Chapter 5 Everything I know fades away

It was the next day when Kate and Jodi were sitting at the table on the veranda. Sharing a tea moment the two girls couldn't resist talking about the whole Alex situation. 'I still can't believe they knew it all along.' Jodi stared at her cup. 'Yeah I know, I can't either. It's not strange Alex is mad at her', Kate replied, thinking of what to do in such a situation. 'Well, Stevie sure is acting strange.' That brought a thought to Kate's mind. 'Hey, did you ..', she wondered, '... did you see Stevie yesterday evening, just after diner?' Jodi shook her head in denial, not knowing what Kate was thinking about, but she could see at her friend's face there was something up.

'And Riley?' 'What?' Jodi asked already getting a glimpse of what Kate was aiming at. 'Well I know Riley was training Wildflower, but after that ... ' Kate gave her a meaningful stare. 'They finished early and uh ... when I saw Stevie again she was coming from the quarters and when I got to my room I could hear Riley being home.' 'Nooo', Jodi said surprised and excited. 'You don't think they ... no way ... I know they get along pretty well, but isn't he a bit young for her?' They both had move a bit closer to the table. 'Well, remember that Leo guy.' Kate rested her case. Jodi sunk in her chair again, a bit overwhelmed by it. 'Maybe she has developed a thing for young blokes lately.'

They got interrupted by Stevie and Regan, who joined them. And both hoped Stevie hadn't heard anything of their previous conversation. 'Ah tea, I can use that', Regan said while sitting down. Jodi and Kate still shared glances. Jodi couldn't resist making a comment, while she poured tea in two cups. 'Where's Riley by the way?' For a moment she looked at Stevie, who was holding her hat playfully, which seemed to give her some distraction from whatever thought that tried to enter her mind. 'Oh he's at the back, training Wildflower.' 'Ah ...', Jodi looked at Kate. 'So uh, Wildflower is going great?' The little one tried to sound truly interested though that other thing drew her attention way more. Stevie nodded. 'Yep, she's going perfect.'

At that moment they could hear a motorbike on the property. Not much later Patrick entered the scene. 'Hey ladies, hey Kate'. He gave her a quick kiss and Kate looked at him pleased. 'What brought you here?' She asked. 'You of course ... and I had to pick something up for Moira.' Jodi, who watched the two lovebirds gazing at each other, tried to get the young Brewer's attention. 'Patrick ...', surprisely quick he looked at her, '... have you've seen Alex lately?' 'Uhm ...', Patrick though for a moment, '... I saw him yesterday.' The girls were all surprised Patrick had seen him, and that it sounded like the most normal thing.

'Well, how was he?' Kate asked. 'Oh, yeah, I don't know. He was acting I bit strange I guess. He asked for Dave's address.' 'Dave's address?' Regan almost choked in her tea. 'Did he say why?' Again Patrick gave them an unknown look. 'I guess he wanted to visit him? What? Is there something wrong?' The girls looked at each other. Stevie was remarkable quiet. 'Uhm ... I will tell you later', Kate said quickly. 'Okay, I have to go anyway, was kinda in a hurry', Patrick said not really aware of the tension. He gave Kate another kiss and got back to his motorbike.

'Dave and Alex hey ...', Jodi said. Stevie and Regan were the last ones who wanted to say a thing about these two men. 'Well isn't it a good thing Alex is going to Dave?' Kate asked, but hardly got any response, though her blonde friend's mind was working overtime. 'Shouldn't we call Dave to know Alex is there?' Jodi's curiosity was always her specialty. And also this time she couldn't resist wondering about all the details. 'Shouldn't we?', she said again and looked at Regan, who gave her a refused look. 'I'm not gonna call'. Dave had just moved away to Adelaide, and she was one of the reasons he had accepted the job offer over there. It kinda made sense to Jodi, so she gave Stevie a look.

The red one shook her head. 'No way, if Alex is there ...' Probably one of the last persons Alex would want to talk to was her. Well, Fiona was probably on the top of his list. Kate already felt Jodi's questioning look. 'Why me?' She said annoyed. 'Well, cause nobody is volunteering and it's your brother-in-law ... to be.' Kate gave her another stare, knowing she was the one that needed to call him.

Not much later Jodi appeared with the phone and Dave's phone number in her hands. 'Here you go!', she said pleased. Kate was irritated by Jodi's excited voice. She took a deep breath while the girls were watching her.

'Hey Dave, it's Kate.' Immediately you could hear Dave's surprised voice. 'Kate?' For a moment he was flabbergasted. 'Uhm, already settled Dave?' Kate was unsure about what to say. Jodi stared at her, making a 'get past these boring details and get to the point' move with her hands when she could hear a conversation starting up. Kate wanted to ignore it and talked along with Dave about his new apartment and job. Jodi sighed. 'Let me ...', she took the phone and Kate could only say quickly that Jodi would take over.

Annoyed she looked at her friend, who settles the phone near her ear. 'Dave, it's me Jodi, don't mind Kate's babbling. Why we are calling is ... uh ... is Alex there?' It was the most logical question she could come up with. 'Alex?' 'Yeah, you know that tall Ryan guy (also known as the big idiot) you used to live with'. 'Jodi!', Kate uttered. But her friend totally ignored it and continued her investigation, but all she got were no's. 'You're sure he didn't call you?' 'I'm 100 sure', Dave said. 'Why? Is there something wrong?' Jodi thought for a moment. She needed to give him a short version.

She looked at Stevie while she tried to make a short understandable story. 'Yeah I know, he should have been there by now.' She nodded a view times. 'Ok, call me when you hear anything.'

The girls looked questionable at their blonde friend. 'Nothing', there was some concern and disappointment in her voice. 'But that doesn't make sense', Kate said immediately. 'Yeah I know, if he really left yesterday, he would have been there even before the night.' 'Maybe he changed his mind?', Regan wondered. 'Why would he, where else can he go?' They could see Stevie's eyes filling with tears. She hated the moments when Alex just left and there was no way of contacting him. The fact he had done it a few times before should have made her not worry too much, but she did. She'd seen the state he had been in and deep down inside she felt there was something wrong. She heard his last words echoing in her head. She couldn't take it and stood up making her way inside the house, leaving the girls looking at each other.

At that same moment a police car drove on the entranceway of Killarney. Fiona could hear a car door close. Not much later she heard the doorbell. When Fiona opened the door she saw sergeant Toni standing in front of her and immediately the despair took over her body. Toni took a deep breath, after all these years he never got used to such visits. 'Mrs. Ryan ... I have some bad news.'