"A Single Yellow Rose" – Chapter Seven
Philip jogged slowly around the track that surrounded Salem High's football field. A couple of hundred yards away he saw the hug pile of wood that would be set afire around dusk tonight for the annual pre-homecoming game bonfire and pep rally. Coach had called an early morning practice but that wasn't set to begin for another hour. Having been up since dawn and unable to take the silence at home any longer, he'd pulled on his sweats and headed down here.
As Philip rounded the far side of the field, his thoughts drifted through the last twenty-four plus hours that had passed since Chloe disappeared. Nancy and Craig had been on the evening news last night asking that she please come home or at least call and let them know she was okay. He had returned home early from practice and found his parents sitting in front of the television…
(flashback)
"…so please let us know that you are okay," Craig was saying into the camera that centered on his face.
Philip walked into the den looking for his dad after trying both the living room and his office, anxious to find out if his private investigator had found out anything yet.
"What's this?" he asked, walking over to the long leather sofa where both Kate and Victor sat.
"Shhh," his mother said, waving him to come around and join them, "Chloe's parents are talking to the local news hoping that she will see the broadcast and at least call them."
Philip propped a hip against the arm of the sofa and watched as Craig pleaded for Chloe to call home as Nancy sat quietly at his side, her eyes red from crying. Victor turned off the set when they switched back to the news anchors.
"You're home a little early aren't you?" Victor asked.
Philip just shrugged as he pushed himself off the couch. "By lunch time it was all over the school about Chloe and by the time practice started coach could tell my head wasn't in the game. Most of the team is too keyed up about tomorrow so he cut us all loose."
"Well, dear we better get moving if we are going to be dressed for dinner," Kate said, rising from the couch. Leaning down, she gave Philip a quick kiss on the cheek. "We won't be too late."
Philip waited until she had left the room before he sat down next to his dad. "Have you heard anything?"
Victor seemed to hesitate before speaking. " I know that the police have put a tracer on the Wesley's phone and your friends' parents agreed as well today to allow the same in case she calls any one of you."
"But we usually call each other on our cell phones."
"I know that and those numbers have been included as well."
"But no one as actually spotted her anywhere?"
"Not that I know of. We are watching the orphanage where she lived before she came to Salem as well as her grandfather's house."
"What about Chicago?" Philip asked softly, his gaze locked on the intricate designs of the oriental carpet under his feet.
"There too, and just so you know…Andre' Soffan, her voice instructor, was arrested this morning by the Chicago police."
"Arrested?" Philip head shot up. "For what?"
"Murder."
"MURDER?"
Both Philip and Victor spun around at the chorus of voices that rang out in unison behind them.
"I'm sorry sir," Henderson said, standing behind the crowd of teens that included Shawn, Belle, Mimi and Brady. "They arrived here looking for Mr. Philip and so I directed them up here…"
"It's all right Henderson," Victor rose from the couch and turned to face his son's friends. "I think Philip needs to explain some things to his friends but I will say this. Shawn, your father called me about an hour ago and told me about the arrest of Chloe's voice coach. It seems another one of his students, a teenage girl, turned up missing a few months ago and he has been under investigation since then. When Chloe ran away he panicked and when the police went to ask him about her and they got a confession from him about the other girl."
"But Chloe…" Philip's voice faltered, he felt as if the bottom had just fallen out of his world. "He didn't say anything about-"
"No," Victor shook his head, "he says he hasn't seen Chloe since she left his studio early on Thursday afternoon."
Looking over at his friends, Philip noticed that except for Shawn, they all seemed to be in shock after overhearing the conversation they just walked in on. He took a deep breath and turned back to his father. "Did he admit to…"
Victor slowly nodded his head as Philip closed his eyes and sunk back down the sofa. Belle and Mimi immediately rushed over to him and Shawn and Brady quickly followed them.
"Are you okay son? Your mother and I don't have to go out to this dinner tonight."
Leaning back against the sofa, Philip just shook his head but didn't open his eyes. If he did, he was afraid the tears that were held back by his eyelids would spill out. "It's okay. I guess I owe these guys an explanation of some kind." Reaching up he pressed the heels of his palms tightly against his eyes. "You guys mind sticking around for a while?"
"Hey, that's why we're here," Belle said as she sat on one side of him and Mimi took the other, "comfort zone, ya know?"
Victor nodded and headed out of the room. "You kids behave…one missing child is enough. Understand?"
Philip nodded, getting the message. No taking off for Chicago to go looking for Chloe. Silence filled the room once Victor left. Thinking he finally had his emotions under control, Philip dropped his hands and leveled his stare on Shawn. "You knew?"
Shawn nodded from the barstool he occupied next to Brady. "I overhead my dad talking with the Wesley's and then we talked. These three showed up as I was heading out over here to see if you had heard the latest so…here we are."
"Phil, what is going on?" Belle asked, "Do you know the real reason that Chloe has taken off and what does any of this have to do with her voice coach?"
"And now he's been arrested?" Brady said.
"What did you mean when you said 'did he admit to'?" Mimi added.
Philip held up his hands as he moved off the couch. "Okay, okay. I know you guys have a lot of questions. God, I can't believe I'm going to tell you this."
"Tell us what?"
Everyone turned to see Jason standing by the door.
"What are you doing here?" Philip asked.
"It's nice to see you too," Jason replied as he nodded hellos to everyone, his gaze lingering a heartbeat longer on Mimi. "We planned weeks ago to get together tonight. To go over the playbook for tomorrow's game?"
"Sorry man, I forgot."
"Why is everyone here?" Jason said, joining his friends. "Did you hear something about Chloe?"
"Yeah, the guy whose been giving her singing lessons has been arrested for murder." Brady said.
"Jump back," shocked, Jason dropped
down on the couch between Belle and Mimi, his 180 pounds of solid muscles
causing a deep crevice in the middle and both girls found themselves falling
against his shoulders.
"Jase!" Belle cried as she and Mimi tried to scoot back into the corners of the couch.
"Opps, sorry about that," Jason said, as he moved forward to the edge, amazed that he could still feel the warm imprint of Mimi's hand on his arm.
"But there's more to it...isn't there Philip?" Shawn asked.
"Yeah…Chloe, she umm…damn it!" Philip swore as he turned away from his friends, bracing his hands against the large, mahogany pool table. "I can't tell you guys, I made a promise to Chloe and I can't break it."
"We can accept that." Belle said, her gaze stopping for a moment of each of the person sitting there. "Can't we?"
"A promise is a promise." Shawn agreed.
"Unless you're holding something back that would help us to find her," Brady added quietly.
Philip slowly turned around. "What did you say?"
"You heard me."
"Don't be an a**hole because Chloe chose me over you."
"Hey! My feelings for Chloe are none of your business and it so happens my interests are elsewhere. All I know is that you've caused her a lot of pain from the moment you two first met!"
Shawn saw it coming before anyone, maybe because he knew how strong Philip's feelings were for Chloe and he guessed Jason figured it out too because he came off the couch grabbing Philip the moment he lunged in Brady's direction. Shawn stepped in front of Brady, blocking his way before things got out of control. "Don't start man!"
"Come on Phil, relax!" Jason said, holding back his friend. "Save it for the game."
"Place a check on the male testosterone, you two," Belle said, "it's not going to help anyone."
Brady backed away from Shawn and walked over the double glass doors that lead out to a balcony as Philip went back to the pool table and lifted himself atop the emerald green felt. Jason decided to join him just in case Brady opened his mouth again.
"We're just really worried about her Philip," Belle said looking at her brother who continued to stare out the balcony doors, "ALL of us."
Brady turned around, looking over his shoulder. "I'm sorry…I wasn't thinking, sorry."
Philip heard the sincerity in his voice. "Forget it man."
"But it's more than that," Mimi said, as she sat backed into the corner of the sofa. "We all knew Chloe was a different when she first moved here and most of us made it really hard for her to make friends. Some of us more so than others…me included. But as close as we have gotten to her there has always been a part of her that she's never shared. A part of her that she's…I don't know…kept locked away. It's like she was never one hundred percent here…does that make any sense?"
Philip nodded in agreement, 'Mimi was more right than she knew,' he thought.
"We've all got our secrets, Mimi."
"I know that Shawn," Mimi said, her voice dropping to a whisper, "better than you might think. I just hope whatever is was that caused her to run isn't as strong as what she's got here that will make her come home."
Biting down hard on her lower lip, Mimi couldn't believe she had actually voiced those thoughts aloud. She knew the gang usually counted on her to provide comic relief, not start a serious discussion. "Hell, what do I know?" she said, rising from the couch, refusing to look at anyone. "Maybe I should just shut up."
"No Meems," Belle said, "I think you've made a good point."
Mimi watched as Shawn, Philip and even Brady nodded in agreement but when she dared to take a look at Jason he was only starting at her, the intensity of his dark eyes causing a flurry of butterflies to start in the pit of her stomach. "Umm, it's too quiet in here. Okay if I put on some music?"
Everyone had stayed and sat around talking and listening to music until Jason suddenly realized he had ten minutes to make it home before the team's nine o'clock bed check began and he bolted with only a quick goodbye to everyone. Brady, Belle and Mimi had left a few minutes later but Shawn had decided to stay a while longer and Philip was secretly glad he did. They had gotten used to each other's company during their time at the lakehouse and deep down Philip didn't want to be alone, afraid he would lose his battle to obey his father's orders and stay put.
They had just sat there, each stretched out on the matching sofas taking turns flipping through the channels and it was during Philip's turn with the remote that he noticed Shawn had fallen asleep. Kicking off his own shoes, he settled in, his eyes on the television but he wasn't seeing the movie flickering on the screen, all he saw were images of Chloe until he too could no longer keep his eyes open...
(end of flashback)
After his third trip around, Philip slowed to a stop, collapsing into the still dew-covered grass. His chest heaving, he thought about what was expected of him in a little over nine hours and he had no idea how he was going to concentrate on tonight's game.
"Hey K-man, you're here a little early aren't you?"
Philip lifted his head to see Jason heading over towards him with the rest of his team mates making their way toward the field. "Yeah, just trying to burn off some energy."
"Still no word huh?"
Philip dropped his head back to the ground. "Nope and every hour that goes by is driving me a little closer to the loony bin."
Suddenly the shrill sound a whistle filled the air. Jason held out his hand, which Philip grabbed and pulled himself off the ground. "Come on man, coach is waiting for his best juniors to lead this team to the big 'V' tonight."
******
Elsewhere in Salem...
Grateful for the shadows the corner created and sinking as deep as possible in the last utilitarian chair in the row, she silently prayed that the schedule she was able to sneak a look at was right and she was working this early in the day. It had been an exhausting journey getting here but one that she had to take in order to reclaim her life and her soul. Her breath caught in the back of her throat as she watched the beautiful blond woman walking toward her engrossed in whatever she was reading in her files. The woman went past her without even noticing she was there and entered her office.
Quickly rising, she followed her. Softly knocking on the door, she waited until she heard the offer to enter before taking a deep breath and turning the knob.
"Dr. Evans?"
Turning back from her filing cabinet, Marlena gasped when she caught sight of who was standing inside her office, her back pressed against the door as the paperwork slipped from her fingers to float gently to the floor.
"I need your help."
To be continued…