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Avery apparently lived on John’s Island, not far from where we were, so it only took him about ten minutes to find us after Ethan identified the street and house number of the yard we were standing in. We stayed in the backyard until we caught Avery’s taxi sign on top of his car rolling down the street.
“We’re probably scaring the neighbors,” I said as we walked to the car. “Slinking around at night like this in their yards.”
“No worries,” Ethan said. “I know most of them. If anyone had looked out, I could have said hello.”
“You know people in this neighborhood?” I asked, looking around. It wasn’t quite middle class. The people probably owned their own homes, but couldn’t afford the upkeep. Homes were run-down in one way or another, with older model cars and secondhand children’s toys littering the lawns. Not exactly upper class circles.
“Some might actually work for me,” he said. “It can take an army to run an empire, you know. Every person is essential, even if they don’t realize it.”
“What exactly do you do?” I asked.
Ethan shrugged. “Everything.”
Avery was out of his car and holding open the door when we emerged from the backyard. Avery wore only a ribbed tank shirt, jeans and a pair of sandals. His hair was hanging in his face.
Avery stretched. The tattooed words on his chest moving with him. “Where to this time?” He turned to Ethan. “Who is this?”
Ethan held out his hand in offering. “Ethan Murdock.”
Avery looked confused and extended his hand slowly. “Avery.” Ethan shook it and then Avery dropped it quickly, looking at me. “Where’s the others?”
“Gone.” I was trying to figure out where to go from here. I didn’t think going to the hospital was a good idea. I couldn’t take Ethan to his house. If Blake and Doyle managed to make it out without getting kidnapped or killed, they’d probably head to Blake’s house as it was closest. I thought at least I could use it as a starting point to figure out what to do next.
“They took him, too?” Avery asked. “Blake?”
I sighed. “Let’s get going. They could be on the way looking for us.”
Avery got into the driver’s seat. Ethan slid in the back. I raced around to the front passenger seat. Avery pulled the car around and headed out. Moments later, we were heading North toward the Charleston peninsula.
When it started to get warm in the car, I slipped Ethan’s coat off my shoulders and passed it back to him. I slumped in my seat, catching my breath and willing my heart to settle. We might have been standing in that yard for a while, but my heart was still racing like we’d been running the whole time. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” I said.
Avery slid a glance at me. “What happened now? What’s wrong?”
“Everything,” I said. “I’m hungry. I’m tired. I can’t sleep, though. My friends keep getting kidnapped over a cell phone service that doesn’t even exist.” I shoved my hair away from my face. “I mean, how stupid do they have to be to be killing each other and not even know what they’re going after?”
Avery frowned. “Hey,” he said. “Not our place, you know? Wasn’t any of your business, right? We don’t have to figure out why. We just need to stop them. We should call the police. Get some help.”
“I can’t just stop,” I said. “They’ve got everyone, now.”
“We need the police,” Avery said. “The FBI should get called in on this. It’s gotten way out of hand.”
“I agree,” Ethan said. “I don’t know what’s going on, but we can’t just run all over the place. The authorities need to be called in. We’ll be safe, and they will find your friends.”
I shuddered, and slid lower into the seat. Maybe I should, but I wanted to get to a safe spot first and think it over. “I don’t know. Eddie said he’d be able to tell if I called the police.”
“Eddie wasn’t who was killing people, was he?” Avery asked. “And Alice…well…”
“Alice?” Ethan asked.
“Yeah,” Avery said. “The bitch that started kidnapping guys, too. It’s a long story...”
“Avery...” I said carefully, cutting at my throat with my hand. “Ixnay… uh…”
“I mean, she threatened Kayli here, and then poisoned two of her friends just to get her hands on this core thing, right? Who uses poison as a threat? That’s crazy. I don’t really believe it. I’m ready to call her bluff.”
“Avery,” I said louder, cringing, and afraid to look at Ethan, hoping he didn’t hear the Alice part correctly.
“Who do you mean, Alice?” Ethan asked, bursting my hope. “You can’t mean my wife.”
“You’ve got a wife named Alice?” Avery asked. “This is going to be confusing.”
I sighed, placing a palm to my forehead. “Ethan, your wife’s got my friends. She threatened me and threatened to kill them. She wants the core. She killed off a lot of Eddie’s guys, that’s the German gang who wants the core, too.”
“Wait a minute,” Ethan said. He shifted, and leaned over the back of the passenger seat, looking down at me. “Just one second. You mean to tell me my wife is behind this?”
“You said you’d only known her for a month or two, didn’t you?” I asked.
“How did you know?” Ethan asked.
“You told me,” I said. “Last night, when you thought I was Angela.” I sat up, meeting him at eye level. “I didn’t know who you were. I wasn’t looking to hurt anyone. I just wanted to figure out where it was and possibly give someone access to it to save a life. You thought I was Angela, and I wasn’t supposed to be upstairs, so I just went along with it.”
“So you crash my party? My wedding? And now you’re accusing Alice of... well, basically you’re calling her a killer.” He gritted his teeth, his eyes wide. “I don’t believe it for a second. Alice has had a hard life, but she couldn’t kill anyone.”
He said it with such conviction that I thought there was a possibility I had it wrong. She did only imply she might have been responsible for the prior deaths. Despite his attitude about her, Alice flat out said she’d poisoned Axel and wanted access to the core. It was a fact I was trying to leave vague. I knew it would be hard to believe that someone you thought you knew very well turned out to be something else. I had no proof for him now, though.
I pressed a palm to his arm, wanting to draw his attention. “Will you at least believe that there are people out there willing to kill for access to whatever this core is? We need to be careful until we can sort it out.” I squeezed his arm, pleading. “Look, I don’t want your core. I want nothing to do with it. I just want to find my friends and make sure they’re safe. Your life was likely in danger, too. Right now, we need to make sure we’re not dismissing any possibility and play it safe until it’s sorted. I don’t know what else to do.”
“Kayli,” Ethan said. He stopped, closed his lips and sat back. He was quiet for a long time, studying me and then Avery and then looked out the window. “What do we need to do in order to get this matter over with?”
“Call the police,” Avery said.
“Apparently my wife is involved,” Ethan said, “and is being accused of murder. I’d like to clear her name before she’s escorted to jail when we’re supposed to be on our honeymoon.”
“We need a way to draw out Eddie and Alice and to get whoever has them to bring Axel and the others out.” I had an idea started, but I wasn’t sure if it was possible. “I’m thinking of doing a trade.”
“How?” Avery asked. “And where am I driving to?”
“Let’s go back to Blake’s. Do you rem
ember the way?”
“I guess,” Avery said. “Why are we going there?”
“We need to stop somewhere,” I said. “Just for now. Just until we come up with a plan.” I needed clothes, and food and possibly a quiet place to work from until I could prod Ethan for answers that could possibly help us and figure out the next move. I couldn’t go to Brandon’s shop; I didn’t know where it was. And I couldn’t go to the Sergeant Jasper. I didn’t know where else to go. I didn’t think Blake would mind if I invaded his house.
Eventually, Avery found his way to South Battery, and parked out front of Blake Coaltar’s three story home. The white house sat quietly under the street lights, the neighbors’ homes nearby were just as still. The park across the street was dark and quiet. The smell of the bay was strong. It was such a peaceful, picturesque setting that filled my senses, making me crave sleep.
Ethan and Avery followed behind me to the front door. The stars and moon were now covered with a hazy, low cloud, promising drizzling rain and dampness for a while.
I rushed up the steps, testing the front door: locked. I scanned the front porch, wondering where, and if, he might have left a key in a fake rock or above the framework or hidden in a potted plant.
“He’s not home,” Avery said behind me. He shuffled in his sandals. “He’s been kidnapped, remember?”
“Yeah,” I said. I moved around him, back down the steps and wandered around the side of the yard, finding the rear with the yard and the large back porch. I climbed those steps.
“Are you sure we should be here?” Ethan asked. He followed close behind me. “I mean, there could be an alarm system.”
“I don’t think there is,” Avery said, following behind Ethan. “He didn’t set one before we left. I’m surprised the front door is even shut. I remember he took off with the door open. I was going to close it when he said to get in the car and hurry.”
A neighbor could have shut the door for him if he left in that much of a hurry. I tested the back door, but it was locked, too. I turned to the windows then, and found one near the kitchen where the latch had been left undone. I dug my fingers into the outside screen frame, popping it off and then tried to yank up the window. It started going up and then stopped short, the antique frame catching on the many layers of paint.
