“I’m sorry you got hurt in the process,” I say. “And that Jessa was so frightened, I’m sure, when I-know-who drove off with her.”
He nods with a grave expression. “Yeah. We’re all ready to get back to calmer times. Go ahead and call Wes to tell him you’re comin’ down. I need to make a couple calls.”
“Okay. Um, see ya. There’s clean towels in the closet in the guest room for tonight. And the bed was just changed so it’s ready for you. And lots of food around. Make yourself at home.”
He smiles. “Thank you, kindly. And can I just say, I’m real glad he’s got you. You’re good for him.”
“Thank you,” I say. “That’s very nice of you to say.”
I move to the counter and grab my phone and call Wes to ask him if he can follow me to my grandfather’s place.
He tells me he’s happy to do that and that I can come down now. He’s already parked beside my Range Rover in the underground.
53
Killian
The cops are coming by Genesis tomorrow to meet with me and Jagger. They want to go over plans for New Year’s Eve with me a little earlier than planned and want to do it somewhere other than Numbers.
My staff, the ones not in on drugging me, don’t know why all four locations are closed until New Year’s Eve, but the ones not in on trying to fuck me probably don’t care since whoever is on schedule will get paid. Have the closures made the people planning to rob me suspicious I’m onto them? I don’t know.
I do know this meeting with the cops fucks with my plan to go to Tillamook, but maybe that’s a good thing. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll go there after or just stay at one of my clubs for a couple days. All my offices have couches.
Since I’ve had flashbacks today about Tillamook that are haunting me a little, it’s probably not the healthiest place for me right now. I keep getting flashes of Violet running from me toward the water, but instead of her stopping and crying like she did the day she found out who was downstairs, I get visions of her walking into the ocean and disappearing underwater and not coming back up.
Although I’m still seeing things I know aren’t real, it’s with less frequency and not as vivid, so while my head is filled with alarming shit, at least now I know what’s real and what isn’t.
Jag was released from the hospital, too.
He and his woman are staying in a hotel tonight nearby and he’ll be there at the meeting with the cops, too. Sounds like he had some hallucinations that are fucking with him, too, but not near as bad as what I’ve been dealing with.
I’ve slept for a few hours and eaten some pasta, courtesy of Tony who cooked.
Violet is at her grandfather’s house. Her cousin Colleen is there, too, with Violet’s other cousin Wendy who I haven’t met yet. She arrived this morning from Alaska for a week-long visit and Violet wants me to attend a big family dinner planned at Violet’s grandfather’s on New Year’s Day. I’m hoping that by then, shit will be resolved. All the shit.
They’re calling tonight The Cousin Sleepover Spectacular and Wes is parked outside with plans to swap with another private eye named Abe for second shift. I’d say I’ll sleep better knowing that at no time will Violet’s grandfather’s house not be watched but I probably won’t sleep much tonight anyway.
Not only because I won’t have her beside me, but also I’m still sick in my gut about the whole fuckin’ thing. One minute, I’m having a drink of some top shelf scotch that I got as a gift from Guy with my old friend Jag, shooting the breeze about Christmas, and the next, reality and a nightmare are melting together in a collage of confusion. My heart raced and first I felt like I was looking down at my life happening inside one of Violet’s Christmas snow globes, watching myself, detached, and trapped as I saw the crazy shit I was doing and heard the whacked things I was saying and yet I couldn’t stop myself from doing or saying them.
I’m still untangling it all while dealing with the guilt, the anger and then the anger at myself for how I reacted to her when I woke up, when I started to realize all that had happened.
I should’ve been home that night after the club, feeling good about the future, knowing Iadanza was gone from our lives but that his suffering wouldn’t end, knowing we have a solid plan to tackle any security issues on New Year’s Eve or at any other time. Looking forward to coming home to my beautiful, pregnant wife and feeling good about the direction we’re headed in. Getting excited about our Tahiti trip.