Phantoms of Fall (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 2) (41 page)

Good thing too. “You did WHAT?” Zach shouted,
twisting in his seat to face me.

“I left a window open in the locker room on Friday so I
could get in but then I couldn’t get back out that way. I was
trapped in there—I had to break a window to escape.”

Zach ran his hand through his hair and leaned forward
against the steering wheel. “I don’t like it, Ruby. You’re sick
all the time—I was afraid to mention it earlier but you’ve lost
a
scary
amount of weight. When I hold you, I’m afraid you’re
going to break in half! This shit’s getting dangerous!
Breaking and entering, chasing down a killer—you could have
gotten caught or, worse yet, killed!”

“But that’s the good part—Mr. Raspatello is innocent!
I watched Garnet kill herself.
If only I could have read what
was on that suicide note. This whole thing might be over now
if I had.” I hung my head sadly. “Now, I may never know why
she did it, never be able to give her what she wants. Garnet
Hartley may never rest in peace!”

“Wait a second—did you say Hartley?” Zach asked
with a curious expression.

 

“Yes….” I answered slowly and with hesitation. What
did her last name have to do with any of this?

 

“Her father’s name wouldn’t happen to be Jonathan,
would it?”

 

I sat up in excitement. “How did you know?”

“Every year at school on the last day before
Thanksgiving
break,
we
have
an
assembly
on
suicide
prevention. I’ll give you three guesses as to who the guest
speaker is.” Zach fiddled aimlessly with his keys. “Now I
really wish I’d paid attention to him all those years.”

“Shut the front door! Are you serious?” I grabbed him
passionately and kissed him before he could answer.
He
really
was
the best boyfriend in the whole world!

When our lips finally parted, Zach smiled. “Can we go
back a few seconds and do that again?”

“You made me so happy—I could do that all night
long!” I had to be home in about twenty minutes so
unfortunately that wasn’t an option.
But we crammed as
much lip locking into the next ten minutes that we possibly
could.

On the ride home, I chattered on about how close I
was to finding the last piece of the puzzle. I must have told
him I loved him a thousand times but each time he returned
the sentiment.

“See, you should have told me everything right from
the beginning—then you wouldn’t have felt like you had to
break into the school for answers.”

Zach walked me to the door and gave me a good night
kiss. “I have to work at the shelter tomorrow but I’d like to
see you—for a little while at least.”

“Absolutely,” I replied instantly, “What do you want to
do?”

 

“What do I
want
to do?” he said laughing.

 

With a playful punch to his chest, I answered, “Besides
that! Any ideas?”

 

“Yeah, I’d really like to read what you’ve been
writing—if that’s okay with you.”

“Sounds perfect.” Letting him read my book would be
like handing him the last piece of my soul that he didn’t
already have. Well, next to last, that is.

We agreed that he would meet me at Rosewood at
seven the next night. After one last kiss, he started for his car.
Halfway there, he turned around and returned to the porch.
Throwing his arms around me, he hugged me tightly to him.

“Be careful, Ruby—I don’t want to ever lose you.” he
whispered in my ear. “If you need me, I’ll help you with
anything regardless of the danger.”

It was the sweetest thing he could have said to me.
It
was exactly what I needed to hear.
For the first time in a
while, the tears forming in my eyes had nothing to do with
fear
or
pain.

Now that I knew the answers I needed were still three
weeks away, I decided to focus my attention on the plan to get
the house to myself for my special date with Zach.
Before
heading up to bed, I went in search of Shelly and found her
watching a movie in the living room.

Figuring I would start with some small talk, I asked,
“Where’s Dad?”

 

“He’s in bed already—early morning meeting.” She
paused the movie so we could talk. “How was your date?”

 

“Perfect. Thanks for helping get us back together.”

“You’re very welcome. You guys have been through so
much together. From what I hear, he’s working hard to get
his anger issues under control, too.
I really want things to
work out for you both.” She slid over on the couch and invited
me to join her.

“No, thanks. I’m heading to bed.” As an afterthought, I
added, “I was wondering if I could borrow a book from you,
Shelly.”

“Help yourself. I just read a really good thriller if
you’re looking for suggestions.”

 

“Actually, I was thinking more of a good romance,” I
said wistfully, “Something epic.”

Shelly smiled like she understood why I wanted to
read a romance novel.
She was right—but only partially.
There was no way in hell she could know that I was trying to
get them out of the house for the day so that Zach and I could
write our own epic romance.

“I have the best romance novel ever—and no, it’s not
one of mine, either!
The Phantom of the Opera
is on the
bookshelf in my study. Go get it. I promise you’ll love it.”

“Okay, thanks Shelly.” I gave her a goodnight hug and
walked calmly until I was out of the room. Then I made a mad
dash to her study.
Once
the book was
in
my
hand, I
experienced a sense of triumph.
Phase one was complete.
Now all I had to do was read the damn thing.

I got ready for bed and crawled under the covers but I
was nowhere near tired. The book I just borrowed sat on my
nightstand staring me in the face. Reading sometimes made
me sleepy so I grabbed it and settled in against my pillows.
Coco kneaded my stomach with her paws then settled in
comfortably as I flipped to the first page.

Sixty pages later, I forced myself to put it down and
turn out the light. The book was amazing. Once I got finished
with it, all I would have to do is discuss it with Shelly and she
would start thinking about seeing it on Broadway. I should
have listened to her and read it years ago.
But as good as it
was, the book caused me to have a very strange dream.

It was Halloween again and I was in the ballroom
passing out masks for the masquerade dance. Again, I was left
alone at the end searching for my unknown partner. Just like
that night, I turned to find him behind me in a matching
costume. But it wasn’t Zach this time—it was Lee. When he
took my hand to lead me to dance, excitement turned to a
brief flicker of fear. He was different somehow—not exactly
the Lee I used to love. His eyes were the same and so was his
smile. I still got the same thrill when he whispered “I love
you, Ru” sweetly into my ear. I couldn’t pinpoint it, but there
was something strange and unknown about him. And I kind
of liked it.

As he twirled me around the dance floor, I caught
sight of Zach dressed all in black, lurking in the shadows. Just
like The Phantom. I lost sight of him but with one more turn,
Lee swirled me around and I came face to face with Zach. This
time it was he who took my hand and pulled me back into this
bizarre waltz. They passed me back and forth, slowly at first,
but eventually fast enough for me to lose my bearings. When
they both let go of my hands, I sank to the floor alone.

It was still the middle of the night when I awoke
confused. WTF? There would always be a small piece of my
heart reserved for Lee but he was gone now and I’d moved on.
My love for Zach was all encompassing—I felt things for him
that I’d never even known were possible to feel. Why would I
dream about Lee
now
?
Things with Zach were as close to
perfect as you could get.
There were still
some
lingering
issues concerning Lee though—issues I would never get to
address.
I still felt some guilt over how he died and my
involvement in it. He died never knowing who his true family
was and that made me sad.

But he must have moved on. If he hadn’t, he’d be
haunting me now—looking to me to find him the closure he
needed.
Right?
Did ghosts communicate with other ghosts?
If so, wouldn’t he have heard about my abilities by now? That
was a question for Rita—I would have to ask her on Saturday.
Even so, that dream was
way
better than what I was used to
so I settled back into my bed and fell right back to sleep.

34. Chasing a Dream…Among Other
Things

When I met Zach in front of the school that morning I
felt, well,
guilty
.
I knew that my dreams were beyond my
control—I wouldn’t have had a single nightmare if they
weren’t—but I couldn’t help but feel awful for dreaming
about my dead boyfriend.
Under normal circumstances, I
probably would have shrugged it off and kept going.
But
there
was
nothing
normal
about
my
circumstances—
whatsoever—and there was actually a possibility that I could
see Lee again. How would Zach feel about that if it actually
happened?

I had to stop thinking about it. It was just a dream—
nothing more. If Lee ever resurfaced in my life—and that was
a
big
if—then I would cross that bridge when I came to it. Oh
no.
Poor choice of words considering that Lee died when
Destiny Bridge collapsed into the Susquehanna River last
summer.

I pushed thoughts of Lee to the back of my mind and
gave Zach the smile he deserved.

“We’re still on for tonight, right, sweetie?” Zach asked
as we walked into homeroom. “I’m really excited to read
what you’ve been writing.”

There was a flicker of interest in Mr. Raspatello’s eyes
when he heard Zach’s comment. He didn’t kill Garnet but
there was still something about him that gave me an uneasy
feeling.
It was like he was trying to figure something out
when he looked at me. But what?
The weird looks started
long before I broke into the school so I knew it couldn’t be
because of that. Was I just paranoid?

No, there was definitely something brewing in his
head. He watched us walk all the way to our seats and looked
away quickly when I made solid eye contact.
Seriously, I
didn’t need this. I had enough going on without my freaking
English teacher giving me the wonky eye every time he saw
me.

Other than that, things at school were actually not too
bad.
Now that Zach and I were back together, Misty was
seriously flying under the radar. I didn’t get one single smirk
or smart remark from her or any of her minions. Chloe and I
were slowly getting back to where we were before all of the
drama started.
And since the party, a handful of people
actually started saying hello to me in the halls, too. It was the
most normal I’d felt in…well…ever.

By the end of the day, I didn’t have a single homework
assignment or visitation from Garnet. Life was good. I ran a
few laps on the track and decided to stop at Something Wicked on my way home to ask Rita my question.

As I pulled up out front, I parked behind a car that
seemed vaguely familiar.
It was a black Jeep Compass that
looked like millions of other vehicles on the road.
The only
eye catching feature was a sticker in the back window that
said “I’d rather be reading”.
I saw that same vehicle twice
before—once at school and once parked outside of my very
own
house.
It belonged to one of the teachers
who
chaperoned my party. Coach Hunter drove a blue PT Cruiser
and Mrs. Gregory owned a gold Ford Escape. This vehicle had
to belong to Mr. Raspatello.

I got out of my car and walked behind it onto the
sidewalk.
Flattening my body against the brick wall of the
building, I approached the window to Rita’s shop carefully. If
Mr. Raspatello was in there, I had to know. But I couldn’t let
him see me so I peered around the edge of the window
cautiously. What I saw frightened me.

Rita was leading him to the back of the store!
The
only reason anyone went back there was to talk to her about
her side business—ghost hunting. What was he
doing
back
there? He was up to something—but what? He was definitely
the creepiest man I’d ever met.

I doubled back to my car and drove down to the park.
From that vantage point, I could see the front door of the
store. I wanted to see how long he stayed in there. Making
note of the time, I sat back and kept my eyes fixed on the
sidewalk in front of Something Wick-ed.

Five. Ten. Fifteen minutes ticked by on my watch. He
wasn’t a killer but he wasn’t totally innocent—I
was
convinced of that fact. I was starting to worry that he left and
I somehow missed him when I finally saw him emerge from
the store. Twenty-two minutes.

I shrunk down in my seat as he drove up the street
past me. After waiting five minutes just in case he decided to
come back through, I went back to the shop and ran in to talk
to Rita. I had to find out what he talked to her about.

“Hey, Ruby! What brings you in on a Tuesday?” Rita
said as she straightened the table of clearance Halloween
candles just inside the doorway.

“I have to talk to you—back there,” I blurted out
loudly, pointing in the direction of her office.
I plowed my
way to the back with Rita on my heels.

“What’s wrong?” She wore a look of worry on her
face. “Have things escalated?”