Chapter Twenty-Seven Alexandra
When we arrived, it was a little after three.
All the students were gone except for the ones in the after-school program, which was housed in the gym and cafeteria.
After we pulled into a parking space, I eased off the bike and handed the helmet back to Archer.
I couldn’t begin to imagine the looks I was going to get from the teachers who remained in the building.
Sure, some of them knew I was involved with a biker, and by now, I’m sure they knew he was dead.
I’d called my principal to ask for a few days off.
Thankfully, I’d remembered my keys, so we were able to slip in one of the side doors, rather than going in the front. When I started into my classroom, I noticed that Archer’s feet seemed rooted to the floor. His posture seemed as if he were on high alert.
Even though I already knew the answer, I asked, “You don’t want to come inside?”
He shook his head. “I’ll wait out here.”
“Okay.” While I should have felt comforted with him keeping an eye on things, I also didn’t want to be alone.
Not even in my classroom with its cheerfully decorated bulletin boards and posters.
I slipped inside and closed the door behind me.
Whoever they’d gotten to be my sub was obviously trying to survive with fifteen five-year-olds because the room was a wreck.
With a renewed sense of purpose pumping through me, I went to the closet and grabbed the necessary cleaning materials.
I don’t know how long I spent washing down desks and chairs, scraping off clumps of glue, and reorganizing my bookshelves and centers.
Ironically, it seemed to do me a lot of good.
For that brief respite, I was able to forget that the man I loved more than anything in the world had been killed yesterday.
Defeated by the painful cloud of grief that swelled around me, I walked over to my desk and collapsed down into the chair.
Cradling my head in my hands, I wept openly and unashamedly.
As I cried, images of Deacon and me together played through my mind.
Him with Willow. Him with his brothers. Him in those last moments as he walked out the door to the horrible fate that awaited him.
Once I began to recover, I swiped my arms across my moistened face. A tissue came into my line of sight. “Thank you, Archer,” I murmured, as I took it to dab my eyes.
“You’re welcome, Miss Evans.”
I jerked my head up at the stranger’s voice.
Every molecule in my body seemed to flare in distress.
Although I wanted to scream for help, my vocal cords twisted in fear to where I could do nothing but squeak.
When my gaze darted to the classroom doorway, the man held up his hand.
“Don’t worry about the prospect. He’s only momentarily being detained.
I didn’t find it necessary to shed his blood today. ”
“W-Who are y-you?” I stammered.
He flashed me a wicked smile. “I’m sure you already know the answer to that question, Miss Evans. You are a smart girl being a teacher.”
“Sigel?”
With a flourished bow, he said, “The one and only.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I see you’re a woman who doesn’t beat around the bush. I’m glad to see that. I hate when my time is wasted. I’ve come here to pay my respects for the loss of your dearly departed boyfriend.”
My fists clenched in my lap. Anger outweighed my fear, and I felt like at any minute I might launch myself at Sigel.
Cocking his head, Sigel seemed to be weighing my body language. “I hope you will believe me when I say I had no idea Deacon would be anywhere near Case’s house.”
“And I hope you will believe me when I say that is utter bullshit.”
Sigel’s deep blue eyes widened at my statement. “I can see why Deacon liked you so much. You’re like a hellcat, aren’t you, Miss Evans?” Nausea washed over me at Sigel’s use of the word “hellcat”. It was one Deacon had used to tease me.
When I refused to answer him, Sigel shook his head.
“The plan was to take out Case, which would enrage Deacon enough to come after me. I would then be able to get my personal revenge. Trust me that having him taken out in a simple explosion served no purpose for me.” His expression darkened even further.
“He received far too quick and painless a death considering what I had in store for him.”
While it was still hard to imagine that Sigel hadn’t planned on taking Deacon out, his words certainly gave me something to think about. “With Deacon dead, I can’t imagine what you could possibly want from me,” I said, in a low voice.
“You were once a very valuable commodity to me, Miss Evans. I’m sure that was made clear to you when you spent some time with my former associate, Crank.”
Jerking my chin up at him, I said, “If you for one minute think you can use me to get to Willow, you might as well kill me right here and now. As long as I have a breath left within me, I’ll keep that child safe!”
Sigel made a tsking noise in his throat. “You once again have missed the mark on this one, Miss Evans. I don’t want Deacon’s brat. While I’m sure her death would greatly affect Rev and some of the other brothers, it would do little for me considering her father is now dead.”
“Then what do you what?” I demanded, my voice shrill.
“You know, they say it’s a small world, and I wouldn’t have actually believed how small it could be until you came into Deacon Malloy’s life.”
“I don’t understand.”
“No, I don’t suppose you do. So let me refresh your memory. I’m sure you might’ve heard that cocksucker you spread your legs for mention that I had a son. A son that he murdered.”
“In revenge for you killing his father,” I spat back.
“Touche, Miss Evans. I suppose you also subscribe to the Old Testament vengeance of an eye for an eye like your former boyfriend did.” When I didn’t answer him, he started a leisurely stroll around my desk, while his gaze roamed around.
“You have a lovely classroom. In a way, it reminds me of your mother’s. ”
My heartbeat shuddered to a stop and then restarted. “Excuse me?”
His eyes met mine. “I think you heard me right.”
“But how is it possible that you knew my late mother?”
“You see this is where our small worlds collide. Once upon a time, your mother taught my son, Andy. It was second or third grade, I don’t remember exactly now.”
“Second. She only ever taught kindergarten and second,” I murmured softly.
“Ah, thank you for reminding me.” Sigel came to face me again.
“Your mother was one hell of a nosy bitch. Instead of worrying about all the snot nosed brats she had to teach, she focused on Andy. She couldn’t seem to believe that he got the bruises on his arms and legs from simply playing.
She didn’t seem to understand that I subscribed to a very old school form of discipline for my children.
So she turned the case over to the local CPS.
I couldn’t have them snooping around in my life, so we disappeared.
We hopped from county to county, never going too far from my club.
” His soulless blue eyes focused on mine.
“One thing that could be said for your mother was that she had one hell of a memory. I thought I’d put enough time and space between the former charges when I moved back, and Andy started high school. ”
Slowly the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. “Was he one of my father’s students?”
“My, my, aren’t you smart. Yeah, he ended up having your old man.
I guess over dinner or some shit he started talking about how he was so worried about one of his students.
And when he mentioned the name, your mother recognized it.
That night I got a call from your father.
He wanted answers and reminded me of the former case against me.
My usual methods of persuasion didn’t seem to work on him, even when I threatened something happening to you. ”
Closing my eyes, I couldn’t begin to imagine what that call was like for my father. Nothing mattered more to him in the world than his wife and kids. But at the same time, he had a passion deep within him to stand up for what was right, even if it meant the potential for those he loved to be hurt.
“So in the end, I was fucking tired of being forced to run, so I decided to take a different course of action.”
His words caused a shiver to run from the top of my head down my spine. “But they died in a car accident,” I said, lamely.
“Yes, they did. A car accident brought on by faulty brakes and an unmarked car that hit them, causing them to go off that ravine.”
My hand flew to my throat to stop the scream building in my throat.
The jumbled and jangled emotions filling my body made me feel like I was tied into a straightjacket and thrashing to get loose.
It was overwhelming. The entire last eight years of my life was based on a lie.
My parents hadn’t died in an accident. They’d been murdered.
Their deaths had been coldly calculated by the piece of shit who stood in front of me.
“Thankfully, your father hadn’t flapped his gums to any of his coworkers, so no one knew that he had almost blown the lid on me, which would have affected my club. Of course, I hated your kid brother was in the car. I never intended for you two to get hurt.”
Tears of anguish and rage stung my eyes. As I stared at Sigel, I wondered what possible motive or intention he had for telling me this. I was already a woman on the edge because of him. I was barely surviving after losing the man I loved. It was too much. Far too much.
“W-Why would you t-tell me this?” I stammered, barely able to get the words out.
“Because you’re entitled to the truth. And because I hope it will influence you to do what I’m about to ask of you.”