Goldilocks Forever

Chapter 5

Walton, New York
February 2043

This time Beau easily found the driveway hidden at the edge of the forest. There were no lights on inside the cabin even though the sky was already beginning to darken. The front door creaked open as Beau exited the car.

Toby stepped onto the porch. "You again?" He crossed his arms over his chest and suppressed a smile. It twitched at the corner of his mouth.

"Did you expect to never see me again?"

Toby hesitated. "Well, no. I guess I figured I would see you again." His smile emerged fully as Beau approached. "I'm glad to see you, but like I told you last time, I don't know how much help I can be." He stared at Beau as if mesmerized.

"I think you can help me a lot," Beau said with more assurance than he felt.

At his words, Toby snapped back and his previous expression of benign amusement returned. "Come inside."

The two men went into the cabin and sat at the kitchen table like this was what they always did. Toby offered him some tea. Beau declined but watched Toby as he rinsed and dried a cup and retrieved the teapot from the old stove.

"I checked up on you," he said as he poured some of the fragrant tea into a chipped mug. The front of it was decorated with a faded red type that read "Byte Me".

"What did you find out?" Beau leaned back in the chair as if he were comfortable, as if this statement didn't bother him.

Toby mirrored his relaxed position. "You weren't lying. You really are sick." He sipped from his mug.

"Why would I lie about that?"

He shrugged and jostled the mug carelessly so that a few drops of tea spattered onto the tabletop. "Because you want something from me. More than you say you want."

"What else would I want?" Beau's tone was calm, one he would use when speaking to a frightened witness.

"I don't know. I can guess what other people would want, but you...I wasn't sure." He set the mug down and leaned back in his chair.

"I checked up on you, too," Beau told him.

Toby's smile widened as if flattered by the attention and interest. "Oh, yeah? What'd you find? More aliases?" He laughed.

Beau nodded. "Perhaps. Although you didn't pick this alias. Someone else chose it for you."

"Oh, you mean Chi-town Punk?" Toby laughed again and took another drink. Steam rose into his face. He gulped down the mouthful. His eyes lit up with curiosity as Beau reached into his pocket. "What's that? Another letter?"

"No." He handed over the photo from the family album. "This."

"Ugh!" Toby made a face like the mere sight of his younger self was something bitter in his mouth. He shoved the picture back at him. "Don't remind me."

"We're cousins."

"Yup."

"I didn't know I had a cousin." Beau sighed and looked down at the wet tracks his boots had made on the rug by the door. "There's a lot I didn't know. A lot I still don't know."

"That's an understatement."

Beau sat up, anger darkening his face. "Why in the hell did you lead me on this crazy puzzle hunt? I don't have time to follow all your dead ends!"

Toby's eyes widened as he emphasized his words. "I told you the truth. I gave you her name, didn't I? Did you look her up?"

Beau grit his teeth. "Yes."

"And?"

"You know what I found."

"Tell me."

"No one could find her. She went missing in 2004."

"Is that all you know? That she disappeared in 2004?"

Beau narrowed his eyes at the other man. His question hid a sense of solace that he didn't think he liked. He answered with a question of his own. "What else should I know?"

Toby was quick to pick up on this game. "What do you want to know?"

The last of his patience evaporated. "I just want to find her DNA!" Beau smacked his open palm down onto the table. "Is it banked somewhere? Maybe under another name?"

Toby scoffed and took tiny sips of tea. "Oh, no. Hell no. You can be sure of that. There are plenty of people who have a vested interest in making sure that her DNA is never banked—at least not by any government."

There were way too many things wrong with those sentences. Too many facts askew. Beau let his frustrated, tired brain make a note of them for later study. "What about Acacia Guillard?" His voice cracked under the strain of desperation he didn't want to show. "Maybe her DNA is banked." He would need to find her and get her permission to withdraw her DNA from a bank.

"She's dead and gone and so is her DNA."

Beau rambled on as if he hadn't heard. "Maybe she's out there somewhere. Stranger things have happened. Or she might have had a kid. Maybe someone kept a lock of her hair or something."

Toby shook his head. "She's dead, Beau. I killed her myself."

He froze and stared at Toby. Yet another one of those clearly stated facts that Beau couldn't fathom were based on any kind of reality. His lips parted in surprise. He watched Toby drink the last of his tea and return the mug to the kitchen sink. When he was back in his chair across from him, Beau said, "You killed her?"

The response was too matter-of-fact. "Yes." He added, as if it would help his credibility, "You were there."

Beau gaped in shock, but only for a few seconds. "I was there?"

"Yes. Why do you keep changing everything I say into a question? You don't believe me again?"

"I was there?"

"Yes!" He threw up his hands and let them flop back onto the table. "You were there, and you probably saw most of it happen. I don't know."

Beau leapt to his feet, toppling the chair to the floor. His mind swarmed with questions and doubts. "I...you..." A shiver passed through him. He sensed that he was losing control of the situation but he couldn't stop. "Bullshit! How do you...? There's no way..."

Toby put up a hand to stop him. "Shhh."

"You're lying. I couldn't have been there. I...I...how am I supposed to believe anything you say?"

"Shut up!" Toby stood and faced Beau. Finally, the wrinkle between his brows and the alarm in his voice cracked the amiable, relaxed visage he always seemed to front. If it weren't for the circumstances and his own shock, Beau would have claimed that as a victory.

"Get down!" Toby crossed to the kitchen window in two strides and pulled back the curtain. "Fuck." He glanced at Beau as he went to retrieve the semi-automatic still resting against the wall by the door. "I said GET DOWN!"

Toby ran out the door at the sound of the first gunshots.