If Only She'd Loved Him

Chapter 38

Friday 11:30 pm

Hustling to catch up with Matt and Paul, Jean raced down the steps.  Matt's usually calm voice was still soft, but there was no mistaking the anger lurking behind it.

"Did you have be so hard on that kid?" he demanded from Paul.  "I thought you were going to break his neck!"

"Shut up.  I did what I had to." 

"That's what they said at Nuremberg."

"Man, my girlfriend is missing!" Paul whirled on him.  "And you compare me to a Nazi?  Doesn't that mean anything to you?  I thought we were friends?"

"That gives you the right to make some poor guy wet himself?"

"Taylor, when did you turn into such a jerk?"

Thrilled at Matt's words, Jean temporarily forgot what Sean had whispered to her about Albion Lake and took the golden opportunity to attack Paul.  "Probably right about the time you started cheating on Megan."

"Jeanie, shut up," Paul replied in exasperation.  "This isn't about Megan."

"Why not?" The question that had been nagging at Jean suddenly took form in her head.  "Is it because you're the reason she's missing?"

"You have got to be kidding!" Paul exploded before her eyes.  "We still don't know if she just left on her own.  Anyway, if she didn't, didn't that wimp back there just incriminate that Erik guy way beyond a reasonable doubt?  Christ, didn't you listen?"

"Yeah, I did," Jean shot back.  "But something's wrong with this whole picture."  She slowed down, forcing Matt and Paul to match her pace.  "I want to know how Erik imitated you so well that it even fooled me?  You said you never met him.  So how'd he know your voice?"

Matt paused, "Interesting question."

Paul turned with surprise on Matt.  She was turning his best friend against him.  If he had disliked Jean before, he was really starting to hate her now.  "You've gotta be kidding me!  How the fuck would I know how he did it?  You're the one who thought it was me, or at least that's what you said."

"I know what I heard.  And what I hear was your voice, just a little bit deeper."

She was back on that track again?  Haverson had the world's best alibi that night, him.  "This is getting ridiculous," Matt interrupted.  "You already said that Megan left with this guy while Paul and I were at the Slate.  He couldn't have done it.  I was there with him."

"Not by himself he couldn't, but what if he had help?"  Jean grabbed at Matt's shoulder.  "Think, Matt," she argued ferociously.  "How else could this guy have known how to fool Megan?  He had to have practiced." She spun around to face Paul.  "Which means you had to have talked to him.  He couldn't have just guessed what you sounded like."

"Fuck this, and fuck you, Jeanie!" Paul's hands clenched into fists. "I never met the asshole.  Never even heard his name until today, and here you are fucking accusing me of engineering a kidnapping!  Jesus, what  planet are you from?  Megan was my girlfriend!"

"And Kelli?" 

"Kelli is a friend, that's it.  We went out once, no more.  Not that it's any of your business."

"No," she retorted. "My business is finding my roommate, and until you can explain how that jerk managed to sound just like you, stay away from me!"

"With pleasure!"  Paul turned to Matt.  "Taylor, what about you?  You're not going to stay here?  With her?" Anger shot through his last sentence, but Paul said the word "her" with such venom that Matt backed down.  He forced himself between Paul and Jean.

"Look," he said reasonably. "I think we all just need to calm down and think this through."  Taking Jean's arm he pushed her towards Paul.  "Jean, you're being irrational.  I don't know how this guy knew what Paul sounded like, but I can promise you that Haverson here knew nothing about this.  If you think it through, you'll see that it doesn't make sense.  Why would he bother with some huge charade when all he had to do was break up with her?"

Next Matt took Paul and forced him to look at Jean.  "And as for you, Jean's upset.  Give her a break.  We need to figure out what to do next and I'm thinking sleep will do us all a lot more good than making pointless accusations."

No one said anything for a minute, so Matt continued.  "Jean, you can't stay alone tonight.  This guy has a key to your apartment."  She had pushed that fact from her mind.  Now it returned in unsettling truth. 

"I'll be all right," she said.  The little quiver that worked its way into her body only made her square her shoulders harder. "I'll be fine," she insisted.

"No," Matt replied, taking Jean's hand into his. "You're not staying there after what we know now.  You're spending the night at our place tonight, right?" 

There was no arguing with his voice, but Paul tried. "Fuckin no." 

Matt hit him on the shoulder. "C'mon, we can't let Jean go back there.  It might not be safe. "

"She can take care of herself," Paul muttered.  "Hell, she could take care of Hitler," he added under his breath.  But Jean was still standing next to him, below him in fact, far below him.  She was little.  He could snap her neck like a twig.  So could somebody else.  He sighed.  "Yeah, she can spend the night, but then she's outta there in the morning."

"She can have my room."  Matt turned back to Jean.  "OK with you?" 

It was more than okay with her.  It was perfect.  He was perfect.  Matt had just saved her from a sleepless night, jumping at every sound.  And he'd done it without making her look weak in front of Paul.  Knowing Erik had a key to her apartment petrified her.  Though she'd rather eat glass and wash it down with acid than have Paul know how afraid she really was. 

"Yeah, thanks," she said as if she didn't care, but the smile she flashed Matt told a different story. 

"Let's go.  We'll get the locks changed tomorrow."  Matt smiled back at her, offering up his shoulder.  Jean didn't hesitate.  She wrapped her hands around his arm and clung. 

Paul stood solo, a few feet away from both of them.  Hands in his pockets, he started walking as fast as he could to the parking lot, an odd look on his face.  Jean, melting into Matt's shoulder with every step, followed.  But a question still nagged at her.  It ate at her so much that she didn't mention to Matt that Sean had told her about Albion Lake, because she didn't want Paul to overhear:  How had Erik imitated Paul's voice so perfectly?