Chapter Seventy

Havermouth, Present Time

Aislen called the realtor and cancelled the sale of the house for two reasons – she didn’t want to become homeless before she was ready to move on (and, from her interaction with Cameron on the porch, she was far from ready), and having a massive sexy-time bed and cupboard full of toys would probably not project “family first home” to buyers.

It was too early to get ready for the night with Talen, so she took herself for a walk up to the main street for coffee. She enjoyed the way the coffee shop’s werewolf patrons all tensed the moment she entered, and how Diana darted worried looks her way as if afraid to take her eyes off Aislen, lest Aislen do something unpredictable.

“Hey,” a man sitting at one of the tables stood as the shifting queue moved Aislen up to him. “Aislen Carter, isn’t it?”

“Perhaps,” she looked up at him warily. “Who’s asking?”

“You wouldn’t remember me,” he said. He had clear, light blue eyes and a flop of brunette hair that fell over his forehead. “We only met the one time… My name is Liam… Liam Faye.”

“Liam Faye,” she repeated, trying to place where she knew him. “Where did we meet?”

“At the drive-in movie theatre…”

“Ah, Gamma something Zi, Liam,” she nodded. Toby, she thought with a grimace.

“Gamma Rho Xi,” he corrected, with a bright smile. “You do remember me. Let me buy your coffee…”

“I’m a big girl, I can buy my own,” she replied, reaching the front of the queue. Diana set the large black coffee in front of her. “Been doing some digging, Diana?” She asked as she swiped the card. “Or was that mummy or daddy?”

“My father,” Diana muttered under her breath.

“I did my own digging today,” Aislen told her. “Struck gold… Well, buried treasure, at the very least. One man’s treasure is another man’s buried secrets.”

Diana stared at her, wide-eyed, and then she glanced around them. “Be careful,” she barely breathed the words. “You don’t understand what you’re doing.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Aislen leaned towards her and whispered the words back. “They can’t do much worse than they’ve already done.”

“They can,” Diana replied, still barely audible. “They really, really can.”

“Thanks for the warning, and the coffee,” Aislen picked up her cup.

“Have a nice day,” Diana said automatically.

“You too.”

Aislen barely took four steps out of the coffee shop before hearing her name called from behind her. Liam had followed. “Look,” he said, holding up his hands. “I know it’s creepy for a strange man to pursue you after a chance meeting in the coffee shop, but I really wanted to just say… Thank you.”

“Thank you?” She repeated.

“You told me not to jump. I know it was just… a fluke, or a rebellion because Toby told you that I had to… you know,” he coloured. “Do something or jump. I don’t know. I don’t know why you said it to me, but it stuck in my head. Like, really stuck. I don’t know if you know what happened after the movie…?”

“Yes,” she said softly. “I heard…”

“That was us,” he said anyway. “We went to that bridge. It was pitch black, and we were meant to jump off into the dark. You know, show how brave we could be, or how stupid,” he corrected himself scornfully. “It was a stupid thing to do. I would have done it,” he added. “I would have jumped too, except your voice was in my head, and I just…. I just couldn’t jump.

“They mocked me, called me a coward, and told me I was out of the frat. The other pledges jumped, and I stayed at the car whilst the frat members went down to greet them on the riverbank, but then someone started screaming for me to call the police…” He swallowed hard, his eyes losing focus, and then he shook his head, recalling himself to the present. “Five people died that night, only two made it back to shore,” he said softly. “Do you know why?”

“No,” she replied. She guessed stupidity wasn’t the answer he was looking for.

“Because the water maintenance in charge of the damn released the water without letting the towns downstream know. It’s something they do regularly, have done for the past ten years, and still do. When the water gets to a certain level in the damn, they just let it out, overnight when most people are in bed. By morning, the river returns to its normal levels, and no one knows what they have done. But for a couple of hours, the water becomes… deadly,” he met her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she said, and started walking.

“They let the water out because there’s repair issues with the damn, expensive ones. Five boys died because of their cost cutting measures,” his voice shook with anger as he kept pace with her. “They’re supposed to give notice, but they don’t. They fired the crew who were on that night, but they were just following orders. They weren’t making the decisions.

“Do you know what happened to the people who did make that decision?” He asked her.

“Nothing,” she guessed sadly, well aware of how these things worked, thanks to her gift. “Nothing happened.”

“That’s right. Nothing happened,” he nodded. “The company gave many of the dead boys’ families money to silence them. The rest… well,” he shrugged. They were passing Rhett’s tattoo shop and she tried not to look for him and failed. “Many left the area. But,” Liam smiled at her, though his eyes did not share the sentiment on his lips. Over his shoulder she saw Rhett look up as if sensing her there. “I’m being morbid and I’m sorry.

“I wanted just to say… thank you. Whatever possessed you to tell me not to jump, it was my lucky day. I would have been amongst the dead, and instead, I’m teaching grade threes,” his eyes brightened, this time with laughter.

“I’m glad,” she told him. “I was just a stupid kid, and I just…” She shrugged realizing that she didn’t have to explain. “But I am glad you didn’t jump.”

“Well,” he said. “Thank you. I hope I see you around town again. Are you back for good now?”

“I… I don’t know,” she replied honestly. “I just don’t know.”