31. Patient "X"

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"Can you walk okay?"

"I'm fine, Ma. As much as I can be."

She frowned. "I'm just making sure you're not seriously hurt."

"More than being stabbed?" I asked.

"Don't be like that, Ricky," Dad said.

"Whatever."

We exited the elevator once it hit the first floor of the hospital. Downing was waiting outside. I was to head to the department immediately.

I was extremely lucky not taking any serious damage to my body last night. The wound was sanitized to not get infected and I was bandaged. That was that basically. But now I had to make a decision in regards to Kevin's case, and that was a completely different kind of wound.

Once outside, my parents began escorting me to the vehicle Downing was in. They were gonna follow us to the department and be there to follow me home when everything was finished. I knew that my car had been moved from the church to the department. I didn't know if that was actually okay for the police to do. I figured it would be towed or something. But I'd given my key to Downing and he sent someone to move it there. Sheriff Pihlstrom had pulled those strings as a favor to me I suppose.

We were just outside of Downing's car now, and my parents gave me a hug.

"Whatever this is," Dad said. "Just tell them what you know."

"We just want you to be safe, baby," Mom said.

"Okay," I muttered.

They released me, but Mom wasn't quite done with me.

"Mauricio, can you go get the car started? I want to say a little something to Ricky," she said.

He looked curious, but didn't object. He nodded and went off to their car in the parking lot.

"What's up?" I asked.

"You're not going to school today, are you?" She asked.

"No, I don't think so."

She nodded."Okay. Then we have time to talk after they're done interviewing you."

"Talk about what?"

"Raymond brought something to my attention," she said. "You know more about things than I ever intended on you knowing."

"Is that so?"

"I think it's time we be honest with each other," she continued. "When we get home, we'll talk. But I will not be alone in this. You have to tell me what's been going on with you. Including this new murder mystery you're involved in."

"You assume I know something about Danielle's murder?"

"We will not have this conversation here," she said. "Let's get to the department."

I shut my mouth and made my way into Downing's vehicle.

___

"So you were down and out while Sayora was being chased then?" Pihlstrom asked.

"Yes," I replied.

"And then a little bit later you heard footsteps leaving the church to the downstairs exit?"

"Correct."

"And that's when you made the effort to get off the floor, head upstairs and finally find the scene where Jory's seemingly dead body was?"

"Um, yes sir."

"And then my son comes barreling into the church out of nowhere a few minutes later," he finished.

"That sounds right," I said timidly.

Pihlstrom sighed. "Luke and Sayora have both turned in their phones as evidence. We're gonna try and pinpoint the location in which those text messages from Danielle's phone were sent."

"What about Travis?" I asked.

"He's eighteen, so it's not like he needed his parents to come get him from custody," Pihlstrom said. "He was free to go a couple hours ago. So were the rest of them. They should be in school right about now."

"Oh."

"He seemed to think Luke was involved," Pihlstrom said. "He didn't outright say it, but the mention of Luke's name made him kind of side eye me. Sayora said he accused Luke at the church, too."

"He did. I don't blame him, but I couldn't imagine Luke doing this."

"As his father, I say the same. I wasn't even the one who interviewed him. Folks wanted to avoid any bias I may have."

"I see."

"They're gonna be running several tests to see if any hairs, fibers and anything else can be traced to any of you on Danielle's corpse," he continued. "Just procedure."

"Okay," I said.

Pihlstrom eyes me peculiarly for a moment before speaking again. "Ricky, whoever this person is that attacked you has done so twice."

Here it comes.

"We need to know what we're dealing with here. We need to know what you know."

There it is.

Was I gonna do it? Was I gonna reveal everything I knew? Was I going to expose Kevin? Now was the time. He asked me and was expectant of an answer. I knew it was eating him alive to have Luke in the spotlight of a murder investigation. I could ease his worry and tell him who the real suspect was.

"X."

It had to be "X". I'd seen that message on the door in the church. No way that wasn't a deliberate word choice.

"I... I guess..." I was struggling to just say the words.

Kevin is alive and his maniacal half brother is trying to kill me and my friends. That's what's going on.

Then a bunch of other things started flooding my mind.

Raymond was gonna have me meet this person. Did he not know his deranged offspring had killed one of my best friends? I had to tell him. If there was anyone to tell, it was him. He could reveal the identity of "X", too. Then the dreadful thought of Raymond probably helping this guy came to mind. Why wouldn't he protect his own son? He'd done it all this time, keeping him hidden from the family and caring for him.

Surely Raymond, as a father, would do all he could to continue protecting this boy. His own flesh and blood. Did I stand a chance against that?

Should I tell this all to Pihlstrom now? His eyes were still on me, and I found myself getting anxious.

Just tell the truth, I thought to myself. You need help. Just tell the truth so they can help you.

"So," Pihlstrom started. "What's it gonna be, Ricardo?"

___

I ended up behind Mom and Dad as we pulled out of the parking lot. I didn't reveal many details about my interview to them, but eventually it would be brought up I was sure.

So much was going through my mind. I felt terrible. Terrible because I decided against telling Pihlstrom everything I knew.

I had my reasons, but I still felt like shit.

I just needed this day. Just this day to get a little more information. I had to get to SPI today and see if I could find anymore answers. Had to.

But first I needed to lose my parents.

We stopped at a light and waited. They were still directly in front of me, leading the way home. But I had no intention of going home.

When the light turned green, they continued straight. I did as well, but when the next turn neared, I signaled my lane switch and made a right as they kept on.

I prayed they hadn't noticed me separate from them. I had things I needed to find out for myself.

___

It was nearing half past ten in the morning by the time I got to the school. I knew where Sayora would be at this time, and I had a vague idea about where Travis would be. I would've just gone to SPI on my own had I not promised them the trip with me.

I entered the school just in time to hear the passing time bell. The halls were beginning to get flooded with students and I pushed my way through the crowd.

I was almost at where I needed to be before I felt a hand on my shoulder turn me around.

Once turned, I found myself facing Luke.

"Didn't think you'd be here today," he said to me.

"Likewise," I replied.

"Are you okay? I know you got hurt."

"I'm fine," I assured him. "How are you doing, though? Ya know with Danielle."

He grit his teeth. "I'm dealing. I haven't broken down here yet, so that's a plus."

"No one would blame you if you broke down," I said.

"I did break down," he said. "Just not here."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

There was an awkward silence now. I needed to find a way to dismiss myself, so I could just go on my way.

"I loved her," he said. "You know that. And I know what people are saying about me. That I did it. But I didn't kill Danielle, and you know it. They're gonna estimate her time of death to around the night of Eddie's party and we both know where I ended up that night."

"Who's to say it couldn't have happened before that, though?"

"Come on, dude! I started following you as soon as you left. Danielle was very much so alive at that time," Luke said. "I know they're looking into me, and I would've had an alibi if not for trying to protect you."

"Protect me?"

"I was with you and Kevin. But I withheld that info during my interview for your sake. I didn't wanna rat you out," Luke clarified. "But I will if I have to because I'm not going down for Kevin. If they think I killed Dani, then they'll for sure figure I was the one who went after you guys at the church."

"They're gonna run tests to see if they can find DNA that's not her own on her corpse," I said.

"They'll definitely find mine," Luke said. "She was killed wearing my sweater! It's a plausible explanation, but it still will cast doubt on me."

"Look, don't worry," I said. "I think I'll be getting some answers today."

"How?"

"Just leave it to me, alright?"

"I'm just supposed to trust you after everything?" Luke asked.

"Funny," I said. "That's the same thing I wonder about you."

___

Travis and Sayora ditched school to come with me.

The drive was long and boring. Dorwood Falls was a few hours away from Hillbury, so it wasn't like the trip would be quick and painless.

I had to use the GPS built into my car for directions. I'd finally told Sayora and Travis all I knew about SPI. About how I figured "X" had been a patient there and about Kevin's picture being posted too. Kevin's picture being in that article still made zero sense. Kevin claimed he knew nothing about the place, but it was looking more and more like he and "X" had been there together at some point. The article even had K. Vásquez printed under the photo. It had to be him.

We didn't talk to each other much during the drive. I guess they could sense that I was a little too preoccupied to do small talk. Sayora was in the passenger seat and she mostly slept while Travis played on his phone in the back. He was allowed to keep his since there would be know evidence tying him to Danielle's case on it like Sayora and Luke. I was sure they'd confiscated Jory's phone too since he also got a text.

By the time we pulled up to the place, we were all awake.

"This is it," I said staring up at the building.

It was at least three stories high and pretty big in area. It didn't look scary. It looked like a normal building. I was sure the case was different on the inside though.

"Let's do this," Travis said.

We stepped out of the car and made our way across the lot and toward the building. The door was locked automatically, so we had to push a buzzer to be let in.

Once that door was opened, we had to go through security, who promptly asked what our business was. I told one of the two men that I had a relative who was admitted here at one point and simply wanted to get some more information on how they were doing. That did the trick, and they proceeded to briefly search us and let us through another set of doors.

Upon entering the institution, I noticed that there was a front desk with a woman behind it, typing away at a computer. She took note of us and smiled.

I looked around and saw quite a few people around. It was easy to spot the patients. Most of them seemed to be wearing white robes or jumpsuits. For many of them, they were being escorted by doctors or nurses, while others lounged around in chairs, played chess, or talked with one another.

"These people seem pretty normal to me," I muttered.

"Mental illness has a spectrum," Sayora said. "Not everyone here is a raging lunatic. Some may just struggle with depression. Some may used to self-harm or have body image issues that led to unhealthy habits. The ones roaming around down here are probably the ones who are the most stable."

"How may I help you?" The woman asked from behind the desk as we approached.

"I was just hoping to gather some information on a relative of mine who once resided here," I said to her.

"Okay," she said. "May I please have the name of this patient?"

"It would be Kevin Vásquez."

She began typing on her computer and then frowned. "It appears we never had a patient by that name admitted here."

I frowned as well. "Are you sure? No one under the name Vásquez?"

She started typing again. I was getting a bit anxious now.

"So it does appear we had a patient under the surname Vásquez," she said, "however I'm not at liberty to discuss patient information without you being listed as a relative for said patient."

"But I am a relative!" I protested.

"Then would you be so kind as to present ID?" She asked.

I dug for my wallet, flipped it open, grabbed my ID and handed it to her. She studied it and then looked back up at her screen.

"Sorry, you're not one of the names listed," she said.

"How is that possible?" I retorted.

"Maybe its a different family with the last name Vásquez," Sayora said.

"I guess, but that's too coincidental," I said. "If Kevin's name isn't the one that's listed, then who's could it be?"

I knew what I was talking about.

K. Vásquez.

I saw that name attached to Kevin's photo in that article with my own eyes. Who the hell else would "K. Vásquez" be?!

"I do apologize, sir, is there anything else that I can help you with?" The lady asked.

I sighed. "No, I suppose not."

I turned around in defeat. All that time spent to get here; wasted! I wanted to punch something. This had turned out to be no help at all and I was ready to surrender my problems to someone else. Screw this. The police could handle everything now.

I was done.

"Sorry, Ricky," Travis said.

"Whatever," I muttered as we began heading for the exit.

"Hey!"

We stopped dead in our tracks and turned to see a guy in one of those white robes walking toward us. He was young. A little bit older than us maybe. Blond hair, green eyes. He looked average. Harmless.

"Uh, yes?" Sayora said.

"I overheard you mentioning Vásquez," he said. "I know him!"

"You do?" I asked, stepping forward.

"He and I were buddies. My name's Nathan, by the way," he continued.

"I'm Ricardo," I said. "These are my friends, Sayora and Travis."

"Girlfriend," Sayora said, stepping up to shake Nathan's hand.

I arched an eyebrow. "Girlfriend?"

Sayora smiled. "We're official at this point."

"Nice to meet you all," Nathan said.

"So you knew his brother?" Travis inquired.

"Vásquez was your brother?" Nathan asked of me.

"Adoptive, technically," I said. "But yes."

"Oh... So it was you he must've been so desperate to see."

"What?"

"Well, he would sneak out all the time," Nathan said. "He always said he was going to see his brother. That's you, right?"

This sounded weird to me. "I guess so... H—He used to sneak out?"

"Yeah... I helped him do it, too. That Vásquez dude sure was a special one."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"Well, he was a transfer patient," Nathan explained. "He was some place else before being admitted here. Ya know, where the real psychopaths go. But he showed signs of good behavior and great mental stability or something and apparently they decided he didn't belong there. So they sent him here. Where the less crazy people are."

"You're saying that my brother was in some hardcore mental institution before being sent here at Skiesdale?"

"According to him, yes." Nathan nodded. "Said he was there for years."

I was completely dumbfounded. There was no way Kevin could've possibly spent years at some other institution while simultaneously living with my parents and I. He'd have to be in two places at one time. It was nonsensical. Impossible. He would've had to have a twin or something, which he didn't.

Unless...

No way.

"Did the same thought just occur to you guys as it did to me?" Sayora asked.

I gave her a knowing look that said: "Yes, in fact, I did just have the same bizarre thought that you did."

But could it really be?

"Kevin wouldn't have been able to be living with us and be a patient at mental institutions at the same time," I thought aloud.

"Okay, I'm not following whatever epiphany the two of you just had," Travis said. "You're implying that there's two Kevins?"

"No," I said. "It would've been Kevin and someone who looked very much like him."

I stared hard at Nathan who had a very confused look on his face. "What are you guys talking about?"

"My brother," I said. "The one we've been talking about this entire time."

"Well, I don't know a Kevin," Nathan said. "I'm talking about Kyle."

"Kyle?"

And suddenly it clicked. It hit like a tidal wave in my mind, flooding it with new theories and new knowledge. That wasn't Kevin in that photo after all. The "K" in "K. Vásquez" did not stand for Kevin.

"Do—Do you know what would've happened to Kyle?" I asked. "Where would he be right now? Does he ever sneak back in?"

Nathan looked even more confused. "Are you sure you're not the one who needs to be admitted here, pal?"

"Why would you ask that?"

"You don't know what happened to your own brother?" Nathan looked troubled by this.

"What happened?" I asked, fearing the answer.

"He drowned in the Dorwood River," Nathan said. "Kyle's dead."

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