Tom
We had two weeks away until graduation...and this was all over. I should’ve been excited, I'd be a legal adult within a year.
Outside on the school ground, Evan and Carson were sitting on a picnic bench, chatting excitedly.
"Hey, what's going on?" I asked.
"You will not believe the news we just got, best day ever," Carson said.
"Let me guess, you built a time machine and plan on going to the time of dinosaurs?" I asked.
"Very funny...but we should do that," Evan said.
"But not the dinosaur age, we should go to ancient Rome," Carson added.
"Guys! The best day ever news?" I asked.
"Oh yeah, Welton's in the hospital!" Carson exclaimed, Evan high-fived him. How can they be happy about that?
"What do you mean Jake's in the hospital?" I asked.
"He tried to OD himself last night, looks like we'll never have to worry about wedgies and flying food ever again," Evan replied.
"Guys this isn't good this is awful," I said.
"Why?" Carson asked.
"You guys are such idiots!" I exclaimed, than ran out of the school gates.
Evan
"What's his deal?"
"Beats me, Jake tried to rape his girlfriend, you think he'd be doing the happy dance."
Courtney
"Well is he okay?" I asked.
"We don't know. We had an emergency assembly this morning and were instructed not to talk about it," Keri replied.
"I'm not clear on what happened," I said.
"From what I heard Jake's mom found him in his room the other night unconscious with an empty pill bottle and vodka," she replied.
"Is he still out?" I asked.
"Like I said I don't know the full details, but if his mom didn't come in when she did Jake might be singing with the angels as we speak," she replied.
"Maybe I should come back," I said.
"No honey don't, we have everything under control here, we're still trying to find out who framed your mom and we're not letting the law get away with it," Keri protested.
"Alright, how's junior?" I asked.
"The tyke's coming to say hello around Christmas time," she replied.
"Right, listen I got to go. I'll call you back soon," I said.
"Wait, don't you want to talk to Tom?" she asked.
"He doesn't want to talk to me," and with that...I hung up. Ashlyn walked in the room a second later.
"Hey, everything okay?" she asked.
"Jake Welton is in the hospital," I replied.
"The same bastard who tried to rape you at Kate's party?" she asked.
"Yeah him, I think I was too hard on him," I said. Ashlyn plopped down next to me.
"Why? He was a jerk; he almost killed you. He tried ruining your life," she replied.
"He's troubled, he's in the closet and is being threatened with the secret. Sometimes the pressure gets tough and you can't hold on anymore," I said.
"When did you become so poetic?" she asked.
"Since I gotten used to life in Durango," I replied.
"Why would you try to kill you?" she asked.
"But maybe he was trying to make himself normal. His whole life he had been told that gay is bad, he thought he could use me to make him normal," I said, than started staring out the window.
"Well it's not like you can prove he's the innocent figure. Even after all that it's gonna take months...no years to fix everything he's done to everybody," she replied. I started to tune her out when I noticed Keith Overy on the street. He was handing a brown lunch bag to a kid who looked like he was fourteen or fifteen; no doubt it was a drug deal. Wait a minute...Tess framed my mom that I know; but she would need a supplier. And the only supplier she knows it the one I've talked about over and over, the one guy who drives me nuts and the one who tried destroying my art pieces.
Tess would need Keith to do her dirty work, and that's when all pieces fell into place.
"You're right, we can't prove Jake is innocent, but I know how we can prove Amelia is,"
-
We drove back to Durango and to Amelia's house. It looked different, the bright green grass had turned a moldy dried yellow, and the flowers were wilting from lack of care. The house looked completely abandoned.
"What're we doing at Amelia's house?" Ashlyn asked.
"When I first met Amelia she invited me inside and told me about everything she had been through after I was born. She bought this house from an old man whose wife had died three months before," I replied.
"So? That's depressing and not hinting at your great idea," she said.
"The house was built in 1948, nearly seventy years old," I said.
"Looks in pretty good shape to be a century old," she replied.
"Your still not getting my drift. The only thing Amelia changed about the house was the interior and gave the outside a fresh coat of paint. And the door is painted red instead of the old brown color. N, everyday since Amelia bought the house, the only thing that been pushed against it was a hand rattling the doorknob. What the door didn't expect was the be rammed open by a hundred and sixty pound Keith Overy," I said.
"How do you know it was Keith?" she asked.
"Come inside and you'll see," I replied and opened the door. The house still looked the same on the inside; everything was still in place.
"You see when I when Keri came over a couple of weeks ago I went to go get the door when I found a joint on the ground. I thought it was Amelia's, but that didn't make sense to me so I just decided to forget about it. But when Amelia was framed I didn't make the connection until now. Keith broke into the house, planted the drugs under the floor boards, and dropped his own joint before leaving to make it look like she was using again," I explained, heading for the kitchen. Sure enough, there was a hole where the floorboards used to be, and where the evidence was planted.
"That's really smart and kind of makes sense, but you can't prove that Keith did it, why would he all of the sudden have it in for Amelia?" Ashlyn asked. She was right; Keith had no motive...but...
"No, but Tess did,"
"Tess?"
"Come on."
-
We drove back to Denver and to Keith's house, and brought some friends to help. I sprung out the car and went up to Keith's door, banging as loud as I could.
"Keith! Keith open up!" I shouted.
"Go away, I'm closed!" he shouted back.
"Keith I swear to God, open the damn door or I'll knock it down," I shouted.
"You knock down my door, I'd like to see you try," he replied. I looked at the others and nodded. Dean and Luke busted down the door and we swarmed in. Keith was hanging odd the couch without his top on and in sweats. The place was a pigsty! There were dirty clothes everywhere; the place smelt like sweat, old take-out boxes littered the ground. Not even Mr. Clean could get this place spick n' span.
"What the hell's going on?!" Keith exclaimed.
"Where's the log book?" I asked.
"What log book?" he asked confused.
"The log book you keep to label when you've made a deal," I replied.
"I don't keep a log book, I just take the money," he said.
"But how are you supposed to know who owes you money after they take the drugs?" Keri asked.
"Tell me where the goddamn log book is!" I demanded.
"Why should I?" Keith asked.
"Because you have a chance to redeem yourself for all the shit you've done to me. Tell me where the log book is and I'll wipe your slate clean," I replied. Keith thought for a moment, than took a deep breath.
"It's under the bed in a cigar box," he said.
"Now was that so hard?" Kathleen asked. I went into the bedroom and looked under the bed. Sure enough, there was a cigar box, and inside the cigar box was a journal. I flipped through the pages until I came to the S section. Keith labelled his sales by last name. Let's see...Sarrell, Samston...Stern! Tess Stern bought 2 pound of heroine, 3 pounds of marijuana, and half a pound of ketamine.
"I got the book!" I announced.
"Let's go," Dean said.
"You're gonna need to testify at court," Kathleen told Keith.
"Are you single?"
"SUMMER!"
"You guys owe me a door," Keith said as we left. I reached into my pocket and handed him a hundred dollar bill.
"Don't spend it all on roofies, darlin',"