by C. L. Stone
“What?” I asked.
“We have to go.”
“Now?”
“Now.” He frowned as he looked at Gretchen. “I’m sorry. Really. But it’s an emergency.”
She eyeballed me curiously and then him. “Is this part of the ‘running’ you all were talking about.”
“Exactly,” he said. He pulled out his wallet quickly and handed her a single credit card. “Whatever we owe you, here, use this. Hang on to it for me. I’ll be back for it.”
Before I could ask, I was practically carried out by Marc, wearing the jean and sweater combo and him carrying the boots of his that I’d worn into Tissu Deux.
I AM NOT WAITING
We got to the SUV and pulled out of the parking spot.
“Gotta go, gotta go,” he said, his arms shook, and he rocked his head forward and back as he steered.
“What happened?” I asked.
“It’s Coaltar,” he said. “Sorry. I mean Blake. You know all that traffic this morning?”
My heartbeat sped up. “Was he…in an accident?”
His lips pursed for a moment, like he debated telling me. “His house…there was some explosion. I don’t have the full details, but...His house is kablooey.”
I was up on my knees in the seat and reaching for his shoulder to tug. “What about him? Was he inside?”
“I don’t think so. But I don’t have full details yet.”
I was in there at least an hour, and who knew how long ago it started if it affected traffic downtown then. I put my hand on the wheel. “Let’s go find him.”
He shoved me back into my seat. “Are you crazy? We can’t go there. It’s a crime scene right now. We can’t be anywhere near it.”
“The police don’t know who we are,” I said, suddenly in a panic. “We have to find out where he is.”
All I could picture was Blake’s face earlier. I’d gotten the sense that something was wrong. He was worried. He said not to trust anyone but each other.
I aimed my body at the door, ready to pull the handle. “Get us there, or I’ll walk there.” We were already headed down the road, slow traffic but still, it would hurt to jump.
He reached for me again, holding my arm. “Don’t you dare.”
“Just drive by,” I said. “As close as you can get.”
“We’ll not be able to get anywhere near it. And even if we could, no one will tell us anything.”
“Try. We need to find out…”
He blew out a breath between his lips and stared at the traffic ahead.
Then suddenly, he was turning around across a double yellow line and barreling the SUV through an alley.
I got a little lost when he made turns, but before I knew it, we were backed up along the road. It seemed all of the South of Broad area was a confusing mess of traffic, people making illegal turns to try to go back the other way, only to get caught in the middle of halted traffic.
“We can walk faster,” I said.
“I can’t leave the car,” he said.
“I’ll go scout ahead?” I touched his arm, trying to get his attention. We weren’t moving, and it’d take forever to get there this way. “Find a place to park and come find me.”
“We’re not supposed to separate right now, not in public.”
“Isn’t public safe? Who would come after me now? Alice? I could scream bloody murder and there’s a thousand witnesses.” I gripped his arm a bit more. “Just let me go look. I just want to make sure he’s not hurt.”
“Corey is trying to locate him,” Marc said slowly. “Blake had his phone stolen by Alice earlier, remember? He’s even harder to track down now.”
The weight of guilt made it hard to breath for a second. “This could have been Alice. She was aiming for him. And we did this to him. She’d no idea who he was until I dragged him into our mess.”
Marc sighed. “Go,” he said. “I’ll park the car.” Before I could turn to jump out, he tugged my arm to get me to sit still a minute. “Don’t disobey the cops there. Usually, there’s a crowd around looking at what’s going on. Blend in with them. Don’t cross the line. Don’t get noticed.” He reached into his pocket, pulling out his own cell phone and passed it to me. “Whatever happens, you answer this phone if it rings. It’s probably Corey calling with info.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll come find you. And there’s a spare cell in the car. I’ll use it.”
I jumped out, tucking the cell phone into my back pocket and made a dash down the road. The new clothes were light weight and didn’t impede my jog. I was immediately grateful for Gretchen.
The smell of acidic smoke became stronger the further down the road I got.
Tell me it was an accident.
Tell me it was a stupid experiment.
Tell me Raven blew up the kitchen again and it just got too far.
It was stupid to think about, but I went through scenarios like that, hoping it was something crazy and Blake was okay. That this wasn’t Alice. That this wasn’t a murder attempt.
Or that he was dead inside.
Axel’s words echoed in my mind. That they were smart and realized we were, and that this time they, would be smarter and it would be permanent.
Blake’s white house was on South Battery, just across the street from White Point Garden at the tip of the Charleston Peninsula. Once I was close, the number of people on the sidewalk increased, some going to check out what was going on, and some walking away like they’d seen enough of what was happening. A small group had crossed the street to the park, looking on and talking to themselves.
There was a barricade, like Marc said, and police trying to tell people to go home, that if they lived beyond the barrier, they needed to talk to him.
I stopped to ask a random person in the crowd. “Is anyone hurt?”
“There’s an ambulance but it’s still here, so they haven’t found anyone hurt, I think,” the elderly woman said.
I tried to blend into the crowd like Marc had said, but most people weren’t moving and I couldn’t get close. I circled to get to the park side of the street and assess the damage. I stood up on a nearby bench to look over the people.
But there was nothing to look at.
My heart stopped as I looked at the hole in the neighborhood, the spot that used to be Blake’s house.
There was nothing but black ashes, some still smoldering. It was an odd blank hole in the ground, surrounded by a bit of yard. The wood frame was crumpled on itself. There was a pile of something in the back, all black, I was pretty sure that was where the kitchen was. Pieces of broken wood and glass were in the neighboring lawns. Everything was dripping with water, but nothing was left to salvage.
However, it wasn’t bad. The homes next door weren’t blown out. They were clean except for the flying debris.
It was almost too perfect. Blowing up the house without destroying the ones next to them.
My heart in my throat, I tried to swallow.
The destruction…if he was inside, it could be they hadn’t found a body of any sort yet. He could be black ashes amid the rest and it would take a while to find.
I tried not to think like that, but the complete missing house left me in a panic mode, growing as the moments went by and I didn’t have any answers.
I moved in a daze toward it, until the barriers around the street were at my stomach. I was at the very front of the crowd, looking in.
A police officer gave me an eyeball, and I couldn’t help but ask, “Did they find anyone?”
It was the first time I’d ever spoken with a police officer in my life in such a way. I needed him to let me know. For once, I wasn’t trying to hide from him. I needed his help.
He looked at me with a frown. “No.”
“Not a body in…there?”
“No. Did you know who lived here?”
I nodded.
He seemed sympathetic to this. “There doesn’t appear to be anything to indicate any
one was inside. But…you should stay back.”
I looked beyond him, to the blacked-out bit of property that now was the only indication anything was ever there. My heart was in a grip in my chest. For the longest time, I couldn’t move.
I didn’t believe him. How could they know?
I held to the phone in my hands, hoping it would ring, hoping Corey would tell me he had found him. He called in. Maybe the police took him in to talk to him about his burnt down home.
I hoped Marc would come, to see the damage and to share the anxiety I felt, as if it would make it better.
My mind was blank, what to do, where to go.
How to find him now?
Doyle. Blake’s Irish friend. The hacker.
He’d know.
He’d tell me. He knew everything about Blake. I needed to find him.
I continued to wait because I didn’t know where Marc might have parked the vehicle and suspected he’d be here at any moment.
When too much time had passed and with no new information at the barrier, I realized Marc hadn’t arrived and backtracked the way I’d come.
At the corner of each road, I checked up and down the cross street. At the end of one lane, traffic was once again piling up by a black SUV. The vehicle was getting pulled up into the bed of a tow truck. There was a policeman talking to the driver.
I double checked the vehicle, but I was almost sure the SUV was the one we’d come in on.
I was about to approach it and ask what was going on when the phone in my hands rang.
I answered.
“Where are you?” Corey asked.
“Just left Blake’s, the house was leveled,” I said and then tacked on. “Where’s Marc? Is he in trouble? I think the car is getting towed.”
He made a grumbling noise. “That’s what I was calling about. Don’t go near it.”
“Why?”
“Marc was just picked up for questioning about the SUV. Someone reported it stolen.”
My breath caught. I didn’t see a police car anywhere on the street. “How can that happen? You all own it, don’t’ you?”
“We do, but someone reported it for us anyway. It sounds like a mix up. He’s having to go downtown to straighten it out. Technically, his name isn’t on the vehicle. Brandon has to go down there and take care of it.”
What in the world was going on? “Is he okay?”
“He’ll be pretty safe. He’s with police. Probably safer than we are.”
“But who would report it stolen?”
“I’m working on that. I’m getting into where the report came from.”
A tight knot formed in my chest and hovered. There was nothing I could do for Marc. I was just here. I could have ended up with him. How did the police find him so quickly?
“Is someone following us?” I asked. “Like via this phone.”
“Probably not your phone. I’ve got it secured,” he said. “Maybe they put a tracker on the car, but we usually scan for those.”
I hadn’t noticed anyone doing that today. “Brandon took it a few places, including to the hospital. I didn’t see him scanning.”
“Hm,” Corey said.
“What can we do for Marc?”
“Nothing,” he said. “There’s nothing you can do. Brandon is taking care of it.”
“What should I do next? I need to get to Doyle. We need to find out what happened to Blake.”
“First thing you need to do is to get back here. You’re not far.”
I debated getting a taxi, but waiting for a taxi might take just as long in the backed-up traffic down here. “Do you think this was Alice?” I asked.
“I don’t want to make guesses,” Corey said. “Do you know how to get here from where you are? I’ll meet you halfway. If you walk fast enough, I’ll be on the other side of the lake next to the apartment building. Stay on the phone with me.”
I jogged, staying on the line with him. I was sick to my stomach thinking I was abandoning Marc to fend for himself with the police, but I wasn’t sure what else to do.
The only thing left was to keep looking for Blake, and hope he wasn’t dead.
UNSETTLED GROUND
Corey met me on the sidewalk a block past the lake. We hung up on the phone when we were within hearing range, and we headed back to the Sargent Jasper.
He was wearing jeans and a blue Star Trek shirt and sneakers. His cheeks were flushed. His lips tight and his eyes downcast, tense.
It was confusing how he looked so much more like his brother these days.
“Do we have another vehicle we can use?” I asked.
He walked with his hand at my lower back, monitoring the cars going past and paying attention to any alleys and anyone approaching us. “Yes, but we should be careful. Whoever reported the one, they could report the others. We shouldn’t travel in anything we personally own. Not until we can get to the bottom of this. Axel would say no one is going anywhere.”
“So we can’t go?”
“He hasn’t given a direct order yet. So technically…”
“Let’s get another one. Maybe a cab?”
He pondered what I was asking. “Do you have the number to your friend, Avery?”
“Avery? I have one, but I’m not sure he does taxi service anymore.”
“I’d just hate to call in favors from other people right now. If this is Alice, let’s keep the circle closed. And let’s not get into cabs with strangers.”
No Academy. No strangers. We had limited numbers. It wasn’t going to be easy handling this. But it was the only way to get answers, and we had to go direct to the source. I couldn’t just call up Doyle. I wasn’t so sure he’d answer anyway.
I crossed my fingers the old farmhouse hadn’t been blown up as well.
We had to go back inside the apartments for me to find the card Avery had given me at one point. I met Avery in high school, and I’d barely remembered him when we met again. The pot-smoking cab driver had moved up since, working alongside Mr. Ethan Murdock, heir to the Murdock Empire. He more or less kept an eye on the naïve CEO.
I borrowed a burner phone Corey took out. Limiting cell phone use from their main phones for a while seemed a good idea. He took Marc’s phone and stashed it.
Avery answered on the first ring. “I got you, but I don’t do taxiing anymore. I can redirect you to--”
“Avery,” I said quickly so he wouldn’t redirect the call. “It’s me.”
Pause. “Kayli?”
“I need a favor. Are you in town?”
“A little busy. Mr. Murdock has been up to his neck in,” he paused again. “I don’t know if I can say. They don’t want us talking to anyone. I think the police are on to finding his dad.”
That was good news. “I don’t need to know,” I said. “Sorry. I was just hoping for a ride.”
“Where to?”
I told him the approximate location. “We’re at the Sergeant Jasper.”
“Right. I got you. Let me get myself out of here. I need the break.”
♠♠♠♠♠♠
Within twenty minutes, Avery arrived but in a brand new Tesla.
I got into the front seat next to Avery. He was looking sharp, his hair trimmed back away from his face and his clothes a dark pants suit and dark dress shirt.
The car had just the slightest hint of weed smoke. I suspected he’d partaken while on the way.
Corey whistled as he got into the back seat. “Nice ride.”
Avery’s face lit up, maybe not just from Corey’s compliment. “I miss my tank, that old steel car I had before, but this will do.”
“Where is your old car?” I asked.
“Ethan is getting it redone for me.”
I smiled at this. “He’s really nice. It’s great you’re getting along.”
“Yeah,” Avery said with a strange glint in his eyes. “You could say that.”
I caught there was more he wanted to share but when he didn’t say anything, I left it Not for m
e to ask. “Anyway,” I said. “Got time to take us?”
“Are we going to get shot at again?”
I almost said no, however, given what was happening…I hated to make any promises I couldn’t keep.
♠♠♠♠♠♠
Later, we were heading through back roads and past forested areas. Somewhere in the rural areas of Hannahan, we turned down a lane of an old farmhouse surrounded by furrowed land, reclaimed by grass. The house was two stories with peeling paint and two, old red brick chimneys on either side of the house.
Out on the lawn, between the old barn and the dangerously slanted garage, were strewn boxes, computer cases, a file cabinet and other office equipment.
Doyle was carrying another box out from the main house to add to the collection. He’d a mop of unruly hair and a cigarette hanging from his mouth. His pale nose wrinkled, and his eyes squinted at being out in the sun.
When he spotted our car in the drive, he dropped the box at his feet and rolled his head back. I could almost feel the slew of curses against all our mothers he was uttering. Or maybe he was praying, I don’t know. He just didn’t look happy to see us.
Avery parked near the house, a bit away from Doyle’s collection of stuff.
Doyle approached us, waving his hands and doing some sort of imitation of flight crew trying to direct a plane. “Go,” he shouted at us. “Just get going.”
I jumped out before Avery could switch off the engine. “Where is he?” I called to him.
His lips dropped the still-burning cigarette to the ground, and he pointed a finger at me. “Listen here, harpy! You and your friends, they need to go.”
I circled the car. Corey was getting out but before he could get to me, I was nose to nose with Doyle.
“Where is Blake?” I said, trying not to breathe in too much of the smoke cloud he was puffing into my face.
“Easy,” Corey said. He took my wrist to draw me back, but I ignored him.
“None yer business,” Doyle said to me, almost mimicking an American accent before sliding right back into Irish for the next part. “See what I’m doing here?” He waved at the computer pile he’d made in the yard. “This is your fault.”
“I didn’t pile your computers out here.”
“This is worst case scenario. It’s been initiated. Abandon ship. All hands bail into the water.” He leaned into me until our noses touched. “You did this.”