Third to Die

by Carys Jones

  “Mommy?” Aiden heard his daughter in the background and his heart buoyed with hope. Was she going to speak to him? Would she tell him that she missed him? That she loved him?

  The call abruptly ended and Aiden was once more alone with only silence for company. He frowned angrily at the answering machine. As much as he appreciated Isla calling, he wanted to hear from Meegan, from his daughter.

  Aiden drained the rest of his beer and then stalked back into the kitchen for a fresh bottle.

  *

  It was the evenings which hit Aiden the hardest. He’d turn on the TV and watch some gory drama or action film that Isla would normally veto, but he couldn’t concentrate on anything. It felt strange to think that above him all the rooms were empty. Meegan wasn’t in her bedroom sleeping soundly. She was miles away at his in-laws.

  Regret pinched at Aiden’s temple, threatening a headache the following morning. Everything he’d done had been for Meegan’s benefit. He’d thought that moving to Avalon would give her a better life. Had he failed as a father for not having achieved that?

  Three empty beer bottles had collected at Aiden’s feet and still he felt unbearably connected to the present. He needed to detach. He got up and pulled a bottle of scotch from a cabinet. He didn’t bother with a glass.

  When he sat back down in front of the TV, he drank directly from the bottle. The scotch burned his throat as he knocked it back but it also warmed his body; bathing it in a comforting glow. He kept drinking until the images on the screen became blurred.

  *

  Aiden jolted awake. For a second he had no idea where he was. On the TV there was an infomercial about some cleaning solution and outside the back yard was now hidden by the dense cover of nightfall.

  Groaning, Aiden ran a hand down his face. His limbs seemed sluggish and slow to respond to his commands. He was drunk. In his stupor he briefly wondered what time it was. He had a flight to catch early the next day. First he’d planned to stop by the office and see Betty. He needed to check in on her, see how she was doing. Lately he’d been avoiding the office as much as possible, working there without Edmond present seemed wrong somehow.

  The emptiness in his stomach had returned more vacuous than ever. But as Aiden stretched back on the sofa and examined the feeling, he realized that it wasn’t a new sensation. The hole had been there all along, only now he was acutely aware of its presence as he had nothing to distract him from his inner pain.

  His drunken mind summoned up the cause of his ongoing sorrow and Aiden clumsily retrieved his cell phone from his pocket and dialled the number he had committed to memory.

  *

  Brandy awoke suddenly, panicked by the high-pitched chime of her telephone which was blasting out into the darkness of her apartment. Her heart immediately started hammering manically in her chest. She hated being abruptly pulled out of the respite of deep sleep. Already she could feel the adrenalin coursing through her veins, preparing her body to either fight or flight whatever had disturbed her.

  She dropped out of bed and hurried out of her bedroom, her bare feet quickly growing cold. She answered her house phone on the sixth ring.

  “Hello?” She hadn’t even had time to consider who might be calling at such an ungodly hour.

  “Brandy?” She heard her name but it sounded unfamiliar in their slurred, elongated drawl.

  “Who is this?” Brandy demanded curtly. Away from the comfort of her blankets, she was shivering. She wrapped her free arm around her and leaned into the receiver which was cradled between her shoulder and ear.

  “Brandy…It’s, it’s Aiden.”

  For a second her heart stopped.

  “Aiden?” She started to wonder if she was just dreaming and in a few minutes she’d awaken warm in her bed.

  “Why are you calling me? Do you have any idea what time it is?”

  “I’m coming…” she heard Aiden pause to clear his throat. “I’m coming to Chicago tomorrow.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’d like to see you.”

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

  “I need to see you,” Aiden clarified. There was something in his voice which made Brandy strain to catch every word he uttered down the line. He sounded like the Aiden who had wanted to be with her, who had promised them a future. But then that Aiden had let her down and returned to Avalon and his life there.

  “I thought you weren’t going to call me again,” she told him, her tone strong and defiant. She trembled as she spoke and wasn’t sure if it was from the cold or from the power of her own emotions.

  “We need to talk,” Aiden told her. His voice still sounded distorted slightly but his words now held conviction.

  “Aiden—”

  “Things here have changed. Please, Brandy. Let me see you.”

  Brandy willed herself to be strong, to tell him no, to tell him to leave her alone. She needed to focus on getting her life together in Chicago.

  “I miss you,” Aiden sounded broken when he uttered the three small words. “I miss you every day.”

  The trembling intensified and Brandy had to lower herself down on to the nearby couch. Tears began to gather in her dark eyes.

  “Will you see me?”

  Brandy took a deep breath. Fate, she mused, was a cruel mistress. Each time she tried to pull away from Aiden he was randomly flung back into her life.

  “Okay,” she conceded, speaking softly. “But don’t make me regret it.”

  *

  Aiden ended the call and felt a smile begin to raise the ends of his mouth. As much as he missed Isla’s company and hated not seeing his daughter, his impending divorce meant that he was finally free to follow his heart. He could at last be with Brandy. Elated by the prospect of seeing her, Aiden suddenly felt completely awake and alert. He checked the time on his phone. It was three in the morning. It was too early to go to work but arguably too late to go to bed.

  He lifted himself off the couch and headed upstairs to shower. As he walked through his home he was unaware of the silence, oblivious to the emptiness which had previously gnawed at him.

  *

  Buck Fern watched the sun rise over Avalon’s cemetery. The headstones cast small shadows across the grass as the golden sphere rose on the horizon. His grey eyes observed the scene numbly, shielded beneath his Stetson.

  There were countless rows of headstones. Each marked the final resting place of a former Avalon resident. Buck knew most of the names chiselled into each piece of stone but some were unfamiliar even to him; residents who had come to pass long before he had even been conceived.

  His parents had been laid to rest side by side in the cemetery. They had passed when Buck was young enough for it to impact his life substantially. Soon his brother would join them. Only, unlike Pamela and Burt Fern, he would be entombed in a private mausoleum which he’d had purposefully built almost ten years ago. Buck thought it was ostentatious and unnecessary, but Samuel was adamant that his remains were too precious to be buried in the ground. Buck had resented his decision, resented his lack of humility. If the ground was good enough for their beloved parents, then surely it was good enough for them?

  The sun was almost fully visible in the sky and birds chattered excitedly in the trees which bordered the cemetery. A new day was about to commence. Buck pushed himself off the bonnet of his car and moved back towards the driver’s seat. He stopped briefly before getting in, one hand resting on the car door. He looked back at the accurate lines of headstones, most of them now fully bathed in the sun’s light. He realized that he recognized a lot more names than he used to. Instinctively his gaze drifted to the east, in the direction where Brandon White was buried.

  Buck removed his Stetson and held it to his chest and closed his eyes for a brief moment, paying his respects to Avalon’s fallen. Then he placed it back upon his thinning grey hair and climbed into the patrol car. As he slammed the door shut and gunned the engine, some of the birds departed from their perches; the
ir dawn chorus momentarily silenced.

  *

  The sky had only just started to turn to grey as Aiden hauled his luggage into the trunk of his car. He had a few hours before his flight to Chicago, more than enough time to pop into the office and see Betty.

  Aiden took a moment before climbing into his car. He breathed deeply, inhaling the fresh morning air. He could smell flowers, cut grass and damp earth. The neighbourhood seemed beautifully still just before the dawn. Dew still clung to the blades of grass in his front lawn. Aiden let the tranquillity soak into him. He hungrily drank the serenity in. He needed to remind himself what had originally bought him to Avalon and, more importantly, what made him want to stay.

  With his lungs suitably filled with pure morning air, Aiden climbed into his car and headed into town.

  *

  Avalon didn’t experience rush hour. At peak points during the day, like just before nine and just after five, you could end up idling behind two other vehicles as you waited for the lights to change from red. But that was it. And by Avalon’s standards that would be considered busy.

  Aiden didn’t spot any other cars as he drove into town. It was still too early for most people. He parked up outside the offices of Copes and May and rummaged in his pockets for his set of keys. He hadn’t used them for so long that for a split second he feared he might have lost them. But they were there, nestled beneath his house keys.

  Betty almost always beat both Aiden and Edmond into work. She prided herself on her reliable efficiency. She’d greet them both with a smile and a fresh cup of coffee. Sliding his key into the front door, Aiden glanced down the street. A couple of other cars were parked up, clearly he hadn’t been the only overly zealous person that morning.

  Once unlocked, the door opened and the soft chime provided the soundtrack for Aiden’s arrival. It was strange to see the office in darkness. He quickly flicked on the lights and glanced around the familiar space. Betty’s desk was immaculate at the far end of the waiting room. Aiden only offered it a cursory glance as he walked by and entered his own office.

  In the main waiting area the air smelled crisp and clean. The same couldn’t be said for Aiden’s office. Here, everywhere smelled stale. It seemed that it wasn’t just Aiden who had been avoiding the office in Edmond’s absence, Betty had also been keeping her distance.

  Aiden headed over to the windows and pulled up the blinds and unlocked one of the latches, letting in some of the morning air. He looked at Edmond’s empty seat, his untouched computer and flinched.

  “He’ll be back soon,” he promised himself, moving towards his own desk and switching on the monitor.

  It only took Aiden twenty minutes to catch up on his emails. There was nothing urgent which required his attention, but then most people didn’t contact him directly, they’d go through Edmond first and then the work would get passed on to him. Really, he needed to access Edmond’s inbox but he wasn’t sure how his old colleague would react to the suggestion. The last thing Aiden wanted to do was make him feel like he was being pushed out.

  Checking his watch, Aiden saw that he still had a bit of time before Betty was due in. Shrugging on his coat and snatching up the office keys, he decided to make one quick trip before she arrived.

  *

  Aiden heard the chime indicating that Betty had arrived. He waited politely in his office, he didn’t want to bombard her as soon as she came in. Less than five minutes later, she knocked lightly on his door and then came in. She was wearing a smart navy dress, her grey hair held up in her trademark bun and she was holding a fresh takeout cup of tea and croissant. She proffered them nervously towards Aiden.

  “You left these on my desk,” she told him, her tone slightly accusatory.

  “Actually, Betty, those are for you.” Aiden smiled at her. Betty blushed as she glanced back down at the items she was holding.

  “Oh.” She didn’t seem to know how to react to such a gesture.

  “I got in early so thought I’d pop out and get drinks, save you doing it.” Aiden explained.

  “But I don’t mind doing it at all!” Betty quickly insisted.

  “I know,” Aiden nodded kindly at her. “I was just trying to help.”

  “Oh.”

  For the sixth time that morning, Aiden wished Edmond were there. He dealt with Betty with such ease. He always knew exactly what to say to her whereas Aiden was constantly in fear of insulting her traditional sensibilities. But somehow he had to get past his own awkwardness and talk to Betty. She deserved to know what was going on, she had after all worked for Copes and May much longer than Aiden had.

  “Betty, can you sit down?” Aiden suggested. Betty glanced at the free chair in the room, the chair which belonged to Edmond. Then she pursed her thin lips, placed her tea and croissant down and disappeared into the main waiting area. She returned seconds later, wheeling in her own chair. She positioned it in front of Aiden and neatly lowered herself into it, folding her hands across her lap.

  “I know I’ve not been in lately,” Aiden began, his tone apologetic.

  “It’s completely understandable.” Betty nodded gravely.

  “I’ve been dealing with some business out of town. But I wanted you to know that I’m still completely committed to Copes and May. I’m sure Edmond will be back to full health and annoying us with his terrible jokes in no time at all.”

  Betty smiled at this but her eyes watered. Aiden coughed nervously. Betty had visited her beloved employer, she knew how grave his situation was, Aiden couldn’t sugar-coat it for either of them.

  “But until then I want to make sure we keep things ticking over in his absence.”

  “Of course,” Betty said emphatically.

  “Do you have any idea how to access his computer?” Aiden gestured towards Edmond’s desk. Betty followed his gaze and drew her lips into a thin line.

  “I’m just worried that the more urgent emails are going straight to his inbox,” Aiden quickly explained. “I’d hate to let Edmond down while he’s away by missing something important.”

  When Betty turned her head to look back at Aiden, he could see that she was beginning to cry. She sniffed and tried to force her tears back behind her eyes.

  “Should we be speaking more frankly, Mr. Connelly?” she asked in a small voice.

  “No.” Aiden quickly shook his head. “And please, no more Mr. Connelly. Call me Aiden.”

  “He was so weak when I went to see him,” Betty declared, lowering her chin to her chest and nervously fidgeting with her hands.

  “He looked like a different man. Though of course, once he started speaking, I knew it was him.”

  Aiden shifted nervously in his chair. The conversation was becoming more intense than he had intended.

  “Might I be excused this afternoon?” Betty suddenly enquired, looking back up at him.

  “Um…yeah, of course.”

  “It’s the funeral of Samuel Fern,” Betty explained, looking pained. “I feel I ought to go and pay my respects.”

  “Did you know him well?” Aiden asked gently.

  “How well do you ever truly know someone, Mr. Connelly?” Betty replied. Then she blushed and corrected herself. “Sorry, Aiden.”

  Aiden was taken aback by her profound observation. He wondered if perhaps the issues Avalon had dealt with of late, like the revelations surrounding Brandon White’s death, had more of an impact on the community than he had realized. But like any tight-knit community, Avalon wouldn’t let an outsider like Aiden know how they had been shook by the news. They’d just circle the wagons and place tighter lids upon their secrets.

  “Will you be attending the service?”

  “Actually, I can’t. I’m heading to Chicago in a few hours. It’s all part of that out of town case I mentioned.”

  Aiden hadn’t realized that Samuel Fern’s funeral was that day. He knew it would look bad if he didn’t attend, or would it? He doubted Buck Fern would want him there. Even Deena for that matter. Su
rely Aiden would just be a reminder of all the secrets that were being buried with him.

  “Ah,” Betty nodded courteously. If she judged him for not going she didn’t show it.

  “I’m hopeful that things will return to normal soon,” Aiden admitted, trying to sound bright.

  “With all due respect, Mr.— Sorry, Aiden, Avalon hasn’t been normal since you showed up.”

  Aiden tried to read into her delivery of the statement, was she mad at him? Betty smiled and he felt his shoulders lower with relief. She wasn’t mad.

  “You’ve shaken things up here, Aiden.” She said his name so carefully, as if she was trying it on for size and deciding if it fit.

  “Edmond loves you all the more for doing so. It’s like you’re this mirror, and people can no longer escape from the ugliness of themselves when they’re held up to you.”

  “I’m just trying to do the right thing.”

  “Edmond is a man of honour, just like you.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Do you believe in miracles?” Betty asked, seeming wistful.

  “Honestly?” Aiden didn’t want to lie to her. “No, I don’t.”

  “Me neither,” she sighed. “But I fear that’s what our dear Edmond needs.”

  She carefully stood up, straightened her dress and took her leave, wheeling her chair back out. It made a soft squeaking sound as it moved, like a timid mouse. Aiden checked his watch, he needed to leave if he was going to make his flight. He was logging off his computer when Betty popped her head back round the door.

  “I forgot my treats,” she said as she came in and picked up her tea and croissant. “Thanks for these.”

  Betty stared sincerely at Aiden.

  “Earl grey tea and a croissant is my favourite breakfast, how did you know?”

  “Edmond told me,” Aiden replied simply. As he shared the explanation, he felt a sense of dread wash over him. Edmond had delivered the information so flippantly, as though it were nothing, when in reality he was preparing Aiden to take over his role as Betty’s employer, he wanted to make sure that he could look after the loyal old lady as he had done.