Phantoms of Fall (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 2) (42 page)

“The man who was just in here—in
this
office—what
did he want?” I was in full out panic mode and I didn’t even
try to hide it.

“Huh? This isn’t about your ghost?” Rita shook her
head. “I’m confused.”

 

I didn’t stutter the first time but I repeated it slowly so
she would understand. “What. Did. He. Want?”

 

“I’m sorry, Ruby, but I can’t tell you. He asked me for
confidentiality and I promised it.”

 

“
Please
, Rita!” I begged. “I have to know!”

 

Rita folded her arms across her chest. “Sorry, but the
answer’s still no.”

 

I was prepared to argue for what I wanted. “But—“

“But nothing,” Rita interjected. “You of all people
should understand!
I seem to remember a time when you
came to me and asked for the same thing he did—and you got
it.”

Dammit. I knew she was right but I didn’t have to be
happy about it. But I did have one question she might answer
for me. “Did he mention me at all?”

“No! Why?” Rita furrowed her brow. “Who was he
Ruby? How do you know him?”

I knew it was a snotty thing to say but I said it anyway.
“I can’t tell you. I’ve sworn myself to secrecy.” Without
another word, I brushed past her and out the door.

Seven o’clock couldn’t come fast enough. My stomach
felt better than it did in months, so I practically unhinged my
jaw and swallowed my dinner whole. One hour left to wait.
What to do, what to do. I paced the floor of the attic for a full
ten minutes before deciding to start reading where I left off
the night before. Bad dreams be damned! If I hoped to get a
day alone with Zach, I had to finish reading it.

Once curled up in my saucer chair with book in hand,
the clock actually started to move. I didn’t even hear Zach’s
car outside so
imagine
my
surprise
when he
suddenly
appeared in the doorway. Startled, my hands flew up in the
air releasing the book from my grasp as they did.

“Nice to see you, too,” Zach said with a chuckle as he
bent down to retrieve the book which landed neatly at his
feet. “Enjoying the book, I take it?”

“Holy crap, you scared me!”

Zach handed me the book and I flipped through it
quickly until I found my place. I tucked a bookmark between
the pages and placed it on my desk. “Yes, I am enjoying it too,
by the way.”

“Good.” He took a seat at my desk and pointed to my
laptop. “But I’m ready to read a good book, too.”

 

“Sure,” I replied. “But first, I have to tell you about
something that happened after school today.”

 

In detail, I related the story of Mr. Raspatello’s visit to
Something Wick-ed.

 

When I was finished, Zach responded, “So? You said
yourself that he’s not a killer.”

 

I felt like I was part of a dangerous reconnaissance
mission behind enemy lines and all he could say was “so”?
“But Zach, you’ve seen the way he looks at me, haven’t
you? He’s up to something, I just know it!”

“What though? Yeah, he’s been a little weird lately,
but I don’t think he’s up to anything.” Zach paused in thought.
“Maybe he’s doing research for a book or something.”

“But that doesn’t explain all of the secrecy and
swearing Rita to confidentiality!” I knew I could see ghosts
that Zach couldn’t but I was starting to think I was more
observant in other departments, too.

“I don’t know, Ruby. Next time you decide to follow
him, take me with you, okay? Killer or no killer, I don’t like
you running around town alone and chasing after someone
you think is dangerous.”

I mumbled my agreement and opened my laptop for
him. Clicking on the file titled SOS, the opening page of my
book appeared on the screen. “Here it is.”

He took the computer eagerly from my hands and
carried it to the futon where he made himself comfortable.
“Are you going to read along with me?”

“No,” I answered, grabbing my book and plopping
down beside him. “The sooner I finish this, the sooner we
can—”

“Yes!” he said enthusiastically. “Please finish reading
that book!”

 

We held hands as we both read, passing an hour in
what seemed like five minutes.

 

“Wow,” Zach announced, breaking the silence. “It’s
good, Ruby—really good!”

“You really think so?” I asked nervously. Yeah, I’d
written quite a few short stories over the years but nothing
on as grand a scale as what I was working on now.

“Definitely! I knew you were smart but I never knew
you were this talented, too!” Zach gave me a smooch on the
cheek. “You have to try to get this thing published.”

“Thanks, Zach,” I said closing my book and placing it
on my desk along with my laptop. “Do you want to watch a
movie or something?”

“Sounds good but let’s do it downstairs. After just
reading what you wrote, I’m gonna have a hard time keeping
my hands to myself!”

What a compliment!
My book was far from racy so I
knew
his
reaction
was
based
purely
on
emotion—no
hormones involved. I decided to finish reading
The Phantom
of the Opera
before going to bed tonight regardless of how
late I had to stay up. Now that we were in full agreement on
wanting to lose our virginity together, I didn’t want to wait
another second.

But until I was done reading that book, my chastity
belt had to stay in place. I made us some popcorn with extra
butter and we joined Dad and Shelly for a movie.
Zach
seemed happier to see me eating than he was to see the
movie.
Once he was gone, I returned to my room to finish
reading. My alarm clock read midnight as I turned to the last
page and consumed the final few lines.

Done. Not only was it a great story, but I was one step
closer to my ultimate goal.
Satisfied that things were finally
going my way, I flung the book onto my nightstand and turned
out the light.

The dream plagued me yet again. Basically, it was the
same as the last time except for one crucial difference. This
time it was Lee who was dressed as the Phantom, not Zach.
They still played tug of war with me, still gave me that same
thrilling sense of fear even with the roles reversed.
What did
it all mean?
So many of my nightmares had some sort of
relevance to what was going on in my life but this one left me
perplexed.

Lee was dead, I reminded myself.
Even if his spirit
were to resurface, that was all it would ever be—his spirit.
Zach was flesh and blood and I could see my future when I
looked into his eyes.
If by some chance Lee found a way to
communicate with me, I decided I would help him. I would
track down his birth parents and give him the closure that he
needed. But even if Zach weren’t in my life, having a
relationship with a ghost would be out of the question.
A
ghost could never love me the way Zach did—the way Zach
will
when we finally get the house to ourselves. It was just a
dream, Ruby, just a dream.

35. Laughter is the Best…Aphrodisiac?

By the end of the week, everything was falling into
place. Shelly and I spent two hours discussing the book on
Wednesday and by Friday she was musing about how much
she wanted to see the musical on Broadway.
My shopping
trip with Chloe was successful, too. Not only did we have a lot
of fun, but she introduced me to her girlfriend Chelsea who I
liked instantly. The only thing that sucked was that Zach was
out car shopping with his dad so I wouldn’t see him until
Saturday. But I got a pleasant surprise when I returned home
with an armload of shopping bags and found Rachel waiting
for me on the front porch. At least it started out pleasant.

When I approached the steps, I found the normally
happy Rachel in tears.

“Rachel, what’s wrong?” My thoughts immediately
turned to Zach. “Did something happen to Zach?” I dropped
my bags to the ground in sheer horror. Was Zach dead? Was
that the hidden meaning of my dream?

“Zach’s fine,” she sobbed. “But everything else is a
mess.”

Once my pulse returned to normal, I gathered up my
bags and sat down beside her. She rested her head against
my shoulder and started to cry even harder.

“Come on,” I said, tugging at her arm. “Let’s go
inside—it’s freezing out here.”

Rachel wiped at the tears with the back of her hand
and followed me inside. Once we were in the attic, a bit of the
old Rachel surfaced.

“I got kicked off the cheerleading squad, Crimson’s
missing, and the police are questioning Drake Sterling about
her disappearance!”

“Whoa—slow down! One thing at a time!” I handed
her a box of tissues and sat down beside her on the futon.

Rachel took a minute to blow her nose and
then
proceeded. “Last night, we voted to get new uniforms for the
spring basketball season. Since she’s the head cheerleader,
Misty’s in charge of fundraising for stuff like this. Every other
time, we sell candy bars to get the money we need. This time
she decided that since it would only cost $200 total per
person, we needed to just put up the money ourselves.
It
wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but she insisted that the
money had to be in by today.”

I could see where this was going but I kept my mouth
shut and let her tell her story.

“So I’m kinda broke right now. I spent a lot of money
on my Halloween costume and I just gave Mom and Dad some
cash toward my
car insurance.
All I
asked for was
an
extension until Monday since Shelly was paying me today.”

Rachel started to cry again so I waited patiently until
she collected herself again.

“So Misty said in front of everyone that if I was too
poor to be a cheerleader, then maybe I should find a different
after school activity.”

“She didn’t!” I said but I wasn’t actually shocked—
Misty was the nastiest person I’d ever met in my life.

“She
did
, Ruby—and I just lost it!
I called her a bitch
and told her that someday someone would give her what she
deserved. She went directly to Coach Hunter and told her that
I physically threatened her. She didn’t believe her so Misty
bullied the
other girls
into backing up her story.
Coach
Hunter felt bad—I could tell—but she had no other choice but
to kick me off the squad.”

“Somebody
does
need to give her what she deserves!
She’s awful!” How could one person cause so much
destruction in one school?

“I know. The worst part is that I know she only did it
because she’s pissed at me for helping get you and Zach back
together. One of the other girls told me so later.”

Now,
I
was pissed! How dare she try to ruin Rachel’s
life because of me! “I’m sorry, Rachel. I feel like it’s my fault
that you’re crying.” I was about to suggest we both go find
her and settle it with a good old fashioned cat fight when
Rachel interrupted.

“I hate her more than anything in this world but that’s
not the reason I’m crying! I’m upset because Crimson has
been missing since Halloween and the police think Drake had
something to do with it.”

“Missing? What do you mean missing?” She definitely
wasn’t the kind of girl whose picture you’d expect to find on
the side of a milk carton. I’d heard my dad use that phrase
before. What did that phrase even mean? Did they actually
put pictures of missing children on milk cartons at some
point? Thank goodness they invented the internet.

“Well, she had that fight with Ivy at the party, but
eventually
Boone and
Drake broke it up.
Drake had to
practically drag her out of the house kicking and screaming
while Boone kept Ivy at bay. Drake threw her into his car and
they drove away. That’s the last anyone has seen of her.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “What exactly do the
police think happened?”

 

“They think Drake hurt her—maybe even killed her!”

 

“What do
you
think happened?”

“That’s just it—I don’t know! I want to believe Drake
when he says he dropped her off at the bus station but it’s all
so much like what happened five years ago.” Rachel put her
head in her hands and began to sob again.

“What happened five years ago?”
There was
something about that question that gave me a cold chill. It felt
like once I asked it, there would be no turning back even if I
wanted to.

Rachel told me the story through a veil of tears which
made it feel even more tragic.

“Five years ago when Drake was a senior in high
school, he was dating this college freshman.
Her name was
Allison Cornell.
I was only twelve when this happened so I
don’t remember all of the details. But basically Drake claimed
that she was homesick and he dropped her off at the bus
station on Friday night so she could visit her parents.
Her
roommate was supposed to pick her up on Sunday but Allison
didn’t get off the bus. When her roommate called Allison’s
family, they said she never made it home. Drake was the last
person to see her alive.”

“Alive? So I take it they found her….” The word
“body” got stuck in my throat.

 

Rachel nodded her head.
I took notice of the fact that
she avoided using the “B” word too.

 

“That’s where it starts to get weird.”

Starts?
What kind of town was I living in anyway?
Ghosts,
disappearances,
suicides—and I
was
pretty
sure
Rachel was about to add murder to that list.

“They found her murdered a few months later on the
steps of the old Baptist church in a wedding dress. But here’s
the really weird part—when they found her, she’d only been
dead for a few days.”