Cast the Cards (8 page)

Clark.
Even
as an apparition he had the same effect on her. Caring, sensitive, and quirky,
the man—ghost—whatever the hell he was made her melt. Her body didn’t seem to
differentiate the difference between alive and not, and the constant arousal
was driving her to distraction. Frustrated, she pushed away from the desk.

“You
okay?” Carey’s concerned voice caressed her in places long-ignored. Her
self-imposed celibacy was on shaky ground.

“Yeah,
I just need,” she gestured toward the door, “air.”

“Sure,
take your time. You’ve been at the computer for a while. Why don’t you pack it
in for the night?” 

A
glance down at the black sports watch on her wrist told her it was almost
midnight.  Keeping things simple, she’d told her parents she had a case in Dale
she couldn’t talk to them about. No sense in forcing them to relive the horror
a second earlier than they had to. They seemed excited to have her home for a
bit, and were respectful of her wishes. Though she hated to admit it, it was
nice having the both of best worlds. Family closeby and her job.

“You
know what? I think I will.” Closing out of the databases, she logged out,
locked her computer, and shut it down. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“Come
in late. You look like you could use some sleep.”

Inside,
the words made her flinch.  No woman wanted to hear she looked like shit. On
the outside she smiled.  

“We’ll
see.”  She lifted her bag from across the back of her chair, placed it over her
shoulders, and left.

She
waved at Rodriguez who was manning the front desk.

“You
out of here for the night?” the caramel skinned woman asked.

“Yep.”

“Have
a good one.”

“You
too.” Fifteen minutes later she was in her bedroom stripping off her sports
coat and draping it on the arm of her computer chair.

“Vannah?”

The
soft spoken words startled her.  She spun to face a bashful-looking Clark. Her
hormones surged and she silently cursed her biological make-up. Technically he
was still twenty-on,e which made her a bit of a cougar. The thought thrilled
her instead of dissuaded.
Fuck.

“Clark.”
Awkwardness set in and she shifted her weight.  “H-How are you?”  She forced
herself to look at him, boxing with the urge to look away. Seeing him still
felt wrong, and interacting with him made her feel a bit crazy. It wasn’t so
bad when Carey was there to act as a buffer. The irony of the role reversal
didn’t escape her. Carey had never been the one she went to for comfort or
understanding.

“I’ve
been better.”

The
hint of sadness she picked up on cut through her internal cluster-fuck.  He’d
suffered atrocities straight out of
Saw
in life, only to come back to
warn them and be tortured in the process.

“What’s
wrong?” Whatever form he took he was still Clark, her best friend and the potential
love of her life that got away. She couldn’t let him bleed out if she could
patch the wound.  She walked over to stand beside the six-foot-one male. Reaching
out a hand, she stopped millimeters from touching his arm, snatching it back
before it made contact.
Can I even touch him?

“We’ve
left things unsaid between us for far too long.” 

No,
please don’t do thi,s Clark. It’ll make your leaving even more painful.

“Don’t.”

“I’m
sorry, Savannah. I have to.”
 He used my full name— he isn’t going to back
down.
 

“Go
ahead. I’m listening.”

“There
were things I kept from you, Vannah. I was afraid.”

“Why?
You were my best friend. Nothing you said would’ve made me see you any
differently.”

“Don’t
be so sure.”

“Clark.
You’re scaring me.”

He
gave her a small smile, ran a finger down the side of her face. The touch was
real albeit a little cool. She closed her eyes, leaned into savor the feel of
his flesh against her own with a chill that had nothing to do with temperature.
She opened her eyes only to be snared by the blue-green jewels full to the brim
with emotion.
This is so wrong.

“I
love you.”

Her
mouth flopped open and closed. “Wait—what?”

“I
should’ve told you back then. I hid it for years. Played the best friend when
what I wanted to be was your everything, I knew we were meant to be after your eighteenth
birthday. You were wearing this peach dress that stopped at your knees. It took
my breath away. Jason Mclaren was giving you the eye the whole party. The
minute you turned your attention to someone else I took him aside and pretty
much told him if he even tried to talk to you Carey and I would make his life …
unpleasant.”

“Clark,”
she gasped. Her pulse raced. Joy bubbled to the surface like the fizz in soda.

“You
stole my heart somewhere along the way growing up. I could never give it to
another. Who could be a better match for me, Savannah? We finished each other’s
sentences. Didn’t hide a thing from one another. It was a rarity that I took
for granted. I just… I didn’t want to risk losing what we had.”

“I
felt the same.” Her admission lifted the heavy boulder off her chest.

“Felt?”

The
wounded expression that crossed his face cracked open a door inside she’d
chained shut. She clossed the inches of space that divided them and cupped his
cool face in her hand. “I will always love you, Clark. You and I were soul-deep.
When you were gone I became a piece of driftwood lost in the ocean of life. I
had to rebuild myself from the ground up. I hurt a lot of people that way but
it was what I had to do to survive. Now you’re back and I can’t help but wonder
what I’m going to do when you’re leave.” Her voice cracked. Her bottom lip
quivered.

“How
can we miss out on a second opportunity because of fear? That’s what robbed us
in the first place.”

She
pulled away. “What do you want me to do?”
It seemed wrong to say “when
you’re dead”. Yet the words spun around in her head.

Her
phone rang out like the ding of a bell ending the round of a prizefight.

“I
have to get that.”

“Yeah.”
Clark stepped back and released a deep breath. As he paced the length of the
room, his nervous energy set her on edge.

She
picked up the phone. “Speak.”

“Jeez.
You need sleep more than I thought.”

“Carey?”

“I
just wanted to make sure you got home okay.”

Her
anger melted away. “I’m fine. It’s like a ten-minute drive.”

“I
know, but you didn’t seem right tonight.”

“Nothing
sleep won’t cure.”

“You
sure?”

“Positive.”

“Then
I’ll let you go.”

“Thank
you, Carey.”

“Any
time, Vannah Banana.”

He
hung up before she could scold him, and she smiled.

“Carey?”
Clark asked.

“Yeah.
He wanted to make sure I got home okay.”

“How
nice of him.”

There
was an edge to his words. “Clark?”

“I
have to go—”  He disappeared before she could say more. 

“Fuck.” 
She placed her head in her hands. Carey saved her from making a horrible
mistake.
  A few seconds longer and I would be making out with a ghost. What
the hell was I thinking?
 There was no future for them. No silver lining,
or happily-ever-after.  This whole thing was a mind-screw.
I have to stay
composed.
 She removed the rest of her clothes, slipped on an oversized
shirt, and sank n to the edge of her bed, unable to sleep yet. Thoughts chased each
other. The emotional overload endangered all the hard work she’d put in over
the years. She had a system that worked. Her heart was protected, and her life
ran smoothly. Clark threatened her life like a wrecking ball.  Frustrated, she
turned to the solace she could always count on, work.

So
much for an early night.
With sleep no longer an option, she
got to her feet and zombie-shuffled to her desk. Taking out a sheet of loose-leaf
and a pencil, she began an old-school bubble map of thoughts.  She put main
points in circles and branched out with lines and more encircled thoughts. The
page began to fill with random threads of concepts. None felt right.

“You
are slippery sons of bitches, aren’t you?” she mumbled. They were smart. She
had to give them that. It made her apprehensive. People like this always had a
trick up their sleeves, booby traps, or diversions. It wasn’t your average
case.

She
didn’t want any more people hurt.
The devil’s in the details.
The phrase
always helped her dig deep beneath the obvious. The Tarot was the key, but she
only had one card to work with. They’d tracked down the specific set of cards,
scanned each one for differences, and came up empty-handed. A search for bodies
found with carvings etched into them had been started. But they were still
sifting through the piles. To make matters worse she
knew
the killers
were watching, circling the area like buzzards waiting for an animal to drop.

She
pushed the ages aside, and pulled out the Tarot Cards she’d purchased to study
at home. It was breaking her rules, bringing her work home, never coming up for
air. Yet, there was a sense of urgency she couldn’t ignore. As she studied The
Lover’s card, the morgue report rushed back. The interlocked female and male
symbols were the key. They were on the Tarot.

Excited,
she snatched up the card.  The symbols were in direct correlation. It would
still take some time to go over the cards, pick out key symbols, one by one,
but it had narrowed the choices significantly. It felt good to make progress on
this case. The fact that it distracted her from the mess with Clark was an
added bonus.

***

That
was stupid.
Clark blew out a breath as he paced the
length of Carey’s apartment.
What had he hoped to accomplish?
He thought
knowing how she felt would make him feel better in some way, give him closure.

He
was wrong.  Now he was jealous of Carey over nothing. The lock sounded in the
door. He tensed.
 Speak of the devil, or think in this case.
The door swung
open and Carey paused.

“Hi. 
You look upset,” Carey said.

“I
am.”

“Okay.”
Carey stepped in, shut the door and locked it behind him. “What’s up?”  He let
his bag fall to the door and shed his utility belt, carrying it with him to the
couch. He set it on the cushion beside him. “I’m all ears.”

“I
went to see Vannah.”

Carey
cringed. “Didn’t go well?”

“No.
Sort of.” He shook his head.” Hell, I don’t even know.” He snickered at his
absurdity.

“What?”
Carey laughed. “Why don’t you tell me the whole story?”

He
relayed the events as Carey listened without commenting. It felt good to share
again with his twin. Carey was the only person he’d never felt judgment from.
Even when they butted heads, eventually they hashed things out.

“You
guys are so ass backward.” Carey shook his head.” I’m not surprised she felt
the same way about you. It’s why I didn’t go that night.”

“You
knew?” He turned to his brother, shocked.

“She
didn’t tell me, if that’s what you mean. I suspected. It was written all over
her face every time she looked at you when you weren’t watching.”

“What?
Why didn’t you tell me?”

Carey
shrugged. “I didn’t think it was my place to say. I mean, if she wanted to keep
it to herself, who was I to blow her cover?”

Clark
sighed. “I should’ve kept my mouth shut.”

“I
don’t think so. It seems like your being back is all about unfinished business.
If you hadn’t told her, you’d still feel there were things left unsaid wouldn’t
you.”

Clark
blinked. “I never thought of it that way.”

“That’s
why you have me.” Carey wagged his eyebrows and tapped the side of his head.
“Other half of your brain and all that.”

The
revelation his words brought was a light in the darkness. It all made sense. He
was sent heer to tie all the loose ends keeping him bound to Earth. Despite all
the other side had to offer.

“You’re
absolutely right. Even when I was… there I couldn’t let go of this life
completely. That’s why they did this.”

“Is
that abnormal?” Carey’s eyes were full of interest.

“Very.
But it does happen. Especially instances of true evil.”

“So
the powers that be do even things out.”

Clark
remained silent, unsure if answering would be breaking the rules.

“Yeah,
I know you can’t go into details.” He rolled his eyes.

“Exactly.
What do I do next?”  He walked over and sat on the opposite side of the couch,
facing Carey.