CHAPTER forty-nine
“He’s blackmailing them," I declared through a mouthful of Big Mac. "Pure and simple, Philip Winston is blackmailing Oakes and Everly." I snatched the napkin from my lap and quickly wiped some Special Sauce that was running down my chin.
"For what? Blackmailing them for what?" Jay said as he carefully folded the little bag that had contained his French fries. I watched him fold it into a tiny square and heard it plop when it hit the bottom of the take-out bag that was sitting between us on the front seat of the car.
Jay turned sideways in the seat and faced me. "Just because Oakes and Everly used to work at his dad’s company, doesn’t mean Philip has any reason to blackmail them."
"Come on Jay. Were you born yesterday? Didn’t you see Sadie’s reaction when I mentioned Oakes and Everly?"
"Yeah. So what? Maybe the mention of their names brought back sad memories. You saw how she reacted when she was holding that picture of Philip when he was young. It was an emotional reaction Kate. Read her emotions."
"I’ll do you one better, Mr. Know-It-All. I read body language. And her body language when I mentioned Oakes and Everly didn’t indicate sad to me. It was fury. Those two guys had something to do with that company going bankrupt. And that something was stealing. Oakes was treasurer. You tell me, Mr. MBA. If anyone in a company has access to the money, it’s the treasurer. Right?"
Jay angrily turned around in his seat and jammed the key in the ignition.
"Mr. Chauffeur is taking you home. Mr. Know-It-All and Mr. MBA are off for the night." The tires squealed as we pulled out of the parking lot at McDonald’s and I felt like a teenager again. Hot guy. Hot car. Burning rubber. I hit the automatic window button and stuck my head out the window to feel the wind in my hair. It wasn’t quite the same feeling as being in a convertible, but it was close.
The car silently cruised to a stop beside the curb and Jay turned off the ignition and extinguished the lights. We both remained in our seats and neither of us made a motion to get out of the car. The green digital clock on the dashboard read ten-thirty.
"Well?" I said hopefully. "Figured anything out?"
"Nope. I just keep going round and round the mulberry bush with this. We’ve got all sorts of loose ends and I’m not sure where they lead." Jay ran his hand through his hair a few times and continued, "I’m not sure that I want to know where they lead, Kate. I started this whole thing as petty revenge. But now, we’ve opened a can of worms and... " he trailed off.
"You’re right, it’s a mess," I agreed with him. "But I think this could potentially be more than a can of worms, Jay. This could be a big basket of snakes."
"Then I want to stop right now," he stated. "That’s it, that’s all. No more."
"You can’t be serious Jay," I argued. I held up my hand and ticked off on my fingers what we had. "One, we’ve got Oakes and Everly for lying. Two, we’ve got Philip Winston lying about his name. Three, we’ve found out that Oakes and Everly used to work for Philip’s father. Four, Philip’s father’s business went bankrupt because someone was stealing from it. And five, I think I know who was stealing from it."
"You forgot six and seven, Kate. Evelyn and Rick Cox. The police think someone deliberately poisoned Ev and so far they’re convinced Rick shot himself. That’s two dead bodies."
Jay’s hand found mine in the darkness and he held it tightly. "Kathleen, enough is enough. I’m dropping this. The more I talk and think about it, the more scared I get. And," he said as he put his arms around me and hugged me close to his chest, "I never planned on you getting involved. This was a stupid lark. It wasn’t supposed to turn out like this."
"I’m not dropping it Jay," I said defiantly. "I’m not. What if all of this has something to do with Evelyn’s death?"
"Then the police’ll figure it out. Please Kate," he pleaded with me. "I don’t care anymore about this job. Now that I know more about the idiots at the top, I’m glad I’m not there. The two most powerful guys are liars and the one I had any respect for fired me and then killed himself. Enough is enough."
I sat silently in his arms for a few moments and felt my insides start to boil with indignation. I pushed his arms away and sat back against the door. "Don’t quit on me Jay," I told him. "Maybe the police’ll never figure out what happened to Evelyn and I happen to think we’re in possession of relevant information. How it ties together, I don’t know. Yet."
"No," he shook his head. "Let them do their job. Drop it."
"I won’t." I wanted to stamp my feet but they barely touched the floor of the car. "Someone’s going to pay for Evelyn’s death. I’m not sure how or why, but I’ll figure it out. On my own if I have to." I got out of the car and stood on the curb with my hands on my hips.
Jay leaned over and placed his hand on the seat and spoke to me out the open door. "I’ll wait until I see your lights on," he said quietly.
"You’re not coming up are you?" I said with a sinking feeling. He shook his head. "Just because I said I won’t drop it? Are we being a little juvenile?" By we of course, I meant him. "This is a difference of opinion here, Jay. Not something earth-shattering like finding out you vote NDP."
Jay leaned over awkwardly to pull the door closed. "The juvenile chauffeur is going home. I need a change of clothes and I have to see Detective Leech first thing in the morning to sign my statement. Let’s take a few hours to cool our heels and I’ll call you in the morning. Okay?"
I nodded silently. "Please Kate. Let’s forget it." I helped him close the door by slamming it in his face.
My dreams that night were somewhat pleasant compared to the nightmares I’d been having of aimlessly wandering the desert, looking for Ev.
My dreams took me back to the old neighbourhood. Jay was there but now he was the same age as I was. It was a trip down memory lane. The softball diamond, the tree-house in Mr. McKinley’s backyard, a barbecue in our backyard on Canada Day and my dad setting off fireworks. All the neighbourhood kids were in my dreams that night.
I struggled awake slowly when my dreams took me to the swimming pool. We were horsing around in the water, tossing a heavy ring to the bottom of the pool and racing to see who could pick it up. I was at the bottom of the pool and couldn’t get back to the surface because I was out of breath. I was struggling in the water and getting nowhere. I wanted to scream for someone to help me but I couldn’t open my mouth. My legs and arms were flailing and I felt myself sinking back to the bottom of the pool.
I finally came awake but the weight of the water was still on me and I couldn’t breathe. My arms were over my head and there was a terrible weight on my stomach. I opened my eyes with a start and stared into a black, woollen face. A hand had my arms pinned over my head and the black face had his other hand over my mouth and nose. I whipped my head back and forth and struggled helplessly.
The black face came closer to mine and I tried to focus. I was getting a little air through one nostril but I desperately wanted to gulp a deep breath. The black face was someone wearing a wool ski mask. Only his eyes were visible through the one hole in the mask. I choked on a sob and felt the terror all the way down to my bowels.
"What?" I tried to scream through the leather glove that was covering my mouth and nose. He continued to stare at me, wordlessly, and I closed my eyes and started to pray but my mind couldn’t remember how.
The weight on my body finally lifted and I opened my eyes to see the person standing beside the bed, his one hand still pinning mine over my head. He slowly removed the other hand off my nose and mouth and I gratefully gulped the air. My body shook from fright and my sobs were loud. He stood there staring at me, not speaking and I prayed that whatever he was going to do to me, he’d get it over with quickly. I closed my eyes again and willed myself to another place.
I took myself back to the softball diamond in my dreams, where I had spent most summer evenings of my c
hildhood. I felt the stranger’s breath now on my face and suddenly I was back under the bleacher seats at the ball diamond, and Tommy Gardner’s breath was on my face. Tommy had me pinned down in the dirt, with both of my hands over my head. He had a glob of spit hanging from his mouth and he was about to let it go. Right on my face. I kicked up with my feet and used all of my strength to push the bully off of me.
The stranger’s breath was hot on my face and without opening my eyes, I struggled to get away from him. My fighting instincts came back and I pulled my feet up and tried to kick at him. He let my hands go and I flailed out at him, scrambling back in the bed to get away from him but I wasn’t fast enough. His fist slammed into the side of my face and everything I’d read in books about seeing stars came true. I cried out and put my hands over my face waiting for the next blow.
"Stay out of it," was all the stranger said in a low, gravely voice. And then he was gone.