The Wrong Side Of The Tracks (Leighton) (8 page)

Kenzie laughed, "That was my Uncle Omar's hat.  He used to work there when he was in high-school."  She pointed to a guy on the other side of her Mom with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth; he was making a crazy face and holding up three or four bottles of liquor.  He was wearing the exact same hat as Alessandra.  "I guess they had like an off and on thing."

"How did
she die?"

"She drowned," Kenzie said matter-of-factly as she was rounding up the photos off the floor and putting them back in the album.  Alex froze in mid
swallow.  She must be mistaken, or gotten the story confused with another.

"Drowned? How"

"I don't know I never asked.  It's kind of a sore subject."

Alex's head hurt, she couldn't take
any more surprises.  Nothing was making sense anymore, she needed to talk to somebody who was alive when Alessandra died that would tell her the truth.  She was starting to loathe her parents. Why was it turning out everything they had brought her up believing wasn't what happened at all?  No wonder her Mom and Dad didn't want to let her out of their sight, someone might tell her the truth while she was gone. 

"Hey, are
you all right?"  Kenzie looked at her with a concerned expression.

"Yeah,
I just feel a little weird.  Your Mom just thought I was a dead girl."

Kenzie laughed, "Really, I'm sorry about that.  That's why I wasn't even going to introduce you guys.  She mana
ges to make everyone she meets feel uncomfortable in some shape or form."

"Anyway
s!  What are we doing tonight?"

"I don't know, it's
kind of cold and rainy so there's no bonfire.  Karter said him and his friends are going to have a little get together in one of the empty boxes.  It's got to be low-key though because we're not supposed to be in there."

"An empty box?"

"Yeah, not like a REAL box.  One of the buildings has an empty apartment in it, and it's unlocked."

"Isn't that trespassing?"

"Uh yeah, that's why it's got to be low-key.  VERY low-key, Karter is on probation if he has any police-contact he's going to jail."

Alex tried to block out her paranoid thoughts.  In the back of her mind she was visioning the cops coming, and everyone leaving her there t
o get arrested.  Then they would laugh hysterically at her because they set her up, just to embarrass Mayor Raker.  She might have to sit this party out.  Besides, her parents thought she was at Camryn's house for the night, she might as well use this free time constructively and try to find some answers.

"It's only six o'clock, I'm go
ing to run to the library and get my resources for my paper, it's due on Monday."

Kenzie
started to pull her shoes on, "You want me to come with?"

"No, I wish.  They're not go
ing to let you in the building without a student ID because it's after hours.  The library is only open until eight, I won't be gone long."

Alex gathered her stuff and
Kenzie walked her to the door.

"Text me when
you’re on your way back, I might be at the other apartment with Karter."

Alex crossed back over to the other side of the tracks and headed through the parking lot to Leighton Prep.  The school's library received almost ten thousand dollars in donations every
year; they had some of the most modern research equipment available for their students.  Last year they used their donations to fund one of the most extensive newspaper databases in the state.  Someone had scanned and uploaded literally every newspaper in the state dating back to the early 1900's.  It was time she found some unbiased facts about what really occurred in the Raker family before she was born. 

The library was empty when she arrived except for the librarian who sat at the front desk with a laptop.  She had kicked off her pumps next
to her chair, and looked up startled when Alex came in.  She seemed startled by her arrival, was clear not too many students utilized the library this late.

"Good evening Miss Raker, do you need help with anything?"

"Ugh no, I just got to look up a few articles.  I'll only be a couple minutes," Alex answered as she signed her name on the clipboard.

"Oh okay, the archive room is unlocked.  Just come get me if you need any help."  Alex nodded and thanked her, and then headed to the backroom.  She settled into
the cushioned red chair and stared at the blinking cursor in the search engine.  She wasn't even sure what exactly she was looking for, but she knew whatever she found here would be un-opinionated and unemotional facts.  She typed her Aunt's name into the search engine and began scrolling through the articles.  They appeared in chronological order starting with her birth announcement and ending with her obituary.  After her birth there were five or six articles she was mentioned in pertaining to her father's mayoral campaign.  Following that was a police blotter; it was a weekly list of arrests made by the Leighton Police Department.  It was dated about two weeks before her death.  There were no details just her name, age, and charges.  At the bottom of the list of criminals it said, "Alessandra L. Raker Age 16, Perjury"

Alex took a deep breath and opened the next article, titled "Leighton Mourns Mayor's Daughter's Untimely Death."  She article was short and to the point, she scrolled down and began reading
it slowly, careful not to scan over any details.

In the wee hours of the morning on Sunday November 1st police received a call reporting an accident on Lost Creek Bend.  Paramedics and local police arrived at the scene and
retrieved the 1989 black Buick from Lost Creek and revealed there was a body in the car.  After her family was notified it was released that the body of the woman in the car was that of sixteen year old Alessandra L. Raker, the daughter of Mayor Charles Raker.  According to Leighton Police Miss Raker was pronounced dead at the scene, with water in her lungs.  Investigators believe Miss Raker fell asleep at the wheel, there were no signs that she attempted to escape the car, and she was pulled out of the creek with her seat belt still intact.  The investigation was closed this morning. 

The next article was her obituary listing her family members and the time and location of her funeral.  So Kenzie wasn't mistaken, technically she had drown.  But her Grandma said she wasn't drunk or under t
he influence of any drugs, and she had the test results to prove it.  If Sandra wasn't drunk, how did she not wake up?  Who sleeps through their car crashing into guardrails, flipping through the air, and then submerging into water?  She must have been knocked unconscious at some point, because the only other explanation is she didn't want to survive, and Alex refused to accept the idea of that. 

The clock on the computer screen changed to 7:49, she had to leave before she got locked in.  She really didn't
want to go home, her parents were super stressed over the campaign and upcoming appearances, and they were driving her crazy.  As she made her way out to the empty parking lot, she dialed Kenzie's number.

"Hey girl, where are you?"  She could barely hear
her over the background noise, music, yelling, and wind.

"I'm leaving the library, where are you?"

"Okay, don't move we're going to drive by in like three minutes and we'll just stop and get you."

The phone went dead before she could ask who she was with o
r where they were going.  She wasn't even sure she was in the mood to party, but now she really had no choice.  She couldn't call back and say never mind, they were going to be there any second.  It was still misting outside, she pulled her hoodie up over her head and shivered.  She heard a click behind her as the librarian locked the school doors and headed towards her car.

"Is someone coming to get you Alexandra?  I can wait with you if you'd like..."

"No, my ride will be here any second. Thanks," Alex was cut off by the squealing of tires as the explorer she rode in on the way to LVL sped into the parking lot, with some obnoxious base bumping.  The librarian looked at the vehicle driving towards them and raised an eyebrow at Alex.  Before she could lie and say they weren't her ride, Kenzie hung out the passenger window screaming her name and laughing hysterically.

"U
gh, I got to go," Alex stuttered as she turned towards the car, which was now parked at the curb waiting for her.

The librarian nodded with a
disapproving look smeared across her face.  Alex half expected her to physically restrain her and not allow her to get in the car, and then call her parents.  "Be safe!" she heard her call as she climbed into the backseat. 

Jarrod, the boy that owned the
car was half passed out in the backseat next to her.  He had crumbs all over the front of his shirt, most likely from the crumpled up McDonald’s bag on his lap.  Alex looked up and seen Karter staring back at her in the rear-view mirror.  Her stomach did a somersault; she hadn't expected him to even want to come get her.  Then again, Kenzie probably said they were going to pick up her friend and didn't specify who the friend was.  He glanced away after a Nano-second of eye contact as if he could care less. What did she expect?  Was he supposed to pick her up and twirl her around in the rain and tell her how much fun he had sleeping next to her?

She glanced uneasily at the
speedometer as Karter hit forty-five miles per hour on Main Street.  "So, where are we going?"

"There's a house-party in Harpursfield.  We were going to go check it out," Ken
zie replied as she went to sort through a stack of CD's.  Harpursfield was one town over from Leighton; Alex didn't know anyone that lived there.  The only times she had ever been there were to go to their outlet mall with her Mom.   

They stopped at an abandoned red light and waited for it to turn to green.  "You gotta take the back roads
bro," Jarrod mumbled as he squirmed in his seat trying to get comfortable.

Karter
turned the radio down, and swiveled in his seat so he could see them in the back.

"What? Why?"

"There's only one head light." 

"Are you
kidding me bro?  You really got me driving through down-town with one head light.  You know I don't have a license!"  Jarrod just shrugged and dug in his pockets for a lighter, he had been holding an unlit cigarette since Alex had gotten in the car almost five minutes ago. 

Karter turned to his sister and started shouting, "Really
Kenz?  What the hell happened to low-key?"

"It's not my fault his car is a piece of shit!  Get out of my face!  If you're gonna scream at someone scream at him!  You're the one who wanted to drive!"

The light turned green, and Karter stomped the gas.  The two of them continued to scream and swear at each other, as he sped down Main Street.  They were in the business district next to the diner, and a handful of other mom-and-pop businesses.  There were no streets he could turn down until he made it through two more traffic lights. 

"Guys..." neit
her of them acknowledged Alex in the back seat as she tried to get their attention.  They continued their argument as they waited for a couple of customers leaving the diner to walk through the crosswalk painfully slowly. 

Kenzie continued yelling at Kart
er, aggressively gesturing with her hands.  "Really Karter?  Now you know the cars not legit and you're gonna floor it down Main Street!"

Alex leaned forward between the driver and passenger seat this time, "GUYS!"  They both stopped for a moment and looke
d at her as she pointed to the empty pharmacy parking lot.  Across the street from them, parked against the building in the shadow they could see the nose of a Leighton Patrol car.  At the same moment they all looked at the patrol car, the officer turned the engine on and pulled out of the parking lot behind them.

"Shit!" Karter swore under his breath.  They finally got to an intersection, and he turned down a dark street.  Alex held her breath as she watched the patrol car turn down the street behind them.
  Everyone in the car was dead silent as the blue and red lights flicked on behind them and illuminated the interior of the Explorer.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Kenzie asked as Alex felt the car picking up speed. 

Suddenly Jarrod was wide awake, "Dude, don't do this.  Just pull over."

Alex looked over her shoulder at the blinding lights gaining on them.  She felt a sharp pain in her side as Jarrod elbowed her trying to reach over the seat and grab the wheel.  Kenzie wasn't even screaming full sentences or ma
king any sense, she and Jarrod were now shoving each other back and forth as she tried to stop him from climbing over the seat. 

Alex looked down at her hands expecting them to be shaking uncontrollably, but they sat folded neatly in her lap gripping her
purse.  She felt like she was having an out of body experience, like she was sitting on the sidelines watching her own body.  Who was that calm and collected girl taking charge of the situation?

She leaned forward and talked in Karter's ear so he could hea
r her over Kenzie and Jarrod, and the sirens.  Out of nowhere another cop car had joined the one behind them.  "Karter, when you get around the corner you got to pull over.  If we all jump out of the car and make a run for it they can't prove you were the one driving."  Karter didn't say anything, didn't even nod his head.  For a moment she was scared he was ignoring her, then without warning he slammed on the brakes.  Alex started pushing Jarrod out of the backseat ahead of her, and she heard Karter and Kenzie both yelling to get out of the car.