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AFTER DRIVING AROUND the area for twenty-five minutes Alex and I ended up back in Billy’s parking lot. But then it hit me, and I remembered where I’d last seen a red VW Jetta. So I ripped the steering wheel and took the Jeep in the other direction. “Hold on,” I said as I hit the street.
“Where’re we going?” Alex said.
“River’s Edge.” I had the gas down to the floor and my eyes fixed on the road.
“You sure they’re still open?”
“It’s a young crowd. They close at two.”
It was almost one-forty-five by the time we pulled up to the front of River’s Edge Bistro. I drove through the back parking lot and looked at all the cars, but didn’t see a red Jetta. “I remember seeing it when I locked horns with Brian Mason.” I pulled out onto the street and backed into an empty parking space right by the front door.
I stepped out from the driver’s side of the Jeep.
Alex said, “Didn’t you tell Brian you wouldn’t go in his restaurant anymore?”
I stopped, mid-step. “So I’m not supposed to go in?”
Alex stepped out onto the sidewalk, shaking her head. “No, you’re not. So you wait here...I’ll go in and ask if anyone knows who owns a red Jetta.” She walked up to the front door, turned and gave me a look as she entered the restaurant.
I watched through the window, but it didn’t look like Lydia was behind the bar. I saw Alex walk up to the bar and lean forward as she said something to the bartender. She gave him a nod then turned and walked away. She came through the front door and jumped in the passenger seat. “Your friend Lydia owns a red Jetta.”
I nodded as I shifted the Jeep into drive. “I should’ve guessed.”
“But it doesn’t mean it was here,” Alex said.
I looked through the window toward the inside as we drove away. “She wasn’t working?”
“No. Actually, the bartender said she doesn’t work there anymore.”
I turned and gave Alex a look. “You sure?”
“That’s what he said.”
“What about my friend, Brian? You see him?”
She turned and looked at Raz, sacked out in the back seat. “No, I didn’t see him.”
I stopped at a red light and looked over at Alex. “You seem to be in pretty good shape for someone who had too much to drink.”
Alex made a face, her head cocked back. “Who told you I had too much to drink? I only had two.” I could feel her stare. “I was exhausted. That’s all. Honestly, I just needed that nap.”
We drove north and crossed over the St. Johns on the Main Street bridge.
“Do you know where you’re going?”
“She lives in the Springfield area, in an old house off North Liberty.”
“How’d you know that?”
I turned and gave her a look. “You don’t think I can do any research without you?”
––––––––
THE OLD, TWO-STORY house had dark brown siding. It was small, compared to some of the other houses we’d passed, and looked like a gingerbread house. Except real.
I killed the Jeep’s lights and pulled up into Lydia’s driveway. The lights were off on the front porch and it looked to be dark inside the house.
“What if it wasn’t her car?” Alex said. “We’re going to knock on her door in the middle of the night?”
I looked at the clock on the dash and shook my head. “Actually, it’s morning.”
We both got up and walked toward the front door. But Alex stopped, had her eyes on the free-standing garage at the far end of the driveway. “Shouldn’t we look in there, see if the Jetta’s in there?”
We walked ahead along the driveway and both looked in through the garage door’s windows.
Inside the garage was a mess. And there was no chance of fitting a car inside it.
There was no Jetta.
We walked back to the front of the house. I had my knuckles raised, about to knock on the front door, when a set of headlights shined on us. A car pulled up behind the Jeep.
It was the red Jetta. And Lydia was behind the wheel.
The bright reverse lights kicked-on, and Lydia squealed the tires as she tried to get away and back out to the street.
I ran across the grass and into the street toward her as the Jetta’s transmission clicked into drive. I stopped and stood in front of the car. Unless she was going to run me over, her only option was to go in reverse.
I could feel the heat of the engine on my legs.
Lydia turned in her seat and looked behind her car. The reverse lights brightened up the road behind her. But she was too late. Alex had pulled the Jeep out of the driveway and parked it behind Lydia.
She had nowhere to go...unless of course she decided to run me over.
Alex stepped down from her Jeep and touched the taillight as she walked toward Lydia on the driver’s side. She knocked on the window, like she was in the middle of a routine traffic stop. “Turn off your engine.”
Lydia did as Alex said, then sat in her seat and stared at me through the windshield.
Alex pulled open the door, and Lydia stepped out.
Lydia looked at Alex then turned to me as I walked toward her. “I’m sorry.”
I stood next to Alex and looked down at Lydia. “Can you tell me what the hell this is all about?”
She looked down toward the ground. “I wanted to talk to you. That’s all.”
“Then why’d you take off?”
She shrugged. “I guess I changed my mind. I’m not sure I should be involved.”
Alex and I exchanged a look.
“Be involved in what?” I said.
She looked off for a moment, her eyes up toward her house. “I knew I should’ve told you...but I guess I wasn’t sure it’d make a difference.”
Alex said, “Whatever it is, you can tell us.”
Lydia looked at Alex then turned to me. “Who is she?”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “This is Alex.”
She gave Alex a slight smile then shifted her eyes back toward the ground.
“Lydia?”
She looked up at me. “I heard something. And I’m not sure what it all meant. It was a little while ago, but I just started to think about it after some things happened around here.”
I said, “Okay, why don’t you go ahead and tell us what it is you want to tell us.”
She said, “Shouldn’t we move the cars out of the road?”
Alex gave me a look. “Probably not a bad idea.”
I stepped past Lydia and stepped inside the driver’s side of her car. “Sorry, I’m not sure I believe you won’t take off.” I started her car and moved it into the driveway. Alex waited until I was back down with Lydia, then moved the Jeep off to the side of the road.
We walked toward her house. “Okay, enough stalling. Let’s have it.”
Lydia looked around the darkness, then looked me in the eye. “I overheard Mr. Mason talking on the phone a few weeks ago. I was with Brian, we were over there waiting for him. He had no idea I was listening.”
“What’d you hear?”
“It was before. Before any of this happened. Before John...” She stopped herself. “I think he was talking to John. I’m not sure I knew it at the time, but the more I’ve been thinking about it...”
“Lydia,” I said. “Please just tell me what you heard.”
“Mr. Mason told whoever it was he was talking to that Nate Ryan would have to be dealt with if he knows anything.” She looked me in the eye. “Nate Ryan was John Thompson’s stepson. I told him to call you, gave him the number off your card...”
I nodded. “He did.”
She continued, “Or maybe he said he had to be spoken to. I’m not sure which it was. That’s why I wasn’t sure if I...” She paused a moment and glanced at Alex. “Whatever it was, he said if he knows what happened, then it was up to John to fix the problem. If he didn’t, he’d have to be looking over his shoulder the rest of his life.”
Alex said, “You said you don’t know if it was John he was talking to?”
“Like I said, I didn’t know at the time. With Nate coming around again lately, talking about his mother and John’s death...and then you show up asking questions, I just started to think about what I’d heard.”
She pushed her hair back from the front of her head. “I’m sorry. This is probably foolish. I knew I shouldn’t have said anything.”
I shook my head. “No, it’s okay. Really. But...what exactly did Nate talk to you about?”
“He said he wished he’d talked to John sooner, found out what happened to the money when his mother died.”
I said, “The way you say it, it sounds like he wasn’t very upset about it?”
Lydia nodded. “Nate’s a good kid. I think he is, anyway. He wouldn’t hurt anyone, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“So, is that it?” I said. “Is that why you were looking for me?”
“Like I said, I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have...”
I put my hand on her shoulder. “It’s good. Although I still don’t know why you’d run from us.”
“Just started thinking about all that’s happened. And then Kayla...I still can’t believe it.”
“You know Kayla?”
Lydia nodded. “I did. More when we were younger. And I knew Nate was going to talk to her, see if she could help.”
I thought for a moment. “Have you heard from Nate?”
“No. But I heard what happened.”
The three of us stood quiet for a moment. I looked out to the street, toward Raz with his head hanging over the edge in the back seat as he watched us from the Jeep.
I gave a nod toward Lydia’s house. “You should go in and get some sleep,” I said.
She cracked a slight smile and walked away, toward her front door.
“Lydia,” I said. “What happened at the River’s Edge? I heard you’re not there anymore?”
She took a moment before she answered. “Brian and I had a fight.”