by Carol Ross
“He agreed to the article because his sister asked him to do it. As you know, Emily is the president of the tourism bureau and she was essential in securing these articles in the first place. She and Laurel are both forces to be reckoned with. I didn’t have anything to do with his decision—trust me.”
Meredith’s lips curved up into a half smile and her perfect, delicately arched eyebrows traveled even farther north. “Believe me, Janie, I know Aidan pretty well. And he wouldn’t agree to an interview with anyone—not even Emily—if he didn’t have trust and confidence in them. Or something else...”
What was this woman fishing for? “I’m not sure what you mean?” Finn scrambled to the floor and hustled toward Gabe, who was dragging a bucket full of plastic food into the room.
Gabe shoved a wooden spoon into the container and began to stir.
“Stew, stew,” Finn jabbered.
Meredith smiled in their direction and then pushed a lock of silky black hair behind her ear.
“I thought maybe you and Aidan were...together? Because the last interview he let anyone conduct was mine, and that was because he was trying to win me over. But I was pretending to be someone I wasn’t because I was obsessed with my job.”
Janie felt her hackles rising. “Well, you can rest assured that Aidan is not trying to win me over. He agreed to the article because Emily asked him to do it. And we are not engaged to be married or engaged in any other capacity for that matter. Now, what is it that I can help you with?”
A look of surprise danced across Meredith’s features. But if she thought she was going to intimidate Janie into admitting something she had another think coming.
Meredith winced. “Listen, Janie, you don’t have anything to worry about where Aidan and I are concerned. I am not interested—”
Janie’s cell phone vibrated. She picked it up and saw Aidan’s number on the screen. “I’m sorry, I have to take this.”
Meredith nodded. Janie stood and traveled into the kitchen.
“Hello?”
“Janie, hey, it’s Aidan. This is going to sound really weird but I’m on my way home from breakfast with Blake and Kyle and I just saw Gareth come out of my lab.”
“Gareth...what? Where is he now?”
“I don’t know. I was across the street. He didn’t see me, but he came out my door in a hurry and took off running. Shouldn’t he be in school?”
Janie felt a rush of unease as she tried to make sense of this odd story. “Yes, um...”
The call waiting beeped on her phone. She looked at the display and her hands began to shake. “Can I call you back in a minute? The school is calling.”
Janie clicked over to hear the news that Gareth had disappeared from school. She hung up and returned to her guest.
“I’m sorry, Meredith, but I really have to run. There’s kind of an emergency...”
“Sure.” Meredith stood and gathered her bag. She smiled at Janie, but was it her imagination that she looked disappointed?
“Meredith, please forgive me if I sound rude, but is there a reason you stopped by? Is there something that you needed?”
“Yes... But, um, it’s not important. I mean—it can wait. But...thank you. I hope you get this emergency handled.”
Janie walked her to the door. She called her mom to see if she could come over and sit with the twins. Twenty minutes later she jogged into the school and skidded to a halt when she saw Gareth through the window of the main office. He was slouched on a chair outside the principal’s door, head bowed and staring at his lap. Relief rushed through her. She thought she should be angry, but instead she wanted to cry. What in the world was going on with her child?
A punch of grief stole her breath. These were the moments when she missed Cal the most—these confusing, indecipherable teenage boy moments that she felt a dad would be so much better at handling.
Janie stepped into the office and Gareth either didn’t hear her approach or chose not to acknowledge that he heard her.
She spoke his name quietly. “Gareth?”
He raised his head and the flash of anguish she saw on his face nearly did her in. She kneeled in front of him.
“Honey, what happened?”
“Nothing.” His voice sounded flat and deep. When had his voice become so deep?
“Gareth, the school called and said you took off—left campus with a bag of some sort right before locker check.”
His eyes glinted with something hard—something she didn’t want to see. Anger, she thought, and wondered if it was directed at her.
“Mom, please just take me home, okay? You can give me my punishment there. I don’t want to talk about it here.”
She stared down at the ground for a few seconds and tried to get a grip on her emotions. Finally, she patted his knee and stood.
She blew out a breath. “Wait here. I’m going to go talk to Principal Dundee.”
The principal’s door was open. The secretary waved her in and Janie felt a surge of emotion when she walked into his office. Mr. Dundee reminded Janie of one of those life-size floppy puppets with a slightly too-large head topped with a mop of perpetually disheveled dark brown hair and a seemingly permanent half smile.
“Janie, thank you for getting here so quickly. Please, have a seat.”
“Of course,” she said quietly and lowered herself onto the hard surface of a chair across from him. She listened to the principal describe this “disturbing event” that had transpired—Gareth leaving school in the middle of the day with a mysterious package he’d taken from his locker.
Yes, he, Ms. Givens and Officer Vetcher had all seen him. No, Gareth wouldn’t reveal why he’d taken off or what he’d taken from his locker. His behavior could only be considered suspicious. In conjunction with the fact that he’d left the grounds during school hours meant that he was in serious trouble.
Punishment would be meted out after an investigation into what he’d been hiding in his locker was conducted. Could Janie please do the right thing and try to find out what Gareth was concealing? The school counselor who came from Glacier City two days out of the week would be there tomorrow. Mr. Dundee recommended that Gareth have a session with her. Meanwhile, he would investigate the incident from his end.
After the meeting concluded, Janie managed to collect Gareth and walk to the parking lot. Silence filled the car as she drove them home.
Aidan’s pickup was parked in the driveway.
Gareth shot her a horror-filled look. “What is Aidan doing here?”
Interesting, Janie thought—this reaction. She’d called Aidan from the school and he’d told her he’d meet her here—of course, Gareth didn’t know this.
She kept her answer ambiguous. “I guess we’ll find out.”
Gareth got out of the car and she watched him trudge into the house. She didn’t tell him to go to his room because she knew he would. He was such a good kid. Or so she believed. What didn’t she know? She couldn’t seem to move.
Aidan opened the door and climbed into the passenger seat that Gareth had vacated.
“What did the school say? What did Gareth say? Why did he leave campus?”
Janie shook her head. She felt like she had no choice but to share this with Aidan—after all, Gareth had apparently broken into his lab, his home. She prayed he wasn’t stealing, or worse. Regardless, Gareth was in huge trouble but it was so much bigger than that. What had she done wrong? She reminded herself it didn’t matter, this was no time to speculate about her ineffective parenting.
She turned to look at Aidan and his gray eyes were searching her face and filled with such naked concern that Janie wanted to launch herself into his lap. He reached over and took her hand and she let him because his touch was comforting, and made her feel so much less...alone. A part of her said she shoul
d handle this on her own, but another part—the bigger, terrified part of her—wanted help... Aidan’s help.
“There was a locker check scheduled at school. There were some kids last year who were caught running a little drug ring and since then they have really cracked down... Anyway, they are always a surprise for the students, but somehow Gareth allegedly got wind of it. He was seen taking something out of his locker and leaving the school in his gym clothes. He skipped two periods and showed up back at school in time for last period. I have no idea...”
“So he probably hid whatever he took from his locker inside my lab.”
Janie nodded as her brain spun with possibilities—drugs, a gun, a knife, dynamite, pornography, devil-worshipping paraphernalia...
She tried not to cry. “I don’t... I don’t understand what’s happening.”
Janie’s phone buzzed. She glanced at the display, intending to ignore the call, but it was from Tag. He’d probably heard about Gareth. She picked up, listened for a moment and then spoke a few words before clicking off. She closed her eyes and tapped the phone on her forehead a few times.
Aidan was staring at her. “What is it?”
“That was Tag. Because he’s a paramedic he knows everything that goes on within a two-hundred-mile radius of Rankins—emergency-wise. The police want to talk to Gareth. But thankfully Officer Adams, the detective on duty, is about halfway to Glacier City right now, so we have a few hours. I need to talk to Gareth before they get here.”
“The police? That seems extreme.”
“Everyone is paranoid about drugs. I can understand.”
Aidan nodded and Janie was suddenly slammed with the full force of what Gareth might be facing. “Aidan, I can’t—”
Aidan let go of her hand and ran it up her arm to her shoulder. He squeezed gently. “I’ll find it—whatever it is, Janie. I’ll find it. And we’ll deal with it.”
Those words sounded so very sweet and she wanted to let the notion ease her anxiety. But she wouldn’t—she couldn’t let him get in the middle of this. Gareth was her child. The boys were her responsibility.
“Aidan, I can’t let you do that. What if it is drugs? You’ll have to give them to the police and I don’t know—”
His hand snaked around the back of her neck and he nudged her face toward his so he could look into her eyes, which she knew were wide with fear.
“Janie, let’s not jump to conclusions. I’ve been spending quite a bit of time with Gareth. I think he has some issues, yes, but I don’t think he’s doing drugs. Let’s take this one step at a time. We need to identify what we’re dealing with here and then we’ll figure out how to proceed, okay?”
She bobbed her head as she watched Aidan get out of the car. She sat and stared at her house for a long time and tried to decide what to do.
* * *
GARETH FLOPPED DOWN on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. He wished he could get something from his stash—just a photo or a handkerchief or his dad’s watch...something. But he knew he couldn’t risk it right now. His mom would be coming in any second. She was already freaking out, he could tell. He had no idea what she would do if she got a look at the stuff that he’d taken from her right now.
Gareth had stumbled on the box of his dad’s stuff months ago. He’d been in the den just trying to remember his dad. He’d tried to open the cabinet door but it was locked, probably to keep the twins out. He’d found the key, opened the cabinet and discovered the box of his dad’s belongings. Gareth assumed his mom had put the stuff there for safekeeping. There were cards, letters, photos, notebooks that his dad had written some of his seemingly endless lists in, his razor, his watch and a favorite pen...which had eventually led to his own letters...
At first he’d only taken a couple of photos—photos that he couldn’t remember ever seeing before. He’d wanted to be able to look at them whenever he wanted. And little by little he’d been drawn back to that cabinet, to that box that held these small pieces of his dad. Gradually he had amassed a stockpile of items that he could remove and examine and touch, and feel closer to his dad for a little while.
The blank look on his mom’s face on the trip home had scared Gareth. It reminded him of the way she’d looked after his dad had died. Before the twins had been born and she’d gone off the deep end—when she’d been merely sad and not totally messed up. His mom had recovered pretty well. She still wasn’t the totally happy, fun mom she’d been before his dad died, but thankfully she was way better—she was closer than he could remember since Aidan had come into their lives.
Gareth wanted to be, too. That had been the point of this letter thing.
He never should have taken the letters to school. He might have been okay if he’d kept them in his backpack, out of sight. But this morning he’d taken out the bundle because his backpack was superfull and he hadn’t wanted to smash them, which was stupid because they were going to get burned up anyway.
If it hadn’t been for the locker check everything would have been fine. He had no idea how he was going to talk his way out of this one. Principal Dundee and Officer Vetcher knew that he’d taken something out of his locker, but Gareth felt confident it was now well hidden. No one would even think to look there...
He’d overheard Principal Dundee say something about smoking—maybe he’d go with that. How much trouble would he get into if he said he’d been smoking? Although in light of Grandpa Everett’s death from lung cancer he might have a tough time convincing his mom of that one.
Crosby jumped up on the bed next to him. Gareth waited. Crosby knew the drill; he kneaded his claws on the comforter before circling repeatedly and finally curling up next to Gareth’s back. Gareth turned his face into his pillow and cried.
* * *
AIDAN WAS IMPRESSED with Gareth’s cleverness. An hour of searching and he hadn’t found anything yet. Yet he felt certain that whatever Gareth had taken from his locker was here in his lab somewhere.
Aidan stood in the middle of the room and allowed his methodical brain to study every possible hiding space. He looked up. The building was old and the pipes were exposed—thick insulation covered them—but Aidan realized that at the location where they intersected there was plenty of space to hide something. But it was at least twelve feet up, how could he have...?
Aidan smiled because he knew how he would have done it—a nice, easy lob up toward that spot and voilà, the bag would be out of sight. But to get it down—even to check if it was there—he was going to need a ladder. He pulled out his phone and called Bering.
Less than an hour later Bering dropped off the ladder. Minutes after that Aidan had the brown paper bag in his hands. He resisted the urge to take a look inside. He called Janie and told her he was on his way.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
AIDAN CAME IN and placed the brown paper bag on the table in the breakfast nook. Janie stared at the crumpled bundle and wondered how drastically the contents of a simple grocery sack could change their lives.
“Do you want me to look?”
Janie wanted to say yes—she thought about how he’d said that word we earlier. But they weren’t a we, could never be a we, but maybe in this case...
“I do. But what if it’s something horrible, Aidan? What if it’s something illegal? Then you’re stuck in the middle of—”
“Something?” Aidan interrupted. “Stop overthinking this. I want to help.”
She wouldn’t have thought it possible to find even a touch of levity in this situation, but his comment made her smile. “Okay.”
He stepped over to the table and unfolded the top of the bag. He peered inside, reached in and removed a stack of papers.
“Paper?” Janie said, baffled. Had Gareth been cheating? She couldn’t imagine how cheating would warrant his going AWOL in the middle of a school day.
&nb
sp; “It looks like a letter of some kind.” Aidan brought the thick sheaf closer for her to inspect. “And some matches.”
“What kind of letter? A confession letter? Is he cheating in school? Oh, please...not a suicide note.”
“No.” Aidan calmly shuffled through the papers. “It looks like a stack of letters he’s written to his dad—and a photo.”
Aidan handed her a narrow photo strip—the kind you take in those booths where the camera snaps several shots in quick succession while you pose differently for each one. She recognized the images immediately.
She remembered the day very well. Six years ago she and Cal and the boys had traveled to Glacier City for a weekend of fun. They’d seen a movie, attended a street fair and craft market and had a blast. They’d all taken turns in the photo booth until they’d exhausted pretty much every combination of people and goofy faces they could imagine. This particular strip was of Cal and Gareth; the top image showed Gareth squeezing Cal’s cheeks while they both made fish faces at the camera lens.
“What...?” Janie whispered and sank down onto a chair. Aidan placed the stack of letters in front of her. She silently began to read. After several minutes she looked up at Aidan, who had taken a seat across from her at the table.
“I have no idea what this means. These are letters he’s written to his dad over the last...” Janie shuffled through the stack. “The first one is dated more than a year ago. There are increasingly more as time has gone on—several in the last few months. He talks about the things they used to do together and how much he misses him. I feel like I’m invading his privacy by reading them but I want to understand what this means.”
Aidan reached out and took hold of her hand. “Go talk to him and find out.”
Janie nibbled on her cheek and thought about how to handle the situation.