“So what about that book, do you think I should stop reading that?”
“You could stop reading if you want to. Though, personally, I don’t think it holds that much power over you.”
Tom thought about this. “Then what do you think I should do?”
“Keep reading, isn’t the mark of a great writer also being a good reader? Just don’t let the book have more control than it should. It’s a book, not a connection to the afterlife.”
Tom laughed again as he did he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got this. Consider it a business dinner.” Jason pulled out his own wallet and threw a few bills on the table. “For now, you need to get home to your wife. Tell her I said hello.”
“I can do that.” Tom said and smiled as they left the restaurant together.
Chapter 30
Tom woke up the next morning before Jennifer. He got out of bed and went toward his office picking up the book on the way. He had an urge to read that he hadn’t had in a while though he wasn’t sure what he’d find. As he sat there, the voice spoke up in his head.
What are you aiming to find?
“What do you mean?”
I mean what is it you’re aiming to discover?
“I guess I want to know how it ends.”
But you know how it ends.
“It ends in death, I get that, I don’t know how you get there.”
Does it matter?
“That depends on who you ask.”
I think you know the answer to that already.
He leaned back and stopped thinking, stopped talking, and turned his attention to the book. He reached up and flipped it to the page he’d left off and picked up from there.
****
You know your world is complete when you’ve discovered a woman that not only can you live with on the road, but she understands you, she gets the small things that make you, you. That’s the relationship I had with Valerie and it is amazing. We’ve spent the last few months driving across the country. From one coast to the other. Every few stops, we find someone new.
It’s liberating. Almost freeing. I can’t put it into words how this entire situation has changed my life. I love everything about it. But, you might ask yourself, why I haven’t written about the escapades in the book. I can respect that. However, even with the words in this book acting as not only my confession, but the story I want the world to know. I've decided to keep a few of those secrets to myself.
I suppose that might not be fair, at least not to those who are looking for all the answers. I’ll give you all the ones I feel you deserve. But let’s skip past that for now. Let’s talk about the next chapter in this book I want you to read.
This section of our story takes us back to Missouri. Now I only let you in on that secret because I believe it’s significant for history sake. Among the time we were riding the road there was a politician that came to power. The problem was that many people didn’t realize the dark and shady past he hid. Hell, I didn’t know or care who he was at first. We had come to a stop right outside Carvel. The truck stop was lit up as I stopped to fill up before parking for the night. We sat there eating dinner when she said something that surprised me.
“I want to do it.”
“Do what?”
“I want to kill someone, I want to take someone’s life. Up to this point, it’s been all you. I want to see how this whole thing feels.”
I stared at her surprised by the question. “Are you sure?”
“No, but I want to know, I want to see how it feels. What do I need to do first?”
I stared at her smiling. “First, we'll need to find you someone who fits the bill. Be it woman or man, it can work out both ways. But, if you’re luring them in, you’ll need to make sure you can commit.”
“Okay.”
We scanned the parking lot. On one of the fuel islands stood a man. Something about him felt right. I looked at her, and she looked back. We knew in that moment it would happen. She got out of the truck and I watched from the driver seat. She approached the man. I pictured their conversation in my head though I was sure it didn’t go quite the way I envisioned it. After about ten minutes she turned and walked back to the truck, the man in tow. As they neared the truck I slid out the side of the door and to the back.
I watched from a distance as she took him in the truck. After some time passed, I walked up to the driver’s door and hopped in, in one fluid movement. The look on his face was priceless. He stared almost in awe at us for a moment. Then it hit him that something was wrong. I locked the door on my side while she locked hers.
“What’s going on here?” He asked.
“You haven’t figured this out yet?”
He sat there staring at both of them. He was afraid, I could smell it. It made me smile.
“Look, the lady here wanted to do something. I told her that in order for that to happen she would have to find someone. She found you.”
He regained some of his voice. “You don’t want to hurt me. Do you know who I am?”
“Should I care?”
“I’m running for mayor, my face is all over this town. Everyone knows who I am. If something happens, they will come looking for me. It will only be a matter of time before they hunt you down.”
“What makes you think we want to hurt you?” Valerie said.
“You’re not going to?” I smiled hearing the hope in his voice.
“There’s a chance we won’t, but you have to do what we tell you.” She said.
He nodded. She glanced at me and I shook my head. “This is all about you. It’s whatever you want to do.”
She reached into a bag of tools I used, which I stored in the truck, and pulled out a roll of duct tape. She bound both of his wrist together, both of his feet together, then taped his mouth. Once she was done, she looked at me.
“There’s not a lot we can do in this tiny area.”
“Yeah, do you want to finish it tomorrow?”
She nodded. “That seems smarter, but what do we do tonight?”
“Let’s have sex and make him watch.”
We spent the next three hours doing just that.
The next morning we got up, fired up the truck and drove. We made it about 50 miles when we turned down an old gravel road. I made about 5 miles in until it opened. That’s where I pulled to a stop. She grabbed one side, I grabbed the other, and we pulled him out of the truck into the field. Once we got him to his feet, we ripped the tape off his mouth.
“Look, don’t kill me. I’ll give you anything you want.” He pleaded.
“There’s nothing you have I want.” She said.
“What if I could promise you think, things you could never get otherwise?”
She smiled but shook her head again. She stepped back and stopped. “I take that back, there is something I want. I want to know why you were at a truck stop. What were you doing there?”
His face turned red as I stood off to the side watching the whole exchange. I waited to see his answer. It took a while, but he talked.
“I was out there looking for something similar to what you offered. Though at first I didn’t expect it to be with a woman.”
“Holy shit.” I said walking up. “You’re into men?”
He looked away in shame. “I wouldn’t say that. I love women. But, something about a man, it rubs me the right way.”
I laughed as I stood there.
“So there’s a mayor candidate that is gay. Well this is different.”
“See, I offer you far more entertainment alive then I do dead.” He said, his voice reverting to the pleading tone he’d had before.
“Yeah, I don’t know if I agree with that.” She said.
“Why’s that?”
“Because,” I watched as she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a rope. “I think it will be plenty entertaining to watch you die.”
She wrapped the rope around his neck and
pulled. As she did I scanned the road, which was still just as empty as it had ever been. I turned back and watched as his face went from red, to blue, to red again, and then just fell flat. As he hit the ground she turned and smiled at me.
“I did it.”
I walked up and wrapped my arms around her. “You did.” She gave me a hug and then turned her attention back to him. She reached into his pants and pulled out the wallet.
“What are you doing?”
“Don’t you want to know who he was?”
“No, that get you in trouble.”
“I’m curious.” Valarie said as she found his wallet and opened it. She pulled some money and an I.D out of the wallet. "His name is Robert Wires." She said as she tucked the now empty wallet back into his pocket. “Let’s get back on the road big guy.”
****
Tom lowered the book down. He got up feeling dizzy. As he tried to walk to the bathroom, he almost lost his balance and went into the wall. He righted himself, made it into the bathroom. He threw water on his face. As he came back up he almost screamed, the man in the mirror wasn’t him. It was an old guy, with graying white hair, and deep hazel eyes. Tom stared for a while in awe.
“What the hell?”
That’s what I could ask you. The reflection said. I’m living inside of you now, you may not like it but I’m out to make sure you’ll finish the book.
“Why?”
Because it’s your destiny to finish it.
“That feels like a strong word choice.”
You either finish it, or it can finish you. Either way someone walks out the winner.
“Why me?”
Because, you have been chosen.
Tom sat there his arms outstretched across the sink. He stared in the mirror trying to debate on his next move and it hit him.
“I have to tell the family about Robert.”
How do you intend to find them?
Tom turned and left the bathroom and the reflection behind. He went to the office and started the computer and searched. He took a few minutes, but he found the information he was looking for. He wrote all the notes he needed on a piece of paper, getting ready for what lay ahead of him.
Chapter 31
Tom came to a stop in the driveway. He checked the paper in his hand and the number on the mailbox. They matched up. He got out of the car. He leaned back in and almost grabbed William’s book but changed his mind. Instead, he walked onto the porch and knocked. He was sure no one is home though he knocked, and no one answered. Tom went to leave but heard the door open when he turned around there was a little girl sitting there.
“Hello, mister.”
“Hello, is your mommy or daddy home?”
“Yeah, hold on.” The little girl turned back and went a few feet before yelling at the top of her lungs. “MOMMY!” As her voice faded away, he heard her run down the hallway. He waited for a few brief moments until he heard footsteps approaching. The woman walked to the door and looked up and almost froze in her tracks.
“Hello, can I help you, sir?”
“Yes ma’m,” He stopped, realizing that she had frozen. “Are you okay?”
“Aren’t you Tom Mason, the author?”
He nodded. “As a matter of fact I am.”
“Not that I’m complaining but what are you doing at my house?”
“Is your last name Wires?”
“My maiden name was Wires, what’s going on?”
“I’ve got information that your family might want.”
The woman stood in the doorframe, unmoving. She stared at him. “What information could you have for my family?”
“Robert Wires was your grandfather correct?”
The woman froze. Tom watched as all the color drained from her face and almost left her pale. She stumbled, but he caught her by the arm.
“Would you like to sit down?”
She nodded. He led her by the arm into the house and sat her down on the couch. She stared at him, the color drained from her face. She tried to gain her composure figuring out what to say.
“I haven’t heard that name in a long time.”
“It looks like it still kind of effects you.”
“It affects everyone in my family. They never even found the body, some of the people refuse to think he’s dead, just that he ran away from the pressure. But if that was the case you wouldn’t be here.”
“You’re right. I found you because you’re one of his last living relatives. He was your grandfather?” Tom asked again.
“Yeah, he died before I came along. The only reason I know of him is because my dad has talked about him over the years.”
“I assume he says nice things?”
“As nice as you can say about a politician I suppose. He seemed bitter about how he'd been left alone. I can’t blame him.”
“Bitter?”
“Yeah, my dad says Robert went out one afternoon. He said he’d only be out a few hours, but he never came back.”
Tom thought about this. “Did they try looking for him?”
“Yeah, there was a search party and everything. They searched for days but never were able find any trace of him at all. It’s still a little bizarre but dad never liked to talk about it.”
She looked down and sat there.
“What’s wrong?” Tom asked.
“My dad died almost five years ago.”
Tom didn’t have words, instead he sat there. After a while he broke the silence. “I’m sorry.”
“There’s not a lot we can do about it now.”
“Still…”
“It happens, but that doesn’t eliminate the questions I had about my grandfather.”
“What do you want to know?”
“What happened to him?” She asked.
“He was murder.”
She sat there staring at him, he noticed the confused look on her face. He waited while she thought it over.
“Who killed him?”
“My grandfather.” Tom confessed.
“Why?”
He realized the emptiness he heard in her voice. He wasn’t sure why she felt that way but he let it go. “That’s a question I don’t have an answer to.”
“Then how do you know he did it?”
“I read his memoirs. In them he’s talked about the people he’s killed, one of the few he mentions by name is Robert Wires.”
“What did they do?”
“They found him in the parking lot of a truck stop. While I don’t want to speculate, it seems like your grandfather, much like my own, had demons. He was trying to do something, and they lured him to a truck. After being tied up and kept in the truck all night they left town the next morning. When they made it out of town, they pulled to a back road and killed him in a field. They robbed him and left his body there.”
She burst into tears. Tom reached up and put his hand on her shoulder and she leaned and almost hugged him.
“I can’t tell you how sad and relieved I feel at the same time. I can’t image how horrible that had to have felt for him. It also pains me to realize that my father spent most of his life thinking his dad abandoned him when in reality he got taken away.”
She continued to cry. Tom leaned in and hugged her. She calmed down and tried to relax. Tom let her go, and she wiped her eyes.
“Thank you. There was no need for you to do that but you did, and I can’t thank you enough.”
“It’s no problem. I felt like someone needed to know.”
“Thank you again.”
Tom stood up. “I’ve got a few things I need to work on so I should get going.” Tom patted her on the shoulder again. He turned and left the house and as he got back into his car, he wiped both his eyes, wanting to stop the flood of emotion but he couldn't. Instead, he broke down crying.
Chapter 32
After getting himself under control Tom sat in the car looking at the road. He knew there was somewhere else he wanted to stop but didn’t know if he’d be able
to find it. He looked at the clock, and started the car, and calling Jennifer as he merged onto another highway.
“Hey, I'm making a pit stop then I’ll be home.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah, just want to see if I can find something.”
“Okay.”
They hung up the phone and Tom drove. He didn’t know where he was going, or what he was looking for but he drove. As he did, he watched as the surrounding town turned into fields, and before he knew it, the town was in his rearview. He drove on, still wondering what he was looking for. He came up on a gravel road and turned left.
If you’re looking for his body, by this point it’s already gone.
“I knew I wouldn’t find a body, but I want to find something.”
What good will that do you?
“I don’t know.” He said, he was trying to be honest with himself but he was looking for something that had disappeared some time ago.
Are you wondering why?
“Why what?”
Why we did it?
“At this point I wonder why you did any of the things you’ve done.”
Have you ever killed someone?
Tom sat there not wanting to answer but as he drove further down the road, he realized he’d have to say something or this conversation would never end. “No, I haven’t.”
Then you don’t know what it’s like to be in my shoes. To have walked the lines I’ve walked. To see the things I’ve seen.
“I haven’t, but nothing you do can explain why you kill people.”
Nothing ever will, I went from a man who spent his time on the road trying to make ends meet, to becoming the man who destroyed families and lives by killing people with no good reason. Sure, I thought it was a blast, watching the light leave the eyes of people who saw none of it coming. That doesn’t mean that it always makes sense though.
Tom drove on, staring out the window thinking about the entire situation as each bump of the road seemed to push him further down the rabbit hole. To the left he saw a field come into view. He came to a stop and got out of the car as the voice in his head spoke up again.
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