WhiteSpace: Season One (Episodes 1-6 of the sci-fi horror serial) (23 page)

Jon said, “Not too good to smoke, just don’t want to. I quit a few years back.”

“You were chain smoking in
Bullocks
.”

Jon laughed. “That’s a movie, Cass. I’ll smoke for a movie, especially because it pisses the MPAA off, and a bunch of the whinier bitches in Hollywood, which always makes me happy.” He looked at Cassidy, realization lighting his face. “You saw
Bullocks
?”
 

She looked down, embarrassed, then laughed, “Yeah,” she said. “It was good. At least better than that
Everlasting
bullshit.”

“Ha,” Jon said, “no argument there.”

Another six seconds of silence, then, “Okay, give me one.” Jon held out his hand.
 

Cassidy filled it with a cigarette, then as she lit it asked, “Still smoke weed?”

Jon took a big drag, then blew the smoke toward the sea and said, “Every chance I get.”

She laughed. “Don’t suppose you brought any with you? Private jet and all?”

He shook his head. “I fly commercial. Besides, aren’t you sober?”

“Weed doesn’t count. It’s the pills I’ve gotta be careful with.” She took another drag, happy to have a break from hating Jon, however temporary it might be.
 

“Think Johnson’s getting anything?”
 

Cassidy narrowed her eyes and shook her head. “I don’t know, but if he hurt Emma, I’ll ruin his fucking life.” She pulled on her cigarette hard. “That fucker has no idea how small this island can get.”

The first drop of rain spattered the concrete. Jon gestured up at the sky, then toward the overhang sloping over the front door of the station. He waved Cassidy forward, then hopped up the six steps of the porch just behind her. Chief Brady opened the door just as she hit the top step.
 

 
“Sorry,” he said, lowering his head with a silent confession of the defeat in his news. “We’ve got nothing. I’m waiting to hear back from the officers on the scene, to see what they find in his house.”
 

“I wanna see Houser,” Jon said. “I’ll pay his bail.”
 

Brady shook his head. “Not necessary, Jon. No bail needed. I’m happy to let Mr. Houser go, but just so you know, Mr. Whistler can press charges.” He sighed before he added, “and he probably will.”
 

It was hard for Cassidy to hear Jon clearly through his gritted teeth, but she would’ve bet the pill in her pocket he said, “I’d love to see him try.”
 

Jon looked like he could’ve torn the head from a chicken.
 
Cassidy flicked her cigarette over the ledge and into dirt that was already well on its way to mud, then took a step toward the chief.
 

“What the fuck, Brady? There’s a missing nine year old girl on the island. What in the hell are you going to do about it? Emma could already be dead or dying or worse.”
 

Cassidy wasn’t even sure what was worse than dead or dying, but her lip was quivering and her body was suddenly shaking with something more than what she’d expect from the sea’s chill or the pills’ itch.
 

Brady stood his ground. Eyes soft, he said, “We’re doing our best, Cassidy. And there’s nothing I’m focused on more than Emma right now. I promise. We’re doing, and will continue to do, everything we can to find her.”

Cassidy screamed, “Why don’t you let Paladin handle this? They’re obviously more suited to the search, with more cars, officers, weapons, and balls.”
 

Brady kept his cool. “There are more than a dozen Paladin officers helping us right now, Cassidy. That’s generous enough.”

“Bullshit!” Cassidy yelled. “That’s bullshit and you goddamn know it! They could send in a force, and you know there’d be at least two dozen of ‘em if there had been another break-in at one of their precious labs.”
 

Cassidy waited for an answer, but if Brady had one he was keeping it to himself.
 

“Why don’t you demand it, Brady, right now? Call Conway Industries and tell them there’s a missing nine year old girl on the island, and if she isn’t found pretty goddamn quick, her crazy aunt is just loony enough to call
The Times
and see what they say about the bazillionaire family who won’t let the local law share their pet police force to find her.”

Though Cassidy’s entire body was shaking, it wasn’t vibrating too fast for her to miss the look of terror that tore through Brady’s eyes.
 

“That won’t be necessary, Cassidy,” he said, holding her gaze. “Now, just calm down and we’ll figure this out.”

Brady’s phone rang. He broke Cassidy’s gaze, then reached inside his pocket, fished for his the phone, and glanced at the screen. “Excuse me,” he said.
 

Jon nodded. Cassidy stood rooted to concrete, staring, as Brady stepped inside the station.
 

Jon looked at her, like he was smart enough to say nothing, then proved himself an idiot by opening his mouth anyway. “You okay, Cassidy?”

Cassidy nodded, and Jon got stupider.

“You know, you’re gonna have to settle down. Brady’s doing the best he can to find Emma. Everyone is.”
 

Cassidy thought,
bullshit,
but ignored Jon. He kept talking.
 

“And Houser will help. He’s the best, I promise, maybe even better than the best.”
 

Jon gave Cassidy a thin smile, but she continued to ignore him, and kept ignoring him until the front door of the station swung open and Brady’s boots were back on the porch.
 

He seemed both taller and sadder as he walked up to Cassidy and looked her in the eye. “You wanna tell me again where you were the night Emma went missing?”
 

“I told you,” Cassidy said, her voice steady. “I was home. I fell asleep and when I woke the next morning, Emma was gone.”

“So you didn’t go anywhere?”

Cassidy could feel Brady’s doubt rising like heat waves over the asphalt.
 

She lied anyway. “No, I was home with my mom. You can ask her.”
 

Cassidy could feel Jon’s eyes suddenly burning with the same heat as Brady’s.
 

The chief said, “Really, Cassidy? Because one of my guys is over at Paladin reviewing the security footage taken from your street the night Emma went missing, and says that you left for a bit. You wanna tell me where you went?”
 

Cassidy said nothing, just shoved her hands inside her pockets and stared at Brady.
 

Jon spoke, “Wait. You guys have the surveillance video? Did you see Emma leave?”

“No,” Brady said. “There was some static on the camera around three in the morning or so, which lasted about two minutes. Other than, nothing.”

Cassidy didn’t answer the chief’s question, but instead asked her own, “And did you get footage from Whistler’s house? Huh?”

“I’ve asked for the footage, yes. Now, you wanna tell me where you went?”

Cassidy could feel Jon’s eyes on her. Judging her. Accusing her. It was only a matter of time before they found the truth if they pieced all the island’s CCTV footage together. But it seemed unlikely that they’d spend that much time on doing so unless Emma wasn’t found. Or was found dead. So she’d lie her ass off until then.

“I went for a drive. My mom was driving me nuts. I was stressed out, and missing Sarah,” she began to cry. The tears were fake, at first, but quickly became real.

Jon surprised her by opening his arms and hugging her.

She accepted his embrace until Chief Brady excused himself, to say he was going to see if he could get something out of Whistler, and went back inside.

The lie had worked. But for how long?

As the door closed, she let the tears flow, and was surprised at how much better she felt hugging Jon than hating him.

* * * *

CHAPTER 7 — Alex Heller

The first half of Alex’s return to Hamilton K-12 was relatively quiet, even if supremely uncomfortable. Teachers seemed afraid to look him in the eye. Students eyed him suspiciously, accusation in their faces. Conversations and jokes once passed with friends had twisted into awkward glances and, at best, quiet nods. Alex wasn’t sure if people hated or feared him, or maybe they just didn’t know how to talk to him. He felt like a tourist in a world where he’d always been a citizen.

He understood the suspicion, but Alex had yet to bury his father, and was mourning, the same as them.

But he doubted he’d get a single “I’m sorry” from his schoolmates, and if he was being honest, couldn’t imagine feeling much like giving one if he’d been on the other side of the violence.

Not a single student had spoken to him between first period and lunch, except for Katie, who added a few awkward words to her smile on the few occasions when he passed her in the hallways. Before fourth period, Alex met her in front of her locker and admitted that he’d made a mistake by coming back to school so soon.

“I’m getting out of here at lunch,” he said. “Interested?”

Katie looked nervous. She said, “I’m not sure.”
 

“It’s fine with me either way,” Alex said. “But if you wanna bail, meet me behind the racquetball courts.” He added, “see ya when I see ya,” then took off down the hall.
 

**

Security was tighter in the school than it had normally been, with four Paladin guards instead of one, patrolling the campus. But none were watching outside when Alex made a break for the racquetball courts and the hole in the fence Alex and his onetime crew had used to escape into the surrounding woods a few times before.

Normally, getting caught skipping school meant an automatic suspension, which always seemed ironic to Alex. Skip school and get punished by being sent home for one to three additional days.
Hey, I’ll take that punishment!
But Alex wasn’t too concerned about getting busted on his first day back. The dean was sure to go easy on him, considering the circumstance.

Alex didn’t head straight to the hole in the fence, however. He sat far back in the corner of the racquetball court on the right, where the walls met. It had rained earlier, but the sun was out now, and the court had dried. He sat his backpack on the ground, then pulled his Moleskine notebook and his Pilot pen from the bag. He wanted to explore the story idea he had the other day in his father’s office, about inanimate objects mourning their lost owner. It was a unique idea, and writing about it might give him a chance to work through some of his feelings about his father.

He was one line in, when footsteps paused his pen. Alex looked up, expecting to see Katie. But it wasn’t her. It was Jake Brewster, whose best friend Eddie Tarroza had been one of the victims. He was with Ray Wilson, another of Eddie’s friends. All three had belonged to the row team, and were pretty much the Unholy Trinity of royal assholes. Eddie was the one death Alex hadn’t missed a lot of sleep over.

“How’s it going, Heller?” Jake said as the pair closed in on Alex, cornering, and hanging over him.

“OK,” Alex said, keeping his eyes on the book, pretending to write, knowing shit was seconds from going bad, which was the very thing his mother had warned him might happen.

Eddie and Ray were two of the only kids Alex ever had problems with back in middle school. They had bullied him for a few weeks until Alex’s dad said something to Eddie’s, and they finally backed off. Though they’d stopped outright fucking with him, they never passed Alex again without snickering. Jake was all to quick to join in the snickering, of course.

Jake and Ray towered over him, taunting him in their silence. Alex stopped writing, wondering who would open their mouth first, or if they were just going to start hitting him. He wanted to look up, but didn’t dare tempt them. There were two of them, and one of him. Even if it had just been Jake, Alex would have had a tough fight on his hands. And there was also an excellent chance that Katie would be coming around the corner at any moment. The last thing Alex wanted was for her to see him getting his ass kicked, or worse, have her get caught up in the fight.

That was assuming they only wanted a fight. Maybe they intended to spill blood for blood.

Jake kicked Alex in the chin. It wasn’t hard. He seemed more interested in provoking Alex than actually hurting him.

Alex looked up. He said nothing as he met Jake’s dark, beady eyes.

Ray kicked next, without holding back. His foot landed on Alex’s arm, hard, knocking his moleskin and pen to the court.

“Get up, pussy!” Jake said.

“I don’t want to fight,” Alex said, trying to blink the pain, while bracing for another blow.

“Too bad,” Ray said. “You’re gonna pay for what your father did.”

“He killed Eddie!” Jake said, swinging a balled fist at Alex’s ear.

“Fuck!” Alex screamed, trying to rise to his feet.

Ray kicked him in the right ribcage, sending Alex reeling back, and into the wall hard. Pain tore through his right shoulder as Ray and Jake blocked his escape.