Chapter Three

"And that's how we make Christmas cookies." Radley frosted one with a flourish and handed the tube to Emilio, who took it in delight.

"They look so good!" he exclaimed. He happily frosted a wreath, making a bit of a mess in the process. But no one minded.

"Yes!" Scotch stole some of the wayward frosting from the counter and ate it.

Radley laughed. "Scotch, you already ate too much dough as it was."

"Not that much!" Scotch insisted.

Emilio giggled.

Kalin stood back and watched with a smile. It had been a fun time. Radley had even convinced Kalin to help, and Kalin had enjoyed it more than he had thought he would. After memories of having to cook in his childhood because his dad had been too lazy and too filled up on alcohol to lift a finger to help, cooking and baking usually felt like chores to Kalin. But having loved ones to help with it made all the difference.

"He is so good with children," Marisol commented as she stood next to Kalin. Her eyes were soft and filled with fondness and surprise. She was rediscovering her son after so many long years, and in some ways it felt like she was just coming to know him now. There was so much about him that she had not recognized before.

"He is," Kalin smiled.

"He would make a wonderful father," Marisol said. "But perhaps he prefers it like this, being an older brother."

"In a way, he's both," Kalin said. "The Bunch actually honors him on Father's Day. He raised them during their final teen years. Most of them had never had a stable, loving environment before, so Radley was the first decent parental figure they'd had."

Marisol stared at him. "There's so many of them. . . . They were all so unhappy?"

Kalin nodded. "All of them were, in different ways. I think Marty, Virgil, and Jimmy are the only ones who had good families. Marty's family didn't like what he wanted to do with his life, and Virgil and Jimmy were treated like hooligans in their town. Their families actually encouraged them to find Radley after hearing about him."

Marisol shook her head. "So different from our family. I'm still amazed Radley does so well after we treated him abominably."

"Radley has a lot of love to give," Kalin said. "I'm glad he can."

". . . I read the letter you sent us," Marisol said. "I never knew about it until right before I came out. What happened with those evil men . . . that's so horrible." She shook her head. "And you wrote that poor Radley was killed. . . ." Her voice caught in her throat. "He looks so vibrant now. How is he really alright after such an experience?!"

"I don't know," Kalin said. "He handles it better than I do. I still feel so horrible about hurting him. He didn't deserve any of my cruel treatment! But he was allowed to live again, since he wasn't supposed to die. God helped his body heal and I and the Bunch helped his mind and heart heal."

Marisol shook her head. "How could my mother have just coldly put that letter away and not let any of us know?" she said sorrowfully. "How could it not have affected her?"

"I don't know," Kalin said. "I wonder that myself. As Radley keeps telling me, I was suffering from depression when I hurt him so badly. I was grief-stricken when I came back to myself and it looked like it was too late. But feeling love again was all Radley needed to fight to live." Awe filled Kalin's voice. "I hurt him so deeply, but I also helped save him."

"And he thinks the world of you," Marisol smiled.

"I don't deserve it or understand it, but it means everything to me," Kalin said. "Your mother, on the other hand . . . if she is affected at all, which I doubt, she's not letting it spur her to action. She should be grateful she has another chance. Instead, she's still treating Radley like dirt. He tried to see her today and got a cold reception. She wants to pretend everything is fine in public, but she has no desire to actually fix things so it really can be alright again."

"Yes. She's a block of ice," Marisol spat. "My poor, darling son. . . ."

"Of course, he's overjoyed to have you and the rest of his family back," Kalin said. "That's a huge thing. It's just that he hoped his grandmother would come back too. He thinks she never loved him. Do you know if that's true?"

"I don't know if she has ever loved anything other than the family name," Marisol said. "I was never treated kindly either. But unlike Radley, I gave in and conformed. Radley tried to do that for a while because he thought he had to, but he was never happy. When he went away to college, he finally found himself. I see that now. He was too good and too free-spirited for this dictatorship of a family."

"He is," Kalin agreed. "But if all of you are now going against what that woman wants, all of you have the chance to change things for the better."

"Yes. That is what I want to do." Marisol smiled as she continued to watch the frosting party.

"Do you know yet if you're going to stay on?" Kalin asked.

"I don't know. Of course, my mother doesn't want us to. Fidelio isn't sure this would be an ideal area for Emilio to grow up in, either. I see nothing wrong with it." Marisol pulled her shawl closer around herself. "The one thing that concerns me is that man who has escaped from prison. I don't want to go away and leave Radley in possible danger from him, but I also don't want Emilio in such danger."

Kalin sighed. "Lawton might not come here at all. We're just not sure."

"And until you're sure, I'm not sure," Marisol said. She shook her head. "I am so confused. How do I properly look after both my sons?"

"I don't know," Kalin admitted. "But Radley would understand if you left to protect Emilio."

"I know he would," Marisol said. "But I don't want to abandon him again. Excuse me." She sighed and turned away, walking towards a table in the corner. She looked deep in thought as she sat down.

Kalin looked back to Radley and the others. The cookies were done and Emilio was hurrying over to Marisol with a plate to show her his creations. She came back to the present, sincerely smiling and congratulating Emilio on his work.

Radley grinned as he went over to Kalin. "That was fun," he said.

"It was," Kalin agreed.

Radley reached behind himself to start undoing his apron. "I hope we'll have more times like this. When I was a kid, one of the few things that made me happy was learning to cook with my mom." He bunched the apron up and set it on the counter, then leaned over it with his arms stretched across it and his hands clasped.

"I never had fun cooking as a kid. You've made it enjoyable," Kalin said.

"Yeah? I'm glad," Radley smiled. He looked over at Emilio and sighed. "I hope he won't have to continue to be the posterchild for the winery, like I was."

Kalin started. "They do that?! Isn't it illegal to use a kid to advertise wine?"

"Well, it's not exactly that he'd advertise it," Radley said. "But he'd be expected to be at all the big social gatherings and be so cute that people would want to buy the wine to support his future."

Kalin shook his head. "That's devious."

"And effective. It was because I was so loved at those events that the winery got really popular," Radley said. "I actually was expected to advertise the wine when I was older, but then I got disowned instead and that didn't happen."

"It's strange you weren't recognized everywhere," Kalin remarked. "Even in the Satellite, people heard about a lot of the popular socialites."

"I went out of my way not to be recognized," Radley admitted. "I hung around neighborhoods where people were too poor to afford expensive wines. It all worked pretty well, honestly. I knew if I started using my last name again and being in the news, I'd probably start getting recognized. Which is what happened. I think some tabloid even went wild writing a 'Where Are They Now?' thing about me." He shook his head. "My grandmother's already had a lot of explaining to do since she told the press all kinds of weird stories about where I was and now they've fallen flat."

"And she's probably told things that will reflect badly on you," Kalin said in disgust.

"I hadn't wanted to look it up and find out, but I did today," Radley sighed. "She made up a story that they said I was going to Spain to keep prying eyes away because I wanted to go into the mining business and wasn't sure how successful the venture would be." He shook his head. "It could certainly be worse, but she was serious about keeping any hints of scandal away."

"That's good, even though she wasn't concerned how anything would look for you," Kalin grunted.

Radley nodded and straightened. "Well, the dinner crowd will be here soon. Let's get things cleaned up and ready for them, okay?"

Kalin nodded too. "Let's."

xxxx

The diner was crowded as usual that night. Scotch was delighted and put on Christmas music, often singing along with it while going about filling orders. Radley grinned, enjoying watching him. Scotch was a bundle of energy on good days.

Eventually Radley settled down at a table with Kalin and his biological family. On hectic evenings, Radley typically didn't eat until later. But he poured a glass of water from the pitcher on the table and took an absent sip as he listened to Emilio try to tell Lucia about baking cookies.

He gasped in the next instant. The glass clattered from his hand back to the table as he fell back, fumbling with the zipper on his right jacket pocket.

Kalin was immediately at attention. "Radley?!"

"Grapes," Radley choked out. "In the pitcher. . . ." He struggled to pull out his auto-injector, but it clattered to the floor.

His family was staring in shock. "Radley?!" Emilio cried. "What's wrong?!"

"He's allergic," Kalin growled, harsher than he had intended. "Where did that thing go?!" His heart pounding, he leaped out of his chair and knelt on the floor, desperate to find it.

Marisol was already pushing back her chair and running over to Radley. "Radley, what is it?! What can I do?!" she exclaimed.

Radley was pale and shaking, gripping the chair as he tried not to fall out of it. "Find it," he rasped. "Please. . . ."

Lucia stared at the scene, her expression unreadable. As she moved her chair back, something rolled under her foot. She bent down, pulling it up. "Is this it?"

"Yes!" Kalin grabbed the familiar object, his hands trembling, and readied it the way Radley had shown him how to do. He jabbed the needle end of it into Radley's outer thigh, all the while praying it would work. He had never seen Radley go through an allergy attack before. It was frightening, terrifying, seeing someone he loved so much suffering and dying right in front of his eyes. But this time Radley would be alright. Kalin would save him before anything worse happened. He would be fine. . . .

After an agonizing moment, Radley's breathing eased and he sank against Marisol, who held him close to her heart. "My poor boy," she whispered, stroking his hair. "When this happened those years ago, I didn't understand and I did nothing. . . . Your grandmother thought you were faking. . . ." She shut her eyes tightly, but tears still leaked out.

Radley drew a shaky breath. "Hey, I'm okay, Mom," he said with a weak smile. He looked over at Kalin. "You saved me."

Kalin nodded, but he still looked badly shaken. "Why . . . how did this happen?!" he cried. He picked up the pitcher and looked in it.

"I don't know," Radley said. "It's white grape juice. Of course we have grape juice here to serve the customers, but I stay far away from it. All the Bunch knows I can't drink it. There's no way any of them would have filled a pitcher with grape juice instead of water."

Emilio sobbed, running over and diving into Radley's lap. "Radley! Radley!" He buried his face against Radley's chest.

Radley smiled weakly and held him close. "I'm really okay," he soothed. "I'll need to drop by the hospital and have the doctor look at me, but I'm fine now, really."

Emilio just continued to cry. Marisol reached down, gently lifting him away. "Shh . . . it's alright," she told him. "It's alright. . . ." But her voice caught in her throat.

Radley looked over at Lucia, who had said nothing. ". . . You found the auto-injector, Grandmother," he said quietly. "Even if it was just to avoid a scandal . . . thanks."

Lucia looked away. But although she hadn't lost her composure at all, she definitely looked pale.

By now the activity in the diner had long ago quieted down, with all eyes focused on Radley's table. Scotch and the rest of the Bunch were running over, horrified. Radley smiled at them, trying to soothetheir fears even as he looked worn-out and ready to drop. After a moment, Kalin reached down and just matter-of-factly lifted Radley into his arms. "Alright, we're going to the hospital now," he said.

Radley chuckled wearily as he rested against Kalin's shoulder. "Just carry on," he told the Bunch. "We'll call you guys soon."

"And try to find out how that grape juice got in the pitcher," Kalin ordered.

Badly shaken, Scotch nodded and picked it up.

Kalin stepped outside and down the steps. He didn't care how it would look to some of the townspeople for him to be carrying Radley, and he knew Radley didn't care either.

"Oh boy," Radley mumbled after a moment. "I'd forgotten how awful that feels."

"You told Emilio we're just 'dropping by' the hospital," Kalin said. "Aren't you understating it?"

Radley sighed. "I may need to be observed for a few hours. We'll see. I think we caught it fast enough that I'll be okay tonight regardless."

"I'll stay with you," Kalin said unnecessarily.

"I know," Radley smiled.

Kalin's mind was turning over possibilities as he walked, as he was sure Radley was as well. When they entered the hospital and Kalin left Radley in the doctor's care, he went to the waiting room with his troubled thoughts.

The doors soon opened and Yusei hurried in. "Kalin?" He looked worriedly to his old friend. "Is Radley really okay?"

"Yes, I think so," Kalin said. "The doctor's going to examine him and then decide what to do. The usual procedure seems to be observing the patient for several hours." He frowned, his expression dark. "Radley could have died, Yusei. We have to find out about that pitcher!"

"It could have been an accident," Yusei said. "Do all of the other servers know Radley's allergic?"

"They do," Kalin said. He took out his phone and scrolled through text messages. "The Bunch is questioning them anyway, but none of them know how it happened. All the pitchers were supposed to have water, as usual." He looked back up at Yusei. "We both know there's another possibility."

Yusei gave a grim nod. "Lawton. But would he know or be able to find out about Radley's allergy?"

"Not easily, but I'm sure he could," Kalin growled. "Maybe he even bribed or threatened one of the servers." He typed that back to Scotch and ordered him to question them again.

Yusei sighed and leaned against the wall with folded arms. "Would this really be Lawton's style, though?" he wondered. "Poison seems a little . . . well, I don't want to say 'elegant,' but Lawton's more into throwing bombs."

"I know," Kalin said. "But in this case, when he knows he needs to lay low, I think he'd be capable of trying this method." His eyes darkened. "He knows killing Radley would take me out too, and then you wouldn't recover either."

"Killing any one of us would irreparably damage the other two," Yusei said. "He might try again."

Kalin nodded. "We have to be prepared for that. None of us are safe as long as he's free."

Yusei sadly nodded. That was all too true.

"And Yusei . . ." Kalin's eyes darkened. "We have to stop him before Christmas. I'm not going to see the holiday ruined for Radley when it just looked like things were going to be amazing for him."

Yusei's eyes flickered. Stopping Lawton so soon might not be possible. But Kalin had set seemingly impossible goals before and they had worked, such as when he had decided to eliminate all the Duel Gangs in the Satellite. Yusei would not tell him this one couldn't be done.

"Alright, Kalin. I'll do everything I can to help," Yusei promised.

Kalin nodded. "I knew I could count on you, Yusei."

Yusei smiled and walked over, laying an arm around Kalin's shoulders. "Always."

xxxx

As the initial shock and horror began to wear off, the Bunch grew more and more angry about the apparent deliberate attack on their beloved leader. They stormed about the diner, looking for any possible clues and demanding answers from the other staff on if anything that day had seemed suspicious at all. The rest of the staff was sickened and shocked, but professed no knowledge of what had happened. One waitress, her eyes welling with tears, escaped to the kitchen.

Lucia still hadn't moved from her spot at the table. She was staring off into the distance, her hands clasped in her lap. Marisol had taken Emilio into the arcade to hopefully calm him with a video game, but Fidelio and Alejandro remained at the table as well.

"It's difficult, isn't it," Alejandro remarked after a moment.

"What?" Lucia's voice was taut, tense.

"Having it happen again. Realizing we could have lost him, and realizing we almost lost him years ago when we didn't believe anything was wrong."

Lucia didn't answer. She turned, slightly, looking to the chair where Radley had been sitting. One moment he had been fine. The next, he had been clearly unable to breathe. Mixing with those memories were her memories of what Radley had sadly said to her that morning before leaving the hotel suite.

". . . You helped save his life, you know," Alejandro said. "You found the auto-injector he dropped."

". . . I saved his life now, but I have been chipping away at his heart for years. Most likely all of his life." Lucia still wouldn't meet her husband's gaze. "And he could stand there and say he still loves me! How?!"

Alejandro shook his head. "That boy . . . he is so much more than we ever gave him credit for. Don't you think it's time we started giving him his due? All of us?"

"How would I even begin to do that?" Lucia retorted. "I wasn't kind to our daughter either. I told her she wasn't fit to be a parent, but it was really I who was never fit. The lives I have ruined . . . !"

". . . You know," Fidelio said at last, "we're supposed to be Christians. But it's Radley, the one we all rejected, who has shown the most Christlike spirit. Maybe if we all acted a little more like him, we'd be in a better place with this family." He got up and stormed off to find his wife and his youngest son.

Lucia didn't answer. But Alejandro could see from her eyes that she was deeply in thought.

In the kitchen, Scotch had stumbled on the devastated waitress again. He frowned, watching her sob as she clutched the handkerchief in her hands.

"Hey, Kathy, I know we're all upset," he said. "But Kalin texted that Radley's going to be okay! We need to figure out what happened! Somebody's gotta know about the pitcher!"

She didn't reply.

"I've got an idea," Marty said, coming up next to Scotch. "Let's check the security cameras! Maybe we have film of who brought the pitcher to the table!"

Scotch perked up. "Yeah! Let's do it!"

He and some of the others followed Marty to the security room. It didn't take long for Marty to find the right feed, and he leaned forward to stare attentively at the screen as the tables in that area were set. Eventually the hysterical waitress, Kathy, appeared, carrying a pitcher much like all the rest. Her hands shook as she set it on the table in question, and she glanced around furtively before leaving. Lucia, who was already at the table, didn't react.

"What the heck?!" Scotch cried, leaping to his feet. "She brought it?! And she knows it's bad! Did you see how suspicious she looked?! Why?! Why would she try to deliberately poison Radley?!" Before anyone could stop him, he turned and ran back to the kitchen.

"Scotch!" Biff exclaimed. He took off after his friend.

"Wait up!" Virgil yelled as he followed.

Billy gripped his arms. "I can't blame any of them," he spat. "Why?! Just why?!"

Marty got up from the console. "Let's find out."

Somewhat to their surprise, Kathy had not run away but now had collapsed to the floor in the kitchen, still crying. "I killed him!" she sobbed. "I killed him!"

Virgil hauled her up by her shoulders. "No, you didn't kill him, but you tried to!" he snarled. "We've got it on tape! So you'd better talk, and you'd better start now. Why?!"

She stared at him. "I . . ."

"And we know it wasn't an accident, so don't try that garbage on us," Scotch added, blinking back angry tears.

She looked away. "My mother called me earlier. . . . She . . . she said Ronny . . . that's my little brother . . . didn't come home from school. Then this horrible man called. He . . . he had Ronny with him. He let me talk to him to make sure he was okay, and then he demanded I poison Radley or try to give him a serious allergic reaction or something. He'd heard Radley carries auto-injectors. He made me admit I knew he was allergic to grapes, and then he said that if I didn't put white grape juice at the table Radley was going to be at, he . . . he'd kill Ronny!" She broke down in tears again.

"What the heck?!" Scotch cried. "That's sick!"

"And it makes no sense," Biff frowned. "There'd be no guarantee that Radley would drink first! If someone else drank first, they'd warn Radley it was grape juice!"

Virgil wasn't appeased either. "Why didn't you tell us?!" he demanded.

"I couldn't talk to any police or Ronny would die then too," Kathy said. "The man said he knew everything that was going on here. I didn't want to do this, I swear! But Ronny's only six and I . . . I didn't know what to do!" She sobbed hopelessly.

Billy, who had joined the group with the others, was outraged. "Lawton," he said. "It has to be Lawton! Do you have any idea where he was calling from?!"

She shook her head. "No. . . ."

"And he might not still be nearby," Marty said. "He could have taken Ronny anywhere! To see what's going on here, maybe he hacked in or something."

"Well, if he really is watching, then he knows Radley's still alive," Jimmy said.

Horror filled Kathy's eyes. "And he knows I just told everything! What will happen to Ronny?!"

"We'll find him," Billy promised. "He's probably still in the area. We're going to spread out right now and start looking."

Scotch grabbed his phone. "I'll call Kalin!"

xxxx

Kalin took Scotch's call with a mixture of horror, outrage, and worry. As he hung up moments later, Radley looked over at him from where he was resting on a bed in his regular clothes. "What's going on?" he asked. "I can tell it's big."

Kalin nodded. "All the pieces are coming together now." Rage filled his eyes. "Someone took the little brother of one of the waitresses and forced her to put that pitcher out on threat of her brother's life. Most likely, it was Lawton."

"WHAT?!" Radley cried in horror.

Yusei was infuriated. "And I thought he couldn't get any lower," he snarled. "He's hurt kids before, but . . ."

"He sounds like he's lost it," Radley said. "All that, just to take a chance at getting me that might not even work?!"

Kalin nodded. "Something is definitely not right with him now. And he still has the boy. It sounds like he's either in town or somewhere nearby."

"The mountains," Radley said. "He's probably in the mountains. Maybe at the mine."

"That's what I'm thinking. The Bunch is spreading out everywhere to look." Kalin looked to the window.

"One of us should go too," Yusei said in concern.

"I'm the sheriff. It should be me," Kalin said. "But . . . I said I'd stay with Radley, and Lawton could always come here to try again. . . ." He looked to his dear friend, conflicted.

"Hey, I'll be fine," Radley insisted. "That kid has to be saved! You go ahead and go."

"I'll stay and watch over Radley," Yusei promised. "I can call Jack and Crow to come over too."

Radley nodded. "I really feel alright. I won't need to keep staying here long."

"Well, you can't come up the mountain!" Kalin shot back.

"You're right. I don't feel that alright," Radley said. "I won't do anything to slow you up. Go on, Kalin!" He got off the bed and hugged him. "Save that kid and bring Lawton in. And stay safe yourself."

Kalin nodded too, hugging Radley close. "I'll try to come back as soon as I can," he said.

"Just remember, this could be a trap," Yusei worried. "He'd know we'd come after him!"

"I know," Kalin said. "I'll be careful. You two be careful too." He hugged Radley again, then Yusei, and headed out.

Radley sighed, sinking down on the edge of the bed. "Kalin might snap when he sees Lawton," he said.

Yusei nodded. "I trust him, though."

"Me too," Radley said. "It's Lawton I don't trust. That creep!" He sank back into the bed. "Why didn't any of us think he might try something like this?!"

"We weren't sure what he'd try," Yusei said. His eyes darkened. "But he really is capable of anything."

"Yeah," Radley said softly. He frowned. "Actually, we don't know for sure it's Lawton. But . . . if it isn't . . . then who else could it be?"

Yusei sighed. "It probably is him."

Radley got off the bed again and walked over to the window. "I really do trust Kalin, and the Bunch, but . . . I hate not being able to be with them," he confessed.

"Me too." Yusei came over to him. "The others have felt this helpless waiting feeling a lot when I've had dangerous duels. I guess now it's our turn."

Radley folded his arms on the windowsill and stared off into the distance. "Kalin . . . guys . . . please be safe," he whispered.