AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Phoebe had introduced herself to Douglas Hill after he had noticed her knocking on the double doors of the entrance. He had been hesitant at first, but she kept a smile in place as she waved him over. It was then that she kept pointing to her wrist to indicate that she was late.
Douglas had finally opened the door.
"Have you been here long?" Phoebe asked as she slowed her steps, not wanting him to walk with her to Alice's classroom. "I used to go to high school here."
"About six years now," Douglas replied over the jingling of his keys. He rested a hand over the large set to soften the noise. He gave her a sideways glance of curiosity. "You're the sister of the girl who drowned over a decade ago, aren't you? No offense, but you're the talk of the town."
Phoebe came to a complete stop, feigning that she was having problems loosening the scarf around her neck. Since she had been afraid that her mother would try to track her down at Chloe's apartment, Phoebe had opted to drive home last night. She had also shut her phone off after her mother and father had tried to reach her most of the evening.
Phoebe wasn’t ready to talk to either one of them.
It wouldn't have surprised Phoebe if her parents had decided to show up on her doorstep, but Chloe had promised that she wouldn't allow that to happen. It wasn't until this morning that she explained how she had driven to the Burrow residence and talked them into giving Phoebe time to come to terms with the truth.
Nana had been able to see the dead, and she had passed that gift on to her granddaughter. Only Phoebe wouldn't label such an ability a gift.
"I apologize, miss. I shouldn't have—"
"There's no need to apologize," Phoebe said as she removed her scarf and then looped it around her neck so that both ends hung loose. "My colleague and I are recording a series of episodes for our podcast, so the locals are bound to be curious. Alice went to school with my sister, hence the interview this morning."
Phoebe had purposefully kept her side of the conversation vague, but it was enough of a distraction that she was able to use it to her advantage.
"Talk about good timing," Phoebe said with a small smile. She gestured toward the bathroom sign on the door. "Don't worry about hanging around, Douglas. I wouldn't want you to get in trouble because of me. I can make it to 216 from here. Oh, and thanks again for not letting me freeze out there."
"214," Douglas corrected her before gesturing toward a hallway that veered to the left. Phoebe had purposefully mentioned a classroom number that she thought was the one Alice had been in the other day after being caught looking out a window. "The administration turned one of the large storage rooms into a study hall."
"You're a lifesaver, Douglas," Phoebe called out as she pushed open the restroom door. "Have a good day."
The bathroom had not changed much since Phoebe's days of attending high school. The pale mauve tiles covered the floor and half the walls, meeting faded white paint that seemed dirty under the fluorescent lights. She didn't have to use the facilities, so she leaned back against the sink to let some time pass.
Phoebe's thoughts drifted to her parents, who were probably in the middle of peppering Chloe with endless questions about Phoebe's state of mind. Chloe would evade responding by asking one of them to walk with her on the trail. The two of them had devised the plan this morning. Giving Kenneth or Lilith a task to feel useful would give Phoebe more time to digest that there was a good chance that she would forever have visions of dead people.
On the other hand, Phoebe couldn't really be upset by having such an ability, because they might never have known that Jenna's death hadn't been accidental. Phoebe was startled when a shuffling sound echoed around the bathroom, but it had come from the scarf moving across the fabric of her puffer jacket.
Not wanting to be alone, and also recalling the pact about not going anywhere by themselves, she pushed herself off the sink and walked toward the door. Enough time had passed that Douglas should have returned to work. She pushed the door open slowly before peering down both ends of the hallway.
The coast was clear.
Her boots made soft sounds on the waxed floor as she navigated toward room 214. The door was slightly ajar, allowing the faintest sounds of country music to spill out into the hallway.
Phoebe pushed the door open.
Alice sat at her desk pecking away on the keyboard of her laptop. There was a stack of papers to her right, and a large travel mug to her left. The winter sun streamed through the large windows at the back of the room. Not only did the rays cast long shadows across the tiled floor, they also highlighted the dust particles floating in the air.
Alice didn't notice Phoebe's entrance at first. The woman was too engrossed with whatever was on the display of her laptop. It wasn't until Phoebe cleared her throat that Alice's head snapped up.
"Sorry," Phoebe said softly as she came to a stop at the first row of desks. "I didn't mean to startle you."
"Phoebe." Alice removed her fingers from the keyboard and lowered her hands to her lap. She studied Phoebe intently before raising her chin slightly. "It's been a long time."
"I was hoping that you could answer some questions for me."
A scent of lilacs hung in the air. The fragrance was such a contrast to the waxed floors out in the hallway that Phoebe searched for the source. There was a plugin in the shape of a shell in the nearest outlet.
"I heard you convinced Chief Bennett to have another look into your sister's death." Alice pushed back her chair. She stood before stepping around her desk. "I had no idea that Jenna’s death was suspicious in nature."
Alice Hart hadn't changed much in the past eleven years. Besides a few laugh lines, she was still the slender brunette who always wore her hair in a chic bob. She had dressed simply today, but that was probably due to it being a Sunday. She wore a thick cream sweater over her jeans and had complemented them with a pair of knee-high brown boots.
"News travels fast," Phoebe replied with a half-smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. She suddenly found it difficult to ask the questions that she had come up with last night. To buy herself some time, she crossed the floor of the classroom to stand near the same window that Alice had been staring out days prior. The view from here gave an expansive look over the school grounds, parking lot, and even the athletic fields on the far side of the parking lot. "Look, I know that you and Jenna didn't run in the same circles, but I heard that you might have been with Jenna the week before she died."
