“Sure,” I said with a shrug. Since I didn’t know for certain there was any other plane I didn’t know why I was asking. “So, she’s here?”
“I assume so,” he said, shrugging back at me but focusing ahead. “Do you know how I could find her?”
I pulled him to a stop and looked directly into his eyes. “Are you in any way affiliated with law enforcement?”
“Am I affiliated with law enforcement?” He laughed and shook his head. “Why would you ask that?”
“That’s not a no.” I pointed to him. “Are you a GB?”
“No.”
“Police officer?”
“No”
“Some mutant version of them both?”
He looked me square in the eye. “No.”
“Hmm.” I squinted at him but resumed walking. “How about we survive this assessment and then we’ll see what we can do?”
“I hate to break it to you but I don’t think either of us is going to pass.”
“I said ‘survive’, not ‘pass’.”
We emerged from the tunnel, still following the procession ahead of us. I wondered if we were heading to the church or somewhere else. The slowness of our progress, in addition to our surroundings, added a sombre air to the evening.
“So do you want to divide and conquer tonight?” Tommy leaned towards me and lowered his voice. “I’m not sure what they’re assessing but like I said, from the general attitude I think we’ve both failed. So how about we unmask the murderer and save the day?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’m becoming a little concerned about my choice in friends since everyone I like is constantly trying to drag me into trouble.”
Tommy laughed. “I’m fairly sure that’s the other way around.”
I nodded. “Yeah. People keep telling me that too. You want to take the women, I’ll take the men?”
“Seems fair,” he said with a nod as we rounded the corner where the crazy person had held Sabrina and me at gunpoint. Had that only been a week ago?
“Oh, and in the interest of full disclosure, if you’re thinking that unmasking the murderer means the powers that be will give you a pass on failing this assessment, you’re wrong. You’ll mostly likely be more severely punished.”
“Really?” Tommy stepped back and eyed me as if to gauge my truthfulness. “That seems awfully unfair.”
“Yeah, I’ve been saying that a lot since I died too.”
“Right.” Jenny called from directly behind me, making me jump. The smile on her face told me she’d enjoyed that. She moved around me to address the group. “Through those trees is a small clearing. We’d like you to go through and socialise.”
“With whom?” I peeked through the trees. It was on the opposite side of the path to the area of forest where I was nearly murdered so I took some small solace in that.
Matthew offered his usual insightful contribution. “Duh. With each other.”
“And we have to do this in a graveyard because …?” I asked.
Jessica briefly flicked her eyes to Jenny then back to me. She couldn’t stop staring at me. I decided it was because I was so pretty.
Jenny held up both her hands and gestured around. “Because this is where we’re doing it.”
Matthew pointed to the wall of trees. “Everyone! To the clearing!”
No one moved. The group shifted from foot to foot, focusing on the ground or their hands or even in the opposite direction, but no one looked at the trees. I didn’t really understand what the problem was. It was just a short walk through some trees. It wouldn’t have bothered me to go first except that meant putting my back to this group of potential murderers and I was dang sure I wasn’t going to do that.
“I think Bridget should go first,” Warren volunteered from the back of the group.
“Good idea,” Jessica seconded. “She’s such a natural leader.” I don’t think anyone missed the scorn in her tone.
“I appreciate the compliment, Jessica, however, I’m not actually leading this assessment. They are.” I nodded to Jenny and Matthew. “They should lead the way.”
Jenny folded her arms. “That’s never bothered you before.”
I smiled at her. “I’m striving to be a better person.”
“Well, everyone here thinks you’re a murderer so no one wants to have you at their back.” Jessica pointed to the trees. Were we going to have another round of the pointing game? “So, off you go.”
“I’ll go first.” Warren stepped to the front of the group.
Every time Warren volunteered to do something it had alarms bells jingling in my head. Warren stepped off the path and into the trees.
“Why do we have to walk through the trees on our own?” I asked, tracking Warren’s progress. “Why doesn’t one of you just lead the way through?”
“Why do you think it’s acceptable to question our methods?” Matthew jabbed a finger in my direction and then folded his arms. So yes, we were back to the pointing game.
I frowned at him. “Don’t you think it’s acceptable to question things you don’t understand?”
“No,” Matthew said, no hint of sarcasm. “I don’t.”
I opened my mouth to challenge his ridiculous statement and realised I had no way to challenge such idiocy. Matthew took that as a victory like the nincompoop he was and a smile stretched over his face. Before he could gloat, Warren’s scream reached out from the trees and grabbed hold of the group.
“No, no, please!” he shrieked, his voice filled with panic. “Bridget, please,” he screamed again. “No, Bridget! Noooooooooo …”
Every pair of eyes fell on me. As if they were one organism, the group charged into the trees.
“We should probably …” Tommy, the only person who’d not moved, jerked his thumb in the direction of the trees.
“Yeah, I know.” I rubbed my temples and followed Tommy off the path. “If we had money here, I would bet you everything I had that I’ll somehow get the blame for this.”
Tommy spared me a quick glance, flashing a smile before turning back and watching his footing. “He was shouting your name.”
“Judas,” I muttered and Tommy huffed a laugh.
We exited the short patch of woods into the clearing. The group was huddled in a horseshoe shape, their backs to us.
“What happened?” I asked as we approached them.
The group parted down the centre and Jessica strode forward through the gap, her damn finger extended in my direction. I was getting good and tired of all this pointing. “I demand that she’s arrested at once.”
“For what?” I kept walking towards her.
“Murder.” She stopped moving forward and, when she realised I wasn’t going to halt my approach, reversed course. She didn’t show her back to me though. Once she’d backed up all the way to the front of the semi-circle she directed that dang finger of hers to Warren’s prone form. “Murder.”
I pursed my lips at her. “Yeah, it sounds much worse when you say it twice.”
“She was with us when Warren screamed.” Tommy spoke from behind me as I approached the body. “How could she have done this?”
“She’s a witch!” Jessica screeched and everyone in the group turned to stare at her. “Or … she has a partner,” she added a little more reasonably. But only a little.
“Stop right there, murderer.” Matthew stepped in front of me, holding out his hand, palm facing me. “Don’t try to hide the evidence that would implicate you.”
I stared at him. I was starting to think Sabrina was right. It might not be the food, but the bureau was definitely lacing something with a dumbing down drug. There was no way that this many dumb people naturally occurred together in the same place.
“I was with you when this happened.” I dodged around Matthew to get a look a Warren’s body.
He lay on his side exposing his wound, a bloody mess on his temple. More like a gash, really. Blood soaked his face and nearly the whole top half of his jumpsuit.
It was sad to say but I’d seen enough murder victims to know when something was wrong. I took another step and Matthew grabbed my arm.
I shook off his hold. “I know first aid.”
“He’s dead.” Matthew tried to grab for my arm again but I danced back out of the way.
“He’s not.” I held up my hands. “You can watch everything I do so you know I’ve not destroyed evidence.”
“Don’t let the witch near him!” shrieked Jessica, jabbing her finger in my direction. She reminded me of an angry mob leader and her finger, a pitchfork.
“Help me roll him onto his back.” I ignored Jessica and spoke to Matthew who, to my surprise, actually helped me. “Now stand back, okay?”
I tried very hard to suppress a smile when the group stepped back as one. It was simply uncouth to smile while standing over a supposedly dead man. I stood, one foot either side of his waist, and bent down to examine his face. I didn’t really need to check. I knew I was right. There were too many inconsistencies. I extended my arm out behind me, drawing my hand back as far as it would go to gain as much momentum as possible. And then I let it fly. My open palm connected with Warren’s cheek so hard his head bounced on the ground. The sharp slap echoed off the trees around us. As did Warren’s cry. The wound and the blood faded.
Where had Warren learned that? Maybe he wasn’t such an unlikely suspect after all. But if he had morphed into me to kill Watson, why would he let everyone know that he could do the face changing thing? Maybe it was to throw people off the scent by openly admitting he could do it. I was sounding like Petal again. I gave myself a mental slap, slightly less harsh than the one I’d given Warren.
Warren clutched his cheek. “You crazy bit—”
Matthew had Warren by the collar of his jumpsuit, shaking him furiously as though he were a rag doll. “This was a joke?”
“Now, now.” Warren patted Matthew’s shoulder. “You should let go of me and apologise before I report you.”
Matthew’s eyes stretched so wide I thought there was a chance his eyeballs might fall out of their sockets. “Before you report me?”
“Bridget’s the one who needs reporting!” Jessica screeched and jabbed that damn finger in my direction again. I swear if she kept that up I was going to snap it off. “She killed Warren and brought him back to life to cause us to turn on each other. She’s a witch.” Jessica’s eyes darted frantically around the group and she started clapping. “Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch. Witch.”
The people standing closest to her began to shuffle back. I blew out a breath and adjusted my fringe. I really, really, really just wanted an easy afterlife.
“Okay.” Jenny spoke from the back of the group, noticeably far away from the drama. “Shall we get on with the assessment?”
“Er …?” I inclined my head in the direction of the still clapping and chanting Jessica since no one else looked like they were going to bring it up.
“Right,” Jenny said with a sigh and motioned for Matthew to release Warren and grab hold of Jessica instead. “Nancy, you and Hannah are in charge. The rest of you: mingle.”
No one moved. Jenny and Matthew took an arm each and guided the still clapping Jessica out of the clearing and into the trees.
“What will they do with her?” a plump, middle-aged lady, who had sat in the row adjacent to Jessica, asked me.
“I have no idea.” I didn’t really care all that much either.
“Did you really bring him back to life?” someone called out from the middle of the group.
“You deal with this, Warren. This is your—” I searched the faces in the group. “Where’s Warren?”
“He was here a moment ago.” Tommy jogged to the far side of the clearing and peered into the trees. He turned back with a shake of his head.
“We should find him,” said the same voice that just asked me if I was a witch.
“Why?” someone asked before I could.
“Because someone is picking off members of this group,” Hannah said in her nasal tone, staring at me.
“How do we know it’s not Warren?” the boyband wannabe asked.
It was a fair point. There was only one person in the group that I was absolutely positive wasn’t a murderer, and that was me. Despite what Alex version 2.0 had claimed to see. The rest of them I didn’t trust. Especially since now I’d seen that Warren could change his face.
“Because he’s an idiot,” Tommy said and it was kind of hard to disagree with that. “But that doesn’t mean we should let someone just kill him.”
“What makes you think somebody’s going to kill him?” someone else asked.
“I don’t, but it’s better to be safe than sorry, right?” Nancy asked and the group mumbled their agreement. “Everyone pair up and spread out. Meet back here in ten minutes.”
“You do know someone is going to end up dead here tonight if we do this, right?” I said, glancing around the group. Everyone stopped to stare at me.
Tommy shook his head. “Not necessarily. We might even save Warren from being murdered.”
I looked around the group again. “You do all realise that we have no reason to believe that there actually is someone waiting in the trees to kill one of us, and no reason to believe if the murderer is waiting out there that it’s Warren they’re after. But if there is a murderer and if you all go out there, one of you might be the murderer’s intended victim.” I looked around the group for any signs of intelligence or comprehension. “You all get that, right?”
As one entity the group shuffled its feet and mumbled.
“What would you have us do? Wait here and let the murderer have their way with Warren?” Nancy asked, her voice thick with shock at my callousness.
I tried very hard not to simply say “yes”. Because of that, something much stupider came out. “It’s your funeral.”
The group gasped as a whole and stepped back from me. They paired up quickly and headed out into the trees without further instruction. I don’t think they were that fussed about Warren, I think it was more to get away from me.
“Well, that wasn’t the smartest of things to say.” Tommy moved to my right and watched the last of the group scurry out of the clearing. They were throwing glances my way and tripping over the shrubbery as they went.
I shook my head. “I know. I was just focusing so hard on not saying that it was okay to let the killer have Warren.”
Tommy grinned at me but changed topic. “It looks like it’s you and me then, partner.”
“I am taking no part in this whatsoever.” I flopped down, cross-legged, in the middle of the clearing.
Tommy peered down at me. “You’re not going to help?”
I pointed to the rustling trees around us. “If I go out there with you either you’ll turn out to be the murderer or you’ll be murdered. That’s how it works. So, really, you should be asking me to stay here.”
Tommy scanned the trees and then turned back to me again. “You’re really staying here?”
“Since I died I’ve found five dead bodies.” I gestured around the clearing. “I’m the last person you want out there. Also, last time I was here I nearly died again running through the trees, so if you don’t mind I’d rather just sit this one out.”
Tommy frowned down at me. “I’m kinda disappointed in that, Bridget.”
I shrugged. “No offence, Tommy, but I’ll survive your disappointment. I won’t survive being murdered.”
He huffed out a breath that wasn’t quite a laugh. “Hold the fort,” he said and disappeared off into the trees with every other stupid member of the group.
I didn’t see the point. And honestly, I thought it was asking for a knife in the stomach. Or a log to the head. We were in the woods, after all. I stood and moved to the side of the clearing so I could put my back to a tree and watch everywhere else. I made sure the tree had a fat enough trunk that no one could reach around and strangle me.
I was making mental bets on who would be back first and
who would be dead. Matthew and Jenny made it back to the clearing first. My bet for first back had been Warren.
“What did you do?” Jenny stormed across the empty clearing to me. “Where is everybody?”
“Warren disappeared. Nancy thought, since people in this group are dropping like flies, splitting up and searching through the dark woods, in a cemetery, at night was a great idea.”
“At least she cared,” Matthew spat at me. “At least she tried to do something.”
I shook my head. “You people are unbelievable. If that had been my idea you’d have slated me for it.”
“That’s because I don’t like you,” Matthew said. “You killed Gracie.”
Seriously? I placed my cool hand on my forehead. Where had I put those apricots? “You’re giving me a migraine.”
“We need to find everybody and get them back here to do the assessment.” Jenny directed her comment to Matthew while she surveyed the clearing, I assumed looking for clues to what direction people had gone.
“You could just wait. They’ve only been gone—” I checked my wrist for my watch and found it bare. I could’ve cursed myself for forgetting to put it on the day I died. “Some short amount of time.”
“I think we should get them.” Matthew agreed with Jenny as if I’d not spoken.
“Yes, you should both go bumbling around in the trees.” I nodded to myself since they weren’t listening. “That’s obviously the smartest thing to do. Two more victims for the murderer to choose from.”
“You go that way.” Jenny pointed to the way they had just come. “I’ll go this way.”
“Okay.” Matthew was already walking in the direction Jenny had pointed, completely oblivious to the fact that they had just come from that direction and not seen anyone.
“Yeah, you guys go and try to collect thirty people wandering around in the dark.” I waved them off. “Don’t do the smart thing and wait for them to come back. Or shout really loudly that they should return to the clearing. Nooooo. Just go stomping around in the dark in a group where someone is picking off assessment leaders.”
Minutes ticked by. At least they felt like minutes, they may very well have been seconds. I needed to get a new watch. Surely ten minutes had passed since Tommy had left. Maybe the murderer had picked them all off one by one. Maybe when I stepped out into the forest the ground would be littered with bodies.
Deader Still: A Bridget Sway Novel (A Paranormal Ghost Cozy Mystery Series) Page 21