The Fall of Never(12)

It was an insane world.





Chapter Four


After leaving the hospital, Josh decided to stop by Kelly’s apartment and give her the bad news. He knocked once and the door was immediately pulled open. Kelly stood on the other side, her eyes red and puffy, her face more haggard than it had been in the past several weeks. Upon seeing her, Josh’s initial assumption was that she had already (for some reason) been notified about Nellie Worthridge’s stroke and had spent the afternoon crying. But no—that didn’t make sense.

His concern was quick to register in his voice. His words came out shaky and uncertain. “Kelly…what is it?”

She just shook her head and rubbed her eyes. Stepping aside, she motioned for him to come in. There was Tuvan music playing low on her stereo and no lights on in the apartment. The sweet, aromatic odor of sandalwood incense filled his nose. Without thinking, he reached out for her and placed a hand on one of her shoulders. He could feel her entire body tremble with each hitching breath she took.

“I’m sick,” she practically whispered, trying to cultivate a smile for him. With little emotion, she brushed his hand away, went over to the half-wall that separated the kitchen and the living area, and depressed the message button on her answering machine. Before the message even began, she was moving down the hallway and closing herself in the bathroom.

The machine beeped and the voice that came through the speaker was a man’s voice, quite stern and matter-of-fact. A down-to-business voice. Josh summoned a mental image of Christopher Walken, the movie actor—all stone-faced and expressionless.

“Miss Rich,” the stone-voice said, “my name is Jeffery Kildare, I handle your father’s personal agenda. I’m afraid it’s my duty to notify you of an unfortunate incident that has occurred here at the compound. Your sister Becky has come under some adverse circumstances. Plainly, Miss Rich, your sister was brutally attacked and nearly killed. Your father was adamant about contacting you. I have taken the liberty of securing you a plane ticket for tomorrow evening from JFK to Burlington International. You can pick up your ticket at the counter, and a driver will be at Burlington when your flight comes in to take you up to the compound. I apologize for the brevity of this message, but there is much to attend to here. Your parents look forward to your arrival.”

The machine beeped and clicked off. Josh just stood there in dumb silence, staring at the answering machine in an attempt to fully understand the severity of what he’d just heard. Christ, he hadn’t even known Kelly had a sister.

Becky, he thought, her name is Becky and she was brutally attacked and nearly killed.

He went to the closed bathroom door and rapped on it twice with his knuckles.

“Kell? Come on, kid, open the door, all right?”

He was anticipating an argument, but none came. Instead, Kelly opened the bathroom door and slipped out into the hallway, brushing past him as if he didn’t even exist. She walked with a purpose, moving fast. As if someone or something were chasing her.

“You all right?” he asked, following her into the living area. “You want to talk about this? I’m here.”

Not looking at him, she clicked off the music and removed selected art books from a shelf. She examined them absently before stacking each one on the smoked-glass coffee table between the bookshelf and the sofa. Josh watched her shoulders hitch several times as she struggled to keep herself under control. For the first time, he noticed how much weight she’d lost over the past month or so. Her arms appeared to float within the fabric of her pullover and her waist seemed trimmer. No, not trim—emaciated. Was she not eating too? First no sleep and now no food?

Finally, Kelly sat down on the sofa and folded her hands around her face. “I feel frozen,” she said.

“I’m sorry.” It was all that came to his mind, all he was able to spit out. Like some horrible actor on a pitiful made-for-television movie. “Do you need me to do anything for you?”

Kelly shook her head. She looked exhausted. “I need a drink.”

“What can I get?”

“There’s some Absolute in the cupboard above the fridge,” she said. “Grab some glasses, will you, please?”

He went around to the cupboard, fished out the bottle of vodka and two rocks glasses. “You want me to knock some orange juice in it?”

“Straight,” she said.

He filled two glasses. “What happened?” he asked, his back toward her.

“You heard the message, didn’t you?”

“Yes. Becky, right?”

Kelly’s voice from very far away: “Becky…” As if she were trying to remember the name herself.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know,” she said.

“That’s all you were told about what happened? You don’t have any other information about what happened other than that message on your machine?”

“That’s all.”

“Did you try calling your parents’ house?”

“I don’t exactly know the phone number anymore,” she practically whispered. It sounded like something was caught in her throat. A groan, maybe. She still sounded very far away. “If they even have a phone number…”

“That Kildare guy…who was that, anyway?”