Part 11
Mara just stood in front of Didi waiting for a reply to her answer. Didi...the personification of Death. Not what she was expecting. She suspected someone or something looking quite more...darker. Despite her dark clothing, Death was very bright and lively.
Mara nudged, "All right, how do we start this?"
Didi...Death smiled. "Do you know how one begins a long journey?" Mara shook her head. Didi went to the mirror and faced it. Very closely. Her next move was one Mara would have never expected.
Didi stepped forward to literally go through the mirror's surface to come out on the other side. Didi's physical self that had been standing next to Mara a few seconds before was now non-existent.
After Mara let out a surprising gasp, Didi turned back at her from inside the mirror and answered her own question. "With a first step."
"How...how did you do that?"
"If you want to find out, then try it yourself." She motioned with her hand and cheerily beckoned, "Come on in, the water's fine."
Mara hesitantly approached the mirror. She slowly lifted her leg to the surface and she was caught off guard when it did not stop. Her leg entered into the mirror. She forced herself forward and Mary's whole body followed. There was no tingling sensation as she entered. It was as if the mirror was just another doorway. She came through to the other side and Didi stood there waiting.
"Well, now wasn't that fun?" she brightened.
Mara looked back at the mirror they just entered through and saw that she was herself again. She looked down at her body. Her black one-piece jumpsuit. Her blaster at her side. Her lightsaber. She grabbed a lock of her own hair. Her red-gold hair. Mary Jane Skyler was gone. She was Mara Jade again. She absently replied, "A blast. What in kriffing Hell was that?"
Didi chuckled. "I just love that curse word. And you, Mara, are inside my realm–the Sunless Lands. Basically, anything can happen here with an individual's imagination. Call it a transitional stage before I send someone off on their next journey. You can visit virtually any plane of existence in here."
"How many are there?"
"Oh my...well, how many choices do you think you made during your lifetime? Roughly."
"I don't know. Thousands. Hundreds of thousands."
"Take all of those decisions and imagine if you chose differently on each one. Each individual choice creates a new plane of existence. In theory, the amount of different planes are endless. I could show you most of them here but it would take a few lifetimes to see them all. I just wanted to show you some things in your own time-line"
Mara gestured to their new surroundings. "This is my time-line? There are others of mine?"
"Oh yes. You'd be surprised at how many choices you did make, Mara. For instance, I could show you one where you did manage to kill Luke on that desert planet–oh, I'm so terrible with the names of your planets. There's so many."
"Tatooine," Mara said blankly.
"That's it. Oh, there's another where you and Luke marry much earlier and you had a daughter before you had Ben."
"A daughter? I have a daughter?"
"Not you. The Mara in that alternate plane does. Think of it as a parallel universe."
Mara asked gently, "Do you know what I named her?"
Didi smiled but was hesitant. "Oh, why not? You won't remember all of this. Her name is Emeilia. Named after her grandmother."
"Grandmother? But, Luke's mother was named Padmé."
"Not Luke's mother."
"Mine?"
"Yep. That Mara knew her mother. In fact, a little too well. She had to live with her and Luke for a spell. Trust me, that Luke had his hands full with three Jade women in one household."
"Oh...wow. This is all too much."
"I know. I shouldn't have told you. I'm sorry. But, now...do you recognize where you are?"
Mara looked around and saw a desk and several books on shelves. She spotted something on the desk. A holographic picture of herself, an eight-year-old Ben, and her husband. "Oh my stars, this is our study room." She looked back at Didi. "We're in our apartment on Coruscant."
"Voila," Didi announced as she spread her arms out as if presenting the room as a gift. She then added with a smirk, "And they say you can never go back home."
"Is...is he here?"
Didi put her arms down and said seriously, "Now, Mara, don't get all–"
It was too late. The sound of the front door slid open and Mara already knew who would be coming through it even before she took off running into the hallway.
"...excited," Didi finished. She said softly to herself, "Wait. Stop Mara. Come back. Eh, what's the use?" She then followed Mara into the hallway.
When Mara reached the main area, her anticipation was correct and there standing near the kitchen reading a piece of flimsi was Luke Skywalker.
"Luke!" Mara cried out, and she ran to him. Luke put down the flimsi on the counter and turned in her direction. They came forward toward each other. Mara could already feel the pure joy it would be to have him in her arms again. They closed the gap between them and she raised her arms to him.
As they came close to touching–he passed through her as if she were a ghost.
Mara had not expected to not touch him and her balance was thrown off and she tripped to land on the Seaaria carpet. Embarrassment notwithstanding, she managed to pull herself up with her arms but she still stayed on the floor. She looked over at a spot on the carpet that was pinkish-red. That was where Ben had spilled a glass of Juri juice years ago and they never had the time to clean it properly or replace it. Too many battles.
Didi came up to her and stood almost in judgement. "I was going to tell you that you can't touch him. For all intents and purposes, you don't exist on this plane."
Mara picked herself up and snapped, "You could have told me."
Didi replied as sternly, "You could have given me enough time to tell you. And not to make light of the situation, missy, but I am the very last being you want to sport an attitude with."
"Are you always this threatening, or is it just me?"
Didi answered lightening quick, "No, it's you. Your defenses are in place. Always the same. You put up your defenses when you don't need to and you let them down when it's required."
"Can you blame me? Do you know what kind of torture it is for me to finally see my husband and not touch him? I can't even feel him in the Force."
"There's no Force in my realm. And you're a couple million light years away to feel him."
"Can this get any worse?"
"You can see what Luke is doing in your bedroom."
Mara crinkled her forehead at her for a moment before she headed to the master bedroom. She noted that even in the act of walking that this was her body walking, not Mary Jane's.
She entered the bedroom and a flood of memories poured in. Didi followed but kept to standing by the open door. Mara edged closer to Luke.
He was sitting on the end of their bed and his blank stare was focused on the opposing wall. Mara came around to kneel before him in what looked like to her as an awkward worship motion to her Almighty Luke. She called out to Didi, "I take it he can't hear us either."
"Despite of him being in front of you, you are in two separate worlds."
Mara kept staring at him with a regretful longing. "As long as I can see him, it doesn't matter." She kept on staring. She did not merely look. She studied. She memorized. Who knew when she would be able to see him again? She quietly remarked, "I almost forgot how blue his eyes are. And there's that scar on his cheek courtesy of Shimrra's amphistaff."
She paused as she felt that pressure in her eyes once again. This time she controlled them back.
She had to speak to him. "Luke...I know you cannot hear me. I still wanted to say this for the both of us. I am so sorry. I'm sorry I had to leave you. Once again, my anger and arrogance brought out the worst of me. The worst of the Emperor's Hand. This time, I paid the price. You and Ben paid a higher price." She took a breath and uttered, "If I could do anything different..." she trailed off, not ready to finish that sentence yet.
Suddenly, it was Luke who spoke gently next. At first, she thought somehow he could hear her. Once he spoke, she knew it was not she whom he addressed specifically. It was another Mara Jade. The one who was not living.
"Mara. Why didn't you tell me? What hadn't you awoke me that night? We agreed we would face Jacen together, as one. Remember Nirauan? Stronger together than each separate? Didn't you realize...you are never going to be the Emperor's Hand again. You are now and always will ever be...a Skywalker." He paused at his own silence and began again. "But, I know you. I know how you are. I know what you were thinking. You were thinking like an assassin, not a mother or a wife." He took a breath himself. "Despite your choices that led you to your fate, I will never be mad at you."
And there it was. She needed this. She needed to hear this from him. This was closure. She knew her mistakes as well as Luke had known them. The difference now was that she could forgive herself for them. Just as he had.
He suddenly stood and went to their dresser. A holograph frame showed an image of the two of them on their wedding day. Luke gently took the frame in hand and turned it backwards. From out of the backing, he pulled out a small folded piece of flimsi hidden underneath. He took the flimsi with his right hand while placing the frame back with his left.
He then used both hands to unfold the flimsi.
Mara stood behind him to see what it was. After just a few opened folds, she immediately recognized her own handwriting.
Gone hunting. Don't be mad at me, farmboy.
This was the first time she had seen it since she wrote it. She winced at how cold the note had been. Why hadn't she seen it then? Why had she not woke Luke up? Why had she not told him? What was she afraid of?
The note had been crumpled at one time. More likely a few seconds after his first reading of it. She could never imagine his feeling after he realized these would be her last words to him. She noticed it had been handled with extreme care since...since. It had been protected by a laminate gel. If she knew how sentimental Luke was, she would know he would have gone the extra meter and added a strong laminate that would prevent the piece from burning.
She heard him mutter as he caressed the flimsi, "I will never be mad at you, Mara. All that I ask of you is to return to the Force. Like Ben did." He started to grimace and it pained her to see it again. "Kenobi, not our son."
She rolled her eyes. "I knew who you meant, farmboy."
He went on to whisper, "To hear your voice again...even if it's one of our infamous discussions...," he trailed off.
She watched him wallow in his pain. She decided she had enough.
"Didi, why did you bring me here?"
She answered from behind her, "Closure."
"This may be the last time I see him, isn't it?"
"Oh, I wouldn't say that."
Mara turned away from Luke to face Didi. To face Death, literally. "Why? What do you know that you're not telling me?"
Didi smirked and stated, "Many choices. Different results."
"Did I mention how I just love that cryptic manner of yours?"
"And I just looove sarcasm. Ready to move on?" Didi watched her look back at Luke and said, "I know you would like nothing more than to stay here with him. And why not; he's quite the catch."
"That he is. But, I know it would be empty. I'd much rather him see me, touch me, and speak to me."
"There is a way, Mara. First I need to show you something else."
"Where are we going now?"
"Back to the scene of the crime."
Before Mara could reply, the entire scene changed. The apartment with Luke in it dissolved downward as if washed away by a hard rain. Underneath the facade of the apartment and into another plane of existence was...rock.
Or rather a rocky surface. Mara looked around and saw that they were now inside a dimly lit cave. At one end there was a passage that had been recently blocked by rocky debris. And the smell.
The smell.
Mara would forever remember that acidic scent of moist shale. It was the very last thing her olfactory senses would detect. She turned quickly to the opposite side where the light source had been coming from the only entrance. And she saw.
Scene of the crime, indeed.
Laying not four meters away in an almost peaceful state...was herself. Dead. She edged closer seeing the surreal image of herself in Death's shroud. Or Didi's? There was someone bent over her and holding her hand. Even in the dimly lit cave she could make out the red-blonde hair.
"Ben?" she shrieked. "How did you get here so fast?"
"He didn't, Mara," Didi said from behind her. "He was already in the area."
"No. He was on Coruscant. The transponder in his vibroblade said he was still on Coruscant."
"The blade was there," Didi calmly answered. "Ben had forgotten it."
Mara silently cursed. "I should have hidden it in his lightsaber. What is he doing here anyway?"
"He came for you. Either to stop you or help you. See, there's the perfect example. It's not just our choices that create each different scenario. Sometimes it's the little things that happen or not happen that can make a small event into a catastrophic one. Imagine if Ben had not forgotten the blade. You would have known he was in the area. Then you would have been forced to make a choice. Keep on hunting, or protect Ben."
"That would not have been a hard one. If I had gone off to protect him instead of...we wouldn't be standing here, would be?"
"Yes and no. No, we are standing here right now in this scenario. And yes, there is another realm where you do go off and protect him."
"And I live."
"You didn't in this one. See, this is the point when I waited for you. You didn't show. You didn't meld like most of your kind. At first I thought it had to do with your son protecting you. Then I figured it was you. You made your choice and the Universe stepped in to take over and plopped you into poor Mary Jane on Earth."
"Wait a moment," Mara cried. "This was, what, a few hours after I died? When we were with Luke before, that had to have been a few weeks after. Luke couldn't have gotten that note laminated in that short time. That would have to be ordered. How did we jump from the future to the past?"
Didi sighed. "You think too linear, Mara. Just like all humans. Time isn't flat on a ruler with a definite beginning and end. Think of time as an ever revolving cycle." She took her forefinger in mid-air as if she were about to draw on a blackboard. "It cycles around, overlaps at one point, comes around on the other side, and repeats. Over and over." In the air, she drew a bright yellow symbol that looked like a sideways figure eight. Infinity. She continued to explain as the symbol dissolved. "Past, present, future; three terms that all define Time as one."
Mara got the point and she watched as her son lovingly hold her dead hand as if to caress her back to life. Her mind wandered. "When you say 'our kind', I assume you mean Jedi. What makes us so different from others you...greet at the end?"
Didi found a rock outcropping that she climbed up on and sat. She twirled her umbrella in the air. "Your Force. Haven't you ever wondered why your galaxy is blessed with it and Earth is not?"
"I never really thought about it in scientific terms. Is there a physical reason how the Force exists?"
"Isn't there always one? It's simple if you think about it. How many suns does Earth have?"
"Well...one."
"And how many does your galaxy have?"
"Oh, wow, countless. Too many to mention. Some systems have more than one sun."
"Exactly. The Earth's sun is in the center of its solar system, so it has more control over gravity. Whereas your galaxy has too many suns in several solar systems that cannot be in the center. Your galaxy was given a special manner to control its gravity. The unique solution was an energy field that–"
"–binds us and penetrates us and is present in all living things," Mara finished.
"Correctamundo! And by happenstance, there evolved a select few of living beings who could tap into that energy and use its power."
"Preferably, for good."
"Eh, that's a misconception. Another human devised concept. Good and evil? Two sides of the same coin. If a Dark user, as you call them, uses the Force, does that mean a Light side user uses a different Force? They're both tapping into the same energy field. The question becomes what their motive is, not their means of carrying it out."
"Ironically, that was what Jacen was trying to get across after he came back from the Vong all those years."
"Speaking of which, that reminds me of what I wanted to show you."
"What?"
"Hold your horses. It's coming. In five, four, three, two, one...Taa Daaa!"
Immediately after she said this, whom should enter the cave but Jacen Solo himself.
Mara flashed her green eyes to burn at him and she snapped, "What is he doing back here?"
Jacen came from behind Ben and her son dropped her dead hand to stand up and greet him. Their mouths moved with words but there was no sound produced.
Mara noted, "I can't hear them."
Didi replied, "Is there a need to?"
After a few moments of no action, Mara was reaching frustration. "I can't hear them," she exclaimed.
"Wait for it," Didi suggested calmly.
The next moment Jacen raised his hand to Ben in a gesture of affection for losing his mother. She noticed her son's body language. It was way too calm. How could he be calm. Son, my murderer is standing in front of you!
Ben doesn't know. Or Jacen isn't allowing him to know.
She edged closer to the Sith-wanna-be and noticed right off that he cleaned up well. The cuts and bruises she handed him were still there, but hidden well. In this dim light, Ben would not have noticed.
She couldn't help but speak to her son. "How can you not see through him, Ben? How can you not tell he was directly involved? He is pretending. You know this. We discussed this together." Yet, to Ben's credit, he denied Jacen's hand. Maybe he suspects. And not showing that he does. Never reveal to your enemy how much you know about them and play along until the time is right to not play along. That's my boy, she proudly acknowledged. A chip off the old Jade.
She watched Jacen carefully and paid attention to his words. She had, at one time, the skill of lip reading. Since she excelled in the Force over the years, that skill started to fade. Luckily, Jacen said his next phrase with slow emphasis.
We will find who did this to your mother.
She felt her blood drain right there.
The next words were obviously his instructions to Ben to get back to a ship and prepare to leave. Apparently, Jacen told him he would take care of the body. After Ben turned back to steal one last look at his dead mother, he walked off to the entrance. Once he was out of sight, she saw a slight smirk on Jacen as he looked down at her body.
At that point, Mara Jade's anger raised to a frenzy.
"You monster! You are no longer a Solo, Jacen! You are not going to be Sith!" She yelled at him not caring if he couldn't hear her. She raised her fists and swung at his cheek but they passed right through the image. "Always two there are, Palpatine kept telling me. Only two. Who's going to be your second? You are not going to have my Ben! Who, Jacen? Lumiya? Alema Rar? Both of them are broken down already. How long will they last? And Tarkin's Ghost, why hadn't I screamed this to you while we were fighting? Damn you to kriffing Hell, you Sith-in-training!"
Didi called from her rocky perch, "You done yet? I wanted to tell you a few things if you are. First, he has a new name now. Something...Caedus. There's something else in front of it that I can't remember. Probably a title."
Mara closed her eyes and supplied with, "Darth. It's a Sith title." She opened her eyes and repeated, "Darth Caedus? That's not exactly going to strike fear into people's hearts, Jacen. Though, you've already pulled a few hearts out with your act here. Including mine."
"Done now?"
"What, Didi?"
"That Lumiya you mentioned. She's dead too."
Mara quickly turned away from Jacen as he was beginning to pick up her body. She looked at Didi, shocked. "How did she die?"
"Beheaded by your husband. Right after she claimed to be your murderer.
"No. Luke, no. Why would he do that?"
Didi merely glanced at the body that Jacen slung over his shoulder. She was being carried by her own murderer. Was her husband also a murderer through revenge?
"No, Luke. You can't go down that path again. Not even for the loss of me." The burden was too much for her to bear and she fell to her knees and sobbed. "Oh, sithspawn, what have I done?"
Didi jumped off her rock and went over to Mara. "You got it out of your system? I needed you to see this, Mara. It tells you that your world needs you. There is but one obstacle."
Mara looked up from her tear-stained face and cried out, "What obstacle could be worse than death?"
"See, there you go. I am not your enemy, Mara. I am your dearest friend. I love you as I love all living beings. It doesn't matter if they're evil or good. In the end, Lumiya had the same thing that you got. A lifetime.
"Now, as I was saying, there is a way over this obstacle. You cannot have your physical self back in this time line, but you live in a galaxy where that doesn't matter. You don't realize how lucky you are."
Mara sniffed away and wiped excess tears and asked, "What is the obstacle?"
"Smart gal like you haven't figured it out, yet? Well, it just so happens that is our next stop."
In the time of a blink, the scene immediately changed as if it were a light switch. And the switch turned out all the lights. They were plunged into total darkness. Mara could not see anything in front of her.
"Uh...Didi...er, Death?"
"Hey, only my siblings can call me that. God knows they call me other things behind my back." Didi's voice called out from the black somewhere near.
"Do they call you in the middle of total darkness?"
"Sometimes. I assume you would like some light."
"If it's not too much trouble."
"Ok, one spot of light to go, please."
Instantly, a spotlight with no apparent source shown only on the two of them. Outside of the light the blackness stayed. Mara looked at Didi and she looked even more pale against the black background.
Didi chimed, "Anyone for a Bud-Lite, now?"
"A what?"
"Never mind. Earth joke."
"Where are we?"
"Uh...the Sunless Lands...my realm. I thought I told you."
"But, we were in our apartment on Coruscant and then Kavan, and now...here."
"My dear, they are all the same place. We never left the Sunless Lands. We've only visited projections of those places." She spread her arms out while she announced, "This is what my place looks like in its natural form." She put her arms down and looked around and said, "You know, I really should get a maid in here once in a while."
"What did you want to show me in here?"
"Well, I was hoping to find her."
"Her?"
"Yeah, see this is what people see in between Life and their path to their journey afterward. When they aren't quite dead, but hovering above it. They see nothing. Limbo. Or as a future Captain in another 'Verse will so eloquently put it, they're at the corner of No and Where."
"Limbo, huh? Like say people in a coma?"
"There's the Mara I know and love! Bingo. Now, we just have to find her." Didi put her hands above her brow as if to shade a non-existent sun from her eyes. Then she started singing.
"Oh, where, oh where has our Mary Jane gone? Oh, where oh where can she be?"
Mara chuckled at Didi's way of breaking her tension and she herself looked around. In the black. She had no clue as to how she could find someone in this. Though many worlds had a variation of the old proverb that even the faintest light will shine brightly in darkness. At a quarter of a turn, Mara saw it. A faint light.
"Would that be her?"
"Well, hogtie my hooters, Mara. You found her. I knew you of all people could do it."
As they stepped forward the light came nearer. Mara could not feel anything under her feet as she stepped. It was like walking on a very dense cloud.
She remarked with amusement, "People tell you that when you die you will see a light that you must follow. I am doing that now, literally."
"With reflection like that, you will do well, Mara."
"In life? A little too late for that."
"No. In the state of being, there is no Life or Death. There just...is." corrected Didi.
Mara could think of no reply as they came up to the spotlight of another being.
Mary Jane Skyler sat with her knees folded against her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. She kept to a blank stare ahead of her in an aimless focus. She did not acknowledge the two of them approaching her. Her long black hair fell against her back in scraggly clumps. The only action her body performed was the act of blinking.
"My stars," Mara cried. "Has she been like this since I woke up?"
"Try an Earth year ago."
"Why is she like this?"
"Simple. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt."
Mara looked at Didi with confusion. "Where?"
"Oh, sorry, love...another Earth joke."
"Don't you know any jokes from other planets? Like say Hoth. We had plenty of jokes for that place."
"Hmm...why did the Wampa cross the road?"
Mara answered lightening quick, "If it's a one-armed Wampa, it would be to get revenge on my husband."
Didi laughed. "See, who needs jokes from me when I have you?" She reached over and lightly pinched Mara's cheek.
Mara squirmed away from Didi's...Death's touch and stated, "Can we get to the problem at hand, please?"
"Yes, sir! The problem at hand is before you. Mary is stuck here by her own will. I can't get her to leave. I've tried entering her mind, and as you can see, there is nothing in it right now. What we need is some trigger for her to open up."
Mara waved a hand in front of Mary's eyes.
"Already tried that," Didi supplied. "I've run out of ideas. And apparently, the Grand Universe figured you would have the answer by placing your free spirit inside her mind."
"Well, Steve Markham was right about one thing. She's hiding from herself. At least, he managed to wake her a bit. So, the Universe put me in Mary to help her out of her trance? How do I go about doing that?"
"By doing what you do best. In so doing, when Mary frees herself, you will be given a second chance to choose again."
"Meaning I can go back to my galaxy to be one with the Force if I can wake her up?"
"Not just wake her. For all we know, she could wake up and not remember who she is or what happened to her. She could start talking to you through her mind. And she could never wake up at all."
"And if that happens, I get to live out my second life as Mary. What a reward for a good deed after I die."
Didi voiced her assurance in a soothing tone. "You have already performed good deeds, Mara. Don't see this as a reward. Look at this as an opportunity. If there is one lesson I learned from humans, it's their enormous desire to be needed. And you are very needed, Mara. In two galaxies. Now, who in history can say that?"
"How would I even start?"
"Your instincts are pretty stable. Just think about it."
"You sound like you're leaving."
"Well, I do have a job, Mara. I showed you what I needed for you to see and explained what you wanted. And, more importantly, I came to show you that you will never be alone. You will be with your Luke and your Ben again."
"Will I ever see you again?"
"Oh, someday. Remember, I am everywhere."
"And nowhere."
"Boy, you learn quick. Mara Jade, it's been a slice."
"Thank you, Didi."
"The pleasure has been all mine. I don't know if you realize this or not, but you have led four different phases in your life. Emperor's Hand. Smuggler. Jedi. Wife and mother should count as one. That's more lives than most people live in a quarter of a lifetime. There is a fifth waiting for you."
Mara smirked and replied, "Just so it's a fifth of that Jack Daniels."
"There's that quick wit that even I can't keep up with. Toodles, Mara." Didi backed away from the light and just about disappeared into the blackness.
Mara exclaimed a sudden thought. "How am I getting back?"
Didi's voice echoed through the dark, "You're already there, Mara. But, mind your landing."
"My– " In a flash, Mara was no longer in darkness. Light emitted from everywhere at once. She felt as if she were in the air, wind blowing through her hair. With a sudden thud, she came in contact with hard ground. The impact made her shriek with pain in her side as she now lay in a patch of grass. Once she caught her breath, she finished her sentence. "–landing. Ouch."
"Mara," a voice called to her.
"Didi?"
"Didi?" a sweetened voice questioned. "Oh no, you're not someone else now, are you?"
Mara opened her eyes to the Alabama sun. Mary's brown eyes. She sat up with Mary's back with Mary's arms. She looked over at the woman nearby. "Emma. No, I'm still Mara. With Mary Jane somewhere underneath."
"Who is Didi?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Let's just say she's someone I don't want to see anytime soon, but will be glad she's my friend when I do."
Emma stared at her for a moment before remarking, "Are you always this cryptic?"
Mara began the task of lifting herself up. She did a double take as she saw Mary's black hair tangled on her Grateful Dead shirt. She replied to Emma, "Trust me, Emma, I'm not as cryptic as some." She stood and saw that she was standing in direct line of the swing that she had been sitting in before Didi made her entrance. The swing was still in the back and forth motion from its momentum. "What happened?"
Emma smiled sweetly. Mara did miss that smile. "Well, hon, it looks like you were trying to recapture your youth and jumped out of the swing like a ten-year-old. I just went to do some errands and one of them was the Post Office and I forgot my letters. I had to turn around and come back for them. I passed Luke and Ben in that rust bucket of his."
"Huh? Luke and Ben? Oh...them. Wait, they just left? How long was I out here?"
"I'd say not too long. The swing is still moving."
Mara looked impressed. "Nice deduction, Emma."
"Since you are traveling down Childhood Lane, how about some hot chocolate?"
Mara grimaced. Luke's favorite drink. She considered and thought of another drink.
"How about a Dr. Pepper? I hear they're refreshing. And cold."
"Yeah, can't say I blame you. A little too hot for hot chocolate. C'mon inside, I'll fix you up."
The both of them walked to the sliding doors of the patio and inside the house to the kitchen. Mara sat down at the bar while Emma opened up the refrigerator.
Emma looked inside. "Hmm...did you have a Dr. Pepper earlier? No, you wouldn't have had time. Must have been Ben who took one. It couldn't have been Luke."
Mara thought innocently of the Dr. Pepper consumed by Didi. She went with Emma's assumption. "Luke doesn't like Dr. Pepper?"
"Oh no. Zero alcohol." She opened one for Mara and then one for herself. She asked Mara as she sipped, "So, how was Dr. Markham?"
"Let's just say this Dr. I'm drinking now is more enlightening."
Emma laughed. "I can't say that I'm surprised. I was always wondering about that strange man."
"Wonder no more."
"He seemed to be on the other side of stable."
Something suddenly clicked in Mara's memory.
Your instincts are pretty stable.
Stable. Upon sudden realization, Mara absently cried out, "Didi, you sneaky girl!"
"Ok, Mara, that's the second time you mentioned Didi. Were we pretty, uh, straight as an arrow in your other world?"
Mara almost spilled her drink over. "Oh my stars, no, Emma. No, Didi was just in a dream I had while I was on the swing."
"Must not have been a long dream."
"Oh, it felt longer than it seemed. She was trying to tell me something in a hint."
"What kind of hint?"
Mara paused and shifted gears by asking Emma, "Was there an official police report on Mary Jane's accident?"
Taken back a bit by the sudden question, she had to think to answer, "Yes, there was. It was only a formality. It was open and shut. The horse was the only evidence they needed."
"Evidence can lie, Emma."
Emma set down her drink and asked seriously, "What are you saying, Mara?"
"I believe something else happened in that stable. I think someone else was there with Mary before Deke found her."
Emma started to become frantic. "Well, who would that have been?"
"I don't know."
"Who would have hit her besides the horse? No one else was near her."
"How do you know?"
"I don't know. The police didn't find anything."
"How deep did they look?"
"They didn't have to look deep. The answer was right there."
"Sometimes things aren't as clear as they seem."
"Mara, what is making you say these things?"
"As much as I hate to admit it, Dr. Markham did reach to Mary for a few moments. I was witness in her own mind. She was yelling for someone to not touch her."
"Maybe she was talking to the horse?" After Mara gave her a What-Are-You-Thinking look, Emma said, "Well, I don't know. How are you going to prove all this?"
Mara stated with her old confidence returning like an old friend, "By doing what I do best. Investigate."
THE END OF CHAPTER ONE OF TWO.
Mara Jade will return as Mary in THE CASE OF MARY JANE SKYLER.
COMING SOON!
