Beautiful Dead 02 - Arizona

by Eden Maguire

  'Not before yesterday. And I only saw Al yson Taylor for a couple of

  seconds - she was on her way to work. Her dad is way older than I thought. They don't go together as a couple.'

  So your job is to help her brother come through this,' Hunter reminded me. You have to get some truth into the situation and find a way of communicating it to the boy.'

  Then wil Arizona be able to rest?'

  'Maybe. Anyway, her job here wil be done. Raven wil know that she loved him and didn't want to leave.'

  I could see how this might work, but in my opinion it wasn't a whole lot of comfort. The boy would stil be wired up wrong. He would stil be total y alone.

  Don't question it, Darina,' Hunter read my mind. 'Just do it. Find out

  how Arizona died. And don't come back here until you do.'

  51

  'News emerged earlier today that parents at El erton High School, Bishop County, are petitioning for improved security within their school. This comes after tragic events of the past year, in which four of their senior-high students lost their lives.'

  This is what they mean when they talk about shutting the stable door after the horse bolted, I thought as I sat in my room watching Al yson Taylor read the evening bulletin. Our principal, Guantanamo commandant Dr Valenti, announced on camera that he had plans to boost the CCTV system around the perimeter and to carry out stop-and-search inspections on students suspected of carrying knives or guns into school.

  Achtung!

  This was despite the fact that none of the four victims died on school premises. Not that this seemed to matter - like I said, most parents were sliding towards mass hysteria, afraid that every day would be their kid's last.

  ' Darina, are you going to eat tonight, or not?' Laura cal ed up the stairs.

  'Not,' I replied.

  Come on down. I already cooked pasta.'

  So I don't have a choice?'

  'Eat!' she insisted.

  Down I went, admiring Arizona's mom for the professional way she'd presented her own family tragedy on air but glad for once that I had Laura. Al yson Taylor might be wel groomed, slick and classy, she might be fabulously successful and wealthy, but she was headed for divorce and she'd never been there at mealtimes to nag her kids to eat.

  'Why are you smiling?' Laura asked, pushing my plate across the kitchen counter.

  Sorry, I didn't know it was against the rules.'

  In the corner with his plate of pasta on one knee and his laptop on the other, Jim grunted. He meant, Show your mom more respect, or else.

  I raised an eyebrow in his direction, meaning, How about you show enough respect to log off and come eat at the table?

  Luckily neither of us thought it was worth open confrontation.

  'Did you know Arizona Taylor had a brother with autism?' I asked 52

  Laura, as casual y as I could. I'd spent a long time during classes today planning my course of action and come up with the fol owing bul et points:

  •check out autism on the internet

  •ask Logan to drive with me to the car repair place behind the mal

  •poke around and discover more about the Taylor family reputation.

  I'd done my autism research before I switched on the TV to watch

  Al yson read the news. I had a visit to Logan scheduled in straight after pasta. Meanwhile, maybe Laura could dish some Taylor dirt.

  She paused with her fork in mid-air. 'No - I believe Arizona was an only child.'

  'He would be about nine years old,' I prompted.

  'When did the Taylors arrive in El erton? That would be eight or nine years back actual y. But there was no baby that I remember.'

  Wow, was Raven a wel -kept secret!

  Laura chewed her pasta. 'You know Arizona was Frank Taylor's daughter by his first wife? Al yson was not her birth mother.'

  I shook my head. 'I didn't even know Frank was married before.'

  'Yeah also to a much younger woman. He and Al yson only married after they settled in that big new house out at Westra.' Laura was on a reminiscing rol . 'The Madisons were acquainted with them more than

  most at that time, so they got an invite to the wedding. Jon Madison designed their house.'

  At last I thought I spotted a way through the brick wal keeping me from answers about Arizona's situation. 'So are the Madisons stil friendly with the Taylors?' If so, I could cal in on Summer's parents and carry out a little more investigatory activity.

  Laura shook her head. 'There's a story going around that the Taylors didn't pay Jon al they owed him for his professional work so the friendship soured. And you know, Jon and Heather didn't real y have too much in common with the Taylors - especial y with Al yson. She runs with the media pack, and it's dog eat dog in that world.'

  'So definitely no baby brother for Arizona,' I murmured. And the brick wal stil stood solid.

  'Al yson did take a career break around the time they were building

  the house,' Laura recal ed. 'She switched news channels and wasn't in front of the camera for a while - my friend Kristina swore it was so she could have her face fixed, you know. When she came back on screen, I thought that Kristina was right.'

  'Why? How old is Al yson Taylor?' I wanted to know.

  'She's forty-seven,' Laura shot back. 'That's what I mean - she's definitely had work!'

  'Not now, Darina, I'm busy.' Logan turned me down flat.

  I'd walked to his place to get him to drive me to the mal , figuring that he would know his way around a car repair garage better than me.

  Also, he wouldn't look so out of place. Maybe he could talk to the guy in the workshop, order some parts for a car engine while I took a look around the place Arizona last recal ed visiting.

  But Logan said no. This was my second shock of the evening. The first had been when Jim had dropped me a comment just as I was leaving the house, right between tel ing me the technical y correct way to load the dishwasher and heading to the fridge for a beer. 'Actual y Al yson and Frank Taylor did have a baby boy,' he'd told me. 'Back then I drove a cab, for the extra income. I remember I picked Al yson and the baby up from the hospital and drove them to their new home in Westra.'

  Thanks, Jim, for this smal , surprise nugget. 'So how come Laura didn't know?'

  He'd shrugged and pul ed the tab on the can. 'I heard the baby wasn't healthy,' he'd said over the hiss of gas. 'Maybe the Taylors didn't want to talk about it with strangers.'

  Busy how?' I chal enged Logan from the porch, having stored Jim's

  information. I couldn't see any schoolwork spread out on the kitchen table, he didn't have his head under the hood of his car.

  'I have to meet someone,' he said, picking up his car keys and swinging by.

  'Someone - who?' Logan Lavel e never turned me down. He was 54

  fixated on me, close to becoming my own personal stalker.

  'Just a guy,' he said, turning on the engine of his neat white Honda and driving off down the street.

  So I had to wait until Wednesday afternoon for Logan to be free.

  Sure, I know the workshop,' he told me as we drove into town. 'Mike's Motors. My dad is a drinking buddy of Mike Hamil 's.'

  He didn't ask me why I wanted to visit, which was another change of routine for Logan.

  'Don't you want to know why we're headed there?'

  He signal ed at the lights, taking a left down the side of the mal . 'Would I get a straight answer?'

  I took a closer look at Logan's face. He felt me stare but didn't react. Sideways on, he looked more serious and mature, almost hot. I mean, he had good features and thick dark hair, a cool catch for some girl somewhere. * 1 want to check it out,' I explained. 'It's the last place Arizona went before she died.'

  We'd had a fight in the car, me and Logan.

  What is this - some kind of crazy mission?' he'd yel ed, pul ing off the road. He lost al his cool maturity and took a dive into stressed-out, I-know-best and stalker-guy role. 'First you obse
ss over Jonas. Then you

  tel me you'l never get over Phoenix. Now it's Arizona. These guys are

  dead, for Christ's sake!'

  'I know it looks weird, Logan-'

  This is wrong, Darina. It's not healthy.'

  'So let me out of the car,' I'd said calmly. I'd opened the door and

  continued on foot to Mike's Motors. I found it in a back lot - a workshop

  squeezed between a container storage yard and an awning fabrication unit. The sign looked like it needed a repaint and the broken glass panel in the door was boarded over.

  'Hey!' I cal ed.

  There was no answer - just a heap of oily car innards on the concrete floor and a radio playing loud country music. The burned-out wrecks of two cars were stacked one on top of the other in a far corner. In the other I spotted Arizona's silver SUV.

  I had to look twice and then a third time - the vehicle was covered in 55

  dust and half hidden behind some other stuff, but I knew Arizona's registration plate and I recognized the neat black leather interior.

  'You need something?' a deep voice asked, and I spun round to see Brandon's friend Kyle Keppler.

  Kyle was so not Arizona's type - the thought hit home a second time, even more clearly than before. The car technician stood with his feet wide apart, big jawed, dirty, suspicious. Maybe the scrubs up, I told myself. 'Sure. I'm meeting my friend here,' I said to him.

  Kyle tilted his head to one side, clearly scoring my tight jeans and T-

  shirt and coming up with a possible nine out of ten not quite ful marks because I had no cleavage on show. 'And his name would be?' he asked.

  'Logan Lavel e.' I said the first name that came into my head. Why

  was Arizona's dusty SUV stil in the workshop? 'We met before,' I reminded Kyle. You were with Brandon Rohr.'

  He nodded - one quick jerk of the head. 'There's no Logan Lavel e

  here.'

  'He didn't bring in his car for repair?' Take a look.'

  'OK, I made a mistake. Sorry. What's with Arizona's car? Didn't her folks want it back?' I jumped in with both feet, because why not?

  Kyle frowned. 'I said, Logan's not here.'

  'I hear you. I just saw the SUV it kind of shocked me. Sorry again.'

  Maybe I got through to him, or maybe he was stil admiring my skinny jeans.

  'No problem. Actual y, Frank Taylor was happy to sel the car to my boss after Arizona ... you know ... passed. It needed some work.'

  'Which is why she brought it here in the first place, I guess. Hey, it makes sense - you and she were an item. You work here. She'd bring it here for repair, why not?' But then she'd told me she didn't even know the name of the place, and that was clearly a lie.

  Kyle's mood changed and he walked slowly and menacingly towards me. 'Did anyone tel you, your mouth could lead you into trouble?'

  I backed towards the open door. 'It was only what Brandon told me. 56

  You and Arizona-'

  'Brandon's ful of crap,' Kyle muttered. 'What he said it was B. S.'

  Tammy Wynette was pouring her heart out on the radio. Stand by your man, or don't stand by him I don't remember which.

  I was confused and beginning to feel I'd stepped into a grimy paral el universe. 'You and Arizona, you weren't ... ?'

  Kyle took a long, last look at me. 'What do you think?' he said,

  slamming the workshop door behind me.

  'I didn't have you down as a quitter, Darina.' My music teacher, Katie Jones, gave me a hard stare. I stood in the middle of a bunch of students who made up the music group. It included the usual suspects - Jordan, Hannah, Lucas and Logan. Around twelve of us had got together in early fal and planned a Christmas concert in memory of Summer Madison, El erton High's rising singing star. We missed Summer and her beautiful songs, and this would be our special way of respecting her.

  'I don't have time to rehearse,' I explained. Or the focus or the desire.

  'Her mind is on other things,' Logan muttered to Hannah. 'She's on her own secret mission.'

  'To do what?' Scenting gossip, Hannah pricked up her ears.

  'She's poking around Arizona's death. Darina's finger is on the selfdestruct button, you watch.'

  I blocked them out and tried to focus on my disappointed professor.

  'So who do we get to replace you this late in the semester? It's real y not fair of you to back out now.'

  I sighed. 'You'l soon find someone who plays guitar better than me.'

  'That sure won't be difficult,' Jordan murmured to Lucas.

  And these are my so-cal ed friends. On the other hand, I was dumping them big time, so I total y got where their negative reactions were coming from.

  Slowly Miss Jones walked me towards the door of the music studio. 'I had you down as a fighter, not a quitter,' she said quietly. 'Are you sure

  you're OK?'

  As OK as anyone else around here,' I mumbled, glancing over my

  shoulder to see Logan deep in gossip with my on-off buddy, Hannah 57

  Stoltmann.

  Was I right to quit the concert? I went home and brooded.

  This was already Friday, and since my visit to Mike's Motors had misfired, I was way down in the depths of despair. I can't hack this Arizona stuff: ran through my head like a funeral dirge. I don 't know what else I can do!

  Friday evening was Laura and Jim's night at the movies so I had the house to myself. I skipped supper and checked out autism sites one more time. Autism disorder Infantile autism Fragile X syndrome epilepsy. I read that kids born with autism have feeding difficulties and they never

  smile. They can rock back and forth in a chair and stare at their hands al day. This can happen to between three and six babies in every hundred, or

  to 8.7 in every thousand, depending on which site you read. It may be down to rubel a during the first trimester of pregnancy or to wrong levels of serotonin in the brain - who real y knows? Anyway, this was over my head so I skipped these parts.

  What I was interested in were the autistic kids with an outstanding ability - maybe ten per cent of sufferers. They may have amazing rote memory or musical ability, and there's one famous case in the UK where

  the kid could take one glance at a building - their Houses of Parliament or our White House, say - put pencil to paper and reproduce the whole thing from memory. In the end, this kid's artwork got famous. They could be talking about Raven! I thought.

  Mostly though, autism can be pure misery. No smiles, no speech. These kids don't look you in the eye, and because there may be other severe mental health issues they can be on a stack of medication their

  whole lives.

  So what do you do when life deals you a hand like that? I stopped scrol ing with the mouse and tried to imagine how the Taylors had coped after Al yson took him home in Jim's cab. Arizona had talked about

  diagnoses and treatments, hospitals and schools. She'd also said her

  parents didn't want to believe it had happened.

  'I heard the baby wasn't healthy,' Jim had told me. It turned out he

  was right and the parents had fal en into denial, as in: Let's keep the 58

  il ness a secret and then maybe the problem wil go away.

  Was I right? I would ask Arizona next time we met.

  The thought took me away from my laptop to my bedroom window. I stared out at the clear sky. When wil next time be?Not until I'd found the facts behind the myth of Arizona's suicide - Hunter had made that crystal

  clear. I closed my eyes and pictured the overlord's strong, severe features, the faded angel-wing tattoo on his forehead. And I remembered the story Phoenix had told about Hunter being shot through the temple at close range by the man who had just attempted to rape his wife, Marie.

  I'm dying here! I told the mil ions of stars. I need to go up to Foxton Ridge, to find Phoenix and check he 's stil there.

  'Give me one reason why I don't send you back to limbo - and this time for good.' Or words t
o that effect. It was Hunter again - folding his arms astride the patch of burned ground, his anger close to the surface. Even the memory of it scared me - the way the anger could blaze up and wipe out anyone in its path. Hunter was overlord and he had absolute power to hypnotize, read minds, even, as a total last resort, to cal those lost souls down to beat their wings and travel with him through time to the beginning or end of the world and beyond.

  I trembled at the memory of my own time travel experience to nail

  down Matt Fortune as Jonas's kil er, how I never felt such pain before and came back traumatized and exhausted. Which is why Hunter only did it after every other method had failed.

  Overlord. Ruler of everything: Al -powerful Hunter.

  Through the open window I felt a breath of cool breeze. The white drapes fluttered. When I turned around, Phoenix was standing in the room.

  'Oh, thank God!' I flung myself into his arms, gripping the sleeves of his jacket, my head against his shoulder. *I didn't know - I was scared that ... '

  'Me too.' He held me tight, pressing his lips against the top of my head.

  'So scared,' I breathed. 'I didn't dare come back to Foxton. Is Hunter 59

  stil mad with us?'

  'He's been in a mean mood. He sent me and Lee up to Government Bridge to stand watch.'

  'That's harsh.' Knowing the jealous feelings Phoenix had about Lee, knowing that Hunter would see the dynamics al too clearly. 'He certainly figured out how to hurt us.'

  'We were tip there twenty-four seven.' Phoenix let go of me and stood back so he could see my face. 'I feel so bad, Darina. Lee's new to this, but he's able to read my thoughts pretty clearly. He saw what a crazy idiot I'd been.'

  I managed a smal grin. 'Did he beat you up over it?'

  'No, he was cool. He told me, if you'd been his girl, he'd have reacted the same way.'

  'So I don't need to worry about two Beautiful Dead guys fighting over

  me?'

  'Lee's cool,' Phoenix insisted. He slid his arm around my waist and sat me on the bed beside him. 'Have you any idea how low the temperature drops out there late at night?'