Maybe he had an abnormal neck.

He hated cell phones.  He hated the way people were always talking on them, as if everything they had to say was far too important to wait until they returned home.  Talking and talking and talking, in their cars, at restaurants, while checking out in stores…like he was doing now…  But Karen insisted he carry one.  She was a firm believer that everyone should have one on them at all times.  In case of emergency.  Or, you know, in case she just wanted to talk to her husband right now.

Personally, he’d rather just ignore the stupid thing.  But if there was one thing he’d learned as Karen’s loving and devoted husband, it was that she hated for her calls to be ignored.

“Diane keeps asking me to have you bring home tequila, though.”

“That doesn’t seem like a good idea.  Won’t the cupcakes get more lopsided as you go?”

“That’s what I keep telling her.”

From the background, Eric heard Diane say, “Everything’s more fun with margaritas.”

Eric smiled at this.  “She does have a point.”

“Don’t encourage her.”

Karen met Diane Shucker at college, where they were roommates.  They’d been best friends ever since.  Today, Diane was helping prepare for the shower.  Although Eric had noticed on previous occasions like this one that “helping” usually meant little more than keeping her company.  Karen always did the vast majority of the work.  Diane would hand her things and help keep the kitchen tidy, but she would mostly just sit with her, the two of them gossiping and giggling like schoolgirls.

Karen earned a fair amount of spending money as a freelance cake decorator and caterer.  Her cakes, pies and cookies had won awards at every county fair for the past six years.  As a result, she spent most Fridays and Saturdays in the kitchen, preparing for one gathering or another.

Eric thought she should just open a business and hire some real help, but she didn’t care at all for the idea of turning her hobby into a career.  She was convinced it would take all the fun out of it, and he supposed she might be right about that.

Satisfied that the bouquet wasn’t going to topple out of his grip, Eric nodded goodbye to the overly-smiley, too-young florist and quickly made for the door.

“I just got off the phone with Hailey, actually,” Karen informed him.

“Oh yeah?  How is she today?”

“Good.  Her family got here last night.”  Hailey was his and Karen’s sister-in-law.  Her husband, Andrew, was Karen’s baby brother.  This would be their first child, and the first grandchild for Hailey’s parents.  It was a big event for the entire family.  They drove all the way down from Northern Minnesota for this shower.

“That’s good.”

“It is.  But they all showed up.”

“Uh oh.”  Eric stepped out into the warm sunshine and squinted at the surrounding street.  He didn’t see anyone staring at him with one of those stupid smiles, but there was plenty of ground to cover between him and his silver PT Cruiser.

“Uh huh.”  They’d only been expecting Hailey’s parents and maybe an aunt or two.  “So I’m going to need you to bring home some more sparkling juice.”

“Sounds like a wild time.  Red or white?”

“Both.  About four more bottles, I think.”

“Each?”

“No.  Four total.  Two of each should do it.”

“That going to be enough?”

“I think so.  Sounds like her dad and uncles brought down enough beer to show the whole town a good time.”

“Now you’re talking.”

“Right.”  He knew she was rolling her eyes.  It was a baby shower, not a wedding reception.  She hadn’t planned on having any alcohol.  She stood firmly by her assertion that it simply wouldn’t be fair to the expectant mother.  And he certainly couldn’t argue with that.  He wouldn’t want to be thrown a party where he was the only one not allowed to drink.

Eric made it to the PT Cruiser without attracting a crowd and stopped as he realized that he now had no idea how he was going to dig the keys out of his pocket to unlock it.

So close to sanctuary…

“Anything else?”

Karen took a moment to think it over.  Eric wondered if she was doing it on purpose.  “I don’t think so,” she decided at last.

“Okay.  I’ll see you in a little bit, then.”

“’Kay.  Bye.”

Eric said goodbye and hung up.  He shoved the phone back into his left, front pocket and then awkwardly shifted the bouquet to his left hand so he could retrieve the keys from his right, front pocket.  A light breeze blew past him, threatening to unbalance the daisies, and he had to rest them gently against the side of the vehicle to keep from dropping them.

Once the keys were in his hand, he unlocked the PT Cruiser and glanced around one last time.  Still, nobody seemed to be staring at him.  Nobody he could see, at least.  That silly part of his brain was convinced that there were dozens of laughing eyes hidden behind all those store windows.  But the only person he saw was a man in a navy blue hoodie hurrying across the street with a paper grocery sack in his arms.

Something about this man seemed curious.  Perhaps it was the hoodie.  It wasn’t sweltering out, but it was early June and plenty warm enough for shorts and tee shirts.

Eric watched this man as he hurried into a narrow alley between two buildings.  There, just beyond the sidewalk, he turned to look back the way he came, pulling down his hood as he did, allowing an unobstructed view of his face.

Immediately, the big, pink bouquet was forgotten.  Here, right before his eyes, was a face he hadn’t seen in over six years.  In fact, as far as he knew, no one had seen this face in over six years.

Aiden…?

The young man turned and scanned the street and sidewalk until his eyes met Eric’s.  Instantly, surprise washed over him.  Then panic.  He turned and bolted deeper into the alley and out of sight.

Eric hurried after him, but by the time he entered the alley, Aiden (if it really was Aiden) was gone.

A high, chain link fence blocked the back of the alley.  It was old and flimsy and didn’t look like it would stop anyone sufficiently determined to pass through it, but it should have been enough to slow someone down.  And Aiden hadn’t been out of sight for more than a few seconds.

On the left side of the alley, between him and the fence, a door stood ajar.  It was much more likely that he’d gone in there.

Cradling the flowers in his arms, Eric walked to this door and opened it wide.  It didn’t close.  There was no latch and no lock.  It swung freely on its creaky hinges, practically useless.  Inside was darkness and silence.  A shadowy set of stairs led up to a second floor landing.

He hesitated.  He didn’t like this.  He felt like a child standing at the front gate of a haunted house.  And he had every reason to be apprehensive.  He’d done this sort of thing before.  And unlike when he was a child, he knew first-hand that monsters were real.

He glanced around once more, but this seemed to be the only place the mysterious young man could have gone.

He didn’t have to do this.  He could walk away.  He could just go home.  But…  What if it really was Aiden?

Was it possible?  After all this time?

If it was him, he couldn’t just leave.  It would haunt him for the rest of his life.  Aiden Chadwick was one of this city’s greatest unsolved mysteries.

He looked back up into the shadows at the top of the steps and took a deep breath.  “Don’t worry,” he said to himself.  “You brought flowers.  What could go wrong?”

But that was a poor choice of words.  He’d always possessed a very vivid imagination and it was quick to bring to mind several ghoulish examples of how things could go very, very wrong.

Mentally bracing himself, he stepped through the doorway and began to climb the stairs.  It was dusty in here.  The paint was peeling from the walls.  The handrail was coming loose.