Side Story #1 - Colt - Page 41

It was still a few hours until dinner. Colt half-expected Alice to stick around, since it seemed like she didn't have a whole lot else to do or other people to keep her company, but she started gathering her things up and headed back outside to her bicycle.

"Thanks for babysitting," said Colt from the open doorway.

"No problem," said Alice. "It was my pleasure."

Colt tried to give her a smile, though he wasn't sure if it actually looked like one or not. Sometimes, it felt like he'd forgotten how to do that without it coming across as sarcastic.

Alice was just standing there next to her bike, looking like she had something else she wanted to say.

Uncertain, Colt waited for her. Did she want him to ask her to stay? Probably not, right? Well, maybe. But no.

Bah.

She took her sweet time, but she eventually got the words out. "So... will I be seeing you at mass tomorrow?"

Aw, shit. He hadn't even thought about that.

And after all she'd done, looking after Brick and the twins, he couldn't exactly refuse such a modest request, now could he?

"Yeah," he said, trying not to sound reluctant. "We'll be there."

"Great!" The way her face lit up like that, Colt almost expected her to start emitting literal beams of light as she climbed onto her bike. "And thanks for today!" She waved as she pedaled off through the dirt path back to Orden.

What she was thanking him for, he had no fucking idea, but he returned her wave until she disappeared among the trees.

Mass, huh?

Would anyone else even be there, he wondered? The only other people he'd seen at that church were those punkass kids who'd vandalized it. And from everything else he knew about her and the town, Colt highly doubted that Alice had an actual "congregation" to tend to.

It did make him curious, though. Her zeal was obvious, so maybe she really was expecting someone else to show up tomorrow.

The rest of the day and night passed without incident. Even Bohwanox didn't have anything particularly juicy to report. Apparently, Malcolm Beaumont had a house on the northern side of town, but the man still hadn't made contact with his niece, Janet.

Maybe that was a clue unto itself, though. It seemed strange to Colt that Janet and Malcolm wouldn't be talking to each other, given she'd almost been murdered the other night. He was beginning to question whether they were really relatives or not.

In the morning, after catching some breakfast, Colt made his way to the church again. It occurred to him that he didn't actually know what time the service was supposed to begin. He was up early enough that he wasn't concerned about missing it, but he also wasn't in love with the idea of getting there two or more hours before it even started.

Oh well, though. He was indebted to Alice, and he had a feeling that if he didn't show up, she would be crushed.

As he neared the chapel and saw the parking lot, it quickly became clear that either no one else was coming or he was early as fuck.

He put the twins in the stroller and went inside.

Empty, as expected.

Maybe he'd overdone it. He wondered if Alice was even awake yet.

He decided to take a seat in one of the middle pews and wait. He checked in which Bohawnox again, but the reaper didn't answer. Must've been ferrying more souls in Lagoroc.

Kind of annoying. It wasn't really an issue before all this investigation shit, but maybe he should tell the reaper to warn him whenever he was about to do that.

Eh, whatever. Boh probably thought he was sleeping, anyway.

He just kept waiting.

It took a while.

At least the twins weren't fidgety. Even after having breakfast, they still just wanted to sleep. That was fine with him. He'd woken them up earlier than usual, anyway.

At length, however, he heard footsteps from the back of the church, and he saw Alice come out, looking graceful as usual, though she was dressed a little different. She had a large necklace on and a tall, metal staff in one hand with a big golden star at the top. The other hand was carrying a stack of note cards.

She noticed him straight away, of course, because there was literally no one else to notice.

"You're here!" she said, smiling that perfect smile again.

"Yep."

"And you're so early!"

"Yep."

"I'm--ah, I'm not usually, uh--I wasn't really--"

"I don't mind waiting," he said. This place was kind of a dump, but frankly speaking, it wasn't that much different from his cabin. And he wasn't in a rush to get back there and spend time with that bastard dog, either.

"O-okay, well, um." She shuffled over to the podium on which stood a lectern. The reading desk was a bit too tall for her, but a wooden stool quickly solved that little problem. She rested her staff against the lectern and started going through her cards. "I mean... er..." She looked over at Colt again.

What the hell did she want now?

"I should warn you," she said, "I haven't spoken in front of an audience in quite a long time now, so I might be kinda rusty."

"Don't worry about it," said Colt.

"Heh. I'm just a little nervous, I guess. I've... been giving these sermons to an empty room for months now, so..."

Holy fuck, that was the saddest shit he'd ever heard in his damn life. Was she serious? She had to be exaggerating, right?

"But, um, uh, we're about half an hour early, but, uh... heh, I suppose there's no harm just getting started. No need to keep you waiting any more than necessary, right?"

Damn. So she really hadn't been expecting anyone else to show up, then.

Just.

Wow.

Alice took another minute to flip through her notes, clear her throat, and compose herself.

Colt wondered what the fuck he was about to listen to.