by K A Goodsell
“Why does it have to do with town history?” He reached for the baggie and picked it up. “Looks old.”
“Someone wrote inside the book that they were avenging the death of Daniel Lockwood.”
Nat dropped the book back onto my desk. “Okay, so someone wrote in that book that they killed Teddy to avenge the death of their deceased relative? That’s some CSI type of shit.”
“The mayor is really upset about it. Apparently, there may be an issue for the town funding for historical works. I’m not entirely sure, to be honest. But they want me to look into it. No one in town is a blood relative of Daniel Lockwood, at least not as far as we know right now.” I said. “He just vanished with no trace one day. Just up and left. No one really knows what happened to him, which is my job, or I may not get my recommendation letter, unfortunately.”
I gently moved the book back closer on the desk. “Also, be nice to my stuff please.”
“I saw the mayor when he drove back to the funeral home,” Nat said. “He was going there for our equipment. He wanted a deputy to be stationed outside his house. He’s nervous. He also said that he was going to speak with Gage about helping in the case.”
“Gage? Why would he be involved?” I looked up at Nat. Gage was Raimy’s twin brother. We’d only talked one-on-one a few times in all the years I’d known Raimy, but he was always cocky and never wanted to talk when I tried to initiate. He was nice enough, I guessed, other than those qualities.
“He knows a lot about drones, I guess. He works with Dad on some cases? You didn’t know this?”
I hadn’t. Honestly, I’d never really heard much about him at all. We were in different social circles, had separate lives, and generally stayed clear of one another.
“Dad has said nothing about him.” I folded my arms across my chest. Does my father think I can’t handle it? Or no, maybe it’s the mayor, and that’s why I haven’t received my recommendation letter—does he need me to prove to him I can do a great job in forensics? He knows I can. What. The. Fu—
Suddenly a door slammed downstairs, and I heard footsteps pounding up the stairs. Raimy flung open my door.
“Get out,” Raimy ordered Nat. She was breathing heavily.
“But—”
“Come on,” she repeated more gently and kissed him on the lips quickly. “Get out.”
With Nat gone, Raimy looked me dead in the eyes.
“Spill.”
I stared back at her, dead serious. “Teddy Barton is dead.”
The heat of the bonfire felt warm against my face, and a rosy tint spread across my cheeks. The only reason I knew I was gaining nature-blush was because my father had once told me I could be related to Santa Claus.
It wasn’t the best compliment I’d ever received, but it wasn’t the worst, either. Back in the 1800s, having rosy cheeks was something that was admired and showed good health. Women would pinch their cheeks mercilessly to create that flushed look. I’d pass on that beauty technique. Just a dad joke would do.
“Everyone act cool. Raimy is on her way over.” Nat walked passed my father and me as we admired the fire. He walked through the picketed fence gate and stood out in the middle of the driveway. Nervous, he adjusted his sweatshirt hood and fiddled with his phone before realizing we were watching him. “What?” Raimy had left after our power meeting about Teddy to go home, change and come back for the bonfire.
My father walked back into the house through the sunroom. “I swear, that boy is twenty years old, but he acts like he doesn’t know that we know she’s over the house at all hours. We were your age once.” He winked at me before closing the sliding glass door behind him.
Oh, wow. I guess they knew about his late-night escapades.
“Relax,” I called out to Nat, who was rubbing his palm on the stubble he was trying to grow into his chin. “You’ve been dating her for how long?”
I leaned against the fence to wait for his response to my razz.
He shook a finger at me. “You should always be excited and nervous to see your partner. That means it’s love.”
“You love her, don’t you?” I asked him, quieter and without the snark. It was the first time I’d realized it was possible they were more than just two people “hanging out.” Maybe I shouldn’t be such a jerk.
He put his hands into his pockets, still looking down the driveway toward the road. Most likely Raimy and her brothers would walk the quarter-mile to our house. “I do, Pais. I can honestly say I do, so just stop being such a dick all the time, okay? I get it, she’s your best friend, but it doesn’t mean that we both can’t be happy.”
His voice was relaxed. He was telling the truth.
It felt amazing to hear him say that, with such contentedness and courage. It was easy for him to admit it without hesitation. Still, I couldn’t help the twinge he was taking her away from me. She called him more than me now; she came over to see him and not me and went to the diner with him and not me.
I wondered if that’s how my parents felt. They’d had Nat after a one-night fling after a friend’s engagement party. A month later, they were engaged themselves after learning that Nat was coming into their lives.
It was hard for them to say that he was technically a mistake, but both were open about the situation. Nat and I were lucky that our parents were honest with what qualified as “tough conversations.”
Drinking had always been easy to talk about, too, as we’d had wine and beer at meals since we were thirteen, as long as we were home and enjoying it with a meal rather than just for the sake of drinking. I hadn’t ever been drunk and never touched hard liquor, which was radical compared to a lot of the students in my school who had regular weekend benders.
Sex had always been an open topic, too, and they’d welcomed questions we had over the years. We got the talk when we were each fifteen, and I’d learned more when I first got my period when I was twelve. We called the monthly routine Harvey because it comes and goes, just like the imaginary rabbit in the movie Harvey—a classic. James Stewart was one of my favorites.
Both of my parents were “flower children” during the seventies, when sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll were always at the forefront. That was the reason Nat was here today. They conceived me after they were married and Nat was about a year old. They wanted us to be safe and smart about our decisions but also understand that human beings had, well, urges.
Honestly, I wondered if I should have slept with Elgort the other night at the dock. It would have gotten it over with, and it would have been with someone I trusted, and he was probably a good person to have a “first” with. Yet something in the back of my head told me there, on the dock, wasn’t the place.
My mind was probably right.
Over the next half an hour, all of Raimy’s brothers showed up, including Tag, who had apologized to me nearly a dozen times since I’d seen him on worse terms earlier in the day.
All of her siblings still lived in the house down the street from us even though three of them had already graduated high school. Keene, the family’s wildflower, worked at Ted’s Movies & Games. He’d graduated four years ago and didn’t go to college, though I wasn’t sure why. You could find him manning the counter, talking to people in the shop about the latest DVDs (as our town still likes to go to a store and rent movies), but he also holds the town’s largest movie screening nights, board game nights, and Dungeons and Dragons tournaments.
He and Tag have their own cottages near the main house. I’d rarely glimpsed these, as they were tucked amid their Christmas tree farm. The Morrows were relevant to the community with their tree sales. It was the place to be during the holiday season, with the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts making hot chocolate for people while they chose their trees. Luckily for our family, we had to do was drag the tree across the road—like civilized individuals.
Then there was Gage, Raimy’s twin brother, with whom I’d never shared more than a few words. He worked at Barton Drive-In & Dine-In near Pine Grov
e’s private airport. He picked the movies that played every weekend, and most of were vintage. I used to think the mayor chose them, but Gage had a thing for antique films, especially ones in black-and-white. He was also a photography guru, according to our high school’s gazette. Raimy always gushed over how he “somehow” got a shot of “someone” where they weren’t “supposed” to be or doing “something” they weren’t “supposed” to do. It was surprising I still hadn’t learned more about the mysterious Gage Morrow.
Raimy’s youngest brothers were Rab and Radar, the only ones I saw regularly. Rab, just a year younger than us, hung out in our friend group and worked at the Railroad Diner on the weekends, saving his tips hoping to have enough money not to have to ask for any help from his parents for college, even if it meant living on Ramen. He’d always been the type reject handouts and wanted to make his own way since his parents were known for being wealthy. It was the one element he hated about his family.
Radar, youngest at ten, was the quietest. I often found him in my closet reading when he’s hiding from my younger sister, Mitzy, his best friend. He was the only person I ever let borrow anything from my vast collection of books. He always returned them, often with Post-It notes detailing his thoughts—even though most of his commentary was “ew” or “gross” when people kissed or flirted. If he didn’t take them home, he read them in my closet, which I’d turned into a reading nook, beanbag chairs and all. I liked Radar. He was respectful and went along his way, no questions asked. I thought that was where his name came from—everything with him goes under the “radar”.
I sat at the bonfire, wishing that the seat next to me was filled by Elgort and not by Raimy, who was filling everyone in on everything going on. Well, as much as she knew, anyway. She was rather upset that I wouldn’t tell her everything about what happened, even though I wasn’t supposed to tell her anything at all. Raimy was vocal about this, but everyone else just ignored her. Raimy knew about the body, that someone had the notebook, but she didn’t know how the person died or anything else. No one wanted it ending up in one of her articles, considering they didn’t have all the facts, either.
Hearing her complaints and feeling annoyed, I chimed in. “Remember that someone died last night, please. This isn’t just something for you to write about. This is someone’s life, and we are trying to figure out what happened to him,” I scolded.
Nat smirked. “Besides, you’ll know more information when it’s time for the obit.”
“You’re funny. But that’s nothing. That’s fluff,” Raimy said. I always got annoyed at how un-self-aware Raimy could be. For such a good, intelligent person, she could be so rude. “That’s not all the juicy details. Come on! Is no one else pumped with adrenaline about this? Someone was murdered. In our town! Do you know how small our town is? This never happens. I mean, they even cancelled school because they don’t know if a killer is on the loose! This is huge news.” She was shaking with the thrill of it, and all I could do was roll my eyes.
“No one knows who did it,” I said. “They could still be out there. Let’s just relax. I’ve had enough of this.” The whole group fell silent.
After a few moments, a creak had me whipping around.
He was wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt, a different one than he had been wearing the previous night, and he looked like he had been through hell and back. He was paler than normal, his hair disheveled and greasy. A pit formed in my stomach. I wanted nothing more than to talk to him.
Nat stood up, approaching Elgort. I didn’t know what to do. I met his eyes, holding them. He smiled at me. Nat saw it and took his arm, dragging him down the driveway to talk.
While the others talked to one another, I strained to hear what Nat was saying to Elgort. I could barely make anything out, and I knew that Nat was trying his best to keep me out of it completely. He would know that I would try to listen in. “You’re not supposed to be here. You’re not supposed to be near Paislee, bro. You’re under investigation,” I heard Nat say. This was true. But it wasn’t exactly fair. I felt like that made it sound like he had done something, and there was no way that was the case. I was only told not to see or talk to him because he had to be questioned and cleared. Yet Net was talking like they had to prove he was innocent, instead of just checking to make sure he was. He was innocent. He had to be.
Wanting to head off any conflict, I got up and approached the guys. “Elgort–” I started before being cut off.
“You need to leave,” came a voice from behind me. My father had come out to the porch, staring at Elgort. “It’s just temporary, and you’re welcomed back here at any point, but you really need to leave and stay away from Paislee. Again, just for now.” I met my father’s gaze, shrinking back a little. I knew that he told me to stay away from him, and that everyone at the station had told me to. But having my father catch me trying to talk to him was something I hadn’t considered. It didn’t feel good.
“I’m—I’m sorry,” Elgort said. “I swear it wasn’t me, but I understand.” He hung his head, not meeting anyone’s eyes.
I felt guilty. If I hadn’t left him alone that night, he wouldn’t be going through this mess. If we had gone home together, this wouldn’t be an issue at all. None of this would be. But I had left him there.
“It’s neutral territory, but for tonight you need to go home,” my father added.
Elgort, defeated, turned to leave.
I didn’t know what to do. I understood the situation, but I needed to talk to him.
When he was gone, my father turned.
“Your mom and I are going to the Drive-In shortly, just have to wrap up a report in my office. Nat is in charge, as usual. Your sister stays in bed. She’s not allowed to stay up late. You know how horrible she is to be around when she’s tired in the morning.”
Nat and I turned back to the group at sat at the fire again. They were discussing how insane it was that someone died in the town. Still. They were still talking about it. They said that people speculated that it was murder, even if they didn’t have proof. Everyone kept looking at Nat, Chance and me, trying to see if we would crack and tell them anything at all.
“Paislee will look for Lockwood,” Raimy told everyone. Gage whipped his head around but said nothing. He was always quiet. “There was something suspicious that they really had to check up on in a book, so Paislee will do it. I think she will solve this whole case, honestly.”
“Yeah, and Gage is helping, too,” Nat said. I shot him a look and caught out of the corner of my eye that Gage did, as well, before taking a swig of his beer. It seemed Gage had no intention of telling me what that was happening yet.
I was silent as they all chattered about what they’d been doing the night before, while the crime was probably happening. I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. I wanted to go back to silly gossip.
“I’m going to go to the kitchen,” I said, hoping the air would be thinner in the house away from the fire. Or maybe it was just my nerves making it hard to breathe.
Gage got up, too, following me. “I need to use the bathroom. Can you show me where it is?”
“Sure, and I’m going to grab something to drink. Does anybody want anything?”
“I’ll help you,” Raimy told me as she rose from Nat’s lap.
I wave her away. “It’s all good. I’ll just grab the cooler. I’m sure Gage will help if I ask nicely.” I awkwardly smile back at him and he returns the expression.
“Grab me some of your mom’s iced tea if she has any, please,” Rab said. He was obsessed with my mother’s sun tea. She brewed it every year during the summer, making tons of batches out on our patio.
As I walked into the kitchen with Gage, I noticed my mother already had a batch out of the fridge and on the island with a post-it notes stuck onto the glass canister, “For Rab.” She even drew a heart on it.
He was one of the few other people who liked sun tea other than her, so she always kept a fresh batch for whenever he wa
s due to come over with Raimy.
“Bathroom’s down the hallway on the right.” I pointed past the dining room table.
Gage nodded and made his way in that direction. A moment later, the door shut.
I dug through the beverages in the fridge and decided on a cherry cola.
“Can we talk for a minute?”
I felt a hand on my arm and whirled around to see Gage standing behind me. That was quick.
Crap.
It was the first thing he’d said in probably years. It was such an odd sensation when someone you didn’t really know touched you. It almost made me want to move. Even if he was Raimy’s brother, and we’d passed by each other in their house or sat in the same classes at school, I’d never had a serious conversation with him before.
I smiled weakly at him. “Yeah, that’s fine.”
Before closing the door between the sunroom and the kitchen, I saw Raimy looking in my direction with her eyebrow raised appraisingly at me, like, What’s this? You’re closing the door?
Nat’s eyes rested on mine, lingering for a second longer as he gave a rueful shrug toward Tag and continue to talk with him.
“I shouldn’t be too long,” I told Raimy as I closed the door.
As we sat down at the dining room table, my mother cleared out rather quickly as she made her way from the basement where my parents’ offices were. My father noticed Gage and immediately took the liberty to enter and strike up a conversation.
“I know you probably don’t want my help—” he started.
“Gage,” My father called out, catching his attention as he pulled a seat away from the table. “It’s good to see you.”
As they approach each other for a handshake, I noticed how Gage was dressed. He wore dark green khakis, his black work T-shirt with the Barton Drive & Dine-In logo, and his Sleepy Hollow Cemetery hat on backwards. Only people who gave the tours during the Halloween season got one of those. I had one hanging in my closet.
