aterovis_bm_reapthewhirlwind.p65

aterovis_bm_reapthewhirlwind.p65 Page 30

by Arlene Chance

  “Who is it?”

  “Who is—uh—who?”

  I sighed again. “On the phone, Aidan, who is it on the phone?”

  His mouth opened and closed soundlessly several times.

  “Okay, look, never mind. Forget I asked. You look like a freakin’ goldfish. I’ll get back to our guests.”

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  “Will,” he called and I stopped, “I—I’ll tell you later, okay?”

  “Whatever,” I said with a disgusted wave. “I think there must be a full moon.”

  “Huh? Full moon?” he called after me, but I was gone.

  I grabbed my coat and slipped out of the apartment.

  I was a little disappointed that no one even seemed to notice my departure. So much for being the guest of honor.

  There was no sign of Caitlin anywhere, so I wandered into the back yard of the apartment building. I was standing by the river with my head thrown back, staring into the sky when Asher found me.

  “Hey, cuz, how come you’re out here? The party’s inside.”

  “I know. That’s why I’m out here.”

  “Not much of a party person, huh?”

  I shrugged. “I was right. The moon is full.”

  “Is that why you’re out here, to admire the moon?

  What are you now, an astronomer? It’s your wedding night for Pete’s sake! Come on back in.”

  “Everybody’s acting weird. It must be because of the full moon.”

  “I don’t know about everybody else, but you sure are acting weird.”

  “Caitlin flipped out on me, accused me of playing some sort of game with her, and then Aidan was acting all secretive. Even Killian’s acting weird.”

  “Okay, first off, Killian always acts weird. Second, Caitlin is pregnant; aren’t pregnant women supposed to act weird? You know, hormones and all? And as for Aidan, I don’t know, maybe he’s planning a surprise wedding present. You guys seem to be really into sur-346

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  prises.”

  “What am I doing, Ash?”

  “Um, right now? You’re staring into the sky. You’re neck is going to get stiff by the way. What do you mean?”

  “I mean, what am I doing with my life? Getting married? I’m 18! And to a guy? I mean, three months ago I didn’t even know I was gay! And a baby?” I gave a short bark of edgy laughter. “What do I know about raising a baby? Absolutely nothing. I’ve been messing around with a killer, I may have gotten two people killed, I could have been killed myself, or one of my friends—I’ve lost my fucking mind!”

  “Will, take a deep breath. You’ve got to calm down,”

  Asher said calmly. “I’m no expert or anything, but I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to have cold feet before the wedding.”

  “Who had time?” I laughed again. I was definitely teetering on the edge of hysteria.

  “Maybe that’s what this is, you’re moving too fast.

  Do you love Aidan?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “You know he loves you. What more do you need?

  No one’s saying it’ll be easy, but if you love each other, you can make it through anything. Like the baby. Nobody really knows how to raise a child at first. They don’t come with instruction manuals. You just do your best and give them lots of love and support. Listen to me, like I know what I’m talking about! I don’t even have kids!”

  “You’re right, though,” I was starting to calm down, my panic was subsiding. “I should have listened to you to begin with. You’re the one who didn’t want to get 347

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  involved with this killer.”

  He sighed. “I didn’t want anything to do with this whole thing, but if you’d listened to me the police wouldn’t be investigating now.”

  “If I’d listened to you Blake and Robbie would still be alive.”

  “You can’t know that Will. The killer would have found them eventually if he was determined enough.”

  “She.”

  “Huh?”

  “The killer is a she. You said he.”

  “You know that for sure now?”

  “Robbie told me, before he was killed. He said he thought that the person with Joey when he died was a female.”

  “Oh.” He didn’t seem to know what to say.

  “You really think Aidan and I can make it?”

  He looked over at me. “Yeah, I do. I think if anybody has a chance you guys do.”

  “What about you and Killian? Do you guys still have a chance or did I screw everything up?”

  He was quiet for a minute. “I don’t know. I hope we still have a chance. I love him and I know he loves me, but I just don’t know. I do know one thing; if things are screwed up, it’s not your fault. It’s something that we have to deal with between us.”

  “I hope it’s not too late.”

  “Me too. You ready to go back in?”

  “In a minute. You go ahead.”

  “‘Kay,” he said and started away.

  “Hey Asher, did you know Seth?” I asked suddenly.

  “What?”

  “Did you know Seth? Adam’s son?”

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  “Whoa, where did that come from?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve just been thinking about him lately.”

  “Did you know him?”

  “No, Aidan told me a little about him, about what happened with you and Killian and all. And then Adam was here all day today working his butt off putting together our wedding. And I couldn’t help but think that he had to be thinking about Seth and how he would never get the chance to get married.”

  “You know I never even thought of that. Killian must have though; he’s been staying kind of close to him all night. Steve too, of course. I did know Seth a little. Not like Killian though, he was Seth’s only real friend. Killian took it really hard when he died, but it brought us together. You know, this really isn’t what you should be thinking about tonight.”

  “Why not? Death has been all I’ve thought about for the last few months. It seems fitting somehow to think about death on my wedding night. And I have a feeling I haven’t seen the last of it yet.”

  “You mean your dad?”

  “Yeah—and I don’t know. I just have a feeling that we haven’t seen the last of Joey’s killer.”

  “God, Will! You’re freaking me out.”

  I forced a laugh. “Sorry, Ash. Come on; let’s go back in. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I should be deliriously happy, but I just can’t shake this feeling that something is going to go wrong, that it won’t last.”

  “Will, you’re still grieving for Joey and your dad could be dying; no one expects you to be delirious, but it is your wedding night so try to enjoy it, huh?

  “Yeah, okay.”

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  JOSH ATEROVIS

  We walked back inside in a companionable silence. I was glad to have a friend and cousin as grounded as Asher. Everyone cheered as we re-entered the apartment.

  “There you are,” Aidan said. “Nobody knew where you had gotten to.”

  “You seemed busy so I went out for some air,” I mumbled through a deep blush. It felt like every eye in the room was on me, which of course it was. Mom made her way over to me and said that she wanted to get home to Dad. I gave her a kiss and thanked her for coming. I think she knew how much it meant to me.

  The party went on until late into the night. I noticed that Killian and Steve did seem to be hovering a bit around Adam, but to all appearances, he seemed fine.

  Things came crashing to a halt a little after midnight.

  The phone rang and this time I got to it first.

  “Will?” It was Mom and she sounded as if she was crying.

  “Dad?” The single word was all I could manage to squeeze past the sudden lump that had formed in my throat.

  “He took a turn for the worst, Will. Deb had to call the ambulance again. I came home to find a note saying they were at the hospital. That’s where I am now. The doctor just came. He said—he said I should call the family together. You’re the only famil
y—”

  “I’m on my way, Ma.”

  I looked up to find the whole room had gone deathly quiet, apprehension was clearly written all over every face.

  “It’s my dad,” I said hoarsely.

  “I’ll drive,” Aidan said as he swept into action, scoop-350

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  ing up the car keys and my coat.

  “We’ll come too,” Killian said and Asher nodded.

  “Me too,” Laura said immediately.

  “We’ll stay and clean up the apartment,” Adam assured me and everyone else was quick to agree. “Don’t worry about anything here. Just go.”

  We were out the door in record time and speeding to the hospital. We traveled in separate cars, Aidan, Asher, Killian and me in one car, Gabe and Laura in another.

  Once there, we went directly to Dad’s room, stopping just outside the door.

  “You go on in,” Aidan said gently. “We’ll be right out here in the waiting room.”

  I nodded but I didn’t move. With all the death that had surrounded me over the last several months, I had never actually seen anyone die. I wasn’t looking forward to my own father being the first. Even with everything that had happened between us, he was still my father and I loved him. And now I was about to lose him forever.

  As I stood there, immobile, I felt a hand slip into mine and pull me gently forward. It was Killian.

  “Come on,” he said softly, “I’ll go with you.”

  I guess it made sense that Killian would be the least affected by the idea of seeing someone die. He had been witness to more death in his short life than most people ever saw; he’d lost several friends and had almost been killed himself. He had faced death and survived. Somehow, his courage and his presence gave me the strength I needed and I stepped forward.

  Mom looked up as we came in. She was sitting next to Dad’s bed, his pale, limp hand in hers. Her hair was disarranged and there were dark circles under her red-351

  JOSH ATEROVIS

  rimmed eyes. Aunt Deb, Asher’s mom, stood behind her with her hands on Mom’s shoulders. She seemed surprised to see Killian but didn’t say anything.

  Mom gave me a shaky smile, then turned back to Dad’s still form.

  “Will’s here,” she said to him. “We’re all here now.”

  There was no response from Dad. He looked like he was already dead. Wires and tubes came from every direction and were connected to various machines. They all attested that despite appearances, he was still alive, at least for now.

  “Now that Will is here you can let go, Lowell,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. I clutched Killian’s hand tighter. “He knows you love him. I know you love me. And we both love you. It’s okay; we’ll be okay. You don’t have to stay here for our sake any more.”

  She broke down and began to weep silently. I felt like I was watching a movie with the volume turned off.

  Her body was wracked with huge, shuddering sobs but not a sound was heard. It was the most disturbing sight I had ever seen. I quickly knelt down next to her and hugged her. Aunt Deb bent over us in an awkward embrace.

  Suddenly a nurse ran into the room, followed closely by a second. We were quickly and efficiently herded from the room.

  “What’s going on?” Mom demanded.

  “Ma’am, you and your family will need to wait out here. A silent alarm went off and we need you to wait here until the doctor can talk to you.”

  “What alarm? Please tell me what’s going on.”

  Just then a doctor in a white coat came rushing past us and into the room.

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  “Excuse me,” the nurse said, “I need to get back in there.”

  She left us alone in the hall. Aidan, Asher, Laura, and Gabe quickly joined us and I saw Asher and his mom having a whispered conversation. We stood awkwardly in the hall, waiting. I paced and Mom sat on a bench rocking back and forth. After several minutes, the doctor came back out. Mom quickly stood up and positioned herself in front of him.

  “Doctor?” she said.

  “Mrs. Keegan,” he began. He looked very tired, as if it had been a long night and it wasn’t about to get any better. I knew what was coming. “I’m very sorry. Your husband suffered another severe heart attack. The damage was so extensive that there was nothing we could do. He passed away. I’m so sorry.”

  He continued talking but I didn’t hear him anymore.

  It was as if the world was slowly spinning away. The last thing I remember hearing was a horrible inhuman keening coming from my mother, and then everything went black.

  When I came to, I was lying in the hallway with a nurse waving smelling salts under my nose.

  When she saw my eyes flutter open, she asked, “Are you okay?”

  I thought that was an incredibly stupid thing to ask someone whose father had just died, but I somehow refrained from saying so. I simply nodded and sat up.

  Aidan was at my side in a flash to help me up. Killian and Asher were now occupying the bench, and Mom was crying on Aunt Deb’s shoulder. Laura and Gabe had moved away, I guess to give us some space.

  There were a few formalities, papers to be signed, 353

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  arrangements to be made, but Aunt Deb took care of most of those and it didn’t take very long. We left the hospital and went back to Mom and Dad’s house, or I guess it was just Mom’s now. Laura and Gabe just went on home after expressing their condolences. Once we arrived at the house, there really wasn’t anything to do.

  Mom took some sleeping pills that the doctor had given Aunt Deb and she fell asleep within minutes. Finally, Aidan insisted we go home so I could get some rest too.

  Killian and Asher decided to go home with Aunt Deb and come back to pick their car up tomorrow.

  We arrived back at the apartment building just after 2 AM. Nikki’s door flew open as soon as we stepped off the elevator. As soon as she saw our faces, she threw her arms around me in a tight hug.

  “I’m sorry, sweetie,” she murmured in my ear, “as if you haven’t been through enough already, now this. I couldn’t sleep I was so worried. Every time the elevator came up, I was out the door. Caitlin came by; I told her what was going on and she said she’d be back tomorrow, or well—I guess later this morning. Listen to me babbling on, as if you care about all this right now.

  You need to rest. Don’t even think about coming in to work tomorrow. You take some time off. We’ll get by without you.”

  She gave me a quick peck on the forehead and then she was gone, her door shut. I stood for a minute, feeling rather like Dorothy must have felt after the tornado had dropped her off in Oz.

  “Caitlin,” Aidan said under his breath, a frown pulling down the corners of his mouth.

  “What about her?” I asked.

  “Never mind,” he said and went to our door. As he 354

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  slipped the key into the lock the door swung open at his touch, it wasn’t even shut all the way.

  “They must have forgotten to lock it,” he muttered as we stepped in.

  My mind was so numb that it took a minute for it to register that all the wedding decorations were gone and the furniture had been replaced. The tree had been left up but other than that, you would have never known a wedding had taken place in this very room only hours before. My mind kept going back to the name Aidan had uttered in the hall, Caitlin.

  Aidan came up behind me and began to massage my shoulders. Then he kissed the side of my neck.

  “Why don’t you go get in bed?” he said softly. “I’m going to get myself a drink and I’ll be right there.”

  “Why did you say Caitlin’s name just now, in the hall?” I asked.

  He sighed. “It’ll wait till morning.”

  “No it won’t. I want to know now. Is this something to do with that phone call tonight?”

  “Yeah, it is. Look, you know Killian and I had our doubts about Caitlin. Something just didn’t ring true.

  So we’ve done some checking around.”

 
“You what?” I asked as I turned around to face him.

  “I thought you suspected Laura?”

  “We did; we checked up on both of them. Laura was the easiest. I called her and confronted her. She admitted to it right away. She was really shaken up. She said she called Robbie that night because she was mad at Gabe for not telling her about him and she wanted to be the first to talk to him. He wouldn’t talk to her, since he’d just talked to you. He hung up saying someone was at the door and he had to go It was probably 355

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  the killer.”

  A shiver ran up my spine.

  “Caitlin was more of a challenge,” he went on. “We made some phone calls. Killian found out she deliberately told the reporter at your big show that night that she was your fiancée. So then we wondered what else she was lying about. I managed to find out what her home address was from a friend in admissions at school and I called her parents. It turns out they’re just fine, they’re still together, and they aren’t strict at all. Definitely not Mormon. They had no idea that she was pregnant. There’s more, but there’s no point going into it now.”

  “But why—”

  “Would she lie? I’ve been trying to figure out the same thing.”

  “Do you think she’s the killer?”

  “I don’t know, Will. It’s possible. She had time while you were in the bathroom to have killed him and then gone to the front yard. Or maybe she’s just nuts. But one thing’s for sure, there’s nothing we can do about it tonight. Let’s go to bed, okay?”

  I nodded and stumbled off down the hall, my mind reeling. I pushed open our bedroom door and stopped abruptly just outside. The hairs on the back of my neck suddenly stood on end and a deep sense of foreboding filled me. I’m not sure what it was, whether my sub-conscious noticed something and sent me an inner warning or whether it was something on a deeper level, but whatever it was, I knew with perfect certainty that something horrible waited in the darkness of that room.

  “Who’s there?” I called out.

  “What?” Aidan answered from the kitchen.

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  I took a step backwards, away from the room, as a voice snaked out of the shadows.

 

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