Ghosts by Matt Rogers (ap literature book list txt) 📕

She was so much thinner than the last time Josefine had seen her. Undernourished, almost. But defiant. Chin up in the air, hands crossed in front of her, fingers interlocked. She was smiling.

Josefine walked over.

She didn’t say a word.

She couldn’t find the right ones, not with the torrent of emotion gripping her from within.

She threw her arms around her daughter and cried.

Time passed but she didn’t notice. She didn’t think Elsa did either. Her daughter sobbed into her chest, conveying everything she’d wanted to say for months.

I’m still alive. I’m still here. I’m okay. It’ll all be okay soon.

When she finally parted, she pinched herself again.

Jason smiled. ‘It’s real.’

Josefine looked up at him, shaking. ‘What did you do?’

‘Enough. I had help, though.’

He introduced Josefine to his friends.

First Will, a big African-American man who seemed Jason’s counterpart in every sense of the word. They were fiercely intense men. Will wore a moon boot, but it didn’t seem to impede him.

Then Violetta, a blonde woman with blue eyes who was somehow just as fierce. For Josefine, it was like staring in a mirror. Suddenly everything made a lot more sense. Jason doing a double-take in the park, that first time she’d seen him. He’d thought Josefine was this Violetta woman. Maybe they were lovers. Maybe not.

And finally Alexis, a black-haired woman with green eyes. She didn’t have the same look, but she was tough. She might even be a killer.

She shook their hands, one by one, and cried again.

Jason said, ‘Let’s talk for a moment.’

Josefine nodded. All she wanted was to hug her daughter, breathe her scent, appreciate her presence, but these strangers had rescued both her and Elsa from a fate worse than death, and they deserved at least a moment of her time.

She stepped aside with him, and the rest of the party melted into the background to give them privacy.

She said, ‘Am I in danger?’

‘No,’ Jason said. ‘It’s been handled.’

‘What’s been handled, exactly?’

‘It’s best you don’t know.’

‘Does Elsa know?’

‘She knows some of it. I’m sure she’ll tell you in her own time.’

‘Can’t you fill in the blanks for me?’

‘What good would it do?’ Jason said. ‘It’s over. It’s done.’

‘I don’t know how to thank you.’

‘You don’t have to.’

‘Is there anything you want from me? I don’t have much money, but I’m sure I could scrape together—’

Jason held up a hand, and she stopped short.

He said, ‘Your daughter said the same thing. You two are cut from the same cloth. You’re good people. But this was never about money.’

‘Then why did you do it?’

‘Because you were innocent.’

‘That’s it?’

‘That’s it.’

‘I don’t know what to say.’

‘Then don’t say anything.’

She blinked back tears. ‘What do I do now?’

‘You get on with your life. Elsa’s been back at the family home for two weeks. I had a long talk with her father. He was confused, but he seemed to understand I wasn’t going to share everything. He was happy to see her.’

‘My other girls?’ Josefine said. ‘They’re…?’

‘Safe. All safe.’

‘Is there a chance of—?’

‘No,’ Jason said.

She understood.

She tried not to think about it, but she understood.

The people who’d done this … they weren’t around anymore.

Which could mean they’d fled town, or could mean they were six feet under.

She took one look into Jason’s eyes and thought she knew which it was.

‘You don’t have anything to fear anymore,’ he said. ‘We took care of it.’

‘Can you tell me who you are, at least?’

‘I told you my name.’

‘That’s all?’

‘That’s all.’

She looked at the ground.

He said, ‘It’s better this way. The less you know, the faster you can pretend this never happened.’

‘How the hell am I supposed to do that?’ she said.

For dramatic effect, she swept a hand over the prison she’d just stepped out of.

‘Because it’ll be the most important thing you do,’ he said. ‘It happened. It’s terrible that it happened, but it did. You owe it to yourself to give yourself the best life you can. And Elsa, too.’

‘Is she okay?’

‘She’s been through a lot,’ he said. ‘But she was never touched. She was never taken advantage of. I know she still saw terrible things, experienced terrible things, but that’s some small victory at least.’

‘Her friend,’ Josefine said. ‘That girl, Melanie…’

‘Let us handle that.’

‘Will I hear from you again?’

‘No.’

‘I want to know you,’ she said. ‘I want to know all of you. The people who saved my life. My daughter’s life.’

‘It’s best that you don’t. We’re not easy people to know.’

‘That doesn’t matter.’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘It does.’

‘So that’s it?’ she said. ‘All this is in the past? My record’s expunged? How am I supposed to trust anyone ever again? How am I supposed to just keep going?’

‘You’ll figure it out.’

‘It’s not going to be easy.’

He shook his head. ‘Not at all.’

‘What will you do now?’

He smirked. ‘You really want some information, don’t you?’

‘I just want an idea. That’s all.’

He looked at her.

Decided.

He said, ‘Slater and I are going to go tie up some loose ends.’

‘Do I want to know?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘Goodbye, Josefine.’

‘Thank you. Thank you so much.’

‘You’re welcome.’

He walked back to the party and spoke a few hushed words to Elsa. She nodded, stepped in and hugged him around the waist. He hugged her back. They parted, and Elsa went to her mother.

Josefine said, ‘Please.’

Jason looked at her.

She said, ‘I want to know something. Anything.’

He grimaced. Looked at Violetta. She nodded, and he relented.

They were definitely lovers.

Lucky woman.

Jason said, ‘Check the papers tomorrow. There might be something about a judge.’

Josefine stiffened.

Jason turned and left, and the rest of the party followed.

She watched them go, until it was just her and her daughter, alone in the lot.

She looked over her shoulder at the closed prison gates and the complex beyond.

If only the walls could speak…

She put her arm around Elsa and led her daughter away.

96

Kerr had told Alastair Icke to come alone.

So he did.

It wasn’t easy. He needed a cane just to get out of the car, and it took him two full minutes. He got one leg out, put it down, rode out