William Jarvis - Sky Valley 04 - Murderous Coffee Crumble Read online

  “But a good man will tell the truth.” Daniel said.

  “Ah, Daniel,” Jimmy said, “You know life’s not always in black and white. It’s not that easy. You have to be a man, sure, but we all have different ways of doing so. I’m trying to be a man for my family.”

  His words shook Emmy. It made her feel like he really knows something but for some reason, possibly because his family’s life might be in danger, he refuses to divulge what he knows. “Jimmy,” Emmy said, “I know…I know that you’re probably just trying to protect your family but you have to at least tell us what you know. Remember that all of us have families, too. You loved Annabeth, right? I can see that you did. And…and maybe, that’s the reason why you chose to be the fall guy. Maybe, it’s because you didn’t want Annabeth’s life to be in vain. Well, you’re letting her death be nonsensical because you do not want to tell the truth. You can still make things right, Jimmy. You have to help us.” She went on. “Tripp’s behind this, isn’t he? What was the original plan? And…and Lena is, too, isn’t she? Why are they doing this? Jim, please.”

  Jimmy took a deep breath and paused for a couple of seconds then spoke again. “I know you have a good heart, Emmy, and I know you’re only trying to do what you think is best, but believe me,” he went on, “this is how things are supposed to be. You’re supposed to live your own life and just move on, and I’m supposed to be here. And…my family has to stay safe. I’m sorry if things are still crazy right now but what can I do? I’m supposed to stay here. I’m here, now you go and live your own life, too.”

  Emmy sighed. “Someone paid you, am I right? Someone’s asking you to keep quiet? Damn it, Jim, you have this chance to get out of jail and make things right and you’re still hell bent on keeping the truth away from us? What the hell is wrong with you?” Her voice was rising which made some of the police officers look at them.

  “Em, that’s enough.” Daniel said.

  “So, that’s it then?” Emmy said in frustration.

  “I’m sorry.” Jimmy said and motioned for the policemen to come get him. “It’s time for you to go.”

  Emmy felt like crying. It was like once again, the world has crashed down upon her, driving her to hell and not letting her come back up.

  CHAPTER 7

  STILL UNANSWERED

  “Em,” Daniel said as they got out of the car and were walking on Emmy’s lawn. “Emmy, talk to me.”

  Emmy wasn’t talking to him. In fact, she was not talking to anybody. She just wanted to get inside her room and stay there and not talk to anyone until Jimmy tells her what she wants to hear. She continued walking until she reached her room, blocking everyone’s voices out. She didn’t want to hear them anymore. She just wanted to be alone.

  Daniel forced open the door of Emmy’s room before she even got the chance to close it.

  “Dan, please—“

  “No,” he said, and closed the door behind them. “We have to talk.”

  “What do you want to talk with me about? You were the, Dan. You heard what Jimmy said. You know how disappointed I am right now. What else do you want?"

  "I just want you to talk to me and treat me like...like I'm here. Like you need me. Because I am here, Emmy. I'm here."

  Emmy didn't know what to do anymore. She just found herself crying and rushing into Daniel's arms. "It just hurts like hell." She said. "It feels like we're really on the losing end now and...and everything my parents worked hard for will be gone just like that. It's so hard. And the worst thing is that I feel like all of you have given up."

  "You know that's not true." Daniel said. "We came with you to see Jimmy. I want everything to be solved just as much as you want them to. Just because I don't show it as much as you doesn't mean I don't care. Your dad does, too. Maybe, he's just trying to move on from this the best way he could."

  "That's what he's good at, you know? Moving on when things are still crazy. He is so good at pretending that everything's fine. Then next thing you know, he's just gone. It's like he doesn't care anymore."

  "But you have to understand that he actually lost his wife and the coffee shop that he worked hard for all his life. It's not that easy to grasp, Em."

  "Yeah and he could lose me, too."

  “But you have to understand that as much as you lost your mother, he lost his wife, too. And now, he has to come to terms with the fact that he almost lost everything he worked hard for all these years, as well. And you know, that’s not a very easy thing to deal with.” He the held her hand. “I know that this isn’t easy and knowing that Jimmy doesn’t want to tell you what he really knows but Em, this really isn’t the end, you know? There’s more that we could do.”

  “Like what? What could we possibly do to coax Jimmy to tell us what he knows? We can’t blackmail him. We can’t just scream and shout in jail because those police officers are certainly Lena’s cohorts. What do we do now?”

  “Maybe, we have to do more research…see what could have happened that pushed Tripp and Lena to do this, if they’re really the ones behind this. I mean, Tripp pretty much may have felt threatened by your father and he may have felt like he can’t be like him. I mean, he had this successful line of business and you’ve been a great daughter—“

  “Oh stop with that, Dan.” Emmy said. “You know how shitty I am.”

  “But compared to Annabeth? You’re a million times better.”

  “So, what? He did this just because he wants to be like my dad? He wants to have what my father has?”

  “That’s not impossible.”

  She sighed. “But Lena?”

  “That we have to know.”

  She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay.” Daniel said. “You know I can’t be mad at you. Anyway, I have to get going now. I told Nana I’ll accompany her to the clinic today. You want to come?”

  “I’d love to,” Emmy said, “But I feel like I’m better left alone right now. Could you drop me off at the Carnival?”

  “What are you going to do there?”

  Emmy shrugged. “I just need to take my mind off things for a bit.”

  Daniel took a deep breath. “Alright.” He reached out for her hand. “Come on.” He smiled.

  They then went out the door and out of the house, the sadness enveloping them once more.

  CHAPTER 8

  WHAT DO YOU EVEN WANT?

  The air was crisp and the flowers were beautiful. The carnival never fails to make Emmy feel one with nature; make her feel one with Sky Valley.

  It was the place where she spent a lot of time in when she was still a kid; the place where she got together with Daniel once more. For her, The Carnival was a place that made dreams come to life; a place where you could forget who you are and the things that are bothering you for a brief moment.

  She walked around, even bought a cup of soda, and watched as parents helped their kids get to the carousel, or play some games. Somehow, it made her miss the moments she spent here with her parents; moments that made her feel alive.

  She found the bench where she and Daniel got back together again and sat down on it. For a while, she closed her eyes and just thought of that day when she was there with Daniel. She remembered the letter that sealed the deal; the letter that reminded them of their love for each other.

  Dear Daniel,

  Do you remember the last time you told me that you loved me? I told you not to say it anymore, but it wasn’t because I didn’t want you to. It was because I knew that if I reciprocated, I would probably find reasons to stay, because frankly speaking, you’re enough of a reason to stay. But I can’t.

  I can’t stay because I don’t want to complicate our relationship…but somehow, I’ve already made it complicated, haven’t I? That’s what I always do. I complicate things.

  I’m so sorry for leaving you. I’m sorry for leaving Sky Valley.

  I’m not even going to send you this letter because I probably would just flake out on you again, and
you don’t deserve that. Dan, you deserve someone who’s going to be there for you in every possible way; who’d make cakes for you; who’d be the girl of your dreams, and I know that right now, that person isn’t me yet.

  Maybe someday, it will be me, and by then, I can afford to give you this letter.

  Someday. But not today.

  I love you and I always will.

  Emmy

  On that day, things seemed easy and she was full of hope. She thought that things would finally be okay even if she had a nagging suspicion that Jimmy wasn’t supposed to be in jail and that there’s something he’s hiding from them all.

  She thought that love would just easily help them survive. She thought that it was the way things are supposed to be; like when Prince Charmings come in Fairytales ad the princesses are saved from the things that are dragging them down. Except for the fact that well, this isn’t a fairytale and she’s definitely not a princess.

  She wonders how things have gotten this complicated; why everything is so hard right now because this definitely isn’t what she envisioned when she came back from Paris. But then again, you can never expect things to be what you want them to be—especially because she’s no longer a child and things like these should not come as a surprise to her anymore. But still, when she thinks back on it, she realizes how hard and challenging it is—and she feels like as each day passes, she has to learn how to do what she could to make this better or else everything will really fall down to pieces.

  “Daydreaming, aren’t you?” Someone beside her said.

  She opened her eyes to see who it was and saw Serena sitting down next to her. “Jesus Christ.” She sighed. “Can’t you spare me a second?”

  “Don’t be so mad.” Serena said and lit a cigarette. “You don’t own this place.”

  “You don’t even know how much this place means to me.”

  Serena laughed. “You’re so nostalgic.” She said. “That’s why you’re so naïve.”

  She took a deep breath and looked at Serena. “What do you even want?”

  “Nothing.” Serena said. “I just wanted to take some time off, found this carnival.”

  “And found me in the process?”

  “You hate me so much when you’re the one who threatened my marriage.”

  Now it was Emmy’s turn to laugh. “You really think your husband’s a saint, don’t you?”

  Serena took a deep breath. “You don’t know anything about my relationship with him.”

  “Yeah? Tell me about it.”

  Serena looked at her, took another deep breath, and spoke. “He was the only one who got me, you know?” She opened up, which surprised Emmy. Serena went on. “When I was in High School, no one really gave me the time of day. I grew up with my uncle, he lives in Mountain City, and for a while I lived with him because mom was so busy at work. I doubt people knew she actually had a daughter for a while because I’m never with her. She never really brought me here because according to her, she want to spare me from her crazy work schedule and from her line of work in general. I thought that was insane because hello, she never spent time with me! She never did then one weekend, she came home and there was this boy outside our door, asking for food. We asked him where his parents were and mom tracked them down and found out that they were crazy, doing drugs and all that…Long story short, she took the kid in, we moved out of my uncle’s place, and she treated him like a child.

  Of course, it was hard for me to treat him like a brother. We were already eleven by then and I didn’t really have any friends and he was there and he was so nice so…so, of course, it was easy for me to think the best of him especially because mom was not around most of the time. When we grew up, we fell for each other, and mom also sent us to Paris for college.

  You know…I feel like there’s something mom’s not telling me about and she probably told Frank about it. I mean, I can never be too sure but…”

  “Wait,” Emmy said, “Is this the reason why Frank said that he’ll do anything for this mother figure of hers? There’s something going on, is there? Where is Frank right now, Serena?”

  Serena sighed. “Look,” she said, “Forget I said anything, okay? I just…I just didn’t get to sleep much last night and I feel crazy and all—“

  Emmy grabbed hold of Serena’s arm. “Serena, you have to help me out with this.”

  She let go of Emmy’s grip. “I’m sorry.” Serena said. “But we’re not friends, Emmy.”

  “So you just open up your soul to me like that and now you don’t want to help me out? You have to help me out, Serena. You know there’s something wrong going on and yet you don’t want anything to do with it. What does that make you?”

  “It makes me my mother’s daughter.” Serena said. “Now excuse me. I have to go.”

  Emmy watched Serena walk away, a couple more beads of hope inching away from her grasp.

  CHAPTER 9

  SHE’S IN THE HOSPITAL

  “Audrina!” Emmy called out as she came back to the house. “Audrina? Where are you? I saw Serena at the Carnival, I think she can help us out but she’s afraid.” She was going upstairs to see if Audrina was in her room when Anja stopped her.

  “Miss Emmy, Miss Audrina’s not here.”

  “What?” Emmy looked at Anja. “What do you mean? Where is she?”

  “She’s in the hospital.”

  “What?” Emmy was startled. What could have happened and why was Audrina in the hospital? It all seemed so sudden. “Why? What happened?”

  “We don’t know actually…but it seemed like she was poisoned…I mean, she found this coffee crumble cake out the door, it was apparently left by someone then she took a bite and just fell on the spot. Your dad tried to warn her that she shouldn’t just eat things like that because she doesn’t know where they came from but she was adamant…And she fell and your dad brought her to the hospital…I tried calling you but—“

  “I left my phone upstairs.” Emmy stated. She couldn’t believe this was happening. Right then and there, she felt like she just wanted the earth to swallow her whole. “I’ll…I’ll just be at the hospital. Thanks, Anja.”

  ***

  “Emmy!” Troy said as he found Emmy running towards the door of the room where Audrina was confined.

  “Dad!” She said as Troy hugged her. “What happened? How is she?”

  “The doctors said she’s going to get better but she has to rest for a couple of hours, a day probably. That’s also the span of time that we have to wait for her to wake up.” He said. “She found this coffee crumble cake outside the door earlier, while you were gone and she took it in and said that there’s no way you’re going to eat it first. I told her not to eat it as she didn’t know where it came from but she still did and…”

  “Oh my god.” Emmy said. “But she’ll be okay, right?”

  “The doctors said that she will. Luckily, she only ate a few crumbs because if she ate more, she probably won’t wake up anymore or she’d be a vegetable as that cake is totally laced with poison.”

  Emmy took a deep breath. “Tripp’s behind this, I’m sure.”

  “Em,”

  “Emmy!”

  Emmy turned to see who was calling her and saw that it was Daniel, looking like he was on a rush to find her. “Oh thank god.” He said and gave her a hug. “I looked for you at the carnival. I tried calling you—“

  “My phone was at home.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m good.” Emmy said. “Don’t worry about me.”

  “What happened?” Daniel asked and Troy told him the same thing that he just relayed to Emmy.

  “So it’s deliberate poisoning then.” Daniel said. “Someone sent that cake possibly in hopes of poisoning you or Emmy.”

  “And now Audrina’s the one who got hurt.” Emmy took a deep breath. “This has got to stop.” She said, looked at them then remembered her encounter with Serena at the Carnival. “Wait, I have to tell you something.”
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br />   She then told them what Serena told her and asked her dad about this period in Lena’s life. “Did she ever ask you to uhm, I don’t know, maybe come to a birthday party of her kids and all that?”

  “No.” Troy said. “I mean, Lena and I weren’t really close, at least not after high school anymore. We did see each other a few times back in college but nothing serious and I mean…I really have no business at the police station so I never really knew what was going on in her life. I heard she had a child but no one ever saw her so, you know.”

  “I feel like she deliberately hid this from you…from everyone.”

  “Why would she do that?”

  “That’s what I’m trying to find out, dad.” Emmy said. “I mean, just look at this.” She said. “If she’s not part of this conspiracy of sorts, she probably would be here right now, trying to grill us about what happened to Audrina.”

  “Fair point.” Daniel said. “You know how quick she acts, Troy.”

  “I’m not sure about this.” Troy said.

  “Dad,” Emmy said. “I know you’re all for seeing the best in people and all that but you also have to understand that something big is going on here and it’s terrible. What if you ate that cake? I probably would have lost a father by now. Or, what if you or Audrina weren’t there and I thought it would be okay to just eat that cake?”

  “Em, don’t even go there.”

  “But that’s exactly what’s happening right now. And it would keep on happening until you figure out that someone’s trying to kill us, dad! Someone’s against us!”

  “Emmy, stop.”

  “No, Dan,” Emmy said as Daniel tried to stop her. “He has to hear this.”

  “I know, Emmy.” Troy said. “I know you’re only trying to do what’s best and believe me, I am with you on this. I just…I don’t know—“

  She took a deep breath. “Just let us take care of this,” she said. “And anyway, you should rest. I’ll stay with Audrina.”

  “I’ll be with you.” Daniel said.

  Emmy looked at him and smiled. “Thanks.” She said.