The Ghost Files 3 (16 page)

“Maybe,” I say doubtfully.
I
can keep secrets like nobody’s business.

“I
have
thought about what my life would have been like if I hadn’t met you,” Dan says, surprising me. “Before you, I went about my business believing only in what I could see, what I could touch, what I could rationally explain. My life was orderly, easy. Then I met this weird girl who claimed she could see ghosts.” He shakes his head. “At first I thought you were only trying to cope with maybe being a little psychic. That’s as far as I was willing to go. I could see you needed help, needed a friend, someone to believe in you and I
wanted
to help you. Then the more I got to know you, the more I realized just how special you were. Here was this tough as nails kid who refused to let anything or anyone get in her way, but she had soft spot, too. She cared more about people than she let on, maybe even more than she knew herself.”

Dan pauses for a moment an
d rubs his eyes. He looks tired.

“The more time I spent with you, the more you challenged my beliefs. I had to admit there were things out there science couldn’t explain. That was a huge leap of faith for me. Then you went missing on me and I realized just how much that snarky, arrogant kid had come to mean to me. I went a little crazy thinking I couldn’t protect you. I still think about those three days you were missing and I don’t know what I would have done if you’d died on me, Squirt. You’re family to me. You give me hope and faith that good things come from even the worst situations.”

“But I ruin everyone’s life I care about,” I whisper.

“No, Mattie, you don’t. Where would Mary be right now if you had been selfish and ignored Sally? She’d be dead, her mother devastated. You saved her life. How many other kids would Mrs. Olson have kidnapped and tortured before killing them? I don’t even want to think about it. You save people, Mattie, because you have the courage to stand up and make us all pay attention. Mary owes her life to you. Would you honestly want to take that back?”

“No, of course not, but—”

“No buts,” he interrupts me. “I know you think you destroyed my family, but you didn’t. Without you, I wouldn’t have found my brothers, my sister, my father. As much as all this hurts right now, I’m
glad I found them. Eli might be a pain, but he
is
my brother and I’m trying. I wouldn’t have that chance if not for one stubborn Ghost Girl.”

“I hate that name
.” I smile softly. How does Dan always know just what to say to me when I’m in a funk? Maybe he’s right and I’m not the destructive force I think I am. I did save Mary, after all.

“More than Hilda?” he grins
.

“God, no!” I declare. “Hilda is just…” I shudder.

“He’s never going to stop calling you that,” Dan laughs.

“I know
,” I sigh. “I’m stuck with it until I can find an equally horrifying one for him.”

“I have complete faith in you
.” Dan sits up. “Feel up to talking some shop now that we’ve got you out of your morose state?”

“I wasn’t morose,” I deny, “but yeah
. You find out anything from your friend in Mooresville?”

He nods. “Yeah, took a little longer than I thought it would. The girl who went missing is the daughter of the mayor. The case is being looked at very closely, but Tony managed to make me a copy of the file.”

“The mayor’s daughter?” I ask. “That’s a little risky, isn’t it? Even for an experienced serial killer?”

“You been reading the books I gave you?” Dan asks, nodding in approval when I agree. “You’re going to make an excellent cop.” I make a face
, which he ignores. “Her name is Addison Fowler. She’s went missing at a party on the lake. Her body hasn’t been recovered as of yet. I have a list of witnesses the investigating detectives talked to and figured I’d do my own interviews tomorrow.”

“There are eight girls, though,” I frown. “Did you check the NCIC database for similar crimes in the surrounding areas?”

Dan grins and I grit my teeth. I refuse to even think about being a cop. That’s just…it’s just…it makes me want to hurl. Police and I don’t get along. It’s not my fault I think like one. I blame it on all my juvenile arrests.

“Course I did,” he says. “I ran your sketches through the DMV and the NCIC and came up with two more matches. The girl from Concord was a foster kid and the girl from Ashville was the mayor’s daughter.”

I frown. A foster kid and the mayor’s daughter? Oh my god! I shoot up and stare at Dan, who nods grimly. It’s someone who knows me and Meg and is pissed at us both. One name comes to mind. “Tommy?”

“That was the first name I thought of too
, so I checked with his parents. He’s been up at his brother’s place in Virginia all summer.”

Tommy James was Meg’s ex-boyfriend and a real piece of work. He treated her like garbage and had cheated on her more times than I could count in the few weeks I’d known him. He’d even hit on
me
several times, but I’d shut him down. He really hates me, too. I beat the crap out of him when he tried to get in my face and intimidate me. Meg, on the other hand, dumped him for Dan. If someone has a grudge against both us, it’s him.

“That doesn’t matter,” I say. “I don’t know when these girls died, just that they did. Ghosts don’t always find me the minute they die. Sometimes they need to gain strength or just sort through their own confusion. He could have killed them before he went to Virginia.”

“Addison went missing two weeks ago,” Dan shakes his head. “Tommy wasn’t here.”

Well, fudgepops. There
goes that theory. “Were you able to find anything out about the other two girls?”

He nods. “Sheila Prescott from Concord went missing on a Saturday afternoon. She’d told her foster mom she was going to a movie and never came home. That was in March of this year. Abbey Canton from Ashville disappeared from a party
, same as Addison. She disappeared in June. According to the notes I read, there were no witnesses to the abductions.”

“So aside from the foster
kid, mayor’s daughter angle, are there any other similarities?”

“The mayor’s daughters were both blondes
, and the foster kid had dark hair, same as you.”

“This is s-o-o-o not good,” I whisper. Not only do I have to deal with vengeful ghosts trying to kill me, but a person who might potentially be obsessed with me and Meg
. “Dan, the killer always goes after their main target eventually.”

“I know, Squirt.” He gives my hand a squeeze. “I think between my brothers and
me, though, we can keep you and Meg safe.”

I sincerely hope so.

“I wanted you to know what was going on,” he says. “I need to swing by and talk to Eli and Caleb before I head to my parents. Dad asked if I’d stay at the house for a while. I think he needs a buffer between him and Mom. It’s going to be okay, Squirt.” He leans down and plants a kiss on my forehead before ruffling my hair. “I promise.”

After Dan leaves, I fall back on the bed and cover my eyes with my arm. Just another day in the life and times of Mattie Hathaway, the ghost girl who attracts serial killers. What else
can go wrong?

After a while, I sigh and turn over.

A scream escapes when I see what is lying beside me.

A gray
, bloated face of a girl is staring at me.

The malice in her eyes is potent.

She grins and reaches for me.

Chapter Fourteen

Oh no
, you don’t! I roll, tumbling off the bed. I’m tangled up in the sheets, but dig my way out in record time and am across the room, staring at the ghost on the bed. She stares at me with the promise of pain in her vivid blue eyes. Stringy black hair hangs down her shoulders, limp and lifeless. She’d been pretty. Her face was one of those that you’d remember before she died. Now, it’s gray and bloated from water damage. Blue lips are pulled back in a feral smile and she stands, her arms outreached.

I snap. I have had
enough
. I’ve been put through too much the last two weeks by freaking ghosts and I will not do it anymore! Mattie Hathaway doesn’t do fear and it’s about time I start to remember that. No more of this. It’s time I start to act like myself again.

“You take one more step,” I snarl at her, “and I swear by all that’s holy I
will
throw you into The Between and never give you a second thought.”

She pauses, her expression still menacing, but I see a flicker of hesitation in her eyes.

“I’m sick and tired of being attacked! I did
NOTHING
to any of you and I’m sorry you died, but it’s
not
my fault
! I’m done playing nice! You tell
that
to all your little buddies. Come near me again and I will kill you. Face a wraith and then think, was it worth it?”

“Mattie?” Mary whispers from the doorway. “Who are you talking to?”

“Mary, go to your room and salt it,” I tell her, keeping my eye on the ghost, who is now looking speculatively at Mary. Little bugger best not have any ideas about going after Mary.

“It’s so cold,” Mary whispers and steps into the room.

I glare at her. “Didn’t I just tell you to go to your room?”

“You’re not my mom,” she says, glancing around and then focusing on where the ghost is standing. “It’s there, isn’t it?”

“How do you know that?” I ask.

She shrugs. “I can’t see them, but since my experience, it’s like I can feel them sometimes.”

Well, she
did
have several out of body experiences and travelled like a ghost, so maybe that’s how she senses them. Yet another question to ask the Doc when I talk to him.

“You have to pay for what you did to us,”
the ghost hisses.

“I didn’t do anything to you!” I yell at her. This is so getting old super-fast.

“Yeah, I don’t think she gets that,” Mary whispers. I glance over at her and she’s got her head tilted as if she’s listening.

“Wait, can you
hear
her?” I ask, my mouth hanging open.

Mary nods, her expression just as startled as mine. “I think so. It’s a muted whisper, but I can make out a few words. She’s angry.”

Mind. Blown. Mary can hear the little buggers. I refocus on the very pissed-off ghost in front of me. Her eyes are darkening, the pupils getting so big, I can’t see any blue. She won’t go quietly and is preparing to strike.

I
don’t want to do this. I hate doing this.

I look inside to that small, dark place where I feel nothing but pain. I let myself feel all the helplessness I keep bottled up, all the pain and anger over what has been done to me. A small crack appears in the floor between us and the ghost. She doesn’t see it. Her attention is on us. I focus on nothing but the place I’ve gone. It’s cold and dark, full of bitterness and fear. The snowy substance of the portal begins to leach out of the crack. The ghost looks down and she screeches in fear, stumbling backwards.

“Mattie, you look wicked scary right now,” Mary says, her voice a little awed.

I shrug. I have no idea what I look like and it doesn’t really matter. All that matters is that I’m done letting these ghosts try to intimidate me. If that means I have to go back to being the selfish, snarky girl I used to be, then so be it.

“You can leave now,” I tell the ghost softly, my voice cold and a little dead. “Or I can throw you in there and let you take your chances with what’s waiting.”

She snarls and launches herself at me, her anger outweighing her own common sense. It is nothing to snatch her out of the air with the energy flowing from me and hurl her into the open doorway of The Between. She lets out a scream, but I don’t even flinch. She wants to kill me. All I did is return the favor.

“Mattie?” Mary whispers hesitantly.

“Is your mom home?” I ask.

“No, she got called in to cover the night shift.”

“
Go to your room and salt the door.” My voice is hollow, dead. “You’ll be safer behind the salt barrier.”

‘What about you?” she asks, the worry plain in her voice.

I turn to face her and she flinches. “Don’t worry about me. I guarantee I can protect myself.”

She steps backward and I think for a heartbeat she’s afraid, but I’m not sure. I’m a little afraid of myself right now. I could hurt someone and never feel anything. I would later, I’m sure, but when I’m in this zone, there’s nothing that can touch me.

“Mattie, I’m not sure I should you leave you alone right now…”

“Go!” I bark. “I don’t want to hurt you, Mary, so just go.”

She looks like she wants to say something, but then turns and leaves. I hope she takes my advice and just goes to her room. It’s late, anyway. We should both be asleep. I crawl into bed, but instead of closing the portal to The Between, I close it so there’s only a small crack left and then I expand it to a circle around my bed. It might not be a good idea to leave it open, but at the same time, it’s the only way I know how to protect myself. The ghosts won’t cross that line for fear of something grabbing them.