Revelations

The cargo train station was right around the corner, but the last train had already left at ten. I wondered if the buses ran that late and walked into the center of town to check. The area was much busier than I was expecting it to be, even for a Saturday night in Castle Rock. There seemed to be a dance on; the Dance Hall was lit up in lights and music from a live band poured out the windows. There were lots of young kids loitering outside, most of them about Chris's age, and I looked out for him but didn't see anyone familiar.

The intercity bus station was close by, but I found it closed and locked up for the night, much to my disappointment. I began to think that maybe tonight wasn't the night and considered to very carefully catch the train the next night instead.

I turned towards home and went down another commercial street. As I walked, I couldn't help notice that there were many cars parked down there, likely to be left by people attending the dance.

It sure was quiet.

There's the saying, don't shit in your own nest, and I was well aware of its meaning. But, because I wouldn't need to drive it as far as a car from out of town, I thought that counteracted the risk factor. It was a quick decision to go for it. I found one that would make the grade, did a quick scout around and then walked straight up to it. Ace had made me some new tools weeks ago and they were better than my originals. I had the lock done in no more time than it would have taken if I'd had a key.

The ignition was a different story. There was something wrong with it, like it was 'catching' or had some kind of internal damage to the barrel. But since I was already sitting in the car and it still seemed quiet outside, I decided to persist with it. It only took thirty seconds to work through it, but that was twenty seconds too long. Twenty seconds is long enough for someone to come out of the darkness and see what the hell you're up to.

Just when I managed to fire the engine, there was a knock on my window. My heart leaped into my throat and then sank to the lowest depths when I saw who it was.

"Cassie? What are you doing?" he asked through the glass. I thought about ignoring him and hitting the gas, and maybe I should have. But I didn't have the heart, especially after not seeing him for so long. It was good to see his face – it really was. I hesitated for a moment and then rolled down the window.

"Err… Hi Chris. Long time no see…"

"This is Mr. Watkins car. Do you know him?"

"Hey! You there! Boy! What are you doing! Get away from there!"

I looked over my shoulder to see a man in the distance, rushing up the sidewalk towards us. Chris stepped back from the vehicle with an expression mixed with confusion and fear.

My options were few and the best choice was clear.

"Chris, get outta here!" I shouted at him. I put my foot to the floor and peeled out on the roadside so hard that the smell of burnt rubber wafted through the car. As my tires got a grip, I looked in the rearview mirror to see that Chris was still standing on the sidewalk like a stunned mullet as the man shouted after me.

The garage was closed up, but I knew where Ace kept the spare keys to the padlocks that secured the garage doors. Not that I needed keys. After parking up, I stayed there for a while to ride out the panic attack I was having with some help from Jack Daniel's.

Chris made it all too obvious that he knew me - what if he was forced to tell? Or worse, what if Chris 'The Thief' Chambers was accused of having something to do with it? I felt sick as I thought about how immensely I had fucked up. Sincerely.

I owned a couple of bikes by that point, and I always left one at the garage to limit my chances of ever getting stranded there. I needed to know if Chris was OK and, if he wasn't… well, I didn't know what I'd do. I hoped nothing even more stupid.

I shot back to The Rock as fast as my legs could pedal. My thighs burned and my lungs hurt, but I powered on through the dark hills and then down the highway, back to town. It was around midnight by the time I got there, and the last drizzle of people were leaving the dance hall to head home. I went back to the scene of the crime but all was quiet. Chris or the man – or the cops for that matter – were nowhere to be seen. I biked around for a while looking for Chris, and I hoped if he was still there somewhere, he'd see me. But after the lights were shut off in the dance hall, I decided it was pointless to hang around any longer. As a last attempt to find him, I biked to Chris's house, but all the lights were off and the place was dark and quiet. There was no way I would go up there and wake everyone up looking for Chris when I didn't even know if he'd be there. In the end, I decided I'd have to continue my search in the morning.

Eyeball and Natalie were out of town for the weekend, but I knew they wouldn't mind if I stopped there for the night. They had moved into the master bedroom now, but I was happy to take the spare room. Not that I could sleep. Much. It did capture me at one point though, and I woke up to the sound of strong banging on my front door. It scared me a bit because it was the kind of banging an angry policeman might make.

I leaped out of bed and shot into the kitchen to see who was out there in the early hours of morning. There was no police car, thankfully, but I could see a black '51 Mercury parked in the driveway.

"Cassie, are you in there? We need to talk." I didn't know the car but would recognize Keith's soft, husky voice anywhere.

He knocked again and rattled the door handle. It was obvious what this was about. I could already hear Ace in my head, telling me off for letting him in, but this was bigger than Ace's jealousy issues.

I opened the door and Keith just looked at me blankly. I felt instant shame. I broke eye contact with him and stepped back as an invite for him to come in.

"How did you know I was here?" I asked as he closed the door behind him.

"I didn't. I went to Ace's first but the place was empty so… I thought it'd try my luck."

I remembered our argument from the night before and wondered where on earth Ace might be so early in the morning. I guess I had jealousy issues of my own.

"You wanna tell me what happened last night?" Keith spoke sternly and I could tell he was severely pissed off.

I leaned against the kitchen bench and stared at my bare feet, unable to look him in the eyes. "What did Chris tell you?"

"He knocked on my door late last night all frantic, and I thought his old man was after him again. But then he told me he'd seen you driving off in Mr. Watkins' car."

"Oh." Still no eye contact from me. I knew I was busted big time. Ace was gonna flip burgers. "Is Chris OK? I mean… he didn't get into trouble or anything, did he?"

"Let's put it this way. Mr. Watkins lives down my street, and you're lucky Chris and I got to him before he called the cops. You're also lucky he believed us when we told him we didn't know who took the car and that he was willing to accept compensation for his ride plus a bribe to keep his mouth shut for Chris's sake. By the way, you owe me four thousand dollars."

"Shit…" I sighed. "I'm so sorry."

"None of us need that kinda heat, Cass - especially me."

"I know, I get it," I said, finally looking him in the eyes. "It was a stupid mistake, that's all. The damn ignition…" I stopped myself right there. Unnecessarily elaborating was not such a good idea.

"Fucking Ace," Keith hissed. "You know, I made him promise he wouldn't pull you into that shit."

I glared at him wide-eyed. "What… are you talking about?"

"He's had you running about out there boosting for him for months, hasn't he? I always had my suspicions, but now I know for sure."

"Wait… you know about all that?"

Keith shrugged.

"How?!"

"Chris found out Eyeball's doin' it and told me."

"Chris knows too?" As I spoke those words, a penny dropped. It landed so hard it embedded itself in my brain. That day in the alleyway – the day I met Chris and Ace and Eyeball – this is what it was all about. "Holy mother… Ace was warning Chris not to say anything about the cars. He's known about it this whole time!"

"And now he's found out you're involved too, and he's worried about you. We both are. I don't like Eyeball doing it either. When I found out, I tried to convince him to stop but he wouldn't. What is it about Ace, huh? What gets people so loyal to that asshole?"

"Don't talk about him like that," I snapped at him. "You don't know the things he's done to help me. If it weren't for him… I don't know where I'd be right now." Actually, I did. I'd be working for Diego, probably in the most disgusting ways possible.

"This is to do with that money you owe, right?"

"Yes. I know all of this sounds terrible, but I have damn good reasons for doing it."

"Hey, I'm not judging you. I'm no saint myself. But… there are other ways to make a buck. Better ways. Faster ways." He ran his hands through his short dark hair and began to pace the kitchen. So stressful for him, I'm sure. "How much do you owe?"

"A lot."

"How much is a lot? Five thousand? Ten thousand? Twenty?"

I wanted to tell him; I wanted to blurt out my entire story. But I couldn't be sure just how much Keith knew about the car operation. I doubted he knew about the garage or that we'd been doing things on such a significant scale, and leaking any small detail would lead to revealing everything.

"It's not your concern," I said. "It's none of your business."

"None of my business?" he scoffed. "I just shelled out four grand to pull you out of the shit! Believe it or not, I care a lot about you, so don't tell me this isn't my concern either, 'cos I'm stewing over this!"

I rubbed at my tired eyes while doing a little kitchen pacing myself. He was breaking me; I was cracking. I could feel it. Because he was right – he just saved my backside. "OK. I'll tell you everything but under one condition: Ace hears nothing about this. Everything that happened last night stays between you, me and Chris, and everything I say from this point forward is in the strictest confidence."

"You got it," he shrugged.

I let out a sharp breath. "OK – take a seat. We're gonna need some coffee."