The Seeker: Dreamer Part 6

"Well, I feel like I've heard her name before. I mean, before they found her body. It's bugging me, that's all. It's stupid."

He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. I loved when he did that. "Just a feeling you get? Right?" I nodded. "Sweetheart, I've learned to never ignore those feelings you get. You are psychic, babe. You should probably pay attention to this."

I gave him a half smile and nodded. We went back to watching the news. During the sports report I decided to ask him more about his dad. "Jack, are you going to see him again? I mean, to really talk to him?"

He exhaled loudly. "I don't know. I don't want to. I don't want anything to do with him, but he is Megan's father. I need to figure out if he's sincere about being a part of her life. I don't want her to have to go through any more pain."

"Like you did?"

He pulled me closer. "Yeah. G.o.d, Ally. I don't know if I can forgive him. I'm so f.u.c.king mad at him."

I sat up and kissed him. "I love you. And I'm here for you, okay?"

"I know."

The car slowed and came to a halt on what sounded and felt like a dirt road. I had been bounced around in the back for at least fifteen minutes, but it was impossible to tell how long we had traveled before I woke up. I was more terrified than I had ever been in my entire life and my heart was pounding out of my chest. I heard the driver get out and then the back pa.s.senger door opened. I was grabbed by my hair and my neck and pulled violently out of the car. I tried to scream around the duct tape. "Shut up, b.i.t.c.h, or I will kill you." The voice was gravelly and low. I was nearly certain he was going to kill me anyway, so I kept trying to scream. I collapsed onto the dirt, but he yanked me up painfully and turned me around to face him. I didn't recognize his face, but I did recognize the face reflected back at me in his sungla.s.ses. It wasn't my face. The blonde girl in the reflection met my eyes. It was the girl from the news, Ashley Hayes. "Help me, Ally!" she screamed in my head.

I woke up with a gasp, sitting up in bed, my heart pounding. I reached to turn on my bedside lamp, fumbling in my haste and knocking over the stack of books on my nightstand. I managed to get the light on and sat there, breathing hard and trying to fully wake from the nightmare. It had never gone this far and the ending had really spooked me. What was that? Why would my imagination dredge up something so awful? I got up to get a drink from the bathroom and splash cold water on my face. As I got back in bed, I bent down to pick up the books I had knocked over. The one I was currently reading, A Ring of Endless Light, had fallen open to the inscription and book plate inside the front cover: Merry Christmas, Ashley 1983 Love, Mom and Dad. This Book Belongs to Ashley Hayes.

Ashley Hayes. No wonder the name seemed familiar to me. I was reading her book.

Okay. So I had a book that used to belong to a dead girl. A dead girl whose remains had been recently discovered by a hiker and his dog. And I was having nightmares about this girl being kidnapped. The problem was I didn't know if the nightmares really were about her or if they were simply a product of my overactive imagination. I mean, I didn't see her face in the dream until I had seen it on television. So, these dreams might be psychic, but they also might be the product of my stress and anxiety. At least I knew why her name had seemed so familiar to me: I had seen it the first night I started reading the book in my hotel room in Galway, unable to go back to sleep after having a nightmare. Wait...that was the first night I had the nightmare. And it was the first night I started reading Ashley's book. Well, c.r.a.p. It looked like this might be psychic after all, and there was very likely a connection between the book and the nightmares. I really needed to talk to Tara. Jack was going through too much right now with his dad, so I didn't want to burden him with this new development and Ca.s.sie was still out of town, so Tara would have to be my confidante. I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell Ca.s.sie about my possibly psychic dreams anyway; it would certainly be added to the list of Why Ally is Probably the Next Oracle.

We were standing around in the quad at school the next morning, chatting before first period, and I was trying to pull Tara aside for a minute so I could arrange an after school get-together to tell her about my late-night revelations regarding my nightmares.

"Ah, bonjour mes amis," Remy approached our group and began kissing everyone on both cheeks, like I had seen in movies. The rest of my friends seemed to be eating it up, especially Dustin. I could definitely see him trying to bring it into fashion here. Was I the only one who saw how ridiculous and cheesy this guy was?

When he came to me, I raised my eyebrows and gave him a look which clearly said 'h.e.l.l, no.' He flashed his d.a.m.n smirk and winked at me.

Jack arrived and elbowed Remy out of the way. "Dude, do not try to kiss my girlfriend. I will have to hurt you." He pulled me to him for a rare public kiss.

Although I always enjoy his kisses, this one annoyed me slightly because I felt like he was marking his territory more than he wanted to kiss me. It annoyed me even more that Remy seemed amused by it.

"Jack, do not be upset." Remy laughed. "I mean nothing by it. This is how we greet one another in France."

"Yeah, well we're not in France, Remy," he ground out through clenched teeth. "In America, we shake hands."

"Ah, but the exquisite Ally does not seem to want me to touch her at all. I wonder why?" he mused. "You have nothing to fear from me, cherie."

Yeah, right, I thought. I rolled my eyes at both Jack and Remy. I pulled Tara aside. "Hey, can you come over after school? I really need to talk to you about something," I whispered.

"Sure. Is everything okay?" She looked across at Jack.

"Yeah. It's not about him. It's something else." I didn't want to go into any of it here. She seemed to get the message and nodded.

At lunch Jack was moody and distant, finally packing up his trash, saying, "I'll see you in English, okay? I need to go to the library."

"Do you want me to go with you?" I asked, concerned. He wasn't himself today.

"No." He shook his head. "I'm not good company right now. Sorry." He walked away, leaving me to stare after him.

Remy plopped down next to me. "He is still angry with me, cherie?"

I sighed. "No. I don't think it's you, Remy. He's going through some stuff right now."

"Well, he shouldn't leave a beautiful woman alone. I certainly never would."

"No, I'm sure you wouldn't. What do you want, Remy?"

"Me? I do not want anything, cherie, except to be your friend," he said, shrugging.

"Really?" I asked sarcastically. He smirked. "Well, if you really want to be my friend, you need to stop p.i.s.sing off the guy I'm in love with."

"Love," he scoffed. "You Americans don't know anything about love. I could show you..."

"And for G.o.d's sake, stop coming on to me in your smarmy French way. My name is Ally, not cherie!" I was completely out of patience with him. "I thought you were into Tara?"

"Ah, there are so many beautiful girls here. How can I decide?" He laughed.

"Yeah, I can see what a huge burden it is for you." The bell rang and I gladly got up, gathering my trash. I noticed Remy quietly took Veronica's, giving her a sweet smile so different from the stupid smirk I was usually favored with. Just when I wanted to hate him, he goes and does something nice for one of my friends. I couldn't figure him out.

"So, what's up with Jack?" Tara was sitting on my bed, using my laptop to research Ashley Hayes. "He was really p.i.s.sy today. Are you guys fighting?"

"No." I threw myself down beside her on the bed. "His dad showed up yesterday. He's moving here to Albuquerque and wants to spend time with Jack and Megan."

"Wow." She stopped and looked at me. "Jack's not handling it very well? He wasn't happy to see his dad?"

"Not really. His dad left Jack and Megan to deal with their mom's death all alone. He turned into a depressed drunk. That's when Jack started getting into trouble. I don't know if he's going to be able to forgive him."

"That sucks. I feel bad for him." We were both quiet for several minutes as she researched. I hadn't told her anything yet except I needed her to help me research the case my mom's boyfriend was investigating. "All right, here's what the APD website says about the Ashley Hayes cold case: 18 year old Ashley Hayes disappeared from Oso Grande High School on Tuesday, January 17, 1984. She was seen leaving the campus, but never arrived home. She was never heard from again and no body was ever found. Police suspected she was a runaway, but her family and friends maintain she was happy and would never leave home voluntarily. Listen to this: Ashley was pregnant at the time of her disappearance."

I sat up and looked over her shoulder at the screen. "Does it say anything about her family? Any names or anything?"

"Um, let's see...her mother is mentioned somewhere. Yeah, here it is: Angela Hayes is her name. Why?"

"Can you find an online white pages or something? I want to see if we can find out where she lives."

Tara clicked away to another site. "There are four Angela Hayes in Albuquerque. Are you going to try to call her or something?"

I again ignored her question. "How many in the 87110 zip code?"

"Just one, on Utah St., NE. Ally, answer me," she demanded. "Why do you want to know? This is more than idle curiosity, isn't it?"

It was time to fill her in. I knew I could rely on her to help me sort through things rationally. "I think you were right, Tara. I think these nightmares are psychic. Last night, I saw Ashley's face in the dream and she called out to me for help. I think I'm supposed to help her. Either that or I've completely lost my mind."

"Okay, tell me everything. I'll be the judge of whether this is psychic or insanity. Honestly, I'm pulling for insanity because the last time you tried to help someone it nearly got you killed."

I winced; she was right about that. Then I rehashed the whole thing for her: the nightmares starting the night I began reading Ashley's book, Brian telling us he was lead detective on the murder investigation, Ashley's face in the reflection of the kidnapper's sungla.s.ses, and finally, Ashley crying out to me inside my head to help her. I told her how I was confused in the nightmare about whether it was me being kidnapped or Ashley and how I knew she was pregnant. I told her about crying for someone named Scott. I had told her before briefly about the nightmares, but certainly hadn't gone into any great detail.

"Holy s.h.i.t, Ally! Where have I been? I didn't know any of this! Why didn't you tell me?" Tara stood and stared down at me sitting on the bed.

"I'm sorry! Don't be mad. I didn't want to talk about it with anyone. I thought the nightmares were because I was still stressed out. I didn't put any of this together until last night. You're the first one I've told." I looked up at her with pleading eyes.

"So, you haven't told Jack any of this?" I shook my head. "Well, fine then. So, what do you want to do?"

"I want to go talk to her mother. It sounds like she never moved; her house is close to the school."

"And exactly what are you going to say to her mother? 'Hi, I'm Ally. I'm a psychic who is having nightmares about your daughter getting kidnapped?' That's gonna go over real well."

"No. I'm going to say, 'Hi, I'm Ally. I have your daughter's book.' I think it will get me a short conversation at least."

"For what purpose? Ally, she's dead. They found the body. The police will try to find the killer. What can you do?"

"I don't know, Tara. All I know is she asked for my help. I have to try."

"Can't you talk to your mom's new boyfriend? You can tell him..."

I looked at her, eyebrows raised when she let the sentence fall. "Yeah, what exactly could I tell him? 'Hey, Brian. So, I've been having some pretty freaky psychic nightmares about one of your murder investigations.' I really don't think my mom is ready for him to know about our little family gift. It would scare him off for sure."

She laughed, "Yeah, probably. So, she really likes this guy, huh?"

"Did I tell you I caught them making out in the kitchen? He had his tongue in her mouth and his hands all over her a.s.s. I never wanted to see something like that. I wanted to scrub my eyeb.a.l.l.s. And Jack just laughed and said, 'way to go, Brian.' Ugh!"

"Typical guy response. At least you didn't walk in on them having s.e.x," she said.

"Thanks for the visual. I was really trying not to go there."

She laughed. "Okay, back to the topic at hand. So, you are going to start your own little investigation of Ashley Hayes? Well, I'll help you with my mad research skills and I won't rat you out on one condition: I go with you to talk to her mother." She stood and looked at me, hands on hips, a no-nonsense look on her face.

"Fine. I didn't really want to go by myself, anyway," I said, relieved.

"Are you going to fill Jack in on all of this? He's going to freak if he finds out later."

"Not yet. He's got a lot to deal with right now. It probably won't go anywhere, so I'll wait a while before I add this to his plate. Come on. Let's go find her house now, before I can talk myself out of it."

CHAPTER EIGHT.

"Striving to better, oft we mar what's well."

Shakespeare King Lear (1.4.346) Tara drove because I was too nervous. For all my big talk, I didn't have any confidence I could pull this off, and was truly expecting to have a door slammed in my face shortly. We found the house easily, thanks to Google Maps, and I grabbed Ashley's book and headed up the walk, feeling a little bit like I was selling Girl Scout cookies. Or salvation.

An elderly woman answered when Tara rang the doorbell. "Yes, may I help you?" she asked.

"Mrs. Hayes?" I asked. "Are you Ashley Hayes' mother?"

"Yes," she sounded cautious and confused. "Who are you?"

"Ma'am, my name is Ally Moran. This is Tara Scott. We go to Oso Grande High School, like Ashley did. I, um, I think I have a book that belonged to her and I thought you might want it back." I produced the book and offered it to her. She took it from my hands hesitantly. "Here," I gently opened it to the inside cover and showed her the inscription and bookplate.

"Oh," she breathed, running her fingers over the words. "I remember giving her this for Christmas. But how on earth did you get it?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. "I took it from a shelf in my English cla.s.s. When I heard on the news Ashley had been found, I-well, I thought you should have it back."

She ran her fingers over the words for a moment more, tears threatening to overrun her eyes, before closing the book, sniffing, and saying, "Thank you. This means more than you know. Would you girls like to come in for a few minutes? I would like to hear more about how you got this." I looked at Tara and nodded. We followed Mrs. Hayes inside. She led us into her kitchen, saying, "Let me make some tea or coffee or something. Maybe I have some hot chocolate around here."

"Tea is fine, thanks," I said as we sat down at her kitchen table. She busied herself heating water and pulling mugs and teabags out of cabinets. Tara and I kept quiet as she worked; it appeared she was trying to pull her emotions together.

"So," she said, setting a mug of steaming tea in front of each of us. "Tell me more about how you found Ashley's book."

"Well, I saw it on the shelf at school in my English cla.s.s and thought the t.i.tle sounded poetic. I took it before Christmas, to read on a trip I was taking over the holidays."

"I wonder why it's still there after thirty years?" she mused. "Her English teacher that last year was Mrs. Gordon. She couldn't still be there, could she?"

"No, I don't think so. My teacher's name is Ms. Gonzalez. Maybe Mrs. Gordon left her books when she retired?"

Mrs. Hayes nodded. "Maybe. Ashley loved this book, loved all of Madeleine L'Engle's books. Did you read it?"

"Yes. It was a really great book. It was sad, but beautiful. It kind of helped me with some stuff I was going through." I looked into her face and we shared a small smile, like there was something we had in common now, something in common with Ashley.

"One of the last things I remember talking about with Ashley was how she was going to loan this book to Mrs. Gordon. She loved to talk about books with anyone who would sit still long enough. She was planning to go to the university to study English. She wanted to be a teacher." She seemed inclined to reminisce, which is what I had hoped, so Tara and I sipped our tea and let her talk. "I knew she didn't run away. I told the police, all those years ago, something bad had happened to her. They said she must have been upset and scared because of the pregnancy and so she ran away. But they didn't understand how it was. She was so happy, both she and Scott. Oh, I know we were all a bit shocked when we found out she was pregnant, but not really, you know. Those two were so in love, it didn't surprise me terribly to find out a baby was on the way. I guess that's not the way a mother should feel about her teenage daughter, but she was eighteen. Scott wanted marry her right away, but she wanted to wait until after graduation. He insisted she was still going to college and they would work it out. He was so good to her. It destroyed him when she disappeared. The police questioned him endlessly. They suspected he had done something to her, but they could never find any evidence. I knew she was dead, but I couldn't move away, just in case. I needed her to be able to find me, just in case." She faded out at the end and picked up her mug, her hands shaking so much I thought tea would slop out. I had figured Scott was the name of her boyfriend; now I needed to find out his last name.

"Do you think it could have been Scott? Now that they've found her..." I almost said 'body,' but realized at the last second it was insensitive.

She set her mug down, hard. "Absolutely not. It's the one thing in all of this I'm sure of. That sweet boy did not hurt Ashley. He loved her," she said with finality.

I sensed this was the end of her sharing, so I finished my tea and stood up. "Thanks for the tea, Mrs. Hayes. We need to go. I thought you should have Ashley's book."

She surprised me by pulling me into a hug. "Bless you, dear, for bringing this to me. It's a bright spot in the middle of all this mess."

We left her waving at us as we drove away. "Tara," I said, "I need you to find out Scott's last name and where he is now. I need to talk to him." She nodded in resignation.

"Fine. But remember our deal: no investigating without me. Your research source dries up if I find out you're lone-wolfing it, baby."