Marionette (27 page)

“How?”

“Paying someone to slip Alex drugs laced with something—‌a lethal dose.”

“Who?”

“A friend of Alex’s—‌a druggie.”

“A friend?” She sounded skeptical.

“Money is a powerful motivator. But this friend ended up dying last year anyway, from a drug overdose.” I tapped my fingers on the armrests of my chair.

“Do you think your mom did that?”

I sucked in my breath. “Hard to prove. Guilt is just as deadly. Maybe the friend couldn’t live with what he had done.”

“Davie?” A hint of understanding flashed across Liddy’s face.

“Mom worked through Alex’s friends. Why wouldn’t she find someone who could get close to me too?” I remembered something else. “Actually, she told me she was the one who got Alex hooked on drugs too. She asked someone to introduce Alex to the stuff. I don’t know if she planned it all from the beginning, but she was thrilled with the results.”

“How did you find out Alex was your sister? Did Alex tell you?”

“No, not Alex. That night, when my mom bragged about taking care of Alex. She said my charming father would go into her room when she was bedridden and boast about his exploits to torture her. One night, he was either really drunk or extremely cocky, and he told her all about Alex. How I was best friends with my half-sister and neither of us knew. Even Alex’s father didn’t know.

“No wonder my mother hated me. Alex and I looked almost identical, even more so than Abbie and I. The sight of me must have made her sick. My mom blamed me for the Lego incident and then this. When she looks at me, her eyes scream bloody murder. I never understood until that day.”

“Oh, Paige. I don’t know what to believe.”

“Probably that I’m paranoid.” I crossed my arms.

“No, not that. But all of it is…‌far-fetched.”

“I know. It’s still hard for me to fathom, and I’ve spent months tracking down as many clues as possible.”

“When did your mom tell you about Alex?”

I looked down at my wrists.

“You aren’t worried that your parents, or your mom, will lock you up because you’re gay. You’re worried that’s the excuse they’ll use to silence you.”

“Exactly. And my parents hate scandals. They believe everyone thinks they are perfect. Having a lesbian in the family would be catastrophic. And I am one of the remaining connections to Alex. They have no issues taking people out who are connected to us.”

“Are you worried about Jess’s safety?”

I nodded.

“It’s only a matter of time until my mom stumbles upon the fact that I’m gay. I worry about that constantly.”

“How much does Jess know?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“I’ve never shared this with a soul. I keep those articles locked away so no one will discover them.”

“Can I keep them to read over the weekend?” She set the stack aside, not giving me a chance to refuse the request.

“Yes.”

Liddy made no move to end the session. Did she think it was safer to keep me in her office? Did she believe me? Trust me? Or did she think I was a loon—‌a paranoid loon?

* * *

After my session with Liddy, I wasn’t in the mood to head straight to my dorm room. Instead, I barged into the student center. Sometimes, the best way for me to feel alone, at least since moving to college, was to get lost in a crowd. I grabbed a ham and cheese sandwich and a large Dr. Pepper, and then found a seat in the back of the dining room.

Tom moseyed by, but didn’t see me. He looked downcast, like he needed a friend. I hesitated before I called out to him. Turning, he smiled and then made his way to my table.

Tom slid his tray of food down on the table. He had a ham and cheese sandwich and a large Dr. Pepper too. Maybe it was a gay thing.

“Do you normally eat this late?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No. In fact, this is my second lunch today. How about you?”

“I stopped by your room earlier to say hi. Karen was there with her brother.”

I started to speak, but he waved my words away.

“Yes, that one. I got suckered into hanging out with them while her brother tried to convince Audrey and the gang that being gay is just dandy. Afterwards, Aaron kept making fun of him. I couldn’t handle it, so I came here to get away.”

“I’m a little disappointed that I missed Karen and her performance. Probably a good thing.” I squeezed his hand. “Sorry about Aaron.”

“Oh, he can be such an ass. And with all of the Amendment 2 shit earlier this semester, to be honest, I’m fed up with him. I’m trying to talk to the people in charge of room assignments to get a new roommate next semester.”

“I’m so sorry, Tom. I didn’t know it was that bad.”

“Aaron is okay, I guess. But his military bravado and crap gets old real fast.” He fiddled with the straw in his drink. “Every day, he makes a crack that I haven’t brought any girls back to the room. He’s laid off a little since you and I started ‘dating.’” He chuckled and made quote marks in the air.

“Tell me about it. It was a relief not to have to explain where I spend my weekends.”

“To make matters worse, Nick and I broke up.”

“Oh Tom, I’m so sorry.”

He seemed relieved that I didn’t ask why. I had a feeling, and I felt guilty about it.

An idea struck me. “Hey, why don’t you come to Jess’s this weekend? Jess and I have to work tomorrow, but you can hang out at Julia’s or borrow my car while we work. It looks like you need a break. And we can tell our roommates you’re going home with me to meet the parents!” I slammed my hand down on the table victoriously.

Tom straightened up in his chair. “Are you sure? I won’t be in the way?”

“Nonsense. Jess would love to have you there. Of course, she may grill you about our dates—‌she figured it out.” I looked shyly down at my sandwich before taking a huge bite.

I still felt guilty about Nick.

Tom slurped his soda as if he were forcing the thought of Nick down into a hidden reservoir inside. A few moments passed before he said, “Seriously, you wouldn’t mind? I would love it! I hate going to frat parties every weekend.”

“Come on, some of the guys are cute.” I winked at him.

“What about the girls? They’re all dolled up to get free drinks.” He pushed his sleeves up, and then hoisted the sandwich to his mouth. One bite and a third of it was gone.

“That doesn’t do it for me. I hate all the fakeness. It seems like everyone here is lying or hiding something. I can’t stand that.”

Tom chortled. “That includes us!”

“Right, I didn’t think of it that way,” I said sheepishly.

His face grew serious. “But I know what you mean. There’s a lot of hate towards gays boiling under the surface here. Something bad is going to happen.”

The two of us hammered down our sandwiches and made plans to meet in my room so Karen would see us leave for the weekend together.

It didn’t take me long to pack. I had a supply of toiletries at Jess’s, so all I needed was a change of clothes. Karen wandered into the room.

“There you are. I was looking for you earlier. My brother came up for lunch.” She beamed.

“Yeah, Tom told me. I’m sorry I missed him.”

“Are you going away again?” She gestured to my bag.

Before I could answer, there was a knock at the door. Karen answered it. I rolled my eyes.

Tom came in all smiles, strolled up to me, and planted a kiss on my forehead. “Are you ready?”

Karen got a jealous look in her eyes. “Are you two going away for the weekend? Together?”

I laughed. The plan was working beautifully. “Yep. Tom is coming home with me for the weekend.”

“Really?” Karen couldn’t control her excitement.

Minnie sauntered in and looked about quizzically.

“Paige is introducing Tom to her family!” Karen exclaimed.

Minnie dropped her bag to the floor, looked at Tom with his arm around me and then looked back at Karen. “Really?”

It wasn’t until that moment that I realized Tom wasn’t wearing his Broncos hat. He looked respectable. Combed hair. Clean shirt. And khaki trousers. He looked like he was actually meeting my parents.

I patted his cheek “Really,” I said. “Tom, dear, we better go. We have dinner plans.” I tapped my watch.

Tom scooped up both of our bags and held my hand as we exited the room. When we reached the stairwell, we both exploded into laughter.

“Did you see the look on Minnie’s face?” asked Tom as he gasped for air.

“Ha! You said Minnie.” I leaned against the wall and cackled till my sides burned.

Minutes later, we approached my car and Tom dropped the bags by the trunk. “Whoa! Minnie said you had a nice car, but are you serious?” He stood back from my car. “This is legit—‌a Jaguar XJS—‌how old is it?”

“Less than a year. Got it for graduation.” Embarrassed about my car, I pulled the keys out of my pocket. “Care to drive?”

“Seriously?” His falsetto voice informed me I had just made his day.

What’s with men and cars? Even gay men go gaga over them.

By the time we reached Jess’s apartment, she had finished work. I didn’t bother calling her to tell her Tom was coming. I knew I didn’t have to. As soon as Tom walked in, Jess threw her arms around him and welcomed him to her place. Actually, she said
our
place.

Over a beer, we explained how our plan worked with Minnie and Karen.

Jess laughed. “I bet they are still talking about it.”

“Those two won’t stop talking about it until we return from our trip.” I smiled at Jess.

Jess turned to Tom. “What kind of food are you in the mood for, Tom?”

“Can we go to Julia’s? That’s the best sandwich I’ve ever had.”

Since it wasn’t that cold out and all of us hoped to drink, we walked to Julia’s.

The restaurant was slow for a change, so Julia sat with us at a booth. While Tom was in the bathroom, I explained his situation with Aaron, and told them about Nick. Both Jess’s and Julia’s nurturing impulse kicked in.

When Tom returned to the table, Julia asked him what he was doing the next day while Jess and I worked.

Tom shrugged. “Don’t know. Maybe just hang out.”

Julia waved her hand. “Fiddlesticks. How ’bout I teach you how to make my secret sauce? What do you think? Would you like a job?”

Tom’s eyes grew big with excitement. “Cool!”

Jess turned to me. “We should get a bigger apartment so Tom can have his own room. He’ll need a place to stay so he can work.”

And that was it: Tom was included in the inner circle—‌like family. The thought of moving to a new place was appealing. Now if I could only convince Jess not to tell anyone the address, not even Mel. Then maybe I wouldn’t have to worry so much about Davie or others lurking out there. How many were there?

Chapter Twenty-One

Weeks later, the phone in my dorm room rang. Karen answered it, and then tried to hand the receiver to me.

“Who is it?” I asked, refusing to grab it.

“Don’t know. Some dude.”

I was annoyed. I had a French final the next day, and I didn’t want any interruptions.

Karen waved the phone in my face. “Paige, don’t be rude.”

I muttered, “Hello,” into the receiver and tried to mask my annoyance.

“Don’t say anything, just hang up and come to my room. Now.” Tom sounded scared.

“Uh, he must have hung up.” Casually, I replaced the receiver and stretched. “I think I’ll head to the library to study. Fewer interruptions.”

Karen shrugged. She was sitting at my desk, cramming for her chemistry final.

Taking the back stairs, I ran most of the way to Tom’s.

Before I had a chance to knock on the door, he yanked it open.

“Get in here.”

“Tom, what’s going on?”

“It’s awful. Just awful.” He was almost in tears.

“What happened?”

“Yeah. Something happened, Paige. Something bad.”

I sat on his bed. “Tom, you’re freaking me out. What’s going on?”

“The police came and took Aaron.”

“Aaron! Why?” Even to me, my voice sounded like it was coming from across the room.

“There was an…‌incident.”

He was trying to protect me. But from what?

“Why don’t you start at the beginning?”

Tom walked to his mini fridge and grabbed a Keystone Light. He popped the top and poured a generous amount into his mouth. Then he removed his Broncos hat and frantically rubbed the top of his head. His hair was matted down with sweat.

“I knew he was a douche, but this?” Tom’s eyes bored into mine.

“What did he do?” I sensed I wasn’t going to like the news.

“He and a couple of his buddies beat up this guy.”

Tom took another swig of beer.

“Who? Why?

“It…‌he…‌was a gay guy.”

“What?” I blinked several times trying to erase the image from my mind.

“They ambushed him outside of the student union.”

“Why?”

Tom’s glare told me the reason.

“Just because he was gay?” I clarified.

Tom nodded once and then finished off his beer. He went back to the fridge and grabbed another, and one for me.

At first, I was numb. I barely even registered I was holding the beer. Seconds later, I set the beer down, unopened. “I don’t want to be here. Let’s get away.”

“Where?” Tom stared into his beer can, searching for answers.

“Jess. She’ll know what to do, what to say. Tom, you can’t stay here. Not with Aar…‌Him.” I couldn’t utter his name. I tried, but the name died in the back of my throat.

We sat silently for several minutes. When Tom went to the bathroom, I looked over at Aaron’s desk. He had photos of his family and friends. Smiling. Full of life. Young. How could someone hate another person for such a stupid reason?

Holding his jacket and backpack, Tom walked back into the room. “Do you need to go back to your room for anything?”

I shook my head. Tom threw a few beers into his bag. “I’m ready.”

The drive to Jess’s felt like hours. Neither of us spoke. Not once did I break the speed limit, swerve into a different lane, or tailgate. Tom was drinking, and the thought of us getting arrested steadied my foot on the gas pedal and made me control my impulses.