by S Doyle
“Look, before I head into lockdown, I’ve got to take care of something first. Let me go for one hour and then I’ll be back, and I’ll promise to sit tight.”
“If this is about Beth,” my mother said, “you just spent the day with her.”
“It’s not Beth. Please. It’s not a big deal. I’ll be careful. No risks, I swear.”
“You’ve got an hour,” Dad said. “Just remember to watch your six.”
I still had the keys in my pocket as I headed back out.
Reen Adler. Behind the list. I hated to think it, but it made some sense. When it came to money, Reen didn’t make any secret of wanting to have more of it. If Heath was right, then I didn’t like it all.
Beth would hate to know one of her best friends had targeted her sisters. Hell, had even targeted her.
If it was true, how the hell was I going to tell her?
Beth
I pulled into the parking lot and turned off the car. There had been no fight about me taking it this time, mostly because neither my mother nor Star were speaking to me. Which was fine by me because I wasn’t speaking to them.
It was just after five in the afternoon, and the sun was barely holding on. It was hard to believe Halloween was just around the corner. All the leaves on the trees were perfect shades of orange and yellow. I shivered a little thinking I hadn’t worn a warm enough coat.
That was always October in Haddonfield. It snuck up on you before you knew it was there.
Reen had sent the text to meet her in The Woods because she needed to tell me something in person and didn’t want to do it anywhere public.
She figured out who was behind the List and basically told me I wasn’t going to like it, which is why she needed to tell me in person.
“Reen?” I called out. “Are you here?”
She didn’t have a car obviously, but for her, the park was only a five-minute walk. I started toward the woods then stopped when I didn’t hear anything.
I did, however, feel a prickle of awareness on the back of my neck. This wasn’t right. Something wasn’t right.
“Hello, Beth.”
Startled, I turned around, my heart beating out of control until I realized it was Heath.
“Beth! No, don’t trust him!” I glanced over my shoulder and saw Reen coming out of the woods. She must have gotten here before me. She looked panicked, but that didn’t make any sense. Where was the threat?
Just then I saw Fitz’s car pull into the parking lot next to mine.
“Did you text Fitz, too?” I asked Reen.
She shook her head.
“I did,” Heath announced. “See, I’ve figured everything out.”
“Beth?” Fitz was getting out of his car. He didn’t look happy. “What are you doing here?”
“What did you figure out?” I asked Heath.
“Who’s behind the List. You’re not going to like it.”
“Don’t believe a word he says, Beth. You can’t trust him.”
Heath shook his head. “Poor sad little Irene. You just couldn’t help yourself could you. All that money just sitting there for the taking.”
“What are you saying? Fitz, what’s happening?”
Fitz stopped next to Heath, but his eyes were on me. His expression was grim. “Heath texted me. Said he figured out who was behind the list. I’m sorry, Beth, he said it was Reen.”
“No!” Reen, now standing next to me. “That’s a lie. It’s him.”
“Don’t try to lie your way out of this, Reen. I have proof.” Heath pulled out an envelope from his back pocket and handed it to Fitz.
“It’s a bank statement,” Fitz said, pulling out a sheet of paper.
“Yep” Heath said. “I found it in her garbage. Once I suspected she was behind the List, I knew I was going to need proof. Look at the ending balance. Where, oh, where would Reen get a chunk of money like that?”
I watched as Fitz looked at the page then at me. “I’m sorry, Beth.”
“No!” Reen screamed. “You don’t understand. That’s not what you think it is. I’m telling you, he’s behind the list!”
Reen was pointing at Heath and, suddenly, nothing made sense.
“But you have no proof, do you?” Heath asked her calmly. “You’re accusing me and I’m accusing you, but I have a bank account in your name with over twenty-thousand dollars in it. And if you told me you earned it by turning tricks, I would say there’s no way you’re that expensive.”
“You asshole!”
Reen started to charge at Heath, but Fitz stepped in between them.
“Stop it! Reen explain this,” he said, thrusting the paper in her face.
She ripped the paper out of his hands. “I don’t have to explain shit. All Beth has to know is that I’m not behind the List. And I sure as hell didn’t run Wick off the road with Fitz’s car.”
“She couldn’t have.”
The sound of the new voice startled us all. As a group, we turned to find Locke also walking out of the woods. Dressed in his usual black shirt and jeans. This time sporting a black peacoat to ward off the chill.
It was odd, but he looked surprisingly less mysterious without the constant plume of steam that usually surrounded him.
“She wasn’t anywhere near this place the night Fitz’s car was stolen.”
“And how do you know that?” Fitz asked.
“Because I was following her.”
If it was possible Reen tensed up even more. “Locke, you asshole...”
“Sorry, darling, but we both know you’re a part of this game.”
“So wait, Reen is behind the List?” I asked. I turned to my friend, who was nearly ashen. “Reen?”
“No,” Locke said. “Reen’s playing another game. Aren’t you?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she spat.
“Not yet, no. But I will,” Locke said ominously, his eyes never leaving Reen’s. “But to answer your questions, Beth and Fitz, you have to use some logic. If we assume that the person behind the list was attempting to threaten Wick into silence, while also attempting to frame Fitz, you have to ask yourself why. Why threaten Wick? Why set up Fitz? Looking at the easier of the two puzzles, you know Fitz’s car was taken Friday night, sometime around eight o’clock based on the time of Wick’s accident. Which meant the person had to have access to Fitz’s car. And you know this person also had to have access to video footage from a street camera. Video footage they would know how to alter.”
Heath pulled out a cigarillo from his back pocket and lit it with a match. “This is all bullshit. Fitz, who are you going to trust? Me, your best friend. Or this fucking guy who showed up yesterday?”
“Heath wouldn’t…he wouldn’t hit someone with a car,” I said. “You wouldn’t, right? I mean, Wick was seriously hurt.”
“Of course not!” Heath shouted. “That would make me some kind of sociopath. I showed you her bank statement with the money. What else matters?”
He took a hit of his cigarillo and a waft of smoke drifted towards me. It brought back a memory.
“I know that smell.”
I looked at Fitz and it was like he also had the same memory triggered. We were parked in his car Friday night. He smelled like fire and woods, which made sense, but there had been something else, too. Something darker.
“You took my keys,” Fitz said, turning to Heath. “You said you wanted to get a condom out of the glove compartment. I didn’t question it, but you had the keys first.”
“Yes, but I left them in the car,” he said as if reminding him. “Anyone there that night could have taken it.”
“But the car, it smelled. Hours later. Whatever that thing is you’re smoking,” I said.
Again, Heath shrugged. “Well, I had to go into the car to get the condom. Didn’t I?”
“There you have it,” Locke said with a small smile. “Condom packs typically come in threes. Is that true in the States as well? Easy enough to see if one was rem
oved. Or not.”
Fitz was frozen. I could see the doubt on his face and I knew even thinking that about his friend had to hurt.
“You wouldn’t do something like that,” Fitz said softly. “Set me up like that? I had to…I had to go to the police station. They might have arrested me. Someone who would do something like that…that person would have to hate me.”
Heath took another hit on his cigarillo. “Right. Someone who would do all this, he would have to hate you a fuck ton. He’d have to resent you, your fucking plush life, your privileged birthright. And maybe something else. Maybe he’d want revenge for something that was stolen from him.”
It was strange, but Heath turned and looked at me even as Fitz was shaking this head.
“Heath,” Fitz said. “No. Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me I’m fucking wrong!”
Except Fitz didn’t wait for answer. Instead, he started for his car, jogging first, then running in an all-out sprint.
It didn’t matter.
Heath had already dropped his cigarillo and was walking backward away from us.
“You can’t prove anything, Locke,” Heath told him. “Everything you said is nothing but speculation.”
“Maybe I can’t or maybe I can,” Locke said. “Tell me, how did you alter the camera footage? It was well done by the way. Nearly foolproof, except from someone like me.”
Heath smiled, turned and started running toward the woods. Knowing I wasn’t going to catch up to him, I followed Fitz to his car only to find him lifting a three pack of condoms out of the glove compartment. Fully intact.
“Damn it!” he shouted, slamming the top of the car with this fist. “What the fuck? He couldn’t have done this! He was my friend! He was my best fucking friend!”
I rested my hand against his back, feeling his pain.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “You must feel so betrayed.”
“Why did he do it?” Fitz lifted his head as if searching for him, but Heath was already gone. “Revenge for what? I’ve never stolen anything from him.”
When I looked around, Reen and Locke were both heading into the woods and out of sight.
“What should we do? Call the police?” I asked. “They can’t arrest you now.”
Fitz shook his head. “They already found the problem with the video. Locke must have made an anonymous tip. I’m officially no longer a person of interest.”
“Yes, but Heath. He took your car. He hurt Wick!”
“You heard him. There’s nothing we can prove. You think a three-pack of condoms is going to convince the cops to arrest him. Hell, I don’t even know if I want him arrested. He’s my best friend. His life has been so messed up. A junkie mom and living in a fucking home for years. Of course he’s twisted as fuck. I just didn’t know how much.”
“Yeah, well, so did Janie and Reen and…” I stopped myself.
Oh God. Reen. What had she done to have that kind of money?
“Yeah, Reen might not be responsible for the List or Wick, but something’s going on with her. That bank statement was real.”
“I’ll get it out of her,” I said. “She’ll tell me. She has, too. She said she had something important to tell me. That’s why I came.”
“Will she? Like Chas told me about his car. Fuck, Beth, these people are supposed to be our friends.”
I hugged him, because it was the only thing I could do and when he hugged me back, I thought at least we had each other.
Fitz followed me home. Whether he was afraid Heath would pull something or not, I didn’t know. I was just comforted to know he was there. Watching out for me. I had no clue where we went from here. Tomorrow would come and we would both have to see Reen and Heath at school.
What if she didn’t tell me what she was up to? What if she was in real trouble?
And Heath. How could I sit in a class with someone who I knew could do something as horrible as running someone off the road? Forget setting up his friend to take the blame.
I needed to talk to Fitz again about the police. Maybe if they looked into Heath further, they would find other proof of his guilt. It just didn’t seem right that he should get away with everything.
Not to mention all the betting money. Was that the money in Reen’s account? If it was, then we were going to have a hard time getting her to turn it in. Heath wasn’t wrong about that. Reen liked money a bit too much.
I pulled into my driveway and stopped when I saw shiny red Maserati sitting in the driveway.
That same prickly sensation was firing on the back of my neck and every instinct I had told me the car was bad news.
I could hear Fitz getting out of his car behind me. I didn’t move until he was standing next to me.
“Who is that?” he said, pointing to the car.
I didn’t want to guess. I didn’t want to know. I had this hunch and everything in my brain was screaming at me to reject it.
NOOOOO! It can’t be.
Except then the front door of my house opened, and a man stepped out. Tall, distinguished looking, gray hair at his temples, wearing what, even from this distance, I could tell was an expensive suit.
Impossible. My eyes wanted to reject the truth, but I couldn’t.
“Beth, honey!” he said with a booming voice. “Come welcome me home. I see you have a new friend. Invite him inside. The more the merrier. We’re celebrating.”
“Dad?” I whispered.
24
Later That Night
Beth
I quietly closed the door of the study behind me.
“It’s a little late, dear. I’ve had a long day, as you can imagine.”
My father was sitting behind his desk, a half inch of his favorite bourbon in the crystal goblet he was holding. He looked as he always looked in this room. In command. The head of this family. Only a few months ago we’d rifled through that very desk looking for anything that might tell us the state of his finances or what criminal activity he might have been involved in.
We’d found nothing.
I hadn’t invited Fitz inside. I knew he needed to go home and tell his parents what had happened with Heath.
God, had that just happened hours ago?
Still reeling from it, I had to sit quietly and watch as my sisters, one by one, hugged our father and squealed as he’d unveiled a whole slew of gifts he’d brought with him on his return.
A diamond tennis bracelet for my mother, which I thought would fetch a nice price in Philly when we needed it. Clothes and shoes for the girls. A first edition of a classic book I loved. A forty-inch flat screen TV for Star to take with her when she went off to college.
It had all been perfectly surreal, and I didn’t feel like I could say anything, demand any answers, not while everyone else seemed to be so happy about his return.
Now they had all gone to bed. My father had retired to his study, a room adjacent to the formal living room, and I wanted, I needed answers.
“No,” I said quietly.
“No what, Elizabeth?”
“No, you’re not going to brush me off like a good little girl. You’re going to answer my questions.”
His eyebrows arched in a familiar way. “Am I?”
“Where have you been?”
He sighed and took a sip of his drink. “Away.”
“Not good enough.”
“I’m afraid that’s all you’re going to get. I needed to see to some matters. They’ve been seen to and now I’m back.”
“For how long?” I pushed.
He shrugged. “Forever I suppose. As long as your mother will have me.”
She’d been so happy, I thought resentfully. So pleased to put the bracelet on and kiss him as if it were a Christmas present or a birthday present instead of what it actually was.
A bribe.
He wanted to bribe all of us into forgetting what happened. Look the other way and pretend this happy family reunion was for real.
Although I suppose for some, it was. Was it wrong
to be angry with Kit and Lyd for jumping up and down like little girls? Was it even worse to feel betrayed by Star as she kissed him on the cheek after opening her gift?
Only Mary had been her normal quiet self. Reserved and standoffish from him. It reminded me she might have been the most hurt by his absence so it made sense she would be cautious before embracing his return.
“Your business…”
“Dissolved. All perfectly legally under the LLC agreement.”
“There were investigators…”
“Yes, just making sure everything was done correctly. I”ve got no legal issues if that’s your concern.”
It was only one of my concerns.
“The money you took.”
He frowned then took another sip of his drink. “Yes, that must have been a bit of a shock, but I needed it to handle the business side of things. I needed the cash for the liquidation of the investments. You understand.”
“I understand nothing. You left, you took everything with you, we had to sell the car, Mom’s jewelry. I got a job…”
“A job? Yes, well you’ll quit that immediately. There’s no need for you to work anymore.”
“Why not?” I snapped. “You have no business! No income, no savings. I don’t know where you got the money for all the gifts, but if you’ve just put us into greater debt, then that gets us nothing!”
He stood then, slamming his glass down on the desk.
“Who do you think you are?” he sneered. “I’m your father. This is my home, my family, and I will not be questioned in my own damn study by my daughter who should be grateful for the roof over her head. One, I provided!”
Unafraid, I marched toward his desk and planted my hands on it so I could meet his imperious glare.
“This is not your family,” I said. “This is my family. I held us together while you were gone. I kept food on the table. If you think for a second I trust your return is genuine, then you’ve underestimated your daughter. You’re here for a reason and I’m going to find out exactly what that is. If I find that you’re involved in any kind of criminal activity, know that I will turn you in myself!”
