Wicked Weaves (29 page)
Authors: Joyce Lavene,Jim
“Okay. I’m sorry I brought it up. I was just saying you might be doing more harm than good.”
“You don’t understand what it’s like to be alone without anyone else who cares about you. I’m there for Tony, and he’s there for me.”
Chase paused before he opened the door. “I know you’re there for him. I’m not sure he feels the same way about you. When was the last time he bailed you out of a jam or did anything besides worry about himself?”
That was taking things too far. But my brother was my responsibility, not his, and I didn’t expect him to understand. “I’m not worried about it. Tony would be there if I really needed him. You don’t know him like I do.”
“You’re right about that. He doesn’t develop personal friendships with anyone. Except the fairies, and I think they shore up his backbone like you do.”
“Not everyone our age has had a long-term relationship with one partner.” I tapped my fingers on the banister until I realized I might push the whole thing down. “Have you?”
“Not yet. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t commit to the right person.” He looked at me and asked, “Would you?”
I let loose with an entire barrage of excuses as to why I wouldn’t. He stood and listened as the rain fell harder, soaking through what was left of our dry clothes. If Abraham
was
hiding in the loft, he had to wonder what was keeping us.
was
hiding in the loft, he had to wonder what was keeping us.
“I think that must be every excuse known to men or women,” Chase said. “But what’s the real excuse, Jessie?”
I felt drained and exhausted. I hoped I could make it back down the stairs without falling. It was hard denying what I felt for Chase, especially since he kept looking at me with those big, dark eyes. I wanted to tell him that everything had changed for me, but I was too afraid. I couldn’t have told him what I was afraid of. I wasn’t even sure myself. Was I ready for the personal commitment he was looking for?
“Until this year, I’ve never met anyone I thought I could commit to for more than a summer,” I ground out. “Maybe now things will be different.”
I couldn’t see the look on his face, even in the shadows. I was breathing fast, my heart pounding in my chest. I’d given everything away, and there was no response from him. I was terrified he didn’t feel the same way about me. Maybe Chase was the one man I could really love, and he might never care for me the same way.
“Door’s open,” he said finally. “He must know we’re out here. I guess we’ll go in.”
We walked around the dark loft. There were only two rooms and there was no sign that anyone was staying there.
I didn’t know what to say. All my thoughts were jumbled. Why couldn’t he have waited until the end of the summer for this discussion? Everything seemed wrong and stilted with him now. I didn’t see how we’d go on together for the next few weeks.
“I don’t think anyone’s been here,” he said finally. “If Abraham was hiding up here, he didn’t leave anything behind.”
“Yeah.” I searched for other words, but they wouldn’t come. I’d given him my heart on a platter, and he’d sent it back to the kitchen. I guessed this was why I’d always kept myself apart from making this kind of commitment. “I guess we might as well call it a night and start over again tomorrow.”
“That makes sense.”
I couldn’t make out his face in the dark loft. I could hear the edge in his voice. I wanted to shine my flashlight on him to see if the nuances I heard matched the reality in his eyes. I stood there, looking down at the floor, wondering what I should do next. I supposed I’d have to move out of the dungeon. Maybe housing would let me stay in the shed where Tony was. I didn’t want to go up and down these stairs every day.
“Jessie, if you’ve met someone else ...”
“What are you talking about?” Had he lost his mind? “Who else would I have met?”
“You said you met someone this summer you could finally care about.”
I grabbed his arm and shook it. “I was talking about
you
, you big idiot! I was saying I could commit to
you
.”
you
, you big idiot! I was saying I could commit to
you
.”
“Really? For how long?”
“I don’t know. Does it have to have a time frame, Chase? Can’t we take it a day at a time? I’m willing to commit to that.”
He slid his arms around me, and we kissed. Our faces were wet from the rain. We were standing beside the bed in the loft. It was dry and warm. One thing seemed to lead to another, and we were suddenly on the bed with our wet clothes on the floor.
“I wish I could do more than one day at a time,” I promised feverishly against his wide, smooth chest.
“I won’t ask for something you can’t give.” He kissed me, and I didn’t argue with him. Outside the window that overlooked the street, lightning flickered in the dark sky and thunder rumbled around us. Words weren’t necessary for what we felt, and any awkwardness melted away as we pressed closer to each other.
I wanted to tell him more than ever how I felt, but I knew it might be wrong. I didn’t know how he felt about me yet. Then I forgot to think about anything but being there with him. He had the gentlest touch of any man I’d ever known. I suspected Chase had a soft heart and someday would make some woman a wonderful husband.
A sound penetrated the foggy darkness of my brain. Chase must’ve heard it, too. Both of us held still, listening.
“Did you hear that?” His question was barely out when the door to the loft opened.
Twenty
A bright flashlight beam shone on us from the doorway. “What’s going on in here?”
I pulled on my tank top standing behind Chase as he scrambled into his shorts. I hadn’t been caught in a situation like this since I was a sophomore in high school making out in my grandmother’s basement with Tommy Weller.
It was different now. I wasn’t a kid anymore, and I had nothing to feel guilty about or defend. But it felt the same with the flashlight shining on us.
“Is that you, Chase?” Officer Grigg lowered the flashlight. “The power is off all over the Village.”
“It’s me. And yes, the power goes off here after storms.” Chase pulled his shirt down over his shoulders and glanced back at me. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll survive.” I stuffed my feet into my sandals. I didn’t want to think about what happened to my underwear.
“Are you two investigating up here?” Grigg obviously was farsighted and stupid at the same time. If I’d seen us getting dressed like the house was on fire, I’d know what was going on.
“Yeah. We thought we’d look around up here, since we knew it was empty. Have you seen anything unusual?” Chase asked him.
“Not much. It’s been quiet. Probably because of the rain. I had a conversation with that Trent guy earlier. He doesn’t have an alibi for his whereabouts at the approximate time of Mr. Shift’s death.”
“That’s interesting.” I took up the slack for Chase, who was looking for one of his shoes. “He confronted us at the pub and was angry that I’d mentioned his name.”
“He’s suspicious, that’s for sure,” Grigg agreed. “I’ve checked out the whole Village and can’t find any place that Abraham fella could be staying. He’s like a ghost.”
“He’s here somewhere.” Chase finally found his shoe under the bed. “We’re just not looking in the right places.”
“I’m going over to check out the forest area,” Grigg said. “If you’d like to come with me, that would suit me. This place is bigger than it looks on the outside.”
“I don’t think Abraham would hide out in Sherwood Forest for long,” Chase said. “Robin Hood is tough on trespassers.”
“I’ve heard that name before. Wasn’t there an actor named Robin Hood back in the fifties?”
“Actually it was a real person who lived during the real Renaissance,” I explained. “This Robin Hood is our personal Robin Hood.”
“What’s his real name?” Grigg asked.
“Robin Hood.” I shrugged. “He had it changed.”
“This is a weird place. I wouldn’t like to live here all the time. I don’t know how people put up with all the craziness.”
“It’s not that crazy when you understand how it works.” Chase straightened the mattress that was falling off the side of the bed. “I’ll come with you to the forest. It’s the only way you won’t end up hog-tied on my steps in the morning. I’m not kidding about Robin and his men disliking trespassers.”
Grigg laughed. “I worked the bad streets of Atlanta before coming here. I’m not worried about a bunch of sissies in tights. But I’d be glad of the company.”
“Okay.” Chase looked at me. “Are you okay with that, Jessie?”
“You know, I’m kind of tired. I think I’ll just go back to the dungeon and get some sleep.”
“This shouldn’t take long,” he whispered near my ear so Grigg wouldn’t hear. “I’ll be back to wake you up.”
I shivered, not from the damp clothes, and kissed him. “I’ll be waiting.”
The rain had completely moved off to the south where I could still see forked lightning in the dark sky. The mist and haze cocooned the Village around us as we left the Beanery and skirted across the Village Square together. At this time of night, with the mist swirling around the cobblestone streets, anything seemed possible. All the fairytale creatures might be asleep in their beds, but this was the time you could really feel the magic spell the Village wove.
It was my favorite time. I didn’t mind the crowds since they were the lifeblood of the Village. But when it was quiet and kind of spooky like this, it seemed more real than ever. It was easy to forget that past the walls that surrounded us were tall hotels on Ocean Boulevard and Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Myrtle Beach was certainly the most commercialized beach from here to Coney Island, but in the Village, it was quiet and otherworldly.
“Are you okay to go back from here by yourself in the dark?” Chase asked when we reached the big fountain in the middle of the square. The four large fish squirted water from their mouths in the fountain, the splashing water even louder in the cool night air.
“I’ll be fine.” I was touched by his concern, but the dungeon wasn’t that far away, and I’d walked these streets at night a few hundred times alone since I’d been coming here.
“I’ll see you as soon as I can,” he promised with a kiss.
“Okay. If not, I’ll bring a knife down to cut both of you free in the morning.”
Chase laughed. “It’s been at least two years since that happened to me. Robin wouldn’t do that now.”
We said our temporary good-byes and walked in opposite directions. As Chase and Grigg disappeared into the mist down Squire’s Lane, I heard Grigg say, “You two have a thing going on, don’t you?”
I didn’t hear Chase’s reply, but I was amazed at the man’s ability to state the obvious. If it took him that long with us, what possible chance did we have of catching the killer?
I was walking between the Hands of Time clock shop and DaVinci’s Drawings, when I saw a man in a hooded robe walking quickly between the privies that separated the two shops.
The first thing I thought was one of the monks had kept his robe anyway. But I’d counted the robes, and Chase had counted the monks. We had twenty-five robes and the same number monks.
Then I thought about Roger. Of course, there could be other robes, like the one Jah had found in the hole in the wall. It could be Abraham as well. Either way, it might be a good idea to follow and see what was going on.
With the lights out and the mist covering the ground, it was easy to go from place to place, keeping the solitary hooded figure in my line of sight. I leapfrogged from the privies to Da Vinci’s, then hid behind the Little Mermaid Fountain and the Lovely Washer Women’s Well. The figure continued up between Fabulous Funnels and the Beanery, glancing back occasionally.
If I hadn’t known the area so well, I might’ve gotten lost. The only illumination came from shop windows where someone had left a lantern or candle burning. It would be easy to get turned around in the square or behind the privies and buildings.
The robed figure seemed to glide over the foggy cobblestones as it headed toward the glass shop. It had to be Roger. What had he been up to? He seemed to be headed back home. Had he followed me, Chase, and Grigg from the Beanery toward the forest to find out what we were doing?
A hand snaked out from behind a statue of William Shakespeare where the bard sat and quoted his verse from ten until four each day. I almost screamed as it took me by surprise. Thank goodness my hand reached my mouth before it could come out. I would’ve sounded like some bimbo in a cheap movie.
“Shh!” I recognized Brother Carl’s voice, if not his outfit.
The dim light from a lantern in a window behind me picked out what the monks must’ve chosen as replacement garments until their robes were returned. The black and silver domino was eye-catching and evil looking at the same time. “What are you doing out here, and where did you get that costume?”
“I think we’re doing the same thing,” he replied, “following whoever that is in one of our robes. Let’s not talk about the costume. It was the only thing Portia had enough of so we all looked the same. The thing’s a menace to bake in. Keeps getting in the way.”
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