Ghosts of Christmas Past by Corrina Lawson Page A

“Damn, I just… God, Lucy.”
    Lucy narrowed her eyes. “I won, they lost. Anyway, when I tracked them here, I ran into Al, who was investigating the murders during a bank robbery. I knew it was Jack, the monster, who’d done it. Al wanted to rescue a teller Jack had grabbed from the back. I was sure the teller was going to be Jill’s next lab rat.” She stood up and began pacing. “I wanted to just flat out get them. We teamed up and found them together.” Al had accepted her invisibility. He’d even been attracted to someone he couldn’t see. Dammit, they had to work things out.
    â€œAnyway, me and Al found Jack and Jill in this very warehouse. We confronted them, there was a big fight, and Jill and her pet monster died. Oh, and we rescued the bank teller.”
    â€œHoly fuck,” Cassandra said. “I read that in the papers, how the teller was rescued. That was you and your cop?”
    â€œYep.”
    â€œAnd yet you set up shop here after?”
    â€œI know, sounds crazy, but the electricity was set up already, and off the grid too, so we used it. And dismantling every last part of the lab was freeing.”
    Cassandra came over and hugged her. “You’re something else, Lucy.”
    â€œThanks.”
    â€œBy the way, do you realize you pace in a perfect square? About nine feet by nine feet, I’m guessing.”
    â€œI do?” Fuck. That was the size of the room where she’d been held captive. Every time she thought she’d purged that captivity from her system, she found another remainder.
    Cassandra wiped a tear away with the back of her hand. “So your cop kept your secret? And now you use this as a Batcave?”
    â€œYeah.” My cop did a lot more than that, Lucy thought. She bet he’d noticed her pacing and never said a word.
    â€œYour cop doesn’t mind bending rules,” Cassandra said.
    Lucy shrugged. “Al pays attention to the rules that matter. He gets justice.”
    â€œI won’t argue with that. Uh, but don’t you think the neighbors are going to notice you coming and going?” Cassandra sat down again, sipping her drink.
    â€œUm…well, we brought in some of the neighbors ourselves. I had a friend with money. So, Al vetted some homeless families and we helped them move into the still-usable houses across the way. They’re our neighborhood watch now.”
    Better not mention that the people who provided the money were from the Phoenix Institute. Beth and her bodyguard, Daz Montoya, had offered more help, but Lucy worried that came with strings, like joining their crusade. Beth wanted the Institute to lead a drive for acceptance of people with psychic abilities.
    No way, not yet, not for her, Lucy decided.
    â€œThis Al is getting more interesting all the time.” Cassandra shook her head. “So you’re creating your own neighborhood here, Batgirl?”
    â€œAl’s idea. He wanted to try something that would help people before, you know, they ended up dead.”
    Cassandra smiled.
    Lucy put her feet up on the couch. She should hate the warehouse. But Al and she had won. Dragons had been slain here. Beth had said some people did better running as far away from trauma as they could, while others did better facing it head on. Lucy knew which type she was.
    â€œOkay, so now that you know the whole thing, we need to look at this stuff I grabbed from Salvatore’s office.” From her coat, Lucy pulled out the calendar page, postcard, thumb drive and metal trinket and spread them out on the coffee table.
    â€œThat’s definitely Salvatore’s handwriting.” Cassandra glanced at the calendar page only briefly. She rubbed her eyes and stared at Lucy for a good, long thirty seconds. “So, you just turned invisible, walked up to his office and grabbed this stuff.”
    â€œYep.”
    Cassandra blinked. “How the hell do you do