A Goode Day for Murder

JUDE GOODE REFUSED TO LEAVE. Marney had tried everything. Put out the candles, said goodbye on the board, thrown a book at him. None of it worked. Marney had stormed up stairs to go to bed expecting him to disappear in the night. In fact, she expected to believe it was a nightmare in the end. Instead, when she came down the next morning, Jude Goode was sitting at the table like he'd never left.

There was a ghost. Sitting at at her kitchen table.

As far as ghosts went, Jude wasn't the oddest. He looked completely alive. There was no transparency or floating. No, thank god, wounds. If Marney didn't know he had died, she would have assumed he had just stopped by for a visit.

Somehow, getting Jude made Liz not appearing worse. It was almost taunting. Just enough failure that even the fact she'd summoned a ghost seemed bitter and uninspiring.

Which only left one answer — getting rid of him. Once he was gone, Marney could try again. Or at the very least she wouldn't have to deal with him hanging around and making a nuisance of himself. The question was how. Nothing she tried worked and she couldn't exactly go buy Ghosts For Dummies at the local supermarket. So far the only option seemed to be ignoring him, which wouldn't last forever.

The best Marney could find was to help him move on. Ghosts, sources agree, stuck around from unfinished business. You had to finish said business to get rid of them. Of course, that was with naturally occurring ghosts, not ones you summoned, but it was a start.

It wasn't hard to get Jude alone. He followed her everywhere. It was as simple as heading out to her fort. Marney pulled the sheet down to cover the open and sat cross-legged in the middle. Then she waited.

"Is there a password or something?" Jude said from the out side.

"Does it matter?" Marney tried to keep her tone as even as possible. Technically, there was, but it never stopped Jude before.

There was a laugh and Jude stepped in side. Didn't even bother opening the sheet — he couldn't — or bending down. He simply walked through the wall like it was nothing and sat down in front of her.

"Listen, so, this is a little awkward...I...uh...I wasn't trying to summon you," Marney admitted. "Sorry."

"Oh, I know," Jude said.

"Then why won't you leave? What's so important to you that you won't leave me alone?"

Jude raised an eyebrow, his mouth turning the slightest smile. Marney didn't like that expression. It meant he was plotting something. Usually it was followed by him getting Liz into some sort of trouble.

"Sending me away so soon? I haven't even told you how to contact your sister yet," Jude said.

At once, Marney straightened. She couldn't keep the curiosity from flashing across her face. "How —"

"Ah, ah, ah. That's cute, Marns Barns, but unfortunately your adorable enthusiasm isn't enough to convince me," Jude leaned forwards and looked around, as if afraid someone might over hear him. "See, I have something I need you to do for me. I'd do it myself, of course, but I'm a little..." Jude waved his hand at Marney's shoulder. It went through like she wasn't even there. "Impaired at the moment."

Of course. Marney had expected that to be part of it anyways. She straightened her shoulders. It shouldn't be too hard. Usually ghosts wanted you to send a last message or find a buried fortune. Sure whatever Jude had to say probably wasn't nice, but it was worth it to see Liz. To get answers and...and actually say goodbye.

"I need you to kill my dad."

Marney choked on her breath for a second and tried to cover it in a cough. There was no way she heard Jude right. Clearly her brain had a poorly timed glitch.

No one would be surprised to hear Jude didn't get along with his father. Nick Goode was the sheriff. His son shoplifting, vandalizing, and over all disrupting the Sunnyvale perfection was a bad look. Jude spent more time at their house than his own and, through Liz, Marney had heard all of his complains of a strained relationship. Arguments were abound — something impressive given how appearance obsessed the Goodes were. Hell, Jude died the day after he came home from some sort of reform school the Goodes had stuck him in.

But murder? Really?

"No! No way, what the hell, Jude?" Marney demanded.

Marney didn't wait to hear his response. She pushed out of the fort, ignoring Jude sitting in front of her. There was a wave of cold as Marney passed through them. All warmth had suddenly drained out of her. It was made worse when Jude proceeded to pass through her again to stand in front of her. Marney shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself.

"What? Cmon, you've got to admit, he's a total ass. No one's gonna miss him," Jude insisted.

"That's not the point!" Marney said. Besides, those two statements were only half true. Marney may not like Nick, but she wouldn't claim no one would miss him. Or that murder was alright for either reasons. "He's your dad. Why would you want him dead?"

A shadow fell over Jude's expression. Marney stepped back. Maybe she was imagining it, but she could have sworn the temperature dropped. Then it disappeared. Once again Jude was grinning at her. The switch was so quick that Marney could have believed she imagined it.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Jude said. Marney's discomfort must have showed, as he quickly added, "Fine! Fine. Just...ruin his life. Break his leg. I don't care. I don't fucking care, as long he gets what he deserves!"

"He's your dad," Marney repeated.

"So what? News flash, Marney, that doesn't make him a saint!"

"I'm not ruin your dad's life on a whim!"

"Do you want to see your sister or not?"

Marney fell silent. Jude was tense now, any attempt at charm gone. If Marney didn't know better, she'd have thought he was close to tears. That was what it came down it, wasn't it? Didn't she want to see Liz again? Wasn't that the entire point?

"Do you want to see your sister or not?" Jude repeated, his voice low.

Was their a proper answer to that? Yes, Marney wanted to see Liz. More than anything. That wasn't the question. The question was if it was worth enacting Jude's revenge.

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FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HER LIFE, BEC WENT TO WORK HAPPILY. She had an early shift, eight to noon, which meant she could leave a note and before Dad woke up. It effectively put off the inevitable mention of last nights events by at least four hours. And if Bec was lucky she could convince Stacy McMillian to hand over her shift. Knowing her, it'd be as easy as telling her work raised her chances of getting stabbed.

Alas, it couldn't last. Bec had to come home some time. And while Stacy had been happy to go home without doing her job — after Bec promised Stacy her shift the next day — the manager refused to let her work more then eight hours.

Bec was careful as she opened the door. She peered around it's edge, prepared to run if her dad was waiting for her.

Instead she found Ruben, standing in the middle of the hallway. When she approached, Bec found he was staring at a picture hung on the wall. It was a family photo in front of the house they still lived in — except it was her dad's family.

Dad was easy to find. He stood between his parents, looking barely any older than Bec and her sisters were now. Eighteen, nineteen at most, in a shirt that read Class of '76. In front where the twins, Ruben and Bram, fourteen if you assumed 1976 was the date of the picture.

1976. Two years before the Nightwing Massacre.

Bec swallowed hard, suddenly very aware she'd never met over half the people in that picture. That it was because over half of them were dead.

But that was just the Wardwell way, wasn't it? Dying. Her grandparents, Bram, her mom, and now Liz.

"It must be weird being back here," Bec said.

Ruben didn't respond for a long time. Bec was about call it a lost cause when he glanced at her. She could have sworn she saw the ghost of a smile. Whatever it was, Bec offered a weak smile in return. It was something.

Something promptly cut short when Dad turned the corner.

"Rebecca!" To Bec's relief, he sounded more concerned than angry. "Where have you been? You were supposed to be home..." he checked his watch. "Four hours, three minutes and twenty five seconds ago. I tried to report you missing —"

"Dad! Jeez, I picked up an extra shift, it was only four hours," Bec said.

"Which is what they said. But the first twenty four hours after someone's gone missing —"

"Are the most important," Bec finished. She'd heard the whole spiel a thousand times. "What did you expect, for me to stock up on twinkies and make a run for Canada?"

"People have been kidnapped from safer places than a gas station, Bec," Dad scolded.

"Sure have. But, tah dah, I'm here and alive! So guess we're good now."

Bec made jazz hands and turned to leave. If she was lucky, her dad would have forgotten about the police call entirely. If she was super lucky, they wouldn't have called in the first place.

"Rebecca Wardwell." But since when was she lucky? Bec groaned and turned faced her dad. "Sheriff Goode called."

"It's Sheriff Goode now? I thought he was Nick," Bec grumbled.

"Bec," Dad warned, in the 'I'm not mad, I'm disappointed' tone. Bec hunched her shoulders. "It's Sheriff Goode when he calls me about you and your friends causing a car crash."

Ruben inhaled sharply. Turns out, he'd still been standing there the entire time. Bec would have thought he'd have left by now. Then she remembered he was stuck between the two of them. She stepped to the side and he hurried past.

"First of all, Nick Goode is a lying bitch, because he has no evidence," Bec started.

"So you did cause a car crash?" Dad said.

"No!" Bec protested. Her voice rose an octave. "I mean, if you want to get technically, I only opened the emergency door. Kate was the one who let go of the cooler. And who cares? It's not like Goode knows that, everyone said it was an accident. He's just accusing us because he can!"

"Someone could have been killed."

"Yeah, but they weren't!"

"You can't just put people in danger because they might not get hurt, Rebecca!"

"What where we supposed to do? They're driving around in skull masks like it's all some kind of joke," Bec threw up her hands. Her face burnt, and she couldn't tell if it was from shame or anger. "Everyone's acting like it's a joke, if you haven't noticed. Liz is dead, she died, and all everyone gives a shit about is some made up witch!"

"Bec..."

"You know I'm right. And I tried, okay? I tried to act like it was normal and fine and everything's fine but it's not! Because my uncle's crazy, my sister's dead, my friends are assholes, and this entire town is on fire and the only thing anyone in the world wants to do is point and laugh!"

"That's all Shadyside is, isn't it? The freakshow act of the state," Bec continued. "But who cares right? That's just what we do, and ten years another Shadysider'll go crazy and another Wardwell dies because, hey, some witch fucking hated us!"

Bec finished her rant with a wave of her hands. It was unnecessarily dramatic, but it was better than crying like she wanted to. Dad's expression was pained. Before he could say something — and Bec was sure he would — she shoved past him and stormed out the door. She didn't even know where she meant to go. As long as it wasn't here.

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IT TOOK TALENT TO IGNORE A GHOST HOVERING OVER YOUR SHOULDER. Especially when said ghost seemed determined to beg for attention. Yet, as Marney made her way to the Johnsons' house, she seemed to be doing well enough. It was easy once you got use to someone trying to poke the side of your head and phasing through it instead.

Dad had been in a complete panic when Marney got home. Bec had been in a mood again. They got in a fight, she stormed off, and he was dead certain something had happened to her. In the end, Marney had promised to go find her.

Not like finding her was hard. Bec went to Deena's every time she was mad at her family.

Something crossed the corner of Bec's vision as she approached the house. It barely stood out from the shadows. A figure dressed in all black, a onesie with a skeleton printed on it. Skull mask. Marney bit her tongue to keep from shouting and stumbled back. She'd missed him until she was right in front of him. Yet he didn't see, to notice her. Instead he stared straight ahead, eyes locked on Deena's house.

There was a glint in his hand. He had a knife.

Marney cut across the yard and sprinted for the Johnsons' door. She frantically hit the doorbell, checking over her shoulder as she did. Skull Mask didn't move. It could be a prank. But everyone knew copy-cat killings weren't unknown, especially when they got this much attention.

Deena tore open the door just as Marney went to try knocking instead. Marney stopped just in time, nearly punching the girl in the face.

"Hi, I'm here for Bec and also there's a guy with a knife at the end of your drive way please let me in," Marney said, practically mashing every word into one.

"What?" Deena pushed past Marney, squinting into the gloom. "Sunnyvale prick."

Before Marney could ask, Deena hurried her inside. She stopped in the living room as Deena continued into the kitchen. Bec was waiting there. One of Josh's games was playing on the TV, currently on a waiting screen. Which meant the boy couldn't be too far.

Josh was technically Deena's younger brother. But it was only by two years, and due to him never making his own friends, he was basically one of theirs. Well...correction. He was basically Marney's. The two had met through Deena and Bec. They didn't always agree — especially when it came to Sarah Fier — but their shared interest in all things spooky had bridged the age gap and built a solid friendship.

"Marney? What the hell are you doing here?" Bec demanded.

"Looking for you. Do you know how freaked out Dad is right now?" Marney paused as Deena stormed past them, knife in hand. "Uh, Deena? Are you planning to fight him or something?"

Deena's response was to head out on the porch. Through the window, Marney could see her shouting at the figure. It continued to just stare. She turned back to the living room in time to see Josh had joined them.

"What is going on?" Marney asked.

"Sam's boyfriend is creeping around outside dressed like Skull Mask," Josh answered.

Yeah. She'd seen the Skull Mask guy. Marney turned back to see Deena come back inside and head for the phone. Peter? She hadn't met him, so she had no idea if this was the sort of thing he'd do. He was a Sunnyvalers. They never took the things that happened in Shadyside seriously. The question was why? This was a lot for just some prank.

It got even weirder when Simon and Kate showed up. Apparently he'd broken into the house Kate was babysitting at.

"I'm going to kill that pervert!" Kate seethed.

"Why — why would he even break in?" Marney asked. "I mean it's one thing to stand around with a knife, but breaking in entering is an actual crime."

"Not when you're a Sunnyvaler," Bec grumbled through a mouthful of pizza. The Johnsons clearly weren't planning on anyone else eating their dinner, but had kindly obliged when Bec mentioned she hadn't eaten all day.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Marney scolded. Bec flipped her off.

"He was acting all shifty and shit. Like going through the laundry," Simon said. He suddenly knelt next to Josh and added, "You need to get some groceries, man. We have an incredible sale at the store —"

"Dude! Not the time!" Bec slapped Simon's arm.

"He broke into the house! He had a knife!" Kate repeated.

"Whoa! With the kids there?" Josh said. "That's wack!"

"That's fucking right, Josh. It is wack. Thank you," Kate agreed.

"So wack," Jude chirped from the corner.

Marney groaned. With the whole Peter debacle, Jude seemed to have disappeared completely. She had hoped he was gone. Decided to go ask some other poor shmuck to murder for him. But there was no such luck in this world. He was still there, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed. The worst part? No one seemed to notice him. Still. Just. Her.

"It's almost like he's gone crazy or something," Jude said.

Yeah right. Sunnyvaler gone mad. The day that happened was the day pigs flied.

"Marney," Bec slapped Marney's shoulder. Shaken out of her daze, Marney realized everyone else had left. "Come on. We're going to see Sam, tell her to come pick up she psycho boyfriend."

Marney glanced between Jude and Bec. The two were looking right at each other. Yet Bec noticed nothing. Well, that confirmed it. Taking a deep breath, Marney hurried after the others.

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KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH HIS SONG SEEMED ON THE NOSE FOR A HOSPITAL. Not that Bec gave two shits. They weren't here to critique the receptionist's music choices, they were here to give Sam a piece of their mind. Maybe if they were lucky, Peter would show up, and they'd get to really go at him.

They stood in front of the counter for quite awhile. The receptionist, completely inthralled with her nail file, didn't notice. At least until Bec leaned over Deena's shoulder and hit the bell.

"Fill these out and take a seat," the receptionist didn't even look up as she placed a form in front of them.

"No, I'm just visiting," Deena corrected.

"Visiting hours ends at nine," The receptionist said.

Yeah, great. Thanks. They should have just scheduled their stalking to be a little bit earlier, sorry. God, Peter probably planned all of this out. Good excuse not to be with your injured girlfriend — it's after visiting hours. What a creep.

Kate cleared her throat and approached the counter. "Tell Nurse Beddy she has a patient."

That work. Because apparently Beddy did her job better than whatever this lady was doing. Not that she looked any more interested in them when she arrived.

"Beddy. Long time, how you been?" Kate leaned on the counter.

Beddy looked between the group, stopped at Simon, then turned back to Kate. "Still toting around with this moron?"

"She can't quit me, Beddy. I'm too pretty," Simon motioned to himself.

Beddy scoffed. Bec almost did the same.

"Listen, we need your assistance," Kate said.

"I'm sure the you do, but there happens to be a new security protocol. We kept coming up short on blueberries and bananas. So now I need a special key —" Beddy started.

"I need to see a patient," Deena interrupted, stepping between Beddy and Kate.

In the end, it worked out. Deena was taken into the back, and the others were left to wait. Bec folded her hands behind her back and rocked on her feet. This better not take too long. Marney was right. Dad was going to be freaked when they got home. She felt bad for not even considering that. And Marney herself was acting weird. In the last two minutes she'd zoned out at least six time.

At the moment she was half listening, half side-eying at a chair like it was going to eat her. Bec considered asking what was wrong. But it was too late for more weirdness.

"Blueberries and bananas?" Josh asked.

"Vicodin and Percocet," Kate said, as if weird code words for the drugs they sold were totally normal. She nodded towards the vending machine. "What anything from the machine? I'm starving."

"I just ate," Bec said. She was fully aware Kate was just looking for an excuse to drop the conversation, but it also gave her an excuse to get Marney's attention. "Marns? What anything?"

Marney blinked and shook her head.

"Yo, Si-Money. Cash me," Kate called from the machine, hand held out to Simon.

"Don't look at me, dude. I'm...I'm..I'm broke," Simon checked his pockets, just in case, but found nothing.

Kate looked to the others. All with the same result. Bec didn't get her paycheck until next friday, and she just used the last of her spending money on gas. Unless Kate wanted her to break into her savings for a pack of skittles, which was a no-go. Josh at least dug through every single pocket he had. Including the one on the front of his shirt.

Dork.

Still, he did have an idea. He approached the machine and tapped the numbers. It seemed completely random to Bec. Yet, when he turned around, the machine began to rattle. One by one, every rack twirled forwards, dumping their contents to the ground.

"Holy shit..." Bec glanced over at the receptionist. The hospital was going to be so pissed. This was great!

"What do you want?" Josh leaned against the machine.

"This is sick, Josh," Bec bent to grab candy. She dumped them into Josh's arms, and he proceeded to pass them out. "Where'd you learn this?"

"Oh, a lot of people trade hacks online," Josh said.

"Nerd," Simon coughed into his hand.

"Shut up," Marney grabbed the candy from Simon. "No candy until you respect the art. It's super cool, Josh."

Simon whined, but recovered quickly. Instead he just grabbed one out of Josh's arms and made sure it was out of Marney's reach. As he did, Josh stared awkwardly between them.

"So...um...when'd you get into the fruit business?" Josh asked. Kate tilted her head. "Um..the, uh, drugs."

"Oh, no, it's just those two," Bec motioned towards Simon and Kate.

"And that's just temporary. Saving up to get out of here," Kate said.

"Take me with you," Josh said.

Bec snorted slightly. Josh was great, honest, but he was such a dork sometimes. The very obvious crush on Kate wasn't doing him any favors, either. Simon raised a finger, then brought it down with a whistle and a mock explosion.

A screen erupted from down the hallway. Bec whipped her head around to see Deena and Sam barreling past them. Deena screamed for them to run as she passed.

"Did they get back together?" Simon asked.

The answer was Skull Mask — Peter — blasting past them. Bec caught a flash of blood.

Rightfully, they screamed. Bec grabbed Marney's arm and hauled her down the hallway. Forgetting about Deena and Sam entirely, the hurried for the exit. They stopped at the doorway as Simon dug through his pants for the keys.

"Where are the keys? Do you have the keys?" Simon demanded. "No! Where...where are the keys?"

Totally missing, apparently. Bec turned around. Peter was still hot on the others trial, but it wouldn't be long before he caught up, killed them, and came back for more. They needed to get moving. Hopefully find their friends before the murderer did.

"Come on. The ambulance," Kate decided.

They ran for the vehicle. To their surprise, there were still keys inside. Probably so it could get moving fast. Would really suck if their ambulance got held up because of lost keys.

Kate leapt into the drivers seat. They tore around the side of the building, coming to a stop outside the front doors. Bec threw open the doors to find Sam and Deena struggling with Peter. He had Sam wrapped in his arms, knife inches from her throat.

Sam managed to struggle free. She ran for the ambulance. Bec grabbed her arm and practically threw her inside. Deena followed seconds later. They pulled out just as Peter got to his feet.