Page 67 of You Can Make Me

The old ladies.“I think I do.”

“You saw me. Back at the house. With Kal and my board.”

“I don’t knowwhatI saw.”

He chuckled. Denny and Walter were against the far wall of the pool watching us, whispering to each other as they observed. Denny’s gaze was anxious, as if he felt my agitation and wanted to take it away but knew I needed to hear this.

“Cooper, in your job, or in your life, how do you deal with unexplained phenomena?”

I balked. “How? Well, I find the truth. There’s an explanation for everything, even when you don’t agree or believe it’s not possible. I don’t give up until I’ve found the truth. That goes for everything.”

“Even if it hurts someone else?”

“That’s…that’s not what I mean.”

He leaned his elbows on the side of the pool next to me. “What if the truth you seek causes harm to another?”

I flinched.Those words…

“How…how do you know about that?”

“I first met them old ladies by the store when I was fifteen years old. In nineteen sixty-seven. I bought a Ouija board from them. I didn’t mean to buy it, but they insisted I needed it.” He sat up a little taller and pushed back his hair with a shaky hand. “You saw the board, the one me and Kal used to help track down the killer…the killer we were too late to stop.”

“I walked right into his trap and I didn’t even know.”

Dee Dee put his hand on my knee and sighed. “You knew something was off with my story when you interviewed me. Why?”

“Because. You look exactly like Dane Donovan.”

“And?” He nodded slowly.

“There was something different about you. But how?” I insisted, taking his hand in mine.

“The carnival.”

Denny appeared at my side as the man’s words shook my whole world.

“The one your grandfather told you about. The one your circus pals came from.”

My vision went blurry as the damn tears started up again.

“Hey, it’s okay. Come here.”

I allowed Denny to lift me and bring me into the water with him. I wrapped myself around him as I sobbed, but I kept my eyes on…

“Dane Donovan.”

Walter sat beside him and held him close while he stared at me with those bright green eyes. He was daring me to believe in him, and I saw no alternative.

“In the mangled flesh, at your service.” He gave a funny little bow, and we all chuckled, releasing some of the tension.

“We wanted to tell you,” Walter said. “Once we knew what happened.”

“But you were concerned about safety. And whether I’d keep my big mouth shut. God, I’m so sorry, I can’t even imagine what you’ve been through,” I said.

Dane smiled sadly. “Yes you can. You’ve been through it, too.”

I let out a breath and Denny squeezed me tight. When I stood on my own two feet, he moved behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. “So it’s true what Granddad told me. The carnival heals people?”