“You paid Samantha to seduce your mom’s boyfriend and then told your mom about it? Why would you hurt her like that?”
The temperature in the room dropped significantly when Kitty appeared. She hovered near her son, her face a sad mask. Tears glistened like diamonds on her translucent cheeks. Phillip was the unfinished business. He was the reason she was trying to scare Rosalind away.
“Hurt her? Hurt her?” His voice boomed. “She wanted to live with the man who taught me how to kill the damn cats. She wanted to raise a baby with the monster. I couldn’t let it happen.” He narrowed his eyes. “I wouldn’t let that happen.”
“Phillip, I know what you’re going through. My father tried to kill me when I was younger than you.”
Phillip adjusted his grip on the gun. “You’re lying, and you’re stalling.”
“I’m not lying. He thought I was a freak because I can see ghosts. It’s true.” Ryley glanced toward Kitty. “Your mom is right over there.”
He glanced in that direction. His hand started to shake.
Kitty stretched out her arms, and wrapped them around his shoulders. It was weird and beautiful at the same time. The kid had killed his mom, but a mother’s love never died.
“Talk to her, she can hear you,” Ryley encouraged, pulling the needle out of Christopher’s neck. She kicked it under the tub and grabbed the putty knife lying by his feet.
Kitty cupped her hand on his face. “She’s touching your cheek. Do you feel a coldness there?”
The kid rested his palm on his face over his mom’s as if guided by the chill. A tear slipped down his cheek. “Why didn’t you listen to me?”
Ryley cut the ties used on Christopher, even though he was still unconscious.
“Why did you have to cheat on Dad?” Phillip’s tears came harder and faster.
Ryley pulled Rosalind out of the bath and onto the floor. The sound of sloshing water made Phillip’s gaze flash in Ryley’s direction. He re-aimed the gun. His nostrils flared with the fire in his eyes.
“Phillip, your mom doesn’t want you to do this. She loves you very much.”
“You’re lying,” Phillip said, aiming the gun at Rosalind’s unconscious body on the floor.
Ryley stepped in front of Rosalind, blocking the path, holding the Taser tight in her hand behind her back. “I can’t let you kill her. She saved my life when I thought I was going insane.”
“She ruined mine,” Phillip said.
“Kitty loves you. She tried to stop me from figuring out what you’ve done.”
Uncertainty clouded Phillip's eyes.
“Who do you think put these scratches on my face? Who do you think pushed Rosalind down the stairs? She’s still trying to protect you even from the grave, but she can’t anymore. You killed her.”
More tears sprung from his eyes, creating a wet path down his cheek. “Your attempt at murder-suicide is over. You won’t be able to explain my presence.”
“I’m sure I’ll think of something. The papers called you a crazy psychic. I can get them to believe me,” Phillip said, swiping angrily at his tears. He moved his finger on the trigger.
Ryley threw her Taser at his hand, knocking the gun away from her direction, then she charged him. The gun skittered into the art room and she scrambled to reach it. Phillip grabbed her foot and pulled her back, turning her on the ground. He jumped on her and punched. She fought back, bucking him off of her body. Phillip was a strong kid, but he was no match for growing up with the likes of Ryley’s father.
An uppercut finally took him down for the count. His body crumpled to the floor, and Ryley crawled toward the gun.
“Ryley!” Jake Crews called out as he raced into the room. Ryley left the gun where it lay and rolled over on the floor, trying to catch her breath.
His look said it all.
She pointed a tired hand toward the bathroom. “The kid killed Kitty, and your mom is unconscious in the bathroom. I don’t know what he gave her, but the needle is in there. It was in his dad’s neck.”
Crews headed for the bathroom when Phillip groaned and reached for the gun. He aimed it at Crews as more cops hurried in. They yelled at him to drop it. Tears streamed harder down Phillip's face as he glanced at Ryley. “Is she still here?”
Kitty was hovering behind him.
Ryley nodded.
Without warning, Phillip turned the gun on himself and pulled the trigger.
“No!” Ryley screamed, crawling in his direction.
One of the police officers pulled her back.
More officers hurried into the room, along with medics.
All Ryley could do was stare at the two apparitions in the room. Phillip was standing next to his mother while she was cupping his cheek. Kitty glanced in her direction with a sad smile before she and Phillip both vanished.
The police ordered Ryley out of the room. The medics were trying to help her, and she shoved them away, using the wall to help her stand. She held her ribs while stumbling out of the art studio and into the pool area.
Samantha was standing next to another cop. Relief filled her eyes. “I was so worried. I wanted to yell at you to run, but he would have killed me, too. I called the cops when I got down the drive.”
“You did good,” Ryley said, collapsing into a patio chair. Samantha sat with her.
“Is he still alive? He made me do it. He made me seduce the coach. He threatened my
