Change of Possession (21 page)

“Okay, well, we need to see if any of this mess will help him or convict him, but right now, I’m thinking it’s gonna be the latter.”

“Dad, I love him. Don’t be negative, we have to find something that shows his innocence.”

He let out a long groan. “You know I don’t like this right?”

I nodded.

“Okay, fine. Let’s prove them wrong.”

We dug around the tiny room for what seemed liked hours. Neither of us could find anything to help Vahn. There had to be hundreds of pictures and notes scribbled in almost incoherent gibberish. I tossed a paper down and sighed.

I scanned the room searching for something we hadn’t seen. Papers, pictures, a desk, a bed with nightstand, a box… Other than the psycho red marks and the whole stalkerness of the whole room, nothing was out of place.

Wait. I glanced back to the box. “Dad.”

“Hmm? What you got, kiddo?”

I spun around the room and giddiness crept up inside me. “It’s not him.”

“You’ve been saying that, but you have to prove it.” He set down a photo of the whole football team and looked up at me.

“Look around. How much dust is covered over everything?”

He glanced around. “A lot. Why?”

I picked up a photo. “But what about on the pictures?”

He picked the photo of the team back up and really looked at it. “There isn’t any.”

“Right. And the footprints leading up here? Only one set right? Dad, if the pictures just got here, then they haven’t been up here collecting dust like everything else. Also, there’s a box over in the corner that doesn’t have dust on it. Isn’t that a little odd? I think he’s being set up.”

My dad stood up and looked at the box. “I think you’re right. I don’t know how or why I didn’t see that first.” He rubbed his chin in thought as he continued to look around. “Keeley, I need you to stay here.”

I stood up quicker than I should have and winced. “What? Dad, no. I’m so not being alone right now.”

“Look,” he whispered. “When we came in, we saw one set of prints that led up stairs, but there wasn’t one heading back down was there? Besides, you’re already hurt.”

I gulped and grabbed his arm. “Dad, you don’t think?”

He held his finger up to his mouth. “I didn’t think anything of it earlier, I must be too tired or distracted, I don’t know, but either way I was off my game. That could have cost me you. Now I need you to stay here while I check it out.”

I bit my bottom lip and nodded. I didn’t want to be alone, and I didn’t want my dad to go traipsing through a house where the real killer could be hiding.

He quietly closed the bedroom door behind him as he left me alone. I couldn’t breathe. What if whoever planted these pictures was still in the house?

My side ached even more from all the exertion and I knew it would be a matter of time before it had me down and out of commission. I was fighting through the pain as it was.

A loud clanging made me jump. I darted from the room at the same time I heard yelling. As quickly as I could, I limped down the stairs.

“Keeley, get out of here! Now!” my dad yelled from the kitchen.

I hesitated, but I couldn’t leave him. I would never forgive myself if I left him with a killer. I already had too many deaths on shoulders; I wouldn’t let one of them be my dad’s.

I scrambled to the kitchen, where Brick wrestled with my dad. “Get off him!” I screamed at him, but he barely flinched at my voice.

“Keeley,” my dad yelled in between grunts of exertion. “I said run!”

“No, I can’t leave you.” I desperately looked for something to hit Brick with. I dashed from the room and found an old broom stowed away in the hall closet. I grabbed it and hurried back.

Brick held my dad down on the floor, a skillet in his hand. Before I could stop him, he swung it down hard against my dad’s head.

The world around me froze as I watched my dad stop fighting. Brick got up and dropped the pan. He sneered at me as he sauntered closer.

“You stupid bitch. You ruined everything. I liked doing things for Steve; the beatings, the fires, the killings. You have no idea how fun it is to plan someone’s death and watch as it unfolds before your eyes.” He came closer. “Steve supplied me with what I needed and return I did what he asked, happily. You took away my perfect world. I was getting away with murder—literally.” He chuckled. “It was so easy to set up your boyfriend to take the fall for me. But explaining yours and your father’s deaths and blame him are gonna be a bit harder.”

I backed up with each step he took forward. I chanced a side glance at my dad. His chest still rose so I still had time to save him. I grasped the handle of the broom tightly and held it out, ready to swing.

“What are you gonna do? Hit me with that? Honey, I’ve had harder hits on the field.” He stopped moving and stared at me, tempting me to do something.

I held my ground and didn’t lower the broom. I wasn’t going down without a fight, although the increasing pain in my side told me it wouldn’t be a very long fight.

He rushed toward me and I swung, hitting him across the head. It was enough to make him back off but it also ripped something in my side, and I was sure my stitches popped open, making me cry out and grasp my side.

A shadow crept past the window and I froze. Who had Brick called to back him up? I couldn’t take him on for long; two of them would be out of the question.

“Is that all you got? If you wanted to dance, you should’ve just said something. You know, I watched as you danced with Steve that first night. I watched you the first day of school. All those pictures you saw upstairs… Yeah, those are from my camera. I took those.”

I gulped.

He grinned wickedly. “That surprises you. You thought lover boy took those? I even have some I left in my private stash. I like to look at them when I’m plotting.”

“You’re sick,” I spat.

“No, I’m not sick, I’m angry! Angry that you took everything away from me!”

“That wasn’t me, Brick. I didn’t take anything away from you. You and Steve both had issues and coming off the drugs can’t be easy, but I’m sure they can get you the help you need.” I tried to reason with him even though I hated it.

“I don’t need help. I just need a hit, just one fucking hit. I need to feel it; it’s driving me crazy.”

I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye. I gasped when I saw Vahn standing behind the kitchen door. He raised his finger to his lips.

I glanced back at Brick before he followed my gaze. He started pacing small steps back and forth in front of me. “I need to find someone who has some. It’s killing me. I know you know where to find some.”

I shook my head. “No. I don’t.”

He rushed at me again in rage. “Liar!”

I swung the broom again and Vahn barged through the door, grabbing Brick around the arms and waist, preventing him from moving. I dropped the broom and rushed over.

“Call nine-one-one, Keeley,” Vahn said as he fought to keep his hold around Brick.

I did as he said and gave the dispatcher everything she needed. Minutes later sirens filled the air. I watched helplessly as Vahn struggled with Brick, barely winning the fight. I knew his ribs still had to hurt so it wouldn’t be easy holding down someone like Brick.

Uniformed officers came in with guns drawn. They helped take Brick down and handcuffed him. Vahn ran over to me and checked me up and down. “Are you okay? You’re bleeding.”

“I’m fine, but my dad…” We shot over to where he lay on the floor. A paramedic was already attending to him, giving him smelling salt to wake him. “He was hit on the head and went limp. Will he be okay?”

“We’re gonna take him to the ER. They can better help him there.  Right now I just need to make sure he’s stable.”

I nodded and stood up to get out of the way for more paramedics to come help him. One of them stopped and looked at me. “You’re bleeding too. Let me look at it.”

I raised my shirt enough for him to see my wound.

Gently, he touched it with gloved fingers. “Looks like you popped your stitches, all but maybe one or two of them. Definitely something that needs checked out.”

“I’ll take her in right now.”

The EMT nodded.

I grabbed Vahn’s arm. “Wait. I want to be with my dad till they load him in the ambulance.”

“Okay.”

“Keeley? Where’s my daughter?” my dad asked. It was the most beautiful sound ever to hear his voice.

I rushed over to him. “I’m right here, Dad. I’m okay. I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

They loaded him into the ambulance and Vahn helped me to get into his car. I placed my hands at my side to help slow the bleeding that hadn’t subsided.

“How did you get here? I mean, you were arrested,” I asked in between gasps of air.

“I was released. Actually, it was a set up to draw out the real killer. Your dad and I knew who ever it was, would be watching so we set up a scene with me being arrested earlier today when I went to the cop shop the first time with him. We thought we’d have more time before he’d show up, but when I got back to your place I knew that you’d go somewhere no one else would to help me.”

Fury erupted inside me. “How could you? Neither one of you told me anything and I kept thinking you were really arrested!”

“I know, I’m sorry. We just wanted it to be believable.”

“I was so worried, and I’m not gonna lie, for a moment I was beginning to believe it was true. It scared me to death. I hated that feeling. I’m sorry. Ugh!” It was so bad that I didn’t want to remember the feeling.

“Keeley, I’d be worried about you if you didn’t think that. It would be hard not to second guess everything. I’m not sure what you saw, but just know that this was the first time since my parents died that I was even in that house. None of what you saw was me.”

“I know. I do, really. It was just a weak moment.”

We got to the hospital and with my luck, Dr. White was on call in the ER. He raised his brow and ushered me to the table. “We really have to stop meeting like this.”

I laughed, but it hurt. “Sorry, next time I’ll make an appointment.”

“There better not be a next time. No offense, but I’m married and it seems like I see you more than my wife lately so I’m gonna have to decline.” He looked up from stitching me back together to Vahn. “Same goes for you.”

“Yes, sir.”

After Dr. White declared me fit, stitched, and ready to go home, I went to see my dad before leaving. He was doing well and his doctor said he could probably leave in the morning but they wanted to watch him the rest of the night to make sure.

Vahn walked with me hand in hand in the parking lot to his car. Lightning lit up the midnight sky.

“We better hurry before we’re drenched.”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

The ride was quiet. Both of us had far too much to think about. I was grateful one of the world’s longest days had come to an end. Just like the horror, it was all gone.

“Wait, can we stop at the cemetery? I want to see Alison’s grave.”

“Right now? Keeley, it’s after midnight, we’ve both had a long day, and getting ready to pour.”

“I know, but it’ll only take a minute. Please?”

“I can’t refuse a pretty girl like you. Besides, being locked up in the slammer changes a guy. I might have to do nice things now, ya know.”

“Hahaha. You were in there for like five hours, if that.”

“Yeah, but it sounded good.”

We both laughed. It didn’t take too long to reach the cemetery. I got out first, but Vahn followed close behind me. I walked right to it, even in the dark, impressing myself.

I squatted down and touched the freshly placed headstone. Beautiful pink roses draped across the marble top.

Alison Wheatley

Beloved Daughter 1993 – 2013

She thought she was all alone. Maybe she was right. So many bad things happened to her in her life, and I was only one of them.

“I’m sorry, my friend,” I whispered. “But I wanted you to know it’s over. Steve is dead and Brick was arrested for killing you. I just thought you’d like to know.”

Drops of rain landed on me and in seconds the sky opened up, letting the rain fall in a downpour. I didn’t care. It helped hide my tears.

“Goodbye, Alison. You can rest in peace now.” My heart cried out at the same time, hoping the same for Celeste.

Epilogue

Five months later…

Vahn and I sat on the porch of his parents old house wrapped in a blanket and watched as the snow silently fell, covering the ground with a perfect white sheet. There was already a good six inches that we had to traipse through to walk anywhere, but there was something peaceful about the purity of a clean slate across the yard. We moved in to the big house together only a month ago, but it felt like years. It was so perfect being there with him.

I could see the finished mural on the brick wall and the beautiful red rose made the perfect backdrop against the white sky.

The last day of court was yesterday and I hoped to never set foot in a courtroom again. My nerves were on edge and I wasn’t sure I could take anymore. Every part of my life, past and present, was revealed. I hated bringing up the past and telling the court how I killed my best friend and why I should be believed as a credible witness against the team, but reliving the last moments with Steve were probably the hardest.

Christie’s death was hard for Vahn, and for her parents, but in the end, even her death was found to be caused by Steve. Justice, even how harsh, was served. Brick was given the highest punishment Utah had for first degree of murder. I wouldn’t be seeing him walking the streets of Orem anytime soon. The other team members who were not involved directly were charged with small misdemeanors, resulting with either community service or jail time.

“You doing okay?” Vahn asked as he nuzzled against my neck.

“Yeah, I was just processing everything. I feel like everything is finally over. Even everything with Celeste feels like I can finally let it go. I won’t ever forget, but I think I can move on.”

“I know, I feel the same way. Now life is more than just surviving, we are living.” He pulled my hand up to kiss it. “And I’m lucky because I get to live it with you.”