Long Live the King

Eleven

"Is the door closed?" Adrienne asked, scraping the necklace out of her pocket and tossing it onto the fresh linens.

"It is now," Marshall answered after the resounding click. "Why?"

"I think that Cleaver and I were right about what the window represents. It's somewhere Ray and I lived--which means either the manor or the Reynold's house."

"But you said..."

"I know what I said. I don't trust Cleaver... or Archer... or even Regina for that matter."

"Oh." Recognition dawned on Marshall's face. "You lied to them."

"Not exactly. I just didn't bother trying to figure it out."

"Okay," Marshall came up behind her and looked down at the necklace. "Didn't he say he'd already been to both houses though? And found nothing?"

"Well maybe he found nothing because he hadn't figured out the other clue." She lifted the pendant and tilted it toward her. A black tree branched out in the center of a silver, circular charm. "It's pretty. Let me think on this."

"Anything?" he prompted, after waiting through fifteen minutes of pure silence.

"Maybe," she finally said, through gritted teeth. "It's just very vague. It's a fucking tree."

"Right..." Marshall said, backing off at the sound of her hollow laugh. "I'm gonna order dinner from the mainland. You good with that? I was thinking pizza."

"It's not really the mainland," she corrected him without looking up. "It's just a bigger island. Pizza is fine though."

"Pepperoni? Garlic bread?"

She grunted, a surprisingly ugly sound, while waving dismissively in his general direction. Shaking his head, Marshall dialed the number and pressed the phone to his ear while looking at a copy of the glossy menu.

Adrienne continued to fixate on the necklace, her thoughts circling around the one, vague connection she was able to make. Grumbling on the inside, she mirrored Marshall's movements and punched a familiar number into her own phone. One ring came through the other end, and then a voice.

"Hello?" It didn't sound familiar. The voice was too coarse to be Leon's, and it sounded like it was coming through a mouthful of fried chicken. Adrienne pulled the phone away to look at the number--it was correct.

"Leon?" she asked.

"No," The guy laughed. "This is Ethan. Hang on a second, I'll find him for you."

There was a shuffling sound on the other end of the line, followed by Leon's familiar tone.

"Hey, who's this?"

"Leon? It's Adrienne."

"Oh, hey Addy. What's up?"

"I was wondering if I could pick your brain a bit about Ray. Do you have a minute?"

"For you? Sure. What's this about Ray?"

"Okay, well I recently found out he left me a--a note. It's really a bunch of nonsense but at the bottom there is this detailed sketch of a tree. Maybe I'm thinking too much into this but I wonder whether he was hinting at something. I thought maybe he meant to reference the tree at the manor. You remember that tree? Down by the pond?"

"Remember that tree? Of course I do. I spent half of my childhood under that tree. It was Ray's domain. It hasn't been there in a while though and last time I visited the pond it was more of a swamp."

"Oh. Well, I don't know did anything significant happen to Ray there, though? Something he might expect me to remember or try to hint at? I'm sorry to ask so many questions I just... I don't know 'hearing' from him again just has me all bent out of shape."

"No, I'm sorry Addy. Nothing I can think of."

"Damn. Well, thanks anyways. It probably doesn't mean anything anyways."

"Yeah, no problem. It's good to hear from you. When you're back in the city let me know. We'll do lunch."

"Sure thing."

"Bye Addy. Take care."

"Bye." She set down the phone and looked up. Marshall was sitting on his bed, watching her.

"So who's Leon?" he asked.

"I told you about Leon," she said, frowning. "He's an old friend of Ray--and Alice. You at least remember Alice, right?"

"Sure. Interesting that you don't say he was a friend of yours."

"Why is that interesting? He wasn't."

"How did he manage to be good friends of the two most important people in your life, but escape being friends with you?"

"The same way Alice managed to not be friends with Ray. We had no common interests. The only reason we talk now is because we live in the same city and we've bonded over a common loss. We're still not best friends or anything."

"It's just weird to me," Marshall said. He laid back on the bed, folding his hands over his stomach and staring at the ceiling.

"Whatever you say Marshall." Adrienne rolled her eyes. She stood up, leaving her phone on the sofa, and disappeared into the bathroom.

#

Used to sleeping through the night, Marshall was surprised when his eyes opened to darkness. He felt well rested, but a glance at the clock made him think that this could not possibly be. He turned his head to the side. Adrienne was still fast asleep, her abundant hair in total disarray. Carefully, Marshall pushed back the covers and swung his feet to the floor. Quietly, he ventured into the bathroom, turning on the light only after the door was closed.

He couldn't have been in there for more than a couple of minutes, but when he exited the bathroom Adrienne was wide awake and standing by the window, looking out at the beach.

"Hey," he said. "Did I wake you?"

"Kinda."

"Sorry, I tried to be quiet."

"Don't worry about it. I was thinking I'd take a walk around the hall before hopping back into bed. Didn't think you'd like it if I was just gone when you came out though."

"Yeah... that would've concerned me."

"Well anyways, I was thinking to myself while you were in there, maybe we should take a trip to Bretterville and check out the Reynold's house. I don't think we'll find anything, but I'm getting tired of seeing nothing but this island."

"You mean a day trip? It's a bit of a trek from here, isn't it?"

"Or overnight maybe, because it is kinda far for a round trip in one day. I don't know. Just something I was thinking. You can sleep on it and let me know in the morning." She paused and walked over to the door, then glanced back over her shoulder. "I'm gonna go take a spin around the hall now... by myself unless you want to join me."

Marshall looked at his unmade bed, and then at Adrienne. He seemed to be weighing the options. After a moment of indecisiveness he shrugged and headed over to join her.