Following the directions that Jimmy had given Theresa, Aaron and the others made it to the lighthouse without much trouble. It started raining again as they walked up the road, which only made the depression Aaron felt that much worse.
"Who's going to tell Abby?" Aaron asked as they reached the door to the house portion of the lighthouse.
The others froze for a minute. Finally Kevin said, "I will." Then he pulled the door open and they slowly filed in.
"It's about time," Bates said as they entered the main living room of the house, which also doubled as the kitchen. "We were beginning to get worried."
Aaron, who was the second one through the door, saw Kevin nod in acknowledgement. Abby walked in from one of the side rooms followed by Shea and Madison. April was sitting at the table in the kitchen area and Bates was standing in the middle of the room, where Aaron suspected he had been pacing.
"Where's Jimmy?" Abby asked as Rachel closed the door behind her. Aaron glanced at Kevin who suddenly seemed frozen in place. Taking a deep breath, Aaron stepped forward. "I'm sorry, Abby," he said. "Jimmy didn't make it."
At first Abby didn't move. Then she began to look at the group, no doubt waiting for someone to say "gotcha!" and open the door to show Jimmy standing outside. When no one moved, the realization began to dawn on her. "No," she said, slowly backing away. "No!"
"I'm sorry," Aaron said again.
Abby backed all the way to the wall and began sobbing. Shea hurried over and held her while the others mulled around the room, unsure of what to do.
Five minutes later, Abby suddenly screamed and lunged across the room at Kevin and Rachel. "YOU KILLED HIM!" she screamed. "YOU PROMISED TO KEEP HIM SAFE!"
Aaron grabbed Abby and fought to restrain her. "Abby, don't," he said.
"Let me go!" Abby said, struggling against him.
"Not until you listen to me!" Aaron said. Abby reluctantly stopped struggling and looked the fisherman in the eye. "It's not their fault," he said. "It's mine."
A silence so thick you'd need a chainsaw to cut through it settled over the room. "What do you mean?" Abby asked, wiping tears from her eyes.
Aaron took a deep breath and didn't break eye contact with Abby, despite the fact that every other eye in the room was on him. "Whoever is behind this," he said, "is after me."
"How long have you known?" Abby asked.
"I've only known for about an hour," Aaron said. "But I've had a sneaking suspicion since last night when he called me."
"How can you be sure?" Shea asked.
"Because he left Kevin and Rachel alive to come after me not thirty minutes ago," Aaron said, still looking at Abby. "And he probably would have left Jimmy alone if he hadn't interfered with this guy's attempt at strangling me."
"Are you saying it's Jimmy's own fault he's dead?" Abby asked, her voice breaking slightly
"No," Aaron said, holding up his hands. "It's just that if he had left me, he'd be here talking to you about this, not me." Abby gave him a look that was a mix of disgust and apology before walking off to sit in a chair in the living room. Madison walked over to her and sat next to her, taking Abby's hand.
"So how do you explain the other deaths?" Kevin asked, bringing everyone's attention back to Aaron's theory. "If this is about you, how do you explain Dennis, Calvin, Brian and Ian's deaths?"
"Well, Brian was killed when the radio on the boat exploded, crippling our communications," Aaron said, looking at the policeman. "He was probably in the wrong place at the wrong time. Calvin was searching the tunnels alone. My guess is he stumbled on the guy and was killed to keep him from identifying him. You said Dennis was killed after you found those newspaper clips about Michael and Simon's disappearances. The killer was probably hoping to keep that a secret, which was why he killed Dennis."
"What about Ian?" Theresa asked.
"If he's after me he would know that Ian's death would hit me hard," Aaron said with a shrug.
"Why kidnap Jimmy and Madison, then?" Shea asked.
"To throw us off," Aaron said. "If it had been about you, why kidnap Ian and Theresa?"
"To get you here," Bates said. "You've got to admit it makes sense."
"That's great," Kevin said. "We know this guy's motive. Doesn't get us any closer to catching this bastard or getting off this rock, but we know why that son-of-a-bitch has killed three cops and two civilians tonight."
"I take it that the radio in the shack is no longer an option," April said.
"Smashed beyond repair," Rachel said. "Did you find anything?"
"Not a thing," Shea said. "Any radios that may have been at the docks are gone now."
"What about here?" Theresa said.
"Nothing so far," Madison said. "We've only looked in the house. We hadn't got to the tower yet."
"Then let's go," Kevin said.
At that moment someone's phone began to ring. Everyone began checking their phones, but it was Abby who flipped hers open. "Hello?" she said. After a second she pulled the phone away from her ear, put it on speaker, and placed it on the table. "You're on speaker," she said. "Now what do you want?"
"Just to talk," the Apostle said. "Hello, everyone."
"Who are you?" Bates asked.
"Detective Bates, how are you?"
"I've been better," Bates said shortly. "Now who are you?"
"Aaron's been calling me the Apostle, so let's go with that."
"You've killed three policemen and two civilians tonight," Kevin said.
"I had my reasons for each and every one of them. But the one I want is still alive. I trust you've figured that out by now."
The others all glanced at Aaron. "What do you want?" Rachel asked.
"I want Aaron Thomas," the Apostle said simply. "Have him at The Cannery in one hour and I let the rest of you leave this island alive and unharmed. If he's not, I will kill you all one by one." With that the phone went dead.
The group stood in silence for a minute before Aaron turned to Abby. "How do I get to The Cannery from here?" he asked.
"What?" Theresa said. "Are you seriously going to give yourself up to him?"
"If it gets the rest of you off this island, then yes I am."
"We don't know this bastard will keep his word," Bates said. "Once he has you he can still come after us."
"Then I can buy you a little time to find a way off the island," Aaron said. "Then, if you want, you can pull together an army and come back for me."
"You're not doing this," Bates said. "I won't let you."
Aaron stopped. "You won't let me?" he said. "Sorry, but it's not exactly your call. It's my life. I'll decide what to do with it."
"No you won't," Bates insisted. "I won't allow it."
"Bates," Kevin said, placing a hand on the detective's shoulder. "Maybe we should consider letting him go with some back-up."
"Let's do that," Aaron said. "I go in and you guys watch my back."
"No," Bates said. "I'm not going to let you do this, Aaron."
"Why not?" Aaron asked. "Why won't you let me do this, Bates? It's the only chance we've had to catch this bastard so far, why won't you let us take it?"
Bates sighed, then looked Aaron in the eye. "Because I'm your father, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let you use yourself as bait."