Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Nantucket Island
Alexander stood at the top of the staircase that led down to the tunnels beneath the Lodge.
His heart pounded in his neck and made his body quiver.
He could hear his father’s footsteps pounding as he shot down the tunnel, but toward what?
Alexander had seen his father come and go from the tunnels before, carrying mulch, odd equipment, and various pieces of furniture.
But what could he possibly want down there on a night like this?
If Alexander wanted to follow him, he knew he had to step delicately. He wanted to see what his father was up to when he didn’t think anyone was watching.
Alexander gripped the railing and walked down the stairs on his tiptoes, his legs shuddering beneath him.
He saw a light far, far down the tunnel and off to the right, as though the tunnels created a sort of maze, going left, right, straight, and also back beyond where the staircase was.
Alexander remembered the last time he’d been down here, the morning he’d discovered Jack acting suspiciously before school.
He’d come down and found nothing but empty cardboard boxes.
What had kept him from coming back down here over the years? Was he too frightened to face fate?
Alexander crept slowly, conscious of every noise he made and how loudly he breathed.
When he turned to the right, he discovered a sort of fork in the road.
He remembered that the tunnels had been built long before central heating and freezers had been invented, back when the Lodge had been more of a haven for whalers, and they’d stored fish and whale meat down here.
They’d often slept down here and been able to get from place to place via the tunnels, rather than having to go outside in the cold and snow.
Due to their age, the tunnels were made of stone and dirt, but it was remarkably dry down here, like another world.
It took Alexander nearly fifteen minutes to discover where his father had gone.
When he found him, Benjamin was seated at an ornate mahogany desk with his head in his hands.
He was crying. Alexander was taken aback and hung far from the door, giving himself just enough view to take in the scene.
Surrounding Benjamin were hundreds of books, notepads, and what looked like photo albums. It looked like the place where Benjamin came to escape the real world.
Clearly, his conversation with Alexander had hurt him.
Alexander had never imagined that he could upset his father so much.
Alexander didn’t want to add insult to injury, so he backed away from the study, tears filling his eyes.
All he wanted was to get back to the bonfire, take Janie in his arms, and tell her to pack up. It was time to go.
But when he turned the corner in the direction of the staircase, he realized that he’d gone too far and too deep into the tunnels to make sense of where he was. He’d been so fixated on his father and what he was up to that he’d let himself get lost. It was pathetic.
But now, the real stress began. He considered what to do.
On the one hand, he could return to his father’s study and ask for directions out of here.
But that risked falling back into his argument with his father and saying cruel things.
His only option was to keep looking, he guessed.
Maybe it only seemed confusing, and he was only two or three turns away from the stairs. He kept going, his ears ringing.
He walked and turned, and then he fell to his knees. How long had he been down here? He wondered if any of the old whalers had ever gotten permanently lost down here, if they’d never been found. He suddenly felt how insignificant he truly was.
But maybe ten or fifteen minutes after he’d begun walking again, he discovered another lit-up room.
At first, he was frightened that it was his father’s study again, that he’d managed to loop back around and waste his own time.
But this room was different—much larger and stuffed wall-to-wall with cardboard boxes.
Alexander froze, then forced himself to look at what was inside.
This time, they were full of long, packed plastic bags.
The bags were not see-through.
But they had to be full of Tio Angelo’s drugs.
This was his packing station. Or one of them.
Alexander’s eyes watered with shock. When he reached the opposite wall, he found a metal box filled to the brim with cash.
It had to be hundreds of thousands worth of it and certainly not all that Tio Angelo had made over the years, especially considering the tourists and all they’d sold at the sailing events and through Lodge guests and so on.
Alexander could hardly stand. It was overwhelming.
He considered what to do next and who to tell, and wondered whether he was better suited to contacting authorities off the island.
Then again, he didn’t want to get anyone in his family in trouble. His thoughts raced.
Suddenly, there was a shadow in the doorway. Alexander yanked around to find Tio Angelo, glowering with that awful smile on his face.
“Have you finally decided to join us?” Tio Angelo spat in Italian.
Alexander turned and glared at him. With Tio Angelo blocking his exit, Alexander was trapped down here, even more so than when he was lost.
“You finally recognize how little your parents respect you,” Tio Angelo said.
“You finally realize that this is the only path forward. I mean, you must know how your parents have struggled over the years. You must know how often the Lodge nearly had to close because of their greed or negligence. Or because their relationship probably should have fallen apart years ago.” Tio Angelo giggled.
Alexander didn’t want to give his uncle the honor of talking to him. He wasn’t the kind of person you could reason with or who recognized logic. He lived beyond the rules and did whatever he pleased.
“Get out of my way,” Alexander said.
Tio Angelo laughed again. Alexander felt he’d never hated anyone more.
“Why should I? You know all my secrets, Alexander,” Tio Angelo said.
“But you know, I’m happy to spin this. I’m happy to tell the authorities that it was your little operation down here.
Look.” Tio Angelo removed a camera from his back pocket and took a photograph of Alexander beside the cash and the drugs.
Alexander shuddered. “They won’t believe you.”
“You don’t think so?” Tio Angelo sang. “I think you’re wrong about that!”
Suddenly, Alexander remembered something: the long grill lighter he still had in his pocket from making burgers earlier. He removed it and pressed the button to unfurl the fire. Tio Angelo’s eyes lit up.
“What are you going to do with that?” Tio Angelo asked.
Alexander reached for a stack of bills—what had to be a thousand dollars in his hands—and flashed it by the fire. Tio Angelo looked momentarily miffed.
“You wouldn’t,” he said.
Alexander kept the flame going and brought the bills closer. But this left Tio Angelo plenty of time to take an additional photograph of Alexander, with the flame, the money, and the drugs around him. He probably looked insane.
This photograph would one day be iconic: false proof of something.
But Alexander wasn’t thinking about that now.
He needed to get out of these tunnels and away from his family.
He kept the flame going, held the bills in his outstretched hand, and walked toward the doorway.
As Alexander neared his uncle, he realized that Tio Angelo was much smaller than he was, and that Alexander had grown over six feet, leaving his uncle inches below him.
Tio Angelo side-stepped toward the wall and gasped, “Throw me the money. You can run off and play with your little girlfriend. Just don’t do what you want to do right now. ”
Alexander glowered at him. The flame continued to flicker in the air over the mouth of the lighter.
A part of him thought he should keep the money for himself, but another knew he didn’t want Tio Angelo’s drug money.
Who knew who else he’d hurt en route to making his fortune?
Alexander spat on the ground and threw the money to the left of Tio Angelo, just barely out of reach, so that Tio Angelo had to hustle to get to it.
The money was separated from its pile and spread throughout the room. It was almost beautiful, like a green paper firework.
Before Tio Angelo could grab the bills, Alexander was gone, speeding down the tunnel and turning left this time to discover the staircase miraculously.
Finally, he would be free. He clomped up the stairs, his heart screaming, his lungs searching for oxygen.
When he reached the doorway, he leaped into the hallway and nearly smashed heads with a familiar face.
It was Jack, headed for the tunnels.
Overwhelmed, Alexander grabbed Jack’s shoulder and lugged him outside and into the moonlight.
The fireworks continued to explode overhead.
Alexander had no concept of how long he’d been in the tunnels, spying on his father and threatening his uncle.
But he wouldn’t let Jack go down there. He couldn’t.
“Jack, you can’t do this to yourself,” Alexander cried. “Please, listen to me.”
Jack’s face was as white as cream. “I’m tired of everyone trying to tell me what to do!” he screamed, so loud that Alexander was momentarily frozen with shock.
Before Alexander could say anything else, Jack turned on his heels and rushed for the tunnels. Alexander staggered after him, but fell to his knees, pulsating with adrenaline. Maybe there was nothing he could do, not tonight. But he’d find a way through this. He’d make a plan.
It couldn’t be too late.
Suddenly, a hand was on his shoulder, and a soft voice was in his ear. “Alexander?”
It was Janie, coming out of the darkness to take care of him. Alexander got back to his feet and hugged her, surprised to feel how close to tears he was. He kissed her neck, her ear.
“Let’s go,” she whispered. “Let’s get away from the Lodge. I don’t even want to see it.”
Alexander and Janie walked a half mile down the beach, in the opposite direction of the bonfire, and sat huddled together, listening to the rushing water and one another’s breath.
Alexander didn’t want to tell her what he’d seen in the basement.
He was too frightened of all of it. Janie seemed miffed about whatever had happened to her as well.
But finally, Alexander admitted something to pierce the darkness. “My dad said Chloe is Nina’s mother.”
Janie’s jaw dropped. She squeezed his hand hard. All she could manage to say was, “Poor Chloe. Oh, that’s so hard.”
They held the silence for a long time until, very suddenly, their nostrils filled with the smell of fire and ash, and they heard the sounds of sirens screaming through the night.
The White Oak Lodge was on fire.