by Maria Quick
My cell rang. I perked up until I saw it was only Ally. Thanks, God.
‘Hey,’ I greeted her, trying to sound jovial. Naturally, I sounded like a death row inmate, but it was far too obvious for her to notice.
‘Anna! I’ve been doing some digging.’
‘Finally. I mean, great. What did you find?’
‘First I have to ask you something,’ she said.
Oh, wonderful. Vital information being held hostage by somebody who believes the moon landings were faked. This oughta be good.
‘Okay. What is it?’ I asked, very calmly, I thought. She took a deep breath. Oh, boy.
‘I’ve been reading more into your horoscope,’ she began.
George let out a soft chuckle, but I was ready to hurl the stupid cell out of the window. I was hands-free, but I could totally see myself getting road rage here and crashing based on this phone call. I swear, no more calls in a car for me.
‘Ally-’
‘No, hear me out! This one’s accurate for me all the time, so it must be for you, too.’
Natural assumption.
‘Fine. What?’
‘Your horoscope said that you’d experienced a loss recently. Is that true?’
A loss, huh? You could say that. He was the reason I was supposed to be retired, after all. Without him, the world was a little darker; bleaker. I could barely even-
What the hell am I saying? Shake it off.
‘Sure, Ally. My car broke down. Had her a long time. My horoscope is totally accurate. What did you find out about Angela?’
‘Your car?’ she parroted, sounding disappointed.
‘Yes, Ally, my car,’ I said as George grinned. ‘What did you find out?’
‘Nothing concrete, but I think she’s dangerous. Be careful,’ she said succinctly, hanging up.
Uh-oh, someone was having a tantrum. I was sure she’d reread my horoscope until she found a connection to a car, and then all would be well in Ally world.
‘Oh my God. She is amazing. Is she like this in real life?’ George asked.
‘Yep. But worse, since I can’t hang up on her and I have to keep a straight face.’
‘You have to let me meet her. Take me to Seattle. I really, really want to meet her.’
‘Trust me, you really don’t,’ I shuddered, as the traffic finally began to move. The biker I’d cut off swore at me as he sped past, way over the speed limit. I have to say, it really cheered me up as I saw an unmarked car immediately pull him over. Karma could be beautiful.
‘I have never known somebody to actually believe in horoscopes. I mean, not really, anyway,’ he went on, sticking his head out of the window like a dog.
‘Well, she’s gotta do something to pass the time. She’s lonely. She doesn’t really date, which she says is because she’s busy at work, but that’s not true. She’s weird. No man will have her.’
‘Hey, that’s mean.’
‘You’re kidding, right? You’re still laughing at her now.’
‘That’s different,’ he sniffed. ‘I never claimed to be her friend.’
‘Neither did I,’ I pointed out.
‘Oh, right. You just use her. I forgot. Silly me.’
It’s like he purposely wanted to raise my stress levels for no reason. I pulled up a little outside Angela’s hotel and glared at him.
‘I don’t use her. She wants to help. On occasion, she is actually helpful. Besides, I pay her. And Mickey, too. Think of me as a boss.’
‘Doesn’t mean you have to be a jerk. They’re going out of their way to help you. Illegally, in Mickey’s case. You could at least treat them with kindness in return.’
‘Can’t do that. Mickey will think I have a crush on him. And it’ll only encourage Ally to tell me about her beliefs. We all have a good relationship. It works,’ I told him soothingly. ‘We’re happy and we have been for years. In time, you’ll see.’
He didn’t stop grimacing at me, so it’d take a bit more time. I pointed over yonder through the trees surrounding us to distract him.
‘Angela’s cabin. Go. I need to see if anybody’s home.’
‘I still think this is a huge mistake,’ he informed me sullenly. ‘You’re going to get yourself killed.’
‘Hey, I’m not the one who did.’
I know, I know. It just came out, okay? I’m kinda sharp sometimes, I can’t stop it. It’s an illness.
As I cursed myself, I saw what could only be described as pure rage flash across his face. Nostrils flaring, his arms reached out as if to grab me. If he was still mortal I think he would’ve killed me. It all disappeared as fast as it’d surfaced.
‘You’re right. Forgive me,’ he said stiffly, inclining his head. ‘I’ll be right back.’
As he darted away, I realized I might’ve been a little too harsh. Okay, a lot. He had only recently died. And horrifically. Without knowing who did it, and likely to never find out that information. Alright, I was super-duper mega harsh. Yeesh, stop pestering me.
I ought to do something nice for him.
While I was waiting for him to return hopefully with good news, I switched on my Wi-Fi and bought every foreign language CD I could find. Cost me a pretty penny- well, it cost my dad a pretty penny. He wouldn’t mind, but I’d have to ask George to give me some random phrases to throw at him every once in a while. It’d be worth it.
Then, maybe, we could go on vacation. Not to Miami, but further away. Japan or Belgium or whatever. He could be my own personal translator. Huh. That’d be neat. Maybe I could start a business. Trapped lucies could learn every language and um... do something with those skills. Okay, it wasn’t perfect, but I could iron out the kinks.
As I was dreaming, I saw something out of the corner of my eye and jumped. George was back, staring at me through the window without moving an inch. It creeped me the hell out.
‘Hey, you’re back,’ I said breathlessly. It was a better option than screaming.
He saw no reason to reply to my blatantly obvious statement, waiting for me to say something more interesting.
‘Was anyone home?’
‘Nope,’ he said, shaking his head slowly.
‘Great. Anything the matter?’ I probed, searching for a crack in the brick wall.
Again he shook his head.
‘You sure? ’Cause you seem kinda... Look, I’m sorry for making you relive your death,’ I announced. I screwed my eyes shut, wanting the ground to swallow me up. ‘And again, right now.’
He smiled, but it didn’t seem to meet his eyes. Could’ve been a trick of the light, though. Or the pickup truck parked behind him.
‘Forget it.’
I couldn’t, because I was an idiot and didn’t know when to shut up.
‘No! It was really wrong of me to bring it up. You’re clearly still majorly shaken up about it, and here I am forcing you into riding the things that killed you. I should’ve considered your feelings. I’m sorry.’
I was glad to get that off my chest. I didn’t like seeing him upset. Luckily, this time his grin was genuine and he seemed to be okay.
‘No problem. I’m perfectly fine with all this. And you have been incredible. Really, truly incredible,’ he said chirpily.
Happy to help, I smiled at him.
‘So, are you ready to go? They could come back at any moment.’
Good point. I grabbed my cell and sim reader just in case.
‘Let’s go.’
23
The cabin hadn’t changed much in my absence. The door was unlocked, strangely enough, so I guess I didn’t have much time. I headed straight for the bedroom, George following swiftly behind.
‘Can you keep a lookout?’ I asked quietly.
‘Nobody’s here, I told you.’
‘The door was open. They’re not far.’
‘I had a look around the beach and parking lot, too. I saw nobody,’ he shrugged. ‘You’re safe.’
‘If this was a movie, I’d smile and nod and then immediat
ely get killed when I discover a clue. Go. Look. Outside.’
I wasn’t budging. I might not enjoy horror or thrillers, but I’d still seen enough to not make basic mistakes like that.
‘Fine. Drama queen,’ he mumbled, phasing through the wall. I turned my attention back to the bedroom.
‘Right,’ I said to myself decisively. ‘Where do I begin?’
Recalling the gross drawer in the dresser, I avoided that one like the plague. I checked the others again but there seemed to be nothing new. Peering under the bed, I noticed two suitcases and dragged them out. There was a smart, minimalistic black one and a large designer one. I could take a guess as to which one was Angela’s.
I started on the black one.
What? Jose had pissed me off more than she had. Besides, no harm in checking. And it’s always a girl’s fantasy to look in a guy’s suitcase. Or something.
Okay, I was nosy. Nothing much to look at, anyway. A couple pairs of understated underpants, a few rogue socks, a belt, and a suspicious metallic-feeling lump sewn into the underside. Nothing unusual at all. Just your average suitcase.
‘I need a knife,’ I called out.
‘Oh, sure. I’ll go grab one for you,’ George called back.
‘Thanks- oh, right. Idiot,’ I muttered, directing that at the both of us.
I found a knife stand in the kitchen, because of course this random hotel cabin would have one. George was standing in the sink, staring out of the window.
‘What are you looking at?’ I frowned, following his eyes.
‘You told me to keep a watch,’ he tutted.
‘Yeah, but, a roving one. Not on one specific spot,’ I sighed. His eyes instantly went loopy and looked everywhere at once.
‘Much better. Thanks.’
‘Pleasure,’ he yelled as I returned to my suitcase stabbing.
The material was thinner than a supermodel and I managed to rip it in half before I stopped myself. Gave myself a sweet cut on my finger, too. Bled all over everywhere. And it hurt like hell.
On the bright side, I knew for a fact now that George was not a ghost vampire.
I stole a sock and stuck it on my hand as a terrible makeshift bandage. Driving would be fun one-handed. Thank God I wasn’t driving stick.
Reaching into the suitcase, I managed to pull out the foreign object without any more horrific accidents. It was a little black square, about an inch or two wide. It had a button on it, and a flashing light. That’s it. Not much to tell.
But I knew a tracker when I saw one.
‘George, I’ve got something.’
‘Okay, cool.’
I waited.
‘Are you coming to see it?’
‘I thought you wanted me to keep watch.’
‘Just get in here!’ I shouted, irritated.
He came in nonchalantly and jumped back at the sight of the blood splatter on the beech floor.
‘What the hell? What did you do?’
‘I was sacrificing myself to the gods,’ I said, raising my hands in mock worship.
‘You’d make an awful sacrifice,’ he clucked, flinching at my hand. ‘You know that’s not how you wear socks, right?’
‘I cut myself. I needed to do something.’
‘When you were attacking an innocent suitcase? Man, you’re weird. No wonder nobody believes you about ghosts.’
‘Oh my God, you’re unbelievable. No wonder I don’t help ghosts,’ I countered. ‘I found something.’
I held up the tracker and waved it in his face.
‘Thumb drive?’
‘Guess again,’ I said, shaking my head. He brightened up, putting on a thinking face.
‘A portal to another dimension-’
‘Okay, stop. It’s a tracker. You know, GPS?’
‘You’re no fun,’ he pouted.
He took a closer look at it as I did, looking at where it came from.
‘Why’s it in his case, not hers?’
The question currently running through my mind, too. We both suspected Jose of fishy behavior, but that’s where our suspicion ended. We didn’t know if he was good guy or a bad guy. I was leaning more towards evil, anyway. He knew the dead cop, he’s dating a murderer, and he’d already threatened me, too. Okay, definitely bad. But how?
‘Do you think he knows it’s there?’ I thought out loud.
‘Not sure. Let me go read his mind and I’ll give you the deets.’
‘Helpful as always, George.’
‘I try. What should we do with it?’
I stared at the blinking light, going over the options.
‘I want to break it.’
I immediately went on a hunt for a hammer of some sort, as George followed me disdainfully.
‘A suitcase is one thing, but that’s a neat bit of kit. That’s tiny. You know how much they cost?’
‘No?’
‘Neither do I, but probably a lot,’ he said.
‘So, I’ll pay for it. It was hidden in the lining of a suitcase,’ I reminded him. ‘Not in a pocket; stitched into it. You know what that means?’
‘He’s a spy.’
‘Can you be serious for one second?’ I asked, giving up my search. Not a single hammer in any kitchen cupboard, would you believe? I caught sight of the knife block and shrugged.
‘I am. He probably has other gadgets. I bet he works for the government.’
‘The government, really?’ I sighed, picking up the block. It was a hefty weight. ‘We’re going with the government?’
‘No!’ he called out as I destroyed the tracker. It stopped flashing, partly because the light was now on the other side of the room.
I was pretty pleased with myself. George, on the other hand, was not.
‘Why did you do that?’ he asked, aghast.
‘Why not? He probably didn’t even know it was there. When he comes back and sees this, he’ll be freaked out. Hey, maybe he’ll kill Angela. That’d solve things.’
‘Can you be serious now?’
His voice had taken on a shrill tone so I dialed down the crazy.
‘Alright, keep your hair on. But we’d reached an impasse. I had to do something to coax somebody else to do something.’
‘Yeah, but it was there for a reason. Whoever put it there will know it ain’t there now.’
‘Great! Maybe they’ll come put in a new one,’ I mused.
He shook his head in despair, hair flopping about his eyes.
‘Come on, it’s done now. We can go home.’
‘Leaving the suitcase disheveled and your blood all over the floor?’
‘I knew I’d regret doing that,’ I groaned, heading back to the room for a quick cleanup.
I used the remaining socks to vaguely wipe away my life-force and zipped the remainder of the case, shoving it back under the bed.
‘What was in Angela’s?’ he asked out of curiosity.
‘No idea. Didn’t look,’ I replied, about to push hers back, too. I stopped myself. ‘Screw it. What’s the worst that could happen?’
Yeah, I probably shouldn’t have said that. At least then we wouldn’t have been faced with a suitcase full of cocaine.
‘Oh,’ we said in tandem.
‘I shouldn’t have looked,’ I moaned.
The famed white powder was packaged in tight bricks, like I’d seen in countless heists on TV. The luggage was full. I mean, to the brim.
‘How much-?’
‘A lot. A lot, a lot, a lot,’ George breathed.
We stared at it for a little while longer. It was awesome to look at. As in, awe-inducing. I don’t know about the rest of my school, but I’ve never seen anything other than prescription drugs in my life. This is something I’ve heard about for years. I’ve read about it. I’ve seen pictures of it. I know that people lose their lives over this on a daily basis. That last thought chilled me.
‘I just realized something,’ he whispered, annoyed.
‘Hmm?’
‘Ally was ri
ght. Angela is dangerous. More than we knew.’
And I’d shut her up and laughed behind her back. Sometimes, I hated being a girl. I never listened to people’s advice. I never gave them the benefit of the doubt. I was too quick to ridicule and-
And go off on tangents whilst committing a crime.
‘I should go,’ I announced, zipping the suitcase back up and shoving it under the bed.
‘Where?’
‘Back to the hotel, I guess,’ I shrugged, standing up. George was frozen on the spot.
‘Annie, that wasn’t me who spoke.’
Too late; too damned late did I see the figure dressed in black standing in the doorway. Jose, with his cell to his ear and staring at me full of pent-up rage. I was too afraid to take my eyes off him.
‘He’s got a gun,’ George murmured, gesturing to the holster on his jeans I hadn’t seen.
I nodded softly in acknowledgment, waiting for Jose to make his move. It was only a matter of time.
He nodded, and said words that gave my goosebumps, goosebumps.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.’
He hung up and put his right hand casually on his gun.
‘What are the chances he’s left-handed?’ George muttered.
‘Not good,’ I replied.
‘No, this isn’t good. This isn’t good at all. Do you know-?’ Jose cried, before stopping himself. I’d never know what I was about to be asked if I know, because he shook his head and chose not to say it.
‘You’re coming with me.’
It was not a request.
‘What if I don’t want to go with you?’
It was supposed to sound cool and intimidating, but it came out all sneery instead. Surprisingly, he did not take well to that. His hand gripped his gun and veins shot out all down his neck.
‘Don’t make me use this.’
‘Okay, I won’t!’ I apologized. He indicated via an odd head movement that I should start walking. The instant I got within striking distance, his fingers planted themselves on my sock-arm, taking root in my skin. I winced.
‘You’re hurting.’
I knew what would happen when I said that, and I said it anyway. He only gripped me tighter and dragged me out of the cabin. Annoyingly, for the middle of the day, there wasn’t a soul in sight. Perfect time to kidnap a semi-innocent individual. He led me to the parking lot, built right next to the lobby. I gazed back at the building, full of safety and coffee. Oh, so close.