"Darius said he had no money, so he didn"t want to go. I guess Tonya got impatient "cause later, when we were looking for her, Mr. Johnson said she came by and bought some candy. No one saw her after that."
"She was dead?"
She nodded, her eyes wet. "Two days later, her body was found in the alley behind the house."
I placed my fork on the table and wrapped my hand around my waist. I felt sick. "Oh no."
"She"d been dead the whole time. Darius and Parker found her."
"Poor Darius."
"A man in the neighborhood did it. He was sick. On the drugs," she shook her head.
"Did he go to jail?"
"Yep. After the other men in the neighborhood beat him senseless," she said. "The worst part was I saw it all coming. This gift, you see... I saw it, clear as day. Not the part about where she was or how to find her, but the fact she disappeared. Even so, I didn"t have the clarity until right before and not with enough time to save her. I lost my baby girl that day."
"I"m so sorry." It may have been the most horrible story I"d heard so far. Evan"s story was tragic, but this one seemed worse, although I realized it was silly to put a qualifier on whose death was more terrible than the next.
"Her death was the hardest thing I had ever lived through. Right away, I knew she didn"t pa.s.s over like she should have. She was waiting around. I"d see her little swing out back swaying in the breeze. I knew it was her it"s why I never took it down. Sometimes in the afternoon, when I pull a cake out of the oven or a pie, I hear that back door slam hard and fast. But there ain"t no one there. I pretend it"s the wind cause I don"t want that girl lost seeking me out for eternity. I had visions. Brief, but enough to show me what I needed to see. Tonya was here for someone, to help someone in the future. I didn"t know who, nor how, but I knew the day would come."
I had stopped eating at this point. I had a feeling Tonya"s story and my story were about to merge. Ms. Frances knew it too and began nodding.
"The day your mama and daddy came to look at the house, I knew. I was struck by the sight of a young blonde girl with wide gray eyes. That girl was gonna meet up with my little girl and things were going to happen. I saw you that first day and my heart filled with hope. You were going to set my baby girl free."
I shook my head. "This is where I"m confused. You say she is here to help me, but I"m supposed to set her free? I don"t understand."
"I suppose you"re right. Tonya needs your help and you need hers. She"s got something to tell you."
"I"m ready. I"m ready to hear what she has to say." I found myself looking around the room wondering if Tonya was here now. She wasn"t visible, but I knew better than to think that meant she wasn"t around.
"She"ll come when she"s ready or when you"re ready." She pointed to my dinner. "Done?"
"Yes. Thank you. It was delicious."
She stood and picked up my mostly empty plate and carried it to the sink. I watched as she methodically sc.r.a.ped the waste into the trashcan before rinsing and washing the plate by hand. There was no dishwasher or disposal in the house. When she was finished, she turned back to me, wiping her hands on a dishtowel.
"You gonna have to have patience. Look at Tonya. She"s been waiting 30 years."
I swallowed back a gasp. Thirty years was a long time for a ghost to be roaming. At least from what I understood. You would think Tonya would be ready to go. I could see that Ms. Frances was determined though and there was little use arguing. "I"ll try. But things are getting bad. Connor, my boyfriend, he can see them, too. The ghosts. He"s in a lot of trouble. If Tonya knows a way to help him, I need to know."
"She won"t make you wait long. Remember, she"s still a little girl. She don"t always know how to do things."
"I"ll remember."
She smiled, exposing her crooked teeth. "Go along now. You mama be worrying."
She led me to the back door this time and I left with a quick goodbye. The instant I stepped outside, I felt the quick relief of fresh air. Her house had been stuffy with heat and cooking. I took a deep breath and walked to the gate between our yards. After all that talk and confession, I didn"t feel like I really knew much more than before. Sure, I had an explanation about Tonya and her death, but little else. Again it seemed my power was larger than I understood. For almost a year with Evan things seemed so finite, but now it was clear there were things about this ability I didn"t understand at all. I walked across my driveway and glanced at Tonya"s swing hanging from the tree. The wood and rope swayed gently even though it was warm and muggy not the slightest hint of a breeze.
Tonya was hiding but she was there, and sooner than later I would figure out how we could help each other.
I checked my phone for the gazillionth time. Not that I thought he would call (okay, I thought he would) but... maybe.
Jerk.
I put my phone on the pillow and pushed back my covers to go turn off the light by the door. Sleep was good for forgetting. Even if it was only 9 p.m.
My feet had barely touched the ground when a hand latched onto my ankle.
"Holy...!" I lunged away, pulling so hard the owner of the hand slid from under my bed. Charlotte"s messy head poked out from under the dust ruffle. I twisted away, falling to the floor and scrambling like a crab to the corner. Evan"s corner. Charlotte rolled around the floor, cackling with laughter. My heart beat so hard I felt it in my ears. "You scared me."
She sat up. "I"m a freaking ghost. That"s what we do."
"You"re not supposed to scare me, psycho. I"m here to help you." I ignored the disbelieving expression on her face. "Or try to at least."
She shrugged and made no effort to move. Which was fine by me, the farther away the better.
"That was fun," she said.
"Yeah, a real laugh."
"Stop being such a nerd, Jane. This is why Connor ditched you." She held her forefinger and thumb up to her forehead and made the letter L. "You"re lame and boring. And sure, he has a thing for saving damsels in distress, but I"ve got you beat in that category every time."
"You do realize you"re dead, right?"
"You do realize he"s never going to call, right?"
I refused to answer that question.
"I may be dead, but I have his full attention. When he"s awake or asleep. When he"s drawing or painting. When he"s alone, he"s mine. I don"t care if he goes to jail or back to the hospital. Even if I can"t have him, no one else can."
"You"d rather him be locked up than not yours."
"It"s all only a matter of time. He"s unwell." She frowned but it didn"t meet her eyes. "Poor Connor. I admit you"re good for him, in that you know what is really going on. So he doesn"t feel so lost. But that was before, when I wasn"t around to help take care of him. Now I can be there regardless of where he is."
"Not if he"s medicated. If he"s in prison or a hospital, he"s going to be on medication. Maybe you can follow him there, but he can"t talk to you or see you."
She raised an eyebrow. "No? He"s doped up right now and we"re communicating just fine. If he wasn"t so worried about you, I think we could break down a couple other barriers." She gave me a leering grin. "He really is very handsome. Hard to resist."
Again, I ignored her taunting. "So the dreams and stuff, that"s you?"
"Dreams? A whisper in the ear? A suggestion? Whatever. It"s like with me and you here. I"m in the room with him, and he should be able to see me, but the medication blocks me visually. We had a couple of weeks when he could see me. I suggested he didn"t need those pills, and he agreed. I suppose though, I pushed him too far and his mother swooped in. Stupid moms. Why does he have one that pays attention?" She looked genuinely annoyed. "So, he"s cheating and only taking the bare minimum of the medication so they don"t notice. It"s enough for him to hear me if not see me. I just talk to him. All the time. I may like it better."
Her tone had a disconnect. Like she was here, but not. The fact she could touch me freaked me out enough not to push her. I decided to turn this into a fact-finding mission instead. "Why him?"
It was an easy enough question, but she flipped it back on me. "Why did you pick him?"
"I... well, I think we kind of picked each other. The ghost-seeing thing was one reason, but at first I didn"t want to date him. He was pretty persistent." I smiled at the memory of how hard I fought him off, and how he wouldn"t let me run from this connection between us. "Sometimes things are right."
"Sometimes things seem right when really the better choice is unavailable at that time." There was an edge to her words. It was more than obvious that Connor pursued me in a way he hadn"t her. No matter what the reason.
"You had your chance with him," I shot back. "You didn"t answer me. Why him?"
"Why him? Because he loves me despite everything... despite all the c.r.a.p I"ve been through. No matter whose hands had been there before. Despite death, even. You"re on his mind, but he"s easy to distract."She leveled me with a hard stare. "He"ll remember what we had, how much he wanted me."
"Why does he want you? You don"t love him-he knows that. Plus you"re dead. He and I both know there is only so far a relationship can go between a ghost and a human."
"He"s always wanted me. From the moment we met in that s.h.i.tty hospital. We connected in there Jane. Bonded. We were there for one another. And you"re wrong, he doesn"t know that I don"t love him. He wants it more than anything. They all do." She rambled all this with a glazed look in her eye, detached from the moment.
"How does this end? With us breaking up and you taking over? You know I can"t let you just poltergeist him or whatever. I have this gift for a reason. He may not be mine, but I still have a purpose in all of this."
"This is where you get a choice," she said. I watched as she brushed her messy hair behind her shoulders and stood from her spot on the floor. I moved to do the same from where I waited in the corner, but she hovered over me before I had the chance to gain my footing. With a fast movement, she grabbed my wrist with a cool, papery-feeling hand, squeezing tight, and nearly lifted me off the ground.
"You can back away and leave Connor to me or I can make it happen. Remember those suicidal thoughts you had a year ago? The way you destroyed your hair? Remember the fire? I"m sure your parents haven"t forgotten. It makes sense. Connor dumps you. You"re crazy. I"d kill myself too." With her free hand she touched her chin thoughtfully. "Oh, wait. I did kill myself, so I would know. Wouldn"t I?"
I pulled my arm away from her forcefully and jut out my chin defiantly. I was too terrified to speak.
"I want him, Jane and I"m not letting you stand in my way."
And with that she disappeared.
CHARLOTTE WAS RIGHT. Connor didn"t call me. I guess we really had broken up.
"Do you think those things Julia said about Charlotte are true?"
Ava placed another chair on the stack by the wall, but glanced in my direction. That question was the first thing I"d said to her today that wasn"t work-related. Our feelings were raw after our last conversation, but I knew I needed to suck it up. She was my best friend. I needed her.
I swept up glitter and paper sc.r.a.ps off the floor. Finally she said, "Now you want my opinion?"
Why was friendship so hard? "Yes. I do. Please."
"Okay, you want to know if what Julia said about that girl running away and sleeping around is true? I"m not sure." She pulled the trash can toward me so I could dump the pan in. "Julia likes to gossip, but she"s usually pretty on target."
"I know."
"Why do you want to know now?"
I took the broom to the back and put it away. "Connor and I broke up. I think."
Ava"s jaw dropped in shock. "Are you serious? When?"
"The other day. He said some harsh things. I called him a jerk."
"But you think this is about Charlotte?"
"Kind of." I searched for the right words. "Things have been different since she died. We can"t seem to get past it."
She leaned against the front counter. "What are you going to do about it? Let him go? Fight for him?"
In the past, Connor would have fought for me. I knew this. I also knew, regardless of our personal relationship, I couldn"t let Charlotte take him down. "I think maybe I need to understand better what is going on with him. He won"t tell me anything about her, but obviously there is more to it than what I know."
"Right, like what Julia said. She seemed like a girl with a dark past."
"Exactly."
She walked around the counter to get our bags and I took off my smock, hanging it on the hook by the door. "What do we do first?"
"We?"
"Duh. I can stalk and research and gossip for a good cause."
"I"m not sure this counts as a good cause."
"My best friend"s love life? Totally a good cause." She winked and pushed open the front door. "Where do we go first?"
"To find Julia?"
She nodded in approval. "I know just where to find her."
"Now you want my gossip?" Julia asked. The judgey tone was unmistakable. My fault, of course. I owned it.
"I know. I was upset before and I"m sorry I ran off like that. Connor is acting so strange and I really just want to get to the bottom of it."
She tilted her gla.s.ses down and looked at me over the rims. Ava brought us straight to the pool. Apparently, Julia barely left her white and blue lounge chair by the deep-end during the months of June, July and August. "You think they dated or something?"
I wished her question didn"t hurt. "Or something. I don"t know."
"I don"t know anything about Connor, but I did overhear my mom saying how the police aren"t sure Charlotte really committed suicide."
"What? Do they think it was an accident?" Ava asked.
Julia shook her head and gave us a look. I frowned. "Murder?"
"That"s what the Bible study ladies discussed on my back porch the other night. Along with some creepy book about being a submissive wife," she said and held her hands up. "Don"t even ask me about that one."
"How did she kill herself?" Ava asked. "Or supposedly kill herself?"
"Well, they think she hung herself, but it"s weird and the police started asking questions. Something about the way the scarf was tied around her neck. Her aunt asked for prayers. It sounds like her husband, Charlotte"s uncle, has been really upset. And then you know, Connor vandalized his property so that added some strain to everything."
I lean forward. "What? He vandalized whose property?"
"Charlotte"s uncle."
Ava took a sip of her water and said, "Wow. That"s why the dude didn"t press charges."