He Started It

‘Looks like we have ourselves an old-fashioned standoff here,’ he says.

For the first time since killing Felix, I kind of wish he was around. He was pretty good at diffusing situations because no one thought of him as a threat.

Except me.

The old man looks at me and says, ‘It seems we’re the only ones without a weapon.’

I hesitate before answering. ‘Looks that way.’

‘I’m Nathan,’ he says. ‘And this young man is my nephew, Jonah.’

‘Who was the woman?’ I say. ‘The one who knocked?’

‘Oh, that’s my girlfriend. She’s waiting outside,’ Nathan says.

‘Well, I’m Beth.’

‘I’d say it’s a pleasure, but I suppose that would sound ridiculous.’

I smile a tiny bit and Eddie glares at me. He can’t see my heart pounding or feel my hands shaking, but they are. Before I can say another word, the bathroom door opens and Portia reappears. Her hair is pulled back tight, out of her eyes, and she’s holding a can of something. It’s pointed right at Nathan.

‘Mace,’ she says. ‘Never leave home without it.’

Nathan doesn’t look surprised, nor does he stop smiling. ‘Perhaps we should take this down a notch. No one needs to die today.’

He’s the only one making sense right now.

I clear my throat. ‘So our brother owes you some money,’ I say.

‘That’s right,’ Nathan says. ‘Roundabout a hundred, give or take.’

‘A hundred?’

‘Thousand.’

‘Holy hell,’ Portia says. ‘Are you an addict? What is it? Oh wait, don’t tell me – pain pills, right? You’re on oxy.’

‘I’m not on oxy,’ Eddie says.

‘I don’t sell drugs,’ Nathan says. His voice is hard and a little bit scary. No one says anything, and we fall into a silent void.

‘I made a few bets,’ Eddie finally says. ‘Football games, some horse races.’

Portia sighs loud enough to wake the dead.

‘This is a gambling debt?’ I say. ‘Our trip has been sabotaged because of a gambling debt?’ I shake my head, trying not to kill Eddie before these guys do.

Portia changes targets. She sprays the mace at Eddie.

The guns are down now. Eddie dropped his when the mace hit him, and Jonah lowers his because he’s laughing too hard. All of us are sitting except Eddie, who’s curled up on the floor, rubbing his eyes while retching.

‘Quit crying,’ Portia says to him. ‘You’ll live.’

Eddie chokes out a rather feeble, ‘Go to hell.’

Jonah laughs again but one look from Nathan shuts him up. ‘This has been very entertaining, but I’d really like to talk about my money. As you have already seen, I’m a very reasonable man. I haven’t hurt anyone, though I’ve had plenty of chances on this little road trip of yours.’

I speak before Portia has a chance to. ‘Did Eddie tell you about this trip? About our grandfather?’

‘He did. But considering how many times your brother has lied to me, I had no reason to believe it was true.’

Eddie groans. He gets up and stumbles over to the sink. We all watch and then return to our conversation.

‘Eddie didn’t lie to you about this,’ I say. ‘Our grandfather passed away. Once we bring his ashes to where he wants them, we’ll get our inheritance.’ Before he can ask how much, I say, ‘Eddie will then have the money to pay you back.’

‘Yes, that’s what he said.’

‘It’s the truth,’ I say. ‘And maybe this sounds insensitive, but the three of us aren’t here because we wanted to take a family vacation. We’re here for the money.’

‘Three of you,’ he says. ‘You had five. You’ve lost a couple along the way.’

‘Our spouses weren’t exactly enjoying this trip, given how many problems we had with the car.’

‘Ah yes. The car.’

‘The flat tire, the stolen starter? I assume that was you?’ I say.

Nathan points to his nephew. ‘Jonah got a little bored on the trip, so we decided to have a little fun with your car. We wanted to make sure Eddie knew we were around. Just in case he forgot about his financial obligations.’

‘I never forgot,’ Eddie choked.

Jonah laughs. ‘I bet you didn’t.’

Portia rolls her eyes. ‘Do boys ever get sick of playing games?’

No one answers out loud, although Jonah shakes his head no.

‘Back to the money,’ I say. ‘Eddie can pay you once we finish this trip.’

Nathan stares at me for so long it makes me uncomfortable, and I want to fidget but I don’t. It feels like he’s sizing me up, trying to decide if he can believe me, since he can’t believe Eddie.

Good thing I’m not lying.

‘And if he still doesn’t pay,’ Nathan says. ‘Are you going to cover his debt?’

Like I said, he is an intelligent man. I agree because I have to, and because I have no doubt one of us will die today if he decides that’s how it has to be. I also agree because we need to get back on the road. This trip has to end.

‘Absolutely,’ I say. ‘I’ll cover it.’

It’s almost worse when Nathan and Jonah have left. Now we have to deal with the aftermath of what just happened, and everyone is pissed off.

‘You just let them follow us,’ Portia says.

Eddie, who has recovered a bit, says, ‘You sprayed me with mace.’

‘You better pay Nathan, because I sure as hell won’t,’ I say.

It’s not the money I’m angry about, though. I’m angry for the same reason Portia is.

Everyone has secrets, I get that. It doesn’t matter to me that Portia steals credit cards or that Eddie has a gambling problem. I have a bigger secret – about Felix – but they don’t need to know that because my secret doesn’t affect them.

Eddie’s secret does, though. It has altered our whole road trip, and he still didn’t say anything until his problem knocked on our door. That’s the difference between our secrets, and it’s a big one.

I’m starting to think there’s something about the Beaver Dam Motel. Both times we’ve been here, trouble literally came knocking. Tonight it was Nathan and Jonah. The first time it was the man from room number 9, the one who answered when I was looking for Nikki.

He was in number 9 alone, as far as we could see, and Eddie quickly said, ‘Sorry, wrong room.’

That was it. We ran off and he shut the door. Less than ten minutes later, that same man came to our room and knocked. Eddie opened it.

He looked like someone out of a seventies movie, right down to his thick moustache, patterned shirt, and blue blazer. He looked around the room, his eyes landing on each one of us. Eddie, Grandpa, Portia, me.

‘Can I help you?’ Grandpa said, walking toward the man.

‘I apologize. Two kids came knocking on my door and I just wanted to make sure everything was okay,’ he said. ‘Just seemed kind of strange at a place like this. Kids being alone and all.’

Grandpa looked at me. Not Eddie, just me. ‘We were just playing,’ I said. ‘Like doorbell ditch.’