The Madness Of Love | The Secret History

XXII

Despite what Lilith had said, I was unprepared for the riot outside. The parking lot was full and people from Hampden town were everywhere, beating the ground with sticks and making their way towards Mount Cataract in broad lines.

There were policemen, deputies, a state trooper; on the lawn was a remote radio station hookup, a concessions truck, and a van from ActionNews Twelve.

"What are all these people doing here?" I said.
"Look." Lilith said. "Is that Francis?"
Far away I saw a flash of red hair, the conspicuous line of muffled throat and black greatcoat. Lilith stuck up her hand and yelled to him.

He shouldered his way through a bunch of cafeteria workers; he was smoking a cigarette and there was a newspaper tucked under his arm.

"Hello." he said and took out a pack of cigarettes. "Want some?"
"Oh God, yes, please." said Lilith. Francis smiled, gave her one and lit it with a match. He smoked Marlboro Red's, I recall, they were Lilith's favorite.

"Can you believe this?" he said, after finishing his cigarette.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"The Corcorans put up a big reward in the night. Anybody want some coffee? I have a dollar."

We picked our way to the concessions truck.
"Three coffees, two with milk, please." said Francis to the woman behind the counter.
"No milk, just Cremora."
"Well, then, just black, I guess." He turned to us. "Have you read the paper this morning?"

It was a late edition of the Hampden Examiner. In a column on the first page was a blurry, recent photograph of Bunny and under it caption: police, kin, seek youth, 24, missing in Hampden.

"Twenty-four?" I said, startled. The twins, I and Lilith were twenty years old, and Henry and Francis were twenty-one.
"He failed a grade or two in elementary school" said Lilith with a hint of irony in her voice.

There wasn't really anything interesting written in the paper, only some lies about Bunny being a 'scholar' and a huge reward for information about him.

The wind was blowing. With Lilith's help I folded the newspaper and gave it back to Francis.
"Fifty thousand dollars." I said. "That's a lot of money."

"And you wonder why all these people from Hampden town are there this morning?" said Francis, taking a sip of his coffee.

We turned back and headed to the Commons. Lilith said to Francis: "You know about Charles and Henry, don't you?"
"They told Charles they might want to talk to him, didn't they?"
"But Henry?"
"I wouldn't waste my time worrying about him."
Lilith scoffed.

Commons was overheated and surprisingly empty. We were talking to Georges Laforgue, who was telling us about a similar disappearance at Brandeis, when suddenly, out of nowhere, Henry appeared behind him.

"Oh" Laforgue said when he saw who it was. Henry inclined his head slightly.
"Bonjour, Monsieur Laforgue." he said. "Quel plaisir de vous revoir."
Lilith looked at Henry like she hadn't seen him in a hundred years.

--------------------

"I'm a bit tired," Henry said later, in the car. "but there's nothing to worry about."
Since we came out of the Commons Lilith didn't move away from him even by a step, though he didn't seem to mind it.

"What'd they want to know?"
"Nothing much. How long had I known him, was he acting strangely." he shook his head. "Honestly. Two hours. I don't know if I could've made myself go through this if I'd known what nonsense we were letting ourselves in for."

We stopped by the twins' apartment and found Charles sleeping on the couch. He woke with a start.

"How did it go?" said Henry. Charles sat up a bit.
"All right, I guess. They wanted me to sign some thing that said what happened yesterday."

"They visited me as well. They asked the same questions."
"

Were they nice to you?"
"Not particularly."
"God, they were so nice to me down at the police station. They even gave me breakfast."

Henry looked at Charles with raised eyebrows. Lilith took his hand and he pulled her closer to him.

--------------------

"Are there students out with the search parties?" Henry asked on the way back to Hampden. "I don't want to go down there if we'll be making ourselves conspicuous. But on the other hand, maybe we should have a look."

He was quiet for a moment, thinking. "Charles,you've done quite enough for one day. Maybe you should just go home."

After we dropped the twins off, the four of us went on to campus. I had expected that by now the search party would have grown tired and gone home but I was surprised to find the enterprise busier than ever.

We went down the hill - Francis, sulky because he hadn't wanted to come - followed two or three paces behind. Behind me I heard the indistinct garble of a walkie-talkie; and I walked backwards into the Chief of Security.

"Sorry" I said hastily. "Can you tell me what -"
"College kids." he muttered. "Stumbling around, getting in the way, don't know what the hell you're supposed to do."

"Well, that's what we're trying to find out." snapped Henry. The guard turned, and somehow his gaze landed not on Henry, but on Francis, who was standing staring into space and Lilith, standing holding Henry's hand.

"So it's you? he said with venom. "Mr Off-Campus who thinks he can park in the faculty parking lot."

Francis stared, a wild look in his eye.
"Yes, you." You know how many unpaid violations you're carrying? Nine. They can put you on probation."

Francis gaped at him. Then the guard turned to Lilith. "Oh, so you're here too, Miss No-Driving-License. How many unpaid violations do you have?"

Lilith held his stare. "Five." she said quietly.
"Five." repeated the guard. "They can put you on probation too, hold your transcripts, what have you. If it was up to me they'd put you both in jail."

Henry glanced from Francis to Lilith and then caught Francis by the sleeve and pulled both of them away. A long line of townspeople was crunching through the snow, swiping at the ground with sticks. We walked to the end of the queue, then fell into step with them.

"Why the hell haven't you paid those parking tickets?" Henry turned and whispered to Francis.
"Leave me alone."

Henry scoffed, released Francis's sleeve and turned to Lilith.
"You don't have a drivings license? How the hell have you been driving?"
Lilith looked at him. "Without a license."
Henry scoffed again, but still pulled Lilith closer and grasped her hand.

We crept to the snow for what seemed like hours. The light was thinning and people were trailing up the trampled hillside towards home.
"Let's go." said Francis, for the fourth or fifth time.

We were starting away at last when a strolling policeman stopped in front of our path.
"Had enough?" he said, smiling.
"I believe so." said Henry.
"You kids know that boy?"
"As a matter of fact, we do." said Lilith.
"No ideas where he might of went off to?"

If this was a movie, I thought, looking pleasantly into the face of the policeman - if this was a movie, we'd all be fidgeting and acting really suspicious.

I have many ideas, but I don't know where to put them.
Not proofread.
Love you x