Erica Spindler - In Silence

"Sure you did."

"It's true. I needed to reach you…your cell number wasn't working and I couldn't call here because I didn't want anyone to know we were in contact."

The gun wavered. Gwen narrowed her eyes. "You needed to reach me? I seem to remember you telling me you wanted nothing to do with me."

"That was before Trudy Pruitt."

Her already ashen face paled more. "What do you know about Trudy-"

"I was there last night. She called me, set up a meeting. When I got there her door was open, her trailer ransacked. I found her in the kitchen…on the floor. When I saw your door…your place, I…I thought they'd gotten you, too."

For a long moment Gwen simply stared at her. As if evaluating her words, deciding if she was being truthful. Then with the tiniest nod, she lowered the gun.

"Thank you." Avery let out a shaky breath. "That's twice in two days I've found myself staring down the barrel of a gun."

From the hallway came what sounded like someone climbing the stairs. They both swung in that direction. Gwen darted toward her door and shut it. She locked the dead bolt, then looked at Avery. She held a finger to her lips and pointed at the bathroom.

Avery indicated she understood. A moment later Gwen closed them in it, crossed to the tub and started the shower. White noise, Avery realized. To muffle their words, in case someone was listening.

That done, Gwen crossed to the toilet, lowered the lid and sank onto it. She dropped her head to her hands.

After several moments Gwen lifted her head and looked at Avery. "I thought I was dead."

Her voice shook. So, Avery saw, did her hands. She clasped them together.

"A woman called," Gwen continued. "She said she had information about The Seven and about Tom. We were supposed to meet tonight."

"She didn't show."

"No. She was a decoy."

"A decoy? You mean to lure you away from here?"

"To deliver my warning."

"I don't understand."

"I interviewed Trudy Pruitt yesterday. She told me The Seven exist. Past and present. She said they killed Elaine St. Claire. That they always deliver a warning before taking action. A terrible threat."

"Elaine St. Claire was warned?"

"Yes. She and Trudy were friends. They both served drinks down at Hard Eight. One day Elaine just up and disappeared."

"She took the warning seriously and left Cypress Springs?"

"Yes. A couple months later, Trudy got a letter from the woman. Apparently a representative of the group had paid St. Claire a late-night visit. He had made this weapon…a phallus with sharp spines and a knife blade imbedded in its tip.

"The man told her she had been judged and found guilty-of moral corruption. Because she slept around. A lot, apparently. He told her he would give her what she loved-that he would fuck her to death."

Avery pressed her lips together to hold back a sound of horror. She recalled what Hunter had told her about Elaine St. Claire's death. The two stories jibed.

Gwen stood. Avery sensed she was too jumpy to remain seated. "They warned me tonight. A cat…they gutted it, left it for me. At the meeting place. They meant to frighten me."

"And they succeeded."

"Hell, yes. I'm terrified."

"You've got to get out of Cypress Springs. Now. Tonight. I'll keep in touch, let you know what I find out."

"What makes you think you're immune?"

"I don't understand."

"You're not one of them anymore, Avery. If they discover you're onto them, they'll kill you."

"I'll make sure they don't find out."

Gwen laughed, the sound hard, humorless. "It's too late for that. They've seen us talking. You've asked questions around town. They see everything, Avery. Everything."

"I'm not leaving until I know the truth about my dad's death."

Gwen looked at her. Avery understood. Gwen wouldn't leave until she knew what had happened to her brother.

"We're in this together then," Avery said.

"Guess so."

Avery rubbed her arms, chilled. "In the interview, did Trudy Pruitt say anything about me or my father? Did she say anything about Sallie Waguespack?"

Gwen shook her head. "She talked exclusively about The Seven. I've got it all in my… Oh, no."

"What?"

"My notes!"

Gwen leaped toward the door, yanked it open and raced into the bedroom.

Avery followed. Watched as she tore through the debris littering the floor, looked under the bed and in the armoire, expression frantic.

"Gone. Everything is gone. My notes. Interview tapes." She sank to her knees. "They get away with murder."

"No, they don't. We won't let them." Avery crossed to the woman. "I believe you. God help me, but I do. Together, we can beat them."

Gwen shook her head. "We can't beat them. No one can."

"That's what they want us to believe. That's how they've gotten away with this for so long." She held out a hand to help the other woman up. "Tell me exactly what happened tonight, everything you've learned so far. I'll do the same. Together, we'll figure this out. We'll go to the state police or the FBI. We can do it, Gwen. Together."

"Together," Gwen repeated, taking Avery's hand, getting to her feet, returning with her to the bathroom. There, Gwen explained the events of the day, from the woman's call to finding the gutted cat and running for what she assumed was her life.

Avery thought a moment. "And you have no idea who the woman was?"

"None."

"Did she call on the pay phone in the hall?" Gwen shook her head. "So she had to go through the front desk. Did you ask-"

"Yes. They said they didn't know who it was. Said they assumed it was a friend of mine from out of town."

"But you don't believe that?"

"I don't believe anything anymore." She laced her fingers. "What about you?"

Avery began with the first anonymous call. "She said Dad got what he deserved. That I would, too. Before that call I was struggling with the idea of Dad killing himself. After it-"

"You didn't buy it at all."

"Yes. She called a couple more times. She accused Dad of being a liar and a murderer, of helping frame her boys for Sallie Wagues-pack's murder. She said she had proof."

"Why did you believe her? Everything you've told me about your dad-"

"I found this box of newspaper clippings in Dad's closet. They were all from the summer of 1988. All concerning Sallie Wagues-pack's murder."

"His having them supports Trudy Pruitt's claim."

"Not necessarily. Her murder was the biggest thing to ever hit this town. It was a shock, a wake-up call. He was civic-minded. He probably followed the story because he-"

"Avery," she interrupted gently, "he clipped all those newspaper articles and kept them for fifteen years. There has to be a reason. Something personal."

Avery knew she was right. She had thought the same all along. But no way had he been an accomplice to murder. No way. She told Gwen so.

The other woman didn't argue. "When did you learn your caller was Trudy Pruitt?"

"The same afternoon she was killed. I goaded her into telling me her name. I promised that if she showed me proof of her claims, I'd make it right. That I'd find a way to exonerate Donny and Dylan. We set up a meeting for that night."

Avery pulled in a deep breath. "She was still alive…she tried to tell me something but died before she could."

Gwen's expression altered. "Didn't you know? They cut out her tongue."

"Are you…that can't…" But it was true, Avery realized, picturing the woman's face, her bloody mouth.

They fell silent. Gwen broke it first. "Seems to me that shoots the whole random-act-of-violence thing to hell."

Avery winced at her sarcasm. Shifted the subject. "Buddy let me look at his records of the Waguespack murder. Everything seemed in order, but I keep coming back to that box of clippings. And my belief that Dad wouldn't take his own life. And now, all the deaths." A lump formed in her throat; she swallowed past it. "Who are these people, Gwen? Who are The Seven?"