Book One: Panacea (A. Saltzman)

Chapter Six

Later, still at the Grill, Jeremy and Jenna continue to have dinner and talk about their day, specifically his extra credit work for Alaric's history class. Jenna glances at her watch because Diana was supposed to join them and she is yet to show.

"Have you picked a topic?" Jenna lowers her wrist to look at Jeremy as she asks this.

"No, not yet. It's gotta be local and non-internet research, so..."

"That's easy! Diana's got all your dad's stuff." Jenna offers.

"What stuff?" Jeremy asks.

"'How the Gilberts came over on the Mayflower' stuff, all that family lineage from way back. Your dad really loved all that family history stuff. It's all boxed up in Diana's closet." Alaric approaches Jenna and Jeremy at their table.

"Mr. Saltzman." Jeremy greets.

"Jeremy. What's up, man?" Alaric asks him.

"This is my aunt, Jenna." Jeremy offers as he motions to Jenna across from him, she offers her hand to Alaric.

"Alaric Saltzman." Alaric states as he shakes her hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"Jeremy was just telling me about his paper. Thanks for giving him another chance."

"It was my first day. I wanted to make a good impression." Alaric admits.

"Oh...two seconds," Jenna tells Alaric just as Diana passes the table and heads for the bar. "Diana" Jenna calls out. Diana groans and hangs her head stopping in her tracks.

"Yes, Jenna?" she asks turning to the table. She just wanted to get to the bar without anyone seeing her, especially Jenna, Alaric, and Jeremy. Especially Alaric.

"You still got that box of your dad's old things? All the old Gilbert family history stuff?" Jenna asks.

"Yeah, I got it" Diana answers and looks between her and Jeremy trying to figure out why they are bringing this up. "Why?"

"I have to write a paper on town history for Mr. Saltzman's class" Jeremy answers.

"For extra credit" Alaric adds; keeping his eyes from her because he knows he won't and can't control the way he looks at her. She raises an eyebrow.

"Town history" Diana slowly repeats. "Urm....that sounds great and all, but...urm...no" she offers. "I think I threw it all out"

"You threw dad's stuff out?" Jeremy asks her.

"Yeah" Diana answers. "It was just some journals with some insane ramblings in...."

"Diana" Jenna scolds.

"Jenna" Diana counters in the same tone. Jeremy seems to figure it out first, that Diana is lying to them, that she hasn't actually thrown that stuff out, he knows she would never actually do so.

"Why won't you let me look at them?" Jeremy asks her, Diana wrinkles her nose and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Because...." Diana takes a deep breath. "Because it's all I have left of him" she hates to say that she is playing the sympathy card, she doesn't want Jeremy to have those journals. She's trying to protect him from what is in them. She's trying to protect him from the truth. Jeremy just stares at her with pleading eyes. She sighs. "Fine, I'll see if I can find them...." Diana tells Jeremy just as her phone rings, signaling she has received a text message. She pulls her phone from her pocket and opens the text message, from the same blocked number she received her earlier message from, only to find a photo instead. It's a photo of Alaric and Diana at the cemetery, not just any photo of them together but of them kissing. Diana swallows slightly and stares at the photo. She can't remember seeing anyone else at the cemetery but clearly someone else was there, watching them together.