Chapter 15: Kevin

I was sound asleep when I heard a strange noise and woke up. I lay there for a few moments, decided it was nothing, and then rolled back over and tried to go back to sleep. Then I heard my door opening, so I pretended to be asleep. I wanted to surprise Kim when she snuck into bed.

However I was the one that was surprised when someone ripped the blankets off the bed and blinded me with a flashlight. I stumbled out of the bed, unable to see clearly. I just followed the trail left by the flashlight.

I bumped into someone, and the two of us went crashing to the floor. I heard something metallic clatter as it fell to the ground. Then there was a big explosion near my head. The last thing I remembered hearing before I passed out was Kim's ear-piercing scream.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw a fireman looking down at me. He turned his head toward someone I couldn't see and he said, "He'll be okay. He'll have a big bruise on the side of his head, and you may want to check with your family doctor in the morning, but otherwise he's unhurt."

"Thank god," I heard Kim sigh in relief. I felt someone lift my head and lay it back down on something soft. I looked up and saw my goddess looking down at me. I tried to speak, but the sound came out as more of a croak, "What happened?"

Kim said, "Nick broke into the house looking for Amy." She paused, and then went on. "Aunt Dawn and I were outside talking, and we saw someone inside with a flashlight. We snuck inside and called the police. Dawn also managed to grab a pistol that she kept hidden in her study."

"Then we followed the light and found Nick looking in your bedroom for Amy. You followed Nick out of the room, and somehow tripped him as both of you fell on the floor. He was carrying a gun, but he dropped it when tripped. When the gun hit the ground, it fired a round. Fortunately, it didn't hit anyone."

"All the noise woke Amy up. When she came out into the hall, Nick managed to reach over and get pick up his gun. He hit you in the head with it and knocked you out."

"Amy saw him hit you, so she kicked the gun out of Nick's hands. At the same time, Dawn fired her gun at Nick. She tried to hit him in the chest, but Nick moved when Amy kicked the gun from his hand, so the bullet grazed arm instead."

"Nick really got pissed then, so he pulled a knife out of his pocket. Then he tried to stab Amy. Fortunately, Amy ducked out of his reach. Dawn's second shot hit him in the right in center of his chest, and Nick collapsed to the floor."

"How's Amy?" I asked.

"She's fine."

"Dawn?"

"I'm not sure. The police showed up in time to hear the last gunshot. They found Dawn holding a gun over Nick's dead body. Even though Amy had told the officers that Nick had raped her in Maryland, they arrested Dawn on the spot. Amy followed the officers to the police station in your car. I stayed behind to make sure that you were okay."

Kim lifted my head from her lap, and helped me stand up. She put her arms around me and helped me walk back to my bedroom. It was a good thing Kim was helping me, because someone was moving the floor underneath my feet. We barely made it to the bed before the floor flew completely out from under me and caused both of us to tumble onto the bed.

I could hear Kim giggle from underneath me, so I knew she was okay. I rolled over and she was able to get up. Kim rolled me over and said, "I'll be back in minute. I want to make sure that everything is locked up."

A moment later, I felt her climb into bed beside me and give me kiss on my cheek. I felt her arm reach around me and pull me into her chest. Just before I fell asleep again, she whispered, "I love you."

When I woke up in the morning, the bed beside me was empty. I lay there for a while trying to recall what had happened the night before. Kim came in a few minutes later and said, "Wake up, Kevin, the police want to interview you about what happened last night."

"Any word from Dawn or Amy?" I asked.

Kim shook her head. "No, and I'm starting to get a little worried about them, too."

She helped me find some clean clothes from out of my suitcase and helped me to the kitchen to get some caffeine. I found a can of Coke in the back of the 'fridge, and took a big swig. I felt a lot better with some bubbly caffeine running through my system.

The officer was sitting there waiting for me. I spoke to him for thirty or forty minutes. I told him, I couldn't remember much about the whole incident, but the officer took very detailed notes. He was particularly interested in the events that happened back in Maryland. When I described how Nick had raped and hurt Amy, the officer nodded knowingly.

"I hope that Dawn doesn't have to go to jail for killing Nick," I commented.

The officer smiled and said, "I wouldn't worry about that. If what you say is true, Dawn did the community a real service."

Dawn and Amy came home later that morning, exhausted from their ordeal at the police station. Kim ran up to Dawn, gave her a big hug and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Everything is fine, dear. At least now it is," Dawn replied with more than a hint of tiredness in her voice. Kim escorted Dawn to the living room sofa and curled up beside her, while holding on to her tightly.

Amy said, "When we got to the station, they took Dawn away and put her in a holding cell. They even fingerprinted her, took her picture and all that stuff. They wouldn't let her call her lawyer, but fortunately Dawn had given me her lawyer's number before they separated us."

Amy continued to fill us in on the sequence of events. "I called him as soon as they took Dawn away, and he rushed into the station just over an hour later. I briefed him on what happened, and he felt confident that things would get cleared up pretty quickly. He did advise me to not talk to anyway without him being present though."

"The police talked to Dawn in private with her lawyer, then they asked me if I wouldn't mind talking to them. I remembered what the lawyer said, and while the police seemed annoyed with me at first, they reluctantly agreed to wait until the lawyer was free."

"When they finished talking to Dawn, the police escorted me into a shabby room with puke green walls. Dawn's lawyer came in a few minutes later. He whispered in my ear, 'Answer their questions the best you can. I'll interrupt if they step over the line.'"

"The police asked me to tell them what happened the night Nick was killed, and I explained what little I saw. Then they asked me about my history with Nick, so I told them about everything that happened back in Maryland. I explained about Nick and the video tape, the attack and rape at the mall, and finally why we had come to Daytona. I could tell from the expression on his face that he didn't believe me."

"He asked me if there was some way to confirm my story, so I told him to call Detective Shultz. The officer asking the questions nodded to one of his associates, who walked out of the room."

"The interrogating officer continued to ask me questions about my story. It seemed like he was trying to get me confused in hopes that my information would become inconsistent or something. In the middle of a question the officer who left returned and whispered something in the interrogating officer's ear. The officer asking the questions looked at me and shook his head in disbelief. He stood up and told me to stay where I was while he left the room with the other officer."

"The lawyer told me not to worry, and in a few minutes the officer was back. He apologized to me for the inconvenience, and said that my story checked out with Detective Schultz. Once I was off the hook, the lawyer asked about Dawn. The officer said that they wouldn't be filing any charges against her and that Dawn would be out shortly.

"Shortly turned into a couple of hours of waiting, but finally they released Dawn and told us that we both were free to go. However, they told us not to leave town until they finished the investigation."

The room was silent for a long while as everyone absorbed the magnitude of the past few hours' events. Kim rose, took Dawn's and Amy's hands and escorted them out of the room. A few minutes later, Kim was back. "I put them to bed so that they could get some rest," She explained.

Later that afternoon, I was sitting on one of the lounge chairs thinking about my networking idea when I saw Amy and Kim walk out toward the pool. They were both dressed in their bathing suits. When they saw me sitting on the chair, they detoured from their path to the pool and sat down beside me. I put my arms around both of them and hugged them deeply.

Kim whispered in my right ear, "I love you, Kevin."

At the same time, Amy whispered in my left ear, "I love you, Kevin."

I couldn't speak. I thought of the events that happened over the last couple of months. A beautiful girl had sex with me. Then I met the goddess of my dreams. Nick almost killed Amy several times, and he nearly killed me last night. It was all too much for my system to take, so I started crying.

The girls just held on to me until I was able to pull myself together. Then the three of us walked inside.

On Wednesday afternoon, Amy and Kim volunteered to go to the grocery store to get some food for dinner. Dawn was in her study working on her computer when I found her.

I asked her, "Do you have some time to talk to me before the girls get back?"

"Of course, Kevin." I sat down on the small couch in her office.

"I think I have a problem. I really love Kim. She's my goddess. Yesterday she told me that she loves me."

"I don't see why that's a problem. You should be really happy. Kim is a wonderful woman, and I'm not just saying that because she's my niece," Dawn grinned.

"I know that, but Amy also told me she loves me."

"Ahhh..." said Dawn. She moved from her office chair and sat down beside me on the sofa. "Now I see your problem. How do you feel about Amy?"

"I think I love her too, but somehow it's different than it is with Kim. If Amy were male, I'd think of her as my best friend, but since she's a woman, I'm not so sure."

"Why can't a woman be your best friend?" Dawn asked.

I thought about it for a few minutes and responded, "I don't know. Amy and I have nothing in common. She's wild and impulsive. She doesn't know anything about engineering or science or math like Kim does."

"Yes, but she's very smart. Maybe not in your league, but not even Kim is as smart as you are." Dawn said.

"But Amy really scares me."

"So did my husband," Dawn said. "He was a great guy, but he didn't understand engineering or running a business. He was a musician. He lived to play the guitar. You should have seen him at a party," Dawn reminisced. "Someone would find him an old guitar and he'd start playing and singing, and before long there'd be a crowd around him."

Dawn got a faraway look in her eyes and then she said, "Did Kim ever tell you I got my PhD from Maryland State University?"

I shook my head no.

Dawn said, "I was the youngest woman to get her PhD in engineering at MSU. I was only 19. At the heart of my thesis was an idea that I thought would revolutionize computer networking. After graduation, I took my idea to companies like IBM, Digital, and Hewlett Packard. They all turned me down flat."

Shifting in her seat, Dawn continued speaking. "I was so confident in my idea that I decided to form my own company. Of course I needed money to get the company started. So I started traveling around the country talking to potential investors. I don't even remember why I came to Daytona Beach. After a really frustrating day, I ended up in Kokomo's. There was this guy with a guitar. Boy, was he was cute..."

A sigh escaped from Dawn's lips. "Jon was up on the stage playing the guitar and singing. He spotted me in the crowd and gave me a big smile. I thought 'Okay, he's just looking for sex', but when he finally took a break, he walked over to my table. He called me his lovely lady. I told myself that that was just his pickup line. He had probably used it on dozens of girls before me."

Dawn sighed again at the memory. "It may have been a pickup line, but the next thing I knew, he was in my hotel room and we were making love. Two weeks later, we were married. I moved to Daytona Beach, Jon introduced me to some of his friends, and pretty soon Digital Networking was born."

"Jon had a surprising knack for organizing things and took care of the day-to-day stuff, while I developed my ideas into practical products. While my ideas weren't a commercial success, our company got off to a good start. Pretty soon, business was booming. Somewhere along the line I became pregnant with Caitlin. Ashley came about a year later. We had a perfect life..."

I saw a tear trickle from Dawn's eye. "Then they were taken from me and I died inside right along with them." Dawn started crying. I reached over and held her in my arms until her tears ran out. Then she took a deep breath as she tried to regain control of her runaway emotions.

"Thank you," she said, smiling through the streaks of tears. "I don't think I'll ever get it. I really loved Jon and the kids. They were the center of my universe. In fact, the other night was the first time I had had sex since they died."

My eyes opened wide. So it was Dawn who snuck into my room the other night...

"I know I took advantage of you," she apologized in a roundabout manner. "I watched how you looked at Kim and Kim looked at you, and all I could think about was how much I had lost in that accident. I felt so lonely that night that I couldn't stand it. I snuck into your room hoping that you'd think I was Kim, and..." Dawn started crying again.

I just hugged her tightly until she settled down again.