And You Can't Tell Anyone (Track Twelve: III) 2, chapter 22

Billie Joe pulled the car over and shut off the engine. Tré crossed his arms. "You can forget it. I'm not getting out and walking."

Wren leaned over the seat and looked out the front window. Outside on the dark street there was no one. A block away there was a huge yard, bordered by decorative hedge shrubs. A large slab of cement in front of the greenery was illuminated by ground lights and proclaimed, The Latertons. "So, that's the place then?"

"I think so." Billie Joe frowned thoughtfully, "I only got us here from looking up the phone number. What're the odds that there's more than one stinking rich Laterton family around here?"

"Well, if we fuck up, we can pretend we're like the mafia." Mike tried to do a gangster type voice, "Dey fuck wiv us, and we fuck wiv der families, 'cause families is da most important t'ing in da woyld."

Wren kept her face entirely blank. In her opinion, families sucked. Maybe I'm just bitter. Mike could probably be just as bitter, but he's not. So maybe I should get over it.

Tré chuckled and patted Wren on the head. "We army types are like a family. Band of brothers and one sister. Er. Maybe not." He shuddered, "Incest. Well, I guess we're a hillbilly family!"

Wren rolled her eyes. "No offence, but I don't think you could pay me enough to say that I was related to you." Tré stuck out his tongue.

"Alright," Mike got out of the car. "Let's get this going."

Wren pushed down the seat and climbed out. Tré did the same, but he conveniently forgot that Billie Joe was still sitting in the seat. Luckily, the guitarist was pretty flexible.

Mike gave Wren a kiss, "Come back safe to me," he whispered passionately, like a young Romeo.

"You're such a drama king," she laughed before giving him another kiss. "Nothing's gonna happen. Besides, you're the rescue team."

Tré tossed her a whistle. "Catch. C'mon, we've got stuff to do."

Reassuringly, Wren smiled at Mike. He smiled back, but she knew he was worried. She could tell from the way the smile never lit his eyes. With feline grace, he leaned against the front corner of the car to wait.

Sneakily, Wren and Tré hustled down the street. At the corner of the Laterton's yard, Tré halted her. "We gotta split up to watch. You go left and I'll go right."

As he started to climb through the bushes, she asked, "What do we do exactly?"

"Just watch the windows and see if you can see her doing something. Or, you could get really close and actually look in the window, but that's risky. I'll come find you when the operation's over." He resumed passing through the bush, then stopped, straddling the shrubbery. "If one of us gets in shit, the other one runs. That's why we have the other corporal. The less people we get pulled into this, the better. Comprendé?"

"Yeah."

With a rustle of leaves, and a few hummed notes from the James Bond theme, he disappeared from view. Wren jogged onward to the other corner of the lot. Here, the shrubs ended and were replaced with trees. Slowly she crept into the yard, expecting a killer Rottweiler to attack at any second.

The Laterton's house was tall and blocky. No lights shone from its gabled windows. It appeared that everyone was asleep. Yeah, maybe not the smartest move on our part. Most people aren't even going to be up at one thirty in the morning on a weekday, let alone messing around with secrets. Then again, the conspirators needed the cover of darkness.

Heart thudding in her ears, she slunk right up to the house. Careful to avoid the flowerbed, she leaned forward to look in the first window. It appeared to be an office of some sort. Unfortunately, there were no papers lying around. Besides, it was dark. Onto the next window. The kitchen, devoid of bloody knives.

The bedrooms must be on the other side. Leave it to Tré to take the exciting side. Wren jumped as she heard something whoosh overhead. Just a bird. Or a bat. Nothing to worry about.

She crept onward, ever nerve stretched to the limit. Her heart galloped wildly as a car went by. Instinctively, she dropped to her knees. Watching the headlights, she was disturbed to see that they turned down the driveway and up to the house. Instead of going into the garage, the car stopped outside.

Seek and you shall find. Whatever is a respectable Laterton family member doing out at this time of night?

A figure got out of the car and walked up to the house. Wren flinched as a light went on inside the house. The person, a woman, covered her eyes and went inside. Wren was dying to know what was going on, but she did not dare to peek in the window.

Before curiosity could get to her, she heard a splash. Smirking, she thought, I guess Tré's found the pool. All merriment vaporized as seemingly every light in the universe turned on. The woman reappeared on the driveway. Within seconds, the car roared to life and left.

The screech of a whistle threw Wren into action. She fumbled and found her own, and blew on it hard. Without further ado, she bolted between the beams of light on the finely cut lawn. Adrenaline pounded through her as a dog's harsh bark sawed the air.

As fast as she could, she sprinted away, fearing the tearing sensation of canine teeth sinking into her skin. Rounding a corner, shock made her falter. Still trying to distance herself from the Laterton's house she jogged across the street.

Where is the car? Where are Billie and Mike? I swear that I went the right way! Maybe they moved and picked up Tré or something. But he should have come here. Where is everyone?

Nervously, she watched the house belonging to the Latertons. One by one, the lights went out. She was alone. There was no way she was going to be caught here in the morning for stupid Mirabelle to laugh at. Wren started walking.

The rumble of an approaching car made her tense. Any second now, that strange woman might show up and pull her into the car. It took all of Wren's self control not to look over her shoulder. The car was driving without its headlights, just behind her, even more suspicious.

"Hey," a voice called softly, "Are you gonna get in or not?"

She couldn't take it anymore. She looked and her knees wobbled in relief. It was merely her house mates. Billie stopped the car and Mike got out to let her in.

"What's the matter Wren? You look white as a ghost." He brought her into a tight hug. "You're shaking."

"Just a few close calls. That's all."

Billie Joe got out and came over. "What happened?"

"I don't know, there was a car and then I think Tré did something to the pool, like threw a tire in it. It was a big splash. All the lights came on and I heard him blowing the whistle. There was a dog. I took off. Where'd you guys go?"

"We saw that car before it turned in and thought that we might look suspicious, so we were parking somewhere else in case the car went by again." Billie Joe explained.

Mike added, "We heard the whistle, well one of them, and we started cruising, looking for you."

"So," Billie Joe looked around, "Where'd you put Tré?" He looked under a bench.

Wren stepped out of Mike's hold to stare at Billie Joe. "What do you mean? I thought he was with you."

Billie Joe's eyebrows twitched upward. "He's not with you? For fuck's sake. Well where is he?"

"When you're looking for something you've lost," Mike said dejectedly, "Look in the last place you had it."

Billie Joe rammed his hands into his jeans' pockets. "The Latertons."