Chapter 38 - Aiden
Bill says things like ‘eliminate me from the investigation’, but all I hear is ‘suspect number one’. The paranoia is well and truly setting in when he leads me to a small room and asks me if I want anything to drink.
I’ve seen the movies. I know what happens in rooms like this. I get left here to stew for hours as they try to extract a confession from me. Even though I know that I’ve been camping for three days, even though I know I’ve had nothing to do with this fire, I still feel partially responsible.
I shouldn’t have said those things to my brothers. I shouldn’t have said it to Maddy! What if she told Bill that I’d threatened to burn the place down the morning of the fire? That’s how people get convicted of crimes they didn’t commit.
I jump as the door opens and Bill drops a steaming cup of coffee in front of me. He gives me a wink and sits down.
“This shouldn’t take too long, Aiden. You’ll be out of here in no time.” He flicks a switch on the recording equipment. “Right, so can you state your name for the record?”
“Aiden Clarke.”
Bill nods. “And where were you on Thursday night? That’s the night of May 24th.”
“I was out on Wolf Mountain, camping up at site over there. I stayed there until this morning. Uh.. Sunday.”
“Was anyone with you?”
“No.” My heart starts thumping as Bill nods, staring at the sheet in front of him.
“And can anyone confirm your whereabouts?”
“I told my brother Ethan I was going. I stopped for gas on the way there, about 1pm. I bought firewood at about 6pm from a shop at the base of the mountain.”
“Up at Wolf Mountain?”
I nod. Bill points to the recording equipment and I clear my throat. “Yes.”
Bill nods and winks at me. He shuffles his papers and taps them on the table. “Well those are all my questions. Thanks for your cooperation Aiden.” He flicks the switch on the recording equipment and winks at me again. I frown, not knowing what all these winks are about. “Thanks Aiden. All done! If you want to go see the site, I’m heading up there this afternoon.”
“Sure, that sounds good,” I say. Bill extends his hand across the table towards me. I shake it, and he leads me out of the police station. When I get outside, the sun is shining on my face and I look around me in a daze. I was 100% sure that I’d be in jail right now. I thought Bill would be interrogating me for hours. He didn’t even look like he believed me when I told him I was camping six hours away.
I shake my head and walk towards my truck. Old Man Wilson is passing on the street and he waves to me from the other side.
“Morning,” I call out. He crosses the road towards me and reaches his hand out. I shake his hand and he pulls me close with a devilish grin on his face.
“You’re your father’s son, you know that, Aiden? Everyone in town is talking about you.”
I frown. “About me?”
Old Man Wilson grins at me and rubs the side of his nose as he winks. “That’ll teach those corporate fuckers.”
He shuffles off and I stare back at him, my mouth hanging open. I look around at the buildings around me and I shake my head. He thinks I did it! They all think I did it! Bill even thinks I did it! I spin around and stare at the police station. An officer walks out and looks over towards me. He gives me a meaningful nod before heading towards his cruiser.
My jaw is still hanging open. They all think I did it, and they’re happy about it? No one seems upset at all. I climb into my truck and start driving down Main Street. Before I get to the end of town, I make a hard-right turn and head towards Dominic’s house – a small shack right at the edge of town. I jump out of the truck and stomp towards the door.
“Dominic!” I yell as I bang on the old wooden door. “Dominic! I know you’re in there!”
The door swings open and my brother’s huge body appears in the opening. He looks me up and down and then nods me inside, stepping aside for me to pass. As soon as he closes the door I spin around towards him.
“Dominic, what the fuck is going on? Did you do this?”
“Do what?” he asks innocently, walking past me to sit down on his couch. He glances at the TV before turning the volume down and looking back at me.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I snip. “Was I interrupting something?” I say, looking at the TV.
“Kind of, yeah,” Dominic says with a grin. He pauses and then chuckles, waving to his sofa. “Come on, Aiden. Sit down.”
“Tell me you didn’t do this! Did you burn down that hotel?”
He looks at me and grins before shaking his head. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to.”
My heart is thumping and I look at my brother for a moment before swinging my eyes around the room. He lives just like I do – it’s simple and minimalist, but it’s always clean. I sink onto his sofa and put my head in my hands.
“Everyone thinks I burned it down, Dominic. Old Man Wilson just shook my hand over it! Bill even thinks I did it!”
Dominic chuckles. “Typical. We do all the work and you get all the credit.”
“Credit! It’s a crime! We could go to jail! I didn’t even do it and I’m afraid of going to jail!”
“Police don’t seem to be in a hurry to catch anyone.”
“What about when the McCoys start putting pressure on them? When the company puts pressure on them? They’re going to want answers!”
“They’ll pick up their insurance checks and run,” he says with a snort. “The site will be left like that until the forest reclaims it, and no one will ever be charged.”
“How can you be sure, Dominic! How do you know?”
Dominic grins and turns the volume back up on the TV. “Bill Whittaker said so himself, right before he torched the fucking thing.”
“What!”
Dominic just laughs and I watch him, my heart thumping and my jaw hanging open. It feels like I haven’t closed my mouth in hours, ever since I started driving back. Dominic shakes his head and laughs.
“You were always way too afraid of getting in trouble. Even as a kid. Do you remember the time you told Mrs. Wheeler that you thought about not doing your homework. You handed it in on time, but you still apologized for thinking about not doing it.”
Dominic swings his gaze towards me and smiles as he shakes his head. “That’s why we didn’t ask you to help, Aiden. We had to show you the site before we did it to make you understand. I know that girl has you all twisted up inside, but that hotel would only have brought trouble.”
“You guys were planning this all along? So your comments about burning it down… You were being serious? Bill was in on it?” My head is spinning. What town is this! It’s like I live in the Wild West. “And wait, twisted up inside?”
Dominic just settles back into his chair. “It’s for the best.”
I nod and take a few moments to compose myself before standing up to leave. I run my hands through my hair and let all the air out of my lungs. I don’t know what to think. If everything works out the way he says, then could they be right to have burned it down? It’s such huge destruction, it can’t possibly be okay…
But they did save the area from the decades of overuse and destruction that would have come had the hotel been built. They stopped the McCoys from gaining more ground in town.
The townspeople seem happy about it, at least. I mumble a goodbye to Dominic and walk out in a daze. My head is spinning. When I get to my truck, my phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out and look at Maddy’s name. My heart starts beating faster as I read the message.
Did you do it?
As soon as I see the words, my heart sinks like a stone. I can deal with the townspeople thinking I did it. Whether they’re happy, or mad, or sad about it – I can deal with them. But in Maddy’s message I can hear her pain and outrage and I can’t take it. I can’t deal with her being mad at me.
All the feelings from Thursday morning rush back to me, and I see her face as she raced away from me. I can see her tear-streaked face. I can see the anger and sadness and outrage in her eyes. I read her message again and I feel that same emotion in those four little words.
I can only answer the truth.
No.