Beautiful Days (Jason Of The Valley Book 5)

by Jason K. Melby

  "Fine. I gave you my two cents. Just give it some thought. It may not be too late."

  "Noted. Now eat."

  Jason and Bill ate in silence and when they were done, Jason cleared the table as Bill lingered over his paper. There was a knock at the front door and Jason ran to answer it. He opened the door and found Matt before him.

  "Hey."

  "Matt. What's going on?"

  "We need to talk." Matt said as he pushed past Jason and into the living room.

  "Okay. Sounds serious."

  "I've been conducting a little investigation on behalf of David."

  "You have?"

  "Yeah. After getting his test results, he wanted to figure out who drugged him. He thought maybe that might help you to forgive him."

  "And what did you find?"

  "I just got back from talking with Cynthia and it seems that the reason she's lost so much weight is because she's been taking experimental diet pills from a friend of hers."

  "All right. What does that have to do with anything?"

  "It seems the pills can cause personality shifts. They can make people act differently than they normally would."

  "Are you saying Cynthia drugged him?"

  "No. This is just the how. As for who, I'm not one hundred percent sure. I have a name, but I don't really understand the why."

  "What's the name?" Matt was about to speak, but there was another knock at the door. Jason went to answer it and it was Mike.

  "Mike? What are you doing here?"

  "We need to talk." Mike said as he blustered in. He stopped when he saw Matt already there.

  "Mike?" Matt asked.

  "Hey, Matt. What are you doing here?"

  "I came to tell Jason what I found out about who drugged David."

  "What a coincidence. I am too."

  "Hold on," Jason said as he joined the room. "Is everyone here? I mean, should we wait for Ken or Haley?"

  "I need to tell you something I found out last night."

  "What?"

  "Jeff drugged David."

  "What?"

  "That's what I thought," Matt added. "But why?"

  "It was meant for me. Last night Jeff and I met for a little adventure. The details of which I don't really want to go into now, but the upside was that when I was leaving after everything went to shit, he confessed it to me. He just said it like it was nothing."

  "So, Jeff drugged David with Cynthia's diet drug and that's why he was in the bathroom doing, what he was doing."

  "Right." Matt said. Jason walked over to the sofa and sat down as he let the information absorb into his mind.

  "Have you told David?"

  "No, but now that you mention it, I guess I should have told him first. He is the one paying. I just felt like you needed to hear this as soon as possible. How do you feel?"

  "I honestly don't know," Matt and Mike looked to each other and it felt like a good time to take their leave. They headed toward the door, not knowing what to say, but Jason broke the tension. "Do me a favor, Matt?"

  "Sure. What?"

  "Let me tell David. Okay? I think I owe him that." Jason said as he glanced over to Bill in the kitchen who gave an approving nod.

  Chapter 43

  Anabeth Ekhart's Banana Loaf Of Death

  Cynthia was feeling bad and good about the same thing. Just one day without the pills and she was feeling herself again, but at the same time she was dreading what was to happen to her body without their help. Victoria's warning about the after effects loomed over her head.

  She vowed, though, to do whatever she could to stave off those effects as best she could and that included continuing her daily runs. She made it to the park and started along the path. She ran along the pathway along the pond and as she passed by some of the other women, she got the impression that many of them were shooting her dirty looks, but she had never met them before and convinced herself that it was all in her head. As she passed by the restrooms she saw someone sitting at the park bench under the tree where she used to meet Victoria for her fix. She soon saw that it was Victoria. Cynthia wasn't sure what to do. She felt that if she ran by without saying hi it would seem odd, but after everything went down with the pills and Matt, she wasn't sure if Victoria wasn't mad at her.

  "Cynthia!" Victoria called out. Cynthia's cheek turned red as she slowed to a pace and headed toward Victoria.

  "Hi, Victoria. What are you doing out here?"

  "I was actually hoping to run into you, if you can believe it. How have you been?"

  "Oh. I'm okay. There was a little trouble with those pills but Douglas and I talked it through and we're doing better now. How are you?"

  "I suppose you think there are hard feelings between us, don't you?"

  "Well, yes. My friend Matt told me what happened."

  "Yes. You're handsome detective friend. He did stir up quite a bit of trouble for us, didn't he?"

  "I had to tell him the truth."

  "I'm sure you thought you did." Victoria's tone was sweet and pleasant, which seemed to make Cynthia feel even more troubled. Her smile didn't crack even for a second and there wasn't a single sign of anger in her body language.

  "I did. My friend was drugged with those pills."

  "It's all right, Cynthia. Trust me. I hold no ill will toward you. Even though my husband cut me off from any samples of the pills and has moved all of his experiments to his secured lab at work; out of my reach."

  "You don't sound mad."

  "I'm not; however, I don't think I'm the one you should be worried about. I have something for you." Victoria reached for her purse and produced a small wrapped package. She held it out to Cynthia.

  "What is it?"

  "A gift, silly. Open it." Cynthia took the package and unwrapped it to find it was some kind of bread pastry.

  "What is this?"

  "Anabeth Eckhart's famous banana loaf. Take a bite."

  "It looks good, but I'm not really hungry."

  "Take a bite, Cynthia." Victoria's eyes became icy as she urged Cynthia on.

  "Okay." Cynthia bit down and was relieved to discover there didn't seem to be any unique ingredient in the bread.

  "Taste all right?"

  "Yes. Very good."

  "Nothing missing?"

  "Missing?" Cynthia looked down at the loaf and studied it. She saw nuts and dates and little strings of shredded carrot.

  "No raisins!" Victoria cackled. "You hold Anabeth Eckhart's banana loaf of death!" Cynthia leapt up and threw the bread to the ground. "We only call it that for dramatic effect. Anabeth only leaves out the raisins if she's mad at you. Many who have crossed her have woken up to goody baskets containing that little omen."

  "Are you going to kill me?" Victoria's face lit up and a sharp giggle spilled from her lips.

  "No. Of course not. I can only speak for myself, however. There are a few girls in the neighborhood I'd keep my eye on if I were you."

  "What are you talking about?"

  "You see, while you cut me and yourself off from those pills, you also cut all of my other clients off as well. And you thought you needed help?"

  "So I'm public enemy number one because I screwed up their diet pill connection?"

  "Yes! You know the struggle. Those pills were like magic."

  "But I'm sure if we just work together and support each other, we can all stay healthy."

  "Well, I guess we're going to find out, won't we?" Victoria stood up from the bench and started toward the nearby parking lot.

  Cynthia resumed her run and she began to see some of her friends along the path, but when she waved at them they either ignored her or gave her a nasty look. When Cynthia finished her first lap, she decided she had had enough and headed back home.

  When she walked in the door she saw that she was due to pick Ronny up from nursery school in an hour. She took off her fanny pack and pulled out what was left of the banana loaf. Even without the raisins it was still very good, so she sat down on the couc
h and ate up the rest of it. An unexpected knock at the door filled Cynthia with fear. She walked over and pulled the door open and saw a familiar looking woman standing before her.

  "Hello?" Cynthia asked.

  "Hi. You don't know me, but I live a couple blocks away. I've seen you at the store a few times."

  "Oh. Right." Cynthia grew calm. The woman seemed pleasant. She had a friendly face. She was short and rather stout. She reminded Cynthia of some kooky neighbor she had seen on a sitcom years earlier.

  "My name is Pam Blake. I wanted to come by and thank you."

  "Thank me?"

  "Yes. I knew about the diet pill ring going on but I never could do anything to stop it."

  "You wanted to stop it?"

  "Call me a spoil sport if you must, but me and several other wives in the area either couldn't afford Victoria's pills or she just didn't want to sell to us. Personally I detest taking drugs like that. I believe in natural methods."

  "Me too! I used to be all about organic therapy."

  "If it's natural, it's best, right?"

  "Right!"

  "We all just felt those pills gave Victoria and her friends an unfair advantage and our husbands would often chastise us for not staying as fit as them."

  "That's just crazy."

  "Well, I can't wait to see Cliff's face when they all start looking like me. Not that he's such a prize. He was all city in high school. That was a long time ago." Cynthia felt her heart ease a bit and was astounded she hadn't met Pam before then.

  "I have to leave in a bit to pick my son up at day care, but would you like to meet for coffee later? I can always use a little adult conversation."

  "Sure. I'd love to. I actually have to pick up my crew from there too. I have two girls."

  "Where do they go?"

  "Rainbow Pastures, off of Willow Oak." Pam said. Cynthia's jaw almost fell at the coincidence.

  "My Ronny goes there!"

  "Car pool? Save some of that environment?"

  "Sounds good. You can come in for a quick coffee while I change."

  "Deal," Pam said as she smiled. She walked in and beamed as she looked around the living room. "You have a beautiful home, Cynthia."

  "Are you kidding? I haven't dusted in weeks and the carpet's a mess."

  "At least you can see it. People just assume girls are tidier than boys, but I can tell you that's horse shit."

  "I guess I'm lucky then. Let me get that coffee."

  "No, you go change. I can find the coffee on my own, I'm sure."

  "All right." Cynthia went on to her bedroom and pulled out some jeans and a shirt from the closet.

  "Hey, Cynthia?" Pam asked from the kitchen. "I don't mean to hijack your day, but I just remembered I was planning on checking out that new organic market that opened on Rolling Oak Drive. Unless you'd be interested in checking it out." Cynthia emerged from the bedroom dressed and fresh and she rushed out to the kitchen and saw Pam sipping her coffee.

  "Pam. I think we are going to get along just fine."

  Chapter 44

  Forgiveness

  Jason made it to Venice Beach that afternoon. That was when David normally would hold his public sermons and it appeared that day was no different. He could see the crowd gathered by a grouping of palm trees along the walking path. It was an amalgamation of stoners, surfers and artists and as Jason got closer, he could hear David's voice rising up over them all.

  Jason kept to the back of the crowd as David spoke. From what he could tell, the subject of the sermon was forgiveness, and that felt more than a little appropriate. The more David spoke, the more anxious Jason became. He was beginning to realize how much he had missed David and being so close to him was making it worse.

  At long last, it sounded as though David was wrapping things up and soon the crowd was breaking apart and Jason finally could see David. He was surrounded by some people he had never seen before and a twinge of jealousy nagged at him, but despite that, he took a deep breath and moved forward. As he approached, David looked up and there was a glimmer of recognition, but his face was a bit difficult to read. Jason couldn't tell if he was happy to see him or not.

  "David?" Jason asked. David turned to his friends and waved them off.

  "Hi." His voice was hollow and flat. Jason's stomach was beginning to hurt. He felt that he was confirming that he had indeed made a big mistake.

  "I just wanted to come down and tell you that Matt has finished his investigation."

  "He couldn't tell me himself?"

  "I actually asked him to let me tell you. He came by this morning and I got whole story." Jason had hoped that would have encouraged some kind of response, but David remained cool.

  "And what did he find?"

  "Could we talk somewhere a little more private?"

  "Sure. Come with me." David then took Jason down the way to a small pizza stand that was all but deserted. They sat down at a small bench. Jason was still trying to find some glimmer of hope in David's face or body language, but there was none.

  "I guess I'll get right to it. Jeff, Mike's boyfriend or whatever, did it. He thought he was spiking Mike's drink."

  "What did he put in it?"

  "Some experimental diet drug that he stole from her purse that night. I guess it has behavior modifying side effects."

  "I guess that would explain it; wouldn't it?"

  "Yes. It would."

  "Thanks for coming to tell me."

  "Of course."

  "I guess I'll see you later."

  "At home?"

  "Or here. You know when I'm speaking." He said. Jason's heart sank. David stood up and started away, but something in Jason's head popped and he shot up.

  "Wait!" He barked. David stopped and turned to face him.

  "Yes?"

  "I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry. I was an idiot. I should have known you would never have cheated, and if you did, it would have only been because you weren't in your right mind. I overreacted and I'm sorry!" Jason begged. David just stood before him, staring at him as if expecting something more. "Trust is a hard thing for me. I've had some bad experiences and I guess when I get hurt, I go into some extreme defense mode. Maybe part of me just assumed you would just be ready to come back when I was ready to forgive, but it seems I'm the one who needs forgiveness. I want us to be in this for life. I want to see how ugly you can be. I want you to see my shit!"

  "All right. This is starting to turn into a real weird apology."

  "I just want us to be in love with each other when we're at our best and our worst. This is me at my worst. My stupid, insecure worst. I don't know how to do this. I couldn't get fireworks or a live band or anything. I'm just here, laid bare."

  "You don't look bare to me."

  "Huh?"

  "You said you were laying yourself bare. I don't see that."

  "I don't understand. I just poured my soul out."

  "Yet your clothes are on." Jason let out a nervous laugh.

  "You want me to get naked?"

  "They were your words, not mine."

  "Is that what it'll take? Will you forgive me if I strip?"

  "I guess we'll have to see, won't we?"

  "Okay. Let's go back to your place and I'll give you a lap dance you won't soon forget."

  "Can't. I'm really busy for the rest of the day. It's gonna have to be now. Here."

  "What? Here? On the beach?"

  "There are a lot of people without their clothes on out here."

  "They have swimsuits!"

  "You're right. I guess this the end. Good bye." David said and then turned away. A silent scream tore through Jason's mind and without a thought; he grabbed his shirt, pulled it off and threw it at David.

  "There! There goes the shirt! Like I said, I'm sorry and if this is what it will take to convince you, then here!" He barked as he kicked off his shoes and yanked off his pants. David finally cracked a smile as he picked up Jason's clothes. "I made you jump through hoops. There's no reason y
ou shouldn't get the same chance." Jason then pulled off his socks and started to lower his boxers.

  "Whoa! Hold on! That's enough!" David said with a laugh.

  "Oh, no. You wanted bare. You get bare!" Jason said as he pulled off his boxers and stood naked before David, and half the beach. David almost doubled over laughing as Jason stood proudly naked in the afternoon sun.

  "I forgive you!" He said as last and ran over and embraced Jason.

  "Thank you! I missed you. I really did."

  "I missed you too."

  "This mean you're coming home with me now?"

  "Well, yeah. What did you think I was going to be busy doing today?" Jason just smiled and squeezed David again, but then he saw a couple of police officers approaching and as happy as Jason was, panic set in.

  "The clothes! Get the clothes!" Jason cried. David turned to see the approaching law men and they both ran off as Jason tried to get his clothes back on as fast as possible.

  It was short notice for all, but Jason felt the need to celebrate his reunion with David. He called everyone and they were all more than happy to come over for dinner. Neither Jason nor David had any time to cook after getting him settled back in, so they opted for a pizza buffet for dinner.

  "Great," Cynthia said as she walked in with Douglas and Ronny. "Just what I need."

  "Relax. We got salad too." Jason said.

  "Yes, but we both know I'm going to eat the pizza."

  "You don't have to."

  "Yes. Yes, I do."

  "Dummy."

  "What?"

  "Why are you doing something stupid like taking untested drugs?"

  "I was stupid. I admit that, but you don't know what it's like. Now that I'm off them it's just a matter of time now before I start plumping up and I'm public enemy number one around town."

  "Why?"

  "Because all of this drama exposed Victoria's little business and her husband cut her off from the pills and now no one is getting them."

  "Sounds like all those women you were so jealous of are in your same boat now."

  "I guess, but Victoria hates me."

  "She was your friend?"

  "Oh, no. She's an evil bitch, but I hate it when someone doesn't like me."