The Murderers

Chapter 9: Suspicion and Heartbreak

On the first day of work, before retreating to our rooms, we gather in the living room. All a bit worn out, we sit on the restful couches awaiting Aaron. He finally arrives, and begins to settle housing arrangements.

"Sadly, I don't usually have this many guests sleeping over, so I only have five bedrooms." He announces.

"How are there only five bedrooms in this huge mansion?" I respond.

"I told you, I don't have many houseguests." He claims.

"I'll sleep with Rebecca." Jack excitedly chimes in.

She tisks. "No way. If anyone is going to be sleeping with Rebecca, it will be me." I retort.

"Rebecca is gonna sleep in a room by herself." She adds.

"So who doesn't get a room?" Kevin asks.

"I'll sleep on the couch. It's too late for me to be dealing with all of you." My father asserts.

Everyone starts to retreat to their respective rooms, but Alex pulls me aside and says that he needs to talk to me. Rebecca allows me a kiss on the cheek, but rolls her eyes through it's entirety. After everyone is settled in their room, we sit down on the couch. He begins to look at me with dejected eyes. I ask him what is going on and he starts to tear up. I have never seen him this scared.

"What's going on, dad? Why are you crying?" I ask him.

"It's hard to tell you this. I've been wanting to tell you this for years, but I couldn't find the words. I have CAD, Dave. I'm going to die soon. After this mission, you might never see me again. Do me a favor. Find your mom and Scarlett. Apologize for me. I never should have left. We should still be a family. Do that for me please."

"We'll do it together. I'm not going to let you die."

"Thanks son. Do me one favor. If I do die, go find Scarlett. You two never go to really be a family. She'll need you, and you'll need her. Give her the big brother that she's always wanted."

"You're not going to die. Stop telling yourself that. You're going to get through this. Besides, she's with some superhero team. She doesn't want anything to do with me, and I frankly don't want to do anything with her either."

"Just do what I say. Is it too much to respect my wishes?" He asserts forcibly.

"I'll do it, but you can tell her everything you want yourself after we're done."

I hug him tightly before I leave. I will help him get through this. He's not going to die under my watch. I wipe my face off and head back to my room.

The next few weeks is all planning and preparing. I see Kevin and Aaron hang out a lot. Right before I go to bed, they always go into a locked room. Aaron has said that there is nothing important in there, but who knows when a man like that is telling the truth.

I talk to Rebecca and Alex and they also believe something is going on. The three of us along with Jack meet to discuss it. We decide that Jack should investigate. He immediately agrees and says he will read their minds and report back to me the following day.

The next morning, Jack is waiting for me at the breakfast table. I ask him if he had read their minds and he nods. He assures me that neither Kevin nor Aaron is having negative or betraying thoughts. I am surprised. I am almost sure they are up to something. I ask him to check what they are thinking after one of their meetings and he agrees. I'm going to find out what they're up to and stop it.

The predicament racks my mind the entire night. Are Aaron and Kevin planning to take it all for themselves? Did Aaron tell Kevin about what happened in New York City? Is Jack lying to me? Either way there is no way that nothing is going on. I can't stand it anymore.

I hurry out of bed to see if I can hear what they are talking about. Right as I walk into the hall, they leave the room. They both look at me suspiciously and Kevin asks me where I was going. I tell him I was going for a drink of water and I continue to the kitchen. Jack has gone back into his room. I ruined his chance at reading them without it being suspicious.

The next night, we meet again and I can tell Jack is angry with me. He has nothing new to tell me because I messed up his chance, but we decide that we have to make a decision on what to do.

"Let me go first. I think we should all let this go. You're thinking about this way too hard.We don't want to risk the chance of the whole operation being tarnished. Alex asserts.

"I agree. I read their minds and it didn't show anything bad. I think you're paranoid. For this to work, there has to be a level of trust and you're not giving Aaron and Kevin their proper due." Jack chimes in.
   
Next up is Rebecca. I know where this is going. She's been insisting that I let it go for weeks. Right as she is about to talk she looks into my eyes and stops herself. It's like she has had a revelation.

"I've thought about this a lot, and I think we should not only confront them, but punish them. Who are we kidding ourselves? There's no reason to speculate any further. We know they're doing something, and it isn't good. They're going to ruin this whole thing for all of us, if they don't kill us first."

The entire room takes a collective gasp. No one expected her to make that decision, especially Jack. His looks as if someone had performed a magic trick.

"You were the main one saying to leave this alone." Jack strongly responds.

"I've had a change in heart." She fires back.

I nod at her and prepare to tell the group of my opinion. Jack is staring at me waiting for me to speak.

"I think we should forget about it. It's the safest option for all of us. Like my father said, we don't want to tarnish the mission." I suddenly say. Another gasp encapsulates the room.

"Are you crazy? One day you can't even sleep, because you're too skeptical and the next you trust them completely. Have you gone mad?" Rebecca screams at me.

"I've had a change in heart." I calmly respond.

"You're impossible." She storms out of the room and slams the door behind her.

"That was rough.Being around us must have changed her." Jack voices.

"Maybe, but this had to be done. We're all in agreement. We need to leave it alone. It's for the better of the group. Agreed?"

"Agreed." They both say. We will continue with the plan. I trust Aaron and Kevin completely.