Ropes and Revenge (10 page)

The spirit rustled inside of her, and the cold chilling her bones intensified. When the soul spoke again, its voice was much clearer than before.
There’s a box. Buried by the old well. It’s for the girl, but she can’t open it until it’s time.

“For the girl?” Percy asked. “Do you mean Mia?”

No. The little girl. With the blond hair. But not before her twenty-second birthday. Only then, not before…

“Do you remember the girl’s name?” Percy waited, straining for an answer, but her insides were already thawing and the pressure at her temples fading away. She reached out with her mind, knowing it was time to establish an entryway to the other side, to discover the path was already open and the spirit hurrying eagerly through the portal.

Percy closed her eyes, catching a glimpse of a petite woman in a calico dress with long, red curls running away through a field of tall green grass, down a hillside toward a bright yellow sunrise. But the woman didn’t stop to look over her shoulder the way some souls did. She was obviously ready to go wherever that sunrise was going to lead her.

With a sigh, Percy’s lids fluttered open to find herself flat on her back, staring up at the wooden roof of the jail building with Mia’s pale face hovering over her.

“Do I need to call 911?” Mia whispered, eyes darting nervously around the room.

“No, everything’s fine.” Percy smiled, feeling warm all over, the way she did every time she helped a suffering soul find rest. “There was a spirit here, but she’s gone now. She seemed relieved and happy to move on.”

“Was it my great-great-etcetera grandmother?” Mia asked, her voice still soft and fearful. “Because I’m pretty sure my grandmother killed my ex-boyfriend. Or it might have been my great-great-whatever grandfather who she murdered and threw down into the cavern underneath this building. Though it seems like he was a huge asshole so I don’t know why he would help me. Unless he was trying to make amends or something, which I guess could be the case, but—”

Mia bit her bottom lip hard enough to send the blood rushing from her skin but hurried on before Percy could allay her fears. “I didn’t say anything before because I didn’t want you to fake something while we were in here, but summer before last something I couldn’t see threw my evil ex-boyfriend through a window. We told the police it was my husband, but it wasn’t. He’s strong, but he’s not that strong. And every time I come in here I feel like I’m not alone. If that makes any sense.”

“It makes complete sense,” Percy said, pushing into a seated position. “Because you weren’t alone. A woman in a calico dress with hair the same color as yours wanted you to know that there’s a box buried by the old well. It’s for a little girl, but she was very adamant that the box shouldn’t be opened until the girl’s twenty-second birthday.”

Mia frowned even as her eyes continued to dart around the space, obviously not quite ready to take Percy’s word for it that the jail was now ghost free. “What little girl? I heard you ask for a name? Did she tell you?”

“No. She just said it wasn’t for you, that it was for a little girl with blond hair.”

Curiosity sparked in Mia’s brown eyes. “I wonder if she means Clementine. She’s the only little girl with blond hair I’ve ever brought with me to the ghost town.”

“It could be,” Percy said. “Maybe the box will give you a clue. Once you find it.”

Mia’s curious expression quickly gave way to a fretful one. “I don’t know. Even if I do find it, should I give it to Clem? I mean, what if there’s something dangerous inside of it? Like rattlesnakes or something?”

“Rattlesnakes buried for over a hundred years wouldn’t be very dangerous.” Percy stood, tugging her tee shirt back down to meet the top of her stretchy brown skirt. “And the spirit seemed kind. I didn’t sense any reason to be afraid.”

“But what will I tell her mother?” Mia remained kneeling on the floor, twirling a curl around her finger. “I mean, I’m sure Clem will be overjoyed to get a surprise present from a ghost, even if she has to wait over a decade to open it, but her mom’s not as crazy as Clem and I are.”

For the first time in a long time, the word “crazy” grew claws and sliced through Percy’s relatively thick skin. “What you decide to do with the information I’ve shared is up to you,” she said in a cool voice. “All I can tell you is that it was very important for that woman to let someone know about the box. So important that she stayed here long after she would have preferred to be at rest.”

Percy plucked her hat from the ground, where it had fallen, and tugged it back onto her head. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m tired. I’m going to head back to my hotel.”

Mia jumped to her feet. “But we haven’t finished the tour.”

“I’ll come back again during normal business hours,” Percy said, leading the way out the door, suddenly needing to be alone.

“I’m sorry,” Mia said, trailing her down the sunny street. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I’m grateful. I really am.”

“I’m not offended,” Percy said, quickening her pace. “Just tired. Please, you don’t have to come with me, I can see myself out.”

Mia reached out, closing her fingers around Percy’s elbow, giving her no choice but to stop or rip her arm free.

“Please,” Mia said, pulling her hand away as soon as Percy turned to face her. “You don’t have to accept my apology, but I want you to know how truly sorry I am. I was wrong to talk that way. It can’t be easy coming to small towns and dealing with closed-minded people like me all of the time. But you do it anyway because it’s obviously important for you to help alleviate suffering. And that’s wonderful and I promise I’ll treat the message you were kind enough to give me very seriously.”

After a moment, Percy nodded, her anger fading in the face of Mia’s sincerity.

Mia smiled hopefully. “Friends?”

“Friends,” she said, her lips curving. “But I really would rather put off the rest of the tour for another time. Encounters like that are exhausting.” She swallowed what little wetness remained in her mouth. “And for some reason they make me really thirsty.”

“Then let me lock up and we can head back into town,” Mia said. “I’d love to buy you a tall glass of ice water or a beer or whatever else you might be interested in at the Blue Saloon.”

“Oh, that’s all right,” Percy demurred. “You don’t have to.”

“I know I don’t.” Mia looped her arm through Percy’s again as they started walking toward the exit. “But it’s happy hour until five and my mom’s keeping Lawson at her place tonight. I have a rare afternoon off and I’d love to spend it with you. I can always use a new friend, especially one who is interesting and sweet.”

Percy smiled. “Me too.”

“Then I’m buying the first round,” Mia said, her words reminding Percy of John’s from the night before.

It made her wonder what would have happened if she and John had had a drink last night instead of a long walk. Maybe things would have ended differently, and she wouldn’t feel so embarrassed by the thought of seeing him again. But embarrassed or not, she would be seeing him. Soon. She didn’t back down from a promise to help someone and she didn’t have much time in Lonesome Point.

She’d planned to call him as soon as she was done with her ghost town tour, but she didn’t suppose an hour delay would make much difference. Besides, a glass of wine might be exactly what she needed to banish the mortified feeling that swept through her every time she remembered the way she’d begged John to kiss her.

“I’ll park behind my shop and meet you in the saloon, okay?” Mia said as they reached where their cars were parked. “I live just down the street from the hotel.”

“See you there,” Percy said, dropping her hat into the passenger seat.

As she pulled out onto the road, she rolled down the windows, letting the warm desert air blow through the cabin. She was used to the evergreen and autumn smells of upstate New York, where she’d lived since her aunt died, and had expected the desert to smell like dust and emptiness.

She’d been surprised by the scents of sweet grass and sharp sage, by the undertone of baking earth, and the ease with which the dry air flowed in and out of her lungs. She’d always preferred the country to the city, but she hadn’t expected to have any affection for this seemingly barren place. But as she drove back into town, she couldn’t deny she was enjoying discovering the mysteries of the desert and the warm southwest Texas weather and found herself a little sad that her trip to Lonesome Point was nearly half over.

There’s no reason you can’t stay longer,
she thought as she pulled into a free parking spot outside the hotel.
Especially if John still needs your help.

As if summoned by her thoughts, the man himself crossed the parking lot a dozen feet away, moving like a man on a mission, setting Percy’s foolish heart to racing with a mixture of excitement and nerves. The nerves were easy to understand after their awkward parting last night, but the excitement was pure lunacy. John had made it clear that nothing was going to happen between them, no matter how strong the pull they both felt, or how desperately he needed someone to help lift him out of the dark place he’d fallen into.

But Percy had no experience bringing things back to life, only with putting dead things to rest. She didn’t know what she would have done last night if John had taken her up on her offer to take what he needed from her, only that she wanted to be there for him more than she’d wanted anything in so long.

She wanted to touch him, to memorize the way his chest rose and fell as his breath grew faster and to see the pain melt away from his eyes.

Instead, she was going to follow him into the bar and apologize for being too forward, then promise to call him as soon as she and Mia finished their drink. And maybe she could convince Mia to have a glass of wine somewhere else. No matter how much Percy enjoyed John’s company, she sensed it would hurt to be around him for a while.

She was planning what to say—knowing she’d be better off if she stuck to a script instead of letting her heart do the talking—when another man crossed in front of her car. He wasn’t anyone she’d met before, but she recognized him immediately.

The images she’d pulled up in her Google search of Jenner Sloan last night didn’t do him justice. He was even more movie-star handsome in person, with long brown hair shot through with blond highlights pulled back in a low ponytail, piercing blue eyes that wrinkled at the edges—giving testimony to a life spent doing more laughing than crying—and a leanly muscled body that moved with the grace of an athlete.

His website has said he enjoyed rock-climbing and featured a picture of him grinning atop one of the spindly desert peaks scattered throughout the southwest. The shot had made him look shorter than he was. In reality, he was nearly as tall as John, well over six feet, with broad shoulders and muscles visible through the thin fabric of his tee shirt.

When the two men came to blows, they were going to be very evenly matched and chances were that one or both of them would be seriously hurt.

Heat seared her cheeks and her upper lip broke out in a light sweat, confirming the certainty that John and Jenner were going to have a physical altercation wasn’t a feeling, but a
feeling.

Percy was out of the car a second later, determined to put a stop to the possible future she’d sensed before it happened. Fate wasn’t set in stone and the future could be rewritten if someone stepped in before it was too late. All too often, there wasn’t time to shift the course of history before two cars collided on the highway or a suffering person picked up a gun, but right now she had some time.

With that thought in mind, she shifted course, heading into the hotel lobby.

CHAPTER EIGHT

John

He could be innocent
, John reminded himself as he claimed a stool at the far end of the Blue Saloon bar with a clear view of the entrance.

Jenner could be innocent and, even if he weren’t, it wasn’t going to do Lily or anyone else any good if John lost his temper and blew this meeting. He had to hold it together, get as much information as he could, and say a civil goodbye to the man who might have murdered his wife.

Or who was sleeping with her behind your back. The man she might have been planning to run away with, for all you know.

John’s jaw clenched. Lily hadn’t been having an affair and he wasn’t going to let his memories of her be poisoned.

They’d been happy, planning their first couple’s only vacation in years and even bouncing around the idea of another baby before Peyton got too much older. He refused to believe she’d been cheating or to indulge the crazy voices in his head. He wouldn’t let unanswered questions and the desperate need to fill the void losing Lily had left in his life lead to jumping to painful, ridiculous conclusions.

He was about to order a beer, figuring he could use something to steady his nerves, when Jenner walked into the bar. The other man looked older than the last time John had seen him—at a baseball game in Dallas where he and Lily had run into Jenner by one of the concession stands—but no less arrogant. He strode into the room like he owned the place, smirking at the two women who swiveled on their stools to watch him pass.

John had enough time to realize he still hated the man on sight before Jenner spotted him and lifted a limp hand. John nodded in response, fighting the urge to snarl as the only other man Lily had ever slept with swaggered across the plank floor.