Party Till The Sun Goes Down
Chapter 24
XXIV
It was a very good day… a beautiful day… a wonderful day. At 9:22 on this morning, three families had been reunited… their children brought back from the dead, some of them more literally than anyone cared to think about, after unimaginable heartache. There were no strangers or outsiders in Gray Hawk's house this day. There was only one big family… and every single person there was a part of this big family. Michael… and now Angie Lee as well… had been practically adopted by the Evanses. Jeff Parker was treating Rahn as though Rahn were Liz's older brother and his eldest son, which might have been stretching credibility if Rahn had actually looked his true age of 127 earth years… but after all, he was barely out of adolescence for his species. Even Gray Hawk, for all anyone would have been able to tell, might have been the beloved Grandfather that they had all known and loved all their lives.
"Mom," Maria said, motioning with her eyes in the direction of Jim Valenti, who stood watching everyone else's reactions with a huge satisfied smile on his own face. "Sheriff Valenti helped all of us, but he seems to be kind of alone over there. Maybe we should go over and talk to him… you know… let him know we appreciate him."
Amy looked at Maria and smiled. "Why Maria! I think that's a great idea! You're such a sweetheart!"
"Well, Mom, he is kind of a nice guy, actually… I mean, once you get to know him and all… and he did put everything on the line for all of us. We kind of owe him that… I think we should be nice to him."
Amy nodded. "You are so right. I'm going to go over and take care of that right now."
Amy walked over to Jim with a big smile on her face and put her arms around Jim's neck. Jim smiled and put one arm around Amy, pulling her close, and Amy planted a long and passionate kiss on Jim's lips, as Maria watched, her mouth falling further and further open in disbelief the longer the kiss went on.
"Well, Sheriff Valenti looks pretty happy," Liz said, rolling her chair up beside Maria.
"Mom doesn't need much coaxing, does she?" Maria stammered, shaking her head.
Liz smiled.
"I just meant she should talk to him… maybe a hug… you know… to show him that somebody appreciated him."
"I think your Mom delivered that message pretty well," Liz said with a giggle.
"Honey, come over here," Amy called, motioning to Maria.
Maria walked toward Jim and her mother, trying to hide the surprise she knew must be showing on her face with a smile.
"Hi, Sheriff! I guess you noticed Mom's here. Well, I mean, of course you noticed she's HERE… You brought her here. But… I mean, here, you know… like… in this room… here."
Jim nodded and grinned. "Yeah, I noticed. If she was in the room, I wouldn't miss her."
"Sorry," Maria said, wincing. "I guess that sounded kind of lame, didn't it?"
"Naw. Not really… I didn't think so."
"You're just trying to be nice," Maria said, still smiling, and trying not to blush uncharacteristically.
"Well, I reckon I should be
nice to my daughter," Jim said. "Don't you think?"
Maria looked at Jim then at her mother. It was something on her mother's face
that told her everything she needed to know even without a word being spoken.
Maria pulled back, and her mouth dropped open. "You… you got married?!"
It was more of an exclamation of surprise than a question really. Maria saw it in Amy's face. She knew. There could be no doubt. Disbelief… yes. Doubt… none.
"Jim promised we could have a proper wedding when you were home again, Honey," Amy said. "But, yeah… we did it. We tied the knot! Can you believe it?"
"Omigod…" Maria stammered. "How did this happen… Where… When… Why?"
"All the important 'W' words," Jim said, laughing. "Well, okay… WHERE was in your Mom's gardens, WHEN was July 15th, at her wake, right after she returned from the base, and WHY… Well, that one's easy… I love her."
"Mom?"
"All the same answers," Amy said.
"Well, I know that, Mom… but… what wake? Isn't a wake like for dead people?"
"Yeah… usually, I think so," Amy said. "Don't worry, Dear… It was all a mistake."
"Mom, you've got a lot of explaining to do!"
Amy and Jim both laughed.
"I thought that was the parents' line," Jim said.
"I just want to know everything, Mom. You got married in the gardens? You must have looked beautiful!"
Amy snorted. "Only if having desert dust and sweat caked in my hair, all over my face, and in every imaginable place on my body is beautiful."
"Well, I thought she was beautiful," Jim said.
Amy smiled and kissed him. "Just keep saying that kind of stuff, Jim. You're getting better at fibbing all the time. And I'll take it any way I can get it!"
Amy looked back at Maria. "I guess I do have a lot of 'explaining' to do, Honey. It might take some time, though."
"I've got time, Ma."
Jim looked at his watch. It was almost 11:00 AM.
"We don't have to go yet, do we," Amy pleaded.
Jim shook his head. "It's not that. I was expecting one more person to make it here this morning. I was just wondering what happened to him."
As though just waiting for that introduction, at that very moment, there was a knock on the door. Gray Hawk peeked out the curtains then went to the door and opened it.
Liz turned around in her chair, and a smile lit up her face…
"Kyle? Omigod, Kyle! How did you get here? How did you know?"
"I tortured my Dad till he talked."
Liz looked at Jim, and he was nodding. "Do you know how persistent this boy can be? He figured out that you and Alex were still alive and that I must have hid you somewhere, and he wouldn't give me a moment's peace till I told him where you were."
"Well, that's not exactly the way it was," Kyle said. "Dad pretended he didn't know what I was talking about, like, forever. It wasn't until he decided to make this trip that I got him to let me in on the secret."
"Don't ever let this boy work for the secret service… He'll be impossible! Promise me!"
Liz laughed. "Kyle, I'm sooooo glad to see you again! You don't know how much I want to tell you about everything that's happened!"
"And I want to hear it all, too, Liz. I heard you've been through a lot since I saw you right after you woke up from the… you know… the coma."
"Alex has, too," Liz said. "…been through a lot with me, I mean."
"Yeah, I heard. I thought you guys had 'bought the farm' like everybody else did for a while there. It was devastating."
"Aw, Kyle! You do care," Liz said, smiling at Kyle and touching his face.
"Well, yeah! You've still got my Sense Field CD."
Kyle's serious expression slowly gave way to a smile. "Yeah… I care, Liz…" he said, his voice becoming almost emotional. "You know I do. I care a lot about you. You and I had something together once… Well, I thought we did, anyway… until you went and got alien-abducted." Kyle smiled, as though to show he was willing to accept reality now, even if somewhere deep inside him, he still carried a small flame for Liz.
"Only my heart was abducted by the alien," Liz said. "But I don't think I put up much of a fight."
Kyle shook his head. "No… You didn't."
"You'll find your true love, too, Kyle… someday. But you'll always be special to me. Don't ever forget about me… no matter what… okay?"
"Shhh! Like that could happen," Kyle exclaimed. "No worry there, Liz. You're very special to me… even if you did let yourself go and get abducted by that vile alien king!"
Liz laughed.
"Did I hear someone talking about me," Max asked, walking up behind Kyle.
"Oh, No! It's the vile alien king!" Kyle exclaimed, standing up and turning around to face Max. Kyle looked at Max for what seemed like a long time, then he grinned.
"You know, Max… I think I'm actually glad to see you… I don't know why. You stole my girl, and I don't think I ever even loaned you any of my CD's…" Kyle smiled. "Oh, yeah! Maybe it's 'cause I liked you… kind of. That must be it. You were alright… I mean, for a vile alien king… you know what I mean?"
Max nodded.
"We thought you, Michael, Isabel, and Maria were all dead after graduation night. I'm glad that was wrong. I've got to tell you, it was a bit of a shock, though, to find out that you were still alive. Liz tried to tell me that she could feel you, but…"
"I hear you helped prove I wasn't dead," Max said. "Your Dad said that I had you to thank for making that coffin fall and break open after the judge showed up with the order to keep him from opening it."
"Yeah… I guess I did. When the judge and Dad were arguing, I kind of pulled on the ropes, and, oops!"
Max smiled. "So Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
"Oh, and Kyle," Max said, turning around to face Kyle again before walking back to his parents, "That may be the only time you'll ever get to drop me on my head and get away with it."
Kyle grinned. "Hey, I had to do it, Max. Opportunities like that only come once in a lifetime… even if you weren't actually in it."
Max smiled and nodded.
"Kyle," Liz said, as Max walked away, "How did you get here? You didn't come with the others."
"Nobody came together," Kyle said. "Dad had everyone meet at the lake near here, then he brought them all onto the reservation. Everyone drove separate vehicles to the lake, though… just in case Judge Lewis has any spies in town. I was out of town this morning when Dad left… so I got a ride to the lake later then rented a kayak and got here on the river. The judge is out of town, too. Several people saw him heading across the desert in his car three days ago, and he hasn't come back yet. Even if he left at daybreak this morning from the nearest town across the desert, he couldn't get back to Roswell before nightfall, and we'll all be gone before that, so we've pretty much got the day to ourselves, you know what I mean? While the alley cat's got its head in the trashcan, the mice can paaar-ty! Dad's already got another plan for us to come back again another time… if you're here very long."
"That would be great, Kyle! That'll give us something to look forward to… if we have to stay here very long." Liz paused then looked suddenly thoughtful… "Kyle, do you think Judge Lewis actually has spies in town?"
"No… probably not. Dad says the judge likes to do his own spying. And besides, the judge doesn't trust anyone else… probably with pretty good reason… He's not very popular. Dad was just playing it safe by having everyone drive to the lake in separate vehicles. He doesn't like surprises."
"Yeah, I know." Liz smiled. "I thought he was going to freak out when the judge showed up at the hospital with state troopers and took Alex and me away. I thought the countdown to an atomic blast had just begun."
Kyle laughed. "Yeah. He was up all night that night making plans, reading all the bios of his deputies, drinking tons of black coffee… I don't think he really slept for several days… until he knew Deputy Cotter was in there watching you guys. Then he started making plans to hide you, and he came up here to the reservation and talked to River Dog…"
"Did your Dad plan that part where the agent was supposed to shoot us… I mean… did your Dad plan that to make it look like we were dead?"
Kyle shook his head. "No. Dad still doesn't understand that either. He and Deputy Cotter just took advantage of the unexpected opportunity and got you guys out of there. But it's not normal for a trained special agent like that to miss… TWICE."
"He didn't," Liz said.
Kyle's eyes opened wider. "Did you… get hit?"
"No. He hit his target. It just wasn't me and Alex, it was the bed. I think maybe he intended to shoot us when he first let himself into the room, but he kept looking into my eyes, like he thought he knew me almost… It felt weird. I think it was freaking him out, too. He just looked at both of us like forever, then a voice on his walkie-talkie wanted to know what was keeping him, and that seemed to wake him up. He looked like he was going to shoot us then, but instead, he shot two bullets into the bed and left. He did it on purpose… I don't know why."
"Maybe he thought you were too pretty to shoot."
Liz snorted. "Get real, Kyle! I looked like a rag doll! Besides, Judge Lewis would gladly dance on my grave."
"Well, what does Judge Lewis know? He doesn't like women."
"He's gay?"
"No. He's in love with himself. Besides, there's no one in Roswell who'd have him. He hasn't met his Lulu Belle yet."
"Lulu Belle?"
"Yeah, you know… Boss Hogg had his Lulu Belle… Okay, you had to watch old reruns on TNN to know that… or be older. Dukes of Hazzard."
"Oh, yeah… I think I saw them once or twice."
"Never mind," Kyle said. "Compared to Judge Lewis, Boss Hogg was just a cute little choir boy anyway."
Liz laughed. "Well, he does seem to have his own agenda… and he's not very social."
"I just wish we knew what that agenda was," Kyle said. "It would help Dad figure out how to help you guys get home again."
Kyle looked at Alex and the others enjoying themselves. "Come on, Liz, let's join the party!"
Liz smiled, and the sparkle in her eyes told Kyle that she already was enjoying it very much indeed.
**********
~ 8:58 PM ~
As the last rays of the sun were disappearing, a car rolled into Roswell covered with dust accumulated from a trip across the desert.
"Hey! Hey, guy! You're here. You're in Roswell. Wake up!"
"Huh?" Judge Lewis sat up a bit and looked around. He didn't realize he had dozed off in the air conditioning, but he was exhausted and overheated from his walk in the desert; he just couldn't admit it… most of all to himself. Judge Lewis was no masochist, and in different times, he would have been only too happy to look for an open bar or a masseuse and sauna after what he had been through. Nobody loved the pursuit of pleasures more than the judge. But obsession played a bigger role in his life than even the pursuit of idle leisure and debauchery. For now, proving what he thought he knew was an obsession, and nothing… nothing at all… could trump that in his mind.
"Where do you live, man? I'll drop you off at your house."
"Huh? Oh, no, that's all right, just drop me off in front of my office. It's straight ahead about a mile."
"You sure? It's after work hours already, and you look like you need a drink, man, at least."
"Yeah… I'll be fine. I've got something I've gotta do first."
"All right, man, have it your way. Let me know when we get there 'kay?"
"Yeah, okay."
Judge Lewis glanced at the rag in his hand. It was a gamble. If he couldn't convince them that this was something important, he would lose face… and worse. He'd lose his connections… and a great deal of untaxed income. But if he could make them see that this little piece of skin was somehow important, he would strengthen his hand and his connections. It was worth the gamble. It was all in the way he presented it. He would have to get agent Culpepper out here to look at what he had. He guessed that the less information he gave Culpepper on the phone the better his chances would be of getting him here. Too much information and Culpepper might just write him off as a kook and not come… especially if he started talking about giant snakes or strange super birds before he had Culpepper in his office to show him what he had found. But the right information… just the right information… and nothing more… might pique Culpepper's interest and get him here. And Judge Lewis knew just how he was going to handle it.
tbc
Coming Up: Judge Lewis presents his evidence.