Returning Home.

Chapter 14

A week has passed since my birthday and my mind is still not completely sure on what I am going to do about Xavier. I try to think about how a man who had driven me to the point of madness growing up, could send my feeling into complete chaos in a matter of minutes.

I internally curse myself for letting him get through my walls and causing my mind to want to give into him. It's all over the shop at the moment and I just want to stop and take a breather.

I had put up walls the day I left this town and had reinforced over the years to try and not think back to that time in my life. I rebuilt myself away from the town that knew me inside and out.

But in one night, I allowed this man to chip in and knock one down, getting my mind racing and bringing up old feeling that I had pushed away.  I had always loved Xavier, he was my first crush and no matter how hard I tried to move on with my life, he has always been there in the back of my mind.

I find myself staring at my reflection in the window above the kitchen sink and take in how much I have changed since the last time I stood in this kitchen. 

My dad always said that I had grown into the spitting image of my mother but looking at me now, I can see my dads eyes staring back at me. 

I shake my head as if I am answering someone else's question but I'm really trying to bring my thoughts back to the here and now before I curse myself for taking so long to come home. Popping my dishes in the dishwasher and decide that it is high time that I make a start on the garage.

My father was not really a hoarder but I reckon he was boarder line close when it came to the garage. He had never had to repair a vehicle in his life, the garage was full of every imaginable tool that you could possibly need.

Roo had offered to come and take away whatever we didn't need but first I needed to make a dent in the amount of boxes that dad had stacked up to just get too the tool bench. They were about 4 deep and I shuddered as I thought about what he could have possibly kept in them.

Pulling off two of the top boxes, I open the tops and see that they are more files, mainly inventory lists and packing information. I slip them back into the house just past the door as I can get Seth to have a look in them and see if we need to keep anything or just burn them.

As I go, I find that the next 4 boxes are all the same, paperwork that should had been destroyed years ago. I know that dad was pretty on the ball with most things but I have no idea why he has kept all of these documents. As I push a few more boxes to the side that feel as light as the ones I've opened, I see that I am closer to the side wall of the garage where it looks like dad had hung up some cork boards.

Whatever had been there had been removed but I could still see the outlines of documents that had once been on there. Scratching my head, I moved the front board to see that it was on a hinge. My curiosity is getting the better of me and I moved to pull the board open, letting out a gasp as my eyes scanned over what was on the back of the board along with the wall behind it.

The board was set out as a timeline of events with pictures of different areas and people with titles and lines connecting them to each other. Dad had written notes and attached them in sections on the lines. As I ran my hand over one I could see that they held dates and snippets of information about either the person or place.

I follow one line and can see that they all lead to a middle point which is a picture of Mickey Tanner. I take a few steps back and begin to realise, this looks like what my dad used to call a mind map. He taught me about this growing up. It is a way to look over something from a 2nd point of view by taking all the information out of your head and laying it out in front of you. I still use this theory a lot when I'm working on patients when I need to determine a time line of events

I don't know how long I stared at the wall, taking in all the information that dad had put up but as I pieces each timeline together, it began to look like dad had been trying to work out who had killed Mickey Tanner. The more I stared at the boards, the more I realised that dad was generally onto something but he was not quite at the finish line of being able to come to a solution.

I didn't hear anyone as they came in behind me but I jumped when I heard glass shatter on the floor. I spun around to see Mae standing near the boxes I had moved, looking at the boards that I had uncovered. She must had been bringing me a drink but now all I can see is a mess of liquid and shattered glass on the floor. I quickly scramble to grab a dustpan and brush so that I can pick up the glass shards before anyone steps on them.

Mae moved closer to the board, touching the middle section which was Mickey Tanners photo. "I knew that he had taken it pretty badly when
Mickey was shot and how the police had reacted with their lack of finding anything, but I never realised that he had taken it this far."

She did the same as I had, followed the lines and took in what they connected too.

Turning she said "We need to ring Roo and Jo. They will need to see this" and then took off past me probably to find her phone.

Looking back at her I start to wonder what the heck is going on. I don't remember much about when Mickey Tanner died. I was overseas at the time and communications were limited at best so I was lucky to get 5 minutes to speak to dad via an uplink.

Dad had told me that Mickey had been shot and that the police had chalked it up to club issues but dad was not impressed with the guy who was the lead on Mickey's case. He said he would go into more detail when I get home but he never mentioned it again except for telling me about the funeral and how Bernice was going. I never pushed for more and I always felt bad for not asking more questions but with everything else going on in my life, I never thought back to ask about who would even want to shoot Mickey.

I followed Mae out of the garage and into the kitchen and started the kettle and pulled some mugs down.

"Good thinking Amelia" Mae said as she picked up her phone. "I'm sure they will both want to come round straight away." She put the phone to her ear and headed back into the garage.