Swell (Complete)

Chapter Forty-Two (Part One)

"I'm finding this out the hard way,
Nothing's quite what it seems."

....

Dodge felt the shove of shock and took a deep breath as he looked down at his cousin.
"Wh-what do you mean?" Her eyes were watering and guilt made him feel sick.
"Gus didn't drown in his car."
"But... we saw it..."
He put his hands gently on her shoulders. "The coroner found evidence of trauma to his head, and his lungs were empty."
"Trauma?" Adora's voice shook and faded, he knew she understood what he was trying to say.
"Gus was murdered." He said gently. "Dead before the water."
Her face pinched and she shook her head. "No. No, he couldn't have been. Brett was attacked, not Gus..."
"Adora, I'm sorry." He pulled her into his arms and put his hand on the back of her head.
He felt Adora's head shaking against his chest and she pulled back.
"No, this isn't right." She took a deep shuddering breath and froze.
Dodge felt his own face pinching as he watched Adora's face try and process the news.
"I can't breathe." She whispered and he realised she hadn't drawn a breath.
He reached out as she started to hyperventilate and gasp.
"I'm here, its gunna be alright." He pulled her into his arms and rubbed her back.
He felt her take a deep breath and he breathed it out with her.
Her arms wrapped around his neck and he closed his eyes.
"I'm here." He repeated. "I've organised to take you home, you can sit your business exam another day. You've had enough."
She didn't argue, and it broke his heart as he felt her nodding against his shoulder.

Adora didn't come back to music, and while they kept practising without her, Will kept looking at the door hoping she would return.
His chest was tight and when Kurt and Rae were distracted he sent a text message to Adora.
'Are you OK?'
He didn't expect an answer straight away, but he kept looking at her microphone, still on the stand and fighting the urge to go and find her.
Relief filled him when the lunch bell rang and they finished the rehearsal. He packed his guitar up and watched as Rae started to pack up the microphone.
"I'll see you two tomorrow." He lifted a hand and waved as he picked his guitar case up and left the room.
He ignored the rain as he walked along the Esplanade and the hard case of his guitar flicked it back against his pants. His hair was stuck to his face by the time he unlocked the front door to the house.
Marti had her art presentation this afternoon, their parents were working and Tom was probably seeing Debbie.
Will was grateful for the empty house. He put his guitar in his bedroom and collected a towel to dry off.
"Hey." Tom's voice surprised him and he turned around with his hair ruffled in the towel.
"Hey yourself. What are you doing here?"
"Where else would I be?" Tom leaned against the doorframe with a frown.
"Having a break with Debbie?" Will lowered the towel to his shoulders. There was something about his brother's face that dropped. "You alright?"
"Debbie isn't really speaking to me." Tom looked down.
"What? Since when?"
"Since she told me she lied, back in Richieville."
"I'm sorry." Will tried to figure out where Tom had been going all the times they thought he'd been with Debbie since they returned.
"I wish I could remember that night." Tom came in and sat down heavily on Will's bed. "I really thought Debbie was telling the truth about us being together. I was that drunk, and it was so easy to just go along with it."
"I wish you could remember too." Will sat on his guitar stool, still too damp to sit on his bed next to Tom. "Considering you weren't drunk when Adora got the doll though, I'm pretty sure you're good."
Tom rested his forearms on his thighs and leaned forward. "Have you asked her to the dance yet?" He looked up at Will, and Will looked out to the rain sliding down his window.
"I was thinking about doing it today, but Dodge pulled her out of rehearsal and she never came back. I sent her a text to see if she was alright, but she hasn't answered." Will swallowed a lump.
"What do you think has happened?"
"I want to think nothing has happened, but considering the past few weeks... I'm worried."
"Do you think Gus was the one doing everything? That it's over now he's dead?" Tom sat up straight, an almost hopeful twinkle in his eyes when Will looked back to him.
"Would be kind of nice if it was all over, but I don't know how family could try and kill each other like what happened to Brett."
Tom heaved a sigh. "Yea, I guess that is a stretch."
Will shrugged. "I guess if it was Gus we'll never know for sure."
"Is it wrong to hope for that?"
Will looked at the carpet by his feet and ran his hands over his hair. "I dunno."

Will dropped his guitar off when he dropped Marti off for her psychology exam the next morning. He stood on the pavement staring at the beach for a while before he decided to head towards Brett's.
So much had happened since they'd met, and Will had barely spoken to Brett since asking permission to date his best friend.
Brett deserved better friendship than that.
Tara looked as tired as Will felt as she led him to Brett's room from the door. He could feel the collective despair before she had even opened the front door.
"Hey." Will stepped into Brett's room and looked over the braces on Brett's legs and the wheelchair beside his bed.
Brett blinked out of a daze and his lips twitched a form of smile. "Hi." His voice was hoarse and Will shut the door before he sat on the stool beside Brett's bed.
The air was awkward. They'd both lost someone recently, like Adora.
"I'm sorry about Gus." Will started.
Brett looked to his window and remained silent for a while. Will saw his jaw clench and unclench a few times and frowned.
"He was murdered." Brett finally muttered.
"What?"
"They did an autopsy, he didn't drive himself into the water, he was already dead. His head was beaten from behind, and his spine was..." Brett choked on the ending.
Was that the fate that had been meant for Brett the night of the party?
Will suddenly felt sick with the thought and realisation that Gus could no longer be a suspect of convenience.
Not if he'd been murdered.
"I don't know what to say." Will shook his head as he whispered.
Brett scoffed and shrugged. "What can anyone say?"
Will could have gone his entire life without anymore death to grieve for, but two murders in such a close timeframe?
He felt ill.
"Isn't the music assessment today?" Brett broke a long silence.
"Uh, yea. A couple of hours."
"Did you get all the pieces down?" Brett looked to Will from the window.
"Yea, thanks. Is there anything I can do to help you somehow?" Will frowned worriedly.
Brett's first genuine smile crossed his lips. "Find out who's murdering everyone."
Will scoffed this time. "Don't I wish..."
"Are you taking Adora to the dance?"
Was it safe? Brett had almost been killed because of his relationship with Adora, Gus had been killed. Will could only guess it could be for the same reason.
"I want to."
The stalker had been quiet since they thought Gus left, he had been such a convenient suspect.
"Scared?"
Will shrugged. "A bit, also unsure if the timing is worth it, I mean, she just watched Marti and I bury Liss last week, and now..."
"Gus."
"Yea." Will looked down at his hands.
"I'm not going to the dance, she deserves a good time with someone I know she feels safe around. Especially after this, I can do shit to help her like I am."
Will remembered the conversation in Richieville where Adora had all but begged him not to avoid or push her away.
He closed his eyes and her words echoed in his mind.
She had said she felt safe with him.
He knew he wasn't going to hurt her, or anyone else she was close to.
He opened his eyes and looked to Brett, who was looking back out his window.
Finding out Liss had been murdered had been devastating; Will didn't want to imagine losing a family member to murder.
"Adora trusts you, so I trust you. I'm asking if you can help Iain and Dodge keep her safe."
Will's mouth slackened and guilt churned in his stomach. "I don't think they'll let me."
"I know her well enough to imagine the suffocation she's feeling at the moment. She loves her cousins, but when her Dad died she withdrew from them. I'm hoping she doesn't do it for Gus, but if she does, I don't want to think of her alone, or going back to her depression."
Will nodded slowly. "I get it." He muttered. "I can try."
"Thanks."
The room lapsed into silence again as Will thought about the heavy atmosphere in the house.