An Unsettled Past

by C. L. Brees

  Feeling confident about his choice in attire, he casually walked towards his bedroom door and switched the overhead light off. As he stepped into the hallway, he picked up the pace, rushing past his mother on his way towards the front door. She interjected into his hurried state. “Where are you off to in such a hurry?”

  “I’m going out with Alex and Amy tonight. Alex’s friend is in town from Colorado Springs and he’s going to introduce us.”

  “Oh, well that’ll be fun. I hope you have a good time tonight, and I’ll see you when you get home,” she uttered with hesitation in her voice.

  “Everything alright, mom?”

  “Absolutely, everything is fine. It’s just that your father and I are also going out tonight, and I was going to ask if you would stay in tonight and watch your brother and sister. But you go out and have a good time; Adam is old enough now to stay home for a few hours alone.”

  “I would surely think so; he’s fourteen years old now, mom. I’m almost certain he’s capable of holding down the fort while you guys go out.”

  “When you’re right, you’re right. Go and have a marvelous time tonight. You deserve to spend some time with your friends before you all graduate,” she expressed as she reached out and gave him a hug.

  He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, hugging her back tightly as he jokingly asked, “You’re not dying, are you?”

  “Heavens no, why would you ask that?”

  “I’m just joking with you. It’s just odd to get a hug out of the blue these days is all. Sort of threw me off for a moment.”

  “You’re too much; get out of here before you’re late.”

  “I should be home no later than midnight. Don’t wait up for me.”

  Mrs. Davidson stood there in the frame of the front door and focused on her son as he walked towards the driveway. In her mind these were the last few weeks she’d have all of her children under one roof. John was growing up, and she couldn’t be more proud of him for all that he had accomplished in the past few years. She continued to watch as he backed out onto the street and disappeared into the distance. She closed the front door, snickered, and returned to the kitchen to finish putting the dishes away.

  ***

  John turned onto Old Orchard Boulevard East just as the radio station interrupted his favorite song. He banged his hands against the steering wheel. This better be the apocalypse being announced.

  The weather bulletin was yet again warning of severe flooding in the area. He laughed and uttered under his breath to himself, “No shit, Sherlock. It’s been raining for days; I’m surprised no one has built an arc yet.”

  His car sped down the rain soaked boulevard towards Alex’s house on the other side of the subdivision. The drive took him less than four minutes, and he parked on the street in front of the house. He flung open the door and made a mad dash for the front door to avoid the onslaught of rain. His efforts were hardly helpful, as the rain still pelted him in the face as he ran across the perfectly manicured lawn. After what seemed an eternity, he arrived at the front door, drenched from head to toe. As he stood there knocking on the wooden door, a drop of water dripped from his nose and splashed on the concrete beneath his feet. Alex answered the door after the first knock and shook his head as John walked inside. “Get in here! You’re soaking wet.”

  “Well, it is pouring outside. I can’t remember the last time we had a rain like this. If I had to guess I’d have to say it’s been at least five years ago,” John said, as Alex ran upstairs to grab him a towel from the guest bathroom.

  Nodding in agreement Brandy expressed, “This really is one of the worst storms I think I’ve ever seen. Are you all quite sure we should be going out in this tonight?”

  Alex interjected as he stepped down off of the last step, “Absolutely sure. We have plenty of umbrellas around here somewhere, plus the restaurant I want to go to has valet. Curbside service, so none of us should get too wet.”

  Trying to be reassuring, Amy reached her hand towards Brandy. “You really seem unsure about going out tonight. Is everything alright? I can understand that you’d be nervous; we really did drop a lot of information on you this afternoon. We have nothing to worry about, though. Mike is a well-known cop in town. He’s not going to let anything happen to you.”

  “I have faith in you guys, believe me. Alex is one of my closest friends too; he’d never do anything to put any one of us in danger,” Brandy said as she cracked a half smile.

  They all sat down at the dining room table while John continued to dry himself off. Brandy was in the middle of telling a story about an incident that took place while they were at camp a few years back and everyone was rolling in laughter. Alex laughed along with them but then he looked down at his watch with concern. It was five minutes to five. He began to worry about Mike. It had been almost four hours since he had heard anything from him, and the drive from Denver should have taken him no more than an hour and fifteen minutes if there was traffic.

  Not to appear an alarmist, he refocused his attention back on his friends. Brandy continued telling embarrassing stories from camp when the laughter that filled the room became silent with the sound of the doorbell ringing.

  “Alex, you go check the door and see who it is. I’m not going,” Amy demanded as Alex stood to his feet and walked down the hallway towards the front door.

  “Oh, stop being paranoid, you know who it is; it’s Mike. No one called me from the front gate to say I had a visitor. Knowing him, he probably flashed his badge and they let him come in.”

  Looking through the peephole he confirmed that assumption was correct. Mike was standing at the door, drenched from the rain. He opened the door and jumped out and gave him a tight embrace. Mike stood there for a moment, holding Alex in his arms on the front porch. Even in a small conservative suburb, neither one of them cared what any of the neighbors thought about their relationship. After two years of being together, the two had built a very intense, special bond with each other, and there wasn’t anything that anyone in his conservative community could do to change that.

  After Alex finally let go of him, he looked at him in the face and said, “I was beginning to worry about you, but I’m so glad you’re here; we have a lot to fill you in on.”

  Mike took his jacket off and hung it on the coat rack in the foyer before he and Alex entered the dining room. Everyone had gone back to talking, and the chatter reduced to a murmur when they walked back into the room together.

  “Mike’s here,” Amy exclaimed.

  “Hey guys. So, from what I understand you guys have been sitting around here all afternoon being nosy, huh?”

  “Actually, we stopped being nosy a little while ago. Now we’ve been sitting around for the last hour listening to Brandy and Alex tell us stories about their summers in Colorado Springs at orchestra camp. Did you know about half of the things Alex used to do when he was younger?”

  “I’ve heard a few stories, but Brandy will have to fill me in on a few more this evening,” Mike said as Brandy nodded her head in agreement.

  “You know I’ll give you all of the juicy scoop on Alex.”

  “Well, I’m glad to see that you’ve been keeping yourself entertained and haven’t been so focused on the drama that’s been happening.”

  “Come on now, have you ever known me to not know how to entertain myself?”

  “Oh, so true. I’m sure you could find entertainment anywhere you went, Alex. We definitely have quite a few things to discuss before dinner, so shall we get started?”

  Everyone nodded their heads, acknowledging there were serious things that needed to be discussed. Mike pulled out a chair and sat down, ready to take in an earful from everyone. He sat there and listened as Alex and Amy carried on about everything that they had found in the study that afternoon.

  Mike quickly interjected: “Alex, can we start from the beginning? We’ll get to the letters, but start me out here by telling me exactly what happened today in Denver.”r />
  “Well Amy and I went down to the main library downtown this morning. I wanted to do some research about my father.”

  “Yes, I have gathered that. Tell me about the white van and the two men. Where did you first notice them following you?”

  Right in front of the 7-11. They pulled out of the parking lot and followed us all the way to the library. That’s almost an hour.”

  “Very strange. Did you get a plate number or anything? Surely you saw something in your rearview mirror.”

  “I didn’t. There was no front license plate on the van.”

  “Ok, so they either removed it, or they aren’t from Colorado. That’s a good bit of information. Continue.”

  “Well, everything went well at the library, except I had a bombshell dropped on me. But I’ll get there in a moment. When we left, they were gone. I felt a little less worried at that point.”

  “Ok, then where did you go after that?”

  “We went to see my mom at the hospital so I could get some questions answered about what I had discovered.”

  “And what happened once you arrived at the hospital? And what did you learn from your mother?”

  “When we pulled onto the 6th floor of the parking garage, the same white van was parked near the elevator. There were two men sitting there, their eyes homing in on us like prey. As far as what I learned from snooping around—all I can say is that my real name isn’t Alex Jones; it’s Marshal Stahl. I found out today that my entire life has been a lie.”

  “I’m confused, Alex. How can this be?” Mike inquisitively asked.

  “I’m just as confused as you are. I don’t want to tell any more than that right now. So where was I—ah, yes. After my talk with her, I left even more pissed off than I was when I arrived.”

  Just as Alex was about to speak again, Brandy’s phone began to ring. She looked at the caller ID and stood up. “Sorry guys, it’s my boss. I’ll be back in a few.” She opened the French doors to the back deck and stepped outside into the rain.

  “Then we get back here and that’s when the snooping started.”

  “Yes, I interrupted you during that. So you mentioned some letters; what did they say?”

  “They were threats towards my mother. They were typed in Russian but they were translated on the back in handwriting. They basically said that if my mother didn’t give back what my father took from them that there would be grave consequences.”

  “When was the deadline?”

  “Monday night.”

  “Now I’m beginning to see the link here,” Mike said as he cracked his knuckles.

  “I’m glad you understand now. Anyway, after that we’ve just been waiting for you to get here.”

  “That’s a lot to take in. So, again, I apologize for not getting here sooner. Have we decided where we’re going for dinner tonight?”

  Just at that moment, Brandy reemerged into the house. Her hair was soaked and she was shaking.

  “Brandy, lord, you could have taken your call in the kitchen or upstairs if you needed privacy. Let me get you a towel,” Alex announced, as he walked towards the staircase.

  “Thanks Alex,” she hollered as he disappeared up the stairs.

  “Did we ever decide on where we’re going tonight for dinner?”

  “If I know Alex, I suspect he’s going to drag us out to Casa Grille again. Don’t get me wrong, I love that place—but there are so many other choices in town,” Mike affirmed.

  “Isn’t that where you two went on your first date?”

  “It is. Let’s see what he decides when he gets back down. And let’s all try to look happy about it.”

  While everyone waited downstairs, Alex was busy upstairs hunting for another towel to give to Brandy to dry herself off. He grabbed a grey towel from the linen closet and hurriedly ran back into the hallway towards the staircase.

  As he stepped onto the first step, he felt a swift breeze blow through the hallway. Something didn’t feel right to him, so he calmly turned his head around towards the darkened hallway. The hallway lay empty except for the side table between his room and his mother’s. The bouquet of flowers in the vase were gently swaying back and forth. He paused, afraid to take another step. He turned around and began walking back into the hallway towards his bedroom. Did I leave a window open today?

  He approached his bedroom door, tapping it lightly as it creaked, opening inward. He scanned his room for the source of the draft—he found nothing. Shrugging it off, he closed his bedroom door and retreated once again towards the staircase.

  He finally emerged downstairs with the towel in hand. Mike gave him a strange look as he handed the towel to Brandy.

  “What took you so long?”

  “Had to grab something out of my bedroom while I was up there, sorry.”

  “So, have you decided where you want to go for dinner? You’re killing us with your recommendation.”

  “Well, as you may expect I wanted to go to Casa Grille. However, in light of everything that’s happened, I feel like we need to change this up a little tonight.”

  Everyone’s jaws dropped at the sudden deviation from the norm. Everyone looked around at one another as Alex laughed. “Yes, I know you all think I’m predictable, but this time I’m not.”

  “So, where are we going then?”

  “They opened this new restaurant a few weeks ago downtown called Felix’s Mediterranean. I’m feeling adventurous.”

  “Any objections?”

  Everyone stood silent, still shocked with Alex’s sudden change of venue. They were all positively sure that he would chose Casa Grille.

  “I don’t hear any objections—let’s get on the road then,” he calmly announced as everyone scoured for their jackets and umbrellas.

  Mike walked up beside Alex. “I’m impressed by your decision. You remembered that Mediterranean food is one of my favorites.”

  “I did remember. Besides, Casa Grille has bad memories for me. I’m ready to start building happy, positive memories from here on out.”

  Grabbing him by the waist Mike pulled Alex closer to him. “This is why I love you.”

  After five minutes everyone was making their way towards the front door. Alex glanced at his cell phone again; still no call from his mother. He told himself in his head that if he hadn’t heard back from her by the time dinner ended, then he would call the security team at the hospital and have them keep an eye on her.

  Mike opened the front door as the heavy wind and rain blew inward towards them. The bright flash of lightning struck so close that the hair on their arms stood on end.

  “Last chance to change your mind, Alex.”

  “Not a chance in hell. If we run, we can make it.”

  They all dashed quickly towards the black, four-door Escalade parked behind Alex’s car in the driveway. The SUV was more than capable of holding everyone and was the perfect vehicle in which to journey out into the storm. Mike clicked the key fob and John, Amy, and Brandy all jumped into the backseat while Alex and Mike piled into the front. Putting the SUV into reverse, he backed down the cobblestone driveway onto Old Orchard Boulevard. Alex reached for the radio which at the time was blaring a bubble gum pop song that was already overplayed. Mike loved his pop station; however, Alex was a fan of country music. He quickly scanned through the channels until he found just that.

  Mike intervened, “Alex, what are you doing?”

  “That song is so overplayed it’s not even funny. And besides, you know I’m a country music fan at heart. I know you of all people can deal with it for a mile and a half.”

  Mike pulled his hand away from the radio. “I’m only giving in because it’s you. I’m going to let you have your way—but just this one time.”

  Alex had grown accustomed to getting his way when it came to Mike. All he had to do was flash a sad look or a smile, and Mike would instantly give in to anything that he wanted, within reason. Alex was head over heels in love with him, so he never took advantage of situ
ations too often.

  The SUV zoomed past the guard shack, and the guard casually waved as they drove by before retiring back into the shelter of his shack. The evening sky was blackened, and the streaks of lightning danced across the sky. On a typical night the crew would all be camped out on the back deck watching the sun set behind the mountains. However, on a night like this, the best place to be was inside a warm house or car. Traffic was lighter than earlier in the day, as most residents of Ridgewood Hills had battened down indoors for the evening. The car ride was quiet, and this caused Alex’s mind to drift again into thought. How could it be that after twenty-five hours of being missing, no one had any clue where Heather was? Furthermore, he couldn’t dismiss the thought that his entire picturesque life had been built and funded on Russian mafia drug money. He continued to keep a smile on his face, even though inside his heart was dying. Keep it together for just tonight—just tonight, and tomorrow you can explode with anger.