We carefully gather up everything from the floor and start making our way down the stairs, when Eva’s phone starts ringing in her hand. She hesitantly hits accept.
“Hello? Mom?” she says moments later. “Whose phone are you calling me with?” There’s a long pause. “What? How the hell does that happen? Calm down … no, we’re heading home right now … okay. I will … love you too.” She hits end and looks up at me with pure confusion on her face.
“What happened?”
“My mom, she went to leave the movies with my brothers, and all four of her tires were completely flat. Her phone’s missing … she called me from another mom’s phone. Calvin’s on his way to wait with her for the tow truck, then he’ll bring her home. The boys went with their friend’s mom. Bodhi, something doesn’t feel right about this.”
“I know,” I say, agreeing with her instantly. “Let’s just get back to your house.”
AS SOON AS we’re back at Eva’s, she takes every bit of evidence we collected from the pictures and runs upstairs to her room, coming back down moments later.
“I hid it all in my closet. In a suitcase. Just in case—”
“Just in case of what?”
She shakes her head. Her face looks pale. “I don’t know. I just—I have this feeling something’s about to happen.”
“Nothing is about to happen,” I state, pulling her down from the last couple steps and right into my arms, but then we hear the sound of faint sirens. We both lift our heads towards her kitchen, listening as they seem to be getting louder.
“Bodhi,” she whispers. “Something isn’t—”
I pull her hand and we run through her house, right to the patio door, flinging it open. We are immediately greeted by the smell of smoke. Not the typical bonfire smell, but the disgusting smell of something burning down. The sun has just set. The sky is not quite black yet, there’s still a little daylight left, but as we run down her patio and over to her dock, we see bright orange flames across the Halifax, lighting up the already colorful sky.
Eva gasps and grabs at my arm to keep herself from falling to the ground.
Porter Channing’s house is on fire.
The flames are engulfing the entire back of his house, stretching to his dock. It’s as if a bomb went off in his backyard.
“Oh my god, Bodhi! What if Porter’s inside?!”
I hold her up by her arms. I can tell she’s getting ready to collapse, but there’s nothing I can do. This is fucking insane.
“Look, Eva!” I shout, pointing further down the Halifax.
There’s a speedboat approaching. I recognize it from the night Porter showed up at Eva’s dock. It’s him. It’s Porter. He gets closer, literally right in the middle between his house and Eva’s. I can tell by the way he stands up, throwing his hands to his head and grabbing anything he can hold on to, that he had no idea his house was burning to the ground.
Eva takes off running down her dock. I take off after her.
“Porter!” she shouts as loud as she can.
He can’t hear her. The sound of sirens, wood burning, and flames crackling are overpowering her voice.
I cup my hands around my mouth. “Together,” I say to her. “One, two, three!”
“Porter!” we both scream.
He looks over in our direction and sees us waving our hands at him. Slowly his boat makes its way towards us. I move the few steps to grab the rope as he approaches. Eva jumps right onto his boat, not even waiting for it to stop.
“You’re okay!” she cries, putting her hands on his shoulders.
He looks shocked. “My … house,” he says. “My house is on fucking fire.”
I secure his boat to Eva’s dock and reach out for his hand. He takes it and collapses to his knees as soon as his feet hit the dock. I pick him up by his arms.
“Let’s get away from here,” I say to him and Eva. “We don’t need to watch this.”
Eva and I guide him to her patio. He throws himself down in a chair and puts his head in his hands.
“I’m going to get you some water,” Eva says to him. She walks over to me and grabs my arm, pulling me away from Porter’s view. First, she kisses me. “Thank you,” she weakly smiles, for what I’m not sure. Then she kisses me again and says, “I don’t think this was an accident.” She then disappears into her house.
I go back to Porter. He looks up at me as I stand in front of him. The first thing I notice isn’t how panicked he looks, but that his black eye is no longer the only bruise on his face. There’s a new one that’s covering his entire cheek, and his upper lip has a deep cut on it. He sees me staring.
“My dad,” he points to his face. “Last night. I’m done covering up what happens in my house. This was all my dad.”
“Where is he? Your dad?”
Porter shakes his head. “I don’t know. I left after he did this,” he points to his face again. “I haven’t been back until now. I only came home to get some clothes. I’m not living under the same roof as him anymore.”
“What happened last night?” I question him.
He doesn’t answer. I follow his eyes as he watches Eva walk back out of her house. She goes over to him and hands him some water.
“Your face, Porter!” She brings her hand up to her mouth in shock. “Is that all from your dad?”
Porter throws the cup to the ground, sending water and glass flying everywhere. “I told you two to stay out of it!” he shouts. “I knew what he was capable of, and now it’s too late!”
“And I told you we were already involved,” Eva reminds him. “You and me. We always have been.”
Porter laughs. “Everything would have been perfect! You,” he points to me. “If you would have stayed away—”
“Nothing was ever perfect,” Eva bluntly responds. “Don’t you understand that? We were only together because of our dads. It was never going to last,” she makes clear. “Porter, you need to tell us what happened when you got home last night.”
“I had to choose a side!” he cries out. “Listen to my father, do what he demanded me to do, continue being the perfect son who always turns the other way with everything my father does … or do what’s right. I’m so sick of my father and his mind control games!”
Eva squats down in front of him and puts her hand on his leg. “I understand that. I understand how that feels. I also know how it feels when you decide to get control of your life back.”
Porter sighs and looks away from her. “Obviously, my father didn’t agree with my decision.”
“What did he tell you to do?” Eva asks him.
He looks up at her. “He told me in order to make this all right, in order to make sure nothing changes, and that everything goes back to the way it was weeks ago … Bodhi needed to disappear. I needed to make Bodhi disappear. He actually gave me fucking suggestions on how to make it happen!”
Eva stands slowly and protectively puts herself in front of me, but I gently push her aside.
“You hate me,” I say to Porter. “Why the hell would you disagree with your dad?”
“I don’t hate you,” Porter makes clear. “I hate that you are better for her than I ever was,” he points to Eva. “I hate that she never looked at me, the way she looks at you.”
“Why not get rid of me then?”
Porter looks to Eva and then back to me. “Because I hate what it would do to her if you disappeared.”
I feel Eva’s hand in mine. “You need to tell the police this, Porter,” she says. “We all need to tell the police what we know. Everything we’ve heard, everything our dads have done, everything we’ve found—”
There’s a rustling behind us. Eva and I both turn to the noise, only to see Coop and Luna walk out from the shadows. It’s early. Way too early for them to be back from their date already. My eyes instantly go to Coop’s hand. He’s holding Luna’s, squeezing it I notice right away. I’ve known Coop long enough that I can immediately tell something’s wrong. He looks scar
ed. I’ve never seen Coop look scared.
“Bad guys coming out to play,” he whispers.
“Guys,” Eva says, “Porter’s house is on fire and …” she trails off and I hear her gasp.
She’s still gasping when I realize why. Coming out of the dark, right behind Coop and Luna, with a gun pointed at their heads and a crazed look on his face, is my dad.
chapter thirty-seven
Eva
W ell, what in the hell do we have going on over here?” Luke cries out. “Surprise! Look who I ran into!” He gives Coop and Luna a little shove.
“Let them go,” Bodhi demands.
“I don’t think so,” Luke replies, waving the gun around between the two of them. “Son, it is an absolute pleasure to meet you for the first time, well actually, for the second time. I have been so looking forward to this day for years!”
Bodhi remains silent. His fists are clenched down by his sides.
“You have nothing to say to me?” Luke questions him. “That stings a little. Hello, Eva,” he then says to me. “Nice seeing you again. Looking as beautiful as ever—”
“Don’t talk to her,” Bodhi growls. “Don’t even look at her.”
Luke smirks. “Rather protective, aren’t we? And you!” he points to Porter, aiming the gun right at him. “I knew I recognized you yesterday. Took me a few minutes to figure it out, but please correct me if I’m wrong? Henry Channing’s son?”
Porter nods.
“Like what I did to your house?” Luke points to the Halifax.
“You fucking did that?!” Porter jumps up.
“Sit down!” Luke shouts. Porter slowly sits. “Your father needs to be reminded of who really should have been in charge all this time! Both of your parents do!”
My pulse picks up. “My mom?” I question him. I think I knew all along that Luke had something to do with my mom’s tires, I just didn’t want to be right. “Did you follow my mom tonight? Did you slash her tires? Take her phone?”
He smirks. “And here I thought you would have figured this out by now, Eva.”
“Figured out what?” I question him.
He shakes his head. “Nah, I’m not going to tell you. You’ll put the pieces together at some point.” He looks amused with the fact I have no idea what he’s talking about. “I can’t have any distractions, now can I?” he continues. “No distractions from your mom. No distractions on her phone from any cameras that might be watching. No distractions from my dear old dad. And no distractions from Henry.” He then shoves Luna and Coop. I grab Luna and pull her behind me. “All of you sit down!”
“Eva,” Luna whispers. “What in the hell is going on? This guy is a goddamn psychopath.”
“I’m so sorry,” I say as I pull her to a chair. “I’m so sorry. Just stay calm. I promise he won’t hurt you. He’s all talk, and completely insane.”
“Now listen up!” Luke shouts to us. “I cannot promise you all that this gun won’t get used tonight. I am so sick of nothing working out the way I planned. Drastic times calls for drastic fucking measures.”
He sits himself right on my patio table, the five of us form a line in front of him, our chairs side by side. His eyes, they dart back and forth like they’re ping-pong balls. He’s fidgeting, like he wants to remain still, but he has to be constantly moving too. He’s on something. It’s so obvious he’s on something. This is not the same Luke I talked to yesterday.
“What are you on, Luke?” I question him. He can barely keep himself still long enough to look at me. “What did you take? What did you—”
“I’m the one who will ask the questions,” he glares. “Your fathers,” he points to me and Porter, “owe me money. Lots and lots of money—”
“Why do they owe you money?” I interrupt him.
“Eva,” Luke smirks when he says my name. “Sweetheart. Didn’t I tell you that I’m the one asking the questions tonight?”
“Yes, but I’m sick of being lied to about all of this. If you want our help getting your money, you need to tell us why the hell our dads owe it to you.”
Luke hits the gun on the table a few times, causing everyone to jump. “Goddamn, Eva! I like you!” He turns to Bodhi. “Your father approves of this one!” He jumps off the table and puts himself right in front of me, bouncing on his feet. “Your father took my son away from me, and his father,” he points the gun at Porter, “helped him. But you already knew that. Right? The picture you found? I saw you find that picture. I almost made myself known at that point, but I thought, why not let you two figure some shit out on your own? See if that helps me out at all. I’m sure you made the connection …”
“My dad and Mr. Channing brought Bodhi and Lenora back to Flagler?” I confirm.
“Weren’t you trying to kidnap me or something?” Bodhi blurts out. “Didn’t you try to take me from my mom?”
Luke starts laughing. “Is that what they told you? Jesus Christ. They sure do like to stretch the truth, don’t they?”
“The truth,” I say to Luke. “Why don’t you tell us the actual truth? Since obviously we don’t know what that is.”
“The truth, sweetheart?” Luke exclaims. “The truth is your father, Henry Channing, and Owen Edwards all showed up in the Bahamas at the same time as Phoebe. The truth is, I met this trio on my boat when they hired me for a fishing expedition. The truth is, while we were out fishing, I might have mentioned the fact my son was in town with his mom, Phoebe Rialson—”
“She never went by that name here,” I interrupt him. “They wouldn’t have known who she was.”
“No shit, but that was her biggest mistake. Going by Phoebe Rialson in the Bahamas. Do you guys know who Owen Edwards is?” he cries out, looking between the five of us. “Who his family is?”
I glance over at Bodhi. I think we both know what Luke’s going to say.
Luke smirks. “You do. Let’s hear it.”
I take a deep breath. “He’s related to Annie Edwards?”
“And who’s Annie Edwards, Eva?” Luke questions me.
“Phoebe’s mom. Lenora’s mom.”
“Ding! Ding! Ding!” Luke screams out. “Teenagers. No one gives you all enough credit.”
“So what if she was?” Bodhi exclaims. “Why does any of that matter?”
Luke jerks his head to Bodhi. “What do you think happened as soon as I said Rialson? Owen’s wheels start turning. He tells us all about his cousin, all about how she disappeared with her boyfriend, whose last name was also Rialson. You don’t think Owen was going to dig a little deeper to see who the hell Phoebe Rialson was? I mean, what are the odds, right?”
“Okay,” Bodhi throws his hands up. “She was his cousin’s daughter. Who cares?”
Luke spins to Bodhi and says in almost a whisper, “Who cares? Owen cared, because money disappeared shortly before Annie and Kenneth disappeared, money that Owen’s father brought in, and Owen’s father had to pay the consequences when that money was never recovered.”
“The drug money!” I gasp. I turn to Bodhi. “The drug money they found! Owen’s father was involved with the drugs too!”
“Eva!” Luke cries out. “You’ve been doing your research!”
I ignore Luke. “Calvin said he died,” I remind Bodhi. “Owen’s dad died—”
“Died. Murdered. Dismembered,” Luke lists, counting on his fingers. “The whole Edwards clan was involved with the family business, and when you throw in drugs and millions of missing dollars …”
“My mom wasn’t even born when all that happened,” Bodhi says. “What does the missing money have to do with her?”
“Maybe she wasn’t,” Luke agrees. “But that didn’t stop Owen Edwards from confronting her—”
“Did you see all of this?” I interrupt him. “You witnessed this?”
“No!”
“And when they brought Lenora and Bodhi back to Flagler, did you see that?” I ask him.
“No!”
I bring my arms across my chest
. “Please, Luke, feel free to explain how you know all of this, and please, explain why Lenora felt like she needed to get the hell out of the Bahamas and away from you.”
Luke’s face is so red it looks like it’s going to explode. “Those three bastards, they figured out who she was, and they recognized her from home, but did they tell me that? No. They all pretended they had no idea who she was. And when I told Phoebe that she was not leaving the Bahamas with my son, she went to them for help.”
“You were planning on kidnapping me?” Bodhi questions him.
“I was planning on having a relationship with my son!” he growls. “But your mother didn’t want me to have that—”
“I wonder why,” I mutter under my breath. “Look at yourself, Luke.”
His head spins to me. “You’re walking a fine line, sweetheart.”
I roll my eyes. “She goes to them for help and they magically get her out of the Bahamas on Owen’s boat, and you didn’t make this connection when they all disappeared at the same time?”
Luke shakes his head so fast it makes me dizzy to watch. “Phoebe and Bodhi went missing days before those three left. Someone else was helping them—”
“How do you know all of this?” I question in disbelief.
He spins and points at Porter. “His father.”
“You’ve lost me, Luke,” I shake my head. “None of this makes any sense—”
“Phoebe promised them millions!” he shouts. “All the money she would have gotten when sick Paul Channing kicked it! Millions to get her and Bodhi away from me! Three days went by once she disappeared, three days to keep me thinking they had nothing to do with her disappearance! Owen stayed behind with his new yacht for a while, your fathers left on his other boat for home, and I never heard from any of them again until a couple weeks ago, when Henry Channing calls me out of the blue!”
I quickly look over at Porter. He looks like he’s seen a ghost.
“What did he say to you?” I ask Luke.
“He told me everything. How they got Phoebe and Bodhi back to Flagler all those years ago. How your father, Eva, knew where they were for those three days beforehand. How they got them on the boat, switching out Owen’s boat for another one. How she never let anyone in Flagler know she was Phoebe, so all of Paul Channing’s money went to Henry like she promised. She even had Paul change the goddamn will. What a coincidence, right? A big fat fucking coincidence that Henry Channing was the only other living relative of Paul Channing and he just so happens to run into Phoebe in the Bahamas?”
Confession Page 41