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Chapter 16
We were late meeting Laura. She was sitting on the curb waiting for us when we got there.
"What took you so long?" she demanded as we approached.
"We were, uh...in the middle of something when you called," Aidan said with a wide grin. I couldn't hold back one of my own even as I felt my face flush. Laura looked back forth between us suspiciously for a second then her eyes slowly grew wide.
"Oh my God!" she exclaimed, "You two are together aren't you?"
I blushed even harder and Aidan just nodded happily.
"When did this happen?"
"This morning," Aidan said.
"And again this afternoon," I added with a snicker.
"Oh God! I did not need to know that," Laura said with a slightly stunned expression on her face. For a moment I wondered if I had gone too far, but suddenly she grabbed us both in a ferocious hug that removed all doubt. "I'm so happy for you guys."
I got a little misty eyed for a second and Aidan just kept on grinning.
"You're gonna hafta lose that grin if we're going to get anything done though," she said to Aidan.
"Why? Can't a burglar be happy?"
"We're not going to burgle anything."
"Is that a word?" I asked.
"It is now," she snapped, "Didn't Will explain it to you?"
"No, sorry. We had other things on our mind."
Laura rolled her eyes. "Is this what I'm going to have to deal with from now on? Blake had a roommate. You are going to distract her while Will and I slip in and search her room."
"And just how an I supposed to distract her?"
"You're a cute guy, she's a female...you'll think of something. Improvise."
"I'm not exactly an expert on guy/girl dynamics."
"Wing it, Romeo."
"If he's Romeo does that make me Juliet?" I asked. "I want to be Romeo."
"You're the one with a thing for balconies."
"Ouch," I swung my cast at her head and she ducked.
"So I'm the distraction while you two get to do the fun part. What would you have done if I hadn't come? After all I was invited to this party to begin with."
"I would have made due with what we had. Now come on, we don't have all night."
She led us up two flights of stairs and down a hall where she stopped in front of a door.
"This is it," she whispered, "We'll be around the corner."
"What do you mean you'll be around the...?"
Laura knocked on the door, cutting him off, then grabbed my arm and yanked me around the corner. A few seconds later we heard the door open.
"I...uh...hi..." we heard Aidan stammer.
"Hi Aidan," a new voice said.
"Keisha! Hi!" Relief flooded his voice. Obviously he knew Blake's roommate.
"So what are you doing here?" she asked.
"Oh...uh...I'm really sorry about your roommate."
"You came up here to tell me you're sorry Blake bought it?"
"I...uh..."
She snorted. "Look, I was just roommates with the girl. We weren't friends. I'm sorry she's dead but I'm glad she isn't in my room anymore. I don't mean to talk about her bad now that she's dead but I talked bad about her when she was alive too so I don't see how it makes a difference. The girl was like the fucking energizer bunny. You know how bunnies mate? They got nothing on Blake. She kept going and going and going..."
"Uh, Keisha," Aidan interrupted her. "Is Blake's stuff still in there?"
"Yeah, somebody from her family is supposed to come get it tomorrow. Lemme guess, you were one of her studs and she has something of yours in here?"
"I didn't even know her. It's for a friend..."
"Whatever, lover boy..."
"No really. Do you care if a few friends look real quick?"
"It ain't my stuff."
"Thanks," he said as Laura and I appeared around the corner. Keisha shot us a funny look. She was tall and a little on the heavy side, but not in an unattractive way. She wore the extra pounds well, as most African-American women seem to do. She had huge dark brown eyes and a short afro. She took an uncertain step back into the room and we all trooped in after her.
It was immediately obvious which side of the room was who's. You didn't even have to be a detective to figure it out. Keisha's side was meticulously neat with everything in its designated place and a few pictures of what must have been her family set up on the desk. In contrast, Blake's side looked like a dump truck had backed up and dumped a load of trash on it. Paper's were wadded and stuffed everywhere that wasn't covered with discarded clothing and make-up products.
"Dear Lord in heaven," Laura breathed. She nudged the closest pile cautiously with her foot, as if afraid that something alive might be hiding in it.
I looked at the mess for a minute, then suddenly had a better idea. I pulled the necklace out and showed it to Keisha.
"Have you ever seen this necklace before?"
"Maybe," she said doubtfully.
"Do you remember where?"
"Well, I didn't pay much attention but it looks like one Blake showed me a couple weeks ago. She wanted to know who was on it. She knew I went to church and she thought I would know. I tried to tell her that I'm Baptist, not Catholic, and I don't anything about saints but she didn't get it."
"Are you sure it was this necklace?"
"No, I mean...I can't be positive. We didn't really get along so I didn't even look that closely. It looks like it but I couldn't swear it was this same necklace."
"Did she say where she got it?"
"No, she just said she was going to return it to its rightful owner or something like that. Like I said, I didn't pay her much attention."
I looked over at Laura, who gave me a small nod.
"Ok, well, thanks a lot. Sorry to have bothered you and all," I said as we started out the door.
"I thought you wanted to look for something?" she said with a confused expression her face.
"I think we found it," I told her.
Once we were all back downstairs I spun around and crowed, "Who is the best detective? I am! Just call me Sherlock Holmes! Just call me Columbo! Just call me..."
"Inspector Gadget," Laura finished, cutting me off, "While you were showing Keisha your necklace Aidan and I found this, which you would have walked right out without."
She held out a crumpled sheet of paper. On it was written, "IT WASN'T AN ACCIDENT."
"Rough draft?" Laura said.
"Well, now we know that she definitely knew more than she was saying," I said slowly.
"But we'll never know what. The killer got to her first," Aidan said, finishing my thought.
"Is this enough to go to the police with?" I asked.
"Not yet," Laura said, "We need to find the guy who was with Blake that night. And we'd better find him before the killer does or it'll be too late."
"Laura's right," Aidan said as if it pained him to say it, "Right now all we have is ideas and conjecture. We need to have someone who can say for sure that there was someone else with Joey when he died."
"So how do we find this guy?" I said.
"Leave that to me; I have an idea," said Laura.
"Ok, but hurry. I can't shake the feeling that we're running out of time."
I woke up the next morning and for a few disoriented moments I couldn't remember where I was. Then I felt Aidan's arms around me and it all came back to me. The night before I had started into my room out of habit before Aidan had caught my hand and drawn me into his. It made sense that I would move into his room since it was bigger but I would miss my view of the river if not the balcony and all it's associated memories.
I lay for a while just watching him sleep. I could lie like this forever, I thought, but the morning was wearing on and I had to get to work. I carefully slipped out of bed and I succeeded without waking him. I started the shower then went into my old bedroom to get my clothes. When I went back into the bathroom I was startled to find Aidan waiting for me in the shower. Before I could say a word he pulled me under the hot spray boxers and all. He cut off my protest with a passionate kiss.
"Why didn't you wake me?" he asked while I caught my breath. He took the bar of soap and started to wash my back.
"I was going to after I took my shower."
"I woke up and you weren't there."
"I'm sorry," I said with another kiss, "I won't let it happen again."
"Good," he said as his soapy hands slid down my sides.
"Aidan, I have to go to work," I protested faintly.
"I'll drive you."
"How does that make a difference? I still have to be there at the same...ooohhh," the rest of my case was cut off by Aidan's convincing counterargument. That morning I learned that fireworks even go off in the shower.
Since he did end up driving me to work he had to pick me up too. After we left the downtown, to my surprise, we didn't head back to the apartment.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"To the marina. We might as well look for Joey's dad. I'm really starting to get into this whole detective thing. It sounded like in the letter that his dad has a boat at the marina. I thought we could nose around."
"Nose around? Where'd you get that? What, are we rooting for truffles?"
"Don't be a smart ass."
We parked and walked around the marina for a few minutes looking for someone. The place seemed pretty deserted and most of the boats were covered in canvas for the winter. Finally we found someone struggling to pull the canvas cover down far enough to snap it in place.
"Excuse me," I called, "Do you know a Mr. Taylor who has a boat in this marina?"
The man turned and eyed us suspiciously. He was an older man, rough and weathered by years in the elements. I began to feel vaguely guilty under his gaze; for what, I didn't know.
"Nope, sorry," he said finally. Then as we started away, "Wait, do you mean Jack?"
"Jack Taylor?" I said cautiously. After all, I didn't know if that was who I meant.
"Yeah."
"I don't know, maybe..."
He looked at me with renewed suspicion. "Why are you looking for him?"
"He's my best friend's father."
"Well now, Jack's boy jus' died a few weeks back."
"That was him; Joey."
"Jack was right broke up over that. I was here the day he heard tell about it. On the radio, no less! Helluva way to hear your boy is dead."
"Yes, sir, it is. I wanted to find him to tell him how sorry I was."
"Well I'm sure he ain't here today; it being winter and all."
"Well if you should happen to see him, could you tell him Will Keegan was trying to get in touch with him?"
"Will Keegan you say? I'll do that."
"Thank you."
He watched as we walked away. He was still standing on the dock staring after us as Aidan backed out of our parking space and drove away.
"Another dead end," I sighed.
"Maybe not. Let's wait and see."
"The longer we wait the longer the killer has to get away with murder."
"The killer hasn't gotten away with anything yet. And he knows it. That's why he's running scared right now and that's why he killed Blake. We still have a chance here, Will. Don't give up."
"I'm not giving up, but how many more people have to die before something gets done?"
I left work early the next day to go with Caitlin to the doctor. It seemed like we sat in the waiting room forever while we waited to be called. Eventually a nurse called Caitlin back, leaving me adrift in a sea of very large, very pregnant woman. I could feel what little testosterone I had being leached out of me as I sat. Just as I was about to break down and read Martha Stewart Living, the nurse stuck her head back in the waiting room.
"Mr. Keegan?" she said, "Caitlin has asked if you would come back. The doctor said it's ok."
"Me? Come back there?" I squeaked.
Several of the other mothers grinned and I heard one say, "He sounds just like my husband the first time I asked him to come back."
The nurse nodded encouragingly and I reluctantly followed her back. She led me into an examining room where Caitlin lay on a table, her stomach exposed and covered in what looked to me like Vaseline. Her doctor was sitting next to her holding a small device to Caitlin's stomach. They were both staring intently at a monitor. They turned towards me as I came in and I immediately felt myself begin to blush. The doctor was a woman, and judging by her dark complexion and the red dot in the middle of her forehead I guessed she was from India.
"You are jes' in time to see de baby," the doctor said with a warm smile.
"See the baby?" I repeated.
"Yes, on the little TV here," she pointed to the monitor.
I looked at the screen but all I could see was static and undefined shapes and shadows. "Where is it?" I asked.
"Right dere. Dat's de head," she said pointing, "and dat's the arm. Oh, look, he's waving!"
"He?" Caitlin asked while I stared hard at the screen.
"It's too early to tell, I jes' said he. It could be a she."
Slowly, while they talked, a tiny alien-like form began to appear before my eyes. It reminded me of those puzzles that were so popular when I was a kid; those geometric designs that if you stared at them long enough hidden 3-D images slowly formed.
A sense of awe swept over me as I stared at the image on the monitor. I was looking at a person that hadn't even drawn its first breath yet. This tiny life was still being formed even while I watched. It's tiny organs were being shaped, it's mind developing, and yet the gene patterns that would determine if it was right handed or left handed, blonde haired or brunette, blue eyed or brown were already established. Wonder and amazement filled me and a verse I remembered hearing in church ran through my mind. "For you have created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."
Caitlin and the doctor both stopped talking and turned to stare at me. I realized I had spoken the words aloud.
"It's from the Bible; Psalms," I said self-consciously as I blushed once again.
"Listen to dis," the doctor said. I was grateful for the distraction. She twisted a knob on the monitor and suddenly a sound filled the room. It was a fast-paced, wet sounding rhythmic beating.
"The heartbeat?" Caitlin asked.
The doctor nodded.
I stood for a moment as the sound washed over me. Then suddenly it was like I couldn't breathe. I needed air; I needed out of that tiny room.
"Excuse me," I gasped and let myself out of the room. Forcing myself not to run, I made my way outside where I stood gulping in the cold air. An overwhelming feeling of responsibility had come over me in the examining room like I had never felt before. Somehow, none of this had seemed real until that moment. Even with the baby books it had seemed distant, almost imaginary, like I was playing let's pretend.
But it wasn't pretend. Now I had seen the baby with my own eyes, heard its heart beat with my own ears. The baby was real. And I had committed myself to raising that child. And in just a matter of months it would be born and I'd be holding in my arms. Would it be a girl or a boy? What would it call me? Daddy? The very thought took my breath away. But I'm not the father, I told myself, Joey is. And then a small voice whispered, but Joey's dead.
And then a new fear crept into my mind, closing my throat and filling me with a sense of loss like I had never known. What if Caitlin met someone and fell in love and got married? I'd be out of the picture for good. As scared as I was I knew I wanted more than ever to be a part of this baby's life.
While I was still thinking about that Caitlin came out.
"Ready to go?" she asked.
"Yeah," I said slowly.
"What happened in there? One minute you're fine, the next you're spouting Bible verses and going all pale."
"It just kinda hit me all at once. I mean this is really happening. That's a real baby in there and I'm going to be at least partly responsible for it."
"Do you want to back out? Nothing is official yet. If you want out now is the time."
"No, I don't want out. In fact, I want to do this more than ever now. I'll try to find a lawyer tonight so we can start the legal stuff."
We walked to the car and got in.
"You're quite a guy, Mr. Keegan," she said once we were out on the road, "One of a kind in fact. Are you sure you're not straight? We could run off to Vegas right now, get married by an Elvis impersonator."
I laughed, "I don't think Aidan would be too happy about that."
Her head snapped around and her eyes grew wide. "I thought you and Aidan were just friends."
"We were. Now...we're more than just friends."
"Oh. Well..."
"Does that bother you?"
"No," she said quickly. A bit too quickly? "It just...surprised me."
We drove the rest of the way to her apartment in silence. I couldn't tell what if anything that meant.