Holly turned to Zack, fighting back the tears. “Cassie was warning us off, Zack. She told us he’ll kill again. She told us to go.”
Zack blew out a breath. “She’s definitely giving some mixed messages.”
“Does she want us to go, or does she want us to stay and help her?” Kendall wondered aloud.
The group stood silently, pondering Kendall’s question.
Finally, Zack broke the silence. “Look, Cassie deserves to have her story told. Her family, especially Thomas, needs closure. And if there are more girls out there, I want to know. What if one of you girls was out in that lake? Or my sister? Or my mom? Those girls belong to people—they have families who are suffering every day because they’re missing.” He shook his head. “The way I see it, we have no choice but to help them in anyway we can. And if they’re suspicious of us, we have to show them our motives are pure.”
“If others are out there,” Holly said, glancing around at the faces of her friends, “do you think they’re ghosts, too?”
Niqui shuddered. “Cassie’s physically strong. If there’s a crowd of them…”
“We’ll show them we’re their friends,” Daniel asserted. “How hard can it be?”
“Let’s get out in the boat and on the water so we can check our messages, and then go from there,” Zack said, and then brightened. “Hey, I just thought of something. Obviously, your dad knows you’re up here at the lake.”
Holly nodded.
“If your dad did call David to check on you, or if he called the Sheriff’s Office if he couldn’t reach David, they would likely call up the Marine Patrol who…”
“Just left here,” Daniel said. “Good. Good. That’s good. They know Holly is okay. They would tell him and put his mind at ease.”
“I’m going to call Chrissy real quick,” Holly said, attempting to keep a hysterical edge from her voice. She desperately wanted to tell Chrissy what was really going on, too, but again, could only imagine how the conversation would go. Her very best friend in the world would think she’d lost her mind.
Fortunately, Chrissy picked up on the first ring. “Holly, are you all right?” she asked breathlessly.
“I’m fine,” Holly assured her. “In fact, I lost my phone, and apparently the person who found it thinks that calling people on my contact list is some idea of a funny joke.”
Chrissy’s relief was audible when she spoke. “Wow, Holly, I have to tell you, I was terrified. I thought maybe someone was holding you hostage or something.”
“Nope. In fact, I’m here with the gang. Gang, say hi.” The group called out a mock, hearty hello. “Hey, I’d pass the phone around so everyone could talk, but we do have to go. I just wanted to put your mind at ease.”
“Thank goodness you did.” Chrissy paused for a moment. “Holly, is everything else going all right? Is uh … life okay since your … stepdad moved in?”
“Everything’s fine. Why do you ask?”
“I don’t know,” Chrissy murmured. “I’ve just been having strange feelings lately, like something is wrong—like you might be…”
“What?” she prompted.
“Like … you might be in danger.” She laughed at herself. “Okay, I know. I’m being paranoid. But I just can’t seem to shake this feeling.”
“Don’t worry about a thing,” Holly said with forced cheer. “Things are good.” And Chrissy’s instincts were excellent.
Chrissy knew all about Holly’s original misgivings about David. In fact, when Chrissy had met him, she hadn’t liked him one bit either. She had, in her typically tactful way, told Holly as much.
Frankly, Holly had appreciated having confirmation that her intuition wasn’t off kilter. But, she had to concede, things had improved lately. Until she’d arrived at the lake, and all the ghost business had started, she had been feeling incrementally better about David being in her life.
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Chrissy persisted, a doubtful tone to her voice.
“Things are great,” Holly said too brightly. “Okay, so, Chrissy, I’ll call you soon. I wish you were here. I really do.”
Chrissy was silent for a long moment. “Holly…” Her voice sounded slightly reproving. She knew something was wrong, and Holly knew she knew something was wrong. Lying to Chrissy felt all wrong.
“Really, everything is fine. I ... have to go.” She hung up, because her nerves were frayed and her composure was tenuous at best. She would fill Chrissy in later. Heck, she’d hop on a plane and tell her everything in person. If she got out of this mess in once piece.
“What now?” Zack said, beginning to pace the room.
Holly sighed heavily. “I’m worried about my dad…” Suddenly, she gave a sheepish, humorless smile. “Why didn’t I think of this before? I’ll just call him, like I called Chrissy.” When her friends gave her puzzled looks, she raised a finger. “Just a minute.”
She picked up the receiver and quickly dialed her father’s cell phone. She listened, the heavy rise and fall of her chest indicating her agitated state of mind. “Dad!” She paused. “Yes, it’s me. ... No, I didn’t make the call. … You are? … Oh, I’m sorry. You can turn around and head back home. … Yes, I promise, I’m fine.”
She was silent for a moment, listening. Even her friends could hear her father’s voice from several feet away as he peppered her with questions. Finally, she spoke again. “Yes, I lost my phone. And apparently somebody found it…” There was a short pause again. “I know, yes. I thought I’d lost it in the lake. So … you talked to Mom? … Uh huh. Well, somebody must think it’s a funny joke, because she’s calling my contact list. … I know. I agree. It’s not very funny.”
She was quiet for several long seconds again. “I know, but it was getting dark—which is why I thought my phone was in the water. I must have dropped it on shore. … I don’t know, Dad. But I am sorry. … Oh, no, Grandma got the call too? Will you call her and assure her that I’m okay? ... Because I don’t have my cell phone.” She smiled, although good humor was clearly absent from the facial expression. “Yes, but it’s long distance from the cabin. ... Okay, love you too.” Finally, she hung up with a relieved sigh.
“Okay, let’s go,” Zack said.
“I’ve got to go to the bathroom first,” Niqui said with an apologetic wince, and then dashed off.
Holly stood silently, attempting to recover from her phone conversations. She hated lying. She hated it when other people lied. But what choice did she have?
When Zack cocked his head to look into her eyes, she thought she might break down crying. He sensed she was on the brink, since he pulled her into his arms. She leaned against him, finding comfort in his arms.
When Niqui entered the room, he released Holly with a shoring smile, and they turned to leave the cabin. They’d barely made it to the back door, when the phone rang. Holly glanced at her friends, gulped, hurried back to the kitchen, and pulled the receiver from the hook on the wall. Her eyes closed with relief. “Hi, Mom. Wow, Dad’s fast. … He told you about the weird messages? … Oh, you heard the weird message? … Yes, I know I said I dropped my phone in the lake.” Suddenly, Holly’s face registered frustration. “No, I didn’t lie to you. Why would I do that? … Yes, I must have dropped it somewhere else. It was getting dark. … No, we weren’t on the lake in the dark.” Holly ran a troubled hand through her hair. “Mom, can we talk later?”
She listened for several seconds. “I can’t call you later? ... Oh, I see. Well, you guys have a good time. … No, it’s fine. Leave your phones off. … Yes, I know how much David hates to be interrupted during dinner. … Yes, I know how much he hates it when I text during family time—but hey,” she said mock cheerfully, “I’m not there so he won’t have to worry about it. … Yes, I know he worries. Hey,” Holly said, perking up. “Mom, would you do me a favor?—you will? Okay, will you grab David’s phone and check it for any messages from the, uh, mad caller.” She made a face at her friends. “Delete it, okay? You k
now what a worrier he is. You don’t need him upset and distracted at dinner, right?”
Holly was quiet, waiting. She held the phone away from her ear briefly. She glanced at her friends. “You guys, pray…” she muttered. “Oh, you’re back! Did the girl leave a creepy message for him too? … She did? But you deleted it, right? … And he didn’t hear it, right?” Holly sighed with relief. “Good then, you can enjoy a night out without stress. … Okay, love you too, Mom.”
Holly hung up the phone and collapsed with relief against the wall. “Mom deleted the message from David’s phone.”
“And she’s sure he hasn’t already heard it?” Zack asked.
“Apparently not,” Holly told him. “Mom found his phone on the nightstand beside his side of the bed. So, here’s hoping…”
“Here’s hoping,” the group echoed.
Suddenly, the group turned toward the back porch, where Thomas was standing, pounding on the back door. “You guys! Are you home?” he yelled.
“We’re here, Thomas,” Zack call back. “Come in.”
The little boy hurried in, his cheeks red, and his mouth open, panting for air. “I ran all the way here!”
“Clearly,” Kendall said.
“Take a breath, Thomas,” Zack urged, and the boy stood, breathing deeply of the mountain air. He finally nodded. “Good, now, what’s up?” Zack said,
“My mom got a call! From Cassie!”
“Oh, wow,” Daniel said under his breath, while the others stood silently, stupefied. They realized the implications that call would have for Cassie’s family. Unfortunately, unlike Daniel, they didn’t immediately realize the implications it might have for Holly.
Chapter Fifteen
“Thomas, what did Cassie say?” Holly said, her voice barely audible.
“She said she was fine!” he said happily, but he soon frowned. “Wait, but, I mean, she’s not fine.” His eyes took on a deer in headlights quality. “She’s dead.”
He walked forlornly to the sofa and sat down, tipping his head back and shaking it from side to side. “Mom was so happy to hear her voice…”
Holly moved to the couch and sat down beside him. She patted his knee. He glanced at her with wounded eyes. “What was Cassie thinking? Calling Mom like that? She gave her hope.”
He glanced around then, his eyes lighting on Zack. Like everyone else tended to do, he turned to Zack for comfort. “She gave Mom false hope,” he whispered, struggling not to cry.
Zack dropped onto the couch beside him and draped an arm over his shoulders. He pulled the younger boy against him in a quick hug. “She probably just wanted to hear her Mom’s voice too,” he said. “You can’t blame her. We can all understand that, can’t we?” he said, glancing around at his friends.
They all nodded in agreement. Thomas’ eyes widened suddenly and he turned to Zack. “Hey, how did she make the call anyway? It isn’t like there’s phone booths at the bottom of the reservoir.”
“You never know,” Kendall said drolly.
Holly emitted a haggard breath and turned to talk directly to Thomas. “When we were boating yesterday, I dropped my phone into the lake.”
“And Cassie found it?” Thomas said incredulously.
“Apparently,” Zack said.
Thomas frowned. “If the phone’s wet, it shouldn’t work.”
“Seems several laws of nature and science are being broken around here,” Zack murmured.
Thomas leapt from the couch and scrubbed his hands along his cheeks. “Oh, no! I just thought of something. Mom called the police! If that was your phone, it was your number that showed up on caller I.D. The cops are probably on their way here right now.”
Zack jumped to his feet and began pacing. “Oh, man,” he muttered, and then paused and his eyes locked on Holly’s face like a guided missile. “We don’t have much time. We have to find proof of Cassie’s murder and determine if there are others in that water. We have to find the killer.”
Thomas gasped. “You think there may be other dead girls…?” his voice trailed off in horror, but then his eyes widened. “You think Cassie might not be alone out there?”
“We don’t think so,” Zack told him.
“That’s good.” Thomas shook his head. “I mean, it’s bad—but it might be good for Cassie, right? I mean, maybe she has friends out there with her.”
***
The group stood outside the cabin, trying to decide what to do next. Zack, ever the leader, took charge. “Okay, guys, we have to think this through. We need answers, and we need them now.”
He glanced out over the lake. “The answers are out there,” he murmured. “But then turned back and looked out behind the cabin, toward the old shed. “I wonder…”
“What?” Daniel said.
“I wonder if there are answers back there too?”
Zack eyed Niqui and Aaron speculatively, and then turned to look at Daniel and Kendall, who stood side by side. Next, he looked at Thomas, who was standing quietly beside Holly.
Finally, Zack spoke, issuing commands. “Change of plans, guys. Niqui, Aaron, I want you two to go back out to that shed. Look it over from top to bottom. If David is the killer—and maybe even a serial killer—then it’s likely he’s kept mementos of his crimes.” He glanced around. “At least, all the murderers I see on TV shows keep tokens of their illicit acts, so they can revisit the crime anytime they want to.”
Niqui shuddered violently at the thought, and Aaron draped a protective arm over her shoulder. “Okay, we’ll do it,” he said.
“But be careful,” Zack cautioned. “The building’s about to fall down. Anyway, look for anything that looks off—maybe a loose board in the floor, where something could be stashed. I don’t know exactly, but do your best…”
Zack turned to Daniel and Kendall. He stuffed his hand in his pocket and pulled out a twenty dollar bill. He passed it to Daniel. “Anybody else have any cash?”
Aaron pulled his wallet from his back pocket and slipped out a twenty. He passed it to Daniel, who raised his eyebrows questioningly.
“Daniel, I want you and Kendall to drive into Amboy,” Zack said. “Go to the store.”
“What do we need to buy?” Kendall asked.
“Uh, butterfly bandages for Holly’s foot, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, and some kind of over-the-counter allergy meds to tide Daniel over, because I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he’s been practically blowing his brains out his nose with all the sneezing he’s been doing, and…”
Zack searched his brain, trying to force clarity to his tired mind. “Okay, look, you guys, ask around. Heck, I don’t even know what questions you should ask, but I know there has to be an old timer or two around here who might know something about the goings-on up here at this lake. Maybe somebody’s seen something suspicious.” He sighed. “Daniel, you’re a genius. You’ll know what to do.”
Kendall cleared her throat. “What about me?”
“Okay, you’re a genius too,” he said in a placating tone.
“I mean,” Kendall said, harrumphing with impatience. “What do you want me to do, specifically?”
Zack blew out a long breath and shrugged. “Grab a bag of chips.”
“You’re so funny,” Kendall said drolly, but actually chuckled.
“What are you guys going to do?” Daniel asked Zack, glancing from him to Holly.
“Holly and I are going out on the boat… Ah, hells bells,” Zack muttered, thrusting his frustrated hands toward the sky. “That’s what I forgot. Daniel, I need you to take a gas can to a station and fill it up. We don’t have enough gas in the boat to get us across the lake, let alone back. Shoot, why didn’t I remember that?”
“Stop beating yourself up,” Holly said. “It’s not your fault.”
Zack nodded crisply. “Uh, put some diesel in my truck too. If we need to get out of Dodge fast, I want one of our vehicles fully gassed up so we can make an escape.”
“Zack, there’s always my boat,”
Aaron said. “It’s gassed up and will get you anywhere you need to go.”
Zack strode toward the tiny fishing boat and gave it the once over. He nodded. “Yeah, it’ll work. It’s the best we can do now.”
“Hey!” Aaron protested.
“You know what I mean,” Zack said dismissively. “No offense intended.” He sought Aaron’s eyes. “If you were about to go out there and summon a ghost, who it happens is stronger than Super Man, which boat would you want between you and the water?”
“I hear ya,” Aaron said.
Zack turned back to Holly, eyes narrowed as he remembered another important point. “Holly’s phone is gone. One of you, give her yours.”
“But you have a phone, Zack,” Kendall said.
Daniel spoke up. “‘Z’ for Zack.”
Kendall smiled sheepishly, but then frowned. “You’re thinking she hasn’t reached the end of the alphabet yet?” She stood quietly for a moment. “Guys, we know for a fact Cassie has already reached ‘S’ for stepdad. Regardless, I suppose you want a name somewhat closer to the beginning of the alphabet, huh?” she added.
Zack nodded. “Yeah, and ‘Kendall’ works.” Zack sighed. “Besides, it’s not just the messages I’m thinking about with respect to the phones. What if something happens to my phone? We’d be up a creek, literally, since Holly’s phone is gone.”
Kendall grudgingly passed him her phone, but shot Holly a warning glance. “Do … not … drop it in that reservoir. I do not want a ghost making calls on my dime.”
Holly managed a chuckle. “I’ll do my best.”
“Okay, guys,” Zack said, “I need help getting Aaron’s boat on the water. Unfortunately, we don’t have time to drive to the boat dock, either at Yale Park or Saddle Dam.”
“It isn’t heavy,” Aaron assured him, and then the guys hurried to extract the boat from the small trailer it sat on.
“One, two, three,” Zack counted, and then they hefted it and carried it to the lake. They set it smoothly on the surface, ending up ankle deep in the water. All promptly stepped back and hurried out of the lake. They grinned sheepishly at one another, understanding why each was skittish. Aaron secured the boat to the dock.
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