aterovis_bm_reapthewhirlwind.p65 (32 page)

Aidan asked while I was thinking.

“I told you before; we never talked about anything really. I knew she’d found some guy dead in a pool cuz everybody on campus knew she’d found him.”

“Did you ever see this?” I asked on a sudden inspiration as I pulled Joey’s necklace out from my shirt.

Keisha took a closer look, “Maybe.”

“Did Blake have it?”

“If it’s the same one I’m thinking of, yeah. She asked me who was on it. As far as I know, the girl had never set foot in a church, but she knew I went every week. I guess she thought I’d know who the saint was. I tried to explain that there’s a big difference between Catholics and Baptists, but she didn’t get it. I swear, talking to her was like talking to a wall sometimes.”

“So Blake did have this necklace then?”

“Well, I can’t say for sure, but I think so.”

I looked at Aidan and an unspoken message passed 293

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between us. We were done here. Aidan thanked Keisha for talking to us and we left with more questions than we’d started with.

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All the way home, we discussed the different possible scenarios that the new information we had just gleaned from Keisha could mean. And we came up with nothing. The things Keisha had told us just didn’t make sense. Did Blake commit suicide or not? And if not, why were the police so set on making us think she did? The whole situation made me very uneasy. Maybe an emergency meeting was in order.

As soon as we got home, I called Killian. He couldn’t come over until the next night so we chose a time and I called Laura, Gabe, and Caitlin. There was nothing left to do now but wait.

Adam called twice the next day with questions about the wedding, but other than that, it was a quiet Sunday. I was afraid to do anything until we talked to the rest of the gang and got their take on the situation with Blake.

Aidan was working out while I tried to distract myself with painting when he suddenly dropped his weights with a thump and turned to face me.

“Will, I have a question and I think it’s something we need to talk about before the wedding.”

That didn’t sound good. I put my paintbrush down 295

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and gave him my full attention. “Is something wrong?”

I asked nervously.

“No, at least I hope not. It’s just… Well, we haven’t talked much about this whole wedding thing. I asked and you said yes and that was it. I’m not pushing you too fast, am I? Do you really want to do this?”

“Are you having second thoughts?” I asked in surprise.

“No! I mean, I know I want to do this, but I want to be sure you do too. I don’t want you to just because you think I want it or out of some sort of guilt. It has to be because you want it too.”

“Well, it’s all happened pretty fast. I mean, two weeks ago we weren’t even a couple. But yeah, I’m pretty sure I want to do this. I know I love you and I know without a doubt that you love me.” I smiled at him. “Besides, this is really exciting, isn’t it? Getting married and surprising everyone, starting a real life together, putting all the past behind us and looking only to the future—

our future.”

Aidan smiled back. “Yeah, it is pretty exciting. I guess I just want to be sure that you’re sure. With your background and all, I know this can’t be easy for you.”

“My background?”

“Well, you were raised in the church and all, and your parents won’t even talk to you. I know that early on you thought that God would hate you because you were gay. We talked about it once, on the balcony, remember? Do you still think that? Or what?”

“It’s funny you should bring up my parents. I’ve been thinking about them a lot lately. I feel like that’s unfinished business, you know?” He nodded. “But as far as the other stuff, I think I made my peace with that a while 296

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ago. I don’t think God hates me just because I love you.

That just doesn’t fit what I’ve been taught all my life about God. I thought about what you told me, about how some of the Bible was translated incorrectly from the original language and I decided that what I felt inside was more important than what I was taught as a child. It’s kind of freeing, really, to realize that you can think for yourself and you don’t have to blindly accept what you’re told. There were always so many things that I didn’t agree with, but didn’t have the courage to look into them for myself. I think I’d like to do that sometime.”

Aidan sat and grinned at me.

“What?” I asked self-consciously.

“You are so amazing,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“Most people who have been through what you have would have either driven themselves crazy with guilt or turned their backs on God altogether. Instead, you make your peace with God himself and then want to do research.”

I frowned. “What would turning my back on God have accomplished? It’s not His fault people have twisted His words so badly.”

“I think I can stop worrying about you,” he laughed.

I stuck my tongue out at him. “Who asked you to worry in the first place? Just lift your weights so I can get back to my painting.”

We went back to working in companionable silence.

***

“Where’s Asher?” I asked him as I let him in.

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“Don’t ask,” he grumbled.

“Did you have another fight?” Aidan asked.

“Another? We’re still having the first one. I didn’t even tell him about this meeting. I knew he’d just flip out.”

“What if he calls?”

“Kane knows to cover for me and you can bet he’ll be the one that answers the phone. Every time it rings, he pounces on it like a hungry tiger on a sick antelope.

Nine times out of ten, it’s one of his girlfriends too, so nobody else bothers to race him for it anymore.”

I laughed as another knock came at the door. This time is was Caitlin.

As I took her coat, she leaned in and whispered into my ear. “Can I talk to you after the meeting?”

“Yeah, sure. Is anything wrong?”

“We’ll talk later.”

I was still trying to figure that out when Laura and Gabe arrived. I couldn’t help but notice that Gabe looked an awful lot like the proverbial cat that ate the canary.

He couldn’t hide a smug smirk and I wondered what it was that was going on. Laura looked a little cross, so whatever it was he knew, I was willing to bet he hadn’t shared it with her yet. I hoped that whatever news he had would be good and that it would help untangle some of the mysteries we were left with after our meeting with Keisha.

Since I was the one who had called the emergency meeting, I started things off. “I asked you all to come here tonight because Aidan and I talked to Keisha yesterday and I thought it raised more questions than we got answered. We thought it was significant enough that we all needed to talk about it together.”

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With Aidan’s help, we gave them a detailed rundown of what we had learned from Keisha.

“So was it a suicide or not? That’s the question, right?”

Gabe asked when we’d finished.

“That and if it wasn’t a suicide and it was murder, why did the police want Keisha to think it was a suicide? Wouldn’t it be better to have the campus warned if a killer was running around?” I added.

Killian sat forward. “The police may not want to panic the campus.”

“I think it’s obvious that she killed herself,” Caitlin said. “Her roommate even said that she was acting strange, as if she wasn’t looking forward to something.

She was probably planning her suicide.”

“Then why wasn’t there a note?” I asked.

“Not every suicide leaves a note,” Laura said.

“Laura’s right,” Aidan agreed. “We learned that in our psychology class. They don’t always even show any outward signs that they are depressed or suicidal.”

“So what’s the consensus?” Killian asked. “Did she commit suicide or was she murdered like Joey?”

“Do we even know for sure that Joey was murdered?”

Caitlin asked before anyone could speak. “I mean, it looks like this Blake chick wasn’t exactly wrapped real tight. Maybe she found the necklace and made the rest up.”

“What did she have to gain?” Aidan argued. “Besides, she didn’t strike me as bright enough to come up with all this on her own. No, I think she either knew something or someone thought she knew something and she was taken out of the picture.”

“I agree with Aidan. It was murder,” I said.

“I think it was a suicide, but I don’t think that neces-299

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sarily means Joey wasn’t murdered,” Gabe said. “If Blake was murdered, then we’re no longer dealing with someone who acts in the heat of the moment, as it appeared happened with Joey. They’ve moved into carefully planned and carried out, premeditated murder.”

“So do you really think Blake killed herself, or would you just prefer that to dealing with a cold-blooded killer?” Killian asked.

Gabe grimaced. “Maybe a little of both,” he admitted.

“Well, I have to agree that, while I hate coincidences, it sounds an awful lot like a suicide to me,” Laura said.

“I know I originally said it was too convenient to not be a murder, but why would the police lie?”

“We know that Caitlin thinks it was a suicide.” Caitlin nodded. “So that makes it three to two, in favor of suicide,” Killian said as if he was announcing the score to a game. “I’m afraid I’m going to tie things up. I have to side with Aidan and Will. I think it was murder. Just because the first murder was unplanned doesn’t mean the killer couldn’t feel trapped and think he had to kill again to protect himself.”

“So we’re split evenly,” Laura said. “Where do we go from here? How do we proceed?”

“Well,” Gabe said dramatically, his self-satisfied expression from earlier returning, “I have some information that isn’t affected by whether or not Blake committed suicide. And it definitely gives us a direction to head in.”That got everyone’s full attention.

“What information do you have?” Killian asked.

“I know who Blake’s mystery man is.”

Everyone began talking at once.

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“Wait, wait, wait,” he called, grinning the whole time.

It was obvious he was enjoying the attention. “One at a time.”

“Who is it?” we all yelled at once.

“His name is Robbie Meade,” Gabe said, chuckling.

“He doesn’t go to Pemberton; he’s from the tech school, but apparently he came with a friend who does go.”

“How did you find this out?” I asked.

“And why didn’t you tell me?” Laura demanded.

“I wanted it to be a surprise when I told everyone at once,” he explained, answering Laura’s question first.

“I just found out today. I just happened to mention that I was trying to find this guy to someone in one of my classes. Someone else overheard and said that it sounded like his friend, Robbie. He wanted to know why I was looking for him. I asked him what his last name was and he told me. Then he asked me again why I was looking for him. I told him someone had seen him with my girlfriend, and the guy just laughed and said it sounded like Robbie to him. When I asked for his phone number though, the guy clammed up. Said he wasn’t about to get his friend in trouble.”

“Well, at least we have a name, now,” Killian said.

“That’s a lot more than we had before. Now all we have to do is find this guy and that should just be a matter of checking the phone book. If that doesn’t work one of us can call the office at the tech school and weasel it out of someone there.”

“Should we do it now?” I asked. I was ready for this to be over and it seemed like Robbie Meade was our last chance.

“I can’t,” Laura said quickly. “I have to go.”

“You do?” Gabe asked in surprise.

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“Yes, I have a project due and I have to get home and get started.”

Gabe looked a little put out. “Well it’s a good thing we drove separately,” he sulked.

“Is the meeting over?” Laura asked.

Killian looked as surprised by Laura’s sudden rush as I felt. “Will called it. Are we done, Will?”

“I guess,” I said, wondering what Laura was up to.

“Great,” she said, bouncing to her feet. “Then I’ll see everyone Friday night at Will and Aidan’s surprise—

whatever the hell it is. Oh, and I think we should all wait to call Robbie until we can do it together. Okay?”

She shrugged on her coat and started for the door.

Gabe grabbed his jacket and rushed after her with a shrug and a wave to the rest of us.

“That was a bit odd,” Aidan said with a frown.

“If you ask me, she’s a bit odd.” Caitlin sniffed. “Can we talk now?” she asked me.

“Sure,” I answered.

“In private?”

“Oh, right. We’ll go in my bedroom.”

As we left the room, I could feel Aidan and Killian’s curious stares on my back.

“What’s up?” I asked once we were in my room.

“I need to talk to you about something,” she said. I couldn’t read her voice and her expression was guarded.

“Is something wrong?”

“You tell me,” she shot back.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve been thinking about this whole thing with you and Aidan dating. I don’t know that I’m comfortable with it.”

“What?” I gasped. “You mean you aren’t comfort-302

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able with me being gay? But you knew that from the beginning.”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with you being gay. I just can’t help but wonder where this leaves me and the baby now that you’re with him.”

“I’m not following.”

“How does this affect our arrangement about the baby?”

“It doesn’t affect it at all. Why would it? I told you I’ve talked to a lawyer and she’s working on the paperwork now. She’ll probably have it ready for us to sign in a couple days. Once that’s done, it’ll all be final.”

“How does Aidan feel about all this?”

“He supports me one-hundred percent.”