Second Chances(98)

Nathan picked up his laptop bag again and pulled out a couple of pens. He tossed one to Paige and used the other to stab at the plastic of the package he was working on. After a minute he managed to get the phone out of the box. He plugged it into the charger and then began work on the next one.

It took a few more minutes for them to open up and begin charging all four phones. Paige gathered the prepaid minute cards and read through the directions. Ten minutes later she had loaded time onto all the phones. She sat on the bed, looking over at the nightstand.

"We can wait a little longer, if you want."

She looked over at him and shook her head.

"This is stupid. I know we need to check out that website. I want to check it out, but..."

"But you are afraid?"

Paige nodded and dropped her head into her hands. Nathan came and sat with her again.

"It's natural, Paige. Hell, I would be worried if you weren't afraid. In the last few days your entire reality has been flipped. So has mine. We get a mystery call telling us to drive hours to pick up a set of instructions to check out a website and buy some disposable phones. How the heck could you not be afraid?"

"What if..."

"Is not knowing better?"

She shook her head no.

Nathan reached over and picked up his computer. He opened it and booted it up.

"Then let's get it over with, okay?"

"Okay," she said, getting up and walking over to the window. She stayed where she was and listened to Nathan tap away at the keys.

"Hmm."

"What is it?" she asked, unwilling to turn away from the outside.

"Well this first page is a scan of yo...Paige's obituary and an article on the fire."

"What's it say?"

"Umm, hold on a second, let me read it." Nathan leaned closer to the screen. "Seems to basically be what Daniel told us. The article talks about the fire breaking out in the early morning, quickly engulfing the house. One person, Paige, injured and in critical condition. The fire department was able to prevent the fire from spreading. There is a picture of the remains of the house. The obituary is rather simple. Paige was twenty-four. Survived by her father and fiancee. There is a picture of y...her"

"Why did they want us to see that?"

"I don't know. There are more pages. Let's check out the next one. Do you want to come see?"

She shook her head no and continued to look out the window.

"What the hell?"

Paige turned her head slightly towards Nathan. "What is it?"

"It's another scanned news clipping."

She could hear a slight stutter to his speech, as if he didn't want to tell her.

"What is it about? The fire again?"

"No."

"Then what?"

He remained quiet. She finally pulled herself away from the window and turned all the away around.

"Well?"

Nathan shook his head in disbelief. "It's...it's a story about a suicide. Paige's suicide."

"Your Paige?"

"No."

"What?"

"This article is from about three years or so after the fire. They identify the victim as one Paige Kendall."

"What? How?"

"Let me see," he said, reading the article.

"Three years after the fire? Another Paige?"

"Happened in a bed and breakfast in Bar Harbor Maine. It says she slit her wrists and was found in the bath tub by the owners."

"That's horrible."

Nathan nodded.

"H..how many more pages are there?"

"Not sure."

Paige leaned back against the wall and slowly slid to the floor.

"Should I..."

"Yeah," she said. "Check out the next."

Nathan could hear the fear in her voice, but he knew they couldn't stop now. He clicked on the next page and two more articles popped up. He quickly started to read through them, not bothering to ask Paige if she wanted to see."

"So?" she asked after a minute.

"T..two more suicides. A Paige Keller in Helena Montana and Paige Reese in Bismarck North Dakota. One hung herself, the other jumped from the roof of a building. One of the articles is from about two years after the first suicide article, other is from about three."

"Oh my god."

He clicked on the next page. "Holy crap."

"What?"

Nathan sat on the edge of the bed shaking his head.

"What is it?"

Again he shook his head.

"Tell me."

"Paige Hampton. Ocean City, New Jersey. M...murder suicide."

"What?" Paige clambered off the floor and over to the bed.

"Shot her husband three times, before turning the gun on herself," Nathan read off the computer. He did not want to, but he clicked onto the next page.

"No, no, no."