Black Forest, Denver Cereal Volume 5 (24 page)

“
I just got the weirdest
phone call,” Jacob said.

Jill looked up from the tea kettle.

“
I’m not sure what to make
of it,” Jacob said.

As if it held answers to his questions, he
looked at the phone again

“
Did you get some dinner?”
Jill asked.

“
Delphie gave me a plate
of left over casserole on my way up,” Jacob said. “It’s on the
counter.”

“
So you didn’t eat?” Jill
asked.

Lost in thought, Jacob looked up at
Jill.

“
What?” Jacob
asked.

“
Food?” Jill
asked.

“
Oh,” he said. “Right. Uh…
Delphie said the oddest thing too.”

Jacob tapped his phone against his bottom
lip. Jill laughed at his distraction.

“
I’m going to heat up your
dinner,” Jill said.

“
Dinner?” Jacob asked.
“Wait, I have to talk to you about this and I’m not getting
anywhere.”

Jacob furrowed his brow and looked up into
Jill’s amused eyes.

“
I’m out of it?” he
asked.

“
You think?” Jill
laughed.

Katy cried. Jill touched his arm and went to
check on her. Jacob took a seat at the counter. After a few
minutes, Jill came out carrying a weeping Katy. Half asleep, Katy
was stringing words together and crying. She’d been speaking this
nonsense language for about a month. Her pediatrician thought it
was a kind of sleep walking for the super verbal child. Tonight was
the first time she’d cried.

“
The two people I love
most in the entire world are not making any sense,” Jill said. “I
bet they need each other’s comfort.”

Jacob held out his arms and Jill set Katy in
them. Continuing her nonsense talk, Katy tucked into him. Jill
finished making their tea and set a cup in front of him.

“
What about dinner?” he
asked.

“
You said you wanted to
tell me something,” Jill said.

“
Did something happen
today?” he asked.

“
Saint Jude tried to take
Rachel from the NICU,” Jill said.

“
That’s horrible,” Jacob
said.

“
Sandy is beside herself
with worry. She, Aden, and the rest of us are taking turns at the
NICU,” Jill said.

“
Do I have a turn?” Jacob
asked.

“
Four,” Jill said. “After
me. I go in at three. We thought Rachel was safe because Charlie
didn’t have that special DNA the guy wants but it turns out that
Sandy was adopted.”

Jacob nodded. To cover his face, he took a
drink of tea.

“
You knew that,” Jill
said.

Jacob nodded.

“
I didn’t,” Jill
said.

“
And Sandy?” Jacob
asked.

“
She’s Sandy,” Jill said.
“She thinks it’s kind of funny. Charlie and Sissy are upset because
now they aren’t siblings or something like that.”

“
I’m sure they’ll work it
out,” Jacob said.

Jill squinted at him.

“
What do you know?” Jill
asked.

“
About what?” Jacob
asked.

She mock hit him.

“
Ow,” he said. “No
violence young lady.”

Jill sniffed at him and returned to her tea.
He winked at her.

“
What would you say to a
drive to Brighton?” Jacob said.

“
Tonight?” Jill
asked.

“
I think so,” Jacob
said.

“
What about Katy?” Jill
asked. “I don’t want to leave her here when she’s like this. It
could be some weird psychic thing. She needs our help. And Jacob…
you’ve been working a lot. I was hoping for a quiet night in. Can’t
you do this tomorrow?”

“
Work?” Jacob asked. “This
isn’t work.”

“
Okay, what is going on?”
Jill asked. “Spill it.”

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED & THIRTY-SEVEN

Terror

“
I’ve had this weird
feeling all day,” Jacob said. “It’s not too surprising since I’ve
been working so much and missing my girls terribly.”

“
What do you mean ‘weird’
feeling?” Jill asked.

“
Like a cold wind is
blowing up my back,” Jacob said.

“
It was pretty warm today
and not windy,” Jill said.

“
Yeah and I spent the day
with a shovel in my hand. I was definitely not cold,” Jacob
said.

“
Do you think you’re
getting sick?” Jill asked. “Charlie has strep.”

Jacob shook his head.

“
I think it’s weird,”
Jacob said. “The weirdness continued when I got home. Delphie told
me Celeste found her granddaughter so I don’t have to worry
anymore. Who the hell is Celeste? I was going to ask her but she
was so sure I’d know that I just came up here.”

“
Celeste is the woman
ghost from the skeleton couple Delphie calls ‘the lovers’,” Jill
said. “You probably don’t remember because you were… well,
possessed at the time you met them.”

“
I really have a lot of
better things to do than think about dead people.”

“
Daddy hates ghosts,” Katy
said.

Jacob looked down to see Katy’s wide awake
eyes looking up at him.

“
That’s right. I hate
ghosts,” Jacob said. Turning to Katy, he asked, “Do you know
Celeste?”

“
She scared Noelle this
morning before school,” Katy said. “I told her you would get rid of
her if she kept it up.”

“
She frightened Katy and
Noelle,” Jill said.

“
That’s not good,” Jacob
said. “Maybe I should get rid of her.”

“
Mommy told her to knock
it off,” Katy said. “She hasn’t been scary since then.”

“
Go Mommy,” Jacob
said.

“
Noelle is her
granddaughter,” Jill said.

“
Really?”

“
Nuala is her daughter,”
Jill said.

“
Okay, ew,” Jacob said.
“Aden married his…”

“
Cousin, yes,” Jill said.
“It’s weird.”

“
It’s like a soap opera,”
Jacob said. “Did someone come back from the dead?”

“
Besides Delphie?” Jill
asked.

“
Are we related?” Jacob
asked.

“
Not unless Sam is a
member of the Russian Mob,” Jill said. “Or Celia’s from
Zimbabwe.”

“
Not that I know of,”
Jacob laughed. “But Sam could be from Zimbabwe and Celia could have
been in the Russian Mob.”

“
Very funny,” Jill
said.

“
OK, so Nuala is a
Gilmore. She’s psycho enough to be a member of that
family.”

“
Noelle is terrified Saint
Jude will come for her and Nash,” Jill said.

“
I bet,” Jacob
said.

Jacob got up from his chair. With Katy on
his hip, he set a bowl from the cabinet on the countertop and took
the Captain Crunch with Crunchberries from the cabinet.

“
Hey,” Jill said. “What
about dinner?”

“
Dinner,” Jacob pointed to
the bowl.

“
No,” Jill
said.

“
No cereal, Daddy,” Katy
said. “Makes you sick.”

“
Too much cereal makes me
sick,” Jacob said. “I haven’t had any since…”

“
Last night’s dinner,”
Jill said.

Jacob scowled at her but put the bowl and
cereal back. He set the plate Delphie had given him in the
microwave. They watched the plate rotate until he took it out and
put it on the counter. Going around, he sat down on the stool. He
took a forkful and offered it to Katy.

“
I brushed my teeth,” Katy
said.

“
Good thinking,” Jacob
said. “Would you …?”

He held the fork to Jill.

“
You act like it’s
poisoned,” Jill laughed. “Should we test it before his majesty eats
his meal?”

Jacob laughed.

“
Eat your dinner,” Jill
said.

Jacob put a fork into the casserole.

“
You said you got a weird
phone call,” Jill said.

“
Right,” Jacob said.
“Remember the guy who was trying to sell me haunted
houses?”

“
Like the mansion in
Brighton? Where you sent Seth to find Jeffy?”

“
Exactly,” Jacob set his
fork down. “The real estate guy went by the mansion and it looked
like the police had released the scene. I told him I doubted it
because the police still haven’t released the chapel and they were
here first. But I guess some developer has been pressuring the
police. They want the property cleared so they can start building
ASAP.”

“
You don’t like the
casserole?” Jill asked.

“
Delphie made it?” Jacob
asked.

“
I thought it was really
good,” Jill said.

“
I love Delphie,” Jacob
said. “But not her casserole.”

“
What’s wrong with
Delphie’s casserole?” Jill asked.

“
I’ve always wondered the
same thing,” Jacob laughed.

Shaking her head at him, Jill picked up his
plate and took it to the sink.

“
No cereal,” Jill
said.

“
That’s all right,” Jacob
said. “We can pick up something on our way.”

Jacob stood up.

“
Our way where?” Jill
asked.

“
Brighton,” Jacob said.
“Didn’t I say that?”

“
No,” Jill said. “If it’s
a property thing, why don’t you go and I’ll get Katy to
bed?”

“
Because I just realized
why I’ve been cold all day,” Jacob said.

“
And?” Jill
asked.

“
Come on,” Jacob said.
“I’ll tell you on the way.”

“
I still don’t see why
Katy and I should go,” Jill said.

“
Have you met Seth’s
girlfriend?” Jacob asked.

“
Ava?”

“
Amelie Alvin,” Jacob
said.

“
You introduced me to her
and her mother last night,” Jill said. “At the
symphony.”

“
She’s so smoking hot,
she’s ice cold,” Jacob said.

Outraged, Jill opened her mouth in shock. He
laughed.

“
You know her from?” Jill
asked.

“
High school. She was a
freshman when I was a senior,” Jacob said. “We used to call her
Arousing Alvin.”

“
We?”

“
The lacrosse team,” Jacob
said. “She played on the freshman team. Everyone had a
nickname.”

“
And?”

“
She’s in the barn,”
Jacob’s face shifted to dead serious. “She needs my help, your
help.”

“
Oh my God,” Jill said.
“They’ve been looking for her all day. She was taken by
the…”

Jill’s eyes shifted to Katy.

“
We need to call the
police,” Jill said.

“
No,” Jacob
said.

“
If Seth had called the
police, Jeffy would…”

“
She needs us, Jill,”
Jacob said. “Trust me.”

Jill’s eyes scanned his face. With a nod,
she got her jacket and Katy’s jacket. They started down the long
stairwell to find Delphie waiting for them at the door.

“
Guess who just arrived?”
Delphie asked.

Jill and Jacob looked at each other and back
at Delphie. Jill managed to slop Katy’s jacket on without Jacob
setting her down.

“
You’ll never guess,”
Delphie said. “I’ll just tell you. Teddy’s Dad. He’s just about to
take the kids for a night helicopter ride. He says the city is
gorgeous at night.”

“
Seriously?” Jacob asked.
“Zack’s here?”

“
He came about that whole
satellite thing,” Delphie leaned forward conspiratorially. “It took
him a month to get home from Afghanistan. Tonight’s the ‘scared
straight’ night.”

“
They’re going to the
prisons tonight?” Jill asked.

Delphie nodded her head.

“
He’ll take us to
Brighton,” Delphie said. “Seth’s already on his way
there.”

Katy clapped her hands.

“
I’ll just get my jacket,”
Delphie said.

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday night — 8:45 P.M.

Sandy brought two mugs of hot chocolate out
to the apartment living room. Sissy met her there. Fresh from a
shower, Sissy had a towel wrapped around her hair like a turban.
Sandy nodded toward the couch. Sissy sat down, took a mug from
Sandy and set the mug down on the side table.

“
You promised to drink
it,” Sandy said as she sat down. “It’s the last of today’s
calories.”

“
I’m going to drink it,”
Sissy said. “I’m not screwing up, Sandy.”

Sissy picked up the mug and took a drink of
the cocoa. Sandy smiled at Sissy’s chocolate mustache.

“
What do you want to do
with your hair?” Sandy asked.

“
I don’t know,” Sissy
said. “I used to keep it long for ballet but it doesn’t matter much
now.”

“
You’re not dancing ballet
at all anymore?” Sandy asked.

“
Not for at least a year,”
Sissy said.