My Three Cousins

Chapter Twenty-Three

The next morning Ruth just had to mention that there was a farmers' market in town and Mom immediately told her she planned to take Vivian.  She even went so far as to tell Ruth that she needed some space from me.  I hated what I had done but I was so relieved to know that her anger at me was keeping her safe.  For the next three days Mom and Vivian left the house first thing in the morning and came back just before Vivian's bedtime.  If we ran into each other in the hallway mom didn't speak to me and she worked hard to keep Vivian from being alone with me.  I couldn't tell if she was just angry or if she was genuinely afraid that I planned to hurt Vivian.

Those of us still at the house kept a strict schedule.  Joan called out of work and watched out front as much as she could, only taking breaks for naps.  During this time Helen would watch and we would all hold our breath, hoping this wasn't the time he chose to attack.  In the daytime either Ruth or I would take a nap, then we traded off shifts for sleeping at night.  The other one would stay awake with her eyes locked on her phone, waiting for the text that he had come.  It would be the person on night shift's job to make sure everyone else was awake.  After three nights with no texts, the adrenaline was running out and it became harder to stay awake for my shifts.

It didn't help my nerves that the house was tense.  The more on alert my cousins became the more they bickered with each other, and both mom and Fitz weren't talking to me.  This meant that in the day, when I had time to myself, I would take my phone and hide out somewhere away from everyone else.  I spent most of this time waiting for the text from Joan or texting Lennox.  I had told them our plan and they seemed just as eager for it to be over as we all were.  I liked having someone who seemed worried about me but was removed enough from the situation that I didn't have to worry they'd be in danger.

I was hiding in Aunt Maggie's room by sitting on the ground behind her bed and texting Lennox about how draining waiting was when the door creaked open, and Fitz walked in.  Even though I was confused why he had decided to come in the room, I knew I couldn't let him see me, so I stayed hidden.  He was clearly focused on the task at hand and didn't bother looking around the room.  He walked straight to Aunt Maggie's closet and slid the mirrored door open.  He had already seen them open the tunnel once, so he reached down and pulled it open.  I silently cursed myself for getting him involved in all of this.

He slipped into the tunnel and closed the passageway behind him.  At this I left my hiding spot and moved to follow him.  Before I went down the tunnel I paused and thought about what he would find there, trying to remember if there was anything that would give him more information than he already knew.  In an ideal world, he would look around and find nothing.  That would put his mind more at ease than my involvement, but I knew I couldn't risk him leaving the tunnel with information, so I quietly pulled the shelf out of the way and followed him down the passage, closing it softly behind me.  

My plan was to stay pressed against the wall of the tunnel, out of sight, unless he seemed to find something that gave him information.  If he did, I would have to stop him and convince him to drop it, the more he knew the more danger he was in.  From my spot in the tunnel, I couldn't initially see him, but I could hear his footsteps as he looked around the room.  He seemed to be picking things up and setting them down again, then I heard the familiar sound of the chair scrapping on the floor.  As long as he kept looking it seemed like a good sign that he hadn't found anything, so I stayed hidden.

After a while he went to look at the far bookshelf and stepped into my line of sight.  He picked up each book in turn, read the cover, flicked through a few pages, then returned it to the shelf.  With every book his expression grew more disappointed.  He pulled the plant on the shelf off and searched the planter, almost dumping all of the potting soil onto the ground.  He bent down to clean up his mess and I had to stop from laughing at him.  Something about my little brother thinking he was a spy was hilarious to me.

I had just decided that it was safe to leave him in there alone, and that I needed to head back to my hiding place before he started coming down the tunnel, when my cell phone let out a loud ding.  My heart leaped than sank.  I had been keeping the ringer on in case Joan texted when I was looking elsewhere.  He pivoted, searching the room while I covertly tried to check and make sure it wasn't Joan.  It was just Lennox.

"Who's there?"  He called out, his voice betraying his fear.

I stayed hidden, not daring to return to Aunt Maggie's room in case he heard my footsteps.

"Joan?"  He asked nervously, then he started walking toward me and I was frozen in place.  Realizing there wasn't a good solution, I stepped out into the room.  

"Why are you snooping?"  I asked, crossing my arms.

"Me?"  He asked, incredulously, "you're the one spying on me."

I had no defense to this, so I just ignored his accusation, "Really what are you doing in here?"

"Just because you won't tell me what they're up to doesn't mean I'm going to drop it." 

"I told you what they were up to," I insisted, "nothing.  I was just being paranoid."  I had committed to this story whole heartedly.

"Then why did you lie about what was in the room?"  He said gesturing around us to indicate the lack of electric panels and water heaters.

I once again had no good answer and got the sickening feeling that this was not going to end well.  I decided to try a different tactic, "Fitz I know you don't trust them but I'm your sister can you please just trust me?"

"Tell me what's going on and then I'll decide." 

"I can't."

"You won't.  I'm not going to go round and round like this with you.  If you won't tell me then I'll make them tell me."

"They're not going to tell you either."  I said, frustrated.

"So, there is something to tell?"  

"What happened to not wanting to be involved?"

"I want my sister to be alive at the end of the summer so if you're involved, I'm involved."

"You don't care about me; you just want to be in my business like always."  An anger I didn't know I held started to flare up inside of me as I remembered all the times when I was younger where having to look after Fitz interrupted my time with my cousins.  He wasn't just putting himself in danger by looking for more information, he was once again inserting himself where he didn't belong.

"Shut up, Addison."  Then he pushed past me and walked down the tunnel.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I already told you; I'm going to ask them what's going on."  With that he made his way out the front door and to the front of the yard where Joan and Helen were about to trade shifts.