Kelly Hill (25 page)

Charleston, West Virginia

June 16th, 2010

Rachel

Rachel had opted not to say the words herself. She just handed the box to Ethan and walked away, hoping that they would come to their own conclusions in their own time.

She knew she was damning them with such evidence, but someone had to carry on if she failed and they had to know what they were up against. She just hoped that Kelly still had his gun.

For hours Rachel sat in her hotel room by herself, waiting for anything to happen. She didn’t work on her speech for Melody’s memorial, she didn’t sleep even though her whole body was screaming for rest. She just sat there. Waiting. Hoping that something would happen. It was around seven in the morning when she awoke, cramped and sore from falling asleep on the floor.

She rubbed her face and looked around, trying to figure out just why no one had bothered to call her the night before. It couldn’t have taken them that long to go over the box. Could it?

Rachel was roused from her sitting position on the floor when her phone rang by her side.  She looked at the screen, an unknown number, interesting.

Rachel let it ring a few more times before she answered it. “Hello?”

“Rachel?” A male’s voice sounded out over the speaker, “This is Ryan. Ryan Prescott.”

Rachel was taken aback. Out of all the people she had expected to call her, Ryan was the lowest on the list, ranked right there next to her mother or her father.

“Hi.” Rachel tried to sound less than surprised, but her tone still held a certain amount of shock to it.

“
Hey.” She could tell that Ryan was smiling. She had always been able to tell when he smiled.

“
I uh, wanted to see you before the memorial.” Ryan was trying to sound nonchalant but she could hear the nerves in his voice.

Rachel looked around her empty hotel room and her stomach rumbled out a complaint. “Do you want to meet for breakfast?”

She had no reason to avoid Ryan. Ryan had always been good to her, no matter who his friends were and truth be told, on some level she missed Ryan. Whatever that meant.

“
Breakfast sounds great,” Ryan replied, “Do you want to meet somewhere in say an hour?”

“
Is that little cafe still open? The one that was right next to Phillips?” Rachel asked, thinking of the small coffee house that seemed to make the best coffee in the world.

“
Fresh Grounds? Yeah, I think so.” Ryan answered.

“
Yeah, I’ll meet you there in an hour.” Rachel hung up the phone before Ryan could say anything more. She knew that the others would have a problem with her going anywhere alone, especially after everything that she had given them, but she just had to know. Was Ryan really as bad as Jefferson?

Rachel showered and got dressed. She slipped out of the hotel without making a sound and found herself at Fresh Grounds with a little time to spare.

Fresh Grounds was one of those places that the townies always seemed to flock to because it was so close to Phillips, cool by association. Rachel remembered going there on several occasions to sit at one of their back tables and drink a latte while she did her school work.

Fond memories now began to mix with her pending anxiety and all she could do was swallow as she breathed in the warm smell of percolating coffee.

She took the time to order a large something or other and tried to steady the beating of her nervous heart. It had been so long since she had really spoken to Ryan. So long since she really sat down and thought about everything that had happened between the two of them.

Kelly aside, Rachel had to admit a part of her had feelings for Ryan. Pleasant feelings that a person doesn’t easily push away.

She didn’t feel the pull towards him, the need to stand next to him like she felt for Kelly, but she felt a certain amount of… joy whenever she talked to him.

He was a simple man, which was good in a time of turmoil and struggle. He seemed aware of the conflict between Kelly and Jefferson, but removed from it, like it didn’t really matter to him either way. And maybe it didn’t. Maybe that was the path that Rachel was supposed to choose.

Aware but above.

Knowing but removed.

Indifferent.

Rachel sat at a back table that gave her clear sight to the door and she waited for Ryan to arrive.

There was something beautiful about the way he opened the door and stepped inside, as if the whole world paused and held its collective breath while he took the time to push his bangs out of his face.

Then he was smiling at her, moving towards her and telling the entire room with his face that he was here to see her.

Rachel smiled back at him, she couldn’t help herself; it was Ryan Prescott. It was her perfect match.

“
Well, hello there, stranger.” Ryan took a seat opposite her, still smiling, still looking just as charming as the first day she had seen him.

“
Hey there yourself.” Rachel smirked, “How’s life treating you?”

Ryan’s face fluctuated between dark and amused, “Under the circumstances, not entirely the best, but better.”

“Mm.” Rachel took a sip of her coffee, “Unfortunate reasons to be back here.”

Ryan shrugged, “But here we are.”

“Here we are.” Rachel bit the inside of her cheek and looked away, trying to think of the next words to say. She knew she had more to say to Ryan. She had an agenda after all, but the words wouldn’t come. Like always, her mouth was failing her.

“
If you want to know, I haven’t talked to Jefferson in ages.” Ryan was unusually perceptive.

Rachel lifted her eyebrows, “I thought you two were inseparable?”

Ryan shrugged, “After Melody went missing, Jefferson changed. Stopped talking to people. Spent more time with… a different crowd.”

“
Casimir?” Rachel asked, unafraid of the repercussions in bringing up his name in public. In public she was safe. Alone, in the dark was a different thing entirely.

Ryan shrugged again. “Maybe, I guess. I tried not to follow.”

Rachel nodded, understanding. Ryan was a victim, like Kelly. Only, he had learned where Kelly had not. He had stopped digging and protected himself where Kelly had kept going. Kept pushing until he knew all the secrets. Until he built the boat that Rachel found herself in.

Maybe Ryan really was just trying to protect her in his own way. Maybe that’s why he seemed so determined to see her leave.

Ryan sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I wish I could go back in time and do things different.”

“
Like what?” Rachel was genuinely curious of his answer. What in the world would Ryan Prescott change?

“
I wouldn’t have let you leave.” Ryan was looking at her with an odd expression. Was that regret? He hadn’t been the world’s best boyfriend and he didn’t seem all that broken up when they finally ended things. Or when he finally ended things. Did he regret that with Rachel?

It was Rachel’s turn to shrug, what was done, was done. There was no changing it. “It is what it is.” She sighed and took another sip of coffee.

“I keep thinking back to those days right before things went to shit on us and I really think we had something special.” Ryan was nodding like he was only stating something logical instead of picking at old emotional wounds.

“
We had a good time.” Rachel smiled at him. “That’s something.”

Ryan laughed, “Yeah, that’s something.”

“I wouldn’t be too worried about it, Ryan.” Rachel reassured him. “It’s in the past now.”

“
But.” Ryan paused, “What if I don’t want it to be in the past?”

Rachel was taken aback but tried not to look stunned. She thought about his words, tasted them, felt them in her mind. What was he trying to get out?

“What if I told you, Rachel Gunn, that I still felt something for you?” Ryan pressed the issue before Rachel could respond.

Rachel felt herself frown and she licked her lips. She had always almost carried a torch for Ryan Prescott, even years after everything was over, but did she really reciprocate the feelings he had? And what were those feelings exactly? Because it wasn’t like she could ever be with him. It wasn’t as if things could be normal between them. They were always just a mysterious 'what if' in her mind. A possibility without being an actual possibility.

He was gorgeous, but that’s all she really felt about him.

“
Ryan.” Rachel thought of her words before she said them, knowing he would take them differently than how she meant them. “I’m with Kelly.”

Rachel meant it in the sense of she was on Kelly’s side. She would stand by him no matter what. It was the choice she had made two years ago and it was the choice she was making now.

“I see.” Ryan nodded, taken aback by Rachel’s confession. He of course, did not take it the way Rachel meant it. He assumed she was in a relationship with Kelly. But then again, that was what Rachel wanted him to believe. Dangerous games.

“
I’m sorry, Ryan, but I think the time for you and I is over.” Rachel scratched the side of her face and checked her phone. Three missed calls from Ethan. Time to go back to the hotel.

Ryan gave her a smile that let her know he was going to be alright. “Don’t worry about it, Rach, I think I’ll get over it.”

Rachel smiled and stood, “I think my brother is getting worried about me. I better get going.”

Ryan stood with her, “Yeah, not much else to say after you’ve been shot down.” He laughed quietly. “Never thought Kelly had it in him. Not after what happened with Melody.”

Rachel tried not to bristle at the comment. Melody’s relationship with Kelly was an area that she had decided not to touch, and for good reason. It had ended badly and things were still messy. She didn’t need to know what had happened and she didn’t want to know.

“
Well. You know what they say, time heals all things.” Rachel forced a smile and started heading for the door with Ryan.

Ryan opened the door for Rachel, “I just thought it would have taken longer is all.”

“See ya around, Ryan.” Rachel stepped out into the sunlight, changing the conversation.

“
I’ll see you this afternoon,” Ryan reminded her. “For the memorial.”

For a second Rachel made it look like she had forgotten, just so that she could say that she had a vulnerable spot. “Yep. You will.” She waved and walked away in the opposite direction that Ryan was going.

“Wait!” Ryan called after Rachel. “Hang on, wait a minute.”

Rachel stopped walking and turned to face him.

“Rachel, you don’t even know Kelly like I do. What makes you think you’ll be happy with him?” Ryan’s hand was reaching out for her, like he was about to hold her.

“
What makes you think I won’t be?” Rachel raised her eyebrows, challenging him.

“
You don’t know what kind of man Kelly is, not really. There’s lots of stuff that you have no idea about,” Ryan defended his previous statement.

“
And are you any different, Ryan?” Rachel asked, wondering what he would say.

Ryan’s gaze dropped, he stood there in a guilty silence.

Rachel shrugged again, “That’s what I thought.”

That time Ryan let her walk away, because she was right. He wasn’t different. He wasn’t removed. He was just better at hiding it.

Chapter Twenty-One

Phillips Academy

Charleston, West Virginia

December 8th 2008

Rachel

Kelly and Rachel hadn’t spoken since they shared that moment in the library and Rachel was okay with it. She didn’t know what to do with a man like Kelly and she wasn’t altogether sure she wanted to find out.

Kelly was his own mystery and she was already too busy trying to uncover the one involving Anna and Casimir.

It turned out reconciling with Melody was the easiest thing  Rachel had ever done. All she did was approach Melody, tell her she was sorry and she had been wrong and then everything was forgiven, as if she had only stolen a sweater or something.

Making amends with Ryan came later. They had never officially broken up and so Rachel just seamlessly slipped back into his life like she had never left.

It was Jefferson that was stubborn about everything; Jefferson that didn’t trust her. But he had every good reason not to.

Rachel had decided that if she was going to commit to this mystery, if she was really going to expose all of it for what it was she would have to make them trust her again.

The danger Rachel was in was nothing compared to the need she felt to figure out the puzzle presented to her.

October easily bled into November and then December, all the while Rachel collected random snippets of information dropped by the people that were the least suspecting.

On the night of the winter formal Rachel didn’t know that it would be one of the last times she would ever be at Phillips Academy.

She preened and prepped with the best of them. She and Melody spent the first half of the day getting pampered by getting mani-pedis followed closely by getting their hair done.

Rachel went for the classic updo style whereas Melody preferred to have a more glamorous look with her hair pulled around to one side, resting neatly on her shoulder.

For more than a moment Rachel forgot that she didn’t trust Melody, she let her guard down and she allowed herself to have a good time, something she had never really done before. The feeling was almost addictive.

They got dressed just in time to be picked up by their dates, the thought of whom immediately reminded Rachel of the real reason why she was doing all of this.

As they walked toward the fountain, their designated meeting spot, Rachel couldn’t help but notice how charming both of them looked in their tuxedos. The material fit their athletic bodies perfectly and Rachel to smile. Her boys sure did know how to clean up well.

The thought caused Rachel pause. Her boys? They weren’t her anything. In fact, she would go as far as to say that Jefferson was her enemy. So why did her brain think it was appropriate to put that thought in her head?

Had she spent too much time with them? Was she forgetting just exactly what she was doing?

As they approached their dates Rachel couldn’t help but think back to the first time the group had shared a double date. Jefferson had been nice that night. A true gentleman until Kelly punched him.

This time around, there were no compliments from Jefferson to Rachel. Nothing to even indicate that he was looking in her direction. Rachel, who had once been the object of his strange affection, was now completely invisible to him and she was very much alright with it.

Rachel had helped design the decorations for the winter formal and was looking forward to seeing them in action but it seemed there were other plans in the mix.

Caleb Bronen, a man that Rachel only knew in passing as Jefferson and Ryan’s friend, sauntered over to them, his eyes  sparkling from pre party drinking.

He produced a flask out of his inside pocket and took another swig, “Are we ready to get this party started?”

Melody giggled and took the flask from Caleb, “Thank God, I thought for a second I’d actually have to go to the formal.” She took a drink and tried to hand the flask to Rachel. “Want some?”

Rachel frowned and looked at everyone. Had this been the plan? Had they just decided not to tell her?

“
No thank you.” She shook her head.

“
Oh, don’t be a sour puss, Rach.” Melody took another drink, “It’s not gonna kill you.”

“
Well.” Jefferson smiled, producing his own flask, “Loose lips sink ships.”

Ryan laughed and took out yet another flask. “Oh please, Jefferson, I think we all have the same idea here.”

Jefferson shrugged. “Come on, there’s more at the real party.” For the first time in months Jefferson looked at Rachel and winked. As if they were in on the same secret.

The real party, as it turned out, was not a party at all, but just sitting around the abandoned sports club, drinking beer and waiting for something interesting to happen. Not Rachel’s idea of a good time.

Melody turned on a radio in the corner and started dancing, she invited Rachel to dance with her, but again Rachel declined. She felt extremely uncomfortable about this entire set up, but couldn’t say anything.

Melody handed Rachel her camera and asked that she take some pictures, just so everyone could properly remember the event.

If she was going to find something out it was going to be now. Like Jefferson said, loose lips sink ships.

A couple hours in Rachel noticed Caleb was slurring his words more than the others and laughing just a fraction louder. So she decided to make herself useful.

“So Caleb, how did you meet Ryan and Jefferson?” Rachel sat down next to the boy sitting on the ground and he took a sip off his beer thinking the question over.

Melody laughed in the background at someone unknown joke that she didn’t share with the group, but Rachel could only assume it had something to do with her question.

“I don’t know.” Caleb’s face was full of mischief, “How did I meet you guys?”

Jefferson shook his head and shrugged, his face a light pink from the alcohol.

Instinctively Rachel reached into her purse and turned on the tape recorder that she had brought with her.

By now she had tapes and tapes of strange conversations, but this one looked the most promising.

“I think it was the coke.” Caleb let out a peal of laughter that was not felt by the rest of the group. “What do you think guys? Is that when we met?”

Ryan chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, man.” He took a drink of his beer to steady himself but Rachel could see that this was not a topic anyone wanted to discuss.

“Yeah.” Caleb nodded, “’Cuz Jeff’s dad needed my dad to sign off on everything.” He smiled at his ability to put things together in his drunken haze. “And they wanted us to be
friends
.”

Rachel looked at Jefferson and noticed that his hawk like eyes had sobered up quite quickly.

“You want to be quiet now, Caleb.” Jefferson’s voice was lower than before, a threat more than an instruction.

“
No, we’re all
friends
here.” Caleb laughed again and looked around the room. “I mean come on, this is the first time Jefferson has had any fun since Anna died.”

“
Caleb, watch yourself.” Ryan looked at Jefferson and shook his head.

Caleb rolled his eyes and blew passed Ryan’s warning. “You should really get over that Jefferson, she was a junkie. You’re better than that.”

He laughed, “Peddle the product but don’t try it.” Caleb nodded, “Yep.”

“
I don’t think you should be talking about Anna like you knew her.” Jefferson’s voice was cold, terrifying. This wasn’t the Jefferson that originally started the party. This was the Jefferson that had pushed Rachel down the stairs.

“
Oh I knew her, alright.” Caleb winked, “Then again, so did half of Charleston, so that’s not like a big thing.”

“
Caleb.” Ryan was trying desperately to keep the peace between Jefferson and Caleb but it didn’t seem like Caleb was doing any amount of listening.

“
What? She was a slut.” Caleb shrugged and put his bottle to his lips, “It’s not like it was a secret.”

“
I swear to God, Caleb, if you say one more word...” Jefferson's voice was threatening, a menacing snarl snaking across his dark face.

“
Here's a word for Anna.” Caleb chuckled. “C-” But before he could finish his sentence Jefferson was on top of him, slamming Caleb backwards and sprawling him on the floor.

Melody screamed in the background for Ryan to do something as Rachel sat there in dumb silence while Jefferson bashed Caleb’s head into the hard floor repeatedly.

Ryan rushed over and tried to pull Jefferson off of Caleb but Jefferson’s will was stronger and he stayed straddling Caleb until he stopped moving.

Blood oozed in Rachel’s direction and she stood up to get away, feeling her insides turn over. “We have to do call someone.”

Jefferson stood, his face splattered with droplets of Caleb’s blood. “You’re not going to call anyone.”

“
He might be dead, Jefferson!” Melody shouted, “What were you thinking?”

Jefferson’s hawk expression turned on his girlfriend then, “Do you know what would happen if he is dead and they know we were all here?”

Melody’s gaze dropped; more secrets that no one wanted to share.

“
Rachel,” Ryan whispered, walking over to her and holding her hand, “You can’t say anything.”

His eyes plead more than Jefferson’s and she sensed something else there. Was he trying to protect her?

Rachel’s eyes trained on the growing pool of blood around Caleb’s head and she felt her whole body begin to tremble.

Ryan used a gentle hand to guide her eyes back to his and he looked more earnest than before. “Trust me, Rachel; you can’t say anything about this.”

Rachel swallowed and nodded her head. She couldn’t. Not here. Not in front of these people. But later. Later she would take her evidence and she would expose them for the monsters they were.

Jefferson was staring at her, waiting for her to agree to their terms, his dead eyes trained on her.

“I won’t say anything.” Rachel whispered. “I promise.”