Red Ochre Falls (19 page)

“Don’t look bad
guys in the eye. Don’t act threatening. Don’t mouth off.”

I took exception to
his mouthing off comment, but only because it was spot-on. Even as a kid, I
tried my best to be polite, but too many things got me riled up to stay quiet.

Either way, Garrett
was right. I needed more training, or to leave the country, an option I wasn’t
considering, yet.

“Okay. Let’s talk
later. We’ll find a time that works for us both, and you can help turn me into
She-Ra.” He chuckled. Ryder caught his attention. Garrett reassuringly squeezed
my arm and excused himself.

Scanning the room again,
I noticed two people texting, and a third making a call. Seriously. How rude.
There were plenty of spots outside the viewing room to do that kind of stuff. I
only hoped Mr. and Mrs. Ellis didn’t see it.

Eyes peeled, I
noticed them standing in the front row. They remained close to the casket, but
slightly off-center near a large spray of brightly colored lilies. This left
enough space people could still walk up and see Chloe.

Her parents were in
the middle of a group, no doubt listening to more expressions of grief and
sadness at their daughter’s untimely passing.
 
Mrs. Ellis looked like she could barely
keep it together—red, puffy eyes, a red nose, and tissues crumbling in
her fists—classic signs of distress.

I headed over to
rescue her when someone called my name. The high-pitched voice came from
behind. I pivoted to find Nat Peterson heading straight for me.

Nat was a bouncy
blond with a nice build and a big mouth. She was a fun girl. We hung out our
freshman year. But she gossiped way too much for my taste. I could only take so
much of the latest school scandals. I thought passing Chem 101 and the History
of Ancient Civilizations was more important than who-slept-with-who.

Most people found
Nat easy to talk to, which made her the perfect purveyor of campus information.
We mostly got along, but didn’t stay close.

During a random
party sophomore year, Jos and I were complaining about the dorms. We bumped
into Nat. She’d overheard our conversation. She told us about an off-campus
contact with a house for rent.
 
We
jumped at the chance, and rented it with five other girls our junior year. The
year everything fell apart.

I took her arrival
as a bad sign. Not because she was a shameless gossip, but because she was
holding the arm of Ethan Cane—my ex. This was the first time I’d seen him
since I’d left school. We’d ended on not so great terms—hence, the
Louisville Slugger incident—but we had patched things together, somewhat.
It was enough we could ride in the same car for the time it took to get me to the
hospital, so I could see my mom post-heart attack.

Memories flooded my
head, temporarily overloading it with thoughts and feelings I’d contained for
years. It felt like a white hot flash, maybe something along the lines of
peeking inside Pandora’s box then slamming the lid shut before the ensuing
chaos broke loose.

My eyes zoned out
then refocused. Behind Nat and Ethan, I saw Ashley, Jeremy (Ethan’s roommate),
and some other girl I didn’t recognize.

“Mattie!” Nat
squealed. “It’s so good to see you.” She gave me a huge hug, like we were best
pals. Everything felt a little over the top, but I let it ride and tried to put
on my best smile.

Nat introduced
everyone in the entourage and began to explain each person’s role in her life.
Ashley and Becca, the girl I hadn’t recognized, excused themselves after ten
minutes of yawn to freshen up. Jeremy left right after them without saying a
word. They probably figured Nat would continue to tell me all about them
indefinitely, so why bother trying to speak?
 

“Nice to see you. I
wish I could say it was under better circumstances.”

“Oh, I know. Can
you believe what happened to Chloe?” Nat said it in her gossipy whisper. “Such
a shame!”

I did a mental head
thunk and decided to do my best to be nice. See, Nat and Chloe were
competitive. Mostly, Nat was competitive. Chloe just ended up getting a lot of
the awards, and guys Nat seemed to covet. Including Jackson Everett, the
dreamiest guy in our class, according to anyone with a pulse.

I remember walking
into American Lit class late one day, only to find Nat and Chloe drooling as he
read a passage from Thoreau. Jackson had one of those captivating energies. He
was tall, dark and handsome. His body was solid, his smile wicked, and his
voice could enthrall a Siren, so I get why they crushed on him so hard. That
day, he read a passage from Walden, “It’s not what you look at that matters,
it’s what you see.” It sounded so deep and intimate coming from him. The entire
class fell in love. He was all any of us talked about for days. It became
obvious Jackson was a charmer, fighting off many advances, but Chloe quickly
became his favorite. They started dating a week later. Nina, Jos and I pegged
them as the type of couple who would get married, have 2.3 kids, awesome
careers, and a big house with the white picket fence.

It wasn’t until
months later, when Chloe met Tab, that she and Jackson broke up.

Time had passed. I
was so out of touch with nearly everyone from college. Jos was my only real
link to people I once considered close. Last I remembered, Nat made a play for
Jackson, Ethan had proclaimed his love for the freshman he’d been courting
behind my back, no less, and Chloe needed serious help. I should have tried to
get to her sooner. Guilt spread its razor-sharp edges and sank them into my
core.

“Hey Mattie.” Ethan
came up and hugged me. It felt weird. Not just because we’d been estranged for
so long, but there were no bells or whistles. Just a no-frills,
lean-in-so-we-didn’t-touch-too-much hug. Totally unlike the sparks we once
shared. My mind flashed back to a memory of us when we dated, but it flashed
forward when he spoke.

“Sorry to hear
about Chloe, I know you two were close.” He sounded sincere.

Chloe and I had
been close, but we fell out of touch when I moved away. Mostly because she was
going to school, making something of herself and I was tending to my own family
problems. And because she wouldn’t leave Tab’s cruelty, but this didn’t seem
like the place to bring it up just to correct Ethan. “Me too,” I said. We glanced
awkwardly at each other and then around the room.

Sensing she was no
longer the center of the conversation, Nat interjected. “I heard it was pills.”

I made a noise, but
resisted going off on her. My brain started picking over the statement. If
she’d heard about the pills, maybe she’d heard more. I started to evaluate the
possibilities.

I could do what I
thought was right, and veer her off this topic ASAP, or dig for more details.
Urgency and dread played leapfrog in my head and gut. What I was about to do
went against my entire sense of decency, but it could lead to information about
Chloe’s death. I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to get to the truth, so I
played a little of Nat’s game.

“It was?” I did my
best to sound shocked. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. My sister’s
boyfriend heard it from a friend who works at the pharmacy Chloe frequented.”

Even if she meant
no harm, the way Nat said it made Chloe sound like a regular at a drug bazaar.
Here we stood, gossiping at her funeral. I grit my teeth and pressed on.
“Really. So, she had a prescription filled there?”

“Oh, I heard it was
more like her third or fourth.”

“Wow, I’m surprised
no one checked into it.” It was bait, hung out as far as possible.

“They were. This friend
said his manager had alerted the police, and they were looking into her doctor.
I think it was a Dr. Avanti.”

She’d snatched it
up. Now I had a new lead. It was time to pick a little further. “Gee, wonder
what Dr. Avanti did?”

“They thought he
might have sold prescriptions to a bunch of people. Something about owing a lot
of money to some bad guy named Regina, or something. I guess Dr. Avanti liked
betting on football, a lot.”

“It sounds so
crazy.” I knew she meant Ruggiano. I also knew it wasn’t totally far-fetched to
think a doctor with a gambling problem might owe money to the mob.

“I know,” Nat said.
“Word on the street is this Regina gets his hooks in you, and he owns you. You
either do what he says, or you die.” She sounded excited to talk about the mob
connection. It just made me ill.

Ruggiano was
dangerous. I’d done a quick search before today’s event, and found out Ruggiano
was really Rocco Ruggiano, born into a family of seriously dangerous gangsters.
Now, reportedly running the family of seriously dangerous gangsters.

Google, Wiki and a
few other searches turned up information about all sorts of alleged criminal
activity—gambling, prostitution, and drugs, to name a
few—emphasizing alleged. The Ruggiano family appeared to be the
fly-under-the-radar kind of mob. Until Rocco came along. One story reported he
was the kind of guy to make a show—and wanted the Ruggiano name elevated
to Capone status. If he had some connection to Dr. Avanti, and indirectly to
Chloe, maybe he knew something about her murder.

I took mental
notes, memorizing everything so I could write it down later. There would be
time for me to do more research tonight. I just hoped the information would
lead to something significant.

“Can we stop
talking about this?” Ethan spoke.

Although, it was
hard to stop pushing, I was ready for it to be over too. I followed Ethan’s
lead. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about this now,” I said politely, keeping my
investigation options open.

“Agreed.” Nat
played followed the leader and broached a new subject. “So, did Ethan tell you
he’s single?”

“No.” I watched
Ethan turn fifty shades of red. “We haven’t exactly caught up yet.”

“Oh, foo! You guys
should totally get back together.” She spent a long time telling us all about
the relationship we had years ago. As if we’d forgotten the highs—and the
lows. Was Nat playing matchmaker? Yikes! Ethan and I laughed off her attempts,
and finally changed the subject.

“How’s your mom?”
Ethan asked.

“She’s doing okay.
Still working to feel normal again.” Mom had a long way to go, but I planned to
be by her side and help. The fact that the friends I knew so well in school had
no idea I desperately needed a job, or that we lived above this funeral home,
even though it was to help mom dial back the stress, was my fault. I still
hadn’t come to terms with it. It really shouldn’t have mattered, but at a
reunion where everyone else seemed to be doing what they wanted with their
lives—working, dating, and getting their own places—details of my
life fell short. I guess the omission was part of my effort to feel some kind
of normal.

“That’s good.”

Ethan and I talked
about my mom’s progress, and our move back to the area. I kept the details
private. Just that we moved recently, and I’d be finishing school part-time.
Nothing about our home above the dead. Telling them my secret now might have
garnered pity, or charity—and I didn’t want either.

“If you need
anything, just holler.”

Not quite ready for
Ethan’s comfort, or a longer trip down memory lane than Nat gave us, my eyes
darted away and searched for Jos. She should be around here somewhere.

Garrett came up
behind me. “I need to talk to you. Would you excuse us?” He told the group.
Ethan nodded, and Nat didn’t say anything because her tongue was too busy
wagging.

Garrett whisked me
away before I could say anything. He took me to a quiet corner, and positioned
me with my back to the main entrance of the viewing room. Garrett’s expression
was odd, something was wrong.

“Is everything
okay?”

Jos found us before
he had a chance to answer. She had a similarly strange look on her face. “Did
you tell her?”

“Just about to.”

“Tell me what?” I
scanned them both for an answer. Neither of their faces said anything other
than something was definitely wrong. “What’s going on? Why are you two acting
so weird?”

“Maybe I should
leave you two alone,” Jos said, like she wanted to be anywhere but here.
 

“It’s Tess,”
Garrett blurted out. Jos sounded unhappy with his answer.

“What about Tess?”

“She’s here.”

“No way. Why would she
be here?” It seemed odd that she’d come. Unless, maybe, Tess had a guilty
conscience. Perhaps, she’d go straight to the front of the room, admit her
egregious error, and explain to everyone that Chloe’s death was not
self-inflicted. It wouldn’t bring back Chloe, but it might comfort the Ellis’s.
If they didn’t have to listen to rumors and whispers, or answer questions about
what could have driven their daughter to such a dreadful act, maybe they could
make some sort of peace with all this.

Jos waved her hand
to get Garrett to come out with whatever he still hadn’t told me. Expecting him
to explain, I was surprised when his expression turned hard. His eyes were
trained on the doorway by the guest sign-in. I looked over there too.