"Are you alright? Let me see that," she said, grabbing his hand to analyze the burn. It was red, but not badly scalded or anything that looked serious. It more just caught Jake off guard than anything else.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Jake told her, trying to laugh it off, although for that moment it still did hurt. "You just sit down and let me feed you already."
Miranda grabbed the two plates he had set out on the counter and put them on the table. Jake had already put out Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper, a few slices of bread with butter and two glasses. He filled Miranda's plate with spaghetti, and then took care of his own. He sat down, and the two started to have their dinner. Miranda dove in, not trying to look too eager, but she couldn't help how hungry she was. She felt like she hadn't eaten in days, even though it occurred to her that consciously, she thought, given the horrors of the day, how could she have any appetite at all?
Jake went on eating his meal, but witnessing Miranda's hunger didn't escape or surprise him. She was physically and emotionally drained, and she needed sustenance. He was afraid at some point she might bottom out, but she seemed to be dealing with things as well as could be expected, if not a little better than expected.
This worried him. He wanted to keep a close eye on her to make sure everything didn't catch up with her all at once. He was also concerned for himself as well, though. He didn't want to let his guard down in Miranda's fragile emotional state and get confused about his own feelings. Jake had a hard time getting over Miranda four years before, and even though he knew that their time together was a thing of the past, he couldn't help having the feelings stir deep inside of him that he once had, especially seeing her like he did earlier that day. The need to protect her and take care of her came on strong, and he didn't want that feeling to become confused with anything more than being there to help a friend going through a difficult time. He knew that it would not be easy.
As the pasta and sauce concoction disappeared from her plate, Miranda slowed down her pace a bit. She thought that she might be coming across like a wild animal with a fresh kill before her, like she hadn't eaten in weeks. If that was how she looked, Jake didn't let on that he had noticed. She appreciated that, knowing how sharp Jake was at picking up on things.
Jake decided to make light conversation, to try and get a handle on how she really was.
"So, who is Aimsley?" he asked. "Friend at school?"
Miranda didn't immediately know how to answer the question. She felt she needed to tell someone what was going on, especially with the concerns she was having not yet being able to get a hold of Aimsley.
"That's not the easiest question to answer," she said, piquing Jake's interest and attention.
"Oh...sorry. It's fine. I understand," Jake told her, looking as if he was quickly trying to change the subject.
"You understand...what, exactly?" Miranda asked curiously.
Jake looked slightly embarrassed.
"Nothing. It's nothing. We don't need to go there..."
"Go where?"
"Well..." Jake said, looking increasingly nervous. "Is Aimsley your...girlfriend?"
Miranda stared blankly at Jake for a few seconds, letting his words sink in. Then she let out a short laugh, which startled Jake.
"No, Aimsley is not my girlfriend," Miranda said matter-of-factly. "Is that why you think I left you? Why I left town?"
Jake pushed his chair back and stood up from the table, feeling slightly embarrassed. He walked to the counter next to the kitchen sink and set the plate on the counter, staring out the window at the driveway. He said nothing at first, and Miranda stood up from her chair and stepped up a few feet behind him.
"Jake, I'm sorry," she said softly. He cocked his head slightly in her direction, looking off to the side.
"No. The truth is, I have no idea why you left," he told her, turning around the rest of the way to face her. "Listen, we can talk about this another time if you want. I've made my peace with it and moved on. Now isn't the time for this."
"I want to tell you. I want to try to explain. You deserve an explanation. It wasn't you. It wasn't my parents. It wasn't even this town. I grew up here. It was the only home I had ever known. But I wanted more. I would have wanted you to come with me, but I never would have believed you wanted anything more than to just keep on going the way we were. Everything you said, everything you did. All the time you spent with your friends. I heard what you would always talk about. You were making big plans, but those plans back then never had you going beyond the borders of this town, and that scared the hell out of me. I needed more. I can't tell you why, or where it all came from. All I can tell you is I didn't want to hurt you, and I didn't want to get hurt. I knew the longer we drug it out together, the more it was going to hurt later on."
"Well, I did get hurt Miranda. The worst part was, I never even got to know why," Jake told her, now with a hint of bitterness in his voice.
"I'm sorry," said Miranda, her eyes glassing up once again.
"So am I. I would have gone anywhere with you. This town, my friends, aren’t what mattered the most to me, Miranda. It was you. I didn't follow you because you made it clear how you felt."
Jake realized the one thing that he didn't want to happen that night was happening. He had let his feelings and emotions get the best of him, and all he wanted to do was concentrate on Miranda and the pain she was going through. She was the one who was hurting the most right now, and she needed him to be strong for her. The conversation had turned in an ugly direction, and it was up to him to fix that. There would be time for this conversation some other day if it needed to happen. Now wasn't that time.
Jake walked up to Miranda and put his hands on her shoulders. She looked up at him dolefully.
"Miranda...I understand. Yes, I was hurt. But that was a long time ago. You are my friend, and that means more to me than anything else right now. I just want to be here for you. There's no reason to get lost in the past."
Miranda wrapped her arms around him again, and he hugged her back. It was hard for Jake to not have those old feelings rise up inside of him, especially holding her this close. She let go of him, and looked directly into his eyes. It was a deeply serious look.
"Aimsley was my nanny when I was a baby," Miranda told Jake.
"Your parents had a nanny?" he asked.
"No...not the parents that you knew," said Miranda.
"What are you talking about?"
"It's where I was the last few days. It's why I wasn't in the house when the gas leak happened. I found out that I was adopted. My parents never told me. I went up north looking for clues as to where I came from. That's how I met Aimsley."
The confusion in Jake's face was more than evident.
"You are adopted? And your parents never told you? How did you find out?"
"It's...it's a long story. Once I realized it was true, I had to know more about the family that gave me up."
"So, you just went off by yourself to a strange place to look for people that you weren't even sure wanted to be found, and you didn't even tell anyone you were doing it? I thought we were both long past reckless and stupid, Miranda." Jake was upset. He was especially sensitive to being protective of Miranda right now, and she could feel the frustration in his words.
"I know it sounds crazy. There is a lot of this that gets even crazier. But if I had been home..." she stopped in mid-sentence. "I hated lying to my parents, but if I had told them what I was doing, they would have fought me on it."
"And we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. Because you would be dead.” Jake went silent as what he had just said sunk in. He didn't want to come across harsh to Miranda, regardless of how he felt about her running off in search of her past the way that she did. It surprised him, though, that she would act that rashly. Something was driving her to be this way, but he didn't want to pry too hard. Not now.
Miranda sat down on the edge of the recliner.
"Aimsley told me about the
family I came from. She knew my mother, and she knew my father. My birth mother and father. The family owned a mining company in the U.P. They had an entire town named after them. Aimsley said my mother was a very good person. Very beautiful."
"How could she not be," slipped out of Jake’s mouth. He realized too late he had said it, but Miranda either didn't notice or pretended that she didn't.
"Do you trust her?" asked Jake. "Do you think she wants anything from you?"
"I trust her completely," said Miranda, without hesitation. "She wants nothing from me. I tracked her down, and she was shocked when I found her."
"How did you find her?"
"She...sent me something. It was so I could find out where I came from, if that's what I chose to do. But she's always known where I was. She is the closest thing to family that I have left."
"You just met this woman, and you think of her as family? Miranda, I am trying to understand here what is happening, and believe me, there is a lot happening. She leads you back to her after more than 20 years and she wants nothing from you?"
"I know this sounds crazy, but there are things you don't know. You just have to be patient with me and I can explain everything later. Right now, I just have to figure out what I am going to do next. I have no idea what kind of things I need to do. What kind of arrangements I need to make...Jake...I'm totally lost here. I don't know what to do..."
Miranda's voice was quivering. She was on the edge of frantic. Jake's uneasiness he had felt about her state of mind was elevating quickly. He needed to find a way to calm her and focus her.
"Miri! Miri..." Jake's eyes met hers straight on, and he pulled her full attention to him. He had not called her Miri in a long time. That seemed to trigger a break from her downward spiral. She centered her concentration on his voice.
"I will call and talk to my parents. They know what is happening. They can help. We just went through this with my grandmother a couple years back. They can help you do what you need to do. Don't worry. We will get through this together."
Miranda nodded her head and took a deep breath to help her try and relax. Her mind had started racing again, and she knew that she had to slow herself down before she started to hyperventilate.
"I'm going to go into the bedroom and make a few phone calls. Put on the TV and find something to distract yourself. I know it's hard, but try and keep things as light as you can. Put on some music if you want. Whatever it takes to stop thinking for a little while. I'll be back in a few minutes. Alright?"
"Alright," she told him. Jake handed her the TV remote, and she clicked it on to CNN. Jake grabbed his phone and retreated to his bedroom, closing the door behind him.
Along the bottom of the television screen the constantly running ticker was predicting an unusually nasty flu season in the coming months. The top of the screen featured an upcoming story about repeated bombings and civilian deaths in Afghanistan. The two men on the screen reporting at the moment were discussing a possible connection between several murders in the New York State area that could be related to a serial killer. There was nothing "light" about watching the television news anymore.
Miranda switched the channel to a movie channel that was having a scary movie marathon, a common ritual in the weeks leading up to Halloween. Across the screen a young woman was being chased by a disfigured man wielding a chainsaw with blood spraying off of the spinning chain. Not so light there either, she thought. She changed the channel once more before giving up on TV, and found herself watching one of the local news broadcasts that had just started at 6 o'clock.
On the channel that she had switched to, she saw on the screen the street sign for Sherwood Trail amid the headline "Tragedy in Native Springs".
"An investigation is currently underway in the town of Native Springs after three members of a family died as the result of carbon monoxide poisoning relating to a gas leak in the home. Sources wishing to remain anonymous close to the Michigan State Police have indicated that foul play may have been involved in the deaths. The victims were Robert and Lorri Stratton, and their 17-year-old son Steven Stratton. The family had moved into the home just a few months before. We will be bringing you more on the investigation as information becomes available."
Miranda watched as the pictures of her family flashed onto the screen. The feelings of sadness and despair were present within her, but now there was something else that she had felt for the first time since she spoke to Detective Rice. It was the overwhelming anger at the thought that someone may have done this intentionally to her family. She wanted to know who could have done this, and why. She didn't notice that Jake had returned to the room and was standing behind her, his eyes also transfixed on the television screen. The news had already changed to a different story.
"Did you know about that?" Jake asked. "What did Detective Rice tell you? Miranda, what is going on?"
Miranda looked up at Jake for only a moment before the next words from the newscaster snapped her back to the attention of the television screen.
"In other news, police in the Upper Peninsula town of Arlo are investigating the shooting death of one of its longtime residents. Early this morning, the body of attorney Harold Thornton was found in a cabin owned by Thornton just a few miles south of Arlo."
Miranda shot up from her seat, her eyes widened as she stared at the picture of Harry's face on the screen before her.
"Authorities have released to the local press that Thornton was found by his wife early this morning after he had not returned home last night. He had been shot twice. Robbery is not suspected at this point, although few other details have been released."
Jake's eyes moved from Miranda to the television, and then back to her again.
"Miranda? What is it?"
What little color Miranda had left disappeared from her face as she stared at the TV. Her thoughts turned straight to Aimsley again. She grabbed her phone and dialed it, and once more, straight to voicemail. Jake stood by watching her, not sure what was happening.
"Miranda, TALK to me. What is going on? Did you know that guy they were talking about? You need to tell me what is going on! Please," Jake pleaded.
Miranda held her phone tight in her hand and felt the rush coming over her. Harry was murdered. Her parents and brother were dead. What had she done? Was she somehow responsible for this terrible chain of events? Fear and guilt were overtaking her rational thought, leading her once more back to an emotional deadfall.
Jake finally took Miranda by the shoulders, squarely bringing her face to face with him.
"Miranda, sweetie, you need to tell me what is happening."
Miranda was expressionless. She spoke slowly like she was almost in a trance.
"The man that was murdered, Harry Thornton, he was the man that I met with in Galestone. He took me to see my birth family's home. He had been their attorney years before. I was with him two days ago."
Jake stared at her in a silence. His expression was one of absence, while his own thoughts were spinning in his head. He didn't know how to put together all of what Miranda was telling him.
"Jake. I haven't told you what Detective Rice had said to me before I left the police station with you. They found evidence at the house, they think this wasn't an accident. They suspect someone intentionally tampered with the gas valve leading into the house."
Jake felt the unpleasant feelings wash over him now....the apprehension. The fear. He slowly let go of Miranda's shoulders, but continued staring at Miranda.
"We need to tell the detective," Jake said. "He needs to know right now. If this guy is connected to what happened to your parents, you could be in danger too."
Miranda nodded her head almost indiscernibly. Jake grabbed his jacket from the hook next to the door and then picked up Miranda's leather jacket from the chair in the corner.
"We'll go straight to the police station and have Rice meet us there. He can decide what we need to do next. Grab your things. We can take your car...but I'm driving,
" Jake said.
Miranda still stood in a state of semi-shock. Jake recognized these signs of distress from his nurse training. She was in a fragile state of mind, and Jake had to do what he could to help get her to a safe place. She grabbed her laptop bag and her luggage bag from his bedroom. They walked out together and got into her car. Jake fired up the Vibe, quickly backing out of the driveway and started up the road.
They made the right hand turn onto the main highway when Jake glanced up into the rearview mirror. The silver sedan that had been at the scene near Miranda's parent’s home was turning off of Jake's road a short distance behind them.
"Miranda," Jake said, his eyes still jumping back and forth between the mirror and the road ahead. "I don't want you to turn around. Keep your eyes forward and look into the rearview mirror on your side. Do you recognize the car behind us?"
Miranda looked at the mirror and saw the sedan.
"No...I don't think so. Why?" she asked.
"I saw that car at the scene by your parent’s house. These two guys...they weren't paying as much attention to what was happening at the house as they were to you. I watched them get into a car that looked a lot like that one behind us and leave just after you did. I didn't think much about it at the time. But that was before...before I knew there was more going on. I wish you would have said something earlier.”
"I'm sorry, Jake. There was just so much happening so fast. Maybe they are reporters?" said Miranda, although the tone in her voice seemed doubtful. "What should we do?"
Jake thought for a second on that last question, but the option was quickly taken out of his hands. The sedan sped up beside the Vibe as if it were going to pass them, but kept a steady speed as it drew up beside them. Mr. Cain sat in the passenger seat of the car beside the Vibe and stared without any discernable expression as the two cars were side by side. The sedan increased its speed and cut sharply in front of the Vibe, causing Jake to have to slam on the brakes and come to a sudden stop behind the sedan, throwing stones and dirt from the shoulder of the road off into the trees.
In the Shadows of Fate Page 15