Terraman Park is a popular picnic area located almost in the center of town, encompassing about two square miles. It’s a cluster of thick woodland, providing great shade cover for families. Right in the middle is a series of caves that stretched out under the city.
The caves are a constant source of controversy. Although they’re barricaded and there are warning signs posted all over the park, at least one or two children would get themselves lost in the caves every year. It’s a massive manhunt each time and, for the most part, the kids are found safe and sound. Unfortunately, there were a few that weren’t found, so the caves were deemed a safety hazard. Strangely, it hasn’t stopped the place from being a popular picnic locale.
Avery and Brooke make their way down to the picnic area. A strong gust of wind whips through, tossing Avery’s hair around wildly. She runs her fingers through it, pulling it back into a ponytail.
Avery checks the little map Annie printed off for her.
“Well?” Brooke asks.
“I’m thinking,” Avery says, looking around the park. “You know, it all looks a lot different when you’re standing in the middle of it.”
Brooke stands next to her sister. The park is predictably empty. A few fat drops of rain strike her head. “I’m getting wet here and when I get wet, my hair gets wet and when my hair gets wet my hair gets frizzy and when my hair gets frizzy-”
Avery cuts her off. “I get the picture. Do you know your east from your west?”
Brooke stares at her. “What are you five years old?” She snatches the paper from her sister. “Northeast corner of the park.”
Avery looks around. “Yeah and where’s that?”
Brooke just shakes her head. “Follow me.”
The wind’s picking up as they cross the park. Avery can make out the general shape of the caves through the trees. The clouds in the sky are getting progressively darker, but the rain hasn’t really started yet.
Brooke climbs over a rock and points to a payphone ten feet from them. “There.”
“And this is the northeast corner?” Avery asks.
“How were you not born with a sense of direction?” Brooke asks her.
“Enjoy this moment,” Avery says, pulling out the spectral analysis device. “It’ll be a long time before you have another one.”
She flicks on the device and the green light comes on immediately.
“Okay,” Avery says. “We’ve got a winner.”
And then there’s the sound of a gun cocking behind them.
The sisters slowly turn around to find Ben Mason pointing a large gun at them.
twenty-five
It starts to rain.
“Ben,” Avery starts.
“Don’t,” he stops her.
It takes only seconds for all them of to get completely soaked.
The gun isn’t big, but it’s still a gun so the girls don’t make any sudden moves.
It’s only been a day since they’ve last seen him, but Ben Mason looks like he’s aged about ten years. There are dark circles beneath his eyes and the way the rain plasters his hair against his head, his face appears long and drawn out. He’s dressed in slacks and a dark button down shirt that’s getting darker the more wet it gets. Ben’s left eye twitches every few seconds.
Avery and Brooke glance at each other. The message is clear: this man is on the edge and it wouldn’t take much to push him over.
“Did you get a phone call, Ben?” Avery asks, raising her voice over the sound of the pounding rain.
“Don’t talk,” Ben snaps at her. “Don’t say a damn thing.” The gun in his hand shaking. “This isn’t my fault.”
“Nobody said it was,” Avery replies.
Ben tries to wipe away the rain in his eyes. He doesn’t say anything.
“What do you think is going to happen here, Benny?” Brooke asks, taking a careful step forward.
“Brooke,” Avery mutters.
“Your brother’s dead,” Brooke continues. “It’s a little late to do anything.”
“That woman,” Ben spits. “This is all her fault.”
“As a woman I kind of take offense at the fairer sex getting blamed for everything,” Brooke replies.
“Then maybe you should stop screwing around,” Ben growls at her. “Brian had responsibilities.”
“Maybe he didn’t want those responsibilities,” Avery says.
“It doesn’t matter,” Ben replies.
Brooke takes another step forward.
“I didn’t tell you to move!” Ben yells and shoots the ground next to Brooke.
The sisters flinch at the sound of the gun. It booms like thunder.
“I’m not fooling around here!” Ben shouts at them.
“Nobody said you were,” Avery says, grabbing her sister and pulling her back. “But Brooke’s right. What’s your plan? Your brother’s already dead.”
Ben’s eyes are unfocused for a moment, staring at nothing. “I don’t…” he stumbles. “I just need to talk to him.”
“You talked to him already,” Avery says. “He called you when he called Ralph, didn’t he?”
Ben doesn’t answer.
“What did he say to you Ben?” Avery asks.
Ben flicks his gaze to Avery. “He yelled at me. He said that I wouldn’t be able to hurt him or Cindy ever again.”
Lightning arcs across the sky and is quickly followed by a burst of thunder that causes them all to flinch again.
“Did you hurt them, Ben?” Avery asks. Her clothes are plastered against her body thanks to the rain, sticking to her like a second skin.
Ben loses his focus again. “I did what I had to do for our family.”
“That’s pretty damning,” Brooke mutters.
“Stop helping,” Avery hisses at her.
“This is not what our father wanted,” Ben growls. “He left us the family business and it was our responsibility to take care of it.”
“There were three of you,” Avery says. “There was no reason why Brian couldn’t follow his own dreams.”
“NO!” Ben shouts as thunder rakes the sky. “He doesn’t get that! That’s not what our father wanted!”
“You can’t expect people to live their lives according to a dead man, Ben,” Avery says.
“The hell I can’t,” Ben says.
“What are you going to do?” Avery asks. She points to the cave. “Your brother and his wife are in there. They’re already dead, Ben. So what are you going to do?”
“Stop asking me that!” Ben shouts. “Shut up! Just shut up!” He waves the gun around. “It’s not my fault! I didn’t kill them!”
Thunder booms, shaking the air around them.
Ben’s eyes roll back in his head and he falls to ground, to reveal Thane Grym standing behind him. Thane’s got a heavy wooden tapping stick in his hands. He’s dressed in a hooded poncho, protecting him from the downpour.
“What are you doing here?” Avery asks. She crouches next to Ben to check his pulse.
Thane looks at the unconscious Ben and then back to Avery. “Watching your backside of course.”
Avery looks up at him. “That’s wildly insulting.”
Brooke smiles at Thane. “I’m grateful.”
“You’re welcome,” Thane says smiling.
Avery finds a pulse. Satisfied, she grabs the gun and gets back to her feet. She pokes Thane in the chest and momentarily loses her furor when she feels the hard muscle beneath. Avery shakes her head, trying to clear her thoughts. “What are you doing here?” she asks again.
Thane frowns. “I thought we covered this already.”
“How long have you been following us?” Avery asks him with a glare.
Thane holds up his hands. “Okay. Calm down. I haven’t been following you.”
“Then how did you know we would be here?” she snaps.
“You know,” Thane says, “when I ran this plan through my head you were a lot more grateful and a lot less argumentative.”
“I did just have a gun in my face,” Avery replies. “I think I’m allowed to be a little testy.”
Thane sighs. “Russell mentioned that you guys have been a little slow the last few days turning in your bounties.”
“Told you so,” Brooke says.
“Shut up,” Avery says over her shoulder.
“Okay,” Thane says. “Let’s just calm down. I’m not checking up on you, despite what I told Russell. I’m just looking after you.”
“Is there a difference?” Avery asks, folding her arms. She’s overcompensating with her attitude. The rain is actually making Thane look even more rugged which she didn’t think was possible.
“Yeah, one has me reporting back to Russell that you’ve been slacking,” Thane says. “The other just has me knocking out creeps who are holding you at gunpoint.”
Avery looks at him as lightning fills the sky.
“I suppose I should say thank you,” she says.
“It’d be nice,” Thane agrees.
“Well, put it on your Christmas list,” she says, handing him the gun. “You’re not getting any of this bounty.”
“I wasn’t asking for it,” Thane replies.
“Wow,” Brooke says. “And people say I’m rude.”
“Hey,” Avery snaps. “I’ve been stuck out here in the rain at gunpoint for, like, the last fifteen minutes. I think I’m allowed to be a little grumpy.” She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Avery opens her eyes and looks at Thane. “Sorry.”
“Apology accepted.” Thane smiles. He picks up Ben Mason, hoisting him over his shoulder. “You can pay me back with a morning coffee sometime.”
Avery thinks she might be blushing a bit as Thane starts walking towards the parking lot.
“In case you were wondering,” Brooke says to her sister. “That was totally hot.”
twenty-six
Inside the cave the pounding rain is slightly muted.
The sisters find Brian and Cindy Mason sitting on a large rock, holding each other’s hands. They stare at the Graves sisters like a deer stares at headlights. Everything about them is glowing brightly.
They look to be in their mid-thirties. Cindy’s in a cute sundress and her hair’s pulled up with a bow. Brian has a harder look about him. His hair is flat on his head and his body looks uncomfortable in a sweater vest and slacks. They’re a couple dressed for Sunday service, not a couple dressed for death.
“Hey there,” Brooke says with a wave. “Please don’t run.”
Brooke’s voice seems to snap Brian back to attention. He blinks and looks at Brooke with a puzzled expression.
“What?”
“Never mind my sister,” Avery says stepping forward. “My name is Avery. This is Brooke. Are you Brian and Cindy Mason?”
They slowly nod.
“Good.” Avery kneels down in front of them. She speaks softly. “We’ve been looking for you for the last two days. Do you know what happened?”
Brian and Cindy look at each other. Cindy nods and Brian addresses Avery.
“My family,” he starts. “They’re not like most families,” Brian pauses. “My father was involved with some bad stuff and when he died, he passed it down to my brothers and I. But when I met Cindy.” He looks at her and smiles. “I fell in love.” He looks at Avery and the smile drops. “I told my brothers I wanted out and neither of them accepted it. They told me if I chose Cindy over them, they’d make our lives Hell. We tried to make it work for as long as we could, but living in constant fear, we couldn’t take it anymore. Do you understand? We loved each other so much. We figured it was better to be in love and dead, than to be alive and in constant fear.”
“We took some pills…” Cindy says, her voice trailing off.
Avery rests her hand atop theirs. “And what happened after that?”
Avery feels Brian tighten his grip on Cindy.
Cindy speaks slowly. “We know we were supposed to move on. But…” She starts to choke up.
Brian picks up the slack.
“We loved each other so much,” he explains. “We just wanted to be together forever. But I’ve done some bad things in my life. Really bad things. And we were afraid.” He looks at Cindy. “What if we didn’t end up in the same place together?”
Avery’s heart breaks a little at that. All they wanted was to be together. And when you’re in love, what else could you want? She waits a moment before speaking. “Brian, Cindy, do you know who I am?”
Brian nods. “I-I think so.”
“You can’t stay here,” Avery explains. “Your time has come to an end and you need to move on.”
“But,” Cindy starts, her eyes watering.
“No,” Brian says, taking a deep breath. “She’s right. We can’t stay here. This isn’t our place anymore.”
Avery pauses, watching them for a minute.
“What comes next,” she says, “isn’t something you should worry about. Two people who love each other as much as you two do, nothing’s going to keep you apart.”
It’s a lie, of course. But the couple doesn’t know that and so it does the trick. Avery’s words cause them to brighten a bit. A small smile tugs at Cindy’s lips as she wipes away her tears. The couple embrace each other. Avery thinks to herself that there’s nothing wrong with a tiny lie in order to give them some final peace before they move on.
With that, Avery slips the cuffs on the dead couple.
twenty-seven
Its hours later.
Brian and Cindy have been sent off to the afterlife, their fates left to higher powers. Brooke and Avery have their money and the day’s adventures have come to an end.
Outside Brooke’s studio apartment the rain’s lessened. The clouds are still dark, but there’s no longer any sense of the apocalyptic as Brooke dries her hair. A dark blue towel is wrapped around her naked body as she steps out of the bathroom. She twists a second blue towel into her wet hair. The small apartment is filled with the steam from her forty-five minute shower. Despite getting soaked to the bone earlier, the first thing Brooke did as soon as she got home was hop into the shower and wash off all the icky rainwater.
Brooke checks her phone, but there’s no message from Steven the bartender yet. Tossing the phone back on her bed she walks over to her tiny closet.
“Okay,” she says to herself. “What’s a good outfit to get laid in?”
She starts thumbing through her hangers.
There’s a heavy knock on her door. Brooke glances at the time, but it’s still a good hour before she’s supposed to hear from Steven the bartender.
Making sure the towel around her body is secure, she opens the door.
Stanley’s leaning against the wall, half bent over. His face is covered in fresh bruises and blood. The tacky polo shirt he’s wearing is torn up and his khakis are smudged with more blood and dirt.
Brooke stares at him, speechless.
“’Ello, luv,” Stanley says weakly. He offers Brooke a crooked smile and then falls into her arms.
twenty-eight
Doctor Kevin Soong is the last one to leave for the night. He’s in his office putting away a few files. The desk lamp is the only source of light in the office. He hears something out in the hallway.
“Hello?” he calls. “Shannon, are you still here?”
There’s no answer.
Soong shrugs his shoulders and turns back to his file cabinets.
“Doctor Soong,” Avery says from the office doorway.
Soong jumps a little, dropping the folder in his hands. He turns and sees Avery. He squints a bit and then recognition spreads across his face.
“Ms…Graves, wasn’t it?” Soong composes himself. “You startled me there. I’m afraid it’s a little late.”
“Don’t worry,” Avery says, stepping into the office. She’s still wearing the same clothes from earlier. They’re a little less soaked, not quite uncomfortably wet, but just wet enough to be annoying. She brushes her hair back. “I’ll o
nly be a minute.”
Soong picks up his folder. “This is a bit unprofessional, Ms. Graves. How did you even get in here?”
“Your secretary left the door unlocked,” Avery answers simply. “My turn.”
Soong pauses, giving Avery a questioning look. “I beg your pardon?”
“You asked a question, now it’s my turn,” Avery explains.
Soong shakes his head. “I think not, Ms. Graves. You should leave now. If you’d like you can schedule something through my secretary and I’ll talk to you then,” he turns back to the file cabinet.
“Why’d you lie about Kristen Jones?” Avery asks him.
Soong doesn’t hesitate. “It wasn’t a lie, Ms. Graves. She worked for me five years ago. You can’t expect me to remember a secretary from five years ago that I probably said less than five words to.”
“Funny,” Avery says, leaning against one of the chairs in front of the desk. “If it was me, I would have remembered a girl I was sleeping with five years ago who was half my age.” She takes a breath. “But, then, that’s me. I can’t remember, is memory the first to go as you get older?”
This time Soong does hesitate. He puts the folder down and slowly turns around.
Soong’s posture changes slightly, becoming more rigid. “Ms. Graves,” he starts.
Avery cuts him off, raising her hand. “Don’t bother lying to me.”
Soong holds out his hands in the universal gesture of peace. “I’m not lying to you.”
“We spoke with Mr. Jones’ widow, Kristen’s stepmom, and your patient, Shelly Jones,” Avery says. “Maybe you want to reconsider what you’re going to say next.”
Soong does. He takes a long moment.
Finally, Soong steps behind his desk and sits down.
“Fine,” he says. His voice is flat, almost monotone. “Kristen and I were,” he pauses, searching for the right words, “romantically involved five years ago. What of it?”
“Where is she now?” Avery asks.
Soong shrugs. “How should I know? Her father did not approve of our relationship so she ended it. I never heard from her again.”
One Stiletto in the Grave Page 14
