Class of '59 (American Journey Book 4) (32 page)

"I'm able," Mary Beth said. "Whether I'm willing is another matter."

"You don't have a choice. The police want a statement. You'll have to tell them something before we leave Los Angeles."

"I know."

"That's why I didn't go to lunch with the others. I knew I wouldn't get another chance to tell you what I've already told the police."

Mary Beth frowned.

"Please don't tell me I was shot by a burglar."

Piper nodded.

"You were shot by a burglar around eight o'clock yesterday morning."

"Piper!" Mary Beth said. "They won't buy that."

"They have to. I've already told them that I heard a pop in the backyard around eight, looked out the kitchen window, and saw someone climbing over the back fence. Then I said I ran out of the house and found you lying on the lawn."

"Did you describe the burglar?"

Piper shook her head.

"This is where you have some latitude. You can say a ninja warrior shot you, so long as you can say it to a detective without laughing. Just don't say your assailant looked like either Mark or Ben. They were seen leaving the property at the time of the shooting."

"What do you suggest I do?" Mary Beth asked.

"I suggest you say as little as possible. Say that you heard a disturbance in the backyard and went out to investigate. Say you saw someone of medium height and weight who was dressed from head to toe in black and wore a mask. You don't know the age, race, or even the gender of the burglar. You just know the person pulled a gun when you caught him or her in the yard and fired at you when you ran back toward the basement door."

"They won't buy that."

"Of course they won't," Piper said. "The police
already
think I'm hiding something. We just need to make sure they don't suspect we're hiding two boys from 1959. We need to tell them something that will allow us to get out of here and leave all this behind."

Mary Beth sank when she heard the words. She wanted to leave the shooting behind, but she wasn't sure she wanted to leave Los Angeles. She didn't want to leave Mark and Ben stranded in 2017 without money or resources or the means to get home. She didn't want to leave
Mark
.

"Do you want to leave?" Mary Beth asked.

Piper sat up in her bedside chair.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean do you really want to leave this behind? Do you want to leave Ben?"

"What do you think?"

"I think you still want to find a way to make this work," Mary Beth said. "Don't think for a minute I wasn't watching you this week. You're as miserable as I am."

"You noticed?"

"You've been miserable since we decided to leave."

Piper frowned.

"Even if I have, what's the point of prolonging this? Mark and Ben can't stay. They have a mother back in 1959, in case you've forgotten. We have a mother and a father here. We have a life here. Do you want to throw that away for a guy?"

Mary Beth smiled and put her hand on Piper's arm.

"It's funny."

"What's funny?" Piper asked.

"I'm older than you," Mary Beth said. "I've done more, seen more, and learned more, but I'm the one who's acting like a love-struck teenager. You're acting like the adult."

Piper returned the smile.

"Appearances can be deceiving."

"I don't follow."

"I've had crazy thoughts all day, Mary Beth. I've thought about putting Mark and Ben in a hotel and then bringing them to Huntsville. I've thought about skipping college and running off with Ben. I've thought about spending every penny in my savings to keep this going."

Mary Beth laughed.

"What's stopping you?"

Piper sighed and smiled sadly.

"Do you really have to ask?"

Mary Beth shook her head.

"No."

"So what do we do now?" Piper asked.

Mary Beth gave Piper's arm a gentle squeeze.

"We say goodbye – again. We tell the boys how much we love them and send them back to the past. Then we get on with our lives and hold on to our memories."

Piper gazed at her sister.

"That's a very adult thing to say."

"It's a very practical thing to say," Mary Beth said. "We don't have any options."

"I agree."

"Can you sneak them in here before we leave?"

"I think so," Piper said. "I know so."

Mary Beth smiled.

"Then do what you can to make it happen. I want to see both of them before we leave Los Angeles. I want to say goodbye the right way."

Piper took her sister's hand.

"I'll do what I can."

"Thanks," Mary Beth said. "You're the best."

CHAPTER 54: MARK

Monday, June 5, 2017

Mark held the device to his ear and tried to hear Piper's answer. He knew that the cell phone was state of the art for 2017, but for this call, it worked no more effectively than a tin can at the end of a waxed string. He stepped outside the homeless shelter and then repeated his question.

"Can you hear me now?" Mark asked.

"I can hear you," Piper said. "I can hear you much better."

"Thank God. I was getting ready to break this thing."

"Don't do that. You have enough problems."

Mark laughed.

"Tell me about it. We're down to our last five dollars."

"You won't be for much longer."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we're going to give you some money. We still have nearly half the money we won in Las Vegas," Piper said. "We think you'll need it. We want you to put it to good use."

"That's Mary Beth's money, not ours. We can't take it."

"She wants you to have it, Mark.
I
want you to have it. You'll need it."

Mark could not disagree. He and Ben would need every cent if their stay in 2017 turned out to be a long one. He tried not to think about that possibility.

"Is Mary Beth free?" Mark asked. "Can she talk now?"

"She can't. She's in her room. She's with my folks."

"Will they be there all day?"

"No," Piper said. "That's the good news. Mom and Dad are leaving at one. They are going to lunch and then to a store. Mary Beth and I gave them a long list to things to buy. If we're lucky, they will be gone at least two hours. You can see us after they leave."

"What about the nurses? Will they let us in?"

"They will if you identify yourselves as cousins. They let a cousin see the patient in the next room, but they refused a group of friends. For some reason, they draw the line at family."

"Then I guess we're cousins today."

"You can even say you're
kissing
cousins. Mary Beth would like that."

Mark laughed. He would miss Piper almost as much as her sister. He digested all that she had told him and then turned his attention to another matter.

"Has Mary Beth spoken to the police?" Mark asked.

"She has," Piper said. "She talked to a detective on Saturday."

"Does he believe your story about a burglar?"

"I don't think so. He pressed us hard for a description of the assailant and rolled his eyes when we gave him Zorro. He also questioned our timeline, the sequence of events, and our general attention to detail."

"He's suspicious," Mark said.

"He's
very
suspicious. The only thing he doesn't suspect is that I shot my own sister."

"That's comforting."

"It's unnerving," Piper said. "I've lied more times to the police than Al Capone. If they ever find out I'm lying, I'll have bigger things to worry about."

"It won't come to that."

"I hope not. I want to spend the next year in a dorm and not a prison."

Mark laughed and shook his head as he held the tiny phone to his ear. He appreciated Piper's humor almost as much as her courage. She had taken some big risks in the past few days and had come through for at least three people.

"What do your parents think of all this?" Mark asked.

"They haven't said much," Piper said. "They were in shock, like the rest of us, most of Friday and didn't say anything substantive until Saturday afternoon."

"What did they say then?"

"They asked me if I was lying."

"Are you kidding?" Mark asked.

"No. I'm not. One reason they doubt my version of events is because it's at odds with a recording of my call to the dispatcher. The recording apparently picked up a second voice when I attended to Mary Beth. The detective asked me about it twice. I told him both times that I was alone with Mary Beth from the time I called to the time the ambulance arrived."

Mark's admiration for Piper increased again. He wondered how many times he could thank someone who had made so many tough decisions in the span of a few days.

"What do your parents think now?" Mark asked.

"I don't know. They haven't said much more about the case. They are almost completely focused on Mary Beth's recovery and returning to Alabama."

"What about the Bells? Have you talked to either of them?"

Piper paused before answering.

"I have. I spoke to Professor Bell briefly, by phone, on Saturday."

"What did he say?" Mark asked.

"He didn't say much," Piper said. "He asked me how I was doing. Then he asked me, point blank, if Mary Beth and I had entertained any male visitors Friday morning."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him we hadn't. I didn't know what else to say. I can only imagine his reaction had I told him the truth."

"You did the right thing," Mark said.

"I hope so. I just can't figure out why he asked the question. It's not like Mary Beth or I know any guys we could have called over at eight in the morning."

"Did he let the matter drop?"

"That's the thing," Piper said. "I don't know."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean Professor Bell wants to speak with me again later today."

"Will he be there when we're there?" Mark asked.

"He shouldn't. He said he would visit the hospital around three."

"Then we will definitely be there by one. What do you want us to do when we arrive?"

"Go to the large waiting room on the second floor," Piper said. "Keep a low profile and don't tell anyone you know Mary Beth or me. I'll come for you as soon as I can."

"OK."

"There's one more thing."

"What's that?" Mark asked.

"The Bells will leave their house around two thirty and not return until at least six. They plan to take my parents and me out to dinner after they see Mary Beth. Give some thought to going back to the mansion then. It may be your best chance to enter the property unseen."

"I understand."

"Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell Ben I miss him," Piper said.

"I will."

"I'll see you at one."

CHAPTER 55: BEN

Ben sipped bitter coffee from a paper cup, gathered his thoughts, and then gazed across an outdoor picnic table at a brother who had the answers to his questions. He continued with the questions as soon as a noisy garbage truck pulled away from the La Brea Avenue Mission.

"Did Piper say more about the shooting?" Ben asked.

Mark shook his head.

"She won't either. She's tired of talking about it. She just wants to go home."

"Did she say that?"

"She did in so many words.

"I refuse to accept this," Ben said.

"You have to accept it.
I
have to accept it. Piper and Mary Beth have lives here. They have friends and family here. They have a future here. We don't. We live in 1959."

"We could live here. I know we could."

"We could," Mark said. "We could live the rest of our lives without a mother too. Do you want to give up Mom and all our friends and relatives for Piper?"

"No."

"We don't have a choice, Ben. We have to go back."

Ben couldn't disagree. He knew deep down the gig was up. He lived in the age of Sputnik, Edsels, and
I Love Lucy
. Piper lived in the age of Voyager, Teslas, and
Game of Thrones
. He had seen the program advertised on the sides of buses all weekend.

"So what's next?" Ben asked.

"We go to the hospital at one. We see the girls for an hour or two, say our goodbyes, and then return to the house as fast as we can."

"Why the hurry?"

"The Bells will be gone from two thirty to six," Mark said. "Piper said the professor and his wife plan to visit the hospital around three and then take the McIntires to dinner. That means we'll have a few hours to access the property, enter the tunnel, and go home."

"That's plenty of time."

"It is."

"It seems so simple," Ben said.

"It won't be."

"What do you mean?"

Mark looked away and stared at the street for a moment. When he finally looked again at his brother, he did so with eyes that revealed fear, worry, and sadness.

"Think about it, Ben. What did we leave three days ago?"

"We left a house full of mobsters."

"What will we return to?"

Ben sighed.

"I get it."

"Piper is going to give us the rest of the Vegas money. She wants us to put it to good use. I think the only we way can do that is to buy a gun this afternoon."

"You think we'll need one?"

Mark nodded.

"We may need two. When we go back through the tunnel, we will go back to the house as we left it. It will be nine thirty on May 2, 1959. One man with a gun will be trying to kick in our door. A second will be trying to break through a window. A third will be roving the grounds. We may have to shoot our way out of our own home."

"Did you lock the door in the hallway?"

Mark shook his head.

"The men will have unrestricted access to the entire house. We may walk into an ambush the second we open the door from the tunnel to the basement."

"We can't win a gunfight with mobsters," Ben said.

"We probably can't," Mark said. "If it comes to that, we'll be dead within a minute."

Ben pondered that cheery prospect as two police cars sped by on La Brea Avenue. Suddenly he had more to think about than a hospital visit, a painful goodbye, and a broken heart.