Episode 18

Alaire sat across from Aaron at the kitchen table. He was still rubbing the spot where Gerald punched him. The swelling was protruding from underneath his left eye.
Things got a little out of hand when Aaron and the detective caught them. Alaire hadn't seen that look in Aaron's eyes in a long time. It was almost like he was the manifestation of rage like his consciousness was gone and replaced with something else. It was spooky.
No one could blame him, though. She was still kidnapped, after all, Alaire thought. But the poor kid was out with one punch, and Aaron wanted to finish the job, so Gerald had to restrain him...
Aaron was fuming, refusing to look up at her. Alaire sighed, "I'm sorry."
"You don't have anything to be sorry for," he said sharply.
"But you're mad at me..."
Aaron placed his hand on the table, maybe a little too harshly, "I wasn't expecting you to be making friends with your kidnappers. I thought you were... well, dead. I thought that when I found you, you would be dead or dying."
"It's not like he and I are pals," Alaire snapped, "I'm sorry I'm not dead!"
"Don't say that!" Aaron's tone made her jump. He finally made eye contact with her but coughed and awkwardly looked away.
Gerald handcuffed the culprit and leaned him up against the wall as they waited for him to gain consciousness. The detective was making several calls to his assistant, Ryan, but from the sound of it, he was having no luck.
"Care to explain it to me again," Gerald addressed Alaire after he received Ryan's voicemail again.
"Um," Alaire turned from Aaron, "I was kidnapped. I was brought here - had no idea where I was. He left me in the basement, but he fed me and didn't do anything except interrogate me once about who killed Taylor. I didn't realize the significance until..."
"You realized he was her brother," Gerald finished.
Alaire nodded, "He came back tonight and let me go, just like that, told me to leave and that he couldn't do this anymore."
Gerald analyzed the sleeping boy with blood drying under his nose. "You really think he meant you no harm?" he asked.
"I don't know. I think he might've at one point, but... I don't think he's a bad person. I don't think he could go through with it."
Aaron grunted in disgust. Alaire glowered, "If he wanted me dead he would've done it already."
"How can you trust anything after what we went through?" Aaron laughed darkly, "I remember being rescued and it didn't turn out so great for any of us,  did it?"
Alaire continued to glare but said nothing. Gerald raised his eyebrows and went back to his business. The kid was starting to stir, groaning from the pain of his potentially broken nose. Aaron tensed.
"Dylan?" Gerald crouched closer to the ground so they were eye level, "Hey."
Dylan's dark eyes rolled until they focused on Gerald's face. He was startled but didn't try to fight against his handcuffs. Instead, he sunk with a deep sigh and lazily looked at all the faces staring at him.
"I'm Detective Gerald Robinson," Gerald said, "You're under arrest for-"
"Detective."
Gerald jerked his head, "Can it wait?"
"No, um... I don't want to press charges," Alaire's voice trailed away.
Both Aaron and Gerald looked at her in disbelief.
"Excuse me?" Gerald looked to Aaron for validation.
"Don't be stupid," Aaron said, "You're kidding right?"
"No," Alaire noticed Dylan looking up at her, totally expressionless.
"Alaire!" Aaron huffed.
"My brother was killed," Alaire said in a hushed tone, "And you know what? I killed the man who killed him. Without hesitating. I still haven't been punished for it."
Everyone fell silent. Aaron's furrowed eyebrows finally relaxed, "That was different..."
"Is it?" Alaire countered, "He just wants to know what happened to his sister. And he let me go."
Gerald turned to Dylan, still watching them, "I'm taking you in for questioning then."
"K," Dylan grumbled.
There was no sign he was going to put up a fight. The fire of life in his dark eyes were tiny embers gasping for air. Alaire knew it would irk them if she defended Dylan too much, but she ignored them. She left her chair and crouched next to the detective, "What made you decide to let me go?"
Dylan lifted his broad set shoulders. Alaire tried again, "How old are you? You can't be in college yet, are you?"
"No. I'm seventeen."
"Wow, young," Alaire used a soothing tone.
"Dylan," Gerald interjected, "There's reason to believe you murdered Tina, the older woman you worked for."
"You shouldn't question him here..." Alaire said.
Dylan didn't seem to mind and responded with a blunt, "I didn't do it."
"Was it because of those artifacts? Did someone want them? Did you want them for something?" Gerald fired.
"No," Dylan finally showed some sign of emotion, "That's stupid. I'm the one who gave her the artifacts, why would I kill her and steal them back?"
Gerald paused, "You were the supplier?"
"Yeah... I found them in my sister's room one day," Dylan's voice cracked, "I didn't want anyone finding them so..."
Gerald's face soothed over, satisfied with the new information. Alaire watched him puzzle something together in his head.
"Did you know what they were?" Gerald asked.
"Not really," Dylan said, "Just that... it had to be something bad. Everyone was saying Taylor did all these terrible things. But she wasn't like that."
"She fooled everyone," Aaron suddenly said.
Dylan's eyes slowly found Aaron's. Alaire felt panic rising in her chest. She'd forgotten what her last conversation with Dylan was about. He had been dead set on finding Aaron.
"Did you kill her?" Dylan asked.
Aaron didn't look angry anymore. His teeth were still clenched, but his face showed pity, "No. I did not."
For some reason, that seemed to break Dylan. Though handcuffed, he pulled his knees up and hid his face in his bound hands. His back shook, "I... They told me it was you. But... then they killed Tina and... I freaked out."
"That's why you came back... you were worried they'd pin the murder on you," Alaire said out loud.
"Who are 'they'?" Gerald demanded. Dylan sniffed and refused to respond. That irritated the detective, so he grabbed the kid by the shoulders, "You want to go to jail? You better tell me who the murderers are."
"Detective..." Alaire whispered disapprovingly.
"They still haven't found Taylor or Matt or anyone related to the murder of those college students," Gerald pressed, "If we don't catch them now, we may not get another chance for a very long time."
"I didn't see their face... They just gave me a recording, that's all," Dylan's voice croaked.
Gerald frowned, "Alright, well. Lets' get out of here. We can continue our little discussion down-"
His phone went off, "Ah, Ryan, finally..."
Alaire put a hand under Dylan's arm and offered to help him off the ground. Dylan didn't look at her but surrendered to the gesture. Aaron placed himself in between the two, keeping a close eye on the boy in handcuffs while they waited for Gerald's phone call.
Gerald hadn't said a word since greeting Ryan. When he turned to face them, they knew right away something was wrong.
Gerald set his phone on the kitchen table and set it to speaker;
"Detective? Don't tell me I've lost you already."
Alaire felt her body jolt in response when she recognized this man's voice. No! Gerald put a finger to his lips before saying, "I'm here."
"Ah, that's good! What are you up to tonight? Seems odd to trespass into empty homes. If you ask me it doesn't sound like you're looking for the missing students very hard."
Alaire was itching to ask Aaron if she recognized this voice too. She stared at him until he looked up at her and gave a slight nod. What does that mean? Is this really him?
"Where's Ryan," Gerald ignored the man's pestering, "You have his phone, so what've you done with him?"
"Oh he's fine!" the voice said jubilantly, "At the moment anyway."
"That's two people you've taken from me," Gerald said.
"Correct! I'll gladly give them back. In fact, I'm feeling charitable, I'll even help you find the students! I'm too busy to chase you around right now, so maybe you can meet me halfway this time."
Gerald breathed harshly out his nose, "What do you want."
"Who I want. They're with you now, aren't they? Hello, Alaire!"
"Shit," Gerald's eyes were burning holes through his phone.
"In fact," the voice continued, "Why don't you, Alaire, Aaron, and Dylan come join me. But no one else... I don't want this party to get out of hand."
After he said that, faint screams were heard, "Gerald! Gerald!" Along with a rather unpleasant sound of metal scratching metal.
"Maren..." Gerald's face was getting red.
"Do we have a deal then?" the voice asked casually, "Oh, I forgot to mention. You need to get here pretty quick... You see, I don't have a lot of time on my hands. If you could get here before oh... dawn?"
"Give me the location," Gerald growled.
"Detective! That would be silly. I have a better idea. Aaron? This clue is for you!"
Aaron didn't respond, but he didn't have to. Somehow, this guy knew they were all listening.
"Get to know each other..." the voice giggled, "That's your only clue. Now hurry, hurry!"
Before he hung up, Maren started screaming, and it sounded like she was in pain. Alaire shivered and felt bile wanting to escape her stomach. Gerald released a ballad of curse words.
"That's the same guy," Dylan said, "The one who gave me the tape."
"Is it just me or..." Alaire turned to Aaron, "Did he sound an awful lot like Professor Kellor?"
"He does," he agreed.
"What does his cryptic clue mean?" Gerald asked.
"I'm confused too... we all got that message," Alaire said.
"What do you mean?" the detective's eyes darted from Aaron to Alaire.
Alaire cleared her throat, "When we were captured, they gave us notes that said 'get to know each other.' But he singled Aaron out... We were in different places. I was at an amusement park and Aaron was..."
"At the cabin," Aaron said.