Chapter 7 –" Continued on the Next Wall"
Previously: People are disappearing in Pine Valley. So far Palmer, Greenlee, Marian, Liza, Colby and Myrtle all have vanished without a trace. While a hauntingly familiar tune everyone almost recognizes (but doesn't) plays in the background, a mysterious metallic voice on the phone has hired both Tad/Aidan's Agency and Zendall to solve the case. While Zendall is at Myrtle's Boarding House in search of clues, Amanda has invaded the Chandler Mansion with dire warnings about a Veteran Plot to destroy the Newbies. Oh, and Greenlee has been recast. As our latest chapter begins, Opal, Brooke and Stuart are conferring with Tad, Aidan and Di (whom Tad has just hired as his secretary). Derek Frye brings news of Myrtle's disappearance.
"I forgot about you, Derek," Opal told him, consulting her list. "You're a Recast, so you're definitely under a cloud."
"Mazeltov," Tad said to him.
"What cloud? What list? What are you talking about, Opal?"
Tad, Aidan and Brooke took turns explaining to him the nature of the list and the mysterious disappearances that had led to the list's creation, while Stuart sat in a corner missing Marian with all his heart.
"Looks like we're at war," Di commented. "And these folks have you and I, Chief Frye, numbered among the Enemy."
"Well, that's fairly crazy," he murmured, skimming through the list. "Dani?" he howled, when her name jumped out at him. "You think my daughter is involved in all this?"
"We don't know," Tad sighed. "At this point in time, Derek, we don't know who the Bad Guys are."
"And we sure don't know who the Good Guys are either," Di commented.
"Like Hell we don't!" Opal spat out. "All we Vets gotta do now is figure out how to protect who's left of us from the Killer Newbies!"
"Opal, you think Palmer and the others are DEAD?" Brooke gasped, never having considered that possibility.
"To tell you the truth, I don't know what to think," Opal admitted. "But I'm scared stiff, Brooke. Scared stiff!"
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"I don't think it's written in blood," Zach was telling Kendall, after he rubbed his thumb across a few names on the wall list. "Ketchup maybe." Gingerly, he licked his thumb and made a face. "Nope, not ketchup. Some kind of ink or dye. Maybe crayon. But not blood. You can relax, Lovely."
Kendall relaxed, but not much. "Look at that handwriting, Zach! It's moronic!"
He squinted in thought as he studied the jagged, uneven lettering. "Moronic, maybe. Or else somebody wants us to think they're moronic. In which case it's genius."
She considered that. "You're guessing it was purposefully scrawled that way to throw us off the track." She frowned. "But we're not even on a track! Why should all these people be vanishing without a trace?"
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"You couldn't bring the list with you because it was written on a wall?" JR repeated, to make sure he had heard Amanda correctly. "On a wall, Amanda?"
She nodded. "The list of the people who have gone missing is written on Myrtle's kitchen wall. But I care way more about the conspiracy to do away with US."
Babe answered JR's wide-eyed look of confusion. "Amanda thinks all the Newcomers to Pine Valley are in danger. She thinks we're being plotted against by the Veterans."
JR begin making small circles at his temple with his index finger.
"I'M NOT CRAZY!" Amanda shouted. "The Veterans are coming after us!"
Adam saw an obvious inconsistency in Amanda's theory. "But it's Veterans who are disappearing. That's what you told us, Amanda."
"And it's true!" Amanda cried out in complete frustration. "But the thing is, I think somebody is kidnapping the Veterans so it looks like the Newbies are to blame! They're framing us!"
Adam begin making small circles at his temple with his index finger.
JR strode toward the door. "I'm going to Myrtle's place. I gotta see this wall for myself!"
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"Do you still not want a baby, Ryan?" the new Greenlee was asking.
Ryan was still lying face-down on the couch. The new Greenlee had begun tidying up the penthouse, picking up empty beer cans and empty cartons of take-out where she found them, which was almost everywhere she looked.
"Listen to me, Gina," he began softly. "LISTEN TO ME. You are not my Greenlee. You are nothing like my Greenlee. You are a stranger to me, lady."
"Ryan, move your caboose and help me with this vacuum cleaner. And then we'll care about what a stranger I am to you!"
There was something achingly familiar in the tone of this strange woman's voice.
"Greenlee?" Ryan whispered, raising his head an inch.
"Not yet," Gina answered, a look of steely determination on her beautiful face. "But I'll get there!" She started the vacuum cleaner. "Now move your rear, Ryan! I mean it! This pigsty isn't going to clean itself!"
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"What is that written on the bottom?" Kendall asked Zach, after they had taken turns reciting the names of the Missing, i.e., Palmer, Greenlee, Marian, Liza, Colby, and Myrtle.
Zach squinted. "Whatever it is, it's in parenthesis."
Kendall moved closer to the wall until she could easily make out the scrawled words.
"Continued on the next wall," she read aloud. "Omigod, Zach! There are more names on another wall! But these are all the people who we know are missing! What could be written on the other wall?"
"And where is the other wall?" Zach wondered.
They decided to search the Boarding House. When all the walls on the first floor were checked and found unscrawled upon, they climbed the stairs to the bedrooms above.
"Um, Zach, before we look in any of the bedrooms, we have to make each other a promise."
They were climbing the stairs together, more than halfway there.
"Promise, Lovely?" he inquired. "For better or for worse? For richer or for poorer? Didn't we promise that already?"
"We are about to go into bedrooms, Zach," she explained. "Bedrooms. Promise me, we'll stay out of all the beds."
"All of them, huh?" he asked.
She nodded solemnly. "Each and everyone."
"Well, that's okay," he assured her. "I'm not sleepy anyway. Are you?"
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Erica Kane's cell phone went off like a bomb smack in the middle of the "New Beginnings" weekly staff meeting.
"I can't talk now," she told it cheerfully. "Please call back when I can!"
"Erica! Are you safe?" the voice on the other end demanded.
"Opal, is that you?" Erica demanded in turn. "What's wrong? You sound awful!"
"Girlfriend, you've got to get yourself over to Tad and Aidan's right now! You are in mortal danger! And call Jack! He's in mortal danger too! Tad just tried to call Joe and Ruth, and all he got on the line was a hauntingly familiar tune we almost recognized but didn't!"
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"It's another list," Zach decided, when they had reached the fourth bedroom (and had successfully stayed out of all of the beds). "More names."
Silently, they began to read.
"My Mother is on that list," Kendall realized in cold panic.
But Zach saw another name that hit him even harder.
Joe and Ruth added to the Vanished? Who's next? What name did Zach see on the bedroom wall? More will be revealed (and concealed) in the next chapter! BTW reviews help me. And I need a lot of help! LOL!