Dread was all he could feel the next morning. The first thing he did was check his phone; no messages or voicemails. He slowly got up to go downstairs. His mother was not home. That didn’t surprise him. He made a Hot Pocket and ate it as he drove to work. It was Sunday. He assumed they would be slow considering everything but when he arrived at work, it was way busier than he expected. Maybe that was a good thing.
The first thing he did was help run food to tables. One of those tables would be for Rhea. He approached. "B.L.T and fries with extra bacon on the side. More bacon is always a good thing."
Rhea looked up and smiled. “Thanks Paul."
"Hey, did you hear anything about last night?"
She shook her head no, "Not really, I didn't even know about it until this morning."
"Well, good thing you skipped it. What did you end up doing instead?"
"Nothing, actually. I tried to hit Aiden up, but he was busy. I did end up bingeing some Law and Order and ate a whole pizza by myself."
Paul laughed. “Sounds like a good night to me.” and he left to return to work.
An hour or two went by when he finally got the text he was waiting for. It was Beatriz, it said the two were okay and not to worry. Paul was so relieved. Now all he had to do was get into contact with Delilah, Melissa, and Quinn. Then he would feel much better. Even a call from Zane would be great right now.
As the day went on he finally got texts from the rest of the gang. They were all alright and would talk later. Paul was overjoyed. The knot in his stomach was finally gone. As he put his phone away in his pocket he noticed Noah, Zane's brother, sitting at the bar drinking at one in the afternoon.
Paul walked up to him, "Twice in 24 hours you must like this place."
Noah lifted his head from the table. "Oh you, normal high schooler number 5. It's growing on me. I don't know if you realized this yet but this place is great for eavesdropping."
Just then Mr. Everald walked in to sit down next to Noah at the bar. Paul was a little surprised to see the pair together.
"Paul...hey, did the twins text you?" Mr. Everald asked. Paul shook his head yes. "Good," he continued, "The sheriff just clued me on, apparently it was E. Coli."
"E. Coli?" Paul repeated, almost in disbelief.
"Yeah, there was a bad batch of something, and some had the misfortune of getting it." assured Mr. Everald.
Noah chimed in. "Woah, that sounds so unbelievable, like how often even is E. Coli.”
It was an assurance to Paul to have an answer. Something specific to blame. He went back to work and did not bug the two men again. He couldn't help but wonder what would those two even talk about? They couldn't have anything in common. He tried to listen in. He couldn't really make out much. Noah asked if Mr. E got something. Mr. Everald had it in the car but they could look at them later.
Paul didn't think anything about it. He did think it was time to take a break. He grabbed a plate full of French fries and saw Aiden so he decided to sit with him.
"Hey man, can I sit? I come bearing fries." He said as he walked up.
Aiden laughed, "Yeah man let me just clean up."
He proceeded to gather all the papers on the table to put them away. Paul placed the fries on the table and sat down while Aiden stole ketchup from the table next to them. The Fireside Tavern had the glass ketchup bottles. Paul hated those bottles.
"So were you at the fair when all the chaos happened?" Paul asked while struggling to get his condiments from that dreaded glass bottle.
Aiden replied, "Nah, I missed all the fun."
While dipping his fry, Paul asked, "So what did you end up doing?"
Paul noticed how jumbled this question made Aiden. His friend responded, "Nothing crazy, just hanging out with Rhea."
A lie. Aiden obviously told Paul a lie. What was he doing that made him want to lie about it
Aiden continued, "You know, fairs aren't really my thing. I usually try to avoid town get-togethers. But anyways, did anyone say why some people got sick?"
"E. coli," said Paul.
"E. coli?" responded Aiden.
"That's what Mr. E said," assured Paul.
Aiden started talking and Paul started listening. A paper coming out of the bookbag on the chair caught Paul’s eye. It had A.M.H written on it. He finally pieced it together.
"Oh my god dude. That's a medical file isn't it. " Paul said as he reached across the table to grab the piece of paper. "You broke into the hospital to steal medical files."
Aiden grabbed the paper back. "Keep it down. No, I broke into the hospital to copy, only copy, medical files. I'm not stupid. If I stole them then they would know someone else has them."
Paul couldn't believe his ears, he was shocked Aiden could do such a thing. "My mom got a call about someone stealing files." Paul stated. He saw how genuinely confused Aiden looked, "So you didn't take any files?"
"No man I just wanted to see. Something weird is up and I'm talking cover up." said Aiden.
Paul humored him. "Okay you have a theory, obviously lay it out for me."
Aiden began "Okay so I think the animal attacks aren't animals. What if it's a person doing it and the mayor doesn't wanna freak people out so he covers it up while they catch them."
"The mayor?" Paul questioned, "The mayor being your dad."
"Yes everytime I ask about any of them he just blows me off and says oh we're doing everything we can to protect the town."
Paul was puzzled but he let Aiden continue. “Come on man. We have lived here our whole lives. Just now people are getting attacked and murdered. I don't think it is a coincidence it all started when they arrived.” Aiden said while looking at Noah and Mr. Everald.
Paul looked over. "It's weird timing that's for sure."
"Also that guy is way into our friend's business. He’s a teacher and he is always around my sister and Zane and Delilah. That's weird." stated Aiden
Paul didn't really believe him. "Okay let's say you're onto something, are you thinking like a serial killer, killer cult, or guy with an army of wolves as a weapon.”
Anger flashed on Aiden's face. “Rhea and Melissa could have died. I'm glad they are okay now but next time could be different.”
Paul felt bad. Before he could apologize, someone turned up the television really loud. There was a special report being done by Aiden's mother.
"Good morning Autumnvale. Channel 12 news has a special report about the events of last night. Investigators are confirming an outbreak of E. Coli spiking the town fair food. As most people affected are in fact fine, it comes with great sorrow to report there are a few casualties.”
A slide popped up on the screen with names and photos of the deceased. There were 5 photos in total. As Paul inspected each one he was relieved he didn't recognize them until he got to the last one. It was Quinn's dad.
The broadcast continued. "Yes they are reporting 5 victims right now who suffered kidney failure due to the bacteria. Channel 12 news offers condolences to everyone affected."
The broadcast ended. The tavern was abuzz with shock and some tears. Paul was in disbelief. He pulled out his phone and texted Quinn. Aiden was silent.
Paul looked up. "Okay what's the plan?”