"Um. Not exactly."

"You're a ghost. You can walk down that corridor unseen and go right into that room and find out what's going on, right? I've seen you do it!"

"It doesn't work that way."

Jake shook his head in frustration. "What do you mean? What doesn't work that way?"

"This," she said, referring to herself.

"Well then how does this work, because I just saw you walk through a door, and I really need you to walk through this door right here and go down the hallway and tell me what's happening in that apartment."

"I can't see it if you don't see it."

"Are you kidding me?"

She cowered slightly.

"I'm sorry," he said, attempting to reign in his temper. "I'm just trying to figure out why you're here. The only thing you kids seem to be useful for is making me crazy. And who knows, maybe I am crazy."

The door behind him b.u.mped him in the back, and Jake came unglued. His arms shot out at weird angles and he let out a yelp.

"Jake Paris? Is that you?" It was the voice of Agent Grant.

"Yes, ma'am," he said, straightening up.

"What are you doing in the stairway?"

"I saw the cars out front and wanted to see if it had something to do with my nephew."

"You do realize how suspicious it looks to have the victim's uncle lurking about, don't you?"

"I'm not lurking. I live here."

She pushed the door open farther, and Jake tried desperately to mask his shock. Standing in the hallway, peeking through the door, was the little Cabbage Patch girl, her stuffed rabbit hanging from her grip. He ripped his eyes off her, and focused on Agent Grant.

"Jake. I'll be straight with you. We followed up on that lead you gave us regarding Amber's boyfriend Gary. It led us here."

Jake tried to even out his breathing and lock into what the agent was saying. She was doing him a favor sharing information about the case. He couldn't ruin it by fixating on the Cabbage Patch girl.

"Gary lives here? How come I've never seen him before?"

"From what we've gathered, he's somewhat of a recluse."

Jake tried to digest this new information. "Well-is he in there? Did you get him?"

"No. He's still unaccounted for."

"Have you learned anything about Gabe?"

"No. Not yet, but as soon as we do we'll contact you and your sister. Now get out of here before you draw unneeded suspicion upon yourself."

"Yeah, okay," he said, backing up, "I will. Thanks."

She gave him a pressed smile.

"Bye bye, Jake," said the little blond girl in her high gravely voice. She waved her pudgy hand enthusiastically.

Jake almost waved, but quickly turned to see Aiyana still sitting on the stairs. She was looking in the direction of the other girl, smiling.

He looked over his shoulder at the blond girl, then back at Aiyana with surprise.

Aiyana must have read his expression.

"Yes," she said, "I can see her, too."

Chapter 26.

Holly heard her bedroom door creak open, and footsteps entering quietly. Her eyes snapped open, and her hand gripped the sheet tightly. Though she knew it had to be Dan, that didn't stop the terror from coiling around her, choking off her air. She was unable to resist the feeling that her room had been breached by the author of her nightmares. All she had to do was turn and see, but the fear held her locked in its unbreakable grip.

She listened as the footsteps approached the bed, her breaths growing more shallow with each footfall. Why would Dan enter her room unannounced? As she built the courage to turn and confront the intruder, a voice broke the silence.

"Holly? Are you awake?"

The fear retreated as quickly as it had advanced, and Holly rolled over to see the slender form of her roommate standing over her bed. Amber's straight brown hair was slightly electrified by the dryness of the room, and her brown eyes seemed richer on her recently tanned face. Holly had never been so happy to see anyone her life.

"Oh, thank G.o.d it's you."

"Who did you think it was?" Her countenance dropped. "I'm sorry. What am I saying..."

"It's okay, Amber. I'm-a little jumpy, to say the least, but you don't have to walk around on egg sh.e.l.ls."

Amber came around and sat on the edge of the bed. "You look terrible," she said bluntly.

Holly slithered a forearm across her sweaty cheek. The room felt like a furnace, and all her joints ached.

"I'll be fine," she said.

"You must be exhausted."

Holly detected the pity in Amber's voice; she gritted her teeth. Though she'd been strong the night before and had resisted the urge to run to the pills, she could not escape that look. It always came from the people in her life who claimed to love her the most. Poor pitiful Holly can't get out of her own slop. How tragic her life is. How pathetic she looks.

She fought the headache and the nausea and slid to a sitting position. "It looks worse than it is," she said. "I just need some water."

"Did I say something wrong?"

"No. I'm just an emotional wreck. I'm sorry. Thanks for coming back."

"What are friends for?"

"I completely forgot about you coming home."

"I meant to come back last night, but my grandmother's condition is getting worse, and she needed me."

"If you need to go..."

"No. She's okay at the moment. I'm here to help in any way I can."

Holly looked at the clock; it was almost eight. "I need to get ready!" she said, kicking her legs off the bed. "I have an appointment at the woman's health center at nine."

Amber moved out of the way so Holly could get up. "In the middle of this crisis?"

Holly turned and looked at Amber sitting on top of the spot where the killer had hidden the box, and the room began to shrink. Near Amber's leg, part of the black thread could be seen poking out from the sheet.

"It's an important check up," she said, forcing herself to look away from the marred spot on the mattress.

"But-why do you have to go today?" Amber's freckly cheeks dropped and her eyes grew round. "Are you really sick?"

"No. I- I don't know. The doctors say it may not be anything, but I need to find out as soon as possible, if they have to treat it."

"Do they think it's cancer?"

"They don't know." She quickly plucked random clothes from her dresser. "I'm going to take a shower. I'll be out in a second, okay?" She exited the room and scooted toward the bathroom at the far end of the hall.

Amber followed. "Do you want me to make you some breakfast or something?"

"I doubt I can keep anything down, but I'll try, okay?"

"Well-whatever you don't eat I can give to that cute guy sleeping on your couch."

Holly turned to look past Amber at Dan standing in the living room in his jeans with no shirt. He must have heard Amber's comment, because he reached out and s.n.a.t.c.hed his shirt from the back of the couch. Under other circ.u.mstances Holly might have noticed his muscular build and zero percent body fat, but her head felt like she had been hit with a sledgehammer. And all she could think about was sneaking back into her bedroom to cover the hole back up.

She stepped into the bathroom and closed the door, then fell to her knees before the keyhole. Amber hovered for a moment, then looked back into the bedroom. Holly's heart started to thud in her ears at the thought of Amber going back in to make the bed, or tidy up. She couldn't let that happen. She couldn't allow Amber to find the tear in the side of her mattress. There could be no mistakes; her son's life depended on it.

Amber started into the room, and Holly's hand shot to the doork.n.o.b. Was she going in? The angle of her body made it appear as if she might only be reaching in for something. Holly watched with intensity. Slowly Amber came back into view and the bedroom door made a click. Holly released a long hot breath and pulled away from the keyhole.

There was no time to work through her emotions; she had to get ready for the hard task ahead.

The heat of the shower did nothing to sooth her spirits. She made quick work of it, got dressed, and went back to her room, unnoticed by Amber and Dan in the kitchen. She carefully dug the box out of the mattress, opened it, and placed the two items into her purse. It was real now. She was going to go through with this mission and hope that what the killer said was true, that he didn't intend to kill her son. She had no reason to doubt what he had told her. He had said this case would be different from all the others.

Holly clung to that statement, praying desperately for it to be true.

Chapter 27.

Jake walked down the second floor east hallway toward the door to the west wing, venting the entire way. "That's it, I'm mad. I am completely mad. I've lost my mind! It was only a matter of time, given my childhood. Losing my job must have been the last crack in my armor. Now what? I lose my girlfriend, I lose my friends. Oh!" he exclaimed sarcastically. "Maybe I can have one of those rubber rooms at a government facility. That's a pretty cool gig-three square meals plus pills. And I never have to work again! I can just lounge around in the television room hobn.o.bbing with other crazy people, people even crazier than me, with bike helmets and drool issues. Maybe I can even introduce them to the phantom children THAT CAUSED MY BREAKDOWN!" He slammed through the double doors that led to his section of the building, with Aiyana still on his heels.

"I don't imagine you'll tell me why you chose me. I don't imagine you're going to explain why I'm chasing ghosts in my head instead of helping my sister find this serial murderer." He turned on her. "You know what? How about this? If you're not going to help, why don't you just go away."

She came to a stop.

And he watched in horror as his words sunk deep into her heart. Her shoulders sank and her sweet innocent face began to quiver. "I'm sorry I don't know why I'm here," she said. "I'm sorry I'm just in the way. And I'm sorry you don't want me around!" She slipped past him and ran up the hall, crying.

He followed her around the corner and almost knocked Jenna to the ground. His hands shot out to stabilize her.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't see you."

She looked around. "I thought I heard your voice when I came out of the apartment. Were you talking to someone?"

"No. I was just venting. They tracked Amber's boyfriend, Gary, to our building, of all places, but they won't let me anywhere near his apartment."

"Amber's boyfriend?" Jenna's eyes grew wide. "So-he's the guy? Are they sure?"

"I don't know, but judging by the number of agents, he's probably the guy."

"Did they get him?"

"No, they can't find him."

Jenna's mouth hung open. "I can't believe it. The killer we've been hearing about for years lives here in Sunbury? In our building? What does this mean?"

"Well, at the very least, it means he's had the opportunity to stalk my sister for more than a year."

Jenna looked at her watch. "Oh, Jake, I really need to go." She looked up, frustrated. "I want to talk more about this, but... Listen, if you need me, I'll drop everything and come back, okay? It's just that this is really important."

"I understand. Go ahead. There's nothing you can do anyway."

She turned and looked at the elevator. "Can you walk me down?"

Jake frowned. "Why?"

"There's an FBI investigation going on, and Gary could be lurking anywhere. It's kinda creepy."

"I doubt he's anywhere near here now, with all those agents crawling around."

"Please, just walk me to the front door." Her baby-blues pleaded with him.

"All right."