Someone's In Trouble (BOOK TWO OF THE WICKERNHAM TRILOGY)

Chapter One

One, two, three, four, five. Rubbing my eyes, I counted again.

One, two, three, four, five.

Since when were there black spots on the top of Saul's snout? Not to mention that there were five of them, and for the sake of clarification, they weren't just tiny tinges of black that could pass as dirt or maybe even dead ticks. These were pea-sized black dots that looked...unnatural.

"Wuff!" With a bark, Saul jerked out of my clutches and dashed across the patio to where my mom had just placed a fresh bowl of dog chow. As he went I couldn't help but stare as his bobbing tail as it went left, right, left, right...

The last couple of hours had been a blur. After Tanya's death and The Duke's escape, things hadn't been the same for both Layla and I, as well as the entourage in my head. This brief respite from all the raucous banter in my mindscape (yeah I've decided to call it that) was mainly because of Phil, who hadn't spoken a word since his wife's passing.

Truth be told, I had no idea what to say to Phil. I know; I've read tons of books and watched countless movies and in those, there were a few occasional scenes where somebody loses their loved one. In all those cases, the protagonist will always manage to come up with something simple and yet eloquent to say.

Me? I was out of words. I didn't want to say something that might potentially make things worse, but at the same time saying nothing at all didn't seem right.

Not very surprisingly, Lenny was the first to express his condolences at his friend's loss. As we waited for Layla to radio us some help, Lenny approached the grief-stricken Phil tentatively.

"I am so, so, sorry, old friend." Lenny sighed. "Ani-Tanya was a wonderful woman, and I truly regret not being able to get to her more before she, y'know...Anyway, anything that you need–"

"It's alright, Leonard." Phil's voice was brisk, sharp, and cold, like the hail on a dark winter's night. "I think I'm perfectly fine, thank you."

Leonard. He's never called him Leonard before. It was always 'Lenny'.

Shrugging, Lenny mumbled something along the lines of "I tried" and "stay strong, buddy" before he too, turned silent.

Well, I thought. If you'd actually tried you wouldn't have messed up his dead wife's name in the first place. Boy, turns out I wasn't the only one with awkward social-skills.

I would say that it was Layla who almost got Phil to open up. After radioing for help, Layla came back to where I was kneeling – which was right beside Tanya's dead body – and sank to her knees on the opposite side. She placed her left hand delicately on Tanya's face, right over her wide-open eyelids. When she lifted it again, Tanya's eyes were closed.

I'm not gonna lie, despite the violent death, now that her eyes are shut, Tanya seemed more...at peace.

Layla studied Tanya's bloodied face, her expression veiled. Moments later, she leaned forward and planted a kiss on her forehead, despite the gory gunshot wound.

"Despite the multiple misgivings in her life, Tanya was a brave woman who has the biggest heart that I've ever seen. If it wasn't because of her, I wouldn't be kneeling here right now. I will forever be in your debt, Mrs Rogers."

Turning to Phil (me), she whispered in a solemn tone, her voice cracking. "You have all my condolences, Phil."

For a split second, I felt a warm rush of emotions from Phil, but as sudden as it appeared, it subsided. Once again, the icy coldness returned.