Missing in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law #5)(32)
“I’m sure he won’t think much of it, and as he’ll be sitting in my jail for a bit, I’m also sure I’ll get to hear all about it from him any time I’m in earshot. Even more interesting is what the mayor’s wife will think about his not saving her baby.”
“Sounds like you’re looking forward to it.”
“That kid has been running wild since junior high school. If he doesn’t straighten out soon, best case is he’ll be living at home until he’s forty. Worse case, he’ll live behind bars. Going to jail for a while might be the one thing that could knock some sense into him.”
“I’ve known kids like that, and you’re probably right. What about the girl the mayor was with? Where’s she headed?”
“Probably to a pole in New Orleans. Everyone in my position has tried with that one, but she’s determined to wreck her life. If you knew her parents, you know she comes by it honest. I’ll just be glad when she graduates and moves her drama out of Mudbug.”
Jadyn shook her head. “I guess small towns are no different than big cities when it comes to the sordid happenings behind closed doors.”
“Yeah, only people in small towns work harder to hide things, because once they’re out, it doesn’t take ten minutes for every resident to know their secrets.”
He directed the boat to the next dock, hoping this inspection yielded a more important revelation than the last. And one that didn’t have his breakfast repeating.
[page]###
Maryse backed her truck into a clearing off the main path and parked. She waved toward a stack of brush. “Get some of that and put it in front of the car,” she said to Helena.
Helena mumbled under her breath but grabbed a dead bush and hauled it over to cover the bumper. Maryse threw a tarp over the top and hood of the car and placed some branches on top of both. After a dozen trips for more covering, she stepped back and inspected their work.
“I don’t think anyone will notice,” she said.
Helena looked at the camouflaged car and nodded. “Unless someone is specifically looking for a car, it just looks like another clump of dead brush.”
“Great,” Maryse said and picked up her backpack from behind the bush where she’d stored it. “We can’t risk taking the road, so we’ll travel just off of it in the swamp.”
“Spider and snakes and prickly trees. I can’t wait.”
“You’re one to bitch,” Maryse said. “None of those things can hurt you.”
“None of those things are supposed to hurt me, but you never know. When I go solid, I sometimes feel whatever happens to me.”
“Really?” Maryse had always figured the ghost was playing drama queen but maybe she’d judged her too harshly.
“It’s only for a second or two—like a flash of memory that’s gone when you blink—but for that second, it hurts just as bad as it would if I were alive.”
“Still, a one-second recovery time is not bad.”
“I guess not. Hey, are you sure you should be coming with me?”
“Do you know where the pond is?”
“No, but what if you get caught by Agent Friendly?”
“I won’t get caught. I’ll get you close enough to give you directions, then I’ll skirt around the pond and watch from the other side with my binoculars.”
“I guess that will work.”
“It’s going to have to.” Maryse trudged down the narrow path, pushing branches to the side, wondering all the while just how many things she didn’t know about Helena. Given Helena’s propensity for keeping secrets and complete lack of communication skills, she figured a lot.
What the hell—they had a bit of a walk. She might as well try to get some of those secrets out of the ghost.
“So,” Maryse said, “do you ever plan on telling the truth about why you’re back? I mean, the story about pissing off God is funny and believable, but I have a bit more faith in the patience of your creator than that.”
She glanced back at Helena, who frowned.
“How come everyone assumes there’s a reason?” Helena asked.
“Because people don’t ascend and then appear back on earth, and no way am I buying that you’re an angel.”
“I could be an angel.”
“Angels don’t steal food.”
“Now you’re just being picky.”
“And you’re avoiding the question. Fess up, Helena. You’re back here for a reason, and it’s probably one the rest of us need to know. You don’t exactly come with a worry-free warranty.”
Helena trudged to a stop. “You really want to know?”
Maryse threw her hands in the air. “Of course I want to know. We all want to know.”
Helena stared down at the ground for a bit, and Maryse began to wonder if she was stalling while she made something up, but when the ghost looked back up at her, she looked incredibly sad.
“I wasn’t ready for heaven. Based on the things I helped with when I came back as a ghost, God gave me a trial run, but he finally admitted he’d taken me up too soon. I’m not ready to let go of this life, and my debt on earth isn’t paid. So rather than take a permanent demotion in status, I asked to come back and earn my place.”