Outside Forces

by R E Swirsky

  ***

  Much time passed as they consoled Michael in the front room. It was becoming more obvious to Richard by Michael’s meltdown that Michael actually believed he was telling the truth about everything he had said regarding Lucy’s disappearance. But it made no sense. Which parts were truth and which were fabricated, he couldn’t tell.

  “Johhny’s the one behind it. I know it,” Michael was still beside himself with grief. “He was there when it started.”

  This was the part of the story Richard had trouble with from the very start. Do Johnny and the others even exist? He was having trouble believing there was a Johnny.

  “Johnny plays basketball. That’s all you know?”

  Michelle puckered her lips and tugged on Richard’s arm.

  “What?” he asked, annoyed. He pulled his arm away and turned back to Michael. “How can you not even know his last name?”

  “Lucy never told me—well maybe she did, but I don’t remember.”

  Michelle tapped Richard on the shoulder.

  “Stop it, Michelle.” Her tapping annoyed him. He kept his focus on Michael. “Try, Michael. If she told you anything else you have to try to remember.…” He wanted a smidgen of evidence, something solid so he could at least hold onto some belief that Michael was being truthful.

  “But, Richard.…” Michelle said trying to get his attention. She tapped him again.

  “I said stop it already. I’m trying to sort this out.”

  “But I don’t know anything else,” Michael said. “I’ve told you this a thousand times already! Why can’t you just believe me?”

  Michelle tapped Richard again on the shoulder.

  “For Christ’s sake! Would you stop poking me!”

  “There is no Johnny, Richard,” Michelle blurted out.

  Richard wanted to scream at Michelle. Of course there was no Johnny. Michael’s story was full of holes and nonsense, but he didn’t want to hit him so hard and fast with what he suspected.

  Michael’s eyes seemed to collapse in as he heard her words. Sadness swooped down upon his face. “So you don’t believe me either?” He dropped his head into his hands and mumbled something no one could understand.

  “But I do believe you, Michael,” Michelle replied. “I believe everything you’re saying.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Richard was highly irritated. First she dropped a bomb on Michael and then immediately capitulated.

  “When I left the house earlier this afternoon to go do errands, I didn’t really have any errands to do. I was so annoyed with the way you talked and upset Michael that I just had to get away to clear my head. I went to the library. I started to do some digging into what Michael had said about this Johnny person.”

  Michael lifted his head and looked up at Michelle.

  “And…?” Richard prompted.

  “I didn’t find anything.”

  Richard chuckled. “Okay then,” he said annoyed again. Of course she wasn’t going to find anything. He turned to Michael and tried to remember where he had left off.

  “But that’s what I mean, Richard. I didn’t find anything. Nothing at all about this guy.”

  He rolled his eyes over to her slowly. “And where are you going with all of this?”

  “I believe what Michael has been saying, but there is no Johnny. At least none that I can find.”

  “Michelle, please. I don’t think this is helping.”

  “Michael said Johnny played on the university basketball team.” She shook her head. “Nuh-uh, he didn’t.”

  “Lucy said he played on the team,” Michael stated. “I never go to any games, so.…”

  That would confirm lie number one, Richard thought.

  “There is no Johnny on this year’s team. There was no one named Johnny at any of the tryouts either, and no injured player or cut player named Johnny. I couldn’t find a Jon, Johnny or Jonathan playing any kind of basketball for the university this entire past year.”

  The mood in the room shifted.

  “I’m not lying about Johnny,” Michael stated emphatically.

  “What else did you find—or not find?” Richard asked.

  Michelle focused her attention at Michael. “You said he was trying out for the Canadian mogul team.”

  Michael nodded. “Lucy told me that, too.”

  Michelle shook her head.

  “No Johnny there either?” Richard asked. Surprise, surprise. There goes lie number two.

  “None that I could see. But I really need to research this properly. I have contacts at the university and at the office that can dig this kind of information up in minutes. I’ll be making calls first thing tomorrow morning when the office opens.”

  “So what does this mean?” Tawnie asked. She had remained silent, listening to all the information as it came out.

  Michael stood up and bounced anxiously on his feet. He pinched at his eyes to hold back the tears. “It means Lucy was lying to me,” he said. “About everything. It was all a lie.”

  Richard frowned. He was angry that Michael wouldn’t just come clean and that he seemed determined to stick to his story, but he continued to play along with Michael’s claim to innocence. “No it doesn’t.”

  “Yes it does.” He paused and then swatted at the air to his left before hammering the heel of his palm against his ear a couple of times with his eyes closed tight. “Shhh. Shut up, shut up.”

  “Michael?” Michelle frowned and looked at Richard for an explanation. He wasn’t about to explain it, but Michael was definitely sliding.

  Michael opened his eyes as if he finally heard his father. “Um, yeah. She told me his name was Johnny and that he was another student at school. She lied to me, Dad.”

  “Now just hold on a sec, Michael. Let’s not.…”

  “Now I know why she kept having me sneak in through the back to see her. She made me promise not to tell a soul about us and I didn’t, Dad. Don’t you see? Why would she do that?”

  Yeah, Michael, Richard wondered. Why would she do that? Was this lie number three? Slip in through the back, no one sees you, no one knows you are even there.

  “But the kidnapping you saw was real,” Tawnie said. “Johnny was there, right?”

  Richard wanted to laugh. Isn’t this where this crazy business all started? With Michael under the bed watching Lucy getting kidnapped after Johnny showed up at her door? Chalk up the biggest of them all. Lie number four. Was Michael ever really under her bed?

  Michael choked up and stammered. “It is…it…is what I saw.”

  “Maybe Johnny was just a big fat liar.” Tawnie offered. “Makes sense, doesn’t it?” Her voice rose in excitement. “And maybe Johnny was really up to something else totally, like he’s a spy or something.”

  Michelle shook her head and scowled her annoyance at Tawnie.

  “Oh!” Tawnie perked up and her eyes lit with excitement. “Maybe they were both lying! Maybe her name wasn’t even Lucy!”

  Michelle flung one arm out in her direction. “Stop that nonsense. We’re trying to figure out what happened and this isn’t helping.”

  Tawnie was not about to let Michelle get under her skin. She snickered. “What nonsense?”

  Michelle leaned in at Tawnie. Her eyes burned with a warning that seemed to boil up from nowhere—one that said Watch yourself! “You know what I’m talking about. It’s always a conspiracy with you.”

  Tawnie held her tongue before speaking and glanced at her Dad, who sat staring at Michelle. “You were the one who said Johnny isn’t real, not me,” Tawnie stated. “I’m just adding suggestions to what you said, so don’t go all ape-crazy on me. If Michael’s saying there is a Johnny and you’re saying there isn’t.…”

  “But Lucy is real!” Michael insisted. “It’s her real name. I’ve been at school with her the whole year. I know everything about her and her family. Her dad’s a famous lawyer. Lucy is real!”

  “Yes, we do know Lucy is very real.” But
then again… Richard wondered. The part about Lucy never seemed like a lie, but maybe the root was. All lies are embedded somewhere along the line in truth.

  “How about this? Johnny is lying. Everything Johnny said was a lie,” Tawnie said. Her voice was flat but her statement seemed undeniably true. “Huh? What do you think? What if everything else is true?”

  It only took a moment for Richard to grasp the connection, and he burst a hearty laugh that had him nearly choking by how unexpected it was. Can’t find Johnny because Johnny had given Lucy a false name. Lucy lay at the root of the lie. He wanted to speak, but his spate of laughter had its hold and he couldn’t get his mouth to utter a single coherent word.

  “What’s so funny?” Michael asked, annoyed. “Johnny isn’t real? You think I’m making him up. Is that it? Is that what’s so funny?”

  Richard could only manage to shake his head as he tried to control his outburst of laughter. He wiped at the tears and gasped between laughs to catch some air so he could speak.

  “Richard, come on. This isn’t funny!” Michelle said.

  “He isn’t Johnny,” Richard managed to say, flinging spittle as he laughed.

  Tawnie understood immediately. She jumped up from her seat to explain. “I get it! Johnny is real, but his name’s not really Johnny! Of course!”

  “What?” Michael asked.

  Michelle continued to frown in disillusion at the sudden flurry of excitement.

  “His name’s not Johnny,” Tawnie said to Michael and Michelle. “That’s what he lied to her about. Don’t you see?” She shifted her gaze to Michelle. “That’s why you couldn’t find anything about ‘Johnny’.”

  Michael’s eyes drifted off and the tightness in his face loosened. Richard sensed he was revisiting all he knew and remembered about Johnny.

  “He isn’t…real?” he said, and his eyes focused and opened even wider. He cast his eyes upon Michelle and forced a smile at her. A tear dribbled down his cheek and he wiped it away.

  “You couldn’t find Johnny because Jonny’s not his real name. Don’t you see?”

  “Uh.…” Michelle mumbled.

  “So this Johnny guy lies to Lucy about who he is,” Tawnie said. “But why would he do that?”

  It wasn’t the only question. “Why would Lucy insist you tell no one about your relationship, Michael?”

  Michael shook his head. “I don’t know.” He looked like he was going to cry again. “Lucy said it had to be that way because of Johnny. Until Johnny was out of the picture, I was to keep everything about us a secret.”

  “Because?” Richard asked as if Michael knew the answer.

  “Because.…” Michael scratched his head and then shrugged. “She was scared of Johnny. That’s all I really know.”

  Richard nodded. It made some sense, but there was a lot about Johnny that still needed to be uprooted.

  “And then he comes back one last time to see her after they break up,” Tawnie said.

  Michael’s eyes lit up bright for the first time. “And I just remembered something else.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Johnny said he was supposed to be hundreds of miles away instead of showing up at her door. Mexico, I think. Why would he say that?”

  Richard heaved a heavy sigh. It was all good and well to put together pieces to try to support Michael’s odd story, but it wasn’t enough. There were too many unanswered questions. Where was Michael when Lucy fell? Michael still hadn’t answered that question.

  “He probably just changed his mind,” Tawnie suggested.

  “About Lucy you mean?” Michael asked.

  “Yes, and when he comes back to see her, he doesn’t get what he wants, so he kidnaps her.”

  “But it wasn’t like that,” Michael said.

  “But it is what happened, isn’t it?” Tawnie said.

  “Yes, kinda, but it wasn’t that simple. There were other guys, not just Johnny, that showed up.”

  “And these kidnappers take Lucy all the way up to the top of a mountain to push her off,” Richard said. He shook his head. “That part doesn’t make any sense.”

  “But she was kidnapped,” Tawnie added. “Michael said she was.”

  Right, Richard thought. Michael said she was kidnapped. Where was the proof? “The climb up Heart Mountain is not easy. It doesn’t make any sense that kidnappers would take her up a mountain. Especially a mountain as difficult as that one.”

  The room went silent for a few minutes.

  “Just maybe she wasn’t supposed to die,” Tawnie suggested. “Maybe they took her up there for another reason.”

  Michelle’s scowl deepened. “You can’t be serious!” Her eyes darted across the others seated in the room. “You can’t! There is no conspiracy here.”

  “So how and why did she fall off a mountain?” Tawnie asked.

  “Certainly not by being pushed or thrown off!” Michelle replied. “She probably just got up early Saturday and went hiking, simple as that. Sorry, Michael.”

  “She didn’t go hiking!” Michael shouted. “She was kidnapped on Friday night!”

  “Think about it, Michael,” Michelle added. “My scenario makes the most sense.”

  Michael rubbed his head again and mumbled a few incoherent words to himself. Richard could tell he was growing tired of defending his position.

  “And…” Michelle added, “… the police are even saying it was an accident.”

  Richard and Tawnie both nodded.

  “All I know is she was kidnapped on Friday night…Shh, no.” He hesitated again. “Yes, and I didn’t know what happened to her until a while ago. She didn’t fucking go hiking!” He trembled and another tear slipped down one cheek.

  “Okay, okay, Michael,” Richard said in response. “Just take it easy, we only want to get to the bottom of this.”

  “Her dad’s a lawyer. Maybe they kidnapped her because of him,” Michael suggested.

  “Stop it, already,” Michelle said firmly.

  Richard raised his arms to all in the room. “Look. At the moment I don’t know what to believe, but it’s clear something happened between Friday night and Saturday morning, and now this young girl—girlfriend of Michael’s…is dead. Whatever happened is very real.” Richard locked his eyes on Michael. Michael shifted his feet, shrugged, and looked away.

  Tawnie raised her hand. “Maybe they only took her up the mountain to hide her.”

  “Huh?” Michael responded.

  “And then something went wrong.”

  “I don’t think.…” Michelle started to say.

  “And remember those two hikers we saw going down the mountain?”

  Was it possible Michael was one of those two, Richard mused? He tried to recall the hikers’ appearance. Could one of them have been Michael? If so, who was the other one?

  “Where were you on Saturday, Michael?” he asked.

  “I don’t know…I was scared. I hung out on campus after she was taken Friday night, in the cafeteria, and then I went to find Lucy.”

  He went to find Lucy. “Did anyone see you? In the cafeteria?”

  Michael’s eyes danced about before he answered. “No, I don’t think so. School’s out so…I was scared after what happened Friday night and was trying not to be seen. I bought a bagel. The cashier saw me.”

  “Uh huh.” He wasn’t convinced, but if Michael’s memory was playing tricks, it may be all they had to work with. “So how did you get all the way out here from the university?”

  “Out here?” He rubbed one hand across his head and a confused look passed across. “I uh.…”

  This was not the response Richard had hoped for.

  “Oh, wait…” Michael rubbed his ear and whispered to himself before replying. “Jordan!” he said excitedly. “Jordan from school drove me out here. He lives up near the university.”

  “And what time was that?”

  Michael hesitated again. “Um…Saturday, uh…yeah. I think.…” He looked at his father
. “No! It must have been Friday night. Late though…I left Lucy’s and went to the cafeteria. That’s right, I called him while I was still there.”

  Michael called his friend Friday night and Lucy fell Saturday mid-morning. This still left plenty of opportunity for Michael to drive out to Canmore and be on the mountain. Were Michael and Jordan on the trail together?

  “Okay, let me recap where we are with this. Johnny is real but that’s likely not his real name. Johnny and those other men abducted Lucy on Friday and take her up Heart Mountain early Saturday morning. Something happens, an accident, or maybe she’s pushed and she falls off the mountain and is killed. We don’t know why, and we don’t know who did it or how. Does that sound about right?”

  Michael wiped his nose on his sleeve and nodded at his father. He cast his gaze at Michelle who stared defiantly at Richard.

  “Are you seriously going to go down this path, Richard?”

  “You can’t deny that what we’re saying makes sense. If you don’t agree with this theory, that’s fine, but even your information backs up what Michael has been saying if Johnny has been using a fake name.”

  Michelle wasn’t buying into any conspiracy theory. “Of course I believe what Michael is saying happened, Richard, but there’s another explanation as to why.”

  “Okay, then,” Richard responded. “What’s your theory?”

  “I don’t have one yet, but I refuse to buy into this being some conspiracy. Kidnapping someone and taking them up a mountain? It’s nonsense.”

  Richard nodded at her. “Let’s make a deal then. You carry on and use your connections to find out who this Johnny is, and we’ll find out what we can. Does he exist or not?”

  “I said I won’t be part of chasing any conspiracy theory.”

  “I’m not asking you to. Just dig up what you can to prove there is no conspiracy.”

  “Please, Michelle,” Tawnie said. “Dad’s right. You have connections and can find out things faster than any of us can. You’re good at that kind of stuff.”

  “This is for Michael,” Richard reminded her.

  “For Lucy,” Michael corrected. “She’s dead now—murdered. Everyone needs to know if it was not an accident. Her parents need to know.”

  “So you’ll do it?” Richard asked. Michelle was reluctant.

  “If I decide to help, I don’t want anyone going to the police or anyone else until I find everything I can.”

  “So you’ll do it?” Richard asked again.

  Michelle finally folded as the others stared her down, Michael giving her sad eyes and Tawnie faking a ‘please, oh pretty please’ face.

  “I’ll do what I can,” Michelle replied. “I just don’t want anyone saying anything without some hard facts first.”

  “Then it’s agreed,” Richard said.

  “So we’re definitely not going to the police then,” Michael said.

  “Not until we turn up some facts.”

  Michael’s eyes darted around at everyone. He seemed focused for the first time since hearing of Lucy’s death.

  “We have work to do,” Richard said and rubbed his hands together. He turned to Michael. “And I want to speak to this friend Jordan of yours who drove you out here.”

  Michael’s mouth dropped open. “Uh, okay.”

  “Sorry, Michael, but I need to check out everything.”

  Michael lifted an arm and waved it softly, indicating he understood. He scrolled through his phone to Jordan’s number and handed his phone to his father.