Swell (Complete)

Chapter Thirty-Four (Part One)

"What are you so scared of?
Judgements not unfair.
It's what we've learned to see."

....

Debbie had changed her mind about going with Tom to the funeral that night she had told him about her lie.
He had genuinely been surprised and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.
She still felt like laying in his arms and smelling his deodorant, but the niggle about his real whereabouts the night of Brett's attack turned it from a comfortable desire to an awkward one.
She had left him at the pub that night, after seeing him talk to Adora outside before she left. The jealousy didn't send flares to her stomach anymore; she'd been an idiot.
But she hadn't known Adora then, she still wasn't sure how much her friend had or hadn't changed in the years they'd been separated.
Debbie sat at the small table in the hotel room while Adora and the Taylors were at Elissa's funeral.
The police had crossed the Taylors off their suspect list and that was all Debbie really knew about it.
She couldn't be sure of Tom's whereabouts that drunken night, but she could try and figure out if he was the one leaving Adora the cards and that doll.
The truth was she had no idea how she could try and figure that out. It wasn't like she was with Tom all the time, before the danger became real, she would have liked to have been with him all the time, but she hadn't been.
Could she trust her boyfriend now?
Could she trust herself?
Who else could it be stalking her friend and hurting people?
Was Tom really capable enough to nearly kill someone?
Did this girl's murder have anything to do with the Taylors?
The vibration and sudden noise from her phone on the table made her jerk and gasp from fear.
Her heart pounded when she looked at the screen and closed her eyes, trying to catch her breath.
It took longer than she would ever admit to calm her shock down enough to pick up the phone without shaking.
Adora.
'We need to talk again. I'll be back in a bit, helping Marti.'
Debbie bit the insides of her cheeks and replied with two letters. OK.
There was no way Debbie believed that just because they understood the end of their friendship from both sides now, they would be best friends again.
Adora had Marti, and Debbie had the swim team.
Debbie frowned and took a deep breath, she might not be sure now, but she was going to find out if Tom was Brett's attacker, if he was still hiding feelings for Adora.
She didn't know how she was going to find out, considering he still claimed drunken amnesia of that night, but she was going to help her old friend feel safe again. She owed her that much.

Will watched Marti reluctantly pull away from Adora as they stood in front of the motel room Dodge had booked for her and Debbie.
They watched and waited until Adora waved from the inside window before the Pajero pulled out of the motel car park and headed towards their own accommodation.
Will was desperate to be alone after everything that had happened; the funeral, questioned to be ruled out as a suspect, Adora telling him about the doll at her doorstep.
It felt strange having a clean jawline, but he had stopped shaving when they'd found Liss' note, it seemed fitting to shave for her funeral. She never had liked him skipping shaves for days.
It had been one of the fun things he remembered that made him smile, teasing her with his short whiskery jawbone when she wanted kisses; her squeals of delight and protest at the scratchy feeling.
His hand absently went to his smooth face and stroked.
"I don't think I could have made it through without Adora here." Marti's voice interrupted his reverie and he realised she and Tom were sitting at the table in the room he was sharing with her.
"Um..." He forced a small smile, how long had they been in the hotel room?
"Are you alright?" Tom frowned as Will stood up.
"Yea, I just need to go get some air." He forced a smile and got up from the bed that he was sitting on. He couldn't even remember going inside the room, let alone sitting down.
He tried to ignore the concerned glances his siblings shared as he walked past them to the door and out into the cool night.
"It's weird to see you clean shaven again." Tom's voice followed him down the pavement in the dark and he looked over his shoulder as his twin caught up.
"It's weird to feel skin on my chin instead of whiskers." Will replied.
Tom fell in step beside him and he felt his jaw tense at the lack of solitude.
"Will, how are you dealing?"
Will didn't know how to answer.
Tom's hand touched his arm and pulled him to a gentle stop. "Are you dealing at all?"
Their eyes locked and Will let go of a long breath. "I'm not sure. Being questioned, and having murder in our life..." He swallowed a lump and thought about Adora's tears when he'd answered her first phone call about Brett.
They could have been suspects in that murder, he was surprised the police had only questioned Tom about it now he thought on it.
"We didn't do it, we know that." Tom was trying to make him feel better, but it wasn't working.
"Do we?"
Tom's hand left his bicep. "Well, I know I didn't kill Liss..."
Will shut his eyes and nodded. "Yea, I know, you're right, but..." He bit down on his tongue for a few moments. "I'd love to know if she was abducted or if that note was true and she left."
"Police said we might never know, Will, she wouldn't want you to feel guilty."
"No, but she can't stop me from it."
"Will, I thought Adora being here would help... I know it's helped Marti." Tom's voice was uncertain, but a strange comfort to his ears.
"It's just a bit awkward. I want to talk to her, but Marti needs her, so trying to share her and grieve... And her at Liss' funeral... She's basically become an accidental replacement."
Tom nodded by the streetlight. "Yea, but Adora's more selfless than Elissa was."
"She's also in more danger, or maybe the same amount... I don't know."
Tom leaned back and frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Brett's attack, and the cards, and she told me about a doll..." Will looked carefully a Tom's face, trying to see any reaction.
Confusion was the main emotion that was on his reflection's face.
"A doll?" Tom's confusion tainted his voice and Will felt some kind of relief in hearing it.
"Taped up like Liss was found."
Tom's mouth dropped and gaped as if he was trying to find words.
"Do you think it's one of us?" His brother finally asked.
Did he?
He licked his lips and felt his head shaking. "No. Why would you or Marti have reason to scare the wits out of her?"
"Debbie told me something last night, she lied about my alibi." Tom turned away and started to walk again.
"What?" Will stepped in time with Tom and frowned.
"After Dodge's party, we apparently had a fight over me talking to Adora, and she left me at the pub, drunk. I still can't remember much after talking to Adora before she left. Even that's a bit hazy."
"Do you think you attacked Brett? In your car?" Will felt his stomach churning. Would Tom be that stupid in his drunken spell?
"I'd like to think I wouldn't even contemplate getting behind the wheel after that much alcohol, but the fact is I really can't remember. It scares me, a lot... I wish Brett remembered something, at least then maybe we'd have some sort of description of the person."
Tom's tone was genuinely worried.
Will had never seen his twin be violent, even in sports he practised safe tackles and defences. Part of him knew his brother was smart enough to not drive after he'd had alcohol, but part of him had been sure Tom would never have gotten that drunk in the first place.
"Do you think it's the same person?"
Will shrugged. "I don't know, it just... it's funny that things started happening when we arrived in Wheeler Falls, and I mean, I want to believe you couldn't do it, I mean, you barely even fought back when Iain jumped you... But it happened after Brett told you to leave Adora alone."
"Yea, I want to believe I couldn't do it too. I don't think anybody can deny the scary timing."
"Adora mentioned the chance it was Gus." Will thought about his conversation with Brett about the possibility.
"Well, that might work for Adora, do you thinkit's him?"
Will thought about Marti's disgust at the older man and shrugged. "I dunno, Ihaven't had much interaction with Gus. I know that Marti doesn't think much ofhim, and I don't think Brett did after a while. I just... I can't help but feelit's me."
Tom frowned. "You? As in you murdered your girlfriend after we left town, andyou're stalking Adora and hurting Brett? I don't think so."
"No, not like that." Will leaned against a light post.
"Then like what?" Tom stood in front of him with a confused expression.
"Is someone actually stalking me? I mean, my ex-girlfriend, then the next girlI start to date..."
"Well with that logic we could say it could be Marti; Liss was her friendbefore your girlfriend, so was Adora... We both know Marti wouldn't harm a fly,so is someone stalking her?" Tom's confusion turned into clear doubt.
Will looked at their shoes, his boots and Tom's runners.
Was it someone stalking them and targeting those they got close to instead ofactually targeting them?
"Gus has nothing to do with Elissa, so maybe it's not even connected. You andMarti are the only things that remotely connect Richieville to Wheeler Falls." Tom pointed out.
Will nodded slowly, trying to find a way out of his foggy head. If this theorywas true and he or Marti were the ones actually being stalked, how did theysolve it and keep their loved ones safe?
Why would someone stalking them turn affection towards Adora and then startdoing the weird, creepy things and attacking her friends?
"Will?"
"I can't understand anything right now, Tom." He shook his head and looked athis brother helplessly.
Tom barely returned the look before he turned his face away. "I don'tunderstand it either. None of this should have happened."
A cool breeze sent chills through Will's body despite his pilot jacket and hecouldn't surpress his shudder.
"Let's go back to the hotel, I think I can smell rain." He muttered, pushingoff from the streetlight.
"Are you going to keep your face shaved now? You look quite handsome cleanshaven." Tom's voice was teasing.
"Probably not, I mean, anything to look nothing like you." Will threw theretort back playfully and Tom scoffed.
"You dream of looking as good as I do."