The Rules of the Red - 2014 Watty Award Winner |✓|

Chapter Fifteen - Part One

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CHAPTER FIFTEEN

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"Something's bothering you. I can tell." Ethan was saying, as we drove to the Gala in his car. He had shown up not long after Tidus had left, looking handsome in his tuxedo, with his hair swept back like Prince Charming. And smiling, he had offered a corsage of daisies as a gift.

"I know they're, like, this uber-traditional flower to give." Ethan had said at the door, standing in the exact spot that Tidus had stood less than an hour before. "But Mrs. Planchon told me they represent friendship. They're my white flag." He had held the flowers out to me and I had accepted, grateful and even flattered at his effort to try and be normal with me.

But, already, there was a pall on the evening, as I gazed out of the car window onto a town covered in clouds. Night was creeping on Harbor now, and a gentle breeze was coming along with it. I closed my eyes, and could almost taste the sea.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Ethan was saying. "I know it's gotta be hard for you right now, learning the truth about what really happened to Jack..."

Ethan's heart was in the right place, I knew. But he was dead wrong. I wasn't worried about that. Well, not at the moment, anyway. It was actually the guilt that was troubling me. Eve would need her decision tonight, and looking into Ethan's face as he tried to be a good friend, wasn't making this any easier for me.

"Yeah, but is it the truth though? Is that really the way it happened? Because it feels almost too easy for me to point a finger at my mother and say that she did it, she killed her own husband. But, lately nothing in Harbor is has turned out to be the way it seems - especially people."

"Yeah, I guess you'd be right about that." Ethan said, casting me a quick, sideways glance. "But honestly, Mimi, I can't say for sure that I believe Paris did it either. But from what you and I know, it also sounds to me like those guys from the morgue weren't lying. She may not have killed Jack, but she definitely had something to do with his death... So, what if she's there?"

"You mean at the gala?" I replied, and Ethan nodded. "She won't be there. She hasn't been harassing Addy at her committee meetings lately. We think she's out of town or something."

But I was in no hurry to solve this puzzle. Because at the end of the day, my father was still dead, and pushing Paris into a confession wouldn't change that. So for the truth, I could wait.

 "But when she does come around - and I know she that she will - maybe I'll finally get some answers." I said. "All good things come to those who wait, right?"

"I guess we'll see."

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The Fall Gala was being held at the Fairway, Harbor's country club, which required a paid membership. But town events like the Fall Gala were generally free, because you were usually expected to dish out the big bucks by the end of the evening anyway. It was a large, white building, with a peaked roof and fancy, gold trim and shutters. And once you walked past the golden double doors, you were swallowed by a sea of round tables that were equipped with four gold chairs apiece. The tables were covered in long, ruffled, white cloths and positioned in even rows throughout the room. And there was an isle to slice the room in half, marked by a long, thin trail of red carpet against the light, wooden floorboards.

A small stage was positioned at the far end of the room, with a microphone at its center, and below that was a small rectangular table against the base of the stage's platform. Three Pack members were already seated at this table, taking donations for the night's charity event. And from the large, white banner marked with its looping black script, I gathered that the citizens of Harbor Village were gathered there in support for the creation of a new, upscale shelter for the homeless of down town. You could buy as many bricks as you wanted for fifty dollars apiece, and all proceeds would go straight to the project's building fund.