“Where do you think that slime ball went?” Brenda whispered.
“He’s in the bathroom because the light just went on. He could be washing the grease from his body.”
Cynthia was complete again when Trevor returned five minutes later with wet hair and a towel wrapped around his waist. She removed the towel and wrapped her arms around his muscular frame.
“What a couple of dirtbags!” Brenda said. She was unable to whisper this time, and Trevor popped his head up and looked around, then returned to the task at hand as he continued removing Cynthia’s clothes. He unbuttoned her light blue blouse and dropped it to the floor. Then he worked on her blue jeans, unbuttoning them and bending over to push them to her feet. He returned to an upright position in front of her, and rubbed her bare arms as if they were cold.
Cynthia grabbed Trevor’s head and pulled it into her chest. He moved up and kissed her again. He still was at a disadvantage, but evened things up by removing her final article of clothing. She was completely naked once her breasts popped out of her bra and the empty cups dropped into her little pile of clothing on the floor. She pushed Trevor onto the couch and rode him into the night with one foot on the floor. Cynthia was very much the aggressor, and it looked like she hadn’t had sex for a while. The two peepers felt funny watching this rodeo, but they were more or less waiting for their next move, and it certainly was not expected to be scripted like this.
Not only was it a surprise that Trevor led them back to Carter’s house, but having an affair with his deceased friend’s fiancée was more than they could have imagined. They were repulsed, confused, and appalled at both of them. They just wanted it to end, but unfortunately, it did not. Trevor flipped her over and slammed her hard, time and time again, and Cynthia’s screams were so loud that Charlie’s ashes probably heard her. He soon collapsed on top of Cynthia, and they stayed that way for several minutes.
Carter and Brenda were not expecting to see a live sex show. They only wanted to see where Trevor lived, and didn’t expect to return to Carter’s house. Nor were they prepared to see Trevor making a booty call with Cynthia after she just lost her fiancé. She certainly did not look like a grieving widow.
They watched it all from outside the picture window. It wasn’t that they liked watching people having sex, but rather they were so horrified and astonished that they had travelled all the way from Colorado for Charlie’s funeral, only to see Charlie’s fiancée having sex with Charlie’s friend. They rubbed it in Charlie’s face even more by doing it under the urn holding his ashes. That was the epitome of low.
“What are you thinking right now?” Brenda whispered.
“I’m thinking that we aren’t even close to knowing this story.”
“You’re telling me. I wonder how long this has been going on?”
Carter shook his head slowly and continued to watch, but he spoke as softly as Brenda. “I don’t think Charlie ever knew about this. He mentioned Trevor’s name to me that night, but he was only referring to Trevor as a possible suspect in his murder. He wasn’t certain at all. I had a sense that he was involved in some way, or that Charlie wanted to tell me something about him, but I have to be honest with you… I didn’t see this one coming. I didn’t suspect that Trevor was screwing Charlie’s fiancée. Damn! No wonder why Cynthia didn’t seem to want company.”
“I told you she was acting weird. I didn’t trust her. I didn’t have a good sense about her. I mean… here we were coming to see her… driving clear across the country. The least she could do was tell us that there would be no funeral to attend, and oh, by the way, his body was cremated and sits in an urn on the mantle. God… what a head case!”
The conversation stopped once they saw the happy demented couple rise from the couch. “If I ever go back into that house,” said Carter, “I’m going to remain standing. That couch has seen the last of my ass. Damn, if he wasn’t such a big dude, I would go in there and rip both of their heads off.”
He poked Brenda on the shoulder and waved her on to follow him, and they made their way back around both houses. As they came upon the side of Mr. Jenkins’ house, they heard a noise and saw him on the side of the house, watering flowers in the dark with his head down. A distant porch light was all that aided his vision. Carter continued to wave Brenda on. They played to his weakness, and he did not hear one step.
Back to the car, they opened the door and rolled out of the area. “There’s a pit in my stomach,” said Brenda. “That was totally sickening, disgusting… vile.”
“You’re not kidding. That’s my best friend they’re doing that to. I really have to wonder if there is more to it than a fling. Maybe you’re onto something, Brenda. It’s sickening that this is going on just days after he was murdered, but now I have to wonder if it was going on before that… had to be.”
“Yeah,” said Brenda, “they must have been screwing around before Charlie was murdered. They probably hired someone to knock him off, so they could be together without interference. She appeared to be hiding something.”
“Do you really think they hired someone to do that?” Carter asked. “That seemed like a random killing… didn’t it?”
“We don’t really have any answers on that now, do we? There were missing articles in the papers, and all we have is an urn on the mantle that Cynthia claims holds Charlie’s ashes. I mean… we don’t have a lot to go on, but can we trust Cynthia? We don’t even know her, and what we do know of her… we don’t like.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Into the night they drove, slowly, stunned beyond belief. They were about 10 minutes away from the house when they noticed a car following them. Carter tried to speed up, even took a few turns, but he could not shake the car loose. Brenda had her head turned to check out the car the best she could, and as it passed under a streetlight, she noticed that it was the same car they had been following earlier. It was Trevor’s car, and she could tell that there was a passenger in the vehicle. “That’s definitely Trevor and Cynthia. What are you going to do, Carter?”
“Damn it all! How is that even possible? We did all we could do to avoid detection. We got away scot free. Where the hell did we go wrong?”
“Well, I screwed up when I spoke too loudly and he turned his head.”
“I don’t think so. Maybe Mr. Jenkins saw something eventually and notified the neighbors. Who knows? They’re closing in on us.”
“Carter… you’re going awfully fast for these roads. Be careful! There are a lot of twists and turns.”
“I know there are, but I don’t have much of a choice. I’m not that familiar with this part of town, so I’m not an expert on these roads, but I can’t take it slow.” He continued to travel up and down hilly roads that seemed to get narrower and narrower the further he travelled.
“Carter… you just missed that tree! Slow down!”
“Okay, but I need to hightail it at the same time or he could push me over the steep edge, so you just need to trust me Brenda and hang on!”
Carter came up on a very sharp turn with yellow and orange warning signs all over the roadside. He slammed on his brakes until he skidded to a stop. He then pulled his car over to the side. They were completely off the road, and Carter turned his lights off. “When that dick passes me, I’m gonna do a U-turn and head back the other way.”
Brenda was hyperventilating. She was clearly shaken by all the near misses. The worst of it would at least be avoided, since they were not going to have to negotiate the hairpin turns up ahead. They would turn around and away from that stretch of road. Best case scenario was that Trevor and Cynthia would not see the car and would keep going full speed ahead. That was unlikely because they would round the corner and probably see them as sitting ducks. However, the momentum woul
d carry Trevor’s car past them as Carter would be able to get a good head start the other way.
“Here they come… heads down!” Carter yelled.
Brenda popped her head up just as they passed. “Shit. I think I just made eye contact with them as they went flying pa… ”
The end of her sentence was swallowed up by a thunderous crash. Carter and Brenda quickly popped their heads up and all they could see was a mangled car wrapped around a huge tree inside of a dust cloud. They did not leave their vehicle. Their hearts were still racing from the chase, and now this.
Their eyes had trouble processing the wreckage before them. Both Trevor and Cynthia had to have been killed instantly. All Carter and Brenda could do was watch and wait until their heart rate decreased to a reasonable rate. It was not reasonable at this moment in time. The way their hearts were thumping against the cavity of their chests put them into an additional danger zone.
“We need to get out of here,” said Carter.
Brenda caught a few more breaths before she could reply. “Maybe we should check to see if they are really dead or not. Do you think they could have survived that crash?”
“I don’t think so. That was brutal. Look at the car! There’s nothing left of it.”
There really was nothing left of it. It was wrapped around a tree and split down the middle. The smell of metal was airborne, brought quickly to their nostrils via the choppy winds pushing and tugging at the road. There were no other cars to witness this scene, but Carter did not want to be spotted by anyone. He wanted no trouble, and did not wish to be linked to this fatal accident in any way.
“Carter… do you remember how I showed you how to check for a pulse?”
“Yes… just not something I do every day.”
“Let me run over there and check then. I think it’s really important for us to know. You stay here and if you see any headlights coming our way, then we have to get the hell out of here.”
Brenda ran to the tree and stared at the car that was wrapped around it. It was now part of the tree. The dust was still in the process of settling. Carter watched from their idling car, which was only about 25 feet away from the scene. He knew that they had missed the turn because they were too busy looking at their car on the roadside. It wasn’t exactly Carter’s strategy, but the result may have saved their lives. He could see Brenda reaching into the car and pausing. She must be checking a pulse, he thought. After removing her arm from the car, she ran around to the other side and reached in again, and paused.
As Carter watched from the car, he saw what he believed to be a wisp of smoke, and began to think the worst. He was about to call Brenda away from the scene, when he realized that what he was witnessing were spirits rising from the wreckage. Ever since his accident, he’d been able to see this. It didn’t happen often, but really, how often does a person see death before their eyes. Some go a lifetime without ever seeing death. Carter wished he was part of that group.
Since he wasn’t part of that group, if someone’s life was snuffed out before him, he could see their body release its spirit, and he’d watch as it floated skyward. He imagined that because he was once part of that realm, he became a lifetime member. That was a realm where he had access, but it only made it possible for him to reach. There were no guarantees. He thought of Angie, and how he had seen her spirit rise, but he couldn’t reach her.
Carter watched as the spirits rose, but due to the darkness, they easily blended into the night. The spirits did not hang around. It appeared that there was no question about their deaths. There didn’t appear to be any out-of-body or in-limbo status. They were just dead from what he could see. He believed Angie to be part of that in-limbo realm, but it was probably different because she was not completely dead. She wasn’t flatlined or as dead as a doorknob.
“Lights!” Carter yelled.
Brenda pulled her arm back quickly and sprinted back to the car. Carter started it and hit the gas as soon as he heard the car door slam shut. He had to be careful as he did a U-turn, but he was off to the races soon after.
“Neither of them had a pulse,” said Brenda. “Go easy. We can’t afford to have a mishap now, and we should be far enough away by the time anyone notices. Then they’ll be preoccupied with what’s in front of them.”
“I know… I know. I’m going easy. We need to leave Boston.”
“Yes we do,” Brenda agreed. “We have everything with us and no further purpose in this town. Head for the highway.”
That’s where Carter headed. The lights that he had seen must have turned down another road, so they went undetected. There were no witnesses as far as any police officer or detective would know.
“I can’t feel guilty about what happened back there,” Carter said.
“Of course not. We were being chased. They were crazed!”
On and on they drove, away from Boston and deeper into the warm April night. Carter always seemed to be heading west with a vengeance. He was always running from Boston, and yet he always felt the need to return. He began thinking about his mission to travel back east as he continued to drive west. He thought about Charlie. He thought about the urn that may or may not contain Charlie. He thought about Mr. Jenkins’ condition. He thought about the realtor. He thought about Cynthia, and then Trevor. He thought about his meet-up with Buddy, and how that set off a series of events that seemed to change his world. They were only in Boston for a couple of days. Things were slower out west, and he liked it a lot better that way. That’s where they wanted to be now.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The road ahead was long. It would take them across the United States of America in a matter of days, if they didn’t stop. It’s calming once you reach the Midwest, but it can be rough, especially the longer you drive. Breaks are good, but they are a waste of time when you’re travelling. Again, Carter did most of the driving, but Brenda jumped in when she had to, and this helped Carter greatly. The states went by one at a time, but the further west they drove, the longer the states were to pass through.
When they reached the Iowa state line, they started to feel like they were getting somewhere. It started to feel like home, especially for Brenda. After all, she hailed from Iowa, but hadn’t been back to her hometown of Ames since she was 16 years old. She hadn’t seen her parents in almost a decade and had not heard a peep from them. They hadn’t heard a peep from her, either. Maybe it was harder for her parents to reach out to someone who could be anywhere, but Brenda had a resentment that grew pretty deep.
Brenda did spend 16 years of her life in Ames, Iowa, though. That cannot be forgotten entirely, no matter how bad things got. They were approaching the exit for Ames, and Carter was trying to notice Brenda’s mood and expressions through the corner of his eye. He saw her craning her neck while passing signs for Ames.
“You miss it at all? Miss your parents?” Carter asked.
“At times… they still are my parents, and probably did all they could do for me, but I do resent them at the same time. I was only a kid of 16 years. Who the hell kicks their kid into the street to fend for themselves? I mean… who does that?”
“Do you ever wish you could go back?”
“What do you mean? Back in time?”
“Back to your roots… visiting your parents… visiting your old stomping ground.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I guess because I went home to Boston. I was thinking that maybe since we were in the area, you could go back to your hometown. You don’t necessarily have to go visit your folks, but that option is entirely up to you. What do you say? When will you ever get another chance?”
Carter wished that he had one more day with his adoptive parents. He knew that it would be in Bren
da’s best interest to reconnect since they were in town. Brenda looked out the window and noticed her favorite stores and restaurants, and it brought her back to her childhood. Carter could tell it was bringing back some of the good memories.
“Oh, what the hell! I guess you’re right,” Brenda said. “Take the next exit and we’ll be a short drive away. I don’t know for sure that I can go back home, but maybe a driveby.”
“Sure thing. I want to see where you grew up.”
“The jury is out on whether I did grow up.”
Brenda directed Carter to take the exit to her hometown, which he did. No towns are that big in these parts, and the land separating the towns is sprawling and seems to go on forever. There is a lot of undeveloped land. Carter marveled at the different lifestyle in these parts.
“Are you willing to do a drive-by?” Carter glanced at Brenda after saying this and saw her complexion turn ashen. She truly was nervous about the possibility of merely driving by the house she left years ago. It wasn’t so much the house as it was the occupants. Her mother and father may have kicked her out all those years ago, but she now knew that she deserved it, and she realized that the only way for them to reunite would be for Brenda to get in touch with them. They had no idea where Brenda landed, but Brenda knew where her parents lived. She just never wanted to make that reconnection… until now.
“I know this is spontaneous, but I think it’s time for me to do this… to try to reconnect. Time to grow up.”
“Are you sure you’re ready? I mean, I’m by no means talking you out of this, but I just want you to be prepared for anything… without getting overly excited or disappointed.”
Desert Son Trilogy: Desert Son, Wayward Soul, Spiritual Intervention (Books 1-3) Page 32