Chapter Twelve – "All Roads Lead to Zach?"
Previously -- After looking over the Script NuGreenlee found while cleaning up Ryan's penthouse, Derek Frye agreed to question Zach about the disappearances. Tad and Di searched the basement of Zach's Casino but found nothing but a basement. Di was about to tell Tad the name of the tune people hear when they try to call somebody who's vanished. Jonathan and Lily began their own investigation. As our Chapter begins, Ryan and Derek have arrived at Zendall's office and a triumphant Ryan has handed Zach the Script.
Zach began reading while, still angry, Kendall peered over his shoulder.
Scene: The basement of Zach's Casino. The leading citizens of Pine Valley are tied to folding chairs while Zach Slater stands before them taunting them as carbon monoxide begins to slowly seep through a grate.
Zach: I'd like to say it's been swell, folks. But you know how I really feel. So long, suckers!
Kendall: Zach, you can't turn your back, run out and leave all of us here to die!
Zach: Sure I can. Watch me.
Erica: I warned you about him, Kendall. Didn't I warn you about him?
Kendall: Zach, you love me! How can you murder me if you love me?
Opal: He's crazier than a loon. That's how.
Ryan: I warned you about him Kendall. Didn't I warn you about him?
Tad: They'll catch up with you Slater. Sooner or later.
Zach: I prefer later, if you don't mind.
Kendall: Zach, I love you! How can you murder me if I love you?
Zach bends down and kisses Kendall lightly.
Zach: It's what I do. It's who I am. Rest in piece, Kendall!
"Pure Shakespeare," Zach commented, closing the script with a snap.
"Pure bull!" Kendall cried out. "Derek, how can you believe this garbage is authentic?"
"I'm keeping an open mind," Derek revealed. "But all roads do seem to lead to you, Slater."
"Look, I've been with Zach all day long!" Kendall told them all. "How could he be making the Town disappear? Don't you think I'd have noticed?"
"You weren't with him all the time, Kendall," JR reminded her, striding through the open door. "You were up in the bedroom at Myrtle's with me looking at the wall. He had time to do whatever he did to whoever he did it to. And he did it to a lot of people."
"Who else has gone missing?" Kendall asked tensely.
"Just about everybody," Tad told her, walking in with Di. "Di and I went to Mytle's. The bedroom wall is nearly blank, and the kitchen wall has names from ceiling to floor. Just like the Script says."
But Kendall was far from convinced. "You've got this all wrong! Zach is helping to solve this! He's figured out how the names went from one wall to another!"
"Invisible ink," Ryan read from the script. "Timed to fade away and appear as people vanish."
That was enough for JR. "Take him away, Derek! At least he didn't get my Dad and Uncle Stuart!"
"Stuart is missing," Tad corrected JR sadly. "And so is Aidan. And so is Brooke. And so is Opal. You better call home, JR, and check on Adam."
JR made a dive for Zach but missed him by a mile thanks to Zach's good reflexes and JR's mounting terror.
"Don't get so excited, Junior," Zach said mildly. "You haven't even called home yet."
"I'm okay, son," Adam told him, swaggering through the open door with Babe, Krystal and Amanda in tow. "Although I guess I'm one of the only ones who is. Dereck, are you going to arrest that maniac or wait for us to string him up?"
Kendall clutched Zach's lapel protectively.
"Did you do it?" she whispered to him urgently.
"I don't think he did," Lily answered, walking though the door with Jonathan. "Our preliminary investigation puts Zach completely in the clear."
Everybody smiled at her indulgently and went on as if she hadn't spoken.
"Slater, I'm arresting you on suspicion," Derek informed him. "Cuff him, Men."
Without a moment's hesitation, Kendall threw herself in front of her husband.
"Are you crazy? Zach is innocent! If you arrest him, the real maniac will be free to continue vanishing people!"
"Kendall, I'm taking him in," Derek told her sternly. "Move away."
Zach took her in his arms. "Do what Derek says, Lovely. His mind is made up and he's got a gun. I'll be okay as long as you believe in me."
She hugged him with everything that was in her.
"But I won't be okay! I need you, Zach!"
Kendall's being okay was much on Zach's mind.
"Ryan, you've got to protect her," he said as he was being cuffed. "She's in real danger. Her name is on that bedroom wall."
"So is mine," Ryan said mildly. "What better protection for both of us than you in custody?"
"They aren't paying attention to us," Lily said to Jonathan. "They shouldn't be arresting Zach."
"Ryan," Jonathan said urgently. "Lily has a different theory. Maybe you should listen to her!"
But Ryan was too busy glowing as Zach was being led away to listen to anybody.
"Thanks for trying to help, Lily," Zach said to her as he walked out the door with Derek, flanked by the other cops. "You're a better detective than I am!"
"Well, that's true," Lily knew for certain.
The door closed with a bang that made Kendall's head ache.
"I'm not going to cry," she promised herself and whoever else was listening. "Crying won't solve anything."
"Sometimes crying solves things," Lily spoke up in minor disagreement. "When I'm sad and there nothing anybody can do to make me feel less sad, sometimes I cry. It makes me feel better."
"You don't have to cry to feel better, Lily," Jonathan told her seriously. "You can come to me, and I'll make you feel better. I promise."
"Lucky Jack has vanished," Kendall said before she could stop herself. "Seeing you two together would make his head explode."
"I want to call my Father," Babe said suddenly. "I don't know if he's safe."
"He isn't," Tad sighed. "He's listed on the kitchen wall with the other Vanished. I'm sorry, Babe. As much as David is a blight on my life, I wouldn't wish this on him."
Babe had begun calling him on her cell phone, her heart beating fast. All she heard after the ringing was the same song everybody heard when they tried calling the Vanished.
"Wait, Babe, let me hear that!" JR cried out. "I know that song! How could I not know that song?"
"I didn't recognize it," Tad confessed to him. "Until Di told me."
Wide-eyed, Kendall looked from Tad to JR to Di. "So you want to share, people, or what? My husband was just dragged away to the Bastille. Any clues anybody may have to offer would be more than welcome!"
"It doesn't matter what the song is, Kendall," Ryan said. "Zach is the Maniac."
Zendall's phone had begun to ring off the hook.
The answering machine told the caller that Zendall was unavailable and asked him/her to leave a message.
"You have failed me, Zendall," the metallic voice intoned. "You have failed me, Tad. I hired both of your firms to solve this mystery. Now there will be hell to pay."
Zach in custody? Kendall in danger? Will Ryan be able to protect Kendall (and himself) from who knows what, who knows who? What is Lily's theory, and will anybody but Jonathan listen to her in time? When do we get to know what the damn tune is? Exactly what did that metallic voice mean by "hell to pay"? Tune in for the next exciting installment! In the meantime, please write me a review and make me smile! Unless you tell me you're not enjoying this so much, in which the corners of my mouth will definitely point down:)