Hidden Realms

by Unknown

  “One hundred thousand dollars, but my mom doesn’t have that kind of money, and she and Mr. McMasters were very close. Even if she did have the money, there’s no way she’d make bail.”

  “If I get you out of here, where can you stay?”

  “If you get me out of here? Where are you going to find a hundred thousand dollars?”

  “Never mind about the money. Where can you stay? It won’t do you any good if I bail you out of jail and you end up staying in a cardboard box in an alley.”

  “I think I can stay at my grandmother’s house. I haven’t talked to her, but I don’t think she would tell me no.”

  “If I leave now, I should be able to get you out this afternoon.” With that I stood up, reached out my hand to shake Paul’s, and made my way to the door.

  “Wait, just like that, you don’t even know me and you’re going to go find bail money for me?” I didn’t answer – I just waved as I headed for the door.

  The remainder of the afternoon was a blur. I had remembered seeing a Bail Bond place across the street. Having no experience in this area, I asked them how it worked. Basically I had to pay them ten percent of the bail money, they would put up the other ninety percent and keep my ten percent when it was all over. It would cost me ten thousand dollars to spring Paul.

  I thought of the money in my checking account. It was more than I had ever had or maybe would ever have again. I could use the money for grad school, a new car. . . that’s more money than I could make in months at Tasty Burger. When I thought of him locked up for something I knew he didn’t do, I couldn’t leave him in here. He was in here because of me. I asked them if I could use their phone book to call a cab, and the old man behind the counter offered to give me a ride to my bank. I withdrew the money and got a ride back to the bail bondsman’s office. We filled out the paperwork, and everything I could do was complete by two p.m. The bondsman told me that it would be a few hours before Paul was released. I asked him to give Paul my cell phone number. I looked at my watch and realized there was a real possibility I could make it back to school before Rachel’s last class was over and give her driver’s license back.

  The cab dropped me in front of the school, and I made my way to the hallway where Rachael’s classroom was. I waited across the hall; she was already grabbing her things to leave for the day when she saw me waving through the doorway.

  Curiosity must have gotten to her because she asked, “Are you going to tell me what you needed it for?”

  “Don’t worry, I didn’t wreck a car or go gambling or anything.”

  “I was stressed about a test and didn’t want to waste time asking you what you needed it for. I saw the interview from last night. Do you really think we weren’t in any real danger Sunday?” I could tell this question had been eating at her all day.

  “I’m certain that he didn’t do it, so much so that I just bailed him out of jail.” The look on Rachael’s face was not at all what I was expecting. It was . . . relief. I’d expected her to be confused, angry, frustrated, any number of emotions, but not relieved that I had just set him free.

  “Why’d you do that? You were so . . . ” She didn’t finish her sentence.

  “It’s kind of a long story. I guess I could say that I was worried that you didn’t have a date for this Saturday, but that wasn’t the real reason. Honestly, I know he didn’t do anything wrong, and my initial impression of him was off the mark.”

  “But how do you know?” She was looking for some real assurance, and, obviously, I couldn’t give her anything concrete or tangible.

  “Rachael, I just know. I’ve been to the jail, well, technically you went to the jail, but I know when someone is lying to me. When we talked, there wasn’t an ounce of deception in him. With him locked up, the police aren’t looking for the real criminal, they’re just gathering evidence to keep him locked up. The only way to help him was to get him out of jail and maybe hire a private investigator or something. On an unrelated topic, he’s really in to you.” I added the last part just to see what she would think, and her movements gave her away in an instant. She leaned forward with a huge smile, “Really?”

  “No doubt about it. He’s going to call me as soon as he’s released. Want me to give him your number?”

  “Um, if you’re sure . . . yes, give him my number and tell him to call me tonight.” Rachael gave me a hug. “I’m so glad you were wrong.” I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I wasn’t wrong about the danger. I only misinterpreted that Paul was the one presenting the danger, when in reality it was he who was in danger. Rachael was excited and offered to give me a ride home.

  Just as we were halfway to Rachael’s car, I saw Max’s huge truck up against the curb and his eyes searching faces of the army of students exiting the building. “Hey, Max is here. Let me see what’s going on.” Rachael followed me to Max’s truck.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Max saw me approaching his truck with Rachael a few feet behind. He looked rested and seemed really upbeat when he explained, “I know you said that you had plans after school today, but after last night I wanted to make sure you weren’t pissed. Pathetic, right?”

  I grabbed him tightly and whispered, “Yeah, it’s pretty pathetic, but I’m sooooo glad to see you.” I turned to Rachael, “I don’t need a ride home after all. I’ll call you in a few hours with an update.”

  Rachael waved goodbye, fully understanding my cryptic message. Max opened the driver’s door and motioned for me to get in. I climbed in and slid over to the center of the seat and asked him, “So, what’d you do today?”

  “Not much. My sleep schedule is all jacked up, so most of the morning I spent snoozing. I got to thinking about our conversation last night. You’re right, regardless of how I feel, it was out of line for me to tell you to check with me before going to the jail or anything else you feel you need to do.”

  “Well, thanks,” better to tell him now than let him find out about it later, “In interest of full disclosure, I went to the jail today and bailed Paul out.” Max’s jaw tightened and his muscles went rigid. I could see his knuckles were clenching the steering wheel hard, but to his credit he remained silent.

  “I know this may not be how you want to spend your free time, and it’s okay if you say no, but there’s an end of term party called the Class Bash this Saturday. You wanna go?” I hadn’t thought much about it, but this would be a good night out, and with Max’s new found bond with Seth, maybe the four of us could go. I’d have to broach that with Seth later.

  “Have you lost your mind?” Max’s knuckles were completely white on the steering wheel, and I could see now that his teeth were still clenched. “You bail a murderer out of jail, and the very next sentence you ask if I want to go to a party with you? Never mind that last night you agreed you wouldn’t even see this guy unless you talked to me first, now you’re telling me you went to see him and you made his bail? What would possess you to do either of those things by yourself? You knew I wasn’t working. You knew I didn’t want you to see him alone.”

  “Easy, Max, you asked me if it was too much to ask for me to call you beforehand. I didn’t say that I would. As far as the party, it isn’t a big deal. I wasn’t going to go, and I didn’t mention it before because I thought you would think it would be silly.”

  Max got out of the truck and started walking away. I called after him, “Where are you going?”

  He yelled over his shoulder to me, “I need to take a walk . . . alone. Go ahead and take my truck. I’ll get it from you later.” I sat there watching him for a full minute - he was really just wandering away.

  What kind of a bozo storms off like a little kid? Should I let him have his little tantrum on his own? Then I thought about it. I could have called him this morning and told him what I was up to. Heck, I could have told him last night when I started forming my plan. I’ve always liked that I do things my way, on my own, but there wasn’t any reason for me to keep Max out of it. Seth’s been m
y closest friend my whole life, but he never interfered in any of my decisions. I guess I’ve always been this way. But I can’t put Seth and Max in the same category. There’s a reason I always kept Seth at arm’s length.

  Rather than sitting there arguing with myself, I bolted after him. “Max, please stop.” He stopped and looked at me but remained quiet.

  “I know you’re angry. I would ask you to give me a chance to explain, but I don’t know that there is anything I can say to you in the next thirty seconds that would make you understand why I did what I did.

  “Lauren, I really think if I just go for a walk, I’ll be fine.”

  I pointed to a bench a few feet away and asked, “Give me five minutes.”

  Max lowered his head a little, looking at the pavement and nodded. He reached for my hand and I gladly grabbed his. He breathed in deeply and then let the air out, “I’m listening.”

  “I know after such a short time together you may still be struggling with this, but you’re not just a boyfriend, you are much more. As far as I’m concerned this is just as much a fact as anything else I’ve ever known. Normally a couple gets to know each other, go on a few dates, meet each other’s friends, find common interests, experience life together for a while before they make this kind of commitment. I’m okay if you want to slow things down to catch your breath; I really wouldn’t even care if you got mad and broke up with me.”

  A hurt look shot through his eyes. “There’s a reason I tell you that I don’t care, because no matter what, I know that no one, anywhere, will ever be a better match for you. Being the right match doesn’t translate into being your carbon copy. It also doesn’t mean that you’ll always be happy with decisions that I make. It means that I’ll never lie to you – even if telling the truth pisses you off.”

  Max didn’t interject and was still in receive mode, so not wanting to lose my momentum, I continued, “There are things that I just know. One of those things is that Paul Stratford is not a murderer, and I needed to get him out of jail. I talked to him, and I know that he was the one in danger Sunday morning. Whatever crazy sixth sense I have was telling me I needed to keep him from returning Mr. McMasters’ car. I think if he would have, whoever killed the McMasters would have killed him, too.”

  He made no move to interrupt me, so either I was making sense or he was just holding it all in until I stopped speaking. “As for the party this weekend, I didn’t plan to go, but now that you’re here, I’m ready to celebrate a little.” I paused after this last statement making it clear that Max needed to respond to something.

  “Lauren, I like that you’re so sure of your feelings. Believe me, I’m all for being tied to you until your last breath; but as a courtesy, if you choose to do something that might result in your last breath being taken several decades too early, I’d like for you to share that decision with me before you act on it. Is that fair?”

  I couldn’t help but nod at his logic, and he continued, “I understand better than anyone else how special your abilities are. I don’t understand how it works. I’m glad that you limited a triple homicide to a double. Paul’s a lucky person for you to take such an interest in him. And yes, I’d love to go to your party with you, or anywhere else you want to go, but I need to see if I can move my work schedule around.”

  “Was there anything else we needed to discuss, or am I back in good standing?” I asked Max with a half smile.

  Max’s face got a very serious look on it, “So, what’s your next step?”

  “I need to wait for Paul to call me. He should be out in the next few hours. By the way, what’d you and Seth talk about last night, or was that a secret male bonding experience or something?” I knew this question took him by surprise.

  “I don’t know if I would classify it as male bonding, but he’s as genuine a friend as you’ll ever have. He asked me about what happened at the hospital.”

  “Oh. He and I had never talked about that. What’d you tell him?”

  “There wasn’t much I could tell him. I told him we met, and we both felt a connection. Before we did anything about the connection, you needed to get things in order with him.”

  “How did he take it?”

  “Seriously? He wasn’t pissed. I think he just wanted to know. He said he was taken by surprise when you broke up with him on the way home from the hospital. He said the last few months you wouldn’t discuss any of it with him. He felt like you’d shut him out.”

  “I guess I did, but when you left town, I pretty much shut everybody out.”

  “He actually told me he was glad that I was back – that you seemed really happy now. I’m sure he said a lot of other things but...”

  “But what?”

  “I just got the impression he’s not over you. He was telling me he is happy for us, he’s glad to see you back to your normal self, but he’s still really hung up on you. I guess I don’t blame him.” With this Max wrapped himself around me and followed with, “I don’t know what I’d be in his situation, but three months wouldn’t be enough to get over you.”

  “It was strange to see you two together. Strange in a good way. So do you finally believe me that you could have skipped the three month hiatus and stayed here?”

  “Yeah,” Max stood up, “Let’s walk.”

  We strolled hand-in-hand for a while when he asked, “Don’t you graduate next weekend?”

  “On Saturday.”

  “Have you thought any more about what you plan to do after graduation? Go on for a graduate degree or dive into the workforce?”

  “Wanda told me to call her whenever I was ready to come back to work. I think I’ll take a week or two off to do nothing, then maybe go full time at Tasty Burger in June. There’s a pretty decent management program. My degree’s in Marketing Management, so it should be easy to get into it. Other than that, no real plans.”

  “I know this is going to sound crazy, but sometimes you seem to radiate crazy. What if I took a couple months off of work and we went backpacking together for the summer? It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. We could trailer a couple horses and go to the mountains.”

  Could there be anything more romantic than a couple months with Max? “I like the idea, but I also like the idea of hotels with showers every night, too. I don’t know how much hiking around I can do on my leg.”

  “Are you forgetting? I’m a paramedic. I’d be the perfect person to go hiking with. And if we stay in national parks, most have showers. If you’re up for it, I can let my boss know to take me off the schedule until September. I hafta go back to work tomorrow; I could finish the week and then start planning the trip. Once you’ve got your degree, we could just take off, the same day if you want.”

  A thought occurred to me, my stomach knotted, “Max, maybe today you should come by and meet my parents. I’m sure they’d take issue with me leaving for a couple months with someone they’ve never even met.”

  “But you’re twenty-two?”

  “Yeah, I know. It’s a little weird because I live with them. They don’t give me a hard time or anything, but before I tell them I’m taking off, they should at least meet you. Unless you don’t want to?”

  “Are they home now?”

  “Not yet, but they’ll be home in an hour or so.”

  Without hesitation, “Let’s go.”

  *****

  My parents knew who Max was, and I’m pretty sure Mom even knew how I felt about him, so the introduction shouldn’t be more than a formality. Mom had finally accepted the fact that Seth and I weren’t going to be more than friends. She seemed to be okay with it. I doubted any parents would be happy with the idea that their daughter had decided to take off for a few months with her boyfriend. Maybe I’d save that topic for later. The drive to my house was quick, and, sure enough, we had beaten both Mom and Dad home.

  Max sat on the couch with no outward anxiety at all. I heard Mom’s car pull in the driveway, and I must’ve tensed up because Max reached down and collected
my hand in his. She opened the kitchen door and saw us sitting in the family room. She walked over immediately and introduced herself, “Hi, I’m Molly, you must be Max?”

  “Mrs. Davis, it’s very nice to meet you.”

  Mom sat down on the recliner across the room and began the first stage of twenty questions, “So, Lauren tells me you are a paramedic. That must be an exciting job?”

  “It can be. I was in training for the last few months in New Orleans, so I’m not completely in the swing of things again. But I’m getting there.”

  “That’s a very nice truck,” as she pointed out the window. “Paramedic pay must be better than I realized.”

  “Mom!” My embarrassment echoed in my voice.

  Max just smirked, “It’s fun to drive and convenient at drive-up windows.”

  “I’ll bet it is fun to drive,” Mom gushed with more enthusiasm than I would have expected.

  “I live in Ridgeville, and there are times that the fun to drive function comes in handy.” Max had never mentioned Ridgeville. I knew he only used his apartment for work. How strange that the first mention of his home wasn’t to me, but to my mom.

  Mom continued her grilling until my father walked through the front door thirty minutes later. She stood up, “Excuse me, it’s my night to cook, and I haven’t even started dinner yet.” I relaxed a little, knowing that the worst was over. It was Mom’s approval that was required; my father would like anyone I liked. Dad sat down, and we went through his round of questions. After a full hour with both my parents, I stood up and announced, “Max and I are going out for dinner. I’ll see you later.” Max was surprised at this announcement but followed without complaint.

  Once we were in the truck he asked, “Why the abrupt departure? You didn’t even mention our after graduation trip to either of them?”

  “Sometimes less is more. I like the idea of them meeting you, deciding that they like you before I announce that we are taking off for a couple months together. No sense pushing our luck the very first day you meet them.”