The Messenger

35

Tyler!” Amanda said with relief. But as she looked at his face, she sensed that something was troubling him. She wanted nothing more than to take him aside and ask him what was on his mind.

“Tyler!” Rebecca said, and launched herself toward him, pulling him into an embrace.

He managed to evade a kiss. He gave Amanda a look of such helplessness, she couldn’t stifle a laugh.

He disengaged himself from Rebecca-not without a little difficulty-and came to Amanda’s side. “You all right?” he murmured, and put an arm around her waist. He held her close.

Now what does this mean? she wondered. Was he just trying to get Rebecca to back off? But he seemed anxious about something, and she doubted it was Rebecca. So she smiled up at him and said, “Absolutely fine. But I’m worried about Brad.”

“How are you doing, Brad?” he said.

“I’m feeling a lot better,” Brad said. “I-maybe everyone could give me a minute to shower and get dressed, and we could talk in another room?”

“Certainly,” Tyler said. “But are you feeling up to that? It would probably be better for you to move around a little if you’re feeling strong enough, but don’t push yourself. We still haven’t learned what substances you were given-the doctor said that may take some time.”

“Substances?” Rebecca said.

“Yes,” Brad said. “I was drugged. Actually, while I didn’t enjoy it, that was the best part of what they did to me. It eased the pain a little.”

“Brad-”

“I know you have a lot of questions, Rebecca. Everyone else does, too. But why don’t all of you get out and let me dress, and we’ll talk more in a few minutes.”

The wait for Brad was tense but did not result in violence, Amanda was pleased to note. Ron and Alex sat close to each other on one sofa. Tyler and Amanda sat next to each other, if not quite so close, on the sofa directly across from it. Shade lay at their feet. Amanda still sensed some uneasiness in Tyler, but this was not the time to ask about it.

Rebecca paced, arms folded, and scowled at Amanda as she walked in one direction, at Alex on the return.

Brad arrived, and Rebecca watched as he moved slowly and stiffly into the room. He eyed a big soft chair with misgiving. Tyler said, “Would you prefer a wooden chair?”

“Yes, thanks. That one looks as if it would be wonderful until I tried to get up out of it.”

Tyler stood up and moved a wooden chair forward, and helped Brad ease himself carefully into it.

Rebecca, back to looking more worried than angry, brought Brad a cushion for his back and pulled up a second chair to be at his side.

Amanda asked for some notebook paper, which Tyler brought to her before returning to sit beside her, again not quite touching her, as if he was determined to concentrate on what Brad was saying without distraction.

So she took notes, as did Alex. While Brad told his story of meeting a man named Eduardo Leblanc, getting help with his gambling debts, and all that followed, no one interrupted him. But when he described the bizarre events in the basement, Rebecca tried to convince him that he must have hallucinated all of that as a result of the drugs he had been given.

Amanda wasn’t so sure. Brad’s terror about that was certainly real-at one point he had grown very white faced and started shaking. When he refused Tyler’s offer to discuss this another time, saying that he wanted them to know what they were up against, Amanda began to think that she had underestimated her cousin in a number of ways.

“What did this man in the basement want?” Tyler asked.

“I’m not sure it was a man. Human, I mean.” Brad shut his eyes tightly.

“Oh for-”

“Let him tell it as he experienced it, Rebecca,” Tyler said, and she subsided.

“I don’t know how he did it. With his mind, it seemed to me-as if he could get inside my head! I never felt him touch me, but-my God, the pain…”

He started shaking.

“Let’s move on to something else,” Amanda pleaded. “He can tell us more about that later.”

“Tell me more about this Eduardo,” Alex said.

“Everyone knows Eduardo,” Rebecca said before Brad could reply. “He can’t have any connection to this. He’s fabulously wealthy. He’s always at parties.”

“Was he at yours?” Tyler asked.

“No,” she said, pouting a little.

“He hasn’t been around lately,” Brad said. “And his cell phone is disconnected.”

“When was the last time either of you saw him?” Alex asked.

They thought for a moment. “A week or so before we met you, Tyler,” Brad said. “After that, I only had contact with Daniel and Evan.”

“So you never discussed Tyler with Eduardo, but Evan and Daniel asked you for information about him?” Alex asked.

“Right. The first time, all I was supposed to do was to call them when Tyler was out of town.”

“The break-in!” Amanda said.

“They robbed your house?” Brad asked in dismay.

“No,” Tyler said quickly. “They did break in, but nothing was taken.”

“I was so stupid! I’m-I’m so, so sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” Tyler said. “It was really not a problem. So forgive yourself for that.”

“Not so easy,” Brad murmured.

“What else did they ask you to do?” Alex asked.

“Just one other thing-it had to do with the party. I was supposed to try to make sure Tyler came to it, to let them know when he got there, and to call if he left before they showed up.”

“Do you know that they tried to killed Tyler that night, and almost killed Amanda, too?” Ron asked. “There was an accident-”

Brad’s face showed shock. “What?”

“We’re both okay,” Tyler said, shooting a warning look at Ron. “Please don’t add that to your worries, Brad. I think we should probably thank you, really.”

“Thank me? For almost getting you killed?”

“But we weren’t killed and we’re both fine,” he said. “We got to know each other because of that accident, so yes, thank you.”

Brad seemed to withdraw into his own thoughts. Amanda could see that Rebecca was both unhappy and curious. Fortunately, she stayed silent.

“This Evan and Daniel weren’t participating in the party itself, right?” Alex asked.

“Right.”

“Tell me what went on right before they took you.”

He described going out for a walk around the grounds on the evening of the party.

“Is there anyone else who might have seen the men who took you?”

“Only Colby.”

“Colby…,” Amanda said, and looked at Tyler, who was frowning.

“Yeah,” Brad went on. “He was out by the guesthouse, smoking a cig. He was getting ready to leave.”

“You and Amanda know this Colby?” Alex asked Tyler, not having missed the exchange of glances between the two of them.

“Yes. He will be difficult to contact.”

“Could he have something against you?”

“We’ve known each other a long time,” Tyler said evasively. “This isn’t his style. Brad, is there any way he would have known you would be walking around outside just then?”

Brad thought, then shook his head. “No, I didn’t tell anyone I was going outside, and he couldn’t have followed me from the main house because he wasn’t there when I left it. I don’t think he had been standing there that long. He had been busy with some ladies in the guesthouse.”

“I still don’t like it,” Alex said.

“I’ll pursue Colby on my own,” Tyler said. “Brad and Rebecca, do either of you know Eduardo’s address?”

Brad and Rebecca exchanged a look. “No,” Brad said. “I haven’t been to his place. But-well, you know, you see someone at one party, and invite them to the next, or you text or call or e-mail.”

“Who introduced you to him?”

“I’m sure someone must have,” Brad said, but he couldn’t remember who it might have been.

“Brad, you borrowed thousands of dollars from someone you didn’t know any better than that?” Amanda said. “What if he was some sort of criminal? And why didn’t you come to me? I would have helped you.”

“Well, obviously he is some kind of criminal. But I didn’t go to him, he offered it to me. And it was just until my next payment from the trust came through,” Brad said. “And as for borrowing from you, I figured you were having similar problems.”

“What! Gambling?”

“No, but-but your clothes! And you drive an old car and-”

“Not because I can’t afford a new one! And some of us are not shopaholics.”

“Let’s get back to this Eduardo,” Ron said quickly. “You haven’t seen him for a while?”

“No. Like I said, I last saw him just before I met Tyler. That’s when I met Daniel and Evan.” He shifted uneasily in his chair.

“Are you all right, Brad?” Amanda asked. “Do you need to lie down again?”

“No, I’m okay,” he said, but she thought he looked uncomfortable, and not just at the reminder of the robbery.

“Maybe whoever hurt Brad did the same to Eduardo,” Rebecca said.

“Perhaps,” Tyler said. “But if he introduced you to Evan and Daniel, I have my doubts. Alex, what do you think?”

“Hard to say. He paid your debt in cash, Brad?”

“Yes.”

“Let me get that cell phone number from you and I’ll see what I can do. Also-if you and your sister can give me the names and numbers of other people who knew him-”

“Certainly not!” Rebecca said. “I don’t think our friends would appreciate it very much if I gave out their numbers to a snooping-”

“I’ll help you with that,” Ron interrupted. “I know most of their friends, and I couldn’t care less about what they'd ‘appreciate.’”

“Thanks, Ron,” Alex said, smiling at him.

“I’ll ask around, too,” Brad said.

“Thanks,” Alex said, “but I think you should lie low for the time being. It will help us to protect you while you’re recovering. Tell me again what you were supposed to do if the kidnapping had gone better.”

Amanda could see Brad blush under his bruises. “I was supposed to make Amanda drive. We were supposed to get on the freeway heading toward the Valley. He-the thing in the basement-said when we got to the freeway, to call to get instructions on how to get to the next place. He said Tyler had something that belonged to him.” He glanced uneasily at Tyler.

“Did he say what that was?” Tyler asked.

“No. I asked and-he said I was ‘impertinent.’” He shivered. “He punished me for asking. That was the worst-the worst I’ve ever felt. So I didn’t ask anything more, and then-I don’t know, I remember Daniel came back to the cellar, and the thing gave him some orders, and he mixed something up, and made me drink it. Mostly what the thing in the basement wanted was for me to bring Tyler to him. And he wanted to know if Tyler and Amanda were in love.”

“What?” Amanda said.

“I told him I thought you were fighting, you know, because you left the party and all. That seemed to amuse him.” He shivered again.

“You say he gave you a phone number to call,” Alex said “Tell me that number, too.”

He did. Brad was clearly tiring, and this time when Amanda suggested that they let him sleep for a while, Tyler quickly agreed that it would be best. Brad made a token protest but allowed Rebecca to talk him into taking a break.

“I’ll sit with you, if you’d like,” she said.

Amanda wasn’t sure that would be restful, but Brad seemed happy to know he wouldn’t be alone.

“He’s still afraid,” Ron said when they had left the room.

“He probably will be for some time,” Alex said. “They really worked him over.”

“He didn’t owe them all that much,” Ron said.

“Oh, I don’t think this ever had anything to do with money,” Alex said. She looked at Amanda and Tyler. “I’m just trying to figure out if these guys are really after Tyler or Amanda, or both of you-and why.”