Chapter Six – "The Writing Is On the Wall"

Kendall was unusually quiet on the ride over to the Boarding House, where she and Zach were both intent on finding out what happened to Myrtle. She let him drive her car and spent the time looking out the window on her side, hoping he wouldn't notice how troubled she was.

"Spill it, Lovely," Zach said finally. "What's got you spooked?"

"Spooked?" Kendall echoed. "Well, let's see. People are vanishing, a weird voice on the phone keeps hiring us to figure out why people are vanishing, we keep hearing a hauntingly familiar melody we almost recognize but don't, and somebody I've known and battled with for years was recast with no warning. Spooky enough, for ya?" She stifled a sob, surprised how much she wanted to cry.

"You didn't even get to say good-bye to the Original Greenlee, did you?" Zach asked perceptively.

Miserably, Kendall shook her head, unconsciously making her auburn curls bounce so adorably that Zach nearly went off the road.

"Lovely, they're not going to recast you," he said with some confidence, as he regained control of the car. "Even the Powers That Be aren't that stupid!"

Kendall stifled another sob. "It isn't me that I'm worried about," she admitted in a quiet voice.

Zach laughed as scornfully as he knew how. "Who then? Me? You can't be worried about me, Lovely. Both of us know I'm not worth worrying about."

No part of her wanted to say what had to be said. She said it anyway.

"If they ever recast you, Zach, I'll die."

This time Zach did go off the road.

"You'll WHAT?" he demanded, as they screeched to a stop by a clump of pine trees.. "Kendall, you're not making sense!"

She lowered her suddenly tear-filled eyes, refusing to meet his searching gaze. "I wouldn't want to go on without you, that's all."

"That's not our deal," he heard himself saying. "We're business partners. That's all we ever can be. You know that."

For ten seconds, she studied the leafless pine trees by the side of the road. Finally, she looked her husband-in-name-only square in the eye. "Why do I know that, Zach? Why can't we be more to one another?"

There was a pressure on his chest he might have thought was a heart attack, if he still believed he had a heart. Somehow he had to make her understand how it was with him. "I'm radioactive, Kendall. Through and through. I destroy everything I touch. It's what I do. It's who I am."

"Oh, that's right. I forgot."

She slid into his arms and kissed him like there was no tomorrow.

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"Di, Krystal, Amanda, Josh, Dr. Madden, Jonathan, Erin, Babe, JR, Jamie, Julia, Sam, Lily, Zach, " Opal read aloud from List Number Two. "Have I left anyone out?"

"Lily?" Aidan laughed. "Lily's on your list?"

"Nobody is above suspicion," Opal replied darkly.

"Jamie?" Brooke challenged her. "My son, Jamie?

"JR?" Di joined in. "My nephew and almost-son, JR?"

"Your Recast son, Jamie," Opal corrected Brooke, pointedly ignoring Di. "He and Recast JR stay on List No. 2 until we know for certain they're in the clear."

"You suspect Zach?" Aiden asked in surprise.

"I wouldn't put anything passed that lowdown skunk," Opal replied. "He broke up Eddy and Maria's marriage and was the real cause of Eddy's murder, if you stop and think about it."

Nobody in the room wanted to stop and think about Edmund's murder.

"And Babe?" Tad asked wearily.

"Brother-shagging, baby swapping, baby stealing skanky trailer trash," Opal summarized.

"You probably wouldn't put anything past her either, huh, Mama?" Tad checked.

"This town has become a maggot magnet," Opal diagnosed.

Nobody in the room wanted to stop and think about maggots.

"But I top the list," Di announced, if not proudly at least loudly. "And I wasn't sposed to amount to anything in life!"

Nobody laughed or even smiled.

"We don't know that crimes have been committed," Tad reminded them. "All we know is that some of our friends are missing."

"Shouldn't we call Derick?" the chief suspect asked. "In most cases it's been over twenty-four hours. These may be legitimate Missing Persons."

"You're a fine one to use the word 'legitimate'!" Opal scolded Di. "You Pole Dancing Vicious Vixen! You stomped on my poor Tad's heart like it was a doormat! Never mind the damage your masquerade did to JR!"

Tad winced. "That's enough Mama. We can't make the future better by raking over the past."

Di smiled at him. And this time her smile reached all the way up to her shining eyes. "Thank you, Tad," she said, meaning it.

He shrugged. "Don't thank me, honey. And don't get me wrong. Just because I gave you a job, doesn't mean I've forgiven or forgotten. I simply don't want to waste time. This mystery won't solve itself!"

Di nodded. "And the police, Tad? Are you going to call them?"

Somebody was knocking on the door.

It was Derek Frye, Pine Valley's recently recast Chief of Police.

"Myrtle Fargate is missing," he greeted them. "Anybody know anything?"

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"Kendall, this won't solve anything," Zach was telling both of them. They were still in the car and still in each other's arms.

"I know," she knew. "You're radioactive and we're only business partners and there can never be anything between us but air." She kissed him again, deeply and passionately, holding him even tighter. "It isn't like I don't know what I'm doing, Zach."

"What are you doing, Kendall?"

"I'm throwing myself at somebody who doesn't want me. And I can't seem to stop."

That did it.

"I don't want you to stop!" he told her because he didn't. "I don't want either one of us to stop! Lord help us, I'm in love you, Kendall Hart. Body and soul."

She thought she was dreaming and wondered why she wasn't waking up.

"Since when?" she whispered, needing to believe him more than she had ever needed anything. "You're in love with me since when, Zach?"

He had no idea, so he took a guess.

"Since always. Since before I knew you existed. Since before either one of us was born. Since before time began."

Now that he had begun to open up to her, the words were pouring out. Too many words. Too many feelings. This was not the time. People were vanishing. Myrtle was missing. Wise, good, Myrtle. She was his only friend, in this vicious little town. Had been from the first. He had to find her. He could lose his mind later. Not now. But he had loved Kendall in silence for so damn long!

"Slater," she was saying with what breath she had left.

"Yes, Kendall?"

She shook her head, making those curls bounce around again. "You called me Kendall Hart. That's wrong."

"Wrong?"

"I'm Kendall Slater."

"Fair enough," he grinned, kissing her lightly to make it official. "Kendall Slater, why don't we get out of this car and go find our friend, Myrtle?"

She nodded. "Sounds good to me!"

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"How do you know all these people are missing?" Adam challenged Amanda. "Did you and your Mommy Janet from Another Planet personally do away with them?"

Krystal, Babe and Winifred all turned to Amanda, who had just finished naming each of Pine Valley's Vanished.

"I found a list of names of all the people who have disappeared," Amanda revealed.

"Where the hell did you find that list, Amanda?" JR demanded, coming in from the terrace. "And where the hell is it?"

"At Myrtle's," Amanda replied. "In the kitchen. I had to leave it there."

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"This may be a clue," Kendall was remarking to Zach. After untangling themselves from each other, they had walked through the Boarding House's wide open door, hoping they would find Myrtle still alive and well and in her usual good spirits.

Side by side they stood together in Myrtle's kitchen. In front of them was a list of names scrawled in red on the wall.

"Is that blood or ketchup?" Kendall asked, fearing the worst.

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Will Zendall be able concentrate on the Mystery now that they've discovered each other? Will Di and Tad find their way back to each other? What names are scrawled on Myrtle's wall? In blood? Ketchup? Marinara sauce? Tune in for the next exciting episode!