Echoes of Eddie -28

Can a dead man reach out from the grave to exact revenge against those responsible for his death? Welcome to the twenty-eighth installment of a story that explores that possibility. If you've not done so, read the story from the beginning HERE.

To insure that he wouldn't be detected, he followed the tree line to the top of the hill and settled in a secure spot which afforded him an unobstructed view of the graveyard. From this vantage point he would be able to see the cop coming with his two prisoners as well keep an eye on everyone standing around Eddie's grave.

It hadn't turned out exactly like he had planned, but the results he had envisioned were still attainable. His idiot of a partner had almost ruined everything. Why all of a sudden did he care for his son's reputation? He had written the little bastard off a long time ago. Well, what ever the reason for his change of heart, he couldn't sit back and allow Jameson to open that coffin.

He was supposed to have stopped his son from trying to open the grave. Why in the hell had he decided to carry out Junior's mission? How much did he tell his son? Ah yes, the son! As he studied the small crowd assembled by the grave, he noted that Junior was the only one not present.

He picked up a bag he had stashed there earlier and removed the contents. He slipped the transparent rain slicker over his head. Even in the minimal light at that hour of the evening the pale bluish tint was visible in its folds. He glanced skyward and smiled as he saw the moon beginning to slip from behind the clouds that had given birth to a few flurries of snow earlier.

He thought back to that fateful meeting with the respected Optometrist. It was a stroke of sheer brilliance he'd thought when Jameson demonstrated the jacket for him. While the explanation of the technology was over his head, the properties of the seemingly insignificant plastic rain slicker just about floored him.

When sensors sewn into the seams at strategic points were exposed to light, damned if it didn't make the entire jacket glow with a strange bluish tint. It was when Jameson next turned off the room lights that the possibilities of its uses came to him. At the doctor's request he was standing in front of a full-length mirror as he played an LED flashlight upon it. The whole thing seem to glow like blue embers. He moved around and was mesmerized by the reflection before him. All he could see was a floating ball of blue. With each of his movements the shimmering blue aura seemed to waver and azure tendrils folded and unfolded upon themselves.

He was proud of himself and he grinned at how easy it had been to draw Jameson into the web of his schemes. He had played upon the man's disappointment of his son's chosen career choice. It had been easier still to focus the man's emotions in the direction of the Blake girl. It wasn't long before Jameson was convinced that it was Tiffany Blake, faking her pregnancy to entrap his son, who had driven him to decide not to follow in his father's footsteps into the field of optometry.

Then he had revealed to Jameson what had really happened to Eddie Nolan that night and who had been there. Jameson was hooked. Jameson's main objective had been to exact revenge on Tiffany Blake. His son had only been there because of that girl, and anything wrong he might have done was because of her. He'd had no compassion for the others who had been there, and as such any actions taken that would also include her were acceptable.

He mused to himself how the anger and hatred had so taken over Jameson, that not once had he ever asked what his interest or involvement had been in regards to the events of Eddie Nolan's death. The man had never even questioned how he'd known what had happened or how he'd known who had been there.

So it was that just before sunrise three mornings before that he and Jameson had put their plan in motion. Wearing the slicker he had been standing behind a tree next to the road when Tommy Joe Baker's truck approached the sharp curve. Hidden on the other side of the road and on cue, Jameson had turned on his flashlight, its beam striking the transparent garment. Tommy, with his passenger Mindy Alyson saw something cross in his path. His reaction, a deadly one, was to swerve to avoid hitting whatever it was.

It hadn't been planned that Steven Cooper would at that same moment appear on the road coming from the opposite direction, but it had proven to be a fortuitous stroke of luck. He'd then scurried up the hillside and had deliberately allowed himself to be seen as a blue glowing form leaving the scene.

With Steven's return to Soddy-Daily and the coincidental rash of accidental deaths there was a pall that had come over the town. A few well placed rumors and stories about a blue ghost soon spread like a wildfire. He chuckled when he remembered how that Dobbs character had unwittingly fanned the flames when he'd claimed to have seen the blue thing too.


David didn't know if he would be able to face Marjorie again. He didn't want to see her get hurt. When this night was over however, there would be few of those present who would be spared having their lives raked through the coals. He glanced over at her, rehearsing in his mind what he might say to her.

What could one say to a girl thinking she had finally found true love, when unknown to her, the object of her affections was in fact her brother? Would she ever be able to forgive him and Sam for using her as a pawn in their game?

Then there was Catherine. She had been a pillar of strength through it all. She had been carrying the burden of knowledge and guilt for so long, and yet had maintained her sanity.

He glanced next in the direction of Tiffany Blake. The note he had given to her son was designed to "shake the tree," so to speak, to see what might fall out of it. He grinned remembering that it had been Sam's idea to have the note delivered by the kid's 'uncle.' For all of her greedy conniving, for all of her sleeping around, it was most amusing to know that she had more reason than ever to question the fatherhood of her son Billy.


They all turned at the sudden crack of a gunshot. On the path from the quarry Jack and Steve appeared with a man trailing close behind them. Only Sam and David showed no surprise as it became evident that they were handcuffed and the man behind was holding a gun.

"It's about time, Charlie," Sam called out to the man. When they were standing next to one another he whispered, "What took you so long? I thought something had gone wrong."

The officer ignored him and glared at David. "Why did you shoot me?"

"I didn't fire the gun, Charlie. Somebody jumped me from behind."

"I didn't count on this," said Sam looking around at the tree line which surrounded them on three sides. "The hunter has become the prey."

( to be continued... Echoes of Eddie -29)

No.1407