Under Dust Painted Skies
Chapter ThirteenZac tilted his head back, enjoying the heavy warmth of the sun upon his face. He'd missed that feeling during his time of isolation and had been taking advantage of the elements every chance he could for the last six months.
The loud chug of an approaching vehicle pulled him from his reverie. Zac lowered his gaze and watched as the yellow school bus approached the corner where he stood waiting. He smiled as it came to a stop in front of him.
The doors opened slowly and a moment later the three Littleton children climbed down the stairs trailed closely behind by Luca. Her head was down as her little legs moved down each of the big steps. She only looked up after hopping down off the last step.
"Zac!" Her blue-green eyes lit up at the sight of him. She smiled her toothless smile. She'd lost her two top front teeth a week apart a month and a half ago.
"Hey Lulu," he grinned, reaching out a hand for her, which she easily took. "How was school?" he asked as the bus pulled away from the stop and he turned to lead Luca back down the sidewalk toward his house.
He glanced over to see that the Littleton kids had already crossed the street. He kept an eye on them out of instinct, though he knew that this street was now safer than it had been half a year ago.
"It was fun," Luca answered excitedly. "We had pizza for lunch! And I got to color a bunch."
"Oh, that does sound fun," Zac agreed with a smile. His eyes shifted instinctively to the house across the street as they reached the walkway to his house.
The Cline house had been empty for over six months now. It had been lined with yellow crime scene tape for nearly a month after that awful March night. Police had been in and out of the place for days, poring through Ted Cline's belongings.
It had not been a fun time. While neither he nor Remy had been seriously injured, they had both spent a night in the hospital followed by a day of questioning by the police. Under normal circumstances, they probably should have been worried about being charged for breaking and entering, but given the circumstances and what was discovered due to their trespassing, the police had not felt inclined to charge them with any crime.
The police already had their hands full. In fact, when Zac revealed what he and Remy had discovered during their online search, the police had eagerly asked for their notes. Even with that to help them along, Zac knew this would not be a simple open and shut case. Even with what he could tell them about Ted Cline's true identity and the revelation of a whopping two hundred and seventeen victims, there was still the task of tracking down the rest of his pseudo names and subsequent victims.
Zac did not know the details of the case as they stood now, but Ted Cline's picture had run on the news nearly every night for a month. Sometimes he'd still catch mention of the infamous serial killer. Finding his previous locations was likely to lead them to discovering missing persons in those areas where he lived, but they had yet to discover how he disposed of the bodies.
The best guess was that he'd dismembered them and then left various body parts spread all over the place. It was like something out of a horror film, and people were both sickened and fascinated by it.
Zac had essentially washed his hands of the whole thing, though, as soon as he'd turned over his research and given his statement. He'd had other things to focus on. The first was seeing to it Remy recovered fully. While she was not seriously injured, the concussion she had sustained had left her weak. Instead of Remy running around tending to him, it had been his job to care for her.
His mind remained on autopilot for days after the incident. It wasn't until Remy was feeling well enough to move around on her own that Zac even realized that he'd been coming and going in and out of the house. His initial reaction was to revert back to his agoraphobic ways, but the freedom he'd felt to come and go as he pleased as well as the usefulness he'd felt at being able to contribute in a stressful situation had served as a source of motivation that kept him from going back into isolation.
He'd been seeing a therapist once a week ever since and made it a point to leave the house at least once a day just to keep from lapsing back.
"Is Mommy home yet?" Luca wondered, drawing Zac's mind back to the present, as he followed her lead up the stairs to his front door.
"No, she's still at work, but she'll be home soon," Zac assured her. Since Zac no longer had any problems running errands for himself, Remy had followed through on her previous plans of finding a day job. She'd found a job as a receptionist at doctor's office. Now he was in charge of seeing Luca off to school and collecting her from the bus when it was over. It was the best job in the world as far as he could see.
Luca shed her backpack as soon as they were inside the house. She tossed it to the floor and then looked up at him eagerly. "What are we going to do now?"
"How about a snack?" Zac smiled. "Then maybe we can go out in the backyard."
"Can we paint?" she asked anxiously.
"Of course," Zac grinned. Landscapes had become his latest inspiration for painting. As he'd discovered, suburbia could be shockingly interesting without even trying. He was working on his latest collection for an art showing. His last one had sold out within hours.
His next showing was a couple of months away. He, Remy and Luca and would be heading to New York to attend. He was nervous but also anxious. He'd missed the world, and it was somehow made all the more appealing by the fact that he would not be venturing into it alone.
"You can't get too messy, though," Zac warned Luca as he led the way to the kitchen. "We're having dinner at Isaac and Nikki's house tonight."
"I get to play with Everett and Monroe?" Luca asked excitedly.
"Yep," Zac nodded. "Taylor and Natalie are coming too, so you'll get to see Viggo, River, Ezra and Penny too."
Despite the strain that had been so present in his relationships with both of his brothers, things had improved vastly since Zac had had his breakthrough. It was still a bit tenuous at times, but it was slowly getting better. The topic of music was always a sore subject, and Zac suspected it always would be. He didn't know yet if he would ever feel interested in being part of that world again. He didn't think so, but he hadn't closed his mind completely to this idea as he had before. Taylor seemed pleased by this small shift while Isaac was still somewhat disheartened by Zac's lack of interest. For now, it seemed they had agreed to simple disagree and focus on other things.
Zac's relationships with his niece and nephews as well as his other siblings and parents were improving as well. Sunday dinners with his parents had resumed, and Remy and Luca were his constant companions to these get togethers.
The other kids had met Luca a few times at Zac's before, and they easily took to her presence at the family dinners. She and Penny, the only girls among a plethora of boys, were like a couple of peas in a pod. She jumped at any chance to play with her new pack of friends.
Luca hopped up and down excitedly as Zac grabbed her a pouch of fruit snacks and a juice box. Snack time was part of the new routine of their lives. Luca gobbled it down, anxious to go outside to paint. Zac thought he might lose those experiences with Luca now that he was no longer confined to the house, but that was not that case. Luca enjoyed painting outside so much more than painting in the basement. He prayed that the good weather would hold for at least another month. Taking their painting back inside would be hard for both of them.
Zac's easel was already set up in the backyard. He had a half finished painting of the leafy trees. Their colors were already beginning to change and a few had fallen. Another month and they'd probably be raking them up. Surprisingly, Zac looked forward to the task. It was shocking how many little things he'd missed.
He carried Luca's child-sized easel out into the backyard. It had been his gift to her almost two and a half months ago when she finally turned six. He was pleased that it seemed to be her favorite gift, much to Remy's annoyance.
Once it was set up, Luca skipped over with her box of watercolors in hand. She set things up just the way she liked and set to work on painting. Zac couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm as he went back to work.
These moments were easily his favorite part of the day. They didn't paint every day. Sometimes they had errands to run, or they'd feel too lazy to set up outside and would relax on the sofa for an episode of Spongebob Squarepants, but these moments - though, typically, the quietest - were the most precious.
Zac worked on his landscapes, only peeking over occasionally to check out what Luca was doing. Today, it appeared she was drawing from her imagination - some kind of animal Zac couldn't decipher but was sure Luca would be more than happy to explain.
Time seemed to fly by. Zac felt as though he'd only just got started when he felt a pair of arms wrap around his middle. "Is it after four already?" he smiled.
"Sure is," Remy answered a smile in her voice. "Didn't you miss me?" Zac sat down his paint palette along the edge of his easel and turned in Remy's arm.
"You know I did," he assured her, dipping down to capture her soft lips in a welcoming kiss.
Remy grinned up at him as he pulled away. Then she leaned around him to look at the painting he was working on. "It's beautiful," she commented.
"Thanks." His cheeks flushed slightly. "How was work?"
Remy shrugged and rested her head against his shoulder as she watched Luca paint. She had yet to notice her mother's appearance. She may not have been Zac's blood, but she certainly inherited this trait from him. "We still on for dinner with your brothers?"
"Yep, at six."
"Does Luca have any homework?" she wondered.
"I'm not sure," Zac confessed. "I didn't look."
"Huh, well, I guess it's up to me to be the responsible one," she sighed.
Zac chuckled and leaned in to whisper in her ear, "If you want, you can be as wild and irresponsible as you'd like once we've got Luca tucked into bed later tonight."