and now we can, just please, tell me where to find you.”