Chapter Text
CHAPTER EIGHT: We Need Secrets
I keep my address to yourself
'Cause we need secrets
We need secrets-crets-crets-crets-crets-crets
Back right now
LEAH
A profound confusion settled around Leah like a fog as she stared at the man in the doorway. Martha had spoken what she believed to be his name. Leah had seen this man only once before. It was on the plane when he had his hair slicked back under a crisp white hat. His hands disappeared into white gloves which settled around a tray that he pushed down the aisle with a smile. He was scar-less then. That image lived in stark contrast to how Leah saw him now. Dishevelled and shaken. He don a khaki coloured knit shirt and black jeans. There was blood on his hands. Leah didn’t want to jump to conclusions too quickly yet she was fairly certain of why the blood was there. But tonight was full of surprises. So she adjusted her jaw and folded her arms as she waited for him to speak. The group held themselves with a similar sort of knowingness as they simply watched Alex stagger his way inside, his face pinched into a grimace as if he were in pain.
“Marcus?” Martha repeated again from behind Leah. She stepped forward to help him when Leah reached out an arm and caught her on the way. She shook her head as Martha looked at her with all the concern in the world. They looked back towards Alex who had tripped his way closer to the group. He took a handful of laboured breaths before opening his mouth to speak.
“My name isn’t Marcus. It’s Alex,” he said it like he was dropping a bomb, like his words were flammable and the whole room was laced with gasoline. An underwhelming response it was for the girls, however. They remained still as they watched him, waiting for him to explain his theatrical entrance. He appeared impatient and restless as he pedantically glanced around the room, avoiding the girls’ expectant glances. Leah was itching to cut to the chase. So she spoke. “I don’t suppose you have anything to do with the dead body upstairs?”
His pale face flushed red as he looked at Leah. His eyes were wavering as his lips parted; seemingly drowning in dread. There goes his guilty conscience. He pushed his hands through his hair before folding them tightly across his chest. “How do you- did you see?”
“If you wanna murder someone discretely maybe don’t shoot them?” Fatin spoke, now folding her arms herself.
“Yeah you should try taking a page out of Dot and Fatin’s books,” Toni said with a smirk as Dot shot her a filthy glare. She cleared her throat.
“If it wasn’t for you two I wouldn’t have to have done what I did,” he responded with remarkable hostility.
“Here we go, another backstory,” Rachel said, breaking away from the group to sit against the wall on her left.
“There is no backstory. There is only bad decision making. And I wasn’t the only one making bad decisions” Alex said, flicking his eyes over to Dot and Fatin. “Audrey and I were upstairs the whole time. Gretchen had us set up cameras to get video evidence of you girls agreeing to letting her publish her monograph. I don’t know why she didn’t just ask for signatures. But nevertheless, we saw Fatin kill Gretchen and we saw Dot slip the poison in her drink.” He took a deep breath after revealing this and he looked around at all the girls, surveying their reactions. No one looked phased really. At this point, they were desensitised to any and all shocking information.
“Wait a minute,” Leah piped up, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes in thought. “So that means you could have stopped Thom from drinking it?” Her eyes were extra accusatory as they fell on Alex.
“I was a little preoccupied arguing with Audrey. She insisted on calling the police and I was trying to talk her out of it. And then when Thom drank the poison she sort of lost it, she was saying all kinds of crazy things.”
“Why would you care if she called the police on us?” Dot asked with genuine uncertainty. Alex sighed as he looked at her honestly.
“I played a major part in putting you guys on that island.” His head was dipped down now. “I don’t want to see you guys punished for lashing out. Gretchen deserved what she got. I’m just sorry it had to be like this.”
Martha looked especially miserable at his words. Leah based this observation purely on the way her hands fiddled together and the way her top lip recoiled into her bottom one.
“I freaked out and I shot her. But it was too late, she had already called the cops.”
“Wait so you were the one who knocked Toni down the stairs?” Shelby questioned with a subtle anger as she moved forward a little. Her chest rose and fell more quickly, a physical manifestation of the rage that was bubbling. This rage was quelled almost immediately as Toni reached hands out and wrapped them around Shelby’s arm, pulling the taller girl into herself.
“I’m really sorry about that, I didn’t even see her. I was in such a hurry to just get out of that room.”
“Wait. What do you mean she had already called the cops?” Leah asked, suddenly flushing with an icy dread. She looked to Dot and Fatin whose hands were now linked together. They stared at Alex, seemingly ready to catch their deaths.
“I couldn’t stop her. But it’s okay,” Alex replied. His voice had changed. It was no longer pained and enduring. It now floated through the room on a peaceful chord. He sounded resigned and accepting. Leah’s eyebrows drew together in confusion for the hundredth time that night. They rose even higher on her face at Alex’s next words. “You all need to leave. Now. I’ve unlocked the doors. You need to run before the cops get here.” He wasn’t coiled in on himself like previously, no, now Alex stood confidently with his arms by his side. His eyes were reassuring as they moved around the room to look at each girl.
“What? No, we can’t just leave, this is our mess to clean up,” Fatin spoke and she was about to continue when she was cut off with the raise of Alex’s two hands.
“Go now. And never come back. I owe you girls so much. I’m so devastatingly sorry about everything.”
Rachel didn’t miss a beat. She stood from her spot on the floor and grabbed Nora’s hand. She saluted Alex with her missing hand, turned and began to walk through the foyer.
“Goodbye Alex,” Nora had said earnestly as her sister dragged her behind her.
“Bye Nora,” he replied and nodded back. The rest of the girls were still standing unsure of whether to leave. Leah’s body was telling her to walk, run, stride out but there was something keeping her planted firmly to the ground. The guilt. She stared at Alex, frowning defiantly.
“We can’t just let you take the rap for three murders, most of which you had nothing to do with.” Dot was getting emotional. Leah looked down and noticed her grasp was tightening around Fatin’s hand. “It’s not right.”
“It’s what I deserve. Prison is what my whole team deserves. But if I’m the only man left standing to serve a sentence. Then so be it,” he was so convinced this was the right way. “I won’t ask again. Go. Now.” He strode over to the grand wooden door at the entrance. Nora and Rachel were just outside, peering in, waiting for the rest of the Unsinkables to join them. When they began to hesitantly follow him down the hallway, Martha did something entirely unpredictable. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Alex. It was such a sweet image. Leah felt herself getting emotional. She moved her hand to Martha’s back and started rubbing gentle circles into it. Dot and Fatin stepped forward too and joined in the hug. Alex wrapped his arms around the three of them and closed his eyes. There was a benign smile on his face now. He stepped back and opened the door up further.
“Go and live your lives. I hope one day you will be free from that island.”
With that, Shelby, Martha and Toni stepped out of the door. Dot and Fatin lingered for a moment before Fatin placed a hand on his shoulder. “This doesn’t feel right. But thank you,” she uttered, her voice wavering along the vowels. Dot swiped her hand across her nose and nodded. With that they were gracefully out the door. It was just Leah and Alex now. She gave him a small smile as she met his eyes. He looked like he knew her. She knew that he did. She clasped her hands together and dropped her gaze down before bringing it back up to him. “You know, it wasn’t all that bad,” she almost whispered. Alex just smiled. And then he watched her exit the mansion. Once outside, Leah stood with the Unsinkables. They all looked back at Alex who shooed them away with the motion of his hand. They walked down the cobblestone driveway, past the neatly trimmed hedges and the small oak tree and the fountain. Martha and Toni stopped at their car.
“Everyone meet back at Fatin and Dot’s?” Toni said, squeezing Shelby’s hand.
“Sounds like a plan,” Nora replied, before turning and walking further down the driveway.
“We’ll see you there,” Shelby said before gently grabbing the collar of Toni’s shirt and pulling her in for a kiss. Leah looked away to give them some privacy, but there was a smile on her face. As she walked behind Fatin to her car, she raised her hands to grab her shoulders. She gave them a good squeeze as Fatin brought her own hands up to squeeze back.
When they entered the car she put a hand on Fatin’s knee. Fatin stared affectionately at her before redirecting her gaze out the windshield. She jammed the keys in the ignition and fired up the engine. They peeled out of the driveway, following Dot’s car. She turned the radio on. It was that popular P!nk song. She hummed along. Even when they passed a cop car with flashing lights and blaring sirens.
There were no heroes on this Friday night. Or maybe there were.