A Matter of Time 03 - 04 (Volume 2) (MM)

by Mary Calmes

  I explained that telling Susan would be a bad idea because then she would tell Dane and it would be a mess. I didn't want to alert him in case I was wrong.

  "Oh." She smiled at me. "Smart."

  "Where else could we look?"

  "At her office?"

  "Perfect, where's that?"

  "Downtown. Why don't you go with me? I have class in like an hour and afterwards we can get lunch with Casey and some of my friends. Whaddya say?"

  "Sounds great."

  "Okay, lemme get my bag."

  We left the rural area of Mesquite and she drove me back toward downtown. Apparently Susan had taken a job to help bring in some extra money, to help the business get back on its feet. She was working at a doctor's office as a medical transcriber and manager. The other nurses were happy to see Gwen and interested to meet me. When Gwen left, with orders to meet her right off campus at a really good restaurant that served great Mexican food, I agreed quickly. I was left alone in Susan's office with orders not to move anything. Her friend Nancy gave me a serious look over the top of her glasses, but I grinned and she broke down and smiled back.

  Alone in the office, I carefully ransacked it, getting under every drawer, going painstakingly through the files in her desk. I was sure the file cabinet behind me only had the doctor's files in it, but I had to look anyway. When I went back out to the front, Nancy told me that I was right—the large steel drawers were full of patient information and I wasn't getting in there.

  "What are you looking for anyway?" she asked irritably.

  "I'm not sure I want you going through her office without her permission. The more I think about it, the weirder it is."

  "I'm just looking for some papers that pertain to my brother. She told me to come get them while I was in town because she's helping me run down a lead with the adoption agency."

  "Oh." She nodded, going to a desk drawer and opening it up. "Then you probably need the safety deposit box key. She told me that someone would be by to get it, but she must have meant you."

  "What?"

  "Nothing. She's just been so scattered lately—I'm worried about her."

  "Probably has to do with Daniel's business."

  She looked over her shoulder at me before turning back around. "Oh, you know about that?"

  "Yes ma'am."

  She put a hand on my arm. "It's a shame, isn't it? Them having to take the second mortgage on the house just to get by."

  "Her son will help."

  "Darling, Caleb's been out of work for months, and Jeremy—"

  "Yeah, but Caleb—"

  "Will probably end up moving back in with his parents. I told Susan that if he doesn't get a job and pay some rent, she shouldn't let him."

  Caleb was out of work before he was kidnapped. He hadn't told me that. "You were going to say something about Jeremy before I interrupted you."

  "Well, yes—Jeremy's the oldest, right? He should be the one stepping up to the plate."

  "And he's not?"

  She winced. "It's not like he doesn't try, it's just.... He missed a promotion he was going after, he and Taylor broke up... he's just not in a good place."

  "Taylor?"

  "His girlfriend."

  "Oh."

  "So both her sons are in no shape to—"

  "I meant Dane when I said her son would help. He can and will."

  Her face brightened. "Will he?"

  "Oh, yes ma'am."

  She passed me a small set of five keys and squeezed my shoulder. "You'll talk to him, will you?"

  "Sure."

  "That's great. Susan told me that your brother just dotes on you. I'm sure if you ask him, that will go a long way to helping out."

  I nodded.

  "And especially now," her brows furrowed as she shook her head, "they need help."

  I squinted at her. "Do you mean with just the business?"

  She studied my face. "No, but if the business does well, maybe they will too."

  Daniel and Susan's marriage was rocky? All the little secrets I was finding out.

  "Now, dear, I have no idea what any of those keys are for," she told me. "But they aren't for the doctor's files." She pointed at a flat one. "I think that's the safety deposit box one. She banks at First United Credit Union, a block from us.

  But just call her and ask, and if she calls here, I'll tell her I gave you the keys."

  I couldn't very well tell her not to. How suspicious would that have looked? So I just nodded, thanked her, and left. I just hoped Susan wouldn't feel compelled to call work for some reason. As long as she and Nancy didn't talk, I was fine.

  The Credit Union was small and crowded with people when I got there. It was lucky, because the girl who helped me just took the key, walked into the vault, and came back hurriedly with the box. She motioned me to the cubicles behind her and sat me down before she put the box down. She left seconds later with orders to call her when I was done.

  When I lifted the lid I found a lot of the same contents that were in Daniel's safe at home. Copies of birth certificates and some bearer bonds, their marriage certificate was also inside, and five hundred dollars in cash. There was also a set of two keys on a Tiffany key ring. It was the one that Aja had given out at the wedding in her gift bags. One of the keys was a large square-top one with the do not duplicate engraving on it. It looked just like the one I had for my security door at home. The other was a house key. I wondered why they were there instead of at her house with all the other sets I had seen there, hanging on pegs in the kitchen. There was nothing else in the box. I pocketed the key ring, locked the box, and called the attendant back.

  Back outside on the street in front of the Credit Union, I wasn't sure what to do until I remembered Gwen. Maybe she knew what the key was for. As I walked back toward the office and farther, toward the campus—apparently sometimes Gwen walked to her mother's office and had lunch during the week—I turned my phone on and called Dane.

  "Jory," he snapped at me, "where—yes, it's him." He sounded really exasperated.

  "Hey, I gotta—"

  "Jory, where are you?" he almost yelled but stopped himself.

  "I'm on my way to—"

  "I'm going to strangle you!" Sam roared into the phone."

  Where the hell are you? Tell me now!"

  "I went to the Reid place and Gwen was there, so she let me look around and then we left and came into town to check Susan's office."

  "You're at her office?"

  "I was."

  "Where... are... you right fucking now?" he finished with a yell.

  "Don't swear," I reminded him.

  The growl was loud and long and filled with frustration.

  "Jory." Dane's soothing voice was like velvet. "Wherever you are right this second—stop."

  "But I gotta find out what this key is for."

  "What key?"

  "The key I found in the safety deposit box."

  "You found a key in whose safety deposit box? Susan's?"

  "Yeah."

  "And you—oh, Jory, I—what? Sure."

  "Jory." Sam was back on the phone, his voice low and full of gravel.

  "Hey."

  "I have to warn you about something."

  "What's that?"

  "The Dallas PD is on the lookout for you. If they pick you up, they're gonna take you in on a psych eval, and that's—"

  "Why? Why would they think I was crazy?"

  "They don't think you're crazy, they think you're a danger to yourself and others."

  "You told them that?" I couldn't even breathe.

  "Look—"

  I hung up and stopped where I was, leaning back against the wall, sliding down it into a squat.

  He had told the police department I was crazy. All my life people had been saying it to me. And I could take the teasing just as well as anyone else but this wasn't funny, because he had told people when they caught up with me that I needed to be restrained, and I had issues with even the idea. Tied
up in bed, tied to a bed... that was one thing. Sitting in shackles or sitting in a rubber room with a straight jacket on was not my idea of fun. I think it was especially scary since I always wondered if maybe it wasn't going to happen at some point.

  After my grandmother died, it seemed liked there was an endless number of people saying how weird I was, how strange, how crazy. I was delusional and disturbed, manic and incompetent.

  Everyone always expected the worst of me, but not Sam. I thought Sam expected the best. But now I knew he didn't. He thought I was crazy too. And it hurt more than I thought it would until Caleb's face flashed through my mind.

  Caleb.

  Caleb needed me.

  I stood up and headed toward campus to find Gwen. I walked down through the quad and saw her waiting for me right where she had said she would be. I was maybe ten minutes late.

  "Hey." She smiled and waved. "I thought you had ditched me."

  "No." I smiled back. "Just got hung up at the office."

  She stood up and put her arm through mine. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

  "No."

  "Oh, I'm sorry," she said, leaning her head on my shoulder. "Maybe we should call Jeremy and see if he knows where anything is."

  Her brother Jeremy, the oldest until Dane appeared out of thin air three years ago. "No, I don't think so. But I found a key—I think it's for a security door."

  "Huh." She shrugged. "I dunno, babe. Maybe we should just call and ask her."

  "Let's eat first, I'm starving."

  "Sure," she said, patting my arm.

  She had invited not just her boyfriend Casey but also three other friends. They all seemed nice, they all thought I looked like I could still be in college, and they all had suggestions about what I should have for lunch. I decided to go with Gwen's idea, since it was spicy.

  "So, Jory," Casey said as the others started talking. "That's a cool name. I don't hear it a lot."

  I shrugged. "Probably for good reason."

  He chuckled. "Self-deprecation—nice."

  "I try."

  "When are you going back to Chicago?"

  "Tomorrow probably," I told him.

  "Huh. What are you gonna do after lunch?"

  "Look for a building."

  "I'm sorry?"

  I pulled the key out of my pocket and showed it to him. "I gotta find out what this goes to."

  He squinted down and took the key out of my hand. "I can tell you what that goes to—it's for an apartment building on Drake." He flipped it over and showed me a stamp on the back. "See the three letters, DGA, engraved there?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Drake Garden Apartments. I have some friends that live over there."

  My eyes flicked to his. "Dude, you're seriously a lifesaver.

  You just saved me like a day of work."

  He smiled at me. "Oh yeah? I helped you out?"

  "Totally."

  "You said dude."

  "That's 'cause I'm the least cool person you're ever gonna meet in your life."

  "I somehow doubt that."

  "Wait," I assured him. "You'll see."

  "Here comes Ty," someone announced.

  And the way Casey turned, the breath he took, the way he sat up, I understood why it had been five years of no sex for Gwen.

  All six feet, two inches of Tyler Kincaid came around the table and put his hand on Casey's shoulder. His smile was huge, and then he looked at everyone else.

  "What's goin' on, people?"

  Everyone spoke at once. It was obvious that the gorgeous, blond-haired and blue-eyed man was the center of the group.

  He was the one that everyone liked, wanted to be with, or simply wanted to be. There wasn't room at the table for him, though.

  "Here." Casey laughed. "Sit on my lap."

  Tyler arched an eyebrow and everyone dissolved into peals of laughter except me. They should have just saved a lot of time and heartbreak and come flying out of the closet. Tell all their friends that "roommate" was a gentle euphemism for lover, and that they had probably been sleeping together since freshman year.

  "You can have my spot," I said, getting up. "I've gotta go anyway. No time to eat."

  "No, Jory." Gwen stood up. "Stay. We can grab another chair from—"

  "No, baby, it's okay," I told her, leaning forward across the table to kiss her cheek. "I'll call ya before I go, okay? Maybe we can have dinner."

  "Okay." She sighed, looking at me. "I didn't ask why you're all beat up."

  "Long story," I groaned, as I got up and Tyler sank down into my spot. "I'll tell ya later."

  "I'm holding you to that."

  I patted her cheek, but before I could turn to leave, Tyler suddenly rose and stepped in front of me.

  "I just got here and you're leaving. Why is that?"

  I smiled at him.

  "Can I give you a ride somewhere?"

  "No, it's okay." I smiled at him. "I have to go look for an apartment."

  "You're house-hunting?"

  "Not exactly."

  He wasn't sure about me, and it was there in his face.

  I reached out to pat his shoulder. "Thanks for the offer, but—"

  Before I could pull my hand back, he covered it with his.

  Pressing it into his arm. The muscles were hard and corded, and I wondered vaguely if I was supposed to notice.

  "Let me drive you wherever you need to go."

  "Ty," Casey called over to him. "Maybe Jory—"

  "That'd be great," I said quickly, because it would be faster and I had a feeling I had very little time left.

  "Good," he said, putting his hand on the back of my neck to steer me forward.

  "Ty."

  "I'll see ya later, Case," he called back over his shoulder.

  "You and Gwennie be good."

  There was laughter from behind us.

  As we walked toward the student parking area, I asked Tyler how long he and Casey had been sleeping together.

  He froze in mid-step and stared at me.

  "Aww, c'mon, man... gimme a break."

  "How'd ya know?" he asked breathlessly.

  "Hard to miss." I smiled at him.

  He nodded slowly. "Six years, but it's not exclusive. I mean, how can it be? He has a girlfriend."

  We reached his Honda Civic and I moved to the passenger side. "So why don't you guys tell everybody and then you can just be together?"

  He got in and unlocked the door for me. "It's not as easy as it sounds."

  And I was sure it wasn't, but I had no interest in hearing a story I had heard a thousand times. I was sure they were both expected to marry and have kids and probably had parents that would no longer pay for school if their sons came out and told them they were gay.

  "Jory?"

  "So what does Casey think you and I are doing right now?"

  "Screwing, I'm sure."

  I nodded. That was healthy.

  "So how long are you in town for?"

  "I have no idea. I guess it depends on what I find in the apartment you're taking me to."

  "Whose key is it?"

  "Someone I know."

  "What if you find like a decomposing corpse or something?"

  It was actually not far from what I had been thinking myself. "I have no idea."

  "This is kind of exciting, huh?"

  It was something. I just wasn't sure what. I pointed down the street because I saw the sign. "Is that it?"

  "Yeah, that's it."

  The sign for the Drake Garden Apartments boasted air conditioning, a 24-hour on-premises laundry room and a heated pool. After Tyler parked and we walked inside, I used the large square key to open the security door and we walked into the courtyard. The building was shaped like a U, with all the balconies overlooking where we were standing.

  "So where to?"

  I shrugged. I certainly had no idea.

  "We could go door to door and try the key." He smiled at me.

  Even running back
over every cool scenario from all the TV

  I had watched over the years yielded no easy way to figure out which lock the key fit. I had no alternative but to seek out the people in the office.

  "You should go," I told Tyler. "I could be at this for hours."

  "Oh, no way." He smiled at me. "I'm intrigued. I gotta know what you're gonna do next."

  "Then you'll help?"

  "Whatever you need."

  "Okay, c'mon," I said, walking back the way we had come in search of the office.

  Five minutes later I left him by the pool gate, looked into the window of the office, saw the women there, and figured out what I was going to do. I ran back to Tyler and sent him alone into the office, key in hand, armed with what I felt was a pretty good story. I told him to flirt and he asked if I was high. I was actually feeling much more positive than I had in days. He was back in no time with a stunned look on his face and a yellow star-shaped Post-it note.

  "What's wrong?" I asked him. "You look weird."

  "I just can't believe that worked."

  I scoffed. "Of course it worked. You're cute and you look harmless."

  "Remind me never to lose the keys to my apartment."

  I took the sticky from him. "This is it? Apartment 310?"

  "Yeah."

  "Thanks, man." I patted his shoulder, turning to head back toward the courtyard. "You were great. How did she know what apartment the key belonged to?"

  "Apparently the three random letters engraved on the other side correspond to an apartment number."

  "I didn't see any letters on the other side," I said, stopping to turn the key over, inspecting it.

  He showed me where I should have been looking, and I saw the small letters that looked like they had been stamped on. I might have noticed eventually, but it wouldn't have helped even if I had discovered them on my own.

  "There's no way you would have come up with 310 from those numbers."

  "Nope, I'm lucky you were here to help me." I started walking again.

  He followed me, close behind, and I could hear the amazement in his voice. "Your story was great. I did it just like you said. I told her my buddy gave me the key so I could crash at his place but he forgot to tell me which one it was. I told her I was really tired since I came cross-country in a Greyhound bus—"

  "Greyhound bus is always a nice touch," I assured him, starting up the stairs on the side of the building. "I never leave it out."