Page 52 of Ghost Town Boogie

Colt was on the way, and he didn’t bother trying to be quiet. He ran up the stairs, footsteps heavy and loud. She heard him; so did Sawyer. He released his hold on her, spinning around to face the door just as it flew open.

It was his worst nightmare, watching a woman he cared about being threatened with the knife that had already taken at least one life. Sawyer moved away from Anna; she stood but remained caught between the couch and the killer.

“I have what you’re looking for,” Colt said.

Sawyer’s attention was fully on him now. The man with the knife moved forward and Anna scooted away, as far as she could with the couch behind her. Sawyer took another step forward, which allowed Anna to move even farther. With every small step she took, with every inch of distance, Colt’s panic subsided a bit. Nothing mattered but Anna getting away. He could take anything else, as long as she was safe.

“What is it you think I want?” Sawyer snapped.

Colt reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “An account number. One that will make you very rich.”

“You had it all along,” Sawyer whispered.

“No. I just now found it. It’s yours.” Colt stretched his hand out a little more.

“What about the pictures?”

“I have those, too, but not with me. I’ll hang onto them long enough for you to get out of town, out of the country, and collect the money you killed for. Stay gone, and I’ll destroy them.”

Sawyer had no idea he was completely surrounded by ghosts. How could he? Maude screamed at him. Only Colt heard. Gerald tried to hit him, but the old man’s ghostly fist went right through Sawyer’s body. Maude had to move to one side to keep from taking that blow.

Nicole got right in Sawyer’s face and screamed “Murderer!”

Sawyer didn’t hear or see, but Colt did. He lifted a hand and whispered, “Quiet please.”

“I didn’t say anything!” Sawyer shouted. He wasn’t a practiced, calm killer. He’d panicked. When he’d killed Jack; when he’d stabbed Nicole; when he’d burned Anna’s house.

“Before I hand this over,” Colt said, waving the sheet of paper in the air, “tell me why you burned the Miller house. You had to know this might be in there.”

“I had no choice. The blackmail photos weren’t in the duck picture, like I thought they were. Jack said I’d never find them. At one point when he was rambling on he said something weird about how old things make good hiding places, that no one would ever look behind the ugly picture, that his Mom would never get rid of… Then he stopped, and just kept saying duck.”

“You killed him,” Colt said.

“I didn’t mean to, but I had no choice.”

Again, no choice. “Well, that’s bullshit. There’s always a choice.”

Sawyer moved toward Colt and the bait. With more room to maneuver, Anna stepped back, grabbed her purse, and pulled out her cell phone.

Ghosts continued to close in on the man who threatened Colt. Sawyer firmly grasped that knife in one hand while he reached for the paper with the other. He spun around without the numbers he wanted when he heard Anna punch three quick numbers on her cell. 9-1-1.

“Drop that!” Sawyer said, lurching toward the couch and the woman behind it.

“No!” Colt lunged.

So did Maude.

Gerald screamed, his voice, unused for a century or more, hoarse and filled with anger. The room shook, the windows rattled in response to the ghost’s howl.

Colt’s objective was to keep Sawyer away from Anna at any cost. Maude’s was to use her new-found ghostly powers to assist. And she did. Sawyer was a big guy, a little shorter than Colt but muscled. Strong. Sawyer took him to the ground. They hit the floor hard, but Sawyer managed to hold onto the knife.

Until Maude took the weapon from him and tossed it aside.

The expression on Sawyer’s face would’ve been comical, in a less serious situation. He couldn’t understand how the knife had been yanked out of his hand.

Nicole screamed. “Kill him! That asshole murdered me, he stabbed me in the back!”

“Nicole…” Colt began, hoping to calm the spirit.