21
Maybe M stands for murder
Friday came. The day the mysterious message on the mirror had told me to be at the club.
I didn’t know what was about to go down, but I was nervous.
I went into the club. Again, there was nobody around.
I used the code written on the mirror to get in the door.
That night, the lights were a mix of violet, pink, and red; electronic music was pumping; and, as always, there were masked people everywhere.
The clandestine, illicit vibe could be felt even more intensely than ever.
I saw a guy pop a tiny pill into his uncovered mouth, before the girl next to him jumped on him and started kissing him.
Tut-tut, Aegan. How could you allow drug use? I headed to the girls’ bathroom. To my surprise, there was nobody there. It was quite big, with four toilet stalls and a long vanity counter with four sinks. The rectangular mirror stretched the whole way up to the ceiling.
Great, so I was here. Now what? I didn’t know if I was supposed to wait for someone to show up or for something else to happen.
After waiting around for a few minutes, it became clear.
Nobody was going to show up, because I wasn’t there to meet whoever had written on the mirror.
I was there to see something, and in order to see it, they’d left me another message.
I saw its reflection in the mirror as I impatiently paced around the bathroom.
A thin red arrow had been drawn on the ceiling, pointing toward a ventilation duct.
I went into one of the stalls and looked up.
Unlike typical ducts, it had no grille. It was open, begging me to take a closer look.
I blinked. Did the mysterious person want me to go in?
Really? Did they think this was some kind of James Bond film or what?
At least I was sure this couldn’t be one of Aegan’s plans; if he intended to kill me, he’d do it looking me in the eyes so he could get a real kick out of it.
Well, the only way I’d find out was by taking another risk. And I took it because, well, otherwise I’d have no story to tell.
I climbed onto the toilet seat, then the cistern, and finally made a risky little jump to grab the edge of the pipe. I pressed my feet against the walls of the stall to push myself upward, barely managing to get in and out of breath from the effort. I got on all fours.
I couldn’t believe I was in a ventilation duct.
Something else to add to my ever-growing CV of pathetic and absurd experiences.
Once I caught my breath, I started crawling, with no idea where the duct would lead me.
The good news was I didn’t have to crawl far; within seconds, I came across a grille over the room where me and Artie had been taken.
I saw Aegan sitting behind the desk, and across from him there was a man I didn’t recognize.
I realized that was what I was supposed to see as soon as Aegan spoke.
“Is there any chance that the truth about what happened to her will come out?”
Her?
Who was her?
My heart started pounding. My instincts kicked in, and I realized I should record them, so I pulled out my phone and started filming the conversation.
“All evidence has been thoroughly removed,” the stranger reassured him, “but . . .”
“Could it be pinned on me in any way?” Aegan asked. His voice was calm, yet he sounded worried; it was clear that whatever they were talking about was really serious.
“No, as long as nothing changes. We’ve got to keep anyone from finding out what really happened.”
What really happened.
“This is exactly what she wanted,” Aegan grumbled, his voice sharp and controlling as usual. “I don’t know what could happen if—”
“Aegan,” the man cut him off, trying to reassure him.
But he wasn’t up for being reassured.
“I can’t take this lightly,” Aegan said, tense. “This is dangerous. Everything is at stake. My freedom and my surname.”
“Keep a cool head, and you’ll get through it,” the man said. “For now, the important thing is that she’s dead.”
I could only think of one name. Eli. They were talking about Eli. Eli was dead!
I was terrified—so terrified that my hands started to tremble—yet in that moment I realized something really important.
It dawned on me that the first time Aegan picked me up to take me to class, while we were changing songs, he’d said . . . I don’t like it. I prefer listening to Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones.
Mick Jagger was Aegan’s favorite singer. He’d picked up the car under the name of Mick Jagger, with an authorization he’d likely forced Eli to sign before killing her.
It was him!
“Even so, I need to find her phone,” Aegan said frustratedly. “It had everything on it that she planned to use to blame me, so that needs to disappear.”
“Did you look where I told you to?”
“I haven’t stopped looking,” he huffed. “And there’s no trace of it. I have no idea where she hid it before . . . Well, before, you know.”
“Don’t worry more than you need to,” the man advised him. “I’ll keep looking into it and I’ll keep you informed of any leads.”
Aegan was about to say something, but . . .
Overcome by nerves and high on adrenaline, my hands shaking uncontrollably, the phone suddenly slipped from my grasp. As I reached to grab it, it bounced off my fingers, which stopped it from hitting the metal floor of the ventilation duct too hard, but it still made a sound.
F-u-c-k.
Of course, they both heard it. Aegan immediately looked up. I quickly retreated backward so they couldn’t see me through the grille.
“Did that come from the ventilation duct?” asked Aegan.
I heard his chair screech as he got up. My heart was pounding, thinking I’d be caught by a murderer. I kept retreating backward. I had to keep my breathing under control.
“I think so,” the unknown man replied. After a brief pause he said, “Have you checked the access points? There might be rats.”
“No,” Aegan shot back, sounding more pissed than ever. “We’ve never had rats here. Not the kind you’re thinking of.”
After hearing this, the voice inside my head was shouting like Jenny shouted at Forrest Gump: Run, Jude, Run!
I had to get out of there, like right now.
I crawled nervously backward until I reached the entrance.
First, I stuck my head out to make sure there was nobody there.
A girl was just leaving. When the coast was clear, I stuck my leg out of the hole.
Struggling to set my foot on the cistern for a clean escape, my agility, balance, and even my foot itself seemed to be saying, Not today, girl, and I slipped.
I slammed into the toilet, then fell against the stall wall, before my face finally crashed against the door.
My hip hurt more than my face, yet I straightened my mask and got out of there.
Once I was out, I tried to act calm. I pushed my way through the crowd, heading for the staircase that led to the upper floor and the exit.
I thought I would make it, but then Aegan suddenly stepped out of a hallway.
I could tell it was him by his clothes rather than by his face, which was covered with a skunk mask.
Did he suspect someone had been in the ventilation duct?
That’s what it looked like because he was going all over the place like he was searching for something.
I headed toward the bar. Aegan was walking around the main room, looking around.
I could also see the man he was talking to wandering around there too.
Fuck, when this place should’ve been full of people, it wasn’t.
It’s not like it was empty, but with more people it would’ve been easier for me to go unnoticed.
I started to feel like I was being chased, but I went around the bar and rejoined the path that would lead me to the stairs. Yet somehow, Aegan turned, and we ended up face-to-face, just a few yards apart.
The silver lining: with the low light and people passing by, he’d have a hard time recognizing me.
The not-so-silver lining: he was staring like he suspected it was me.
All I could think was that I needed to come up with a plan or I’d be caught, so I did the first thing that came into my head; it wasn’t the smartest, but it was the most practical.
There was drink on the bar counter. I grabbed it and threw it on a girl’s back.
I shifted out of the way so it looked like somebody else had done it.
She pushed some random girl and an argument broke out.
Now that’s what I call strategy.
I seized the moment and circled the bar again, moving quicker than Flash Gordon. Just before I reached the stairs, I thought I’d glance behind me. Aegan was pushing people out of the way to get to me.
There was only one thing left to do.
Run.
Run like there was no tomorrow.
Like Arnold Schwarzenegger would say, Hasta la vista, baby!
I bolted up the stairs. I was petrified.
The lights, the masks, the crowd—everything felt dangerously overwhelming as I ran.
The only things keeping me going right then were the dim lights and my ability to not trip over myself.
I pushed through the door, feeling like my chest was going to explode, and dropped the mask into the box.
Then I slipped through the next door and kept running.
I really thought I wouldn’t make it, but somehow I managed to get out of the club. I was so glad it was nighttime, making me less visible. I ran across the street.
I had to go somewhere, but I couldn’t go back to my apartment. Artie was there and I was petrified that Aegan would follow me. What if he had recognized me? I wouldn’t put her in danger.
Lost in thought while running, I didn’t realize I’d wandered into the middle of the street until a car rounding the corner slammed on its brakes to avoid knocking me down. It all happened so fast that I froze, unable to react. Hearing the screech of the tires, I ended up with my hands on the hood.
A head leaned out the window.
“Jude?”
It was Adrik!
Suddenly I was a devout Catholic, convinced this was nothing short of a miracle.
He shot me a confused look, like seeing me there, in such a disastrous state, was the last thing he’d expected. So, we stared at each other for a minute, like two people caught in the worst possible place, in the most dangerous of circumstances, risking a collision at the worst possible moment.
Chaos and tragedy, face-to-face.
I ran around the car, opened the door, and jumped into the passenger seat.
“What’s going on?” he asked me. “Why the hell were you—”
There’s no way I was going to tell him.
“Start the car and take me to your apartment,” I asked.
“But . . .”
“Start the car!”
He did what I asked. He floored it, and we drove away. I took a brief look back. Not spotting anyone, I sank back into my seat, breathing heavily. Fear pulsed through my body.
I knew I couldn’t go back to my apartment, at least not for now. So, I wouldn’t, even if that meant being with Adrik.
Unfortunately, this time there would be no booze to help us get along.