Ghost Not Forgotten

XX: Now

"Why?" I said. "Why would that matter?"

"Because," he said, a bit impatient, "the minute I arrest him and get him cleared away I gotta get outta town–"

And my gasket blew.

"What?"

"Natty," he said with irritating calmness, "calm down. You gotta understand I'm goin' to arrest Stanley Pike. Stanley Pike. The heart and soul of Keplar's Grove. I'm goin' to expose the monster to a town that only sees him as a saint. Guilty or not, they're gonna be pissed, and they're gonna be pissed at me. It'll be best if I just clear on out once Stanley's taken care of."

I knew the whole thing was too good to be true.

"So you're just gonna take off?" I said, tears in my eyes. "You got in good with me, got me in bed and now you're just gonna head out and disappear again?"

"Don't be stupid, Natty," he said. "I got in good with you so when I do have to skip town you'll come with me."

I slammed my mouth shut.

I don't know why I didn't expect him to say that. I had been hoping deep down that he was planning to do exactly that: whisk me away to finish what we started all those years ago. I guess years and years of bitterness made me jump to bad conclusions. Della would have called me "cynical" for it.

"Oh," was all I could say.

He was looking at me sideways, lowering his head so we were eye level. "You do wanna come with me, right?"

"Don't be stupid," I said immediately. "Of course I do."

"Good." A relieved smile lit his face. "Well, then you should start packin'. We'll need to be ready to go the minute this is all taken care of. I gotta head over there now, gotta check one last thing before I bust him, hopefully he's still sleepin'."

He jumped to his feet, like a sugared up little kid, and made like he was going to run out the door that very moment.

"Hold on, I'm comin' with you." I leapt out of bed and pulled some clothes out of my dresser.

"Like hell you are."

I looked over my shoulder just to see him, stopped in the doorway, looking at me like I was a loon.

So I pulled on some underwear and jumped into some jeans.

"Nice try Malene, but you're not the only one who's a part of this," I said. "He stole sixteen years from me, sixteen years I could've been with you, he ruined a lot and I want to be there when you bust him."

"No, not a chance. I need to do this on my own. It's not safe for you there," Bennet said.

I rolled my eyes as I pulled on my old Grove School T-shirt. "I'm not afraid of Stanley Pike."

"Natty, I'm serious," he said, and he was. "He held a gun to my head."

"Maybe," I said, running my hands through my hair before tying it up into a messy ponytail. I still had a hard time imagining that scene, Stanley using a gun, so maybe that was where my bravado was coming from. I'm still not sure. "But I have to see him before you do this."

"Natty–"

"Bennet." I turned and looked at him, really looked at him. "I need to do this. I need to look him in the eyes; I need to see the truth or I might never really believe it."

His shoulders relaxed. "You don't really believe it?"

"I believe you," I said, stepping up to him and putting my hands on his chest. His arms were quick to go around my waist. "I do. But it's still hard to imagine my Stanley . . . You have to understand. You had 16 years to get used to this, I've had one night."