“Well, that’s something,” Alto says, folding back a page of his newspaper. It’s Sunday morning, and Serenity always insists on a huge family breakfast on Sundays. Reid peers over his shoulder and lets out an agreeable noise.

“Well, that is interesting. I didn’t think he had any family. Thought for sure everything would be split between the other partners.” Reid comments.

“Well there was all that talk of a secret child.”

“Nothing came of it though.”

I tune them out for the most part, this is practically a morning ritual for them. Alto finds something noteworthy in the paper and then he and Reid discuss it.

Yesterday they were talking about a house fire in a nearby neighborhood.

Serenity places a platter of homemade biscuits and a bowl of gravy in the middle of the table. The scent of coffee wafts through the air as Clef enters with the pot and begins pouring mugs for himself, his twin, and Reid before being called back by Serenity. Cadence is right behind him and he passes me a mug of tea, still steeping.

“Assam black for this morning.” He says as he sets down a little pot of cream and bowl of sugar cubes.

Harp comes rushing in then, his hair wet and mussed from his morning shower. Harp wakes up around five every morning for his run, and Serenity insists that he not come to the table sweaty. He always come running in, as if he’s afraid the food will be gone. Seeing how the guys all eat, I can imagine that the food probably has disappeared on Harp before. And that’s probably why Alto runs in the evenings.

“Get me a mug of that too.” He says, passing Cadence. Cadence huffs but grins, he loves making tea.

Clef reenters holding a skillet of eggs and a plate of sausage links and bacon. He plops down next to Alto who’s still discussing whatever piqued his interest in the newspaper. At some point he’s handed off the paper to Reid.

“It says here that they’re still waiting on a blood test for confirmation.” Reid says.

“What are you reading?” Clef asks, glancing over.

“The late Desmond Cole, that big business tycoon, an heir has come forward.” Alto says.

“Seriously? I thought the guy never married.”

“He didn’t, but it’s supposedly a nephew from his younger sister. They were about 15 years apart and she was raised by their mother while Cole was raised by their father. Seems to be his only family.”

“Hey, there’s even a picture,” Reid says as he turns the page.

“Wait… isn’t that?” Alto glances over at Clef and looks back at the picture. He exchanges a look with Reid and bites his lip.

Sensing their looks, Clef glances over. Alto tries to hide the paper, but it’s too late, he’s already seen whatever it is.

Clef stands up abruptly and heads back into the kitchen, we all hear the back-door slam shut.

“What’s going on?” I ask eying Cadence as he comes back in with tea for Harp along with a bowl of grilled onions, peppers, and mushrooms.

I stand up to get a look at the picture in the paper. It’s a medium sized photo depicting a nondescript man with glasses and longish hair. I feel a twinge of familiarity, as if I should know who this person is and the appearance of Evan staring at the picture beside me, makes me decide to research the person later.

Alto purses his lips and stands to follow Clef.

“Let him cool off,” Reid says, placing a hand on his shoulder. “He’ll be back, he wouldn’t miss Mom’s Sunday breakfast.”

As if drawn by being mentioned, Serenity comes in then, carrying a tray with a plate of fried ham, bowls of grits, a platter of fried chicken, and even a carafe of orange juice and lemonade. Fresh squeezed. They always are.

“What happened with Clef?” She asks, Reid shows her the paper. She lets out a little ‘oh’ and looks forlornly at the door.

“What’s the deal?” I ask, hoping someone will answer me this time.

“I mentioned the she-witch with a capital B that broke Clef’s heart?” Cadence finally turns to me.

“You shouldn’t have mentioned her at all.” Alto admonishes but Serenity shoots him a silencing glance.

“That’s the guy that she was cheating with. He was working as a janitor at the hospital.” Cadence says.

Clef returns at that moment and the paper is tossed away. Everything is quiet for a bit as the boys begin digging into the breakfast.

Alto starts cracking jokes to try to lighten the mood and Harp joins in. Soon everyone is laughing too hard to stay upset. Although Clef is a little quieter than normal.

When Reid pours a glass of lemonade, the twins exchange a strange look.

Serenity seems to catch the exchange and smirks, dabbing at her mouth with a napkin.

Reid takes a big gulp and spits the drink out all over his plate.

“Boys, pickle juice in the lemonade? Really?”

They all start laughing and Serenity hands a towel to Reid.

“Been awhile, you’ve been too complacent.” Clef says. Good to see he’s cheered up now.

I look towards Cadence who is hiding his laughter with a sip of tea.

“I told you there was an ongoing prank war.” He says when I catch his eye.

***

"So, one of the janitors here is related to Desmond Cole, some big business guy that died a few months before our accident. Well, was a janitor, guess he probably quit now.” I say to Evan.

I’d tried looking up the guy from the paper, but there wasn’t much information about him, for a guy that’s about to inherit a multimillion dollar business along with a shopping mall, three billboards, and is the sole heir of what apparently is a local icon, he’s very private.

All I managed to get was the basics. Full name, Wayne Charles Wright, in his late 20’s. He has a degree in chemical engineering, which makes it strange that he was working as a janitor here. Raised by a single mother, with a father spending life in prison for drug dealing, homicide, and a few other petty crimes. Up until a few months ago, no one even knew he existed.

From what I could gather, he and his mother hadn’t been in contact with Cole for years. With a 15-year age difference, they weren’t even close, and she was cut off from the family when she married Timothy Wright.

“And that same janitor had an affair with Analise while she was dating Clef.” I look back at Evan, running my hands through his curls. “I don’t know how it all connects, but there has to be something to it right? You showed up again when I saw the picture of Wright, I feel like I should know him for some reason, maybe because of the cheating thing?” I sigh.

I’d thought explaining all my worries to Evan would help but saying everything aloud just makes it even more clear that I have no idea why any of it is significant. I can’t shake the feeling that it’s important. I lean back in my chair and begin recounting the rest of the past few days.

“The summer will be over in about a couple of months and I’ve only had one memory, and you’re still not awake. I really wish you’d wake up. Or at least talk to me. The séance didn’t work, but I tried. I don’t understand why you didn’t say anything.” I sigh again and lay my head on the edge of the bed, listening to the familiar sounds of the whirring machines.

“Should we just leave? Maybe this is a bad idea?” It’s that voice I heard before. The one I think might be Darryl.

“Okay, okay, you’re right. We should just leave then.” My voice.

“Are you sure, we can… I don’t know, ask someone?” Another girl’s voice this time.

“And say what exactly?” Another guy’s voice.

I glance over at Evan, almost afraid to even say bye, lest the voices disappear like last time. I get up quietly and make my way to the door. The voices are arguing now about how to go about looking for something. A specific room. But there aren’t enough details to figure out why they’re looking for a room here.

“It said that she went missing right after her shift.” My voice says, okay, so that’s something to look into. I make a mental note as I follow the voices.

“But a lot of what happened is just speculation.”

“Well, it’s not like she just disappeared into thin air, the last place she was seen was a room here.” Me again.

“Have you asked Clef if he knows anything?” The other girl. I’m starting to think that this is probably Margaret, making the other male voice, Evan’s.

“I would but then he’d probably get suspicious.”

“And he’d say we should leave this to the police.” Evan?

“But we’re onto something, I know it. And what if she’s still alive? She was only declared missing four days ago.”

“She has a point man, maybe we can save her.”

I’m really hoping for a name or something, but the voices go quiet for a second, and then when they start up again they start talking about theories on what happened.

One of the guy voices suggests alien abductions jokingly, and I’m pretty certain that one is Darryl now. He would be the one trying to lighten the mood. At some point Evan appears in front of me, sneaking along the wall and I follow him. As I round a corner I smack into someone.

“Oh, Lyric darling, I have so been hoping to run into you.” My stomach clenches as I stare at the snide grin of Analise.