because apparently it looked a little strange to others when you turned up somewhere without a car. I argued that we could just say we took a cab, but Aiden didn’t agree.
Personally, I thought he was just itching to get behind the wheel again. After all, neither of us had driven a car since we were last on the Gold Coast. There wasn’t much need for cars in Thailand. Most people got around on scooters or rickety old motorbikes because the streets, or rather the dirt tracks, were barely wide enough for one car. And on some tracks, if there were two cars trying to pass in certain sections, one would inevitably roll down a hill or something. That was why we mostly stuck to transporting, walking, and the occasional use of the rickety old bikes.
We were seated in Aiden’s BMW, on our way to Chelsea’s house. It was strange being surrounded by civilisation after avoiding it for the last three weeks. I had always thought there would be no way that I could ever move, yet there was something to be said for living with only the simple pleasures in life.
“We could go back, you know, after all this is finished,” he said. Aiden had dropped his mind barriers so I knew he felt the same way about Thailand as I did.
“That would be nice,” I said with a smile, although I couldn’t see that day happening anytime soon. For some reason, someone was hell-bent on tormenting me, and I had a funny feeling that I had only seen the beginning.
“Are you nervous?” he asked, pulling up outside Chelsea’s house.
“Is it that obvious?” Never had her little townhouse seemed so daunting. I was eager to speak with her to find out what had happened with my mum, and what her funeral was like because I hadn’t been able to risk coming home for my own mother’s burial. I got out of the car and walked hand in hand with Aiden up the pathway to her house. There were lights on in the lounge room, and I could see the flicker of light coming from the TV, so I knew someone was home.
I knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer.
A few moments later, the door was opened by Marie , Chelsea’s mum. The moment she laid eyes on us, she just about passed out. She looked like she had seen a ghost, and I had to wonder just what had everyone thought had happened to me… to us.
Thinking about it, I realised the cops should’ve been going nuts, trying to figure it out. First, they had a murder on their hands, then the murdered victim’s daughter was missing and so was the daughter’s boyfriend and his family. Knowing how the police usually worked, I figured they would probably think Aiden had something to do with it.
“Thanks,” he said, sounding unimpressed by where my thoughts were going.
“Yeah, well, you thought it, too,” I replied in my defence . Once my thoughts had picked up on what the police would be thinking, Aiden came to the same conclusion I did.
Only that wasn’t what was on Marie’s mind. She wasn’t thinking about my mother’s murder. She was wondering why we were back, and why we had all disappeared to begin with. After everything that our families had been through together, why had we just up and left without saying good-bye? Her daughter was heartbroken. Her expression had changed from shock to annoyance. “You’re back, hey?” Her tone was cold.
I couldn’t blame her for resenting me. After all, she did think that I had just taken off right after Chelsea was kidnapped. But what I didn’t understand was why she thought we had left? Why didn’t she have any thoughts about my mother’s murder?
Neither Aiden nor I could answer that question. All we could go by was what she was thinking at the time. And it wasn’t as if we could just come right out and ask because whatever was going on, I was almost positive it had something to do with the bastard that was stalking me.
“Um… yeah,” I answered evasively. “Is Chels home?”
She didn’t answer right away. She was assessing the situation,