Chapter Fifteen

Both Steve and Pete dived to the side as the scythe came at them. "I don't suppose this is one of those holograms," Steve grunted.

"I don't think so," Pete replied from the other side of the room. "But if it's one of those advanced ones, it could be pretty dangerous."

"Not as much as a real person." Steve got to his feet, drawing his gun. "Alright, put that thing down," he ordered the Reaper.

Instead the Reaper turned to flee—and was promptly grabbed by Paul coming up from behind. "Okay, Pal," Paul frowned. "The jig's up."

Steve looked to his friend in surprise. "Paul! Do you know who this is?"

"I know who he probably wants us to think he is," Paul replied. The Reaper struggled in his grasp but suddenly cried out in pain. Paul took the opportunity to pull down the hood.

Pete's expression was blank, but Steve's eyes glittered in recognition. "So, we meet again," he said. "Mr. Gerard Comi of Trapezoid Solutions. I thought you were being watched."

"I found a way to elude your officers," Gerard said furiously.

"And you're wounded from where my bullet hit you!" Pete said. "That's why you gripped the scythe with just one hand. Normally it's held with both."

"It's also why he cried out in pain just now," Paul said. "He must have bumped the wound struggling so much." He kept a firm grasp on the angry man.

"Well, Mr. Comi, it gives me a great deal of pleasure to inform you that you're under arrest," Steve declared. He started to recite the Miranda Rights, but was cut off as Gerard spoke.

"You're making a mistake if you think you've got me," he snarled. "I'll give to you what I gave to your partner."

Steve's eyes flashed. "What did you do to Sergeant Brice?!"

Paul stiffened, seeing a fury there that Steve had only rarely unleashed in the past. It only tended to come out when a fellow officer or another close friend was harmed; usually Steve managed to keep his emotions in check at all other times. "Take it easy, Steve," he said in concern. "It's not going to help anything to blow your stack."

Gerard sneered. "In all honesty, he's probably dead. I left him on the floor, bleeding his guts out."

Steve clenched a hand into a fist and drew back, wanting with all his heart to belt the man. But then, fighting to get his feelings under control, he took a shaking breath. "If he's dead, you're very likely going to get the death penalty," he said in a low and deadly voice. He finished reciting the Miranda Rights and snapped on the handcuffs. "I'm going to call for a squad car to take you in."

Pete bit his lip, his heart going out to Steve. Silently he prayed that Gerard was lying or mistaken. "Paul, who was Gerard trying to make us think he was?" he asked.

"Another guest dressed as a Grim Reaper," Paul said. "I don't think I want this guy to know who it is yet, so I'll wait to tell you more. You haven't seen Perry, have you? He was with Sergeant Brice."

"We haven't seen him," Steve said, his voice pinched. "We've been under the school."

"Huh?" Paul blinked in bewilderment.

"There's a tunnel snaking under the building," Pete explained. "We came up through a trapdoor here in Dr. Stuart's office. One of Gerard's machines was set up close by; we could hear it down there."

"There's a hologram going up and down the corridor outside," Paul said. "The projector must be there."

"It must be," Pete agreed. "Well . . . after we send this creep packing, what are we going to do?"

"I'm going to try calling Perry right now," Paul said.

Pete nodded in approval. "That's a good idea. I tried before to call Perry and you, but our phones wouldn't work in that tunnel."

"We also need to find out what's happening back in the gymnasium," Steve said as he hung up the phone.

"They're probably evacuating," Paul realized. "Gerard was going to pump some kind of gas in there." He peered at him. "Is your cohort still going to go ahead with that?"

Sullen now, his eyes burning with hatred, Gerard glowered. "There was more than one cohort," he said. "Someone will go ahead with it."

Paul cringed. "Oh my gosh, Della!" Switching gears, he dialed Della's phone instead.

"You think Ellena would pump the gas?" Steve frowned.

"No, but I don't think we should take the chance," Paul retorted. "I don't trust that dame."

Della answered after only one ring. "Hello?!"

"Della, what's going on?" Paul demanded. "Is Dr. Stuart evacuating?"

"I don't know," Della answered, to Paul's horror. "I'm not with him."

"Della, for the love of Pete! Where are you?!" Paul cried.

"I went looking for everyone else!" Della retorted. "And it's a good thing I did; that horrible Gerard almost killed Perry!"

"What?! But he's alright, isn't he?" Paul gasped.

"I don't know!" Della fretted. "He left with Sergeant Brice."

Paul's stomach dropped. "Gerard's saying Sergeant Brice is probably dead. We've got him here."

"We?"

"I found Steve and Pete," Paul said with impatience.

"Well, Sergeant Brice is alright," Della told him. "Or he was when I saw him. He was wearing a bullet-resistant vest when Gerard shot him."

Steve's shoulders slumped in his relief. "Thank God."

Paul and Pete also relaxed immensely. "So what's going on now?" Paul asked.

"Well, the paramedics took Eliza away," Della reported. "Gerard shot her too. Now Ms. Gwynne and I are trying to get back to the gym. Or to Perry and Sergeant Brice. We're not sure where they were going."

"We're in Dr. Stuart's office," Paul said. "Do you know if you're near that?"

"I think we are," Della said hopefully.

"Great. So we'll meet up and go on from there. Meanwhile, I'll try calling Perry and Burger." Paul paused. "And watch out for wild holograms."

"We will!" Della assured him. "We've already seen two of them."

"Oh brother," Paul cringed. He hung up, praying that everyone would be alright.

xxxx

Aaron had decided they really couldn't afford to wait any longer. He was just gathering the staff together to give them instructions on the evacuation procedure when Hamilton's phone rang. "It's Paul," Hamilton announced. "Wait just a minute, Dr. Stuart. This might be important."

Aaron was agreeable to that. He waited tensely while Hamilton took the call. Upon seeing Hamilton look unsure of what to think as he hung up, Aaron impatiently exclaimed, "Well?! What is it?"

"I'm not sure," Hamilton said slowly. "The woman and the man are both no longer threats, but the man insists he has other people helping him. Paul wasn't sure if he just meant Ellena or not. He talked to Della and she seems to be alright."

"So what do we do?" Aaron demanded.

"I would say we'd better evacuate, just in case there is someone else," Hamilton said. "Paul told me that the Gerard character tried to impersonate a Grim Reaper. He doesn't know the other one is Wade, but he knew that casting suspicion on the other Reaper would help him. Maybe another cohort is right here at the ball."

"If they're already here, evacuating won't help," Aaron worried.

"I know," Hamilton said grimly. "If there was just a way to find out!"

Marian, who had been listening to the conversation, suddenly exclaimed, "How about a costume contest?"

Both Hamilton and Aaron turned to her in a bit of bewilderment. "A costume contest?" Hamilton looked incredulous.

Marian nodded. "We'll judge the best costumes in several categories and then everyone will have to unmask and show us who they are."

Aaron brightened. "That's a great idea! And it's a way to try to get to the bottom of this without creating more panic!"

Marian beamed, happy to have said something helpful. "I'll set it up right now," she said, hurrying to the front of the room and the microphone.

Aaron watched her fondly, then looked across the gym to study everyone's reactions to her announcement. "Keep watch on all the doors," he told Hamilton. "See if anyone tries to sneak out so they won't have to be unmasked."

"Right," Hamilton nodded. He caught sight of a Grim Reaper in the shadows near another door and had to hope that one was Wade.

Overall, there was nothing but enthusiasm for the costume contest. The students were still weirded out by the bizarre hologram that had pounded on the door and were eager to put their minds to something else. But as they crowded around and prepared to parade their costumes across the room, one person quietly separated from the crowd and began to melt into the shadows.

"Stop that witch!" Hamilton yelled to those closest, and immediately thought how strange that sounded out of context.

Gene Torg and Pearl Chute moved forward, grabbing hold of the woman by her arms. "Hey!" she snarled. "What is this? Let go of me!"

"We don't know what it is," Gene retorted.

"But I'm sure our district attorney will be happy to explain," Pearl added.

Gene frowned. "And hey, your voice sounds familiar." He reached out, removing the mask. "Jane Madsen! You showed me Tobin Wade's cabin!"

Hamilton and Aaron ran up just as Gene made his pronouncement. At the same moment, Perry and Brice entered through the door Jane had been about to leave through.

"Jane Madsen?!" Hamilton cried. "What in the name of . . ."

Perry didn't seem as surprised. "Hello, Carola."

Jane, or Carola, or whoever she was, looked at Perry with smoldering eyes. "How did you know?" she finally asked, grudgingly.

"I guessed," Perry said calmly. "I knew there was at least one sister of Eliza's mixed up in this mess—Carola. And I just saw Eliza less than fifteen minutes ago. You strikingly resemble her."

"You!" cried the Grim Reaper in the room as he made his way over to her. "If you're Jane and Carola both, then you're the one who's been making the cabin appear haunted. Why?!"

Carola looked to him with a start. "That voice. . . . But no . . . it can't be. . . ."

"It is." Tobin Wade removed the hood, glowering at Carola. "Nevermind how it is. Why have you been haunting my cabin?"

Carola looked away. "Just to further the plot," she muttered.

"But Ellena didn't know about that, did she?" Tobin prompted.

"No, she didn't. We kept her in the dark on a lot of things."

"What about the guy who died up there?" Gene cried indignantly. "I ended up suspected of killing him!"

"That was just a dumb accident," Carola scowled. "He was prowling up where he shouldn't have been and got scared out of his tree by the haunted stuff."

"But surely you must have known there was a chance of something like that happening," Brice frowned, "especially when the property was near a drop-off."

"It was still an accident," Carola muttered. "He wasn't supposed to die."

"What about everyone in the gymnasium?" Perry pressed. "Your friend Gerard planned to pipe gas in here. Lethal?"

Carola looked up with a start. "No!" she insisted. "It was just a harmless sleeping gas. Dr. Stuart was the only one here who was supposed to die, if anyone was."

"But why?" Aaron cried. "What could I have ever possibly done to you?"

"Nothing," Carola retorted. "It had nothing to do with revenge, or Wade, or anything like that. It was just a cover. I found out from someone I knew on the construction crew that there was oil under the property. We conspired to have it for ourselves after the project was finished."

"Oil?" Aaron echoed in amazed disbelief.

"And am I right in assuming that your inside man on the construction crew didn't live long enough to participate in this scheme?" Perry frowned, unfazed by the announcement.

"He's the idiot who gave the necklace to Torg," Carola grumbled.

"What?!" Gene yelped.

"Eliza hid some stolen jewelry in the school," Carola scowled. "Including the necklace."

The other missing groups were coming in just as she said this. "What?" Della exclaimed in shock. "Why?"

"Jane Madsen?!" Paul burst out, staring at the woman whom he had met twice in the past days.

Seeing Tobin, Janet went pale and stumbled, but didn't cry out. Della reached to steady her.

Carola looked to them and then back to Perry. "We knew Ellena was bound to that necklace," she said. "She'd tried possessing people before. Frankly, we didn't want her involved in things. She's too much of a party girl and doesn't take a lot of things seriously."

"She took her revenge on Dr. Stuart seriously," Della retorted. "Misguided though it was."

"Yeah, well, anyway. So Eliza hid the jewelry in the tunnel, in one of the secret compartments we'd prepared for the hologram projectors. Only that construction guy had to find it." Carola snarked, shaking her head. "He thought he'd hit the jackpot. He sold most of the jewelry, but he couldn't get rid of the necklace. People kept bringing it back claiming it was haunted. Then he found out for himself. Boy, he couldn't get rid of it soon enough."

"Is he still alive?" Gene asked warily.

"Sure," Carola shrugged. "But Gerard was going to kill him once he realized he wouldn't be a party to murder."

"He just wanted to scare Aaron Stuart off the property, I take it," Perry said.

"That's right. Only he wasn't scaring, so Gerard figured we'd have to take it to the next level." Carola looked to Della. "He also decided to kill you and have Ellena sealed away for good."

"That's terrible!" Della cried. "Ellena thought he was her friend." In her mind, she could feel Ellena's anger and rage. But even if Ellena was hoping to take control, Della's hold on her body was firm. Ellena could not take over.

Carola laughed. "Haven't you ever heard there's no honor among thieves?"

"That isn't always true," Steve grunted, "although it sure is in this case."

"Here's a question I have," Hamilton suddenly said. "How did Eliza Madsen get the necklace with Ellena in the first place? It was stolen on the night of her death!" His eyes widened. "Eliza didn't . . ."

"No," Carola quickly inserted. "None of us did. But the murderer, some two-bit thief, tried to pawn the necklace. Eliza recognized it from some pictures I had and bought it."

Della relaxed. "I'm glad to know that!"

"And I suppose the plan was either to frighten or kill Aaron Stuart, hoping that the school would fail and you could buy the property for far less than it's worth," Perry frowned.

"Something like that," Carola muttered.

"And I think everything is just about wrapped up, Lieutenant," Brice said, looking to him. "That is, if the holograms are stopped."

"Oh, he finally told us how to shut them off remotely," Steve said, eyeing Gerard. "That's done."

"Great," Brice said in relief.

"Although I'd still like to know if you knew about the trapdoor in your office, Dr. Stuart," Steve said, looking to a stunned Aaron.

"Why, no," Aaron gasped. "I had no idea."

"Neither of us did," Marian said firmly, taking Aaron's uninjured arm.

"Alright, I believe you," Steve said in resignation.

"And now we also finally know that Mr. Selkirk's death was an accident," said Brice.

Steve nodded, pleased that the information had been obtained. "Maybe so, but these people will still have to stand trial for it, since it happened directly because of something they were doing to hurt someone else." He was still firmly holding onto Gerard, who gave him a frothing look in response.

"And using my property to do it," Tobin said in disgust as he came forward.

That was the one thing Gerard had not expected. "You . . . what . . . Wade?!" He went sheet-white. "You were that pesky Grim Reaper?"

"That's right," Tobin said, "and judging from your appearance, you decided to try to frame me for some other crime of yours."

"But how?!" Gerard wailed.

"Actually," Tobin said with a bit of a smirk, "I've been right under your nose the whole time. I'm David Solomon."

Gerard gave a disbelieving, furious cry that choked in his throat.

Steve shook his head. "This is a new one on me, too," he said. "It explains a lot of things. Paul, you were really holding back a whopper of an announcement."

Paul shrugged. "Sorry, Steve, but I didn't think this character should know about it too soon."

"You made the right decision," Steve assured him. "And the squad car should be here by now. They were going to pull up outside that door." He nodded to the one on the opposite wall. "I'll just cut through here with him."

"And I'll come with you, Lieutenant, as soon as I read Ms. Madsen her rights," Brice said.

Steve looked back. "Good. Oh, and Sergeant . . ." He smiled. "I'm glad you're alright."

Brice smiled too. "So am I," he declared.

"We all are," Della said fondly. But then she paused, hearing Ellena's voice in her head.

"Della . . . will you let me have control for just one little moment more? I . . . I want to talk to Tobin."

Della froze. If she mentioned that to Perry or any of the others, they would most vehemently protest, and she couldn't blame them. After everything Ellena had done, was it really safe to give in?

She bit her lip. Everything Ellena had done had been because of her feelings for Tobin. Knowing that he was alive had changed her entire perspective.

"Alright," she said quietly, relaxing the mental barrier she had set up. "One moment."

Hamilton stiffened as he saw Della's eyes shift to green. "Perry," he started to say in alarm.

Ellena walked up to Tobin before Perry could respond or react. "Tobin . . . I . . . I'm glad you're alive." She smiled, genuinely happy for him, but sad for herself.

Tobin knew in an instant that she had assumed control. "I am too, but I'm sorry you're not," he said quietly.

Ellena nodded. "I could stay on, like this. . . . I've done it for years. It's how I heard about your death in the first place. . . . I was already dead by then." She looked down. "But . . . it's kind of a pointless way to go on. And it messes up what other people want. I . . . I don't want to do that to Della anymore, or to anyone else. I think now, I . . . I'm ready to move on."

Tobin laid a hand on her shoulder. "I'm glad," he said.

"But I expect I'll come back to visit now and then," Ellena said. "If that will be allowed."

Tobin smiled sadly. "I think it might be."

"Well . . . okay then." Ellena slowly drew him into a hug. "Goodbye, Tobin."

Tobin swiftly returned it. "Goodbye, Ellena."

"Goodbye, Della," Della heard in her mind just before control of her body was given back to her again.

"Della?" Perry said urgently.

She turned to look at him. "It's me, Perry," she smiled. "I'm alright. Ellena asked me if she could say goodbye to Mr. Wade and I said she could."

Perry shook his head. "After everything she did, you trusted that she wouldn't lie to you again?"

"Yes, I did," Della said quietly. "And she came through." She paused. "I'm relieved that it's over, and I certainly would never want to share my body with her or any other spirit, but . . . I still feel kind of sad at how she left."

"I'm sure Ellena will be able to move on now," Tobin told her. "And hopefully she'll find happiness now."

"I hope so," Della said sincerely. "And what are you going to do, Mr. Wade?"

Tobin turned to look around. Long ago, the majority of the partygoers had tuned in to the heated conversation near the door, realizing it was the most entertaining thing at the moment. Most of them didn't know who he was, but the staff from the old Manzana Valley Prep School definitely did. Gasps of shock and disbelief went up.

Janet just shook her head. "Miss Street told me about you while we were wandering around," she finally said, "but it's still hard to believe."

"I know," Tobin replied. "Sometimes it's still hard for me to believe."

Aaron hesitated. "Are you going back to that car shop?"

"That's where I've made a life for myself now," Tobin said. "I owe it to Amos to go back . . . as long as the danger's past. I'll probably stick around here for the rest of the evening to make sure."

Aaron shifted. "Thank you, Tobin, for everything you've done. You put yourself at a great risk to help us."

"And in the past I put my friendships at great risk and let them be decimated," Tobin said in disgust. "That can never be forgiven."

Marian hesitated, but then laid a hand on Tobin's arm. "You are our friend from before," she said softly. "You came back. No, that doesn't take away the more recent past, but it certainly softens it, at least for me."

Tobin looked at her in surprise and a bit of longing. "Sadder and wiser, but yes, I am your friend again. Thank you, for saying that." He wanted the forgiveness for which he would never ask. But he gave a wan smile and turned away, again pulling up the hood.

Della stepped back near Perry. "I never thought I'd say this about a man who did the horrible things Tobin Wade did, but I feel kind of sorry for him now," she said quietly. "Maybe he deserves to be alone after he turned against his friends out of greed, but still, when he's trying to do the right thing now, I rather wish that he could have another chance at those friendships."

Perry smiled, bringing an arm around Della's shoulders. "Don't count the Stuarts out just yet," he said. "I think they'll come around to that way of thinking. Tobin Wade is definitely not the man he was when he betrayed them. They can see that. And even though they need a little time to get used to the idea, they miss their friend as much as he misses them." He paused. "As for myself, I'm grateful to have my friend back."

Della smiled too. "That makes two of us," she declared.