“Yes, Jake. I’ve already said that.” I’m getting impatient, even exasperated, with him.
“He was in the car that your Dad, I mean you, hit?”
“Apparently so.” I try to think back to the wreck but I can’t picture the boy’s face. I remember seeing his limp body in the passenger seat being held up by his seat belt. His head hung down on his chest, his silk black hair matted with blood. The same black hair I just saw on Tyler, err, Jeffrey.
“He’s been in New Hope and just happens to show up everywhere you are?”
I don’t bother to answer him this time. I’m not even sure if he heard my last couple of responses. It more like he’s just trying to work this all out in his head, so I sit there and let him.
“He obviously knows the truth but hasn’t told anyone, so he has to be the one sending all the threats. Don’t you think so?” He looks at me for confirmation.
“I don’t know, Jake. I don’t know what to think about any of this.” I’m practically yelling in frustration. I throw my hands up in the air and slam them back down on the seat.
“Alex, you know it’s him. Why else would he show up in New Hope and use a fake name? He didn’t want you to know who he really was. He’s the one. You have to know that.” Jake grabs my face to make me look at him. “You know it’s him, Alex.”
“I know, Jake, I just don’t know what to do about it. Do I confront him? Do I ignore him and hope he doesn’t decide to take it any further? What am I supposed to do?” I ask, my voice getting louder with each word.
My emotions are swirling all over the place, like a hurricane building out on the ocean, and any minute now I am going to burst. It’s too much. I have the overwhelming urge to both throw up and pass out, and I’m not sure which one will be the winner until I feel the warmth creeping up my throat. I fling the door open and jump out of the truck, nearly losing my footing on some loose gravel. I stumble to the back of the truck just in time. Jake comes up behind me as I’m expelling the remains of my lunch.
“Here,” Jake says kindly, handing me a tissue and helping me back into the truck. “Sit here and rest. I’ll be right back.” Once I’m settled and have assured him that I’m okay, he goes into the store and comes back out a little later with a toothbrush, a travel size tube of toothpaste, and a bottle of water. He’s always been so thoughtful, and I’m glad to see that hasn’t changed in our time apart.
“We should go back,” he says, suddenly.
“What?” I ask through a mouthful of minty toothpaste. There’s no way he just said what I think he just said.
“We should go back to their house.”
I slosh some water around in my mouth and spit it out on the pavement before answering him. “And do what, exactly? You want me to march inside and confess everything? Hey, thanks again for the interview. Oh, and by the way, I’m the one who’s really responsible for killing your husband and ruining your lives. Just thought you should know,” I bark out, sarcastically.
“Of course not. I was thinking we could park up the road and watch from the truck. If Jeffrey leaves, we’ll follow him. See what he’s up to. Try to gather as much information as we can.”
That’s actually not a bad idea, I think. “But I thought you had stuff to do today. Shouldn’t you be getting back?” Please say no. Please say no.
“It’s fine, Alex. You need me right now; everything else can wait.” He places his hand on my thigh and squeezes. I let out a sigh of relief even though I’m still not sure if we should go back. What if someone sees us lurking outside?
“I don’t know, Jake. I have a long drive ahead of me and I should probably be heading home.”
“Stay here tonight.”
I look at him, confused and happy at the same time. He wants me to stay. He’s missed me so much that he doesn’t want me to leave. But I can’t. What will I do, sleep in my car?
“And where exactly would I stay? You know as well as I do that everyone in town hates my family and me.”
“At my house.”
I let out a hearty laugh. “Yeah, because your parents would love nothing more than to have your ex-girlfriend sleep over. They hate me just as much as everyone else in Hilldale does, probably more.”
“They’re not home. Dad’s out of town at a conference and Mom went with him. They won’t be back until Wednesday.
“What about your brother and sister? Won’t they tell them?” I ask, but I’m not sure why I am fighting him so badly on this. I would love to stay with Jake.
“Tori is staying at a friend’s house until they get back and Ross is away at wrestling camp. We’ll have the house all to ourselves.” He grins mischievously.
Ross is Jake’s little brother and Tori is Jake’s younger sister, the spoiled baby of the family. She used to sneak around and try to catch Jake and me making out so she could run and tell his parents. At first, I thought it was cute, but then it got really irritating. She was constantly around and Jake and I could never get any alone time when we were at his house. I wonder if she’s still as annoying now as she was six months ago. Ross is a year younger than Jake, but you wouldn’t know that by looking at him. He’s a foot taller and has about seventy-five pounds on Jake, but he’s just a big teddy bear.
“I’m not sure that’s the best idea, Jake. I mean, we haven’t seen each other in months and you want to spend the night together. Don’t you think that’s kind of rushing things?”
“It’ll be fine. You can sleep in Tori’s room if that will make you feel better about staying. Or we can camp out in the living room and watch movies. I can whip us up some spaghetti and garlic bread. I know that’s your favorite. You can get some rest and drive home first thing in the morning. Plus, it will give us some time to discuss this whole ex-girlfriend thing.” He gives me one of his playful winks, and I can’t help but smile at him. He takes my face in his hands and leans in close to whisper in my ear, “I think I like the term ‘girlfriend’ better.” He kisses my cheek and pulls back, leaving me wanting more. “So, whaddya say? You want to stay the night?”
I know he’s not going to give up, and I want nothing more than to spend more time here, not just with Jake, but also figuring out what Tyler—or I should say Jeffrey—is up to.
“Okay, I’ll stay. I just have to call Mom and let her know, but I can do that later.”
“All right!” Jake yells, throwing his arms around me and hugging a little too tightly.
WE’VE BEEN SITTING IN JAKE’S truck, a block up from Jeffrey’s house, for about two hours now. My legs are cramped and my bladder is one sneeze or cough away from exploding…and absolutely nothing has happened. Jake and I used the time to catch up, and officially made up as a couple, but now we’ve reached a lull in the conversation. I’m having trouble keeping my eyes open, and the last time I looked over at Jake he seemed to be having the same problem.
Out of the dead silence, my phone rings, causing us both to jump. Jake lets out a curse under his breath while I dig for my phone. By the time I get to it, it has already gone to voicemail and the display shows that I have one missed call from Anna.
“Who was it?” Jake asks, sleepily.
“It was Anna, but I really don’t want to talk to her right now. Not after last night.”
“What happened last night?” Jake asks through a yawn.
“Well, after I broke the news to her and Mom about the accident, she told me she hated me and stormed out of the room. She looked at me like she wanted to kill me. I’ve never seen her that mad. Especially not toward me. I haven’t talked to her since, and I’m kind of scared to. I can’t even imagine what else she wants to say to me. She pretty much said it all yesterday.” My heart breaks all over again at the memory of hearing Anna say those three awful words to me.
“Maybe she’s calling to apologize. You should call her back.” Jake looks at me, his eyes full of sincerity. I
wish he were right.
My phone pings, alerting me I have a new voicemail. I stare at my phone, debating whether to listen to it. I’m not sure I can handle hearing Anna reminding me how much she despises me. Jake snatches the phone out of my hand while I’m still trying to decide what to do.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I shout at him, trying to wrestle my phone back from him.
“You need to hear what she has to say,” Jake tells me, placing the phone on speaker so we can both hear the message.
“Alex, I don’t know what’s going on or why you felt you needed to go to Hilldale after those people were so horrible to us, but Mom is freaking out right now.” Anna’s voice rings out loud and clear in the truck. “I told her about what’s been going on, you know, with the letters and the text, and she was about to go to the cops until I explained to her that if she did she would have to tell them everything, including the truth about the wreck.”
For a minute, there’s nothing but silence and I think that’s the end of the message, then I hear Anna take in a deep breath before she continues. “Look, Alex, I don’t hate you. I’m sorry I blurted that out. It was just a shock to hear. I let my emotions get the best of me and I said it without even thinking. Anyway, you got another letter. Luckily, I saw it before Mom got to it, because she definitely would have opened it and probably would have headed straight to the police station. Just call me back, okay?”
“You should call her,” Jake says, handing my phone back.
I nod and dial her number.
“Alex, look, a car just pulled up,” Jake says, reaching over and shaking my shoulder to get my attention. The phone slips from my hand and falls to the floorboard of the truck, but I don’t bother retrieving it.
“Who is it? Can you see them?” I ask impatiently, leaning closer toward the windshield, hoping to get a better look.
“Looks like a guy our age, but I can’t really tell.”
We lean as close to the windshield as we can without smooshing our faces against it.
“He’s getting out,” Jake whispers as if the person can hear us.
I hold my breath and squeeze my hands into tight fists as I watch Luke emerge from the shiny white Mustang convertible. I can’t believe this. Luke? Why would he have anything to do with this? And I actually kissed him! I knew it was a mistake to leave my house. I should have never let Anna talk me into it. If I had just stayed locked up at home, like usual, maybe none of this would be happening. Oh, my God, what if Anna’s in on it, too? It was her idea to hang out with Luke, and she kept pushing me to hook up with him. What am I thinking, there’s no way Anna would participate in any of this? While I’m busy fighting back the tears and the rising bile in my throat, someone knocks on my window. An ear-piercing scream escapes my mouth and Jake and I both jump, causing us to smack our heads on the windshield. I slide closer toward Jake as he rolls down the window.
“Are you kids okay? You’ve been parked out here for quite a while,” a middle-aged man with a balding head and Harry Potter glasses asks.
“Yes, sir. I um, we um….” Jake stumbles over his words.
“We were just trying to get to my Aunt’s house. She moved over this way a few weeks ago and we got lost. We’re just waiting on her to meet us here so we can follow her the rest of the way,” I tell him, hoping I sound convincing.
“Well, hopefully she’ll get here soon. People around here might start getting suspicious if you two are out here much longer,” he says, glancing around the inside of the truck, no doubt, looking for signs of drugs or alcohol.
“She should be here shortly,” I say as my phone starts to ring. “That’s probably her calling right now,” I tell him, retrieving my phone from the floor.
“Okay, well, you two have a good day.”
“Thank you, sir,” Jake and I say as he turns to walk away.
“It’s Anna,” I say to Jake as he rolls my window back up.
“Well, answer it.”
I slide my finger across the screen, accepting the call, and bring the phone up to my ear. “Hey, Anna,” I say softly.
“Alex, what the hell is going on?” Anna screams into my ear.
I jerk the phone away to offer my tortured eardrum some relief from the shrill pitch of Anna’s voice. I rub my ear a few times to stop the ringing, and then bring the phone back up.
“What are you talking about, Anna? You know what’s going on.
“Yes, I know, but why does that require you to go to Hilldale?”
“I thought coming here would supply me with some answers. I have to find out who’s sending those texts before the truth gets out.”
“Well, I hope you’ve figured it out, cause while you’ve been playing Sherlock, all hell has broken loose here.”
“What do you mean? What’s happened?” I slip my hand into Jake’s, needing the comfort of his touch to help me through whatever it is Anna’s about to tell me. Has someone gotten hurt? Did Mom go to the police? Tons of horrible scenarios skirt through my mind. Jake gives my hand a reassuring squeeze and pulls me closer into his side.
“Someone spray-painted, Tell the truth or suffer the consequences, on the garage door in bright red paint.”
“Oh, my God! Are you serious?”
“Yes, I’m serious! Mom went out there with buckets of paint and just threw it all over the door to try and cover it up. Then she went into our room and ransacked it looking for the letter you got, but she couldn’t find it. She said she’s riding out to see Dad again first thing in the morning. She’s also talking about us moving again. Can you believe that? She actually wants us to move again. Well, I’ve got news for her, I’m not going anywhere!”
“I don’t have anything solid yet,” I say, “but I did make a couple interesting discoveries. First off, Tyler’s real name is Jeffrey Banks.”
“Jeffery Banks? Why does that name sound so familiar?” I hear Anna’s sharp intake of breath when she figures it out. “You’ve got to get out of there. Nothing good can come from this. Just get your butt home. We’ll figure out something,” she pleads.
“But that’s not all,” I tell her. “Luke just showed up at his house.”
“Luke? As in Luke Carol? Why the hell would Luke be there?”
“I have no idea, but I’m going to find out. Do you have the letter that came for me today with you?’
“Yeah, why?”
“Read it to me.”
I hear paper rustling as Anna opens the letter.
“Hang on, let me put you on speaker so Jake can hear,” I tell her.
“What? You’re with Jake? Are you crazy? Why in the world would you want to be anywhere near that asshole after the way he treated you?” she shouts at me.
“We worked it out. It was all just a big misunderstanding. But can we talk about this later, please? I need to know what the letter says.”
“Fine, but we will talk about this later!”
“Okay.” I suck in a deep breath. I have no doubt Anna will lecture me for hours upon hours about taking Jake back. Yes, it was crappy, the way he left me, but considering everything that was going on, who could really blame him. I mean, it would have been great to have him by my side, but who’s to say I wouldn’t have reacted the same way had it been his family going through pure hell. No, there’s no way I would have done that to him. God, what is wrong with me? I always let Anna get to me. Jake loves me and I forgave him. I cannot let myself dwell on the past. He made a mistake and he owned up to it. Damn it, Anna. You’re always doing this, making me second guess my decisions. I blow out the breath that I was still holding and decide to come back to this matter later. I place the phone on speaker and hold it out so Jake can hear. “Okay, go ahead and read it.”
Anna clears her throat then begins to read.
“Alex, I know the truth about everything—who really caused the accident, t
he way it still eats at you, and the threats you’ve been receiving. I know who’s behind it and I can help. I know you won’t believe me once you find out who I am, but please hear me out. I really do want to help you. Call me so we can talk.” Anna reads out a phone number and I hear more paper rustling. “Wait, that’s it?” Anna says. “Who could it be from? I don’t recognize the number, do you? Isn’t that a Virginia area code?”
Neither Jake or myself say anything. I’m too busy trying to make sense of the letter and everything else that has happened over the last couple of days.
“Alex, are you there?” Anna’s voice breaks through my musings.
“Yeah, I’m here. Just trying to wrap my head around all this.”
“Well, it’s obvious that Tyler—or Jeffrey, or whoever the hell he is—is the one behind the threats. And maybe Luke is the one who sent this letter. Somehow, he found out Tyler was the one that sent the letter and the texts and is trying to warn you to stay away from him.”
“But that can’t be right,” I tell Anna, looking to Jake for confirmation, but he appears dazed and confused, staring out the window. Well, he can join the club. “How could Luke have found out the truth?”
“Okay, don’t be mad at me about this, but, earlier, Luke called to check on you and I was still kind of pissed, so I told him you thought Tyler was following you around and about the cell phone you received and the messages you’ve been getting. It just kind of came out. I’m sorry.”
“What!” I scream into the phone loud enough for the whole street to hear. “Anna, how could you tell him all that? The more people who know the truth, the worse it could be for me. God, Anna, did you even stop to think about that?”
“I know that, Alex!” she yells back at me. “I didn’t tell him anything about the car wreck. I just told him that someone sent you a phone and was sending you threatening text messages. That’s all. He already knew about the letter you got the other night, and he was truly concerned about you. I really think he’s trying to help.”
“But it still doesn’t make sense. How could Luke know who Tyler really is? If he knows who Tyler is, that means he already knows about the accident.” This is so not good. My hands are trembling, making it hard to keep a steady grip on the phone, and my heart is thumping so fast I’m worried the force of it may actually break a bone. Everything is spinning out of control. I have to put a stop to this before more people find out, or before someone gets hurt. I take a deep breath, willing myself to calm down. I cannot lose control, not right now. I have to get to the bottom of this, and in order to do that I have to collect myself.
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