They’ll have a full-blown argument at the house, he thought, noting it was probably taking place right now. They’ll be a lot of yelling and screaming and Diana will probably get pissed and leave. Maybe Ronnie will show up and it’ll be one big slam-down mad fight between all of them. Whatever, the cards will finally be laid down on the table. If Ronnie doesn’t get it through his thick skull today that Mary has been neglected, at least the seeds will be planted in his mind. If that’s the case I’ll probably wind up driving back down again tonight if Elizabeth calls and tells me to come home. But if not, I’m guessing she’s going to suggest to everybody that Mary stay with us for the weekend to keep her out of the war path. Ronnie will probably be a belligerent fool and protest, but I think Laura will see the wisdom in this and back Elizabeth up. Hell, Elizabeth will probably just tell Ronnie that if she has his daughter they could leave Diana’s kids with her folks for the weekend and they could go out and party it up. He’ll respond to that. Laura might not like it, but she hasn’t liked a lot of things that have gone down in the past four months. One more weekend of babysitting Diana’s kids for the weekend surely won’t hurt her.
This was the mantra Gregg told himself on the drive up. After mulling it over for thirty minutes, he began to feel a little better. Finally, he put the radio on and turned it down low. “You guys doing okay back there?” he asked, glancing into the rearview mirror at Eric and Mary. They looked fine; they were relaxing, looking out the window. “Anybody need a bathroom break?”
“When will we be there?” Eric asked.
“Another hour.” He’d called ahead to the B&B from the cell phone and was able to secure a room, so things were set on that end. He’d left a message on Elizabeth’s voice mail and told her this, leaving her the room number for when she showed up later. “Your mom will be up later tonight, so maybe when we get there we can get some supper if you’re hungry.”
“That sounds good,” Eric said.
“Sound good to you, princess?” Gregg directed this to Mary, who glanced at him.
“Yeah.” She nodded.
“Great!”
Gregg felt better having lightened the mood somewhat. The kids had something to look forward to. Now if only he could shake off this new feeling he had, the one that had settled into him suddenly, making him shiver and his skin break out in gooseflesh.
He tried not to let it show as he drove up the Pennsylvania Turnpike to the Pocono's.
THEY REACHED THE Bed and Breakfast a little after six p.m. It was much colder in the mountains, and the kids stayed in the Blazer while Gregg checked them into their room, which was on the other side of the rambling three-story structure. The B&B was large enough to accommodate a dozen guests and had seven bedrooms, each one with its own bath. There was a large and spacious den with a stone fireplace, a formal living room, a large country kitchen, and a huge dining room. There was a restaurant down the road, and when Gregg returned to the car after getting the keys to the room he asked the kids if they were hungry. “I’m starved!” Mary said. Eric nodded eagerly.
“Let’s get some grub then,” Gregg said.
They drove to the restaurant and the kids had hamburgers and French fries and Gregg had baked chicken, mashed potatoes and vegetables. The restaurant was cozy, with a large fire blazing in a stone hearth in the middle of the room. The floor and walls were of polished oak, giving the restaurant a dark, rustic look. Twice Gregg checked his cell phone to see if Elizabeth had called and left any messages; she hadn’t. “Are you going to call mom?” Eric asked.
“Yeah, I’ll give her a try.” He pressed the pre-programmed speed dial button for Elizabeth’s cell phone and let it ring.
It went right into voice mail.
Frowning, Gregg hung up. “She isn’t answering.”
Eric’s eyes widened with panic and Gregg picked up the phone again. “Let me try the house, see if she’s gotten home yet.” He dialed their house and when the voice mail system picked up Gregg left a message. “Elizabeth, when you get this message give me a call on my cell. Bye.”
“Try Grandma’s,” Mary said. She had picked up on Eric’s mood and looked worried. Despite the fact both kids were tired and Mary had been through the emotional wringer today, they were wired and alert, ready for anything. Mary put her fork down on the table. “Maybe they’re still at Grandma’s.”
Gregg nodded, his thumb pressed over the keypad of the cell phone. He didn’t know why, but he had a bad feeling about calling his mother-in-law’s house. He didn’t know why, didn’t know where this feeling came from, but it was strong and persistent. The minute he thought about calling them his gut clenched; he’d felt the same way when he was a kid and had to walk home from school in the fifth grade, dreading to walk past the alley on One Hundred and Thirty-Fifth street knowing that Andy Williams, the neighborhood bully, was always hanging around, but there was no other way home—he had to go home this way or risk being seen by his mother from their second floor apartment that overlooked Van Ness Boulevard as he crossed the busy intersection. She’d forbidden him to cross the busy street and had instructed him to walk home through the various back streets so he’d be safer. But less traveled routes by car always meant more kids were about, and where there were kids there were bullies, and Andy Williams had been the toughest. And Gregg had been terrified of him and—
“Dad?”
Gregg started, looking at his son. Eric swallowed, not breaking his gaze. “Call.”
Gregg nodded, then started dialing.
“Mr. Weaver?”
Gregg looked up, finger poised over the Send button.
He didn’t recognize the man who approached their table. In fact, he didn’t remember seeing the man in the restaurant but he was here now, standing beside their table and leaning close so he could speak in a low voice to them. The man was thin with shoulder-length blonde hair and a beard. He wore thin wire frame glasses and was dressed in stonewashed blue jeans and a gray knit sweater. His features were slender, sensitive and intelligent. The man leaned forward, ignoring the kids. “Mr. Weaver, I need to speak to you. It’s extremely urgent. Can we go outside?”
“Who are you and how do you know my name?” Gregg felt stricken with terror; he’d never seen this man before in his life. How does he know my name?
“It’s about Diana and her kids,” the man said. “Please.” The man took a step back, as if he were confident this would be enough information to get Gregg to come with him.
“What do you know about them?” Gregg asked, his voice rising. He couldn’t help it, couldn’t control himself, and he didn’t care. He could feel his emotions rising and he was suddenly very scared for the kids and for Elizabeth.
“We can’t talk here,” the man said, leaning forward again to speak in a lowered tone. “I’ve already paid your bill. Please, take the kids and we’ll talk outside.”
Gregg opened his mouth as if to say something but didn’t know what to say. He looked at Eric, who seemed to say, let’s go with him, he’s safe. Mary looked afraid and she had sidled up to Eric on their side of the table and was now glued to him. Gregg took a quick glance around the restaurant, then back at the stranger who remained at their table. “What...how...?”
“Not here,” the man said, stepping back to let Gregg out of the booth. “Let’s go back to your room at the High Suites.”
The thought that they’d been followed didn’t sit well with Gregg. It made him more scared and angry. “What the goddamn hell is going on?”
“I understand you’re upset,” the man said, leaning closer again so he wouldn’t have to raise his voice, the tone of it seeming to implore Gregg not to make a scene. “When I first encountered it, I was upset too. But I’ve been following it across the country for the last three years, and now it’s here and your family is in danger.” He glanced at the kids and Gregg understood that meant the kids were in danger. “If you continue to resist here, I will be forced to explain myself further and if I do that, it might up
set them.” He motioned ever so slightly to the kids with a tilt of his head, and Gregg understood the implications clearly. What this man had to tell him was not only true, it was going to upset the kids. He wanted to get them out of the restaurant, maybe get them back to the High Suites so he could put the kids in the room and he and the stranger could talk in private outside.
Gregg nodded, understanding what the man was getting at. The man nodded back. “Good.” He stepped back and Gregg silently stood up and beckoned for Eric and Mary to slide out of the booth and follow them.
They left the restaurant and the man indicated the parking lot. “My car’s out there. Why don’t I follow you back to your room?”
On the drive back Eric asked, “Dad, who is that guy?”
“I don’t know,” Gregg answered. He was nervous, scared as hell, but something told him to trust this man, whoever he was.
“I’m scared,” Mary said. She was beginning to cry.
“It’ll be okay,” Gregg said. The words sounded false to him. “When we get to our room I’ll have a talk with him. You guys will stay in the room with the door locked. Is that understood?”
The kids nodded, and while he said this to make himself feel better, it didn’t.
Instead the feeling of dread he felt when he first started trying to reach his wife back at the restaurant was coming back stronger than ever.
TWENTY
WHEN THEY REACHED the High Suites Bed and Breakfast the man parked in the slot next to the Blazer and got out. Gregg parked in a spot directly beneath the window of their room. He waited by his car while Gregg ushered the kids to the room. “Keep the door locked,” he whispered to Eric as he let them in. “Double bolt it. You hear anything weird, you hear me yell or scream or anything, call 911. Got it?”
Eric nodded, his eyes wide, filled with tears. He got the kids in the room and waited until the door shut and the locks were thrown up. Then he went back to the parking lot where the bearded longhaired man was waiting between their vehicles.
“Okay, what’s going on here?” Gregg asked, surprised at the sound of his voice. He’d expected himself to sound afraid because what happened back at the restaurant scared the hell out of him. Instead he felt a sudden rush of anger and he could tell it came out in his voice. “Who the hell are you and why have you been following me?”
“I’m sorry about what happened back there,” the man said, and for a moment he looked like the bearer of bad news. Something flickered across his features briefly that bordered on sorrow then was quickly gone. “I have some bad news for you and I want to help and I didn’t want to cause a scene back in the restaurant.”
“Bad news? What bad news?” Gregg’s heart raced. He felt his knees go wobbly. He had a feeling the bad news had to do with Elizabeth, that something terrible had happened. “It’s about Elizabeth isn’t it? Diana’s done something to her.”
The man opened his mouth as if to answer, then hesitated, as if he had been in Gregg’s situation before and was unsure of how to proceed. “I wasn’t lying when I told you I know about Diana. I know all about her and I can help. What happened to your brother-in-law Ronnie...something similar happened to me three years ago.”
“Is Elizabeth all right?” Gregg blurted out.
The man’s face appeared to fall, as if the weight of all the bad news had finally broken it. “I’m sorry, Mr. Weaver. Your wife and...her family...they’re dead. They’re all dead.”
The news was so sudden, yet so wrong, that Gregg didn’t know if he had heard it right. Elizabeth dead? That was impossible! No fucking way. She was a strong woman. She was tough. She would have gotten the hell out of the house if Diana had gone bugshit. Christ, she was so pissed off at Diana she would have stopped her clock before anything could happen. How could she be dead?
“You’re lying,” he said, hearing his voice crack.
The man opened his mouth, then shook his head. “I’m sorry, Gregg. But it’s true. Diana made Ronnie kill them.”
Gregg still couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but as he listened to the stranger’s voice something about the tone and his demeanor convinced him the man was speaking the truth.
And then the enormity of it hit him fully and he sank to the ground so fast, he almost fell. He caught the side of the Blazer and leaned against the vehicle, closing his eyes. He felt dizzy and empty. “No,” he said, his voice strangled. “It can’t be.”
The stranger’s voice was low. “I’m sorry.”
Elizabeth couldn’t be dead. She simply couldn’t be. Gregg couldn’t accept his world without her, it was too sudden, too final. Elizabeth Weaver, his wife, simply couldn’t be dead.
But she was. The dread he’d felt earlier at the restaurant before when he had been trying to call her on the cell phone...the bad feeling he felt...it must be true.
“Oh my God,” Gregg moaned, the news suddenly hitting him. He sat down heavily on the curb in front of the Blazer trying to hold the sudden grief and emotion inside him. Despite no evidence to the contrary, he knew what the stranger had just told him was the truth. “Oh my God, it just can’t be.”
The stranger remained silent, head bowed. The bearer of bad news.
Gregg felt a tightening in his chest. This just couldn’t be happening! Elizabeth was supposed to meet him this evening at the High Suites. She was on her way up this very moment! She—
Gregg pulled his cell phone out and pressed the speed dial button for his in-laws house. It was an act of desperation; if a familiar voice answered the phone he’d know everything was okay, that the stranger was lying and he would know how to proceed from there. But if the phone simply rang or if it was picked up by a cop—
It was picked up on the third ring. “Baker residence.” The man who answered the phone was unfamiliar to him.
“Is...” Gregg began, the question dying in his throat. In the background he could hear voices mingling together. It sounded like men talking and it sounded far busier than it should have.
“Can I help you?” Now the voice sounded more official.
Gregg pressed the hang up button. The suddenness of what had happened, what the stranger had asked in that official tone, now hitting him full force.
His wife was dead.
So was her family.
Diana made Ronnie kill them. The stranger’s words echoed in his mind. Diana made Ronnie kill them...made Ronnie kill them...made Ronnie...
A part of Gregg wanted to break down and sob, wanted to pour his heart out and mourn. But he also knew he couldn’t do that right now. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t mourn Elizabeth right now, but oh God how he wanted to. The hurt was coming on hard and strong and he had to get a grip, had to get a hold of himself and be strong for not only himself, but for Eric and Mary. And in doing so he had to push aside his grief and face up to the nightmare that had been thrust into his life. He had to do this because Elizabeth would have done it. Because Elizabeth had done it and it had cost her her life.
Gregg looked up at the stranger, barely feeling the tears streaming down his face. “How? How do you know...how can this...?”
“I was parked in my car down the street from Jerry and Laura’s when I heard the shots,” the man said, his voice still bearing a tinge of sorrow. “I followed Elizabeth from your house; I knew she was heading to her parents. I was parked in front of your house when you two came out. I had my window rolled down and had a street map out and pretended I was lost. That’s how I learned where you were going.”
Gregg remembered now. The longhaired guy parked at the curb in front of their home, looking at the street map.
“So I followed Elizabeth to her parents,” the man continued. “I didn’t suspect anything was wrong, but I heard the shots a moment or two after she stepped inside the house. I was hoping they weren’t what I thought they were. There were several, and then I saw somebody from next-door approach the house and walk up to the front door and peer in. I heard her scream and run back to her house and I k
new what’d happened immediately.”
Now Gregg couldn’t help it. He started to cry. The harder he tried to hold it in and be strong, the harder he sobbed and the more his chest and throat hurt from the exertion of emotion.
“I feel horrible,” the man said. He knelt down beside Gregg and touched his shoulder gingerly; Gregg barely felt it. “I’m sorry.”
Gregg cried for a moment and he finally was able to hitch his sorrow back in with a deep breath and wipe his eyes. He looked back toward the room he had rented for himself and the kids. Two round-headed silhouettes were at the window peering out. Gregg nodded toward them and waved them back. It’s okay, go on, it’s okay.
The kids retreated back into the room, away from the window, and Gregg buried his face in his hands. He didn’t want the kids to see him like this. He hoped they hadn’t heard him crying. If they had then he was going to be in for a rough night.
Wait a minute....that was an understatement. He was already in for a rough night. He was in for the worst night of his life.
Gregg took a deep breath, the cold mountain air searing his lungs. He badly wanted a drink right now more than anything in the world. “I don’t know what it is, but I have a very strong feeling that you’re telling me the truth. And it’s not just because of what you say, about knowing my name and knowing about Diana and Ronnie. It’s a feeling I have. I can’t explain it, but...the feeling I have and...calling Laura’s house and hearing that...I don’t know who it was—”
“The police, probably,” the man murmured.
Gregg looked at the man. “What the hell is going on? Who are you and how do you know so much?”
The Beloved Page 27