I decided to start with the cleaning, mostly because my mind was too foggy to tackle anything else. I was just lugging the vacuum cleaner out of the broom closet room when my cell phone rang with a call from Cassie.
As soon as I answered, she burst out, "Hey, I heard what happened with Biff. What wasthatabout? And who was the guy?"
I almost staggered under the avalanche of questions. "What guy?" I set down the vacuum cleaner. "And who's Biff?"
"Oh come on," she said. "This is me you're talking to. Just tell me. I'm dying to know."
My mind was churning. "Yeah. Me, too."
She gave a small laugh. "Good one."
"I'm not joking."
She paused. "Are you serious?"
"Yes. I'm dead serious. And you're the second person to call today." I felt like I was in the twilight zone or something. "I don't even know a Biff."
"Sure you do," she said. "Big guy, red hair, owns the garage off Maple."
"Sorry, I have no idea who you mean."
"Oh, come on. He's the guy with the snowplow. Wears a lot of flannel."
Finally, it clicked. "Ohhhhh.ThatBiff." I'd seen him around town, but until now, I hadn't known his name. Still, I had no idea what Cassie was talking about.
I asked, "So, what'd you hear?"
After a dramatic pause, Cassie said, "I heard that last night, you and some tattooed guy practically jacked your own car."
I almost dropped the phone. Jacked?What did that even mean? As far as the rest, I knew only one person with a tattoo – April. And yet somehow, I doubted that the butterfly on her ankle had anything to do withthisfiasco, whatever it was.
"Wait a minute," I said. "Do you mean my car wasstolen? You're kidding, right?"
Cassie hesitated. "You don't have it?"
"My car?" I wanted to cry. "No. I don't."
Cassie paused for a long, silent moment before saying, "Huh. That's odd."
It wasn't odd. It was a nightmare. Desperate for more information, I said, "Look, I'm totally clueless here. Can you just tell me what you know? Like start from the beginning or something?"
Her voice grew quiet. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I lied. "I'm just confused, that's all. So, will you just tell me? Please?"
"Alright," Cassie said. "This is what I heard. Late last night, Biff gets a knock on his door – not at the auto shop, but at his house. And it's some tattooed guy that Biff doesn't recognize. And this guy has a wad of cash, and he tells Biff he's there to pay the towing bill."
"What towing bill?"
"The one for your car. It was towed from some campground or something?"
I froze.The campground. Joel. Joel's brother. His other brother. A guy with tattoos.I heard myself say, "Oh, shit."
"What?"
My mind was racing. I recalled Joel standing on my doorstep."I brought you something."
My gaze shifted toward the side of my house. There were several walls between me and what Joel had wanted to show me.
