Living with the Dead

Adele's footsteps sounded across the trailer floor.

"Karl?" Robyn whispered.

"Shhh, yes. You're okay."

"How -?" She'd been about to ask how he found her, then remembered the phone call and Hope overhearing the background noise.

He leaned into her ear. "Count of three?" He pointed to a narrow dark strip behind the row of trailers.

He started counting. On three, she ran, with Karl behind her. She tried to glance back once, but he gave her a shove, hissing for her to keep going.

Finally they reached an exit marked Staff Only ma

The kid lowered his magazine. "Hey, are you -?"

"Staff."

Karl prodded her through. Again, she tried to slow, to talk, to turn and look at him, but he shoved her, even less gently this time, with a gruff "move."

Now she could see why the fair had been crammed into one end of the park. The other was hilly and wooded. When she squinted, she could make out a sign telling cyclists to stay off the footpath. That was where Karl took her, onto that path and into the woods.

They'd gone about fifteen feet when his steps slowed to a walk.

"This looks like a good place," he said. "Suitably nondescript. She won't find you here."

The voice, no longer distorted by whispering, was not Karl's.

Robyn turned. Behind her stood the young man she'd followed that afternoon. The one who'd attacked Karl.

FINN

If this partnership was going to work out, Fi

After Officer Kendall's body was removed, Damon had circled behind Fi

"So… a shoulder shot," Damon said – again – as Fi

"It's one of the safest places to be shot. The bullet usually passes through – "

"You said that. But this usually part. What if it doesn't pass through? Is it only safe if it does? Can something go wrong?"

"It's usually nonfatal – " Fi

Damon leaned over to check the speedometer, clearly no happier with what he saw there than he'd been with Fi

"She said she was okay," Fi

"Bobby would say that if she'd been run over by a truck and could still crawl from the scene. Did she sound -?" He broke off with a disgusted snort. "You wouldn't know."

He meant Fi

Explaining why he was proceeding cautiously would mean telling Damon what Peltier said, that her shooter was still hot on her trail. Whoever was following Peltier had already proven himself ready to kill her and anyone who got in his way. So Fi

Had Fi

And if he was worried about why the line disco

"Promise me you'll get her to a hospital?" Damon said.

"That would be standard procedure."

Damon watched the light pass, then looked back at Fi

"I'll tell her we can conduct the interview at the hospital."

"Good. Efficient. She'll like that."

Damon turned back to the window. Fi

It was different where Fi

Then Fi

To survive here, Fi

Now, riding with Damon, Fi

"Flashing lights ahead," Damon said. "Either that's the mother of all accidents or we've got ourselves a carnival."

Fi

"Something tells me I'm about to do a disappearing act." Damon's fingers silently drummed the armrest. "If I do, when you find her, don't tell – " He inhaled sharply.

"Don't tell her about you."

"Yeah."

Fi

"It wouldn't be right," Damon said finally. "She'll have a lot on her mind and that would just freak her out."

"I need her to trust me – and telling her I see ghosts, even yours, isn't going to help."

A tight laugh. "Yeah."

"Later, though, we could… figure something out."

Damon nodded. After a few seconds of silence he said, "Sure. If it works out. That would be good."

Five minutes later, Fi

"Maybe whatever power decided to let you help me is going to let you see her," Fi

"Or maybe it means she isn't here." Damon shook his head. "Damn, I'm a regular ray of sunshine tonight, aren't I?"

But as they walked to the midway, Damon's mood did grow su

"So where are you supposed to meet her?" Damon asked.

"Here."

"I meant where here."

"She didn't specify."

Damon stopped walking. Fi

"Either you think I'm a complete idiot or you're hoping I'm too worried to think straight. This is my wife we're talking about, Fi

Fi

"What?" Damon strode up beside him.