Bats in the Belfry Read online

  “Please, call me Price,” he said before giving Mr. Taylor a look she didn’t quite understand. If she hadn’t been looking, she would have missed it because it was only there for a minute, but she saw it. They shared the same gleam like understanding in their eyes, but it was quickly gone, replaced by talk of cars and logistics. Lane looked down at her knitted fingers under the table cloth and tried to brush off that nagging feeling that something else was at play here.

  The waiter came and took their orders, and while waiting, Price turned his attention to her once again. "So, Miss Bennett—"

  "Please call me Lane," she said trying not to seem as awkward as she felt.

  He nodded once. "Only fair. How do you like working at Luxury Corp?"

  I hate it. "It's truly an eye-opening experience. I get to learn a lot about cars," she said plastering a fake smile on her face before sipping her water.

  Both men laughed. She avoided Mr. Taylor's gaze. "Well that's certainly a good skill to have." His gaze scanned her face, while keeping a gentle smile on his lips. They were sitting quite close, and she didn't understand why seeing as she was here with Mr. Taylor, and she was his assistant. She felt odd.

  Their meals arrived and she barely ate while she kept her gaze on the table. Both men tried including her into their conversation, but with simple one word answers she quickly returned to silence. That was until Mr. Taylor excused himself to use the restroom leaving Lane and Price alone.

  "So, Lane are you seeing anyone?" Price asked causing her to choke on a small piece of meat.

  She coughed into her napkin while his large hand patted her back. When she could finally breathe again, she stared at him wide eyed before taking another sip of water. "What?"

  "I'm sorry I didn't mean to catch you off guard. But you're a very beautiful woman, and I long for very beautiful things."

  She swallowed, glancing at the path Mr. Taylor took, hoping he might be on his way back. Who was she kidding he probably knew what was happening right now. Why else would he invite her to a meeting where she didn't have to record a single detail. She gaped at Price, with no words coming from her lips.

  "Lane."

  She jumped when she felt his hand on hers. "Hmm."

  "You must know that your value is far greater than the average."

  She blinked down at his hand still on hers. What was happening? She spotted Mr. Taylor on his way back and quickly shook her hand out from his. "What are you talking about?" she whispered.

  He smirked straightening himself as if nothing had been said. "I'm glad I got to meet you, today, Lane," he whispered before turning his attention back to Mr. Taylor who took his seat.

  Lane sat still for the rest of the meeting, but now she knew for certain something was very very wrong.

  ***

  Olivia

  6 years ago….

  “Do you live around here because I know you don’t go to my school?” Olivia asked taking in the passing street lights as they illuminated the dark morning. They were almost to her house, and so far, he hadn’t said much, which to her extent was a relief considering how nervous he made her.

  He gave her a brief look before turning back to the road. “No, I don’t go to school around here.” Just then Honest by Kodaline begun playing on the radio, and Olivia found her hand on the volume turning it up. He looked at her, brows up, surprised she did that, but she didn’t notice, just kept moving her head in time with the beat.

  He caught himself smiling looking back and forth between the road to her while her head went from side to side. She was something else he thought, two minutes in the car with her, and his mood had already done a three sixty. What was it about her?

  When she noticed his expression, her head stopped and a slow embarrassed smile danced on her lips. “Sorry, I kinda have a thing for that band.”

  “It’s okay, you seem to be really enjoying yourself there.”

  “Yeah well, I caught my friends' brother sneaking out one night when I slept over at her house, and I told him I wouldn’t rat him out if he took me to wherever he was going. Turns out it was Kodaline’s ‘In a perfect world’ concert all the way in New Haven.”

  “And he took you?”

  “Yep, all the way there in his beat up old Mazda, stuffed in the back seat with three of his friends. When we got there, he got my ticket from a scalper for almost twice the actual price and scowled at me almost the whole night. I was surprised I liked the band so much considering I like my music a lot noisier, and less mellow and lovie dovie.”

  He chuckled giving her a side glance. “They are a pretty cool band. I ah…actually went to that concert to….Strange.” He remembered being at that concert with his friend Jodie, who had won the tickets from a local radio contest. That was when he had fallen in like with the band’s music too.

  “What is?” she asked curiously probing.

  “Well, that we didn’t meet then. I definitely would have remembered that.”

  “Maybe because we weren’t meant to meet then,” she said eyeing him coyly while resting her head back against the seat. “This was probably how it was always supposed to happen.”

  “Hmm, you could be right about that. So, I’m guessing you believe in faith and things happening for a reason?”

  “Not per se. Haven’t really thought about it, but I figure some things were just meant to happen a certain way. Like a bride leaving her fiancé at the alter only to bump into the guy who she was really supposed to marry.”

  “That’s not faith, that’s just shit luck on the groom’s part.”

  “I don’t believe that. If she was really supposed to marry that guy she would have. Plus, the other guy was better looking.”

  “And you're seriously referring to Kodaline’s High Hopes video aren’t you,” he said with a knowing smile.

  She was busted and grinned his way. “And you really are a fan. For a moment there I thought you were shitting me.”

  He laughed. “You would have had me too if I hadn’t seen that video more than once.” He studied her hair, moving a strand away from her eyes before turning back to the road.

  “What is it with you and my hair?” she mumbled after his fingers were gone.

  “I don’t have a thing with your hair.”

  “Yes, you do." She rolled her eyes, shifting her body to face his. "You have that look that almost everyone gets when there curious about something.”

  “I’m not curious, I’m fascinated. It’s an unusual shade of red. Something you don’t see on every single red head or wanna be red head.” Just then, the rain really came down, covering the windscreen to the point where he had to turn on the wipers on warp speed.

  “So where are you actually from?” she asked.

  He glanced at her before looking away. “Around, nowhere special.”

  “Wow you are such a fun guy, glad we had this talk,” she said sarcastically patting his arm.

  He laughed. “What exactly do you want me to say, you're practically a stranger.”

  “Who you offered to give a ride. If you weren’t prepared to answer any questions you should have let me walk.”

  “And you would have gotten soaked.”

  “But you would have been free to drive in silence.” She winked as he shook his head. She was beautiful, more so up close than he had thought from afar. He didn’t expect to like her as much as he did, and when he watched her fingers press the screen for the volume once more, his happiness suddenly shifted to dread. He knew what he had to do; it was the worst part of the entire charade. She would soon hate him, as much as he hated himself.

  “My house is on the next street up ahead.”

  ***

  Lane…

  The meeting was quickly over and they were back in the car headed to the office. Mr. Taylor didn’t speak and neither did she, as she watched the speeding cars in the other lane. Lane didn't know what to make of the entire thing, it was so weird, and left such a disgusting taste in her mouth, that she urged to
get back to the office, and maybe stuff her fingers down her throat, to get it all out. It wasn't just a feeling anymore; she knew within her gut that those men were into some shady things. They were hurting people, maybe even killing them. She had to find the truth; she had to know.

  During the rest of the meeting Lane found herself drifting in and out of their conversation, seeing as she really didn’t want to be there, and after Price's declaration, she simply wanted away from them both. Then there was the moments where she found Price's chocolate gaze on her, almost commanding her not to look away, and she couldn’t. She found herself staring as much as he was, only, when he wasn’t looking.

  Soon they were pulling into the underground garage, and was headed up to the office. As soon as the door opened, Mr. Taylor disappeared into his office, and Lane returned to her desk, getting ready to leave for the afternoon. She was physically and mentally drained, and didn't want to be anywhere near this place. Once she was all packed up, she told Mr. Taylor she was leaving before heading to the elevator.

  Pressing the button, she waited for it to arrive as someone was on their way up. When the doors opened Sylas’s, smile came into view causing her to halt mid step. He exited, and gestured his hand toward the open elevator indicating for her to get in.

  Sylas, a big gorilla of a man with long dark shoulder length hair held back behind his ear, stood as tall as Mr. Taylor, and was as big as a body builder. Today he was sporting a black eye, and a split lip which made Lane wonder about the dead guy who put it there. “Good afternoon Miss Bennett,” he said curtly.

  “Sylas.” Was all she could muster before walking into the elevator and pressing the button repeatedly for it to close.

  As it did very slowly, he winked, and waved mouthing the words. “Bye, bye now.”

  Twelve

  She got home two hours later after waiting an hour in the grocery line for a loaf of bread, eggs and peanut butter. Walking up the steps to her apartment she caught K.C on her way out. “And where are you off to dressed like a sluttier version of Rihanna?” She wore a red corset, black leather shorts and a pair of knee high boots.

  “That’s because I am Rihanna. Did you forget that tonight’s the pre-Halloween party down at The Bar?”

  Lane rolled her eyes, remembering the stupid party she was forced to attend every year. Didn’t know why John insisted to have a Halloween party in June. “The Bar? I used to work there.”

  “Great, so you can get us free drinks.”

  “Oh, I don’t think you need me to get free anything with the way you’re dressed, and I’m not going.”

  “And why the hell not?” K.C whined with her hands on her hips.

  “Because one, I worked there almost everyday for three years and I don’t want to party there too. Two, I hate my boss, and had a rough day as usual, and three I have an exam to study for that I haven’t even begun to cram into my brain and the exam is in five days.”

  K.C pouted making her way down a few steps. “Well, you will be missed my friend and I want the details of what happened with Taylor. Preferably sometime tomorrow around two,” she shouted, disappearing from view.

  “Sure thing,” Lane said opening her door and heading inside.

  Turning on the lights, she dropped her keys in the bowl on the side table by the door before heading into the kitchen and shoving the entire plastic bag into the fridge. Turning into the bathroom, she flicked on the light, and shimmied out of her jacket, which fell to the floor with a small thud. Remembering her phone was still in the pocket, she grabbed it off the floor pulling it out, when the picture came to mind.

  Opening the gallery, she found the slightly blurred picture with only six of the twenty codes on it. Not knowing what to make of it, what to look for, or even were to go from there she shut her phone off, thinking of how stupid she was for thinking she could figure it out on her own.

  Tuesday…

  She went to work with the feeling that someone was watching her. With the thought that Mr. Taylor knew what she had been up to still in the back of her mind, she kept looking at him through his door trying to figure out if he knew something. She knew the paper was no longer there because the cleaners came by the night before and got rid of all the garbage, and even if it had been there she wouldn’t know what to do with it anyway. She was left with plan B; getting into his computer, which was password protected. She didn’t know how she would do it, but she had to find a way.

  Wednesday…

  She ate lunch with Tiffany, Rory and Cortney again, only this time the girls were talking about sex. Lane was forced to think back to the only sexual encounter she’d ever had. One she never wanted to think about again due to the sheer fact that it wasn’t something she wanted.

  Scott Knight was the guy who moved into Britney’s old house a month after she’d moved away. They had grown into fast friends since the very first day he arrived, and ever since then she always had a secret crush on him. He was very cute, older by two years, charmingly sweet, and looked at her like she meant everything to him. Even though she already had a brother, Scott became closer to Lane than Tristan ever was.

  They spent many nights talking about everything under the stars, from music, to movies, to their futures. He made her laugh most times when all she wanted to do was cry and even learned to play the guitar so he could play her favorite song at the time, ‘Drops of Jupiter.' She admitted she wasn’t so sure about the whole love at first sight thing, but she loved Scott for everything he was from the moment he'd said, ‘Hello.’

  One Saturday when Lane was sixteen and bored being home alone, Scott invited her over to watch a movie, but his friends called him halfway through forcing him to leave. He had left Lane alone, told her to wait that he would be back soon, and made her promise not to leave. Twenty minutes after he left, his dad came home drunk as he always was, and he took a seat next to her on the couch. She hated his father almost as much as his own wife did, mostly because he was the worst kind of drunk. The kind that would beat on their wives until they drew blood from almost every part of their bodies. Scott’s mom had left them six months prior, leaving Scott with the mess that once was his beloved father.

  Sitting on the couch he started rambling on about a bunch of different things, and then he told her how beautiful she was and how he always looked at her. She felt strange because what grown man looked at a sixteen-year-old girl, the way he was looking at her in that moment. She told him she had to go, but his hand clamped down on her arm keeping her in place. The next thing she knew he was leaning in and kissing her neck. The scent of alcohol flooded her nose as he picked up his pace moving his hand up her thigh drawing her legs apart. She tried closing them shut, but every time he would squeeze her thigh so hard, she could do nothing, but open them up to stop the pain. She didn’t know she was crying until the wetness slid down her cheek.

  She never went back to that house. Never spoke to Scott again even though he had done nothing wrong. He tried talking to her a couple times, but she couldn’t look him in the eyes without seeing his father. Two months later Scott left for college, and a week after that, Mr. Knight was arrested for raping a young girl from the local high school where he worked as a janitor.

  Lane didn’t tell them that story though. Instead she made up some bullshit lie about it being with her high school sweetheart who quickly parted ways when he went to Ohio State, and slept with someone else. This was why she didn’t have friends she thought. They shared too much.

  After work she went to K.C’s, who was still hungover from the party last night, and was laid out flat on the floor making hand gestures about everything Lane said. “So, what was it you found on your boss that was so important you forgot to tell me?”

  “I didn’t forget… you were preoccupied.”

  “Right, so hit me. What you got?”

  Lane grabbed her phone off the couch finding the picture before throwing it into her lap. K.C picked it up looking at it confused. “Mmm hmmm, right…what exactly
am I looking at? Is it your picture taking skills because I gotta tell you it needs some work.”

  Lane rolled her eyes. “No, okay so I found that list in Mr. Taylor’s office the other day.”

  “And why is it so blurry, and out of frame? And where’s the rest of it?”

  “In the dump, I don’t know. I couldn’t get the whole thing. I was kind of in a hurry?”

  “Then how’d you get it in the first place?”

  “I snuck into his office while he was in the bathroom and almost got caught?” Lane immediately regretted saying all that, and had to quickly cover her ears as K.C bit her a new one. She went on and on and on about how stupid she was for not following the rules of snooping.

  When Lane got to her apartment that night, Cole called again. She loved hearing his voice and how he made her laugh every chance he got. Talking with him made every other shitty thing going on in her life at the moment almost seem nonexistent. Most nights since she’d met him, she always stared at the empty space on her bed and wondered if it will ever be filled. She wanted to feel him curve around her body and know that he was there. Loneliness was all she ever had, and knowing she had someone who cared about her, but couldn’t be here for her made it worse than being alone, because now she thought he didn’t care enough. She wondered if she wasn’t enough to want to be with, and inside it hurt when he said it wasn't her, but himself. She never saw his faults, only his strength.

  Thursday…

  K.C’s mom had surgery. She couldn’t go to the hospital because Mr. Taylor needed her for a car expo in Hillsboro, which she had to suffer through endless hours of speeches, and looking at car after car followed by a walk through and then lunch with most of the car’s creators. When that was over, she had the long four hour drive back to the office, which was awful because Mr. Taylor was once again being creepy with his eyes.

  She rushed home that evening to find K.C sitting on the floor in front of her apartment door. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she figured the bottle of tequila in her hand had something to do with it. Her mother had died. She said her surgery went well, but an hour later the complications set in causing her to slip into a coma. She died two hours later.