September 5th, Wednesday - Casey Silpetti
The electronic medley of her cellphone wakes Casey up. Her hand blindly reaches out and fumbles to bring it closer to her face, so that she can read the caller id. It’s Harmony.
“Hello?” she murmures blearily.
“Hey girl! Where are you?”
“Aiden’s.”
“Ahh, so my plan worked? Awesome!”
“What plan?” She was starting to wake up, and she could smell food cooking through the open door.
“Well, I stayed up last night wondering if I’d hear from you. But I figured I’d leave the lights off, to give you a chance to go over to Aiden’s instead of staying here. And it worked! So…” Casey could hear her friend moving around on the other side of the line, and could imagine her sitting up excitedly, a smile on her lips. “Tell me everything. What happened? Tell me everything, don’t leave anything out!”
“Ah, well, we had hot crazy sex all night long. I probably just fell asleep ten minutes ago.”
“No way! So is he…you know…”
Casey bursts out laughing. “Harmony, Harmony, Harmony. You are THE most gullible person I’ve ever met. We did not have sex. I did sleep in his bed again…and ummm…so did he.” Casey feels her cheeks get hot, even though Harmony’s not there to see her blush.
“Spill girl…”
“Well, we drove by your house to see if you were still up, but as you said, the only light on was the one downstairs in the library that’s on a timer. I figured you were asleep and didn’t want to wake you so we came here. He gave me a shirt and boxers to wear since I was wearing the only clothes I have with me and they needed to be washed. He put new sheets on the bed, ya know, thanks to all the dirt and soot, and probably blood, I got on them last night. He turned on his iPod and we sat and listened to music and talked forever. We started making out and eventually decided we needed to sleep, so we did.”
“Casey, that’s awesome!!” Harmony waits a moment before continuing, “So, are you gonna stay there now?”
“Harm, I honestly don’t know. His parents are back in a day or two and I can’t imagine them wanting me to stick around. I figured…ummm…if you don’t mind…that I could, ya know, still bunk with you?” Casey ends it as a question.
“Of course you can stay here! The room next to mine is ready and waiting for you whenever you want it.”
“Thanks, Harm.” Casey sniffles to keep from crying. “So, I guess I’ll see you in a little bit at school. What time is it anyway?”
This time Harmony laughs. “No school today, Silpetti. Senator Kane said all the schools should be closed to ‘Protect our children.’ None of the public schools are closing. I guess they figure all the kids in one place with supervision is better than spread out all over town with hardly any supervision. Of course, since V and Bianca go to our school and the dear Senator donates so much money…our classes have been suspended until further notice. It’s all over the TV and radio.”
“Cool. Well, I guess I’ll see ya later then. I should probably get dressed and see what Aiden is cooking, because it damn sure smells good.”
Harmony gives a little wicked laugh, “Have fun, Case! Bye.” She hangs up before Casey can reply.
Hanging up with Harmony, Casey gets up and stretches. She sees her cleaned clothes waiting for her on the chair, and takes them into the bathroom to change and brush her teeth before heading down.
Aiden looks up at her as she walks into the kitchen. It looks as though he’s just finished setting the table, which has all the makings of a big breakfast on it: sausage, eggs, hashbrowns, and toast.
He smiles. “Morning. How’d you sleep?”
They eat in companionable silence, then clean up together. While washing dishes, he asks, “So what’s the plan?”
Casey takes her time thinking before answering. “I can’t just sit here while everyone else is doing something. There’s somewhere I think we might be able to find something out, but…”
“But?”
“Well, I’ve heard about it, but I’ve never been there. It’s a club of some sort. You know the Power Plant, right?”
“Yeah, that huge dance club in the Red Streets?”
“That’s the one. Well, there are rumors that there’s another club hidden inside there somewhere, called Legal Tender. Basically anything you want or can imagine is in there, at least that’s what I’ve always heard. I vaguely remember my mom mentioning it to one of the guys she brought around when I was little. I just always figured it was the place where she always got her drugs or met the random guys she brought home. I’ve heard other rumors since then, I think it’s real.”
He spins a chair around backwards, and straddles it. He seems lost in thought for a moment, but then looks back at her. “So you think that we can find this place, get in, and maybe find something?”
“You have any better ideas? I don’t.” She frowns, knowing that this is pretty much a complete shot in the dark, but like she said, she can’t just sit here.
“sounds like a plan then. The Plant doesn’t open until seven or so—”
“Legal Tender never closes. There are supposed to be a whole bunch of ways to get in there, I bet some might be from outside, so you don’t have to go through The Plant.”
“Ok. Need to go anyway else first?”
Casey looks around the room for a minute. “Well, I’ve decided you and Harmony are right, I probably shouldn’t be staying by myself right now so I’m gonna bunk with one of you…I don’t really care who. Ummm…so I need to go get my stuff.” She rambles on until Aiden stops her.
“Alright, let me grab a few things and we’ll go.”
“Can’t I just go by myself? It won’t take very long, and I don’t want us both to get in trouble if we run into someone.”
“Casey,” Aiden says sternly. “You are NOT going by yourself. No arguments.”
“But, what if…”
“No arguments. Get your bag or whatever you need to bring with.”
Casey almost argues again, but decides it’s not worth it.
—
Casey has Aiden park a few blocks from the school, near her hidey hole apartment. She tries one more time to convince Aiden to let her get her things alone, without sucess. They sneak over to the woods next to the apartments and she sees the flash in Aiden’s eyes as he recognizes Cadence’s apartment.
“Why are we here?”
“I’ve been staying in the other half of the building. Now quiet.” They wait a little longer to make sure nobody’s around and then sneak inside. Casey quickly gathers her few things and notices that Aiden is just staring at her. “What?”
“That’s all you have?”
Casey’s face flushes with embarrassment and she turns away, feeling tears in her eyes. She nods yes and swallows hard. She reaches up to wipe her eyes as Aiden takes her shoulders and turns her around. He doesn’t say anything, just pulls her into a hug, letting her cry. When she finally slows down he stands back a little bit and looks her in the eye, holding her chin so she can’t look away. “You know it doesn’t matter, right? How much you do or don’t have…it doesn’t matter. You still have friends, and we’ll always be there for you. Ok?”
Casey nods and wipes her eyes again. She sniffs, “Ready?” Aiden kisses her, grabs her hand and an armful of her things while she grabs the rest and together they sneak back out to his car.
—
Aiden pulls up inside a pay parking area a few blocks away from The Power Plant. He sticks the ticket on the dashboard, checks something in his coat, and then walks around to open Casey’s door.
He hands her a set of keys from his pocket. “These are extra keys to my ride, and to my house. If anything happens and we have to split up, you get back here and wait for me at my house. There’s money in the console for the ticket. Ok?”
She pauses before taking the keys. “Are you expecting something bad to happen?” she asks warily.
“Expecting? No, but after the past few days I’m thinking that having a back up plan is a good idea. Maybe a little of little Miss Rambo Cadence rubbed off on me.”
Arm-in-arm they walk off into the early afternoon gloom. Yesterday’s clouds are still hanging about the city, but at least the drizzle is gone. A chill bites at the wind, hinting at a particularly cold and miserable winter looming in the near future.
They walk slowly through the empty, quiet streets and alleys that make up the Red Quarter. The Power Plant is impossible to miss, a large structure rising through the skyline,smoke stacks thrust up into the grey sky like massive fingers.
Trying not to appear too suspicious, they sulk around the alleys surrounding the Plant, trying to find anything that might be a hidden entrance. But after an hour, all they’ve found is a smell they won’t forget any time soon, a scary bum that shouted semi-threatening curses after them, and empty disappointment.
A sudden voice from right ahead brings them to a sudden halt. After a frantic look, they both rush to a shadowed doorway, and hunker as far back as they can.
Two figures march past, moving with a hurry that is apparant on their faces. Casey recognizes one of them, a police officer. He patrols areas she’s been in before sometimes, even though he’s a STARS (like SWAT) member. His name is Edmond Nelson, and he’s always been really nice to Casey in the past.
Right now - on the other hand - he looks pissed off and in a rush. The guy next to him must be a cop as well, probably Nelson’s partner from the look of things. There is a similarity in the way they look, hold themselves, and walk.
From the way they look, Casey almost feels sorry for whoever got under their skin.
They wait in the doorway for a long moment, until they hear the bang of car doors slamming at the alley entrance. They step back out into the light, and can see the squad car pull away with a squeal, the light rack lit up but the siren quiet.
Aiden sighs quietly. “I wonder what had th—”
The shrill ring of Casey’s cellphone cuts through the quiet alley, startling the two of them. She digs for it in her pocket quickly, pulling it out and flipping it open to silence it.
“Hello?”
“Casey.” It’s Cadence, though Casey barely recognizes her voice at first. She sounds horrible, like she hasn’t slept in a week or something. “I’m glad I could reach you. I need you to do something for me, something important.”
“Cade, you ok? What do—”
“Sorry Casey, I don’t know how long my mom will be gone. I need you to go to a pay phone somewhere, somewhere you won’t be seen, and call the cops. Tell them Veronica is at an abandoned apartment complex in the Tangle. 815 Chiselbeorh. There’s at least four people there with her, but I think she’s ok.”
“You found… how did?”
“I can’t explain. I can’t call from here, they’d track the call. It has to be anonymous. Please Casey, I know I said I wouldn’t ask for anything else, but it’s Veronica!” Casey can hear the pleading in her voice.
“Of course. I’ll take care of it, don’t worry.”
“Thank you Casey. I have to go, my mom should be back any minute.” There’s a click and the line goes dead.
“What’s going on?” Casey looks up at Aiden, noticing his concerned look. His hand is resting lightly on her arm, comfortingly.
“Cadence, I think… I think she found Veronica. She wants me to call the police - anonymously - and give them an address.”
“How the hell could she have found her? I mean, what was in that bag? What was up with the journal?”
Casey shakes her head, as much at a loss as he. “It doesn’t matter if she’s right. We have to find a phone, one out of the way if possible.”
“Lets go.”
They head out of the alley quickly, Casey filling Aiden in on the rest of Cadence’s call.
They get into Aiden’s SUV, where he sits quietly for a moment before starting it. “We won’t find any good phones around here. There are too many people, and too many cameras in the city. Remember the crime bill that passed last year? All the phone kiosks around here are gonna have cameras in them or on them. Cadence wouldn’t know that.”
“Then where can we go?”
“The Tangle would be one place. Closest too. But we can’t go around there, not if that’s where they’re keeping her. But there’s another place, kinda out of the way, but it’ll be safe. The Gutter.”
The Gutter. Once a massive amusement park that brought people from all over the region to its gates, it’s now a broken down ruin slowly rotting away on the outskirts of the city. Teenagers dare each other to go wander around there, but the smart ones won’t. Wild dogs and who knows what else live there, and more than one person has disappeared there.
On the ride there, they hear a news report on the radio going over the kidnapping again, how the police were doing everything they could to find Veronica. It’s announced that all schools will be reopened tomorrow, with new security measures put in place at all of them.
They cautiously approach the Gutter, keeping a sharp eye out for police cars or anyone else who might be out here. The place looks even creepier than normal in the grey, overcast light. The remains of rides soar into the sky like a giant boneyard, the wind whistling through them in a ghoulish cry.
Luckily they don’t have to actually go into the old park itself, Aiden points out a phone booth standing outside the ticket stands that looks like it might still work.
Before she can pick up the phone, Aiden stops her. He moves over to his car and digs in the back, coming out with a pair of gloves. “Put these on. I doubt they’d go that far, but if Cadence wants to play it cagey, let’s go for broke.”
She smiles at him as she pulls the gloves on. They’re way too big for her. Picking up the receiver, she holds one gloved hand over the microphone, to help mask her voice. She dials 911, an operator picking up almost immediately.
“Nine-one-one, what is the nature of your emergancy?”
“Veronica Kane is being held in an apartment complex in the Tangle, at 815 Chiselbeorh. I think there are four people there holding her. Please send someone there as soon as you can!”
She hears the operator stutter and try to ask her a question, but she hangs up quickly. “Lets go.”
They pile back in and pull back out onto the highway, in a few minutes merging back into the light flow of traffic.
They’re only a few minutes away when Casey sees something that makes her blood run cold. “Aiden…”
“I see him.”
Passing them on the other lane of the highway is a squad car, headed back the way they came. Its lights are flashing but it’s silent as it flashes past.
He looks over at her, a strained smile on his face. “Guess it didn’t take them long to trace that call.”
They ride for a while in silence, holding hands. He keeps them on the highway, catching the wide looping circle that will eventually bring them back into the city.
Once back into the city, he drives them into Druid Hill, finally stopping at The Max, a popular student hangout and restaurant.
He stops the engine, then leans over and kisses her softly. “I don’t know about you, but my nerves could use a good burger and soft drink to calm me down. You?” Casey’s stomach grumbles loudly, and they both laugh as they get out of the car.
They both get burgers. Aiden gets a Coke, Casey gets a chocolate malt and they share a basket of fries. They talk about lighthearted things, trying not to be overly worried about Veronica.
They’ve finished eating, and Casey is laughing at one of Aiden’s jokes when a sudden silence falls over the restaurant. They both look up to see what’s going on, and notice everyone is staring at the television.
There on TV is Veronica, surrounded by STARS members and FBI agents in tactical gear. A banner at the bottom is flashing “LIVE - Veronica Kane Rescued” over and over.
They whisk Veronica into an ambulance, but not before Casey gets a look at her, she looks unharmed. After that, the screen cuts to a news anchor, who’s obviously been talking over the other footage.
She turns to Aiden, and sees a relief on his face, but something else as well. She knows it’s mirrored on her face as well.
She leans towards him. “There’s no way they acted on our call that quick. Did you see all the people there? Someone else must have tipped them off.”
“Come on.” Aiden drops money on the table for their meals and the tip. They get to the car and he starts it, but doesn’t drive off. “Do you think it was Faust?”
Casey thinks for a moment before answering, “No. I don’t think he’d have called the police, I get the feeling he would’ve just gone in and gotten her. I hate to say it, but it seems like people knew where she was and they just made a media play out of it.”
“What now?”
“I’d like to go see Roni, but I don’t think now is the time. It’ll be a zoo over there.”
Aiden pulls the car away from the curb and starts heading for his house.
“Wait. I have an idea.”
Aiden looks over at Casey as he drives, “Yeah?”
“Faust. We paid him to find Roni, and since he didn’t find her, or at least we don’t think he did, he still owes us some work. Maybe he can find out what happened.”
“I don’t know Case. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to just switch jobs without getting paid more.”
“It’s worth a shot. You know something’s not right about this.”
“How ‘bout we let this all die down a little and go see Faust tomorrow?”
“I don’t know. We’ll be back in school tomorrow.”
“Case, we can go after school. Let’s just go relax. We can swim or something…”
“I don’t have a suit, remember?”
He winks at her, “Who says you need one?” He watches Casey blush. “You know, you’re cute when you blush.” And that makes her blush even more.
Casey ignores the swimming comments. “I really need to sell some photos, but I have a feeling they’re not going to be interested since the town hall meeting is now old news. I might still be able to sell some of the portraits. Actually, I should probably get over to Harmony’s and at least drop my stuff off.”
“Drop your stuff off?”
“Yeah, then we can go do whatever, until tonight. Then you can take me back over to her house.”
“Oh.” Aiden drives in silence for a bit. “So, you’re gonna stay with Harmony?”
“Well, I figured since your parents will be back, I should stay with her.”
“They’re not back ‘til late tomorrow night, and they really wouldn’t care if you stayed. Like I told you, we have guest rooms.”
“Ok. I’ll stay with you tonight, but from tomorrow on, I’ll stay with Harm. Let me just call her and fill her in.” Casey calls Harmony and tells her that she’s staying with Aiden tonight and will start bunking with her tomorrow. She also makes sure Harmony knows they found Veronica.
“Ok, now what?” Casey asks as she notices where they’re at. “Why are we at Bullseye?”
“We’re getting a few things…for you.”
“Aiden, I don’t have any extra money, I can’t afford anything.”
“You’re not buying anything, I am.”
“No! I won’t take charity.”
“It’s not charity…it’s an early birthday present.”
“Ummmm…I….I guess that’s ok.”
Casey picks out a few pieces of clothing, keeping track of how much they cost, and not spending too much money. Aiden picks up some more things in her size, despite her protests, including a swimsuit. He makes her go out to start his car as he pays for everything, and also buys a gift card to give her later.
They go back to Aiden’s house and Casey thanks him over and over again for the clothes. They try calling Veronica, but there’s no answer, so Casey just leaves a message. Aiden makes some popcorn and puts in a scary movie.
“Ummmm…I don’t do scary movies. They kind of freak me out.”
Aiden smiles, “That’s ok. This one’s not bad, and you can hang onto me if you start to freak. Or, if it gets too bad we’ll shut if off.” They curl up on the couch together and make it through the movie, although Aiden does end up with some nail marks on his arm.
Aiden gives her the same clothes for bedtime and they both crawl into his bed. After making out again for a while, they spoon and fall asleep, gearing up to go back to school again tomorrow, visiting Faust, and hopefully seeing Veronica.
