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Rachel and Stephen appeared uncomfortable.
Rachel was the first to try and explain. “Well, we wanted to test
out our format first, so we went to Philadelphia and did that story
on the haunted house. That’s what got everyone buzzing about our
site in the first place. Since we were there, we decided to
interview your father.”

Alma thought about it, but still shook her
head. “Still though, why wouldn’t you come talk to me first?”

Neither of them was willing to answer, and
it became apparent that they were hiding something. They couldn’t
hide their guilt.

“What’s going on?” asked Alma. “What aren’t
you telling me?”

“Okay.” Stephen put his hands down on the
table as if laying out his hand in a card game. “I’m going to be
totally honest with you, because you deserve to know
everything.”

Alma’s heart started to beat faster and her
hands clenched into fists. She was getting angry, and she could
feel Paul’s grip tighten on her shoulders. He knew how to recognize
when she was getting mad.

“We’re the ones that pushed for you to get
the new classroom at your school.”

Alma’s anger subsided, and she felt the
tension release from her muscles. “What? I don’t get it. Why would
you do that?”

“Well, we knew that we wanted to get to know
you better, and we needed a good way to do it. Rachel proposed the
story to her network, and they agreed to go along with it. We got
the school to sign off on everything, and we set it all up.”

“I thought it was a PTA thing,” said
Alma.

“It was,” said Rachel. “Blair was great, and
she did most of the work. She and the others really adore you,
Alma. They loved the idea of setting you up with a new music
room.”

“Then why the subterfuge?” asked Alma. “Why
didn’t you just come out and tell me this right away? Why go to all
the trouble of setting something like that up? Don’t get me wrong,
I’m happy you did! I just don’t understand.”

“I think I do.” Paul spoke with a tinge of
anger in his tone. “You said the school signed off on the footage,
right?”

Stephen nodded and looked at Rachel as if
silently communicating with her. Alma could see that he was
nervous, and knew that Paul had figured something out that she
hadn’t as of yet.

“And I’m willing to bet that means you own
the footage now.

Again, Stephen nodded.

“What does that mean?” asked Alma. “I still
don’t get it.”

“He owns his own company,” said Paul. “The
station hires him as an independent contractor. When the school
signed off on the footage, they were giving him full ownership of
it. He can use it for anything he wants, including a story on
Widowsfield.”

“But what good would that footage be?” asked
Alma. “It was just of me at the school.”

“The piece would look better if we had shots
of you,” said Stephen. “We didn’t want to go that route, but we
thought it’d be good to have some footage of you, just in case. We
knew you had been reluctant to talk about Widowsfield in the past,
but everything worked out for the best. We were able to help pay
for a new music room, and we got a chance to meet you.”

Paul was quick to intercede. “And you
dragged her father into this. And you nearly got her killed last
night when her father showed up at her apartment.”

“Oh my God,” said Rachel. “You didn’t tell
me about that. What happened?”

“It’s a long story.” Alma was anxious to
avoid the subject. She’d lied to Rachel about what happened to her
foot as she limped around all day, and didn’t feel like admitting
to that now.

“She’s too nice to be mad,” said Paul. “But
I’m not. You two put her through hell for this. Her dad is a
nutcase, and he’s going to do anything he can to keep your story
from getting out there.”

“Paul, it’s okay,” said Alma.

“No, Alma, it’s not okay,” said Paul. “These
two pulled some shady shit here. They put you in danger. They…”

“Paul,” said Alma as she pulled her
shoulders out of his grip. “I can defend myself. I don’t need you
fighting my battles for me.”

He looked like she’d struck him, pained and
ashamed.

“This is getting out of hand.” Stephen stood
up and walked over to Alma. He set his hand on Paul’s shoulder,
which was an oddly intimate action and Alma saw that it made Paul
uncomfortable. “Paul, honestly, I never meant any harm. I swear,
man. You guys have been great, and if I did anything to upset you,
I’m sorry for it. I’ll help out with your insane dad any way I
can.”

“It’s okay, Stephen,” said Alma and she
reached out to take Paul’s hand. She guided it back to her
shoulder, and then around her neck as she kissed it. “Paul, sorry I
snapped at you.”

“It’s okay, babe,” said Paul. “This has been
a hell of a day.”

“So, where were we?” asked Alma.

Rachel looked at her pad of paper and said,
“Chaos Magick.”

“Oh, right,” said Alma. “How did you know
about that?”

“Your father told us about it,” said Stephen
as he returned to his seat. “He said that your mother approached
him about it.”

“Really?” asked Alma. “I didn’t know about
that.” Stephen’s knowledge of her past made her uncomfortable.

“They were already separated at the time,”
said Stephen. “But your mother was obsessed with your brother’s
disappearance, and the number 314. She wanted the address of the
cabin, and she begged your father to spend some time with her,
meditating on the symbol for pi in an attempt to remember something
about your brother. He refused, and asked her not to force the
Chaos Magick on you.”

“He doesn’t want me to remember what
happened,” said Alma. “That’s why I’m going with you. Whatever it
was that happened, I need to know.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” said Rachel. “Are you
saying that this Chaos Magick stuff really worked?”

“It did for me,” said Alma.

“See.” Stephen gloated.

Rachel was unconvinced. “I’m the skeptic of
the relationship. It’s hard for me to believe in that sort of
stuff.”

“Same here,” said Alma. “And it very well
could’ve been just some mental block for me that I got past when we
went to Widowsfield. I’m not saying the Chaos Magick was the reason
I remembered everything, but it’s true that I was looking at the
symbol for pi when, all of the sudden, all of my memories of Ben
came rushing back.”

“I guess that makes sense,” said Rachel. “It
probably had more to do with being in that spot, and actively
trying to remember.”

Stephen chuckled and shook his head. “Or it
could be that there’s something to this whole Chaos Magick thing.”
He rolled his eyes and pointed at Rachel with his thumb. “She’s
never willing to believe anything; a consummate atheist about
everything.”

“I’m a skeptic,” said Rachel. “Isn’t that
why you married me?”

Stephen shook his head. “I married you
because you’re super hot.”

Jacker set his empty beer glass down hard,
which rattled the table. He looked embarrassed and apologized.

“More beer!” Stephen exclaimed as he stood.
“That’s what this party needs. Who needs another?”

“Everyone,” said Paul before quickly
pounding his beer.

“Okay, enough shop talk.” Rachel set her
pencil down and stared across the table at Alma. “Time for war, my
little Scrabble victim.”

“Oh crap,” said Stephen with a dejected
sigh. “Once she starts, she’ll never stop. Might as well wave
goodbye to the girls for the night.”

Rachel was quick to produce an expensive
looking Scrabble board that was made of wood and perched on a
swiveling base. She told Alma it was a wedding gift, which Stephen
said was the worst gift they received, even worse than the bread
maker that they’d never used. Rachel flipped over the page that
she’d been taking notes on and drew two columns to tabulate points.
Within minutes, they were deep into their first game.

Paul, Jacker, and Stephen spent some time in
the kitchen, drinking and talking about motorcycles while Alma
focused on the game. By the fifth turn, she was already losing by a
good amount, which forced her to concentrate. Paul tried to ask her
something, but she angrily waved him away and hushed him as she
stared at her letters.

“Geeze, babe,” said Paul. “Don’t be grumpy.”
He leered over Alma’s shoulder, and she clenched her jaw as she
tried to will him away.

Then he reached out and took one of the
letters off the wooden stand where they were perched.

“Hey,” said Rachel. “No helping.”

Alma turned, frustrated with Paul for
interfering. He’d taken a letter ‘C’ off her stand, and then he
reached down and took an ‘A’.

“What are you doing?” Alma asked,
annoyed.

Paul pointed at the pad of paper that Rachel
was keeping score on. “Give me that real quick.”

Rachel slid the pad over and then Paul asked
for the pencil as well. She shrugged and frowned at Alma before
rolling the pencil across the table. “What’s up?” she asked.

Paul set the letter ‘C’ down first, and then
the ‘A’. He pointed at the numbers on the corner of the tiles, a 3
and a 1. “The third letter in the alphabet is ‘C’, and the first is
‘A’, the fourth is ‘D’. What’s the number for pi?”

“314,” said Jacker.

“I know that, dumbass,” said Paul. “I mean
after that. Keep going.” He started to write the alphabet down on
the pad of paper, and then wrote numbers in sequence below the
letters.

“Hold on,” said Stephen as he picked up his
cell phone from a table in the living room. He used the smart phone
to go on the internet and look up a longer sequence for pi.
“3.141592.”

Paul interrupted Stephen as he scribbled
letters on the pad. “That’s all I need. Look at this shit.” He
dropped his pencil down and stepped back from the table with his
hand over his mouth. He had an expression of satisfaction and
surprise, as if he was startled by the simple, nonsensical word
he’d written on the pad above the sequence of pi.

Cada EIB

Stephen looked at the word and gasped. “Holy
fucking shit.”

“That’s a company based out of Widowsfield,”
Paul explained to Alma, who was still confused. “Its name is code
for pi.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Together Again

March 10th, 2012

“What does that mean?” asked Alma.

“Cada E.I.B. is a company that brokered
deals between the US military and other countries. They helped sell
outdated weapons and vehicles to friendly countries.”

“Why would their name be code for pi?” asked
Rachel. “And it’s not even that good of a code. It’s not like they
were trying hard to hide it.”

“But there it is,” said Stephen as he
pointed at the pad of paper that Paul had written the key to the
puzzle on. “Plain as day. That can’t be a coincidence.”

“It’s weird,” said Rachel. “I’ll give you
that.”

“Damn straight it’s weird,” said Stephen.
“We’re going to have to check their place out. It’s abandoned now,
so we should be able to get in.”

“I don’t know,” said Rachel. “I’m sure it’s
a no trespassing area.”

“So?” asked Stephen, undaunted by the
law.

“So, I’m not going to jail for you,
babe.”

“This is too big to ignore,” said Stephen.
“This is the whole story. 314 is the heart of our whole show. With
Alma’s story, and now this, fucking hell, we’re going to blow this
thing wide open. I can feel it.”

Alma could see how Stephen’s excitement
could be infectious, but for her it was unsettling. The thought of
charging into a sealed facility in search of a link to the number
that she’d come to dread over the years was frightening.

“Calm down, babe,” said Rachel. “You’re
getting that wild look in your eyes again. That,
I’m-about-to-blow-your-mind look that always means trouble for
me.”

“Come on, guys,” said Stephen as he held the
pad up and pointed at the extended version of pi that Paul had
written. Alma turned away to avoid seeing the number. “This means
something. There’s no denying that. We’re right at the cusp of
it.”

“Of what?” asked Rachel. Her nonchalant
challenge made it sound as if Stephen’s excitement was
unwarranted.

“Of everything! Guys, I’m serious, I know
we’re going to figure this out. This is going to change our lives,
man. I fucking know it.”

“Or we’re just going to get ourselves
killed,” said Rachel, and the table went silent.

Jacker shivered for effect and shook his
head. “That’s fucked up, man. You guys are starting to seriously
scare me with this shit.”

“Too late to back out now,” said Stephen,
joking with the big guy. “We already packed up your van!”

“You did?” asked Alma as she glanced at
Jacker. “Where are you going to stay tonight?”

“Everyone’s staying here.” Stephen glanced
at Paul, who nodded.

“I figured you wouldn’t want to go back to
your place,” said Paul. “Stephen said he’d be cool with all of us
crashing here.”

“Then we can head out first thing in the
morning,” said Stephen.

“I need to get my stuff first,” said
Alma.

“What stuff?” asked Paul. “You got bags full
of shit over there.” He pointed to the shopping bags from her trip
with Rachel.

“Yeah, but I need my other stuff,” said
Alma. “Can we just take a quick ride back to my place?”

“I can take you if you want,” said Jacker.
“Might as well load your stuff into the van instead of trying to
haul it on a Harley.”

“No,” said Alma, a little quicker than she
meant to. “Paul and I can just take the bike there. It won’t take
us long.”

“You sure?” asked Paul.

She took his hand and guided him to the
door. “Yes. Come on.”

“All right,” said Paul. “I guess I’ll see
you guys in a few minutes. Jacker, be good.”

Jacker gave him a thumbs up as Alma pulled
Paul out the front door.