“Don’t you think that the police have already looked into that?” Barron asked.
“Maybe, but they don’t know Lola, I do. And they don’t know Glen DeFrank either.” Regina reasoned.
“… And you know Glen DeFrank?” Barron asked with a hint of incredulity.
Regina sighed hopelessly, she wanted to get angry and yell and scream in frustration, but she couldn’t because Barron was right, she was hardly a detective.
“I am not saying that I know him, know him. I am just saying that I have been around him and I probably know more about him than the police.”
“All I’m saying is it’s possible that they could have missed something, right?” Regina pleaded.
“It’s possible, but this just sounds crazy, Regina. You don’t need to be poking around up there, just let Sheriff Handow do his job.” Barron said. Regina sat back in her chair and contemplated Barron’s words while rapping her fingertips on the small round table. He smiled, sure that he had done little to curb Regina’s urge to take on this investigative mission. Countless years before she had given him the same look, right before freshman year in high school when he told her that there was no way that she would make the varsity swim team as a high school freshman. A grueling summer followed as the determined girl practiced for hours every day and made him eat his words come fall; her fire was one of the things he adored most about her, but there were times that it frustrated him to no end. He laughed to himself remembering how she had declined the offer to join the varsity swim team citing the fact that she had only set out to prove a point and had no interest in swimming competitively.
“You ready to get outta here?” he asked with a grin. “I told my grandmother that I would drive her over to Edgarton today to shop at the mall. You wanna come?”
“Nah!” she replied. “I told my parents I would spend some time with them today too.” She finished as she put her arms back into the sleeves of her sweater and prepared for the frigid fall weather that awaited her just outside the thick glass door.
“Do we have time to stop by Nikki’s house before you drop me off?” she asked as she approached Barron at the door.
He studied her carefully, trying to figure out what she had up her sleeve.
“Sure.”
Nikki’s was one of just a few houses that sat high upon Black Water Hill. On the way up the hill, they passed the home of Grayson Clements, where Grayson’s father was working in his yard. Regina and Barron waved in passing. They had gone to high school with Grayson, but he was an athlete and not exactly in their circle of friends.
Regina was glad, at that moment, that Barron’s mother still drove her oversized truck; Weeping Willow Road was fairly nice but once you turned off onto Nikki’s property the ride instantly became rough on the gravelly drive that extended farther up the hill. Her home was as beautiful as Regina remembered it, a massive country-style home, constructed of stone and rock with a wide wraparound porch that featured colorful potted plants hanging down every couple of feet. The grand plantation shutters that framed the windows across the front of the house were painted a fresh garden green.
“God, I almost forgot how beautiful it is up here,” Regina said as she admired the landscape.
Barron looked around, but did not respond as he parked in front of the home. As Regina jumped out of the truck, she saw Nikki sitting on the front porch in one of the four rocking chairs that were spread out along the porch.
“Hey,” Regina greeted as she hopped up the stairs. Nikki was wearing a pair of oversized boyfriend jeans that were cuffed at the bottom with a dark blue university sweatshirt, reminding Regina that even when Nikki dressed down she seemed to be at the height of a fashion trend.
“Hey,” Nikki sang in what seemed an alcohol-induced euphoric daze. “I called your house,” she told Regina.
“I went to breakfast with Barron,” Regina told her as Barron stepped up onto the porch.
“What’s up, Nikki?” he asked, although he could see for himself.
“Nothing much. What’s up with you two lovebirds?” She laughed lightly. Regina could feel her chest begin to warm in reaction to Nikki’s words.
Considering her current state, Regina wondered if this was an appropriate time to be talking to Nikki. She flashed a concerned look at Barron and he nodded anxiously in a go-ahead for her to do what she had come to do. Nikki appeared somewhat lucid and who knew what she would be like the next time Regina saw her.
Regina looked nervously through the storm door to make sure that no one would hear the conversation. Nikki noticed.
“My dad went out of town on business, but he’ll be back for the wake,” Nikki assured her.
“Nikki, I want to find out what happened to Lola,” Regina said.
“Don’t we all?” Nikki said as she looked down in order to flick something off her shirt.
“Yes, we do,” Regina agreed. Nikki shifted in her chair seeming slightly more serious.
“What do you mean what happened to her? We know what happened? Glen DeFrank chopped her up and buried her under one of his trees! Mystery solved!” Nikki had become upset within seconds. Not only did Regina want to talk about this sickening event, she was also blowing Nikki’s high at the same time.
“How do we know?” Regina asked.
“How do we know?” Nikki mocked Regina with a look of repulsion.
In response, Regina sighed. “All I am saying is that we don’t know for sure that he was a murderer and I think that we owe it to her to finally figure everything out.”
Nikki turned away and wiped her hand over her face as if she was wiping something away.
“What is your suggestion?” Nikki relented all too easily, as she usually did.
Regina sneered at Barron when she saw his face light up, she knew that Barron was sure that Nikki would think that her idea was as crazy as he did. He put up his hands in playful defeat as Nikki watched the exchange.
“What?” she said, looking back and forth between Regina and Barron waiting for the bomb, that she sensed, to drop.
“I …” Regina spoke trying to build up her confidence to be struck down again. “I was thinking that maybe we should go up and take a look around the DeFrank estate ourselves.”
“What?” Nikki’s eyes widened larger than Regina had ever seen before and in the next breath, Nikki was out of her seat with a stumble.
“NO WAY! NO WAY! NO WAY! I am not going out to that old place.” She spoke loudly, using hand and arm action to solidify her stand against the idea.
“I am not going there. My skin is crawling just thinking about it! Everything that happened there…DeFrank died there, now Lola. No, No, No!” Nikki finally stood still facing Barron and Regina with her arms crossed in front of her with a face that expressed an unchanging mind. Right away Regina saw that there would be no convincing Nikki.
“Why can’t we just let Sheriff figure it out?” Nikki wondered aloud. Regina knew that wasn’t the best idea, but didn’t feel like trying to explain it to her friend right now.
“I just feel like we should be doing something. Don’t you?” Regina stated.
“No! I don’t. I feel like we should be grieving, eating, drinking, and doing our best to be freaking merry with any free time we have between those things.” She spoke directly as if she needed no validation that this was the correct attitude.
Regina’s emotions were twisted tightly, secured in ways that were hopeless when it came to the idea of ever being free of the tie that bound her and it showed on her face. Nikki regretted the way that she had overreacted to Regina’s proposed plan of action and she found her seat again in a gesture to reduce the tension, her head fell into her palm.
“I’m so tired of this whole thing. I know that sounds messed up, but it’s the truth,” Nikki admitted with calm, almost cruel honesty.
“I’ll help you, of course, I will, but I’m not doing that. I had not even seen Glen since we were kids and I do not plan on returning to that pl
ace now.”
Regina peered at her friend. Black Water was not the smallest town on the map, there were even two high schools, but it was sure as hell not a place where residents didn’t see each other for years. Nikki read her friend’s face.
“Well, I have seen him, but you know…not anywhere near him or talking to him or anything. Creepy.” She cringed.
“So, besides going up to that place, what do we do?” Nikki asked as the group concentrated their attentions on Regina.
She suddenly became nervous. “Give me some time to think about it. I’m not Angela Landsbury.”
Barron and Nikki tried to take their eyes off Regina sensing her discomfort.
“What time is the wake tomorrow?” Nikki asked, changing the subject.
“Eleven, I think.” Barron answered. They all sat in silence for a couple of moments.
“We better get going. I promised my grandmother I would take her to Edgarton,” he explained to Nikki. Regina stood up from the porch steps. “Guess I will see you later. You coming to the parade tonight?”
“I doubt it,” Nikki replied.
“Yeah, I know how you feel, but my parents want to hang out. I have no choice. I’ll call you tonight.”
“Later,” Nikki responded, watching her friends depart.
Barron and Regina headed toward the truck. After climbing into the leather seats, Barron spoke before starting the engine.
“I know that you are going to go anyway so can you just wait until tomorrow so that I can go with you?” he asked without even looking at Regina.
“Yes.” She smiled, her heart instantaneously lighter. She rested the side of her head gently on the glass of the passenger side window comfortable in the notion that Barron knew her all too well. As Barron started the engine, Regina put her hand up, spread her fingers, and wiggled them stiffly in farewell to Nikki who waved back with a quick and empty smile before returning her eyes to the rolling hills that lay out before her.
Nikki wished that she could jump off the porch and begin running. She would start at a leisurely trot, she imagined, admiring the trees and the landscape that unfolded grandly on any side of her. Then she would notice that she was breathing harder as her jog picked up speed until she was running so fast that she could hear nothing but the beating of her own heart, rapidly leaving everything behind, over one hill, and then the next, and the next until she was flying and there was nothing and no one.
Regina melted at the fact that Barron knew that she would go to the DeFrank estate with or without her friends and she desperately wanted him by her side, but a part of her felt there was no time to wait.
Barron pulled the lumbering truck into Regina’s parents’ driveway. The powerful engine gave a low hum. “Thank you, Barron,” Regina finally spoke.
“For what?” the gallant man asked, turning in his seat to face the girl who immediately lit up with a smile.
“Just for being there for me; for not thinking that I’m totally crazy,” she said.
“Now that is where you’re wrong. I do think you’re totally crazy,” he corrected.
Regina laughed and slapped his shoulder playfully. “I know, I know. Let me re-phrase that. For being supportive even though you think that I’m totally crazy.” They both laughed. “No, I don’t think that you’re crazy. You’re just grieving, that’s all.” He said in the calm manner that made him so easy to talk to.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Everyone grieves differently and for you I think that you just need to feel like you are doing something, like you are helping your friend. This is the way that you are dealing with the pain; by not dealing with it…in a way, by focusing your attention on something else,” he explained. “Wow that is pretty good.” She started to laugh again and soon they were both laughing at his amateur, but clever analysis of Regina’s behavior. Barron’s rolling laughter winded down and he leaned toward Regina and looked into her eyes.
He’s going to kiss me, Regina thought as she began to close her eyes and purse her lips entrancingly in preparation for them to meet his. She opened her eyes fully when she saw that he stopped just short of the intimacy that she anticipated and he spoke.
“It’s guilt,” he said. The subtle smile faded from Regina’s excited face. Barron sat unmoving.
“What?” Regina lurched back in her seat almost bumping her head against the glass. She had been expecting a passionate encounter, but what came from his mouth sounded almost like an insult. The vexed expression cemented itself in her face before she could even begin to try to hide her true emotion. The man sighed and leaned back in his seat as if he did not want to say what was coming next, but he trudged on through the heavy conversation.
“You were her best friend. You felt like you should have been there, like you should have protected her, but you weren’t and now that she is back, in a weird sense, you are doing all that you can to make it up to her. You’re trying to make amends for what you didn’t do eight years ago, but you can’t blame yourself, Regina. This is not your fault; whatever happened to Lola is not your fault. There was nothing that you could have done about it then and there is nothing that you can do about it now.”
Regina was still in a rigid position with her head against the glass of the passenger door. She had been unable to move the entire time that Barron was speaking. Regina’s mind wandered for a while. She brought one of her palms to her cheek as if trying to check her own temperature. Barron actually made sense, but Regina was still as confused as she ever was.
“I’m sorry, Regina. I didn’t mean to upset you.” Barron’s voice blew all of the slowly forming thoughts and images in her head into meaningless ashes that swept out of her mind like clouds of smoke billowing from a fireplace on a winter night, dissipating and leaving no trace behind. Regina grabbed Barron’s hand. “It’s not you, Barron. It’s not you.” She thanked him again and climbed out of the vehicle.
“Regina, are you OK? I should have just kept my big mouth shut.” He scolded himself.
“I’m fine, Barron. Really, I’m OK.” She confirmed with a weak smile.
“All right” he finally accepted with reluctance. “I’ll see you tonight,” he continued.
Regina turned to make sure that she had heard him correctly. “I should be back in town tonight for all of the Black Water holiday festivities.” He lifted his eyebrows with sarcastic excitement. “I will see you downtown.”
“Ok, bye Barron.”
“Regina,” he called out of his window. Regina turned.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s OK.” Regina conjured a smile.
“Bye,” he said before rolling up his window and rolling back down the driveway.
“Mom…Dad?” Regina called as she opened the creaking storm door.
“We’re in here,” she heard her mother yell from the kitchen. Her parents were seated at their breakfast nook with the cool sun shining brightly through the kitchen. They sat across from one another, both wearing their reading glasses and staring down at the game with its little square pieces strung to create a precise puzzle of words across the board.
“Wow, vortex.” Regina read on the board as she plopped down on the cushioned bench next to her father. “This must be serious,” she joked.
“Damned right it’s serious. Today is the day that I whip your mother’s butt.”
Her parents had been in this board game war ever since she could remember. Her father could never beat her mother no matter how much he tried. Her mother was an intelligent woman, but her father was no idiot and at times Regina even thought that on occasions when he could have won, he decided to not change the tide of the triumphs because he enjoyed seeing her mother’s exhilaration much more than he enjoyed winning a board game. “That will never happen,” her mother informed her calmly. “I’m just killing time, trying to put off cleaning the basement for as long as possible.” Mrs. Dean added.
“How was your date with Barron?” Her father asked. He kep
t his eyes on the seven square pieces of wood that were spread out in front of him on the long wooden holder. Every second or two Regina noticed her father’s eyes narrow the way that they always did when he thought he may have a good word.
“It was good. We went to see Sheriff Handow.” Both of her parents looked up from the board.
“Why?” her mother asked.
Regina shrugged. “We just wanted to see if they had learned anything new.”
“Have they?” her father asked.
“Not really. Sheriff Handow just kind of gave me the runaround without actually telling me anything. I guess that is just what detectives do. They think that maybe Glen DeFrank had something to do with it.”
“Glen!” Her mother’s voice rose and she was visibly upset.
“My God! Are they sure?” she asked her daughter.
“Don’t get so upset, Mom, the body was found on his property.” Regina sarcastically re-informed her mother of the facts, but immediately felt guilty for being rude.
“No, Mom, they’re not sure of anything. They just think that because the body was found there…that’s all.”
“I hope to God it wasn’t him!” Her father spit.
Regina was surprised at her father’s sudden exponential rise to anger.
“I knew that they found Lola there, but I never thought that Glen DeFrank could be responsible for something like this. Regina he didn’t ever try to hurt you or anything, did he?” Her mother asked. The room became soundless as they waited for her response.
“No!” Regina scowled. She could see the relief that spread through the faces of both of her parents.
“He never tried to murder us while we took piano with him, Mom, if that’s what you’re asking,” Regina said. “… Unless of course we hit a sour note.”
“That’s not funny, Regina!” her mother snapped.
“Sorry,” Regina said with a whimper. “I guess I am just trying to make light of everything.”
“Well don’t! I would never be able to forgive myself if something would have happened to you. I don’t know how Gloria is dealing with this. I should go by there today. I will bake her a cake,” her mother said.
Black Water Tales: The Secret Keepers Page 14