Lunatic Revenge (6 page)

But then you wouldn’t know us.

All of a sudden you’re back?
Then Tara sighed. “I know, Millicent, and I love you both. I don’t want you out of my life. I just wish life was a little less chaotic sometimes, that’s all.”

Henry popped up with a sad look on his face and began blowing her kisses. She sighed again, and managed a half-hearted smile.

“Okay, okay, I’m over the pity party. But you guys have to do more than blow kisses and tell me how to behave. If I need you—really need you—you have to come through for me, as well. Deal?”

Deal.

Henry high-fived her as a pink puff of smoke slid across her line of vision.

“Hey, Tara, Mona made you some hot chocolate and she has honey buns
 . . .
your favorite.”

“I’ll be right there,” Tara said.

She wasn’t sure if she could swallow without bursting into tears, but she had to give it her best try. Mona and Uncle Pat didn’t need more worries tonight, and she didn’t have anything helpful to tell them.

It was 6:45 a.m. when
they heard a car pull up into the driveway.

Mona ran to the window. “They’re here, and there’s Flynn! Oh thank the lord!” She ran out onto the porch to meet him.

Uncle Pat was in the kitchen doing dishes. Tara began folding up the afghan and looking for her purse. She had something to say to Flynn and then she was going to school.

Flynn came inside talking, but the moment he saw Tara in his living room, he stopped. “Uh, I didn’t know you’d be—”

Still smarting from being shut out, Tara put her hands on her hips. “We’re just leaving, but FYI
 . . .
you are a dumb ass.”

Mona frowned.

“Hey,” Flynn muttered. “I got kidnapped, my dad just died, and that’s how you’re gonna play it?”

“No, Flynn. I don’t
play
at all when something this bad happens, and I’m so very sorry that your father died. But you have me to thank for the fact you’re even standing in this house, and it is
no
thanks to you. I thought you trusted me. Obviously, you don’t. But you need to remember that, like it or not, when something goes wrong with the people I care about, it is in their best interests to accept that I am going to know and probably interfere. I have this thing that I do, called being psychic? Remember?”

“Tara, ease up,” Pat said.

“Oh, I’m easy all over the place,” Tara said. “Are the cops still here?”

Flynn felt guilty and sad and mad all at the same time. He knew she was right, but so was he. This was his mess and it was dangerous. He’d lied to her for a reason, or so he’d thought—to keep her safe.

“They’re outside,” he said.

She glanced up at her uncle. “I’ll be outside when you’re ready to leave.” She headed for the door with her head up and tears in her eyes.

“Tara, wait,” Flynn said. “I didn’t tell you because I knew how dangerous they were. I didn’t want you involved.”

She paused. “Yeah, I get that, but I don’t know how to turn off who I am, and you should know that, too. If I was a doctor and you were bleeding, you would have willingly come to me to fix it. I know stuff Flynn. They could have killed you and it would have been the biggest regret of my life that I knew what was happening and the cops wouldn’t have been able to find you until it was too late. Yes, your dad died, but you knew it was going to happen because he was sick. How do you think your mom would have felt if you’d died tonight, too? Hunh, Flynn? How about that?”

She sailed past him, her chin trembling.

Flynn felt like he’d been sideswiped. He’d been accosted, kidnapped, learned his dad was dead, rescued by the cops, and then to come home to this was more than he could handle. He would have expected almost any kind of reaction from Tara except for her to be angry at him. His shoulders slumped as he watched her go out the door.

“She’ll get over it. Really glad this turned out okay,” Pat said, and patted him on the shoulder as he followed her out.

Tara was sad, but there were things left to be done. She walked across the street to where the police were parked. Rutherford was talking to the cop in the cruiser who’d been on guard.

“We need to talk,” Tara said.

Rutherford glanced at Allen. They walked to the end of the car where she was standing.

“Look, you did real good helping us find him. We’ve got the kidnappers in custody and—”

“You have a body in the morgue and none of those men had anything to do with it. I don’t know who did it, but I am telling you now that until you find the killer, Flynn and his mother are still in danger. Someone wants that money, and they’re coming after her next and will use Flynn to force her to tell.”

“Well shit, excuse my language,” Rutherford muttered. “Are you sure?”

She glared.

Detective Allen sighed. “We hear you. We’ll keep an eye on them, but they’ve both refused to leave. Flynn said he’s not running, and his mother said the same.”

“Whatever,” Tara said. “I’m going home.”

Her uncle Pat was waiting for her in the car when she got in.

“Are you okay, honey?” he asked.

Tara took a deep, shaky breath. “No, but we need to hurry so I’m not late for school.”

“I can write you an excuse if you want to stay home.”

Tara swiped at the tears on her cheeks. “I don’t want to stay home.”

He squeezed her hand. “Then I’ll drop you off on my way to work. I’ve already called in to let them know I’ll be a little late. I told the boss enough about what happened to keep him from being ticked, so we’re both good to go.”

Tara leaned back and closed her eyes as Pat drove away. Her heart hurt. Her feelings were hurt. She was scared for Flynn and his mom, and she was scared even more that she wouldn’t find out who was behind this until it was too late.

Tara’s heart skipped a beat. She hadn’t expected him to acknowledge that, not that she needed a pat on the back or anything.

Mrs. Crabtree saw the rope burns on his wrists and the dark circles under his eyes. “Are you alright? Should you be here, I mean?”

“There’s a police car waiting for me out in the parking lot. I need to take that test, and then they’re taking me home to be with my Mom. I’ll be gone from school for the next two days for my father’s funeral.”

“Your father died?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Now the principal’s frown was completely gone. “I’m very sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you.”

The principal kept looking from Tara to Flynn and back again. She was about to ask another question when the door suddenly opened and then slammed shut behind them again, only there was no one there.

Tara blinked. That would be Millicent, and she was obviously ticked. She just did not like Mrs. Crabtree.

Mrs. Crabtree was very familiar with the crazy stuff that happened when Tara was around. The last time she’d confronted Tara Luna, she’d gone home with a black mustache drawn on her upper lip from a runaway permanent marker. She’d had to bleach her skin to get it off, her lip had peeled, and it had taken a week for the bleach smell under her nose to go away. She wanted no part of the girl or her spooks. She looked down at the notes. She’d never gotten one from the police department on a student’s behalf before.

“Write them a hall pass,” she told the school secretary, and then bolted into her office and closed the door.

Tara got her note and walked out, heading to first hour as fast as she could walk. She didn’t want to talk to Flynn and then be all red-eyed and crying when she got into class. But she didn’t walk fast enough and Flynn caught up with her halfway down the hall.

“Tara, wait.”

She pointed to the hall monitor and kept on walking.

Flynn sighed. She was really mad, but so was he. His uncles down in Ardmore were already planning his dad’s funeral. Flynn couldn’t wrap his head around the fact he’d never talk to him again. He knew he should have told someone about Floy Nettles threatening him yesterday morning. It might have stopped Floy’s brother, Sam, from kidnapping him, but it was too late to change what had happened. It was frightening to learn that someone killed Floy only hours after Floy had confronted him, and they still didn’t know who had done it.

He watched Tara walking away, and could tell by the stiff set of shoulders and her long, hurried stride that he’d hurt her feelings by shutting her out. He was so used to taking care of business on his own that it had never occurred to him to dump his troubles on anyone. However, knowing what she could do, as she’d said, he
had
been something of a dumb ass not to ask for help, and was man enough to admit it. If she’d only give him a chance to apologize, it might help unwind the knot in the pit of his belly.

Tara knew Flynn was watching her, but she kept on walking. She wanted to talk to him, too, but they couldn’t do it now, and she didn’t want an audience when it did happen.

He’s sorry.

Tara sighed.
So am I.

He’s very sad.

I know. His father died.

Well duh.

OMG! Tara gasped. Of course Millicent knew that. In fact, Michael O’Mara and Millicent were in the same place now. If Flynn’s dad would come to her, she could talk to him. She could find out where that money was hidden and turn it over to the police. Then whoever was still out there would have no reason to come after Flynn.

Millicent! You need to find—

Pop!

She caught a glimpse of pink smoke just before she heard the pop.

Well great. Millicent left without a word of goodbye and Tara was at her classroom. She had to go inside. Why did everything have to be so complicated?

Flynn left the building
after he took his Spanish test. Tara saw him getting into the police car and leaving during the break between classes, but so did a lot of other students. By the next break it was all over school that Flynn O’Mara had gotten arrested. Everyone was giving Tara funny looks, as if by association alone she’d become tainted, too.

Tara hated the little gossip mill that was part of school life, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. She was heading to her locker to grab a new notebook when her old nemesis, Prissy, cornered her in the hall.