by Mae Clair
“With me, right?” Aside from the money and the meal, Darrell’s account was similar to Katie’s
“Heck no. Where’d you get that idea?”
Ryan balked, caught off guard. “From Katie Lynch. He confronted her because he heard we’re together.”
“No, you got it all wrong.” Darrell shook his head like a dog casting off fleas. “Lyle thinks Caden is with Katie. It’s your brother he wants to get even with.”
“Huh?” Ryan stepped back as if physically slapped. All the ideas he’d tucked into a tidy package flopped belly upright. “What’s his beef with Caden?”
“Don’t know. All I could figure is that it’s got something to do with a girl they knew in high school.”
Great. His brother had dated a lot of girls. Trying to pin down one that Lyle liked was going to be a lost cause. It didn’t make sense the guy would hold a grudge over something for so long. “Where’d he go?”
Darrell worked his bony shoulders into a shrug. “Didn’t say. He’s pretty much living out of his car, an old white T-bird. I never thought he’d part with his Bronco, but he said it bit the dust in Pennsylvania.”
Pennsylvania.
Something Lach Evening said clicked abruptly into place. A vital piece of information Ryan had overlooked from their discussion the previous night.
Mr. Mason grew up here, not in Austin.
Austin, Pennsylvania was the postmark on the envelope Caden had received nearly two weeks ago. Ryan should have caught the comment immediately. The note inside had been cryptic, referencing a girl. Apparently the girl for Lyle. Hell, the guy really was unhinged.
With the phone lines down, he wasn’t going to be able to warn his brother by dialing. “All right, tell me everything Lyle said. It might not make sense to you or me, but it could trigger something for Caden.”
He stayed another five minutes, jotting notes. Lyle had rambled on about “Flynn” and his need to right a wrong from the past. He mentioned a girl several times, but no name. Only that Flynn had taken her from him and had to pay. Darrell had gotten his plate number when he burned rubber out of the drive, one small victory for Ryan to add to an APB.
If Lyle figured out his mistake—that Caden wasn’t with Katie—he might try to track him down at home. That could potentially place Eve in danger, or even Ryan and Caden’s mother.
Maybe there was more in his yearbook than Caden thought.
Thanking Darrell for his time, Ryan returned to his car, then headed for town.
* * * *
The phones were still wonky by the time Ryan reached the sheriff’s office. Joy and another clerk traded rumors about odd lights at the TNT, a few of the glowing objects supposedly spotted in the early dawn hours. The spacemen no longer limited their travel to nighttime. There’d been another sighting of the Mothman, too, but the report turned out to be a teenage prank.
Ryan stopped by Pete’s office and gave him an update on the news he’d gotten from Darrell, including the plate number of Lyle’s Thunderbird. Weston ordered him to share all relevant information with Lach Evening, confirming the guy’s story, though sketchy, appeared to check out. Ryan mumbled an agreement but was more concerned with tracing Caden’s connection to Lyle. Returning to the main office area, Ryan grabbed a cup of coffee, then stationed himself at Caden’s desk. Intent on one item only, he fished through the drawers, locating what he sought in the bottom right.
“Bingo!” His brother hadn’t bothered to take his high school yearbook home. Right now the old tome could prove a goldmine. Before, Ryan had been interested in photos, now all he cared about were autographs. Odds were the girl who’d meant so much to Lyle had probably penned a love note inside Caden’s yearbook.
Moving back to his own desk, Ryan settled down for a trip into the past. Most of the messages were filled with the elation of graduating. Exclamations like “we made it,” “I want a copy of your first gold record,” or “time to party hardy and pig out” were common. A couple referenced Vietnam, peace protests, or the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Sadly, Bobby Kennedy would be dead two days after Caden’s graduation. Ryan still remembered seeing news footage, glued to the television like everyone else in the country, hoping and praying the senator would pull through. It had been a dreadful time. Even at thirteen, he’d felt the horror of the tragedy.
Shoving the distressing memories aside, he kept reading.
Comments from close friends filled the pages of Caden’s yearbook, along with lengthy notes from plenty of girls. The girls gushed about Caden’s music and his “dreamy” singing voice, adorning their signatures with smiley faces, peace signs, and hearts.
Ryan paid most attention to the hearts. The first one was from someone named Becky:
I’ll never forget that night at the Fairgrounds when you sang “Nowhere Man.” I felt like you were singing just for me, trying to tell me something. We had good times and bad times, but I’ll never forget any of them. Even when I’m old and gray, I’ll keep you in my heart.
As if to prove the point, she signed her message with two intertwined hearts.
Ryan jotted her name on a tablet.
He flipped the page and found a message from Charlotte. The bad thing about yearbooks was that no one bothered writing last names, assuming they would live forever in your memory.
I hope you never forget me, even if you move away and become famous with your music (I know you will!). Smiley face. I’ll never forget you or how much fun we had at Homecoming. I know Maggie will be smiling down on you when they hand out diplomas. I miss her, too, but I miss the “old” Caden more (don’t be angry I said that). Love you always. Two hearts with a string of xoxo’s.
Ryan remembered Charlotte, last name Wills, or something similar. She and Caden had been exclusive in the fall of ’67, but when the bridge fell their relationship crumbled in the aftermath. Caden had cut himself off from a lot of people when Maggie died, and Charlotte had been one of them. From what Ryan could remember, she’d left for college and never bothered coming back. It was unlikely she’d been the object of Lyle’s love struck adoration, but he jotted her name on the tablet, anyway.
The names of a few other girls followed. He was in the midst of reading a sappy message from Marian when someone loomed over his shoulder.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Ryan glanced up with a guilty start to find his brother hovering over him. “Uh…reading about your love life?” He tagged the question with an innocent grin.
“Those are private.” Caden took the book and flipped it closed with one hand. Dropping it on his desk, he sat in his chair, facing Ryan. “I thought you’d already snooped through everything of interest. Without my permission.” The last three words carried a sting.
Ryan shrugged aside the rebuke. “Don’t get your feathers ruffled. When you hear what I have to say, you’re going to be re-reading that sappy shit yourself.”
“What does that mean?”
Ryan relayed his visit with Darrell, then pointedly folded his arms across his chest. “Now what do you think?”
Caden scowled. “That it doesn’t make a scrap of sense.” He flipped open the yearbook, staring down at the scribbled passages decorating the pages. “Lyle and I didn’t run in the same crowd. He’s got no reason to hold a grudge against me.”
“He does if you were hot and heavy with a girl he liked.” Ryan tossed him the tablet. He’d written eight names and had been ready to add Marian’s. “Any of those a possibility?”
Caden gave them a quick glance. “No.”
“Why so sure?”
“Because they just aren’t. I wasn’t serious with any of them.”
“Which means you broke a few hearts. What about Marian?”
“Who?”
Ryan made a tsking sound. “I don’t think she’d like your answer given she wrote two whole paragraphs about the Saturday night you spent by the river.”
“
Jackass.” Caden ripped the paper from the tablet. “Marian Dosler.” He wadded the sheet into a ball and shot it at Ryan. His brother dodged, then picked it up from the floor with a grin.
“We went out three or four times.” Caden closed the yearbook and shoved it to the center of the desk. “That was it.”
“Well, somehow, some way, you made an enemy of Lyle.”
“Fine.” Caden batted the observation aside. “We’ve got enough on our plate with the Mothman and UFOs. Katie’s safe at her mom’s place, so Lyle can take a backseat. If he’s got a grudge, I’ll be happy to hammer it out when I run into him.”
“What about Eve and Mom? He might look for you at either place.”
“He thinks I’m with Katie, so he doesn’t know about Eve. I’ll put Mom on alert to be on the safe side. You’re there most of the time, anyway.” He paused a beat. “I guess you heard about the phones?”
“Yeah.” Ryan picked up his handset and listened for a second before returning the receiver to its cradle. “Still static-y. Popular opinion blames our returning spacemen. I heard they were busy at the TNT again.”
Caden nodded thoughtfully. “Out-of-towners are starting to camp out on Conway Road, waiting for fly-bys. I heard a guy say you could set your watch by them.”
“I wonder what he was smoking.”
“It gets better.” Caden gave a grim smile. “I stopped at the gas station on the way in and ran into Shawn Preech getting a fill up. He said he saw three red lights pass over his house last night. Within two hours, a guy dressed in black showed up at the door and told him he should forget what he’d seen.”
Ryan grunted. “I bet that went over well. Knowing Shawn, he’ll be telling everyone from here to Gallipolis what happened for sheer spite.” The Men in Black hadn’t been as visible lately, but still made occasional appearances according to town gossip. A few had given names when pressed—Smith, Jones, Williams—common surnames coupled with hastily produced credentials witnesses were never allowed to view for long. “Did Shawn get anything out of the guy? Figure out who he was?”
Caden shook his head. “Probably a friend of Evening’s.” His expression soured at the mention of the blond-haired man. “Speaking of him, think we should bring him up to speed with the latest news on Lyle?”
“Pete’s orders.”
“Yeah, I’m just soured on the whole deal. I’d bet money there’s something that guy isn’t telling us.”
“You’re right. I almost forgot.” Ryan cursed himself for overlooking one of the most important pieces of information he’d discovered that morning. “Do you still have that envelope from Austin?”
“Yeah.” Caden opened his center desk drawer. “Why?”
“Because the last time I talked to Evening, he let it slip that Lyle had been in Austin. I think that’s where Evening’s facility is. It all fits. That message you got in the mail had to be from Lyle. He must have sent it while he was still there. After he had the flicker episode, or whatever the hell Evening called it.”
Caden located the envelope and removed the note.
“Anything?” Given recent discoveries, Ryan hoped there would be some clue Caden could decipherer from the terse message.
“I remember her. You should too.” Caden read the words aloud, then tossed the envelope and note to Ryan. “That means absolutely nothing to me.”
“Don’t be so quick.” Ryan glanced down at the note. Plain paper, nothing really distinctive about the handwriting. They could dust it for prints to cement Lyle as the sender, but the envelope had been through postage, and both he and Caden had handled the letter. Even without prints there was little doubt Lyle was the author. Circumstantial or not, too much added up. “Think about it, Caden. Whoever this girl is, he has a feeling you’ve forgotten her.”
“Ryan, I’d forgotten Marian until you mentioned her. There are a lot of people I went to school with I’ve probably forgotten. It’s not like I make a habit of thinking about high school every day.”
“No, but a lot of those people still live here, and if you ran into them, you’d know them. You’d remember.” Once again the nagging sense he’d overlooked something rose to haunt him. “He seems to think you won’t remember her. Why? What makes her different than everyone else?”
Exhaling, Caden dragged a hand over his face. “I don’t know. If I come up with anything, you’ll be the first person I tell.”
“You’re not taking this seriously.”
“As seriously as I can. I’ve got other things on my mind.”
“Like what?”
Caden was quiet for a moment, idly bouncing a thumb against his desk. He looked right, then left, as if judging who was within earshot. Lowering his voice, he leaned forward. “Halloween is less than a week from now.”
Ryan was still hung-up on the note. “And?”
“Jerome’s code.” Caden raised an eyebrow. “The thirty-first of October. Remember?”
He did now. According to Parker Kline, Indrid Cold was supposed to visit Earth at some time after eleven in the evening. “What are you going to do? Drive around the TNT and look for some alien named Cold on Halloween?”
“I’m thinking about it.”
“Be serious.”
“I am.”
“Caden—”
“Listen to me.” His brother’s voice was sharp and gruff. “I’m not saying I buy into all the extraterrestrial bullshit, but Parker did. He’s still out there. It’s anyone’s guess how he’s surviving, because he’s not capable of functioning on his own for long.”
“Floyd’s got to be helping him.” It was the only thing that made sense. “He has to know where Parker is.”
“Maybe, but Pete’s had deputies watching Floyd since Parker escaped, and the guy hasn’t gone anywhere.”
“So you’re going to scout out the TNT on Halloween hoping to come across Parker?” The idea was mind-boggling. It would be easier finding a needle in a haystack.
“I owe him that much. I put him in West Central.”
“He put himself there. He shot Hank point blank.”
Caden winced. “I know that. But I can’t ignore the chance of catching up with Parker.”
“Uh-huh.” Ryan pursed his lips, realizing nothing he said would make a difference. “You do know the TNT is thirty-six hundred acres of wilderness? If I believed Parker’s code and if I thought there was a chance in hell of finding him, you’re still missing the location. Parker’s code was down to the second. Yeah, he might be wandering around out there afterward or even before, but if you’re not at the exact place at the exact time, he could be gone.”
“I’ve got that covered.” Caden leaned back in his chair, shutting down the conversation. “I know where he’ll be.”
“Where?”
“I’d rather not say. This is something I need to do on my own.”
Ryan scowled. “Want to explain why?”
“No.” A tight answer followed by an equally tight grin. “Rank aside, I’ve still got older brother privilege.” Yanking open the top desk drawer, he picked up the yearbook, then shoved it inside. “By the way, Eve wants to know if you and Katie are interested in hooking up for dinner.”
And just that quick, the topic of Parker was closed.
* * * *
The next night Ryan picked up Katie and Sam and took them to his mom’s house for dinner. Sometimes he thought it odd that he still lived there while Caden had left as soon as he was able, enlisting in the army following graduation. His brother had spent the next four years in Vietnam, then snagged his own place and a job with the sheriff’s office when he returned. The war hadn’t changed him, but the time away had done nothing to erase the burden of Maggie’s death. Thank God, that trauma was finally behind them.
Caden and Eve joined them for dinner with much of the talk centering around their upcoming wedding. They’d settled on June eighteenth as the date for the ceremony. Eve announced she’d already b
ooked the church for two o’clock in the afternoon, and reserved the ballroom at the hotel for the reception. Ryan was happy for both of them. His mother positively beamed, overjoyed by the prospect of having a daughter-in-law.
It was nearing seven-thirty when Ryan took Katie and Sam home. The house was empty, but cozy. Doreen Sue had left a note on the kitchen table saying she’d gone to visit Martin and probably wouldn’t be back until late. Katie brewed a pot of coffee while Sam took a bath and Ryan made himself comfortable in the living room.
He flipped on the TV while she fussed with Sam and helped him get ready for bed. The show options were minimal. Tales of the Gold Monkey, Real People, or Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. He decided on the first, but turned the volume down since his mind was elsewhere. They hadn’t discussed Lyle in front of Sam, but it was time he brought her up to speed about Mason’s true target, Caden.
A half hour later, Katie joined him on the sofa.
“That’s mind-boggling,” she said when he was through with his tale. “I bet it came as a surprise to Caden too.”
“Yeah, I don’t think he’s taking the whole thing seriously, but my brother has his own way of doing things.” Time to change the subject. It had been several days since he’d seen her, and he didn’t want to spend the entire time talking about Caden. “My mom really enjoyed seeing you and Sam tonight.”
“She doted on him. It was like having a second grandmother.”
“Do you think he had fun?”
“Are you kidding?” Katie smiled and curled her legs onto the sofa. “Between your mom insisting he have more dessert, and you and Caden tossing a football with him in the backyard, I probably won’t hear about anything else for days.” Her smile faded slightly, but warmth lingered in her gaze. “Thanks for making the night special for him. He’s had a rough time lately.”
“I know.” Ryan slid a hand onto her shoulder. “Is he still having nightmares?” She’d told him about those, along with the green cloud, and Sam’s compulsive sketching.
“Rarely. And he’s not drawing as much.” She gave a half shrug. “Whatever was troubling him is starting to fade.”