After Ralph and Pam left the room, Dylan turned and looked at Aidan's still form, finally being able to laugh. "Rest in peace… bitch," he said sneering.
He turned around, wanting to relish this moment. "You know, I never wanted to see you again after everything your parents did to us. Your dad had everything going for him, then he married that hick you called your mom. Then, you came along."
Aidan had grew angry at the comments, but remained still, knowing his confession had to be on videotape. Unaware of the truth, Dylan continued. "I never wanted to be part of your family again, none of us wanted to even see you when you were born. We only gave you socks at Christmas because Grandmother said you had to get something or we got nothing. To bad Grandfather died when you were one, or even that'd been different. You were always her favorite, and while we all knew that, no one knew how much… well until I read the will."
Dylan leaned over to look at Aidan. He thought he saw Aidan's chest move, but after putting his hand on her stomach, he could tell he was just seeing things.
Aidan herself was confused as she thought that if he touched her, the truth would come out as she'd still be warm to the touch. The only thing she could think of was the suit was mimicking the room's cooler temperatures and helping her hold her breath longer to make it appear she was dead.
Hearing noises, including a shuddering sigh from touching a "corpse," she knew Dylan still believed in the ruse, and continued. "Grandmother was smart in trying to hide the fact you got a million dollars and that sapphire pendant while the rest of us got a few thousand and paltry trinkets. She was smart thinking about adding in the skipped portion of the will if you weren't there. Of course, no one thought you'd get anything …"
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In the other room, Ralph and Pam were getting upset at what Dylan was saying to Aidan. Ralph stood to head out the door, but was stopped by Tony. "Mr. H, ya can't go out there yet," he said.
"Yeah, Mr. H. As long as Aidan's not in danger, we need to wait," said Cyler. "Besides, you said she's got the suit on, and he's still fooled with her playing 'possum."
"Maybe, but she doesn't have to take this," he said, only to be stopped by Pam frowning and grabbing his arm. "Pamela, don't tell me you agree with them?"
"Not exactly, but he's right as far as going out there. If you do and say something before he confesses, we have no case," she said.
Ralph nodded. "All right, but not much longer," he said, and noticed Pam in thought. "What is it?"
"There's something else I've been thinking about."
"What honey?"
"Ralph, you've never told her you blamed yourself for her accident and not remembering that night."
The man frowned, realizing that she was right. "And I said that in the parlor," he said softly. "I'm going to have to tell her about that now. I just hope he confesses soon."
Cyler nodded grimly. "So do I. No one deserves this … even Villacana on his bad days."
"Hey, I wouldn't do this to a dog with rabies," said Tony. "I can't wait until I can bust this bum."
The other three nodded, and they continued listening to the confessing soliloquy in the other room.
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Unaware of the sting, Dylan continued basking in his victory. "They've been so dumb to not reread the will, but then again, they never called you family. I thought about it a few months ago, and decided to reread it. Sure enough, you got something: $1 million and that sapphire necklace everyone wanted. Told the family about it, but they didn't believe me as you were a ghost to them. Since it said I'd only get part of it if I was in your family again, well, I decided to come back.
"Now, the only question was, how to kill you without pointing the finger to me. Wasn't easy, as I didn't quite know where you were. Drove around Los Angeles and found Jackson at a club, pissed off that you helped stop him from beating up Ralph. He was ready and willing to help me out in my plan, but shame he never got it right. Misses running you over, but you saw it coming… well at least that time.
"When that failed, I looked at your medical records again and found that allergy of yours. I had a problem at first about how I'd have Jackson be able to use it on you, but then you invited me to dinner. Jackson had it down perfectly, getting in as a busboy and pouring that oil in your glass. I was counting the seconds it'd take for you to asphyxiate and die… but wish I had read further in your records and found out you carried epinephrine. When Ralph put that needle in you, I knew you'd probably make it, so back to the drawing board."
Inside the coffin, Aidan started to cramp up, and she desperately wanted to stretch out. She silently thought of ways to keep her mind off the soreness, and it worked. How long, she wasn't certain.
Ralph, Pam, Cyler and Tony were sitting on pins and needles, hoping he'd finally confess. They knew Aidan was getting to the point where she'd not be able to stay still and they'd have to move quickly. Fortunately, Dylan had turned around and was looking at the flowers, just in case something did happen.
"You know, Aidan, there was one thing that I was surprised about… you were a good fighter. Jackson was telling me about how you easily knocked him out in the water when he tried to drown you," he said, then chuckled. "He kept talking about a red suit, but I think he just went crazy realizing he was beaten by a girl. But, he was caught and put in jail so I had to take matters into my own hands…
He leaned toward the casket where his face was inches from the young woman's. Aidan held her breath, partially to keep the ruse a secret, but also because of what she was about to hear. "I ran you over, and this time, you didn't see it coming. I was going to cut your brake lines at your apartment, but you weren't there," he said. "Fortunately, I got that call from you and you said you were at their house. Then, you were just standing there, looking at the sky and I ran you over like some worthless dog. Seemed poetic justice: Your parents died in a car accident, then you joined them the same way. You don't know how much pleasure I got hearing you were critical or watching your godfather collapse in grief at his loss. But then again, he'd already lost his little witch of a sister, so losing her bastard daughter…."
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"That son of a …" said Ralph at the comment. Of all the insults he had heard from the Onyxsards about Aidan, that was one that he really loathed. He knew that his sister and brother-in-law truly loved each other and waited until they were married. About a year after they were married, Aidan was conceived. Others on that side couldn't necessarily say the same.
Agreeing this had gone on long enough for Ralph, Pam and Aidan, Tony spoke up. "Can we bust him now," he asked.
Cyler nodded. "Just move in quickly and quietly. I know Aidan's got the suit on, but with her in the casket right now, she's got to be careful as well…"
Unbeknownst to both of them, Ralph had already gone out to the parlor, wanting to slug the guy for the hell he put Aidan and his family through.
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"...And then, I heard the money and necklace were going to go to charities and the like. Shows how much your godparents really pay attention to wills. It says those you said were family get a cut, and you wanted me in your family. I can't wait to until they find out the truth about the money, so I can get it too…."
"When hell freezes over," said a new and male voice.
Smirking as he straightened up, Dylan turned around and saw Ralph in the doorway of the parlor. "Well, well, nice of you to join in on the chat," he said.
"Yeah, I bet," said Ralph. He went toward the man, barely controlling his temper. "Money? You did this for money?…"
"Yeah, I did, so what? She didn't deserve it, not after the grief the little brat caused us…"
"Grief? What did she do to you? She loved your family, and wanted to be part of it, ever since she was young. And how does your family treat her: bullying her, shunning her, treating her like a black sheep. Hell, you insult her even in death," Ralph said, his voice rising. "When she was injured when her parents died, only Misha gave a damn about how she was doing, even staying one day in the hospital at her side, ordering Pam and I to get some sleep so we didn't wind up as patients too. It was a mixed blessing Aidan didn't remember everything you said about her the week of the memorial service."
Inside the coffin, Aidan cringed at what she was hearing. While she had been told a majority of what happened during the time of her parents' deaths and service, she had a hunch Ralph had kept a few things from her. Even 19 years later, Ralph had kept most of his true feelings and opinions about the Onyxsards to himself that this surprised even her.
She kept quiet and listened, holding off intervening unless it was needed. From the sound of things, however, it was going to become necessary to use the suit's help. She just hoped she didn't say anything that would knock her out again.
Dylan continued, not knowing Aidan was eavesdropping. "Yeah, she kept asking what was going on, and she kept breaking down because we had to remind her that it was her parents who died. Weak, simple-minded… that's the way she behaved that week."
"What did you expect?! She was in a coma for 6 hours from that accident. Bad enough she wound up with amnesia, some of it permanently, the doctors weren't sure she'd avoid becoming an epileptic from the head injury. We weren't even sure when she fainted and was out for three minutes during the service. It was a bad accident."
"Yeah, an accident you caused when you didn't catch her," sneered Dylan. "Just shows that you are just as weak as your sister."
"I'll show you weak you …" said Ralph, starting to head toward the man. He froze when Dylan pulled a gun on him, complete with silencer.
Seeing Ralph's balk, Dylan smiled. "What, you didn't think I'd be ready in case you eavesdropped on my confession? I wanted to bask in my accomplishments… but it's not complete yet."
"What do you mean?"
"You and your wife are the only people standing in my way of half a million dollars… well more when I sell the pendant," he said, leveling his gun at Ralph's heart. "Say goodnight Ralph."
Before Dylan could pull the trigger, Tony barged in the room his gun trained on the man. "Freeze it, Dylan, Villacana - FBI. You're under arrest for assault with a deadly weapon, conspiring to commit murder…"
"… Commit murder, la dee da," he said, rolling his eyes. "You can't arrest me… you can't prove it."
"We've been listening to your little chat with the deceased," said Tony.
"Yes, my chat, face-to-face, which I can always claim I said something else," he said, not paying attention to what was going on behind him. "My family will back me up in a court of law, and I'll get away with murder… four cases now once I off you. After all dead men tell no tales."
"Well, sometimes they actually do tell tales," said a icy female voice. Shocked, Dylan turned around and saw Aidan sitting up in the coffin looking straight at him.
"You're dead! I touched you... you were cold," he said, shocked at what he was seeing. Too terrified to try and shoot her, he shoved her down in the coffin and closed the top, locking it.
"You shouldn't have done that," said Ralph simply, knowing how she was going to react now.
"Yeah, you know what happens when ya disturb the dead," said Tony.
Dylan laughed condescendingly at the others' reactions as he again raised the gun at Ralph. "I don't know what kind of game this is, but it doesn't matter. It's locked, she can't get out. Now to deal with some unfinished business…"
He was about to pull trigger again when there was a terrifying sound of wood shattering apart. Aidan had slammed the top of the coffin with her fists, punching out two holes with her hands. Dylan, hearing the noise, turned around and watched in horror as he saw the coffin practically disintegrate in front of him as she again hit the top of the casket's lid.
Aidan got out and faced the man while Ralph and Tony ducked for cover just in case shots were fired. "How the hell did you get out of that casket?" Dylan asked, stunned. He couldn't understand that a woman who died in the hospital, who he hit with his car and touched her cold, lifeless body, was destroying caskets and challenging him.
"You know what they say about ghosts. They'll haunt you for the rest of your life," she said sarcastically as she advanced.
Dylan smirked at her comments, took aim, and fired at Aidan. She put her arms up to protect her face, and deflected the bullet. Unfortunately, she move her arms up so fast, she tore the shirt, revealing the suit tunic and cape.
Although he was confused at seeing the suit, he was more concerned she was unharmed. Dylan started to panic and back away, but Aidan caught him and picked him up by the collar with one hand. She then grabbed the gun and squeezed it, compressing it into a lump of iron.
The man shook in terror as she then effortlessly walked him over to the corner of a wall, trapping him. He kicked at her, trying to get her to drop him, to no avail. "How did you survive this… everything?" he stammered as he reached into his pocket for his switchblade.
"With the help of my friends and those I love. You, however, are dead to me," she said, glaring at him.
"You'll always be dead to me, but for real," he said, unlatching the switchblade and taking a swing. Aidan stopped the blow and wrested the weapon out of his hand, dropping it. She then used her free hand to tap Dylan's head against the wall, rendering him unconscious.
Disgusted with everything the man had said to her, Aidan let go of Dylan's collar and let the man drop to the ground in a heap. She nodded to Tony to handcuff him and gave a whistle. Hearing the all clear, Pam and Cyler entered the room. "You guys all right," said Pam.
"We're fine. I was the only one hit by a bullet, but the suit protected me," said Aidan looking at the remains of her shirt. "Well, guess I've really turned into the Incredible Hulk here. Best shirt too."
"It can be replaced. Believe me, if I had a dollar for every shirt, jacket, tie, pair of pants, and so on I lost…" said Ralph as he handed her his jacket.
"You'd be a millionaire," said Aidan as she put on the jacket to hide what she could of the suit from the caretaker. "So, Cyler, did you get the evidence you needed?"
"Yes, and fortunately we have audio only for the part we'll need to turn into static as far as you in the suit," said Cyler. "I hate doing that, but I know no one can know about it."
"Better than putting me in the looney bin or worse," said Aidan, and the man chuckled.
Tony picked up Dylan's insensible form and hefted him over one of his shoulders. "I'm gonna take him to the truck and we can get out of this place," he said as he started to walk out the door.
Aidan walked over to Tony and stopped him. "Wait a second, Tony."
"OK, but ya'd better hurry. I can't pick up guys as easy as a feather like you can. What's up?"
"You know, I've been thinking. Why don't we put him in the casket until he comes to so he knows what it's like to have that prank pulled on him?"
"Uh, Cub, given what'cha been through, I understand where you're comin' from. But I don't think that's possible now," said Tony, pointing with his free hand. "You kinda sorta turned it into chopped suey."
"Oh, terrific," said Aidan, grimacing as she saw the remains of the coffin. "Uh… Cyler, about the casket…"
"It's fine. We'll find some explanation, if nothing else, you just had a burst of superhuman strength… uh from adrenaline," he said laughing.
"At least it will be the truth," said Aidan, and the group laughed. After Cyler and Tony left, it was only Aidan, Ralph and Pam in the room. Aidan turned to the two and gave them a hug, glad that they were all right.
When they finished, Aidan looked at Ralph. He knew that particular look, as it was one that they shared whenever she wanted to talk about her past. "Ade…" he started, but she put a hand up.
"Ralph, we can talk later. Right now, I'd like to go eat."
Pam shook her head in disbelief. "Even after everything that's happened, you want to eat?"
"Yeah… I'm starving. The hospital only gave me Jell-O and tomato soup for dinner … and breakfast … and lunch."
"You're exaggerating," said Ralph, but understood all too well how hospitals seemed to always be redundant in their food choices.
"Yes… but it sure felt that way. Now, let's see if Tony's done with his stuff and let's go to eat at the Magnolia. They gave us coupons for dinner on the house and this time I don't have to try an olive oil Coke."
The group chuckled and left the parlor, ready to continue on with life.
