The Pandora Effect

by Olivia Darnell

  “I was confused,” he told her as he changed his shirt. “I was injured and I don’t remember exactly what happened.”

  “Well, Peregrin.” She ran her hand over his shoulder where the gash had been. He shivered at her touch and realized that she had never touched him before. At least not like that. “You will have to explain it to him. I have been trying to cultivate his sympathy. How do you feel? Was it...painful?” She leaned her head toward him as if she would smell his hair. Perry self-consciously leaned back. He wondered to himself if she would be able to smell the scent of Maureen on him somehow.

  “I don’t think so,” he said and felt his face reddening. It seemed that once embarrassment had taken hold, it never stopped appearing at the most inopportune moments. He pulled his shirt down and looked at her. Did she really expect a full report? Surely not. He couldn’t give her one at any rate. He thought she was taking it extremely well. At the same time he was a bit disappointed that she did not seem overly concerned. “I feel perfect. But I don’t think I can tell Louis Parks about it.”

  “Then you will go to jail!” She sat on the bed beside him and took his hand, patting it distractedly. “This is ridiculous!” He looked down at his hand. He thought perhaps she had lost her mind or that she, herself, had been in an accident. All of this unprecedented bodily contact confused him even more. “You must tell him exactly what happened. You saved Billy Johnson’s life. That should count for something and they will take that into consideration if you cooperate. The nice trooper who was here twice last night told me that you would be all right if you called in as soon as you got home.”

  Perry frowned at her. “A nice trooper was here with you last night? Twice?”

  “Yes,” she nodded. “He was consoling me.”

  “Consoling you?” Perry stood up. What was this new sensation? Not jealousy! It couldn’t be! He was beginning to rethink his idea of experiencing the rat’s maze. These things were happening too quickly. “Just how nice was he?”

  “Very,” she told him. “He warned me not to be overly concerned. He said these sorts of things happen quite often. He told me several stories about other similar incidents and assured me that it would be in my best interest to just go to sleep and rest awhile before you came home.”

  “He told you to just go to sleep? Did he describe these stories in detail?” Perry asked her, barring her way as she started to leave the room.

  “Yes, he was quite descriptive. In fact, he demonstrated proficiency in his field. He appeared to be well-informed and he was very mannerly.” She looked up at him quizzically. “We have to go talk to Louis Parks.”

  “Damn Louis Parks!” He said angrily. “I want to hear more about this... this... trooper. Were there any sparks?”

  “Parks?” She frowned. “Only just Louis.”

  “Louis?” He stepped aside stunned. What was she saying? What was happening to him?

  He followed her slowly down the hall to find Louis standing in the kitchen waiting for them.

  “Mr. Aliger, I spoke to the trooper who was here last night and I have a few questions to ask. He agreed to allow me to handle it. For the sake of Mrs. Aliger and because of your heroic actions, I don’t think anything will come of it,” Louis told him.

  Perry looked at him stupidly. Hero again? He did not feel heroic. He felt terrible. He was losing everything. And now Louis Parks knew all about the trooper and Angelica and Maureen, too.

  Perry turned away from them and went to sit heavily in his armchair by the window and pressed his palms against his eyes. Blue sparks. They danced behind his eyelids like a recurring nightmare.

  “Excuse me, Sergeant Parks,” Angelica apologized to the sergeant and went to kneel by his chair.

  He opened his eyes and looked at her. How could she have done such a thing with a complete stranger? And she probably remembered it quite clearly.

  “What are they doing, Angelica?” He asked her. “Are they making a study of us? What kinds of questions do I have to answer? Do you know? You can probably tell them more than I can. Why don’t you just tell him about it?”

  “Actually...” Louis Parks’ voice intervened. “It’s an official investigation. I’m afraid that you will have to answer the questions yourself since you were the one involved. Your wife has already given me her account. I have to assume that this was your first experience with this sort of thing. It happens to all of us sooner or later.”

  Perry looked at Angelica in disgust and then turned to look at the policeman in complete surprise. He must have neglected to block Angelica’s connection after all.

  “Please.” He waved one hand at the chair where Angelica usually sat. “Have a seat. I’ll try to answer your questions.”

  Louis took a seat and Angelica stood up. Her face showed dismay at Perry’s expression. “I’ll get you a cup of tea, Perry,” she said. “That will help you relax.”

  Perry watched her go with a blank look on his face.

  “Now.” Louis glanced back toward the kitchen. “Can you tell me what happened after you pulled Billy from the creek and resuscitated him? We know everything up to a point, but then there were no witnesses.”

  “Witnesses?” Perry looked at him incredulously. “Should there have been witnesses?”

  “Well, there usually are,” Louis told him. “Especially when so many people are involved.”

  “Were you a witness... here... last night?” Perry asked him hesitantly.

  “No,” Louis shook his head. He knew it wasn’t going to be easy to interview Perry Aliger. This interview promised to be no different from the last. “I got here after the fact. But I’ve talked to the trooper and Mrs. Aliger has filled in the rest of the details.”

  Perry’s mouth dropped open again. How could he sit there so calmly and talk about it like it was nothing.

  “Actually, Sergeant Parks,” Perry said quietly “I don’t remember anything.”

  “Nothin’?” Louis frowned. “That’s a real shame. I don’t know if the trooper will buy it.”

  “I don’t give a damn about the trooper and what he will or will not buy!” Perry said a little too loudly.

  “That’s enough!” Angelica appeared by the chair. “Sergeant Parks is trying to help you, Peregrin! Will you please cooperate with him?”

  Perry rolled his eyes and sat back in the chair, staring out the window.

  “If you must know,” he said with more control after a moment. “I slept through the whole thing.”

  “You say you slept through the whole thing?” Louis frowned up at Angelica and shook his head minutely. “How could you sleep through something like that? That’s a little hard to believe. How is that possible?”

  “I don’t really know,” Perry glanced up at Angelica. “I was told that it was quite wonderful.”

  “Where did you sleep, Mr. Aliger?” Louis asked him.

  “In the bed.”

  “What bed?” Louis was confused.

  “I didn’t plan it,” Perry told him. “It just happened.”

  “Sergeant Parks!” Angelica said suddenly and grabbed his hands to pull him up from the chair. “Would you help me with the tea... in the kitchen? Please?”

  Louis looked up at her stunned by this development. He stood up and allowed her to pull him along behind her. What the hell was Aliger talking about? Perry turned to frown at them. He turned back to stare out the window, somewhat thankful that Angelica had come to his rescue. He wondered why she had changed her mind and concentrated on hearing the conversation in the kitchen.

  “Louis?”

  “Yes?”

  “My husband is very ill. He is disoriented and seems to have a concussion.”

  “Yes?”

  “He slept at one of the motels out on the highway.”

  “Yes?”

  “He woke up this morning and couldn’t remember what had happened.”

  “Yes?”

  “He caught a ride to town with a man driving a dump truck and then wa
lked home.”

  “Yes?”

  “The story checked out and the name of the motel is...”

  “The Sands.”

  “And the dump truck driver confirmed that part of the report.”

  “Yes.”

  “And now you have to get downstairs and set up your booth.”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Now give me a kiss.”

  Perry heard the door open and close. Sergeant Parks was gone. Angelica came back with two cups of tea and handed one to him. She curled up in the bright morning sun and looked at him curiously.

  “You will need to go down to the station on Monday and sign the report,” Angelica told him. He looked at her and she smiled at him. A strange look of wonder mixed with amusement filled her face.

  “What?” He frowned.

  “You blocked me from your thoughts,” she said and sipped her tea. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

  “I told you that you would be amazed at what I can do,” he told her and held the cup under his nose. At least his precious tea had not abandoned him.

  “I am. Totally,” she said. “I am also amazed at your imagination and your capacity for misunderstanding. You know, I sat in your chair last night and drank myself all the way to Penglai. I tried to feel you and you were gone. I thought you were truly dead just like you said before you left. I thought you had actually met your destiny.” She laughed softly. “I didn’t know where you were. I didn’t know what you were doing. I didn’t know until you listened in on my contact with Sergeant Parks.”

  Perry sat up and looked at her.

  “You actually thought that I had some kind of encounter with the trooper?” She smiled at him. “How absurd! I said he was nice. I didn’t say I had a physical experience with him. But you... on the other hand, you and Maureen Fitzgerald. And here I was thinking that you had already been engaging in these activities with her. And more’s the pity, you really don’t remember it. You have a penchant for misfortunate incidents, Peregrin.”

  “You allowed Louis Parks to kiss you,” he heard himself say. He was happy to learn the truth about the trooper. “You seem to have great experience with radical contact.”

  “It was not the first I have been forced to make,” she said regretfully. “Kissing was the easiest way. It was what he wanted. He won’t remember the kiss either.”

  “You are not angry?” He looked at her again disappointed.

  “Of course not,” she told him. “I now exactly what happened now. The only thing that disturbs me is that you thought Maureen Fitzgerald was Angelica Aliger. How could you?”

  “I don’t know,” he told her truthfully. “Would you care to straighten it out?”

  “What do you mean?” She asked.

  “I mean would you care to make it right?” He asked hopefully. “I mean, we could re-enact the crime and then I would be able to remember it correctly with the right names associated with the right crimes.”

  “I think you have had enough excitement,” she told him. “Drink your tea.”

  Chapter Twenty-One:.

  Tyler pulled his truck around the corner out of the way and stopped next to the curb. He got out of the truck carefully, feeling very old, but otherwise, very happy to be alive and well, in a manner of speaking. Paula Anne bounced out the passenger side and went around to help him onto the curb as if he were an elderly man. He hobbled toward Louis’ booth and she jogged off across the street to Aunt Mary’s house. Louis was stacking cinder blocks on the little strip of grass between the sidewalk and the curb in front of the New Castle Gift Shop. Tyler glanced back at the wrecked Mercedes in the driveway. Boy, they were all lucky to be alive! He thought.

  “Hey, Louis!” He called as he hobbled over to where several large boxes sat on the sidewalk.

  “Hey, Tyler,” Louis said and looked up at him. “Damn! You look terrible.”

  “Thanks,” Tyler said as he leaned on one of the boxes.

  Louis went to the back of his truck and pulled out a couple of folding yard chairs. He brought one to Tyler and unfolded it for him. Tyler held up one hand in thanks and lowered himself into the chair carefully holding on to his ribs.

  “He was real mad, wasn’t he?” Louis asked and shook his head at the sight of Tyler’s swollen lip. He went back to setting up his makeshift tables with boards stretched across cinderblocks.

  “Yep,” Tyler nodded. “Real mad.”

  “Why didn’t ya’ll press charges?” Louis asked off-handedly. He was still feeling weird about the strange interview with Perry Aliger. He felt all tingly and somehow invigorated and strangely happy. It was a shame that the woman affected him so badly.

  “Billy’s got a problem,” Tyler commented quietly and looked away down the street where others were busily setting up booths and tables in preparation for the festivities to begin. “Why give him another one?”

  “You got a good heart, Tyler,” Louis told him. “But I still don’t understand what happened. I got a bunch of second hand stories.”

  “He was out to get Mr. Aliger,” Tyler said simply. “I felt like I was kind of responsible for it because I’m the one who brought him over here in the first place.”

  “Oh, you were tryin’ to be a hero,” Louis laughed. “Sorry, Tyler, but Mr. Aliger is a big boy. He can take care of himself apparently.”

  Tyler looked off down the street. No, he didn’t want to be a hero. He just wanted to live in peace. A group of kids ran by squealing and squawking at each other on their way to the cotton candy stand on the next corner. The smell of curly fries made his mouth water, but the thought of throwing salt and vinegar on his split lip made him wince.

  “Where’s Mike?” Louis asked him as he passed by on his way to get a card table from the truck. Julia had given him one of her best old lace table cloths to put on the table. It was where she wanted him to display the Pandora Boxes and a few other treasured items from their own attic.

  “He was hurt worse than me,” Tyler told him. “I only got one kick and a couple of swipes. You know how hard-headed Mike is. He just kept goin’ back for more. Carla has him on bed rest. Not likely he’ll show up today. Did Mr. Aliger ever show up last night?”

  “Nope,” Louis shook his head. “He didn’t come home til just a while ago. I took his statement, if you can call it that. Seems he wandered off in a daze and spent the night out at the Sands Motel. Hitched a ride in this morning with one of Duker’s drivers. Showed up without his shoes acting all weird. I think he hit his head or somethin’. It looks legitimate enough. I’ve seen stranger things.”

  “Yeah.” Tyler tried to glance back at the apartment, but couldn’t quite turn around far enough without hurting his ribs. “That’s one strange fellow.”

  “Yeah and off the record between just us, I don’t think he spent the night at a motel. He was too clean when he came in. It looked like somebody cleaned him up and washed his clothes. Old Kenny Duker told the troopers last night that he had blood all over him when he come up out of the creek. Could’ve been Billy’s, but blood is blood and he didn’t have none on him when he come home. I think he not only got a ride home with someone last night, but that he stayed the night with that someone.”

  “Yeah?” Tyler didn’t like the sound of it. “That is kinda weird.”

  “Damn right,” Louis grumbled and began to open the little boxes. The image of Angelica Aliger’s face would not stay away. He felt acutely guilty about what he had just said about her husband.

  “I just can’t believe he’s American,” Tyler frowned and then waved weakly at the Morris’s gardener. “Do you think he’s a foreigner?’

  “’Sposed to be from Houston,” Louis confided in Tyler. Louis stepped back to admire his handiwork. The boxes sparkled in the sunlight and were set off perfectly by the antique lace. He was quite proud of his decorating skills. He went back to the truck and got out two big umbrellas and attached them to back of the chairs. The heat was already becoming a bit much. Tyler watche
d in amusement as Louis wagged a battery powered fan over beside them and then sighed when the breeze ruffled his hair. Louis wasn't much on roughing it.

  “Maybe he lived there for a while, but I just can’t imagine him being from Texas at all,” Tyler shook his head. “He don’t seem to have any kind of accent. He just talks. And his name, Aliger? I ain’t never heard that one before. You know Perry’s not his name. It’s a nickname. His name is Peregrin like a Peregrin Falcon. Another one I ain’t never heard of for a man. Joanne Parker told me. She said his middle name is even weirder. Cheryl Martin told her all about it. And I guess you noticed that little brass plaque above his doorbell? That’s Latin, I think.”

  “Yep. It’s Latin all right,” Louis nodded and began to unpack a box of used tools to lay them out on one of the boards. “I got Father Boles to translate it for me. It means ‘wherever fate takes me’. I figure that’s where he comes from originally.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Tyler frowned at him. “Where’s that?”

  “Where do you think they speak Latin, Tyler?” Louis looked at him as if he was a box of rocks.

  “I don’t know, Louis,” Tyler held his ribs and laughed.

  “Rome! You idiot!” Louis looked at him in consternation. “I swear, sometimes I think you need a good kick in the ass. Hell, even the Pope speaks Latin. I know you ain’t that dumb. You went to college, didn’t ya? ”

  “Yeah, but I try to keep it a secret,” Tyler said and managed to stop laughing due to the pain in his ribs and the need to keep from hurting Louis’ feelings.

  “Well, you’re succeedin’,” Louis told him. “And furthermore, I almost know for sure it’s Rome because Angelica looks Italian to me.”

  “Oh, first name basis now, r’we?” Tyler had to throttle himself to keep from killing himself with laughter. Louis shot him a stern glance. “I wonder why fate would bring him to Magnolia Springs?” Tyler tried to be serious. “He looks like the Wall Street type not Catherine Street.”