Pathfinder

Part 2 - 19

NINETEEN – LEXI

Today was my first day at my new job and it was turning out to be a crazy initiation. Ron Depew Jr. had just walked into my office, frantic, because his little brother had supposedly been kidnapped. I knew that name immediately and cringed. This was Brody's nephew. The closer I looked at the boy, the more I realized how much he resembled Brody. Or at least the Brody I knew. I had no idea what he looked like now.

"Alright, Ron, calm down and start from the beginning."

"Call me Ronny. My dad is Ron." Ronny sneered through that explanation, which told me how he felt about his father. Then he explained, "Ricky texted me to tell me that dad had taken him and wasn't going to bring him back unless Uncle Brody paid him five million dollars. Dad doesn't know that mom just got us cell phones, so Ricky is texting in secret."

I processed all of this information and told him, "Ok Ronny, tell Ricky not to text anymore, because we don't want him to get caught and have your dad take the phone away from him. Tell him, we'll be in touch soon with instructions and help will be coming."

While Ronny texted his brother, I tried to figure out what the next step should be. Shit, now what? Should I call the police? Should I, heaven forbid, call Brody? Should I turn this issue over to the school principal? Maybe I should just call Cammy? How serious was this? Was Ronny or Ricky prone to exaggeration or was there serious danger? I should call the police, I decided. That would be the safest and smartest option. Just then Ronny's cell phone rang, in his hand, making us both jump. His eyes widened, "It's Uncle Brody...hello?"

I tried to pay attention to what Ronny was saying to his uncle, but I couldn't. Brody Vincent was on the other end of that line. It was the closest I'd been to him in six years. I suddenly desperately wanted answers. Was Brody married? If so, was he happy? What was his wife like? Did he have kids? What were his kids like? What did he do for a living? What had he studied in college? Did his parents still try to dictate his life? Did he let them?

"Uh, earth to Miss Green." Ronny was waving a hand in front of my face. He shoved his cell phone at me, "Uncle Brody wants to talk to you."

No, no, no, no, no. The word kept swimming through my brain, but I shakily reached out and took the cell phone. I put it to my ear and stammered, "H-hello?"

"Hello Lexi."

Hearing Brody Vincent say my name, for the first time in six years, had me sucking in my breath, suddenly unable to breathe freely. I was already melting, damn it. I couldn't though. I needed to be strong. I couldn't afford to allow myself even to daydream about what we could have been. He'd broken my heart once and it had never fully mended. I couldn't let it happen again. So I swallowed passed the lump in my throat and attempted to be professional, "Hello Brody, your nephew tells me that his brother is a bit of a bind. Should I call the police?"

"No! I'm going to handle Ron Depew." The way Brody spoke told me that I didn't know this man anymore. The Brody I used to know could never use such a cold tone and the way this new Brody used it, with such ease, told me how much he'd changed.

Taking a deep breath, for strength, I told him, "Listen Brody, this is my first day on the job, so I haven't really been briefed on the proper protocol for a situation like this, but I'm pretty sure calling the police is what I should be doing."

"Lexi, please, give me a chance to take care of this myself. What do you think will happen if you call the cops? They'll go in, guns blazing, and something could happen to Ricky in the process. If Ron panics then he could either outright kill him or Ricky could catch a stray bullet. I can't risk that happening. I have to be the one to do this." Brody pleaded.

I sucked in a breath and whispered, "And if a stray bullet finds you?"

"Then I'll finally get what's been coming to me. Cammy should be there soon to pick up Ronny." Brody told me, matter-of-factly, and then disconnected the call.

I sat in silence, staring at Ronny's phone, while I tried to figure out what just happened. One minute I think that I don't know Brody anymore and that I don't want to know him. Then the next minute, I feel like vomiting at the thought of him getting injured or worse. Of course, I've never wished him any harm, so feeling remorse that something could happen to him was completely normal. It was the level of remorse I felt that wasn't normal. I glanced up at the clock. School had just let out for the day, so I knew the halls would be brimming with students. I'd planned on greeting some of them in the hallway, after school, to introduce myself, but that plan was out now. I felt nauseous and I didn't know what I was doing anymore. Just then a woman stepped into the room, but I hardly recognized her as Brody's sister.

"What? Lexi? What are you doing here? Wait, what happened now? You look like you've seen a ghost." Cammy stated in her blue jeans and t-shirt. Who was this woman? The Cammy I remembered never had a hair out of place and always wore the fanciest of clothes.

"She just talked to Uncle Brody." Ronny said, eyeing me again. He added, "You do look familiar and mom knows you. Wait, I remember now. You used to date Uncle Brody. You used to have purple hair!"

I nodded and said lamely, "My hair hasn't been purple for years."

"What did Brody say?" Cammy asked, but when I glanced at Ronny, Cammy understood that I didn't want to talk about it, in front of him. She addressed her son, "Ronny, go get your things out of your locker and meet me at the car."

Ronny did as he was told and as soon as he was out of earshot, I explained, "I told Brody I wanted to call the police, but he doesn't want me to do that. He wants to handle it himself, because he's afraid the police might do more harm than good. He doesn't want Ricky to get hurt if the police show up and Ron panics."

"Ok, yes, I suppose that makes sense." She nodded.

"He's going to do something stupid, Cammy. Brody is going to sacrifice himself and he doesn't even care if something bad happens to him. He said it's what he deserves. What does that even mean?" I asked, starting to panic myself. For the last six years I've lived with the knowledge that Brody was living his own life, his own way, without me. It had been hard to become accustomed to that, because I thought we'd had a future together. Now, the thought that he might do something to put himself in harm's way, I couldn't bear the thought. I wanted him breathing, even if we weren't together. I still cared about him. Hell, if I was being truthful, I still loved him.