by Eden Maguire
the Beautiful Dead.
'I'm thinking that's real y going to make Brandon popular with Oscar -
him putting Thorne's kid brother in the frame.'
'Only if Oscar finds out what Brandon tel s the cops,' I pointed out.
Final y Phoenix turned right around to face me. ' Darina, there's a lot of hidden dynamics here that we don't get - gang stuff connected with drug deals. Ever since I came to El erton, everyone I met says Thorne has been mixed up in that.' Looking deep into my eyes, he made a direct plea. 'Take some time, step back a little, huh?'
Straight away I hated this idea. 'What does Hunter say about it?'
'What he always says - don't take any risk that would draw attention to the Beautiful Dead.'
'But we need the truth!' I protested. 'Am I the only one who sees how fast time is running out?'
Phoenix took a second to break through my frustration and sift through
the whirlwind of suspicions and theories in my head. Then took my hand and did his best to convince me. 'Step back,' he insisted. 'Go talk to Jardine, share your new thoughts with him.'
I saw the soft halo of light gather around him, knew that he was about to leave again. 'What about you?' I gasped. 'What wil you do?'
'I'l tel Hunter this is too big for you to deal with alone.' Phoenix's image grew faint, I heard his voice linger after he faded from sight. 'Hunter has to keep you safe, I don't care what it takes.'
79
That night and al through the weekend I did my best to put Phoenix's doubts out of my mind. Hunter can 't stop me now, even if he tried, I told myself, staring up at my bedroom ceiling. Hunter can't stop me now. It became my mantra as each day the grey dawn light crept into my room.
Cal me paranoid, or maybe it was lack of sleep, but come Monday, as I drove the streets trying to gather my courage and focus on my next move, I felt sure I was being fol owed by two guys on Harleys.
They came out of the Honda showroom on the edge of town and tailed me towards the mal , one wearing a red bandana, the other a blue, both
wearing silver-rimmed shades and with leather vests over white T-shirts.
I checked out these two Harley stereotypes in my rear-view mirror then headed on past the mal . The riders were stil a hundred metres behind me, two abreast, so I built a scenario around the probability that it was already too late to step back as Phoenix had suggested.
Here's my theory: obviously Oscar Thorne had put two of his guys onto me. They had probably been on my tail for a while, seen me talking to Kyra, paid her a visit after I left and learned that I was asking awkward questions about the Phoenix kil ing. They'd reported back to Thorne, who told them to tail me and stick with me.
Why would Thorne want to have you fol owed in the first place? I asked
myself.
Because Nathan made a point of tel ing his big brother that you were spying on him out at the old trailer park. Go figure.
My pulse raced. It took two seconds flat for nie to decide that dealing with me was now top of Oscar Thorne's to-do list and that I had to lose the guys on the Harleys. Turning off the street into a McDonald's parking lot, I wove between cars, around the back of the building into a Blockbuster outlet and out onto a narrow side street, heading towards El erton High.
Good Job! A glance in my mirror told me that I'd succeeded in shaking the guys off. Stil , my heart was thudding. I'd lost them, but for how long"80 Out of sheer habit, I signal ed and turned into the school grounds, where I found Christian and Lucas standing by the entrance to the science and technology block.
'Too bad, Darina - you missed a fascinating lecture on global warning,' Lucas told me in that new, witty way he'd developed lately. 'Jordan bought the whole package. She's busy reducing her carbon footprint as we speak.'
I leaned out of the car, craving a little normal conversation. 'How exactly?'
Christian pointed across the car park towards Jordan's bright-yel ow Beetle. 'She ditched the car and walked into town with Hannah and Zoey.'
'Where they have an instant relapse and start shopping for fashion items made in Asian sweatshops and jetted across continents for sale in air-conditioned mal s.' Lucas laughed and moved on swiftly. 'Hey, Darina, I hear you ran into Michael Rohr a little while back?'
'So?' I snapped.
' Whoa, sorry. I didn't realize.'
'What didn't you realize, Lucas?'
'That you'd bite my head off if I so much as mentioned the guy's name.'
I closed my eyes and took a breath. 'No, it's me. I'm the one who's sorry. So what about Michael?'
'Everyone's talking about it,' Christian told me. 'He and Brandon got into a fight.'
Was that al ? I thought that for once the El erton gossip machine was slow to catch up. 'Yeah, at the Rohrs' place. I already know that,' I sighed.
'Another fight,' Christian explained, watching me careful y. 'It happened early this morning, outside Zoey's house.'
'Wait!' I cried, suddenly paying attention. 'What was Brandon doing at the Bishops' place?'
'Not Brandon - Michael.' It was Lucas who final y put the pieces
together for me. 'You know Russel Bishop is Michael's buddy from way
back? Michael cal ed to ask Russel to play a game of golf. When he came out of the house Brandon was waiting for him. They exchanged insults and it developed from there.'
'And Zoey saw it al ?'
'Right.' Christian stepped back in. 'She says it was her mom who cal ed the cops.'
'They cal ed the cops?' I echo-groaned. As if the family isn't in enough trouble already.'
'The cops broke up the fight and hauled Brandon into the sheriff's office.' Too late Christian realized the reason I was taking the news so badly. 'Sorry. The Rohrs a sensitive issue.'
'It's cool. Thanks for tel ing me. Does anyone know what's happened to
Brandon now?'
Lucas and Christian shook their heads.
'I guess the cops wil charge him,' Lucas suggested.
'Maybe I'l check it out.' Getting ready to leave, I made a feeble effort to lighten the mood. 'Tel Jordan tomorrow is the day I lighten my carbon footprint, OK?' I pressed the gas pedal and swooped around in a wide circle to point towards the exit. 'Today I have people I need to see!'
'Sorry, Darina, Zoey isn't home,' Helena Bishop told me.
I'd driven straight to the Bishops' home, knowing for a fact that Zoey was happily shopping in town. I'd parked outside the big gates and walked up the drive, stepped between the white pil ars up into the wide marble-tiled porch and rung the doorbel . 'Actual y, Mrs Bishop, I only wanted a smal piece of information about Michael Rohr, and I thought maybe you could help.'
'You heard about the fight earlier?' she said cautiously. 'News gets around.'
'The whole town knows - you know how it is. I was kind of worried about Michael.' I was glad to be talking to Zoey's mom and not her dad, who always treated me like public enemy number one. 'I hope he didn't get badly hurt.'
'I understand. Michael is Phoenix's dad, after al .'
'Yes. I need to know his address so I can send a card, maybe some
lfowers.'
'But he wasn't seriously injured, you know. The sheriff acted before things got out of hand.'
'Even so,' I insisted. 'A card, tel ing hint I hope he's OK.'
Helena Bishop thought about it then decided to humour me. 'That's nicc82
of you, Darina. Wait here while I look up the address in Russel 's diary.'
While I waited I wondered how come life had lifted Russel Bishop clean over from Michael Rohr's rough side of the tracks to this land of smooth
lawns and white pil ars. Then Mrs Bishop came back and handed me a slip
of paper with a handwritten address.
Thanks,' I told her. I read the address as I walked down the drive -
Apartment 209, Centre Point.
The oldest tower block in town was where I was headed now.
Go talk to Jardine! I hea
rd Phoenix's voice, sensed his presence in the car beside me though he didn't actual y materialize.
'Not right now,' I told him. 'I want to find out why your dad argued with your brother again. It might be important.'
Step back! he warned. Remember what we discussed!
'I don't recal any discussion. The way I see it, you gave me some advice and I'm choosing not to take it.'
For your own safety, he reminded me. This Oscar Thorne connection scares the hel out of me, Darina. He already put two guys on your tail.
Yeah, and I easily shook them off, didn't I? Don't worry. I can take care of myself.'
Why aren 't you listening to me? I'm tel ing you this is too complicated, too dangerous.
I sighed as I drove into the centre of town. This is weird. Why are you tel ing me to stop when we only have four days left?'
I pul ed up outside Centre Point and a wind blew across the parking lot,
lifting an empty white plastic bag into the air and whirling it against my windscreen. It slid up and over my head, floated heavenwards into a pure blue sky.
'Phoenix, are you stil there?' I in always here.
'Have I got this right? Am I having a fight with my invisible Beautiful Dead boyfriend?'
Total y.
'So listen. You can't make me step back now. Not even Hunter can do that. I'm in this until the end.'
There was a long silence before he sighed and said, I know, but F03 scared for you. I love you.
'I love you too. Phoenix, you have to let me do this for you.'
Silence again. A blast of cold air, as if Hunter had swept down from
Foxton Ridge and pul ed Phoenix right out of there.
Stepping out of the car into the wind, I pul ed my jacket across my chest and walked quickly towards the building.
Re-reading the address, Apartment 209, I chose the second storey,
pressed the button and waited for the elevator door to slide open. Its metal wal s were scratched, scrawled, scribbled and sprayed, its floor speckled with flattened grey blobs of gum. I ascended alone with a nasty smel and a fast-beating heart, stepped out onto a balcony and fol owed door numbers 201, 203 along the corridor until I came to 209.
I rang the doorbel , rehearsing my introductory sentences as I waited for Michael to answer it. 'It's me again,' I would say. 'I need to know what happened to Brandon after the fight you two had. I have to talk to him. It's important.'
Michael opened the door into a narrow hal way with a smal kitchen on the left and a living room straight ahead. 'Darina, come in,' he said before I
could speak. He had a cut over his right eye and a livid bruise across his
cheekbone. The eyelid was swol en, the eye almost closed. 'Before you ask, I told the cops I don't plan to take any action.'
'Good,' I nodded.
'This was a family dispute. They promise to release Brandon just as soon as they finalize the paperwork.'
I nodded again and fol owed him into the living room. I cal it 'living' room, but it was more an empty space for Michael to dump his property, which consisted of a zipper bag stuffed with clothes and basic toiletries. Otherwise, there was one brown velour chair, a coffee table with car keys and an opened can of beer on it, and in one corner a lamp without a shade. 'What did you two fight about?' I asked.
'Let's just say, unfinished business.'
'And you're certain the cops wil let him go? Because I need to talk to
him.'
'About Zak?'
'Kind of. Actual y, yes. I want to warn him that Zak's hanging out wit1?4 the wrong guys.' Which was true, but not the whole truth.
Wearily Michael ran a hand over his face. 'You're too late,' he mumbled. 'Brandon already has al the facts. I picked up rumours from Russel that Zak was keeping bad company. When I relayed the news to Brandon, he
turned it al on me, said I was to blame for being a lousy father, and why the hel didn't I disappear from their lives?'
'So then the fight?' I guessed. 'Did Nathan Thorne's name come up?'
'Top of the list,' Michael confirmed. 'At that point Brandon total y lost control.'
'And what about Zak's mom? Does she know that her youngest son is
hanging out with Thorne?'
Massaging his temples and hiding his eyes from view, he shrugged. 'I can't be sure. But there's something else - another reason for Brandon to lose control.'
'Which is?'
'Sharon chose last night to yel at Zak big time - about his exclusion from school, his lack of respect, al the usual stuff. According to Brandon, Zak couldn't take it. He yel ed back, threw stuff around the room then ran
out of the house.'
'Ran where?' I asked.
'Nobody knows. He just ran. And he hasn't shown up since.'
Good, Darina. I'm glad you 're focusing on this.
It was Phoenix again, hovering over my left shoulder as I drove. This time though, I had Michael in the car with me, so I couldn't enter into a ful dialogue.
Find Zak, he went on. Persuade him to go home, talk things through with Mom.
'I have a hunch,' I'd told Michael back in his crappy apartment. 'I think I know where Zak might be.' And I'd described the empty trailer in the park out on the road to Forest Lake.
Michael had sprung into action, ignoring the escalator and running downstairs two at a time, tel ing me to drive him straight there.
'I hope I'm right,' I said now, to both Michael and Phoenix.
Trust your instinct, Phoenix murmured. 85
'Is there anything else I need to know?' Michael asked, leaning forward in his seat, one arm braced against the control panel.
'It's possible Zak's not alone. He might be there with Mil er and
Stafford, maybe even Nathan Thorne,' I warned. 'They al know about this place. I get the idea it's where they regularly hang out.'
'I'l deal with that,' Michael promised. He was a father on a mission to
redeem himself for ten years of absence.
He's like you, Phoenix, I thought. He acts on impulse. He's a passionate gtuy.
HHe's nothing like me, Phoenix protested.
'Drive faster,' Michael pleaded as we passed the KFC and read the sign that said Forest Lake, 8 miles.
Yeah, he is, I thought.
And I remembered the times I'd been driving with Phoenix in my old car, me observing the speed limit and him saying, 'Drive, Darina. Let's see how fast this heap of rust can go!'
See! I told my Beautiful Dead boyfriend.
'We're almost there,' I promised Michael as I turned off the highway onto a side road which narrowed and wound through pine trees. 'You see the water up ahead? That's Forest Lake. The park is coming right up.'
The words were hardly out of my mouth when we spotted the first trailer,
set ten metres back from the road in amongst the trees. There it was,
complete with fancy mailbox and neatly fenced yard. I kept my foot on the gas, past more trailer homes, then one or two wooden shacks, and pretty soon we came to the deserted trailer where the kids hung out.
'Is this it?' Michael asked as I slowed down.
I nodded, took in the fact that there was no black Chevy parked outside,
nor any other vehicle as far as I could see. Relieved, I decided to sit in the car and wait as Michael leaped out and ran towards the door.
I watched him knock first then try the handle. Nothing happened so he
hammered on the door with his fist and final y bent down to pick up a rock lying at the foot of the metal steps. He used the rock to smash the glass panel in the door then he reached in and turned the handle from the inside. 86
It was at that exact moment that Zak charged the door. He must have heard the knocking and stayed silent inside the trailer, waited until the glass broke and Michael's hand had reached through. Then he knew it was time to act. So he ran at the door and sent his dad sprawling backwards down the steps.
I saw it from a distance - Michael lai
d flat in the dirt and Zak stumbling, tripping over his father, sliding down the hil towards me. I got out of the car and was there to catch him when he final y came to a stop.
Angrily, Zak tried to wrench himself free.
I hung on to the hem of his sweatshirt, felt him twist, raise his arms and slip out of it, saw him start running again until this time Michael cut him off. He tackled his son around the waist and brought him crashing down.
There we were, the three of us - me holding an empty sweatshirt,
Michael grasping Zak in a bear-hug, Zak lying motionless beneath him.
'No more running.' Michael broke the silence. Slowly he relaxed his grip and knelt back to let his son recover.
I heard a breeze drift between the pines, saw the branches sway. Good job, Darina! Phoenix breathed.
'It's OK, Zak,' I said. 'Stick around and listen to what your dad has to say.
Breathing heavily, Zak rol ed free of Michael and stood up. He was shorter than his dad, much skinnier. 'What are you doing here?' he turned to me and demanded. 'Who asked you to stick your nose in again?'
'Don't talk to Darina that way,' Michael cut in.
'And you don't get to tel me what to do!' Zak rounded on his dad. 'Nobody does, not any more.'
'So that's it?' Warily Michael stood back. 'You cut your family out of your life?'
'Since when were you my family?' Zak jeered. Now it didn't look like he would run, but neither was he ready to listen to what Michael had to say. 'Do you even know what the word means?'
'OK, I hear you. And I don't blame you for being angry with me, Zak.
But it's your mom I'm talking about. She deserves better.' 87
'Oh yeah Supermom.'
'Zak! Your mother is there for you, always was.' 'Not like you, huh?'
'Not like me,' Michael agreed, forcing himself to meet Zak's stare. 'What do you want excuses? Because I don't have any.'
'And now I should suck it up? "Hey, no problem, Dad. Glad you're back. Why don't you stick around a little longer? We could share some quality time!"
Michael's head jerked back like a boxer dodging punches. Then he
steeled himself for more.
Zak delivered. 'Wel , guess what? I did OK without you in the picture al these years.'