Chapter 35

The drive home was quiet. Rho stayed with me most of the way. I asked her more questions about how to find the locket, but she couldn’t think of anything. I also asked about how to tell my family about Dad. Again, she was no help. She finally decided that she wasn’t needed and disappeared. I knew I could call her back, if for no other reason than for some company, but she wasn’t the kind of company I needed, so I drove the last half an hour alone.

I pulled into the driveway only to find two additional vehicles parked there: a full sized Ford Pickup and silver Lexus. The Lexus sat idle and it looked like the driver was sitting in it while the Ford was dark and empty.

I put my car in park and climbed out. I was not in the mood for any crap from Anna or anyone else from town. Whoever this was, he or she would rue this moment for years to come.

The driver’s side window rolled down as I approached. A female voice said, “Why don’t we swap parking spots before we talk?” Furthermore, without waiting for me to agree, she rolled the window up again.

Stupidity or arrogance? Probably both. I had the strongest urge to force her window back down again and tell her to take a flying leap! However, I didn’t know who this was and thus needed to restrain myself just in case she was someone who could cause me real trouble.

I walked back to my car, climbed in, and backed out of the drive.

She backed out too and I pulled in. Even when my headlights flashed across her windshield, I couldn’t tell who the driver was.

I shut down the engine and looked over at the urn in the passenger seat. Whoever she was, she might not get to the point if I had the urn with me. I wanted this conversation over with so I could get on with talking to my family. At the same time, I was tired of being blind-sided by the townsfolk. So I decided on a few defensive spells to help me out. A shield shaped to my body would protect me from physical attacks. An aura to influence others to speak the truth would help me cut through their guile. I also decided to glean her recent memories. I would find out what her real intentions were.

Feeling sufficiently armed, I left the urn and climbed out. I was glad for the warmth spell I put on my Dad’s coat. I didn’t know how long I would be out here, but I would happily gauge how long I could take it versus what she was prepared for.

I walked back to the mystery car and stood next to the driver-side window. She cracked it enough to say, “It would be better to talk in the car than in the cold.”

Once again, she assumed I would comply and closed her window.

I growled at her window, walked around to the passenger side, and opened the door. I ducked down and looked in.

Olivia Rooney sat in the driver’s seat, wearing a massive, shapeless coat. “Climb in, Mr. Connors. We have much to discuss.”

I sighed. I so did not want to discuss anything with her, especially a lot of something. “I have something important I need to tell my family. Can’t this wait?”

She regarded me for a second. “I already know. You found your father.”

I studied her. “How do you know that?”

“It is part of what I want to discuss,” she said. “Please, get in. It’s very cold out tonight.”

I hesitated because I had plenty of reasons to distrust her and because I had something far more important to do.

“You will only make things more difficult for yourself if you do not talk to me first,” she added.

I grumbled in frustration and climbed into her car. Closing the door felt as if I had accepted a fate worse than death. Fortunately, the door wasn’t locked, and even if it was, I could unlock it and go free.

The heater in her car was set to high. It didn’t take long for the interior to rise well above toasty warm. I felt uncomfortable. I wanted to pull off dad’s coat, and my shirt. I felt like I was sweating, which couldn’t have been right. I hadn’t been there for more than a minute.

Ms. Rooney sat on her side of the car, wrapped up in her voluminous coat and smiling at me as if she had won the lottery. Yes, she had a nice smile. Sure. Sheila Cooper had a nice smile too and she was anything but nice. Ms. Rooney was Anna’s friend, and you couldn’t be someone’s friend without agreeing with his or her point of view.

Tired of the games already, I asked, “What do you want, Ms. Rooney?”

My tone came out as a growl. I didn’t apologize. It reflected my mood perfectly.

She laughed, I think. She opened her mouth and made a soft sound that made me think of laughter but I couldn’t be sure. I had never heard her laugh before today. She may have coughed for all I knew. “I’m sorry,” she softly said. “I just never thought you would willingly talk to me.” Now that we were both in the heated quiet of her car, her voice came out in a haunting, breathy tone, as if she could barely speak.

I frowned. “Ms. Rooney...”

“Please,” she said, interrupting, “call me Olivia. No, better yet, call me Olive.”

I stared at her and said, “Olive.” She nodded and I nodded too. “Olive, I still don’t know why you want to talk to me.”

She stared at me as if my every word was something to be cherished. It took her a second to understand that she needed to respond. “I wish to offer a flag of truce,” she said.

I narrowed my eyes. “Have you finally come to your senses and realized that Anna has been wrong about me?”

“Not precisely,” she said. “While I do not believe you started the firebombs personally, I do believe your presence is the reason for them.”

I shook my head. This wasn’t a truce. She was taking a more direct route in trying to prove I had something to do with the firebombs. “Your accusations are pissing me off. Talk to my lawyer.”

“I already have,” she said. “He believes in you. I explained to him that I didn’t believe you were directly responsible for setting the firebombs, but that your presence precipitated them.”

I already had a good idea as to the source of the firebombs, but I couldn’t explain it to her. I couldn’t as much as hint at it. I had to act completely ignorant. “Are you trying to say that you know someone else is starting the firebombs simply because I’m here?”

“Yes,” she said. “And the sooner you leave, the sooner the firebombs will end.”

I shook my head even though I agreed with her. She was right. The firebombs would end because Ricardo would be directing them to wherever I went. However, ignorance had to continue. “You do realize that person is a terrorist, right?”

“Maybe, maybe not. I choose to believe in the good in people. Whomever is setting the firebombs simply wishes for you to leave. Unfortunately, they are expressing this desire in a destructive way.”

“How can you possibly derive this person’s desires from the firebombs?”

“They started the morning you arrived,” she said with the same tone as if she were talking about the weather.

“Oh, really?”

“Yes.”

“Would it surprise you to know I actually arrived the night before?”

She stared at me for a second and then said, “That’s not possible.”

“Why? Just because you didn’t know it?”

“Well, nobody knew. You have no proof.”

I pointed up at the house. “I arrived here at about ten o’clock Friday night. I spoke to my mom and sister before we all went to sleep.”

“Your family would willingly lie for you.”

“Yet the police are willing to accept what they say for my alibis.”

“That is an error in their judgment,” she said, waving it away.

“Do you really want to be the one to tell Sergeant Rawlings that he’s wrong?”

“You didn’t have a problem telling him so by continuing to look for your father.”

“The Sergeant didn’t strike me as someone who would have been upset if I found my father. The Sheriff on the other hand. Now, there’s a man who doesn’t like to be proven wrong. Rawlings would be happy that a missing person was found, regardless of his assistance. Humphreys, however, not so much.”

Olive smiled and her eyes sparkled. It suggested she was impressed, but I didn’t do anything impressive – yet. “Well, then if you did arrive on Friday night, it certainly throws a wrench in my theory.”

“The problem with your theory is that you’re only looking at me. You’re not looking for the person who is actually setting the firebombs.”

She shook her head, but continued to smile. “I’m certain that once you leave, the firebombs will stop.”

I sighed. “Even if that’s true. You’re allowing a terrorist to go free. He or she will do this again if there is anything else they want and only the people in this town can give it to them.”

“We’ve never had trouble like this before,” she said. “I doubt it’ll occur again.”

“Well, I’m not going to take the blame for it.”

“But, you are to blame,” she said. “You simply won’t be punished.”

“You and Anna have got to be the two most insane people I have ever met.”

She leaned toward me. “Why do you say that?”

“Can’t you hear yourself? You believe these firebombs are being set in an effort to convince the residents of Newton Grove to get rid of me. You have no idea who is responsible nor any real evidence regarding the reasons for the firebombs, but you’re willing to follow through with your beliefs rather than fight the real problem.”

“The firebombs give us all the reason we need to send you away.”

I shook my head. “Say I leave, but the firebombs continue?”

She shook her head with that insipid smile. “They won’t.”

“What if they do?”

“They won’t.”

“You won’t even consider the possibility?”

She looked me over and said, “There’s no reason to.”

I closed my eyes and groaned under the weight of her blind faith in her answers. Who was it that said, “For those who believe, no proof is necessary?” Olive certainly fit that description. She also fit the rest of the saying, “For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible.” She believed my presence was the cause of the firebombs, plain and simple. Believing anything else wasn’t possible for her. Nothing could prove her beliefs wrong.

After a moment, I looked at her again. “Why did you drive out here to talk to me? What’s the point if you’re convinced that you know all the answers?”

She glanced up at the house and then looked at Alyssa’s car. “You told the police that you returned to Newton Grove to find your father.” Then she looked at me. “You found out what happened to him several hours ago. You’ve accomplished your goal. It’s time for you to leave. I’m here to drive you to either a train station or airport, whichever you prefer to travel back to Texas.”

I thought I was shocked over her perceptions of how the world worked before. “I haven’t even told my family yet. They’ll want a service. They’ll want me there.”

She shook her head. “The firebombs take precedence. You need to leave to safeguard the town. Someone else can inform your family of your father’s status and help make arrangements for his service.”

I stared at her in disbelief. “No. I am family. This is my duty.”

“The safety of the town is more important,” she said, scooting toward me a bit.

“And your theory about the firebombs is wrong. I’m staying. In fact, I may be here until the start of my next term.”

She took a breath and seemed to shudder. “That is unacceptable.”

“Too bad.”

She looked away and squirmed in her seat. I had seen women squirm in the same way. She didn’t need a bathroom. She needed something else.

I remembered how she groped me when I climbed out of Anna’s car on Saturday and realized that I should be leaving now.

Before I could reach for the door handle, Olive turned toward me and pulled open her coat. It was no wonder she wanted the car interior so warm. Under that heavy, massive coat, all she wore was a body stocking made of see-through lace. Almost nothing was left to the imagination.

I stared at her, mostly in shock. I couldn’t imagine why she would dress like this.

She stared at me with her mouth open, breathing heavily. “I can’t take it anymore. I need you. I need you now.”

Where did this come from? “What are you talking about?”

She took a deep breath, forcing her impressive breasts to rise. Her nipples stood out against the sheer material, looking ready to be chewed on. “I ... I don’t normally feel this way, and I can’t seem to control myself.” She reached out to touch me but stopped just short of it. “I’ve wanted you so badly that I’ve had trouble focusing on anything else. I’ve dreamt about nothing but making love to you for the last two nights.” She took another deep breath and her eyes widened. “I masturbated to thoughts of you last night. It wasn’t enough. I want to undress you, touch you, suck on you, and feel you deep, deep inside me. I want to do the filthiest things with you.”

Her hand rested on the console between us. Whatever was going on, it certainly matched previous circumstances that made no sense. Sheila and Dr. Evans. One is an issue. Two is a problem. Three is a pattern. Something made the women around me want me. It reminded me of my fetish, which was destroyed in the fire back in my apartment. However, my fetish didn’t continue affecting them when I wasn’t around. I hadn’t seen Olive since Saturday morning yet she claimed to be fantasizing about me all that time. I certainly didn’t have a new fetish and I sure as hell wouldn’t have cast such a spell on her.

Then another thought occurred to me. It was possible the same thing had affected Alyssa and Mom. After all, I had never previously considered either of them as lovers, yet both of them came onto me as if I was wearing my fetish. I might have to apologize to both of them, if I ever figured out the cause.

Now, though, with Olive looking at me as if I was water after she had crossed a desert, I couldn’t ignore the pattern.

I looked down and placed my hand on top of hers. If her memories could offer any idea as to when this started, maybe I could figure out what triggered it. I closed my eyes and focused on her thoughts.

Olive sat in front of a large vanity mirror, applying her makeup when the phone rang. She had gone over to Anna’s house to get ready for the parade. She turned and watched Anna pick up the receiver. Anna’s face darkened as she listened to the caller. “I’ll take care of everything,” she said gently and hung up the phone. “Seth Connors is back in town. He just left Shirley’s.”

“Why on earth would Seth Connors go to Shirley’s?” Olive asked. She had learned to keep her answers simple. It allowed others to give complex answers. People loved to talk, and she allowed them to do so. Anna was especially good at it.

“He claimed to need clothes. Mrs. Hartwell confirmed that he purchased a few articles, but it was his presence that disturbed her so.”

Olive shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

Anna looked at her. “Oh, you remember. He was the boy who attempted to rape Lisa Hartwell.”

Olive nodded, recalling the rumors, but never recalling any proof on the incident or an accusation from the poor girl herself. However, if Anna said it was true, then it must be. “Then what do we do?” Olive asked.

Anna shook her head in thought. “I’ll have to talk to him. Attempt to convince him to leave. Finish getting ready. We’ll have to leave sooner than expected.”

Olive nodded, and finished her application.

When the two women were ready, they went out to Anna’s car. Anna was on the phone again. She had so many contacts around town and the county. She quickly found out that Seth Connors was at the police station. He was apparently interested in finding out about his missing father.

Anna’s driver, Gerald Sholes, had the car running and warm when they climbed in. Anna told him to take them to the police station, rather than their originally planned place for viewing the parade.

Mr. Sholes parked behind the police station. It made it easier for Anna and herself to get to the offices. Upon entering the back door, Anna spotted Mr. Connors sitting in Sergeant Rawlings’ office. Anna didn’t bother knocking. She opened the door and said, “Thank you for keeping him out of trouble, Sergeant, but we’ll take it from here.”

Rawlings frowned at Anna, but didn’t argue. That was smart. Arguing with Anna was pointless. She was rarely wrong.

Anna moved into the office, better to see Mr. Connors, and Olive caught sight of him as well.

The young man was a looker. College in Texas was probably a good thing for him, considering his reputation would have followed him anywhere in North Carolina or the surrounding states. With looks like that, he could easily persuade young ladies into bed on a regular basis. Given the right circumstances, he might even persuade Olive into the same thing.

“You, come with me,” Anna said with a heavy tone of authority.

Mr. Connors sat in his chair. He didn’t jump as most people did when she gave an order.

“Mr. Connors,” Anna said with a slight growl.

Mr. Connors glanced at the Sergeant and then looked past Anna at Olive. He didn’t look scared. To Olive, he looked like he was trying to understand something, but not what he was being directed to do.

There was nothing in that quick moment of eye contact. Olive didn’t feel moved in any way, but she did feel drawn to this young man. She was drawn to him in ways she hadn’t felt in a few years.

Time seemed to speed back up again as Mr. Connors looked at the Sergeant, thanked him for answering his questions, stood up, and nodded in compliance to Anna’s instruction.

Anna turned and slipped past Olive toward the exit. Olive looked up at the tall young man and smiled. She hadn’t meant to, but she couldn’t help it. Quickly, she turned and followed Anna out the door. What had come over her?

Walking back to Anna’s car seemed a lot longer with Mr. Connors following her. Suddenly, she wished she had worn something less stuffy, less figure obscuring, something less. Without thinking about it, she put more sway in her hips, but she also knew that he couldn’t see her with her coat on.

They reached the car and Anna stopped next to her door. “Get in,” she said.

Mr. Connors smiled and shook his head. “Thanks for the ride, but I have a car.”

Olive could see Anna’s blood pressure rise. It wouldn’t surprise Olive at all if Anna disappeared for a couple of hours after the parade to relieve some of that pressure. Olive understood what was going on, and while standing on the other side of the car, gazing at Mr. Connors, she felt the need to relieve some pressure too.

“Get in the car,” Anna said with a soft growl.