Devils night, p.16
Devil's Night, page 16
Matthew had always thought of himself as strong. But if his own mom was afraid to tell him the truth, what did that say about him? And what about his best friend? Bryce had been worried about Matthew’s feelings, too. Somehow, their concern felt more like a betrayal.
But the worst thought of all was that his mom was suffering. She was still in that house, unable to rest.
He stuck his spoon into the bowl of green chili and then shoved it into his mouth. He was nauseous, but he knew the food would do him good.
As he ate, he texted his boss. Now that he’d finished the work in Eden, maybe Sully had a new project for him.
Sully texted back, Absolutely not. You need to be resting. Doctor’s orders.
Really? Matthew lamented. How did everybody know? That had to be an invasion of privacy.
He was halfway through his lunch when Bryce and Ray Castillo came into the dining room. Matthew nodded in greeting. He knew Ray’s older sister. Ray was a good kid, young but he had his head on straight. He’d been a deputy at the sheriff’s for just a few months.
“There’s the big hero,” Bryce said. “They fit you for your cape yet?”
Matthew put steel into his returning glare, but he was smiling. At least Bryce wasn’t taking this too seriously.
“Hey, how’re you feeling?” Ray asked.
Matthew gave him the rote answer: head hurts, shoulder’s sore, but otherwise fine. Nothing to see here, folks. Please look elsewhere.
“Is Penny here?” Ray asked.
Matthew set down his spoon. “I haven’t seen her since this morning.”
Ray slipped into the chair across from him. “Can I?” he asked, pointing at one of the uneaten pieces of cornbread.
“Go for it.” Matthew pushed the plate over. Dora had given him way too much, as usual.
“Hey,” Bryce sputtered. “What about me?”
“You already ate half the pan that Dora baked,” Matthew said. “Admit it.”
“But you gave Ray the best piece.”
Deputy Ray devoured the cornbread. “Thanks,” he said, his mouth full, “I haven’t eaten all day.”
“Now I sound like a jerk,” Bryce said, spinning a chair around and sitting.
“It’s just been kinda hectic today, with the accidents up at Eden,” Ray said. “Scott’s okay, thankfully. He’s in pretty big trouble, though. Got fired from Alpenglow—that’s what I heard.”
Bryce cursed. “He really messed up, huh?”
Ray nodded. “Nearly got himself killed by being drunk and careless.”
“Is that why you’re looking for Penny?” Matthew asked. “To give her an update?”
“Oh—no, actually. It’s about that, um…” Ray glanced around, then leaned in. “That skeleton that Penny found a few days ago in Eden. A report came in from the CBI’s anthropologist. I thought Penny would want to hear about it.”
Matthew didn’t love the eagerness in Ray’s voice when he talked about Penny. Did the kid have a crush on her? But then again, he was—what—twenty? Which was…about as far age-wise as Matthew himself was from Penny. So, yeah. Matthew wasn’t enjoying that line of thought.
“She’ll definitely want to hear about it,” Matthew said. “Let’s go find her. Together.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
When Penny got the news about Scott from Linden, she called her little sister. She’d remembered that Krista was a friend of his. Krista had seemed startled yet otherwise fine on the phone. But now that they were sitting in Krista’s bedroom, Penny wasn’t so sure.
Penny tossed a can of local IPA to her sister, then popped the tab on her own.
“Isn’t it early to be drinking?” Krista asked.
“After the night we had?”
Penny took a sip, and the tart flavor of resinous hops coated her tongue. She and Krista had the same taste in beer—the hoppier the better. She’d delighted in taking Krista to a couple of beer bars in Los Angeles the year before—bars that conveniently didn’t card—in order to prove that Southern California, too, had a decent brew culture. But who was she kidding? It was nothing like home.
“You want to talk about what happened last night?” Penny asked.
Krista took a long swig and fell back against her pillows. “I don’t even know. That’s the thing. Scott said he was going to meet Anvi someplace. He disappeared when we were dancing, and I didn’t think that much of it. But after a while, I just started to not feel right. Ray—Deputy Castillo—and I looked for him, but I couldn’t remember where he was going. And that’s when all the screaming started.”
Penny had been piecing together last night’s chain of events. The screaming had started after June’s fall. A bunch of the festival-goers saw it all from the Paradise Hotel’s windows. Those screams had covered up Scott’s cries for help—or so Linden had heard from Anvi. It had been Anvi who found Scott, tangled up in a nest of electrical wires and suffocating. She freed him and called on her radio for the paramedics team, which was already nearby and having a too-busy night. But by then, Penny and Linden had already been in the parking lot, watching medics load Matthew and June for the drive to town.
“When I saw him today,” Krista continued, “he just seemed shocked and humiliated. He lost his job. Everyone’s acting like he’s the dumbest guy in the world, and I guess sometimes he can be. But I swear, Penny, he didn’t mean any harm. Scott’s an okay guy.”
“I’m sure he is. Believe me, I know what a small town Ashton can be.” Penny set her beer on the floor.
“Scott told me that your boss—that guy Tripp Sterling—was threatening him with prosecution if he damaged anything last night. Is that really true? Can you talk to your boss? Because it’s not right. Scott’s the one who got hurt!”
“I’ll do whatever I can.” She didn’t mention that she doubted her ability to convince Tripp.
Penny felt terrible that not one but two incidents had happened on the opening night of Devil’s Fest. Everyone involved could’ve been hurt much worse. Scott could even have started a fire by messing with the wiring.
But Linden had told her not to worry. Do you have any idea how much shit goes down at amusement parks or big festivals every single year? Linden had insisted. This is what insurance is for.
Penny didn’t care about insurance. She cared about Matthew and Krista, and anyone else who’d been hurt. And dammit, she still cared about her town, even though she no longer called Ashton home. She didn’t want bad things to happen to people here, and she certainly didn’t want to be responsible for them.
She’d considered whether Eden’s ghosts could be involved, too. How could she not?
But it did sound like Scott’s accident was a case of being drunk in the wrong place at the wrong time. As for June, Penny hesitated to speculate, but without a doubt the fall never would’ve happened if June had stayed downstairs. Penny and Linden had already discussed adding to their security team.
Krista folded her legs beneath her. “Scott said something else, too. It could be important.”
The door to Krista’s bedroom opened. Both of their heads turned; their father was standing there.
“You told her?” their dad said. He was looking at Krista. Krista glanced furtively away, sipping her beer.
“Told me what?”
Krista was teaming up with their dad suddenly?
In a low voice, Penny’s sister said, “Scott swears that somebody else was there. But nobody will believe him. They see a flask and a vape pen and they just—”
“Someone else was there? Who?”
“He didn’t see the person’s face. But he says he felt them there.”
“Felt them?”
“It was a ghost,” their dad said. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“That’s a pretty big leap.”
Penny didn’t want to be rude, but there was good reason to dismiss Scott’s story. Even taking into consideration all she knew about Eden’s ghosts, including her own experiences.
“You think I want this to be true?” Krista asked. “I didn’t believe it, either. But after what Dad told me today, I’m scared that it’s possible.”
Krista got up and threw her beer in the trash. “I thought you might listen, but I should’ve known better.” She flopped onto her mattress and buried her head beneath the pillow.
Penny looked to her father for an explanation. “Tell me what you said to her. Right now.”
Krista peeked out from under the pillow. “Just go away, Penny. Everything was better before you came back.”
“Let’s leave her be.” Lawrence gestured at the doorway.
Penny went into her dad’s study. For a while, he’d insisted on calling it his “man cave” until her mom objected. But the room belonged, in heart and soul, to her father. All his paranormal books were here, texts about famous psychics like Edgar Cayce and Peter Hurkos, reports published by the Duke Parapsychology Lab. His decks of Zener cards, which he’d once used to test Penny for psychic aptitude. Boxes of outdated AV equipment for the ghost hunting expeditions that he took ages ago. A few years after he wrote A Devil in Eden, he’d given up his dream of becoming a paranormal researcher. But he couldn’t let all this old stuff go.
Her father closed the door behind them.
“What did you say to Krista?”
“It’s something I should’ve told you a long time ago.”
“So, out with it.”
“At least have a seat.”
She dropped into an upholstered armchair. A captive audience.
“You were so young when I wrote the book on Eden.”
She remembered the visits to local bookstores, a few small speaking engagements. I’m an author, he said when the books arrived in their cardboard box. He held one up next to his face and grinned. Check me out!
She’d been so excited for him. She’d been six in 2001 when the book was published. But it wasn’t until Penny was thirteen that she actually read A Devil in Eden for herself. She’d had a secret admiration for Marian, a woman who could command a gang of men even back when women struggled to get basic rights. Who was this person who could sway people to her side, who still frightened children in stories passed on the playground?
But she hadn’t liked the version of her father she saw in those pages. He claimed that he’d taken Penny to Eden to help her understand her ability. Bullshit. He took Penny there because of his obsession with the paranormal. Because he was selfish. He’d cared more about Penny’s ability than he did about her.
She’d forgiven her dad a long time ago. He wasn’t a terrible person; she loved him. But she wasn’t going to pretend that his flaws didn’t exist.
Lawrence wiped a hand over his face.
“It goes back before I wrote the book. You remember Helen and Jason Boyd?”
“Sure I do.”
Penny had thought of Helen as her friend. The woman would ask her to describe the ghosts, writing every word Penny said. She could picture Helen in her mind, even now—curly dyed-red hair, a heart-shaped face with a broad smile. She’d sit cross-legged on Penny’s floor and play pretend, dreaming up the most wonderful stories. Brave girls facing down impossible foes.
When Penny’s father took her to Eden, the Boyds came along. But they left afterward and Penny never saw them again, which hurt. Lawrence had mentioned that Jason died. She couldn’t recall much about him, except for an inkling that children made him uncomfortable.
Penny had wondered if it was really her dad’s fault that Helen never contacted them. Maybe—just like Penny—Helen had wanted to escape the legacy of A Devil in Eden.
Lawrence settled back into his chair, thinking a moment.
“I didn’t really believe that Marian could be capable of the things they said. She was a mother, and she ensured that her child was cared for. And I guess a part of me saw my own grandmother in her. How could an evil woman have birthed my beautiful, kind grandmother? It didn’t make sense. After Beau MacKenzie found Marian’s child—my grandmother—on those church steps, he made sure that she had a home. He adopted her as his own.” He gestured at the room. “Beau made this inn part of her inheritance. And really, the story of Eden was her inheritance, too. It became mine. And then, you came along. The key to understanding it all.”
Penny turned away, shaking her head. But her father kept going.
“Helen and Jason agreed to help us. So we went up there for Devil’s Night. You know what happened—the things we saw and heard, how your mother got cold feet and took you home, and Helen, Wallace and Carlos gave up too, but Jason and I stayed. Something…”
He looked over at his shelf of books. Penny noticed now that she couldn’t spot a single copy of A Devil in Eden.
“Something happened to Jason that night,” he said. “I wrote about that, too. He wasn’t acting like himself.”
“I know.” She still couldn’t see why her father needed to rehash these things. “Dad, please get to the point.”
He smacked his hand against his thigh. “I am, Penny. In the years after that Devil’s Night, Jason started going up to Eden on his own. Helen asked me for help. But I couldn’t go back. I couldn’t.”
During Penny’s childhood, ghosts were all that her dad talked about. But as he grew older, he could no longer handle the usual stresses and strains of the business of the inn. Her mom simply left him out of it now. He didn’t watch the news anymore, either—it made his heart rate get out of control. Instead, he’d become someone that they all coddled. Their mother didn’t tell him half of what really went on at the inn or with Penny’s siblings. Yet too often, Penny suspected that her dad enjoyed being patronized. He’d failed as a parapsychologist, then as an author. This drama was the only way he still knew to command their attention.
Lawrence’s eyes were shining. He paused and rested his chin against his closed hand.
Her father was going to cry.
“Dad?”
He took a deep breath, steadying himself. “Jason died up there in Eden. He went up to the third floor of the bank, and he jumped. Broke his neck.”
Penny’s hand pressed into her stomach. “Why haven’t I heard this before?”
“Helen asked me not to tell a soul. It wasn’t just the life insurance—she didn’t want people to blame Jason for what happened. I didn’t see it that way, though. I was sure that Jason didn’t jump on his own.”
A sick feeling wound through her gut. She could tell where this was going. But she still asked, “Why?”
He looked over at her. “Something terrible happened in that town, Penny. Not just the Devil’s Night Massacre—I think it was something worse than we even know. And it’s still being replayed, over and over. Maybe the ghosts there are evil. Or maybe they’re just trapped. But I blame them for Jason’s death. They made him jump.”
She thought of June on the balcony. The way she’d leaned against the railing.
“No.” Penny dropped her head into her hands. “No. If that were true, you would have told me.”
“You think I don’t regret my part in this? I didn’t really want to know, either. First I took you up to Eden, my little girl, and put you in danger. Then my best friend paid the price.”
Penny got up from her chair. “You weren’t even there. You don’t know what really happened. This is just your speculation, your belief, like everything else.”
Exaggerations. Pleas for attention, like always. He’d nearly convinced her this time. But she wasn’t that little kid anymore—captivated by her father, blind to his faults.
He slumped in his chair, suddenly older than she’d ever seen him.
“End this madness, Penny. Don’t go back there. I couldn’t forgive myself if they took you too. But if it’s somebody else who dies, you’ll have to live with the same guilt as me. I don’t want that for you.”
She went to the door and paused, gripping the handle, battling within herself over how to respond. How to defend herself. But what could she say to him now, after everything?
If she lived life his way—always asking what if what if what if—the fear would paralyze her. The past, and the dead, would forever control her.
She finally just opened the door and quietly left.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Linden closed the door to her hotel room and leaned back against it. I will get through this, she thought.
She went over to her dresser and dabbed lavender essential oil on her pressure points. Her heart was pounding. But she could handle it. She had everything under control.
She’d just gotten off her fifth call of the day. Or was it the seventh? She couldn’t even remember. There was the insurance adjuster—SunBev had given him her number, you can take care of this, can’t you?—the sheriff’s office, June’s roommate Kelsey. Then a personal call to Ashton’s mayor, assuring him that the accidents were unfortunate and random, but no sign that the festival was dangerous. Plus other people who’d blended together into a single, whining voice. Penny might’ve been able to help, but she’d been busy with her family most of the day.
Linden slipped off her shoes and fell back against her bed, inhaling the scent of lavender.
Then her phone rang. In half a second, the device was out of her pocket and against her ear.
“What’s up, Penny?”
“Hey. Do you have a minute?”
Linden sat up, her heart speeding again. She heard the anxiety in Penny’s voice. She loved Penny, but the girl had been a handful lately.
“Of course. Talk to me.”
“I wanted to update you. You’re not going to like it.”
Not a good start. But Linden stayed quiet.
