Other Young Adult Books by Elle Klass
Baby Girl Books
Baby Girl Box Set - includes books I - IV
Prison of the Past
The moon danced across the top of the water as the tide rolled in, humming in our ears. Raul caught me in his arms, our mouths parted and I willingly allowed his tongue inside. My hands sliding the band holding his ponytail out of his hair and combing through his dark curls. We stepped backwards towards the lounger until it hit my knees and I dropped onto it, lifting my legs onto the soft cushion.
Raul lifted one leg onto the lounger and straddled me, guiding his finger around my belly button just above my bikini bottom then sliding his finger up my arm where it caressed the area where my arm bends sending tingles throughout me. He found the strangest places on my body that brought sensations I hadn’t known existed.
He moved his lips to my ear, caressing my lobes, and whispered, “I can’t wait to spend my life with you.”
The past couple years had been filled with a surreal happiness suspended in love. The drama in my life ended and my new life with the beautiful man whose arms were wrapped tight around me began. The wind caught a chunk of his hair, blowing it against my face. I ran my hand over his hair, pushing it back into place, and gazed into his eyes. “I love you.”
“My lovely hibiscus,” he said in his sexy Latin accent as he stood and lifted me off the ground and carried me into the house, laying me on the couch beneath him. Hibiscus was his lover’s nickname for me since the first time we kissed on the beach in Puerto Rico.
I giggled, “What is this power you have over me?” I couldn’t resist him, since allowing him in there was no leaving and he showered me with affection.
A smile took over his lower face and his adorable dimple poked at his cheek. “I’ll use it every day for the rest of our lives.” His lips sent tingles of pleasure over my body as he dropped tiny kisses over my stomach and chest, making his way to my lips.
Our tongues curled together as our bodies pressed flesh to flesh. We slept swathed in each other’s arms. I’d finally given in and let a man into my life and he was perfect in every way; gorgeous, hard-working, romantic and gentle.
“I’ll be there,” echoed in my ears as I opened my lids one by one welcoming the morning sun. Raul strolled into the room, wearing nothing but a towel that clung to his hips. Every curve of his muscular abs displayed to me.
He kissed my forehead. “You’re not going anywhere,” I purred, pulling the towel off him.
“I have a few things that need my attention before we leave. All day I’ll be thinking of your sweet nectar,” he said between kisses.
He and his brother own and run a deep-sea fishing business and because of their hard work and dedication it was really thriving. However, today wasn’t the day for him to work. I couldn’t complain, even though I knew he wouldn’t be back until the evening. My St. Thomas home was a good two hour boat ride from Puerto Rico and their headquarters. I let out an exaggerated sigh, “Hurry back.”
With a couple more intense, toe-curling kisses he disappeared. The rich aroma of Yaucono coffee seized my nostrils. I padded into the kitchen and filled my mug, then spent the next couple hours double checking that I had everything ready for the trip. No, more like triple checking since we both double checked the list yesterday. It kept my anxiety at bay while I waited for his return.
I booted up my computer and in a brief moment was staring at an email from Mrs. Childrone. We ran the Einstein Foundation together. My life story as a girl growing up on the streets brought in plenty of sales and that, mixed with the excessive donations, the Einstein Foundation saved thousands of street children every year. I’d visited all the homes and met many of the children. In some cases I was there when the child was reunited with a parent or family member. Most of the time I worked, with La Tige’s help, to find the whereabouts of their families.
La Tige, now retired and living in St. Thomas, was a restless man. Starting his career as a San Francisco police officer until a shooting that caused permanent damage to his leg and landed him a desk job. He retired early and opened up a P.I. office. That’s how I met him. Now, together we investigated and reunited families through the Einstein Foundation. The reasons these youngsters landed on the streets were so many and heart breaking. Mrs. Childrone wanted my face in the public, to display me as a survivor, in hopes of reaching more people.
The reward of seeing a child given a warm bed and hearty meal prickled me with warm fuzzies and brought back memories of my own childhood with a fierceness that drove me to spend countless hours helping these children.
I didn’t respond to her email, as I’d see her tomorrow for the wedding—my wedding. Proud to marry Raul, yet filled with an anxiety I blamed on my past, I dressed in a pair of body-hugging running shorts and sports top, then shoved my feet into a pair of beach running shoes and headed out the door. Over the past couple years I’d taken up running as a way to calm my body. Once the endorphins kicked in anxiety and stress disappeared, taken over by an overwhelming feeling of peace.
At nine o’clock in the morning the bright sun beat against my head and bare skin. Near the equator there was no escaping the star’s radiant energy. Sweat drippled across my forehead and rolled down my face, splashing onto my shoulders. It beaded on my bare belly and beneath my light clothing. A gentle ocean breeze swept across me, squelching the sweat for a minute or so. The sand beneath my pounding steps flying into the air and hitting my lower legs.
My fitness meter beeped, telling me I’d reached a mile and a half, so I slowed to a walk and turned around to head home. This was my routine as the walk allowed my heart rate to return to normal by the time I reached my house.
Inside the house, I grabbed a water bottle and nearly chugged the whole thing at once. I then dropped my clothes and stood below the shower allowing the lukewarm water to massage my body. The anxiety of earlier was gone.
I’d sat down with a plate of fresh fruit and yogurt as my mind again wandered to Raul, when my phone rang and cut off my daydream. A hard knot clutched my gut and squeezed when I recognized the number as Julia’s, Raul’s brother and business partner’s wife. She never called me, so why now?
“Nooooo!” I screamed into the phone then dropped it to the floor. Its crash distant in my mind. My scream echoing through my distressed soul. The loss gouging into my heart and shredding it until it’s pulp in my blood. The emptiness consumed me as I shrunk to a heap on the floor.
Two weeks later
I wiggled my toes in the sand as I sat on a beach lounger watching the waves gently rock our yacht. The yacht we purchased to sail the world for our honeymoon. He’d been taken from me just when my life had reached stasis.
I stood and padded through the sand, hot as fire beneath my feet. I barely noticed the pain as the yacht drew closer with each step until I was standing on its deck. The decorations still hung in white and silver. I grazed my hand over one, soft against my palm. Tears threatened to burst and explode onto my cheeks. My nose moistened inside as I fought the urge, my mind on Raul when a strong arm wrapped around my shoulder. The scent of aftershave and Dial soap drifted into my nostrils; La Tige, far more than a past employer and current business partner, he was my surrogate father. I buried my head into his chest and allowed the security of his arms.
When my tears dried we sat on the deck and watched the tide roll in and out. The surf playing a melody in my ears. Behind my eyes I see the white and silver decorations hung on the bow ready for Raul and me to take our vows.
All my life I’ve sought the answers but have come to realize sometimes there aren’t any. The universe is random and we are but tiny specks of energy.
I asked him not to go. To trust that his brother had everything under control. He assured me he trusted him but had a few things to tidy up before we left on our honeymoon. The plan was to marry and have the reception on the yacht then sail around the world, just the two of us. Like everything else good in my life, it wasn’t meant to be. The heavy arm around my neck reminded me that wasn’t true. I had him, one of the best things that ever happened to me. The random universe decided marriage wasn’t for me, nor was being in love.
Raul went to work and promised to be gone only a couple hours. Their secretary called, frantic. Her mother had a large stroke and was in the ICU. Raul, being the business owner he was, picked up the slack so they wouldn’t fall behind in the office while she was out.
He took a short break to grab lunch for all the workers. That wasn’t unusual. If he was in the office he was buying them all food. Usually he was out on a boat. On his way back, another vehicle smashed into the back end of his and sent his car flying into a pole. The seatbelt didn’t save him and the airbag didn’t deploy. My mind replayed the police report like a recurring nightmare. The only good news was that it happened so quickly they said he wouldn’t have felt much pain.
The woman who hit him walked away. The thought made me cringe. She walked away unharmed! I reminded myself daily not to hate her. My stomach turned and I rushed from the chair. Sticking my head over the side of the boat I dry heaved, since there was nothing left in my belly.
I hadn’t eaten for days; everything I tried to eat came back up. Kacy and La Tige hadn’t left my side and tried their best to console me.
Time passed with little meaning as I drifted in and out of sanity. “Honey, I know it’s hard,” Kacy said as she lifted my hair while I heaved again. Finally done, I leaned my back against the wall. She wrapped her arms around me as I sobbed onto her shoulder.
It had been over two weeks now. She took the first flight out and was here from San Francisco in less than twenty-four hours. It was two years since Kacy came to stay with me. She’d spent three months, then returned to Javier and the Bay. They’d since gotten married and rebuilt the bar. Javier declined the job and threw his energy into opening a chain of Happy Trails bars. Currently they had two in the Bay that were making money so they invested in a third. Its grand opening was Tuesday. Two days from now and Kacy needed to be there. She begged me to come with her.
I hadn’t made a decision yet. I knew better than to wallow in my own self-pity but couldn’t rip myself away from my house and the view of our yacht. Watching it sent my mind on a journey and I imagined Raul and I sailing the world.
La Tige was also leaving. He and Aaliyah, or Ashla, were slowly becoming a thing. I preferred Ashla. That’s who she was when I met her and it reminded me less that she was my aunt. They were building trust and friendship. He offered to stay, but I couldn’t force my friends to stop their lives for me. After two weeks, they needed to return to them and I needed time alone. Time to sort things out.
Monday came and La Tige and I put Kacy on the plane. She informed me she’d be in contact every day and I better answer or she’d be on the next plane back. Later that evening La Tige left, promising to return in a couple days.
Finally, alone with my thoughts and the ghost of my husband-to-be, I watched the yacht through the rain pouring hard against the glass door and sunk into my own little world of happiness. Raul and I were making love and it was so real I felt his touch on my skin and his tongue in my mouth.
A loud banging on the front door startled me awake. It happened again. Slowly, I trudged to the door, assuming it was probably La Tige with Aaliyah. When I opened the door the most unlikely person was on the other side. His round face, balding head, and dress shirt neatly tucked into his belt holding in his large gut. My jaw dropped and anger boiled inside me as I slammed the door shut in his face.
My emotions went from sad to fuming in a matter of seconds. I took a deep breath then stomped to my bedroom. How the heck did he find me?
“Cleo,” he called as he knocked on the door again.
I pulled a pillow over my head and wished the downpour would wash him into the ocean. The knocking stopped and after it’d been quiet for several minutes I assumed he’d left. Lifting the pillow and tossing it aside, I dragged myself into the living room. The curtain of the sliding door was open and standing in my private space, my own little peace of heaven, was my bio-dad, soaking wet. Never assume anything.
Anger’s red tendrils climbed up my body. How dare he?! This is my house! I slid the door open and gave him the evil eye. If I had magical powers I would have disintegrated him.
He turned his fat-roll-filled face towards me, what hair he had lay flat against his head. The top completely bald and shiny from the water rolling down it. “I need to speak with you.”
“There’s nothing to say!” I shot at him. I looked around. Where was his posse? He came here alone? Something strange and more destructive than the storm was brewing.
“Can I come inside?” he asked, swiping water from his eyes.
A billion nasty replies sorted through my head before I said, “You’re alone and standing like a wet dog in the rain. Did you lose everything, including an umbrella?” It was a weak poke at his wealth as he was one of the richest men in the U.S.
He cleared his throat and his cheeks puffed out like plump little wrinkled pillows turning his green eyes into little slits as his lips curved upwards into a smile.
“First, I’m sorry about your fiancé,” he said, his smile disappearing as he completely ignored my question.
“Don’t come closer. You’re not here to share your condolences.” The jerk had no business talking about my precious Raul. He’d tried to destroy my life and me. What the heck did he have to say to me? My curiosity was piqued but he’d have to talk from a distance.
He followed my request and stayed put. “You’re right, under the circumstances I had to change my original flight plans.” The rain let up to a slight drizzle that pattered against his head. I had to admit I was enjoying watching him grovel.
Was I supposed to be mournful because he wasted a few extra hundred, equivalent to pennies in a bucket to him, on airfare? Still standing inside my house at the doorway, I wrapped my arms around my chest and glared at him.
He cleared his throat. “This would be much easier if I could come inside.”
Obviously, he wasn’t going away and wasn’t acting extra cruel but remorseful—maybe—or there was something much darker brewing. I relented and begrudgingly slid the door open and walked away from it, straddling the stool behind my bar.
He stepped inside, leaving a trail of wet sand behind him. That was the downside of living on the beach – sand, sand, and more sand. It was a never-ending battle to keep the floors clean but the tile made it easy to sweep. He saddled onto a bar stool, droplets of water splattering against the shiny top, and cupped his hands on the bar. “I’m sorry for everything. I’ve done many things in life I’m not proud of. What I put you through is the worst. I wasn’t a very good man.”
That was the understatement of the year, but I didn’t interrupt. I enjoyed watching him wallow and grovel. “Here,” I tossed him a beach towel from the stack I kept behind the bar. “You’re dripping all over my clean floor.”
“You’ve grown into a strong woman and I’m proud of you,” he paused and the room became eerily quiet.
“I don’t have much longer,” he stated, his glare matching mine before softening.
“You can leave anytime. In fact now isn’t too soon,” I seethed. I didn’t hear his words for what they were. I heard them for what I wanted them to be.
“Cleo, I’m dying.”
“So you want my sympathy?” Hah! The man who had me kidnapped at birth and chased down by a ruthless yet luckily idiotic man.
“No, I have one favor to ask of you,” he said in a shaky voice as he continued patting his head with the towel. It wasn’t like him to show weakness.
The entire self-pity thing wasn’t like him. His ego was the size of Saturn. To keep my nervous hands busy, I grabbed the shaker. “Want a drink?”
“Bourbon, please,” he responded.
I knew what was coming so I busied myself and took my time, then pushed the drink towards him. It slid easily across the shiny top. I slammed the shaker down. “You have no business finding my house, stalking me then asking for something – anything. You don’t deserve it!”
“You’re right. I don’t.” He lifted the glass, swirled it, and took a sip.
“How did you find me?”
“I have many resources and can find most anything.” He placed the half-filled glass of bourbon on the bar top.
I knew that, but was trying to avoid the inevitable. A picture of Einstein hung on the wall at the end of the bar. My mind flashed back to the day. We were young but not naïve. We didn’t have the chance to be that way. More of my life flashed through my head. There was always a mystery to be solved; questions that needed answers.
The past two years were peaceful. No drama, no intense secrets or problems. Simply two people falling in love and it hit me. I’d been in a funk since his death and allowed the sorrow of my void to fill me. I needed something to solve and busy my mind, something to give me purpose. My bio-dad’s visit was ill-placed, but it reminded me of who I am and inadvertently gave me a purpose.
I looked square in his light green eyes. “No.”
He took another swallow, a bigger one this time. “You don’t know what I’m going to ask.”
“You want me to care that you’re dying. Well I don’t and you’re not my father. You are a sperm donor, that’s it.”
“This isn’t for me. I was responsible for ripping you from your mother’s arms. She had nothing to do with it – ”
I interrupted him and with clenched teeth stated, “She never searched for me either.” They were equal pieces of dirt in my mind. At times I hated her more but, seeing him in front of me, I was reminded how much I despised him.
“I don’t beg ever, but this evening I’m begging. Please meet your mother.”
Oh no! That was it? His last will and testament wishes, meet your mother. No, he wasn’t that kind and didn’t care about anything or anyone but himself. Something was in it for him. “Not happening!”
He stood, swallowed the last of his bourbon, and set the glass on the bar. He nodded. “I was hoping to change your mind but I see I can’t.” He walked towards the front door then paused, water and lines of sand drizzled across the floor. Turning back around he said, “You’re in my will. When I heard you were getting married I added an addendum to cover any children you may have.” Then he opened the door and let himself out.
I locked the door. I wanted him out of my life permanently. Permanent was an everlasting word. My wish was coming true and the evil man was dying, but I lost my Raul forever. I couldn’t help but blame myself. Maybe if I hadn’t spent so many years hating him I’d still have Raul. My back against the door, I sank to the floor and cried. My tears mingled with the watery sand left by his footsteps.
I felt no sorrow for him, but pity. He was a wretched man and was facing a deserved ending. Karma was boomeranging on him big time! As soon as I thought it another wave of sadness washed over me. I hated him with all my being, but didn’t wish death even on him. My stomach churned and the feeling my life was changing forever returned. I’d never be the same.
Tears blurring my vision Einstein stared at me from across the house. His eyes locking with mine. I forced myself upwards, staring at the picture. That was it! Einstein! For years, the mystery he attempted to solve gently poked at me.
With a renewed purpose in my life, and an unsolved mystery, I gathered the clues he left me.
I scrutinized all the newspaper clippings and pictures Einstein had gathered. There was no apparent connection between any of the boys besides Einstein’s friend was a victim and Letter-opener Judge let a possible guilty guy go free.
A picture of Raul and I holding each other in San Juan stared from the computer screen. His chocolate eyes filled with happiness and life. My own face filled with smiles and joy. Those days were gone. My finger lingered over the screen for a moment too long before touching the program I needed. La Tige kept his programs up to date even though he was mostly retired. They came in handy when we searched for a child’s family.
The screen blurred as I stared at it behind tear-soaked eyes. I wiped them and focused on the mystery at hand. The one I hadn’t solved but vowed in Einstein’s childhood room that I would. I’d had plenty of time to work on it but hadn’t. Procrastination was a lovely thing when attempting to avoid facing something. In this case, my past – our past.
Einstein, like Raul, was taken too young and early in our relationship. I’d given my heart to both only to have it crushed each time. It was high time to face the past I avoided. Raul’s death was a senseless accident I couldn’t process. He was in the wrong place at the right time. I hoped and believed that solving Einstein’s mystery would somehow make amends to my soul for Raul’s loss. I had my vengeance on Einstein’s loss years ago when I made sure Slug stayed locked up forever. It didn’t bring back Einstein, but it helped my heart heal.
Letter-opener Judge Landon Feeney wasn’t difficult to find court cases on, but it was more difficult than squeezing milk from a tomato to find anything personal. All I discovered was an address of his youth and where he gained his law degree. I scrolled through his illustrious career from the time he was a mere public defender.
He closed thousands of cases or more. One after the other. Court records were bland reading but I held my hopes that one of his cases would give me something. All I needed was a small clue.
My eyes drooping and head rested on my fisted hand, I nearly gave up when I found something suspicious. As a public defender he defended a man whose case was almost identical to that of the man arrested for the murder of Einstein’s friend.
I glanced at the time, two seventeen A.M. Bed is what I should have done as my eyes drooped and begged for it, but my brain had other ideas. I searched the man’s name. He’d been arrested twice but never found guilty. The first when he was twenty. It seemed he had a peeping Tom fetish for his next door neighbor’s son. There was no evidence and the courts let him go instead of wasting tax payer money.
The next case, he was arrested for abducting and murdering a fourteen-year-old boy, but swift Feeney got him off. I scrolled back to the first case, Einstein’s friend. The exact same charges, but little cold hard evidence. It went to trial and the jury was hung. The perp walked away.
I searched the name. He vanished after the case. Nothing showed, not even a parking ticket. The other man, Peeping Tom, also disappeared. I wasn’t a genius but had three identities of my own so the answer was obvious. He became someone else.
I pressed my brain to remember the judge’s house. All I got was the darn gold letter opener and money, lots of it. I was a starving street urchin who wasn’t looking for anything more than my next meal and a warm bed and shower. If I’d have seen anything I wouldn’t have recognized it or cared.
Tired, I crawled into bed. Strange dreams haunted me and I awoke with an answer. In order to verify my vision-infested thought I went back to the court documents. Something about them bothered me and now with clear eyes I put my finger on it. The address. Peeping Tom lived at the same address as the young Feeney.
That alone wouldn’t mean noodles, except Feeney lived at the address during the time Peeping Tom was arrested. I wasn’t a lawyer or even a court reporter but I was pretty sure that was a conflict of interest.
I picked up the picture of Einstein and his friend – two cheerful kids standing in front of a lake. His brown eyes seemed to wink and I could hear his voice ‘This is eerie... hmm... What is it that happens to teens alone in the woods?’ The flippin’ clues were embedded in my brain!
Laying on my back, I held the picture in front of me and studied it. Why this picture? He wanted to solve the case and if he couldn’t, he left evidence hidden in his parents’ home. I wondered if he even snuck back into the house after vanishing just to leave it.
Behind Einstein, on the other side of the river from where they stood, was a white sign. The picture quality wasn’t great so I grabbed a wine glass and pressed it against the picture. I rolled it over the sign: Einstein Camp, A Science and Technology Camp.
It didn’t take long to locate it. The camp was in the Niagara Falls area and still running! My brain worked faster than my body as I tossed clothes into a suitcase with one hand and the phone in the other reserving the first flight out. I stopped cold when I spotted one of Raul’s T-shirts stuffed beside my pillow. The day of his death I pulled it from the dirty laundry and slept with it every night to feel close to him. Inhaling the aftershave scent combined with his hormones mixed into the fabric, tears threatened to pour from my eyes. I blinked several times and squeezed my eyes shut to keep the downpour from happening. It worked and I carefully folded his shirt and placed it in my suitcase.
Almost out the door, I stopped short. I couldn’t go as me because I might run into something shady, which was as sure to happen as bugs flying into a radiator. Justine was glamorous, not the action-adventure type. Justine was out. She lived her life scared and locked in a hotel room or under Didier’s and/or Sam’s protection. But Shanna was a girl who didn’t fear the unknown and jumped into solving crimes and dealing with Red-headed Gnome with a chip on her shoulder. She was the girl who found her roots and shunned them. Shanna Nu it was.
When I hit the states I had a five hour layover in Orlando where I headed to the salon. When she was done, several inches of thick, dark, straight hair covered the floor around me and distinct red chunks framed my face. Shanna was classier now that she had a wallet filled with bio-dad’s blood money.
It was late by the time I landed in Buffalo. My blood ran cold as I stepped outside the airport. Everything sunk in at one time. I was retracing Einstein’s path, which inevitably led to finding me. Take a deep breath, Cleo.
My phone buzzed and I jumped.
“Everything OK, ma’am?” The voice came from a man about La Tige’s age with an 1800s mustache and cowboy hat.
I waved my phone. “Great, just my phone,” I sounded like a dorkess. The good life left me rusty in the area of covert actions.
Mrs. Childrone, checking on my sanity no doubt. She’d become the mother I never had. A taxicab pulled to the curb and I nodded and opened the door. The hefty odor of exhaust fumes buckled against the hairs in my nose.
The odor was quickly replaced by the pine-scented air freshener when I entered the cab.
“Where to?” asked the driver. A butch-haired lady, about my age, with a strong New York accent.
“Niagara Falls.”
She gurgled as she almost choked. “That’s about an hour’s drive. You can stay the night here and there are flights in the morning.” I guess she didn’t want my money or didn’t think I had it. My attire was a simple pair of blue jeans and an oversized blouse. Flashing a cabbie money wasn’t smart in any neck of the woods, but I also knew Shanna didn’t have any credit cards or a driver’s license, something Raul forced Cleo to get.
“Can you recommend someone who can get me there?” Insane, I know. Most people wouldn’t even consider such a cab drive. It was last minute planning that put me into the predicament. Flights to Niagara Falls were booked and I didn’t have enough time to schedule a bus, train, or private driver. Everything was filled.
Her eyes widened into saucers. “You’re serious?”
“Yes.” I pulled three hundred out of my wallet. A car outside honked and a man in a uniform motioned for us to get moving. I gave her a fifty. “I’ll give you the rest when we get there.”
“You got it, lady.” She pulled out and I soaked in the city and the lights that shone so bright they muted the stars in the sky.
“Since we’ll trapped in this rolling metal box for the next hour, I’m Carla.”
I wouldn’t have chosen her as a Carla, maybe a Sam. Butch-cut, unpainted face and nails, she was a tomboy-type who climbed trees and had more guy friends than drama queen girlfriends.
“Shanna.”
“Pleasure or family?”
“Family.” There I went again with simple white lies that rolled so easily off my tongue.
“Enjoy a little pleasure while you’re there. You know it’s one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and wear a rain jacket and boots,” she said matter-of-factly.
I wasn’t sure about it being a Wonder of the World, but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be stopping to see it. My only goal was Camp Einstein. She chatted my ear off as I researched the camp. The one-sided conversation worked well for her. She had a strong personality, but I enjoyed it. I could be trapped in a ‘rolling metal box’ with someone with no character or one that gave me the creeps.
Camp Einstein offered science and technology enrichment for privileged children. Prices weren’t listed, but I imagined it was a yearly salary for the average American. The camp also explained where he got the name Einstein. It was a piece of his carefully planned puzzle that someone was meant to solve. The four years we stayed together, leaning on each other for survival, I knew he was clever. The skills he had in technology blew me away. Since I grew up in a tiny cabin with nothing, I didn’t fully appreciate how advanced he was. Everything awed me then.
I didn’t doubt the camp was only a small piece of his well-to-do education. He most likely went to a private school designed for the wealthy with a specific course of study. I never asked how old he was when he ran away. We didn’t talk about our mysterious history but left it in the past, only focusing on the future. If only I’d asked, then maybe I’d have more answers now.
The camp’s website offered a photo gallery, but most pictures were recent. Science and tech based – two ever-evolving fields of study – I supposed they only wanted the most up-to-date information on the website. I put the address and phone number into my contacts.
This type of facility I was sure I needed an appointment and showing up on a whim would put me in the unclassy, less dignified category, so I needed a good story when I called them. I sifted through the possibilities in my mind. My daughter Rosa needs a challenging environment to foster her intellectual needs. That sounded stuffy enough to work.
I clicked on my travel app and booked a room not too far from the camp. It was the only vacancy I found. No doubt I must have incidentally hit the busy season. The seat back wasn’t too uncomfortable, but was far more cushy than sleeping on the ground as I’d done so much in my youth.
“You have an address?”
Her heavy New York voice awoke me from my slumber. I gave her the motel name. She put it into her GPS and carried on. “Came here once when I was a kid. The best family vacation of my life. There’s no excuse, growing up in New York. My father died a year after the trip and Mom worked two jobs to care for us. We didn’t have another family vacation but that’s been a long time ago.” Sentiment slowed her speech as she reminisced.
Death wasn’t selective, we all suffered its consequences and her words in an odd way gave my heart hope and filled me with sadness at the same time. I’d never forgotten Einstein and was on destination solve-his-mystery but the loss became more bearable every year that passed. One day, Raul’s loss that weighed on my heart would grow fainter and fainter but I never wanted to forget him. He was the lover that showed me unconditional love when I was mature enough to understand that.
The cab rolled onto a curved driveway with a concrete awning extending from the motel’s office. It wasn’t a five star hotel but a place on a poor man’s budget with its two-floor concrete construction. A metal railing went across the top floor from a set of concrete steps. There was no landscaping but the grass was trimmed and full.
I handed her the fare and a few extra hundred. Cabbies didn’t make a ton of money and she was pleasant and made the long drive bearable so I gave her extra.
Her round eyes widened inside her plump face. “Thank you!” she said, offering me her card, which I took.
“My pleasure.” I smiled then walked to the glass door and opened it. A bell rang above my head, alerting the clerk someone was in the house.
A thin man with a balding head and black-rimmed glasses strolled into the room through a curtain from the back. News, either from radio or TV, played quietly in the background while he checked me in and handed me an actual key. Most places used cards but the metal against my hand reminded me of my humble beginnings.
I managed a few hours’ sleep, too exhausted to care about the lumpy bed. To my body it was heaven. After my nap, I called Camp Einstein, posing as an interested parent and managed to schedule an appointment for the afternoon to tour the grounds and hear about the program. The woman’s high-pitched bubbly voice made her sound about sixteen. Maybe a camp counselor.
I showered and dressed in a pair of elegant flats and a business dress. Something I wore when I worked for the Briggses. I wanted something that said money, but at the same time wouldn’t get a heel trapped in the dirt as we toured the wilderness campgrounds.
I called Mrs. Childrone back. She wanted me to do a book signing in New York at a new bookstore’s grand opening. I’d never agreed to a book tour or signing. I guessed she wanted me to do this now to help take my mind off Raul’s loss. As Einstein’s mother she was no stranger to the devastation that loss caused. I agreed to it and would meet her in the New York office in a few days.
I managed to secure a driver and car to the camp. Showing up in a taxi wouldn’t cut it, or score any brownie points. It was located along the Niagara River and surrounded by woods. It took a good thirty minutes off the main road to get to the main office where Miss Bubbly would be waiting.
This far off the beaten path seemed like a better place for a survival camp, but maybe learning science and technology called for seclusion and long nature walks. I stepped out of the vehicle and walked across the smooth, unpaved parking lot. My phone beeped, meaning I had a message. Kacy’s text read: Hey Chica. My lips curved into a smile. Call you later. A lot to tell you. I stuffed my phone into my purse as I reached the office. It was a small log building surrounded by carefully manicured shrubs.
“Mrs. Nu. I’m Cathy, we spoke on the phone,” greeted a small built woman dressed in khaki shorts and a collared shirt with an Einstein Camp logo embroidered in the corner. The outside looked rustic but inside were models of atoms or compounds. I don’t know which. Since leaving school in the sixth grade I hadn’t done much study in the area of science. There was also a prototype see-through screen with a 3D digital layout of some type of map. On closer inspection it was a map of the camp.
Definitely Miss Bubbly. “Hi, Cathy. Thank you for taking the time on such short notice to meet with me.” I may have used the Briggs’ family name and my brother Will to help secure this impromptu meeting. I’d have to let him know. I’m sure she’d check my references.
“This is for your daughter, Rosa? Where is she?” Her wide eyes shifted around me.
Was I supposed to bring her? This called for a quick lie. “I wanted to take a look first. We’re also looking at the NASA Camp in Florida and don’t want to say anything until we’ve had the chance to see what each offers. Children get disappointed so easily.” I figured if she thought there was competition she might not ask too many questions.
“Yes, yes. You will bring her when you’ve made your decision. We like to meet the children ahead of time and do require transcripts,” she said, as if memorized from a script and the full assumption I’d choose Camp Einstein.
“Of course.”
The grounds were beautiful. Tree leaves were in the start of changing colors and dropping and the faint pounding of the waterfall sounded in my ears. It was peaceful and relaxing. I could see how a place like this would foster intellectual development. There was a dock with kayaks, an Olympic sized heated swimming pool, tennis courts, golfing, and nature trails. I guess golfing was a skill rich kids needed to know in their youth.
“I love to see all the various physical activities for them, that encourages and fosters thinking.” It sounded stupid but perked her up more than she already was.
“Oh yes, yes. That’s the reason we have it.” She went on to explain scientific garbage about how each activity cultivates some type of neural pathway, increasing brain function and eye and hand coordination. She lost me right away, mostly because I didn’t care.
We followed a trail through the woods to the student cabins. A slight rustle from my left, probably the wind, grabbed my ears’ attention and instinctively I peeked from the corner of my eye. A blur of blue behind an evergreen bush flashed. When I turned my head the blue blur was gone. Probably a bird of some sort. Focusing my attention back on the task at hand; the cabins were the same log style as the office but inside looked like a futuristic space ship. There was also a library and a science lab filled with high tech equipment and a state of the art scanning electron microscope. I felt like I was in an episode of a sci-fi series. The last room she took me to was the computer lab, although all the students were provided tablets during their stay.
“This is very impressive,” I said as we walked to the cafeteria. Vending machines filled with juice and healthy snacks lined the walls. Healthy eating initiative. My childhood days were spent scrounging in dumpsters and somehow I survived. I tried not to gawk and let my sheer amazement show that children actually got to do this stuff. And my Einstein was one of them. No wonder he was an expert hacker.
“Do you have pictures or yearbooks? It would really help me decide if this is a good fit for Rosa,” I said with a smooth voice.
“Yes, we have those in the library.” She opened a vending machine after asking if I wanted a drink, grabbed two mango juices, and we strolled back to the library.
I suffered the whole tour to get to the one thing I wanted. The yearbooks dated back thirty years. I browsed them randomly, not wanting to draw attention to a specific year. She continued yakking about all the benefits the camp offered. I flipped a page for one of the first yearbooks and found a familiar face – my brother. Holy flippinoli. I had no idea. I figured they’d have sent him to Wall Street Camp, not science and tech.
Einstein was in three yearbooks until about age fifteen and so were the other boys. I’d have to check when I got back to the motel. He must have vanished after that. “Would it be too much to ask for another mango juice?” I needed her out of the room and had already staked out the facility’s cameras. There were a lot of blind spots because of all the bookshelves and sneaking pictures with my phone wouldn’t be difficult.
Her eyes shifted nervously and she took a moment to respond, “Yes, I’ll be right back.”
That was odd. As soon as the door closed I shifted and pulled out my phone, holding it in front of me I pretended to type a text as I clicked a few pictures from the three books he was in. Each year he was with the same group of students, only one or two were different. Their names were printed on the bottom of the picture. I snapped a few of the staff each year too. I didn’t know how yet but knew they were connected, somehow, to all of it. He wouldn’t have left the clues if they weren’t.
A creak like a closing door sounded from behind the bookshelves. Was she back so soon and why a different door? I turned towards the noise and noted a flash of blue behind a book shelf. Curious, I sauntered toward the book shelves and heard footsteps and a door close. I followed the sound until I came to a back door. Shifting my eyes left and right and listening, then pushed against the bar on the heavy metal door. It opened and all I saw was the camp. Not a soul in sight. I chalked it up to paranoia or ghosts. This place was giving me the creeps.
I padded back to the table in time for her return. She must have run all the way. Should I ask her about the Childrones or the Briggses? Her strange behavior after me asking for a drink, as if I was going to rob the place or take her down with a weapon when she returned, made me wonder; maybe it wasn’t good to remind her of the names that I was associated with. “Thank you for your time. Camp starts June twenty-third?”
“Yes, but we need to know at the latest by the end of the week. We have two spots open,” she said with a toothy, nervous smile.
I was surprised they had any spots open even with so many months ahead before the start of the summer. “Of course. I’ll have that answer.”
She shoved a brochure into my hand as we walked back towards the office.
After returning to the motel, I scanned through the boys’ photos from the articles Einstein saved and compared them to the ones I took from the academy yearbooks. The same faces stared back at me. Not every boy was a victim, but each victim went to the academy.
I called my brother Will. He never mentioned this place but I wanted his take and could ask him anything and be completely candid with him.
The phone rang and I was shocked when he answered right away. “Hey, sis,” he said in his joyful voice.
In the past few years we’d been in each other’s lives we’d gotten to know each other well and he knew by the tone of my voice I wasn’t calling for pleasure so I got right to it and asked him about the camp.
“I went there one summer. It was OK, wasn’t really my thing. What are you working on?”
I spilled, but it wasn’t my intention to tell him everything. I just wanted an initial reaction before telling him my thoughts and his reaction didn’t raise any red flags.
“Why don’t you let me hire a detective? You don’t need to do this,” he urged.
Why is he against me investigating? Was Miss Bubbly really a serial stalker? Regardless, I need to do it for my own peace of mind. “I am a detective and learned from a detective.”
“The place was eerie but that’s what happens when that many science tech nerds are placed in close proximity. They all have the ability to rule the world and that idea becomes very clear after a few days,” he said, a no nonsense tone to his voice. That might be the reason he didn’t want me investigating, but my gut said there was more.
I chuckled, inappropriately, but his words made me picture nerd villains with pocket protectors and thick glasses that pushed buttons acting like puppet masters. I wondered for a second how many hackers spent time at the camp. I dismissed the thought. “I know you meant that, but do you realize how crazy it sounds?”
“That camp is crazy and those kids go on to build high tech military weapons and hack into and build the most sophisticated computer programs, weapons, and viruses.”
“Do you have proof of that?”
“No,” he sighed. “But I don’t doubt it.”
OK, so the children were geniuses holding onto their sanity by a thread but that didn’t make them horrible. “I figured it was more a place to send rich brats for the summer so their parents didn’t have to deal with them.”
“Partly. That’s why I was sent there.”
“And you’re not planning on taking over the world anytime soon.”
“I don’t know, the business is really expanding right now,” he said with a chuckle, but it was true. My last dividend check exceeded all the others.
“So they’re creepy nerds, but what about the people who worked there?”
“Creepier. Who wants to spend their time with nerds but other nerds so they can foster nerdiness?”
“Point taken and nobody stood out as child predatorish?”
“Not when I was there, but on the disturbing scale that place rates a solid ten,” he said in a concerned voice.
“I’ll be careful. I promise.” I’d said that before and ended up in bad situations.
“How are you doing?” How am I doing? He hadn’t mentioned anything about his father. They weren’t close, but I knew he cared. I decided to let him tell me on his terms.
I knew he meant how was I getting on since Raul’s death. “Day by day, and yes, this venture is helping busy my mind. It’s also something I need to do for Einstein and the other boys. He left all the puzzle pieces but I have to fit them together.”
“If you need help, I can have a body guard to you in a jiff.” I imagined him winking one of his handsome green eyes.
“I got it and if I need anything I’ll call you.” No doubt he’d worry and hire his own investigator, but I could handle myself and I’d be in New York in a couple days to meet with Mrs. Childrone and surprise him.
My job in Niagara Falls done, I tossed my dirty clothes into a trash bag and smashed it into my suitcase, then dropped into a sleep too exhausted and jetlagged to even eat.
I awoke sick to my stomach. It flipped and turned until everything came out – mango juice. It was a yellowish orange and I almost vomited again. After retching I found myself oddly hungry. I can’t say I have ever really been sick in my life, but since Raul’s death everything changed. If I’d had time in my life, I might have considered seeing a doctor but my life was too demanding and most likely it was my horrible diet as of late and stress of my beloved’s death. Maybe my hard as steel guts softened over time with healthy eating.
There was a mom and pop diner open for breakfast next door to the motel. I wandered over and ordered a fruit bowl and a biscuit along with coffee and a large chocolate milk. The little dive reminded me of somewhere Einstein and I would have stopped for breakfast with its orange metal framed chairs, Formica table tops and bar that allowed the patrons to watch the cooks in action. Sitting at a booth alone was a young girl. Her hair in a pony tail that fell out of a turquoise baseball cap. Her eyes fixed on the table in front of her. I saw a former me.
The place was packed but I managed to squish in and take a seat at the bar close to the rich aroma of the coffee. Pans tinging as they were moved to and from the stove and customer chatter mingled with the Chubby Checker song made my breakfast a flash from my past. I finished my coffee and stopped the waitress, “Can I get my tab, please?”
She smiled. “Of course. I’ll bring it right out.”
I motioned her closer. “The girl to the right of the bar. What do you know about her?”
Without glancing she responded, “Nothing. She’s not a regular.”
“How much is her tab?”
“All she had was a muffin and ice water, so a buck twenty,” she responded with raised brows.
I slipped her three twenties. “Bring her the biggest breakfast you have, on me.” Only a muffin and all alone? My heart went out to her and all I could think about was myself, starving at her age. She didn’t look older than fifteen. And there was something else I couldn’t yet place, something about her ate at me.
Her eyes enlarged as she nodded her approval.
I strolled back to the little motel and packed. It seemed the only way to get in and out of NF was by car. The airport was so tiny it didn’t even have a flight to LaGuardia; probably for the best. I sucked it up and called for a rental, then opened my computer and searched for the home addresses of the children in the pictures.
I didn’t know what they would tell me, but Einstein’s murdered friend lived in upstate New York and I was going there. What I would say and do was another story. A knock on my door alerted me that my car had arrived.
We went through the process of checking dings and dents, mileage, and the whole shebang before I signed my life away. A tad dramatic, but that’s how I felt. On the island I walked or ran, occasionally I took my bike. There was no need for a car. But in the states, driving was a must, and every part of me dreaded it.
I smiled nervously as he handed me the key and left. I stared at the car for a minute. It was a midsize, nondescript tan car. I popped the trunk and loaded my luggage when my phone rang.
La Tige. Most likely he figured out I skipped town and was worried. “Hey.”
“We’re worried about you. You can’t just take up and leave whenever you please after what you’ve been through,” a female voice sailed through the speaker into my ear. Ashla, my aunt of many identities, and La Tige’s wife from ages past. They were working things out and she managed to sneak his phone, undoubtedly knowing I wouldn’t answer if I saw her number.
Strolling away from my car and toward my room I answered, “I’m stateside and fine. I have things to do.” I didn’t hide the perturbed ring in my voice.
“I’m sorry. You’re a grown woman but I’ve faced loss and, well, you know how I coped. It wasn’t pretty.” Her mother hen concern wasn’t what I needed right now.
She was the epitome of a weak woman who looked for men to be her heroes and her story was completely different than mine even though there were a few similarities that I assumed were genetic anomalies. “I’ll be fine, send La Tige...” I stopped mid-sentence, he had no idea she called me. He would have sent a simple text: Call me if you need me. She did this on her own and if he knew he’d grow annoyed. I finished my statement, adding a sharpness to the end, “my love,” and hung up.
I grabbed my purse out of the motel, stuffing my phone inside it, dropped the trunk lid on the car and went back to the office and dropped off my key.
Settling into the seat and maneuvering it and the mirrors until I was comfortable, I set the GPS for Einstein’s friend’s childhood home. According to my research, the family still lived there. I breathed deeply and let out a big sigh before driving.
I finally entered their subdivision, about thirty minutes outside the cement jungle of New York City. Large, shady trees with an array of colored leaves gave the area a country appeal without being completely in the country. The GPS guided my destination: turn left... turn right...
Every house at least two stories with fashionable trim and matching lawns manicured to perfection. Each house uniquely different, with brick or siding facades. Some had wide porches, others had foyers set back from the front of the house with double doors.
I parked along the curb and shifted into park. The house was solid brick on all sides visible, with a large stained glass front door set inside a foyer directly in the middle of the front. On either side of the door were large matching windows. I imagined the bedrooms were in the back or upstairs since the front was so symmetrical and most likely contained a large living room, kitchen and dining room. Modern high dollar plastic fencing surrounded the back yard. The driveway veered to the left, ending with a wide garage door. The home appeared to have three stories with possibly a loft.
I took in a breath, preparing to meet this child’s parents. Other than curiosity, I didn’t know why I was here. I wore short heeled boots, the tops covered by my slacks, and a sweater for the professional appearance and to keep in body heat, protecting me from the fall chill. I’d figured I wouldn’t get past the front door unless I looked presentable. I stepped out of the car. The scent of leaves filled the air, crisp and rich, and a slight breeze pushed against my back as I strode to the front door, still unaware of what I’d say.
I hit the door bell and a loud ding-dong rang through the house and inside my ears. Footfalls moved towards the door, getting louder as they drew closer. Within a few minutes the door opened and a good-looking older man stood on the other side.
His thinning salt and pepper hair neatly trimmed above his ears. Thin wrinkles framed his piercing blue eyes and his straight lips formed no smile. He furrowed his brows as his eyes scanned me. “No solicitors. Didn’t you read the sign?” he said in a deep voice as he pointed to a red metal sign with white letters nailed into the brick near the door.
I smiled. “I’m not a solicitor, Mr. Applebaum. I’m a private detective.” That sounded sooo much better, I thought as he narrowed his disapproving eyes.
“A private detective. What do you want with us?” he spat. This was going to be harder than I thought.
“I’m investigating a case that brought me to the case of your son,” I said in a very businesslike no-nonsense tone. I fixed my eyes on Mr. Applebaum who stared at me, steam shooting through his ears.
“That was many years ago. My wife doesn’t need to relive the details as she has fought daily to move past it,” he sneered.
I swallowed and opened my mouth to speak. Lowering my voice I said, “We don’t need to talk around your wife. We can meet somewhere else.”
The man nodded and in the background I heard a female voice, “Who is it, honey?”
“Wrong house, honey,” he hollered back, his piercing eyes shifting to the corner then back to me. “Meet me at Jack’s Tavern in thirty minutes,” he said then shut the door in my face.
Twenty minutes later, I pulled into the parking lot beside a shiny green Mercedes. Jack’s Tavern was a concrete corner bar. A matching planter was built into the bottom of the building with a few neatly trimmed evergreen shrubs. One look, I knew why he’d chosen the place. My eyes took a few minutes to adjust to the dim lighting inside. Wooden tables and chairs were spaced throughout the bar with drink menus encased in Plexiglas holders standing in the middle. I chose a table in a far corner. Above me was a glowing Miller Beer sign.
Only minutes after the server took my order, Mr. Applebaum walked towards me. I hadn’t noticed him earlier but assumed it was his Mercedes outside because I didn’t figure patrons of this bar had that kind of money. It was more a blue collar bar. He walked towards me with purpose. No smile on his face and not a strand of his thinning hair out of place.
He pulled out a chair and dropped into it. His frustration obvious in his actions and the wrinkles deepening on his forehead.
“Thank you for taking the time to meet with me,” I said with a gentle voice, hoping to ease his anger in order to drag information from him.
Mr. Applebaum scrunched his thin brown eyebrows. “No need for formalities. What do you want?” His tone meant business, no need to mince words.
I piped in, “I’m investigating a case that has led me to the Einstein Academy. What can you tell me about it?”
He unscrunched his brows and stared at me. “The Einstein Academy?”
“Yes, what can you tell me about the staff at the time your son stayed,” I said in a straight business tone.
“They have nothing to do with it!” he spat. The hair on my arms stood up. Why would he have such a harsh reaction unless the question hit a nerve?
Shivers ran up my spine. “I’m not suggesting they do. The case I’m investigating may not be in any way related to your son. We just need general information on the staff: names, demeanor, anyone who stood out to you.”
His shoulders slumped slightly, showing an ease in his demeanor and his voice quieted and was less defensive. “I had no problems with the staff. They were always professional and helpful.”
“The counselors, too?” I asked.
He nodded, almost in defeat. I was trying to read his emotions and something didn’t fit but I couldn’t place it. I had to give a little so I pulled out a class picture that included his son, Einstein, and a few other boys who disappeared. I pointed to each boy as I spoke. “These three vanished within a couple years of your son. Do you know them?”
His eyes watered as they stared at the picture, taking and scanning the face of each boy. Mr. Applebaum cleared his throat before he spoke. “He was good friends with that one, Burke Childrone. I remember something in the news about his body being found and a foundation of some sort started in his honor.”
I knew this was close to my heart and would bring back memories, but wasn’t ready for the flood of emotion that swooshed through me as if a dam broke.
I held back the wave of emotion surging through me, pushing it down. “That’s true. I shouldn’t give you this information because I’m not supposed to disclose details from my clients but you’re a father whose son was stolen, tortured, and killed. You deserve to know.”
Forcing my own emotions down, I played on his emotional appeal and a-secret-for-a-secret tactic to gain info.
Mr. Applebaum’s chest heaved in and out in a large breath and his eyes dropped as if defeated. “There was a maintenance guy that gave me a bad taste. He wasn’t friendly, shuffled around and eyed everyone from the corner of his eye. It sounds stupid now that I say it,” he sighed, “I guess that’s why I’ve never said it before.”
“It doesn’t sound stupid at all and anything can help the case. Do you remember his name?” Demeanor alone doesn’t equal guilt, but it was worth checking into. Within the next few minutes I had a name. It didn’t match the aliases I had but he could have more. The more detailed physical description fit my guy almost to a T. I passed him a number and asked him to call if he remembered anything else, then we parted ways.
I cranked the motor and set the GPS for the hotel. I’d check in before I went to see Mrs. Childrone. The road clear, I pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road.
“I can help you,” peeped a young voice that made my heart stop. I jumped in my seat and slammed on the brakes. The car skidding.
“Watch where you’re going!” hollered the girl as I glanced back at the road, my life flashing before me as I swerved to miss a large tree.
Shaking and taking deep breaths, the car skidded to a stop as she climbed into the front seat.
My nerves returning to normal I shouted, “How did you get into my car?!”
Her dark eyes peered from beneath her blue cap. “You left the trunk open and the back seat folds. I climbed through. Easy as lemon squeezy.”
I was glad she had a sense of humor, mine was absent. At the restaurant she’d sat alone and now she sat in my car. Clever, very clever. A little me, only I didn’t climb into the back seat of cars and nearly give the driver a heart attack. “Let me take you home.”
Her head shot up and bold brown eyes daggered my face. “I can help you.”
At this point I didn’t know her story. My heart said she was homeless and penniless like me, but my brain said: Take a look at her. Her clothing didn’t say much; plain blue jeans, a green hoodie, a pair of Nike running shoes that didn’t look overly worn. From the looks of it she wasn’t homeless or hadn’t been for long. She pulled a worn maroon drawstring backpack from the floor that I hadn’t noticed earlier as I was trying to calm my heart rate. She shuffled around inside it, dragging out a book, my book.
“I’ve read it like a thousand times.” Her eyes went soft as she peered at me and the freckles on her face appeared to droop.
I narrowed my eyes. “If you know who I am, then you know I have a nonprofit for runaways and homeless kids, which is where I’m taking you.” I glanced into my mirror. Noting it was clear, I steered the car onto the road.
She sighed. “I’m not going!” her voice triumphant.
“How old are you? Fifteen?” I didn’t figure her for a homeless kid anymore, no she was a runaway and I wasn’t getting arrested for kidnapping.
“Seventeen. I’ll be eighteen next month.”
I opened my mouth to shoot her a response when she cut me off, “Don’t get your panties wadded now that you’re all rich and everything.” Her words stung like a dart. “I spotted you at the Einstein Academy and froze when I recognized your face. You almost caught me then.”
That was it, what ate at me but I couldn’t place my finger on. The blue ball cap in the woods and the footsteps, the opening and closing door, and flash of blue in the Einstein Academy Library. I sucked in my breath and didn’t interrupt. I was more than curious to hear what she had to say.
“My brother went to that morbid nerd camp several years ago. He came back a different person. He didn’t laugh or smile anymore. His mind was always somewhere else until the day he disappeared. My unstable mom couldn’t handle it and overdosed on pills and my father had a fatal heart attack last year. I’ve been taking care of myself since.”
“So you think we can help each other?” I was skeptical of her and her sob story that she voiced with no emotion. She was tough or lying like a dog.
“Yes, something happened to him there. I can hack, spy, pick locks, hotwire cars. Whatever you need.” Sorrowful pride filled her voice.
If I took her to the home she’d buck against it and run away. If I didn’t, she’d drive me nuts. If I believed her story I was a sucker. I sighed in defeat. “OK, you can help me,” and I’ll figure out who you are.
She sat back in the seat, victorious. “I’m Rox.”
“Cleo.”
“I know, remember?” She held up my book.
“What do you know about the Academy?” If there was any merit to her story she must have some type of information.
“Other than he was changed after returning. Nothing. Just a hunch. The place is creepy.” She stared ahead at the road as she spoke, which gave me the impression she was lying. What did she have? I’d get it out of her somehow.
My phone rang, startling me. I jumped again and Rox laughed.
“It’s just your phone.” She clicked the button. It was plugged into the car and sitting on the dash board. “Hi,” she answered for me.
“Cleo?” Kacy’s voice sailed through the speaker.
“Hey, sorry I forgot to call. I’ve been busy.” I glanced at Rox who sat shotgun and brimmed with excitement.
“Busy? Chica, I know you too well. What are you up to and who’s with you?” Her curiosity rang through loud and clear.
I hated driving and talking, add Rox and anxiety rolled in my gut. Now how to have this conversation with Rox soaking in every word. “I’m in the states, New York, and at one of the she-lter-s,” I stated, hoping she’d get my code.
“Ohhh, alright. Call me soon.” She hung up and I assumed she got my drift.
“This is so exciting! That was your best friend, right?”
“Yes, her name is Kacy.” I had a little groupie and wondered if that’s what her sneaking around was about. But how did she know my face? We drove in silence after that as I designed my new game plan. I’d let her assist me while I observed anything about her that would help me gain clues about her.
An hour later I pulled into the hotel in New York. The valet graciously took care of the car after he unloaded my luggage. I checked in, changing my reservation to now include two beds. Rox stared at the lavish surroundings as if she’d never seen anything like it. Her eyes filled with wonder and delight, reminding me again of what I must have looked like when I walked into Didier’s hotel in Paris.
The bell hop opened the door to the room and Rox ran to the first bed and jumped onto it, bouncing from the force. The bellhop eyed her with disdain. I smiled and handed him a twenty. He’d earn it with Rox around.
Once he closed the door I turned towards her, still bouncing on the bed. “I understand how tempting it is but you can’t bounce on the furniture. Are you hungry?”
“Debbie downer! I thought you’d be fun.” She stopped bouncing as I glared at her. It was tough giving her the eye when I’d have done the exact same thing. “Yes, I’m hungry.”
I gave her a twenty. “Go get some food. Can you hang out here without getting into trouble for an hour or two?”
“Yup!” She took the twenty. “Where are you going?”
Nosey girl she was. “I have an appointment and you can’t ride along.”
She sighed. “Ooo K.” She leaped off the bed and stalked towards the door, dragging her feet, then turned. “Do I get a key?”
This girl was too much. I thought about it. My computer was password protected and everything else of value was coming with me. “Sure.” I tossed it to her.
I hailed a taxi instead of having the valet get my car off whatever rack it was parked on. That’s how it was done in New York and why taxis were so popular. I slipped into the backseat, gave the cabbie directions and sent La Tige a text: In New York, I’ve been hijacked by a teen and I need your help.
My phone buzzed a few seconds later: Go.
La Tige wasn’t one for long, drawn out conversations. I texted him a description: 5’5, 115 lbs, medium brown hair, freckles, goes by Rox.
Got it, was his response as the cabbie pulled in front of Childrone Publishing.
Mrs. Childrone, as always, was dressed in style. Her appearance never lavish with excessive jewelry or expensive designer clothes, instead a sophisticated façade that commanded attention. Her fine gray hair loose and fashioned around her face, making her brown eyes pop. The marketing manager sat next to her. He had a long face and short mustache that didn’t complement the other and thinning hair on top.
“These are the dates and stores available. Because of our long-term relationship with them they are being very flexible,” he stated in an even voice with an edge of don’t-screw-this-up.
I didn’t take offense but was lost. Stores. I nodded as I gazed square into his light blue eyes then took the schedule. I glanced it over then shot Mrs. Childrone a ‘what the heck’ look. I cleared my throat. “Stores as in plural?”
She grabbed my hand and squeezed. “I know you were only wanting a single signing, but the opportunity to add a couple more stores would really help the foundation,” she said in a low voice.
He widened his eyes, making every wrinkle in his forehead obvious. “Yes, why stop with one, with our connections we can make a tour out of this?”
I stared at the list and cities. My heart wasn’t into multiple signings; I had a tag-along teen and a mystery to solve. Out of the list, one city popped out, Milwaukee. I hadn’t returned there after steeling the judge’s letter opener, but it was an opportunity. I could break in again and rummage through his office. He had to have something.
I circled it and scrolled further, finding Portland. Einstein’s friend was found on a hiking trail in Oregon. I circled it too then slid the paper across the table, stopping it in front of his folded hands.
He glanced at it, then turned his eyebrows into a V. “Two cities?”
I nodded.
“Two cities are just fine,” Mrs. Childrone said with a wink. I took it he’d put her up to this. “Thank you and you can be excused now.” Her smile unfaltering as she politely said get the heck out. He tucked the paperwork into his slim briefcase and excused himself.
She turned towards me. “This is so exciting. I can’t tell you how happy I am that you finally agreed to do this,” she said, grasping my hand tight, small wrinkles ebbing from her eyes. I squeezed her hand in return. Even in shock I was excited. We started the foundation to help runaway and abandoned children. In the past few years, the number of children helped was far more than I ever expected. Now I was going to help further and make a few pit stops to solve a mystery.
A rush of adrenaline shot up my spine. The mystery Einstein set out to solve when I met him. He’d never shared with me that he was looking at the murders of several young boys he thought were connected. One of those boys was his friend and probably what plummeted him into the mystery and out the door of his picture perfect life.
Instead of heading back to Rox and the hotel, I escaped home with Mrs. Childrone. We spent the evening talking and catching up. She asked about Raul. In a better mind set since his death, and with the feeling of comfort and home, I opened up to her. It surprised me how easy it was and what a great listener she was. I relaxed further and opened up to her about my dad. Her facial expression didn’t lie. She was intrigued.
“It’s not my business, of course, but I do think of you like a daughter. I’m also far older and I understand loss and death. Einstein was my baby and to this day I wish I could have said goodbye. It sounds like your father, in his current condition, is beginning to understand what a jewel life and children are,” her soft eyes and gentle voice sang to my soul.
She was probably right. I wasn’t ready yet to let my hate go. That’s what she was getting at. Life is short and far too short to hold in hate. She didn’t say those words, her voice did. “He has three others.”
She pursed her lips. “Cleo. No child can ever be replaced by another. What people do in their youth under difficult circumstances shouldn’t paint who they are forever. The past few weeks have been an emotional whirlwind for you. I’m merely suggesting maybe you should think about his words. It’s up to you to act.”
My surrogate mom. She was right. It was easier to hold on to the pain but it wasn’t healthy and his death wouldn’t make the pain I suffered in my life disappear. “I have the next several busy weeks to think about it.”
She smiled.
I’d already opened up to her with some of my deepest emotions. Should I tell her about Einstein’s mystery? No. We’d talked enough for the night and I was eager to get back to the hotel and make sure Rox hadn’t destroyed the room or gotten us kicked out.
My first signing was in two days. I didn’t get an option on that one. They’d already scheduled it in order to release it to the press.
I stepped out of the cab and my stomach grumbled at me for neglecting it. The hotel appeared to be in one piece so I stole a moment to call Kacy back before heading to the room. I found an out-of-the-way bench, completely private, and called.
“About time,” I heard the smile in her voice. “Give me the down-low.”
She got my drift. It was amazing how code talk worked even over the phone with only voices. “I’m in New York, but not at a shelter. My sperm-donor visited my home!”
“He what?!”
“He came to my home...” I told her the whole story about my sperm-donor’s visit, his death request, and how it sparked a flame in me to solve this decades-old mystery.
“So you’re using the book signings as cover? You think you’ll find anything?” The questions rolled off her tongue, one after the other, without giving me time to answer the first before she popped out the second.
“Yes, and I already found one clue. All the boys went to the camp. There’s a connection and, as creepy as Ms. Bubbly was, she’s not old enough to be the serial killer I’m looking for,” I answered, my mind searching for the dots between the boys and the academy, but they evaded me.
“That’s too coincidental for there not to be a connection,” she paused for a second, then changed the subject. “Who was the girl with you?”
I sighed. “Rox.” I told her that story and she busted up in laughter.
A few hours past the incident it was funny, but something about Rox wasn’t right either. What was she doing at the camp? How did she know the camp was connected? And connected to what? She knew far more then she let on. “Are you finished?” I teased.
“OK, OK. So the girl was at the camp or the academy. How do you think they’re connected and why this urge to help you?”
“I really don’t know. She fed me the story about her brother but I don’t believe it. First of all, these murders were a long time ago. She couldn’t have been more than a baby. I guess the killer could still be out there.” That last tidbit popped into my head last minute. He could still be killing?
“Listen. I gotta run. The bar calls. It’s been non-stop since we opened. You be careful Chica, you hear me?” she said with an edge of sternness and definite concern.
“You know I will.”
“I don’t know that. I’ve been on these escapades with you and safety isn’t your first concern. This guy is a serial murderer. Maybe more psycho than that guy we took down here. BE CAREFUL!” We didn’t take the guy down, La Tige did, but I knew what she meant. She’d been a prisoner with me and La Tige but we managed to escape and I went full-force into my search, then her bar burned. More driven by my distaste and the idea someone would attempt to hurt Kacy, I discovered my one-time runaway companion PeeWee was behind it.
I caught the elevator as the door was about to close, clicked the floor of my room and waited as it coasted upward, silent. Energy coursed through me and my stomach gurgled for food. First I’d call room service, then I needed to get on my computer and find out if there were any more murders that fit this guy’s M.O.
When I opened the door, my eyes shot directly toward Rox in Raul’s T-shirt, unable to contain my anger I shouted, “Take that off!”
She glanced at me with wide eyes that filled with water and nodded as she pulled it over her head and tossed it onto my bed. She curled under the covers.
Guilt ate at me. She didn’t know, and it wasn’t right of me to scream at her. I dug into my suitcase and pulled out a pair of shorts and a tank top. “You can wear these.”
She nodded, taking them from me and slipping them on in front of me.
“I’m sorry,” she squeaked.
“I’m the one who needs to apologize. You didn’t know.” I grasped the shirt and held it to my chest.
“Who does it belong to?” she asked in a voice so timid it didn’t sound anything like the spunky girl who snuck into my rental car.
“Someone close to me who passed away. It’s my lucky shirt, I guess.” I stuffed it under my pillow and got up, grabbed my laptop and leaned onto my bed against a pile of fluffy pillows.
I tapped on the keyboard as I considered what to put in the search bar. After several minutes of my tapping, Rox said, “I know computers. Want help?”
I shifted my eyes from the blank screen to her. “OK.” It couldn’t hurt, and if she was some kind of computer whiz she’d be a help.
She smiled and jumped onto my bed. “What do you want to know?”
“If there’s been any more murders of boys who attended the Einstein Academy in the past ten years or so.” I did it. I gave her a nugget.
Her smile dropped and she hesitated, then took my computer. “Let’s start with a list of names from the Einstein Academy.” Within several minutes and a conversation with herself too quiet for me to hear, she placed the computer on the bed between us. “Every male who’s ever attended.”
I gawked at the screen. The list was huge. I spotted my brother’s name in there and all the boys I knew of, along with thousands more. “How... You’re in their system?”
She raised and lowered her eyebrows. “Told you I was a hacker.”
“Where did you learn to do this?”
She shrugged. “Natural aptitude.” She gave me a cheeky smile. Natural aptitude maybe, but someone taught her to hack or at least gave her pointers. Did she go to the academy? If so, that would make sense, but I didn’t trust she’d give me a straight answer if asked, so I didn’t.
“Can you cross these names with disappearances and death certificates?” I could have searched that on one of the data bases on the computer, but wanted to know how good she really was.
She twisted her mouth. “I can, but that’s trickier and we don’t want to be traced.” She pecked at the keyboard, having more quiet conversations that included: that’s it, crap, all good, and other various comments.
“We only have a few minutes, but here’s your list.” She took a few screen shots then said, “Time’s up,” and clicked out.
I watched in wonder. “What was that data base?”
She gave me her cheeky smile. “You don’t want to know.”
“Can your snooping be traced back to my computer?”
Her eyes rolled sideways. “Nope.”
I wasn’t convinced, but didn’t press the issue. Instead we spent the next hour correlating a list. By the time we were done, we had twenty-four boys who went missing and/or died that went to the Einstein Academy in a span of six years; three of those years when Einstein attended. The puzzle was coming together. Einstein must have caught on after his friend died and began piecing it together then. He knew of less than half the victims, and who knows how many others there may have been previously, not connected to the academy.
I was searching for a seriously deranged individual and I wasn’t sure how Peeping Tom and the judge fit into the picture, but they were certainly part of it.
Rox stared at the list blankly, her mind a million miles away.
“Rox.” I nudged her.
“It’s late. I’m going to sleep.” She pressed one foot onto the ground, followed by the other, and walked the two steps to her bed. She didn’t pounce or jump, but lay down like a normal person, pulled the covers up, and went to sleep.
The girl was strange. I laid my computer on the desk and followed her lead, snuggled onto my bed with Raul’s shirt tucked beneath my nose.
I slept hard and woke up to my loud stomach as it yelled for food. I forgot all about eating when I saw Rox in Raul’s shirt, then was drawn into the mystery.
“I have a list of everyone who worked at the academy during those six years,” said Rox. I followed her voice to the desk and my computer.
I opened my lips then closed them. If she could hack into wherever she did last night, getting past my password was a cinch. The door buzzed and she jumped off the chair and sauntered towards it. “I ordered breakfast, hope you don’t mind.”
I sat in my bed, awestruck. This teenaged cannonball had taken over my life.
I quickly pulled a ten out of my purse, got out of bed and handed it to the man as he rolled the tray into our room. “Thank you.”
He nodded and left. Under the platters were eggs, biscuits, toast, and sausage, along with two glasses of orange juice.
Rox divided the food, making each plate half and half, then took a seat at the small table for two.
I sat across from her. “Anything interesting you found on the list?”
“Not really,” she said, a second before stuffing a grape jelly-coated biscuit into her mouth.
After breakfast we searched through the names and cross referenced them with any names connected to the boys. Not one of their mysteries had been solved, anyone arrested was released without sufficient evidence and none of them were connected. I wasn’t shocked at all. Whoever it was changed identities. I’d already come to that conclusion.
Being cooped up in the room wasn’t healthy, so I sent Rox downstairs to the gift shops to buy herself clothes. She couldn’t keep wearing mine. It was evening already. Keeping my breakfast down was a good sign so I decided to chance it, find a restaurant and try again. If I was lucky I’d be blessed with adult company.
I went downstairs to the lobby and followed the shiny tile floor spread out before me leading straight back. A set of elevators on the left and wide, gold carpeted stairs to my right. When my foot hit the first step the tantalizing aromas from the restaurant hit my nose. My stomach instantly complained.
I continued up the steps to a large square room. A long hallway veered to my left. I stole a glance at it. It was empty, so ignoring my stomach that was screaming at me, I walked down it. There was nothing but closed doors. When I reached the end there was a set of restrooms one direction and another long hallway the other direction.
I followed the hallway and it looped around back to the large square room. My curiosity satisfied, I walked towards a set of large glass doors and stepped onto a walkway that led to the food court. Below the railing was an indoor swimming pool larger than my house. I gasped at its size.
Each step took me closer to the food and the teasing aromas. I came to a fork and stared at my choices. There was a buffet. The thought of food sitting above burners for hours sounded as appetizing as eating an uncooked raccoon. The next option was a restaurant. I imagined full course meals cooked by high class chefs. A.K.A. over-priced portions that weren’t enough to satisfy a newborn bunny. My last option was a bar. It was a no brainer for me.
I walked through the doorway and straight to the bar. I didn’t have to wait for seating or sit alone with others gawking at me and thinking She’s all alone, poor thing. I’d spent much of my life alone and was never bothered by what others thought. Tonight, however, I didn’t feel like being the poor little girl surrounded by a bunch of hoity toity people like my father.
Several glass shelves lined the walls behind the bar filled with top shelf liquors. It wasn’t Happy Trails but in a pinch it worked. The gentleman next to me loosened a striped tie around his neck, slipped it off, and stuffed it into a briefcase resting on the high-back leather bar stool between us. He clutched a large phone or small tablet in his hand that beeped off the hook. No doubt he was here on business.
“I’m Sue,” said a raspy voice from the other side of me. Bewildered, I turned to see Betty White’s physical doppelganger, including her fluffy white bangs and waves.
“Shanna.” I motioned to the bartender for a menu.
“The garlic butter shrimp is excellent,” she offered. Her lips drawn into a large smile displaying super-white teeth.
“Thank you.” I loved seafood but hadn’t craved it since Raul’s death. In fact, the thought of eating something out of the ocean turned my stomach. I blamed it on association. Raul loved the ocean and he was gone.
“Can I get you a drink?” The bartender was chunky, about five feet tall, and had a large dimple on her right cheek.
“A mimosa and spinach dip please.” I handed her back the menu.
“A good choice. The spinach dip is another of my favorites. Are you new here?”
What a strange question. It was a hotel. Who was I to pick at someone else after I spent two years living at one of the finest establishments in Paris, France.
“My first time,” I said and took a sip of the sweet, orangey drink Dimple the bartender placed in front of me.
“I stay here often. My husband does a lot of business in New York.” The corners of her mouth turned up in a wicked smile. Something told me she played while hubby was away.
Within a few minutes the spinach dip arrived and we chatted over it. She was a lively woman with a penchant for attractive young men. Her pupils shifted as her eyes enlarged. “Double man-candy behind you,” she said in a low voice.
My first instinct was to look but that would be obvious and I might look as though I was man shopping too.
“You’re so young and beautiful. Do you have a man?” she asked, her eyes blatantly planted on the men somewhere behind me.
I didn’t want to tell her the truth. Raul’s loss was still heavy on my heart and breaking down in a mess of tears and snot in public wasn’t on my agenda. “I haven’t found the right one.”
Her brows formed a V. “That’s the problem. Young men today don’t have the same values and they’re lazy. My son-in-law allows my daughter to work while he stays home with the twins. Do you believe that?!” she said, as more a statement than a question, as she immediately continued talking. “When I was young, men worked full-time jobs and supported their families unlike these millennials.”
Was something wrong with her vision? I was clearly a millennial. I wondered when was the last time she checked on daycare prices. Not that I’d been in the market, but Raul’s brother and wife had children and I was aware of the overpriced fees. It was robbery! “She must have a good job.”
“Oh yes. We sent her to college. She’s an anesthesiologist.” She pulled in a breath and let out a long sigh.
“How long have you been married?” I asked to change the subject.
“Forty-five years this September,” she said with pride.
My heart lurched as her statement reminded me Raul and I would never celebrate even one anniversary. “That’s wonderful.” I wiped the last chip across the bowl to collect the scraps of dip and stuffed it into my mouth.
Her eyes followed something behind me. A nice-looking older man resembling a ninety year old version of Pierce Brosnan took a seat on her other side. Betty White’s doppelganger grabbed his knee when he sat and he kissed her cheek softly. “Speak of the devil,” she said, turning her head from him to me.
Seeing them together was amazing. They were adorable and blessed. Sadness covered me like a box with no holes, bringing on a sudden case of claustrophobia, “Nice to meet you. I have a long day tomorrow and really need to go. Thanks for the conversation.” I winked at him. “You’re a lucky man.” I scooted off my stool.
“You must come back,” she said as I rushed off without paying attention to where I was heading, bumping into the chest of a man. A tall man with a familiar scent that curled my toes.
Without glancing up, I maneuvered around him and ran through the hall, waves of sadness filling my void. I dropped onto the floor of the lonely hallway filled with rooms.
“Shanna?” called a deep voice. Tears streaked my face and stung my eyes as I sat cross-legged with my hand buried inside them. The mingle of two male voices flittered through the air. He was in the open area between the food court and the hallway talking with someone.
I squeezed my watery eyes and concentrated on the voices, but wasn’t able to decipher what they were saying or even who he was talking to. Why? Why now after so many years? I thought back to his occasional phone calls that stopped completely about three years ago. I’d never answered or responded to any of them. Was it Kacy? No, she hadn’t talked to him in years either. I hadn’t told anyone except Mrs. Childrone.
“Shanna,” he called again, only closer. He sounded close enough to be in the hallway.
Through my tears I stood and walked the opposite direction of his voice, knowing the hallway made a horseshoe. If I sprinted into the main room the stairs to the elevator were just around the corner. I took the chance and picked up my pace.
When I hit the large room another familiar figure stood near the staircase. Crap!
“Justine,” he said in his sexy Parisian accent as he moved towards me. His green eyes twinkling under the lights.
My head grew dizzy and fuzzy as the room spun around me. My body grew heavy like lead and I dropped, everything went black.
I woke up on the floor with two handsome faces staring at me. One with the most delicious green eyes. The other with one-of-a-kind silver bullets staring at me from his upside-down face. My head rested in his lap while his hand caressed my hair. I blinked. Was this real? Were they both here together? How do they know each other?
“Take it easy,” said Didier in a syrupy voice that brought on a rush of sweet memories.
I squashed my eyes together and held them for a few seconds, hoping this was just my crazy mourning imagination. When I reopened them they were still there and my head was still in Fetch’s lap and he continued to stroke my hair.
Maybe I was in an episode of Candid Camera. I never expected to see either of these guys again. I left Didier at the altar by sneaking out like a chicken the night before our wedding. When I went back, I was too chicken again to face him and left a copy of my book at Jean the concierge’s desk and slipped out. I cared very much for him but wasn’t right for him.
I’d never defined what Fetch was in my life. A boyfriend – maybe; a lover – definitely; a load of fun – always, but seeing him here, smelling his scent, brought back feelings I had long forgotten by my purposeful ignoring of him. The last time we saw each other was when I lived in New York and it was like this, a chance meeting. The blue and green specks in his eyes danced in the silver pools of his irises and a wave of emotion shot through me followed by a tsunami of guilt. I recognized the emotion, so similar to what I felt for Raul. Had I secretly been in love with Fetch, but so deep in denial I refused to accept it?
“Cleo?” The word played on Fetch’s tongue.
Cleo. So he knew. That meant they both knew. This wasn’t a chance thing. It was a planned meeting. “How... I...” the words sputtered off my lips with nowhere to go.
“Can you stand?” asked Didier.
I nodded. The back of my head rubbing against Fetch’s legs. Didier held my hands while Fetch gripped my shoulders and gently pushed upwards until I was standing. My knees weak from shock, I thought I’d fall again.
Fetch wrapped an arm around me and Didier did the same. I was munched between two of the world’s hottest men. We walked towards a bench perched in front of a large window and sat when the Betty White and older version of Pierce Brosnan look-a-likes strolled through the doors and towards the steps. She smiled and gave me a thumbs up.
“We didn’t expect this would be such a shock for you,” said Fetch, his gaze cutting deep into my soul.
My blood suddenly boiled. “Shock. How would this not be a shock? The two of you know each other and stalk me here at this hotel!” Then I remembered the painting of me that Fetch sold someone for a handsome price. I knew then it was Sam who made the offer on Didier’s behalf. This shouldn’t be a shock at all. It was beginning to make sense.
“We’ve known each other for a while. Thanks to you,” replied Didier, calm and relaxed.
I narrowed my eyes. “Maybe it’s time you let me in on the joke.”
“This isn’t a joke. You are an unforgettable woman,” purred Didier, clasping his hand around mine. A large gold band pressed against my skin. He’s married?
For the next hour they filled me in on the details and I attempted to process it all. Didier did indeed love Fetch’s artwork. The connoisseur that he was, he invited Fetch to Paris where they signed a business arrangement. When I arrived in Paris, slipping in and out of the hotel like a ghost, Fetch had only just arrived and caught sight of me. He rushed out of the hotel but I’d already disappeared. I clearly remember ignoring his phone call that day.
He went back into the hotel and found the book I left and read it. That angered me a little as it was meant for Didier. It turns out he gave it to Didier after reading it and that spawned their friendship.
It was a press release about my book signing that alerted their attention and they met here in the same darn hotel as me. Was fate playing a joke on me? No, this hotel was one of the finest in New York, no wonder that Didier would stay here. Their plan was to attend my first signing but, as plans go, it didn’t turn out that way. When I ran smack into Fetch. At this point I didn’t doubt they were the hotties the Betty White look-a-like was drooling over.
All the twists, turns, and hotels in my life and they walk into this one. It turns out Didier married two years ago and his wife gave birth to twin boys just four months ago. Happy butterflies flapped their wings in my belly. He deserved a family and happiness. She was a truly lucky woman.
Didier left to call his family, leaving Fetch and I alone. He was the last person in the world I wanted to be abandoned with. Something about him always worked my libido into a frenzy, even now.
His silver bullets gazed into my eyes and the smile on his face disappeared. “I’m sorry about your fiancé... and I...” He heaved in a deep breath. I searched his face. “I care about you, whoever you are, and I never want to lose you again.”
Wow! That confession gripped my soul and ripped it in two. Care. He said he cared about me and didn’t want to lose me. Did he ever really have me? Yes, he did, even when he thought I was lost. I guess it was time for a bit of my own confession.
“It wasn’t the time for us and I never gave you a chance.” Here it goes, ready or not. “Proximity to you always does something strange to me. I didn’t realize. No, I did, but I didn’t want to understand what it was. I wasn’t ready and I’m not ready now.”
I clearly remembered my conversation with Kacy when she came to stay with me after Happy Trails burned. I wanted a new future free from my past and Raul’s tender heart won me over. Fetch held too many strings to my past that somehow found me. I couldn’t run from them. My past stared me in the face.
He cupped my cheeks in his painter’s hands. “I’ll wait. You have all the time you need, but don’t kick me out of your life. We’re good together.”
What does a girl say to that? His moist lips only inches from mine. The desire inside me didn’t fight the gentle kiss he laid on my lips or his firm arms that snaked around my neck and pulled me towards his chest.
My heart thumped steady in my ear and a part of me wanted to ravage him and enjoy the intense fun we used to bring each other, but another part of me wasn’t ready to let go of Raul. I pulled away from him. I was about to spill my guts completely. “You know about the signing and you read my book, my story. This signing is meant to take my mind off Raul and,” I paused for a second, “solve Einstein’s mystery. Please don’t tell me how dangerous it is. I know that. I also have all the clues.”
“You are always full of surprises, but I knew there was more to this signing. You’re never simple and always mysterious. I can help you,” he offered, a naughty smile forming on his lips.
Mysterious? I spun many lies and used them like truths, I skipped out when my agenda pushed me toward something else, much like I was doing now. In a jiff my mind switched gears. He was the second person today who offered to help me. What the heck, I’d need help with Rox. I cringed when I thought of her and what she might be doing. I owned up to running away and avoiding her, but at the moment couldn’t place why. “If we do this. If I allow you to help me we need to set boundaries.”
His eyebrows shot up in hope. “What kind of boundaries?”
“Ones that outline our behavior towards each other. We’ll have to spend time together and I’m not at all ready for more than friendship and a partnership. We aren’t a couple, we don’t sleep together, or share the same hotel room.” My voice steady even though my heart faltered.
He nodded, a wry smile on his face. “Can I walk you to your room? We can look over the evidence you’ve collected.”
What didn’t he get about boundaries? His scent drifted up my nostrils again and my body went soft. I was putty in his arms. Get a grip! Then I thought of Rox and our evidence. I wasn’t ready to tell him about her yet. “No, I can walk myself,” I said, getting up and walking away from him. I wanted to turn my head to see the expression on his face but resisted the urge. I’d see him tomorrow. I was sure.
“Cleo,” Fetch called, his footsteps falling in sync with mine. I halted and swiped my finger against the elevator button, turning on my heels. His long hair bouncing with each step, a strand of hair caught in the stubble of his five o’clock shadow. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
I nodded, my head spinning as I acknowledged his words and slipped into the elevator. His expression solemn and his silver bullets bright. He was also a drop dead gorgeous man who’d somehow grown even more so the last few years.
I slipped the card against the door and a green light flashed, signaling it was unlocked. Taking a deep breath I opened it. Rox’s wet hair hung to her shoulders as she poured over my laptop.
On her bed were three new outfits. Hanging on her shoulders was a brand new extra large T-shirt with a New York emblem on it.
I fell backwards onto my bed. Today had been a long, long day and I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk anymore tonight. The bed bounced as she sat on it.
“I want to show you what I found,” she said with bright eyes as she smiled smugly.
I lifted up and off the bed, my stomach pushing its contents upwards. I rushed to the restroom and hit the toilet just in time for my mimosa and spinach dip to hit the water. Slouching against the wall, I sucked in a deep, nasty breath. My only conclusion—stress. I was stressed.
The door creaked open and Rox’s face peeked around the corner. Once she spotted me piled against the wall she ran towards me and offered her hand. I grasped hers and she lifted upwards, then poured a capful of mouthwash and handed it to me as if she read my mind. I swished and gargled, she never left my side. Once I finished she walked me to my bed. “I can show you in the morning. You need rest.”
I hadn’t liked the girl since the moment she almost gave me a major panic attack in the car. It wasn’t her. It was her moxy. She reminded me too much of myself and now I felt an unmistakable bond forming. She wasn’t a bad kid, not at all. Rox was a focused, stubborn kid with a one-track mind. But now, seeing her compassion as she fluffed pillows and pulled the covers over me, I had to admit she was growing on me.
She flipped off the light and snuggled into her own bed. “Night, Rox,” I said.
“Night.”
The next morning, I nearly jumped out of bed, my butt landing on a pillow I kicked off during the night, when a blast of pounding serenaded the door. Pushing my heart back into my chest I padded towards it.
Seeing nothing but black covering the peephole I opened it a crack. In the hall stood Fetch. His arms behind his back, accentuating the muscles in them. Oh my, they’d grown! They gave shape and definition to the flannel button-up shirt he wore. Look away, I told myself, peeling my eyes off his physique to the wall behind him.
“I’m here to escort you to breakfast.”
He said he was going to call not bang on my door at, I tilted my head to read the clock, nine A.M. “I was asleep,” I said in a firm voice.
“Now you’re awake,” he replied with a crooked smile.
He was always so insistent and, well, intrusive. “Hmm,” I said. “I’ll meet you downstairs.”
His smile went from crooked to cheeky as he brought his hands in front of his chest. In each one he held a steaming cup of coffee. “I figured you’d say that. I remember you’re not awake until the caffeine rush kicks in.”
Ay yi yi. What did I get myself into? He pushed a coffee towards me. I grabbed it. “Thanks, I need to get changed,” I said, shutting the door on his adorable face, leaving him in the hall. A pang of guilt wormed its way into my conscience. I should let him in, said the angel on my shoulder with the glowing halo. The devil on my other shoulder urged me to keep him waiting in the hall. I chose to listen to the devil and proceeded to run a brush through my straight hair and change into jeans and a sweatshirt.
Rox stretched her arms above her head. Her body snuggled beneath the covers. “Somebody at the door?”
Since I’d agreed to let them both help me there was no need to not tell her about Fetch, well, at least the bit she needed to know. “A friend, he’s going to be helping us too.”
“He sounded hot!”
Oh my oh my, hot was an understatement, more like sizzling with a heat level off the charts. What was I thinking? I needed to get my mind off him; his intoxicating scent, muscled curves of his chest, arms, and everything else. Stop it! I screamed in my head.
I ignored her statement and padded to the door, my hand around the knob I turned towards her. “I’m going to breakfast with him. Be back soon.”
A devious smile crossed her lips, making her freckles dance across her nose. “O—K.”
I pulled the door open, thick soled house shoes on my feet, and drifted into the hallway. He was standing with his back against the wall and one foot over the other.
“I was thinking we should start today by going over your clues and evidence,” he said, his voice serious but a playful smile across his face.
I could go back into the room and get it or I could ignore his statement, but having something to talk about that didn’t include how I felt in his proximity would take my mind off him and I did agree to let him help. Once I had everything I’d collected we strolled to the elevator, stopping on the second floor and the food court.
I took a sip of coffee as he led me to a table where Didier waited for us. He did it again! Fetch was clever and always reminded me of a cunning little boy. He acted innocent but somehow managed to set me up again.
“Good morning,” greeted Didier in a butter-melting voice.
“What would you like?” asked Fetch as he pulled out a chair and motioned for me to sit.
I wasn’t hungry, in fact I felt a bit nauseous, but that wouldn’t work if I told him, so I asked him to bring me back a plate of food anyways. “A bagel and bowl of fruit please.” I hoped the bagel would settle my stomach and the fruit would hydrate me.
Fetch turned on his heel and waltzed towards the buffet. I sipped on my coffee, meeting Didier’s gaze. I’d left him at the altar. That was the last time I’d seen him until last night. His life was whole and happy, but I still owed him an explanation or at least an apology.
I set my coffee on the table and tapped my fingers against its top. The air lay thick and heavy with anxiety around us. The elephant growing to massive proportions until I spoke. “I owe you a huge apology. I shouldn’t have left things the way they were. You deserved better than that.” My gaze didn’t waver as I looked into his eyes.
“It was a long time ago and I have a small confession of my own.” He did nothing wrong, what could he possibly have that’s weighed on his heart all these years? Didier grabbed my hands, stopping my nervous tapping. They were warm and soft. “I knew about your family.”
I furrowed my brows but didn’t pull my hands away. “What do you mean, you knew?”
He continued, “Remember when Sam went to the states to visit his sick mother. While he was there he did a little detective work on your family. It was going to be my wedding surprise to you.”
My eyes widened, nearly busting out of their sockets, and I yanked my hands away. “You knew and didn’t tell me?” How could he? Why would he wait to tell me, instead of me spending years searching on my own?
His handsome face sincere, he said, “I wanted it to be a surprise and I knew it would be a lot for you to swallow. When you left I was heartbroken. My telling you wouldn’t have satisfied you. Many times I thought to contact you but trouble seemed to follow you and I knew it was something you had to do on your own.”
La Tige had once told me the same thing, except not as eloquently, and they were both right. I had to figure it all out myself, like Rox, but what did he mean by trouble. I cringed as my one dilemma in Paris rushed at me. Halette. “You knew about Halette, too?”
He raised his brows. “I had suspicions that you have now confirmed.”
I swallowed and shifted my gaze to an empty table. Guilt, it still ate at me. Shifting my gaze back to his solid green eyes, I said, “I didn’t mean for it to happen or for her to die. She was threatening me and us... my past. Everything about me that shamed me.” I dropped my eyes. “It was an accident.” I mentioned the incident in my book but not with great detail. I hadn’t wanted to bring legal trouble my way. “If you knew all this and had the resources, why didn’t you ever find me?”
A slight smile crossed his lips. “I was distraught. It wasn’t until after I read your book that I looked for you. I’m sorry. That is when I found the painting that led me to Fetch.”
His words brought the sight of my bio-mom spinning front and center in my head. Claudette told me she was distraught and scared; the reasons she never forced herself into my life. My head felt like it was going to bust with all the secrets these men kept from me and revelations. I had no reason to trust either of them. At the same time, on the same token, they had no reason to trust me. I’d spent years lying and told them each fabricated stories of my past.
Fetch returned, setting a plate with a toasted bagel and a small bowl of mixed fruit in front of me with a side of cream cheese. I smothered the cream cheese over my bagel and stuffed a bite of fruit in my mouth, using it as an excuse not to talk. I’d done them both wrong, yet these two beautiful men of my past were here for me now. Fetch taking a seat to my right and Didier across the table.
Didier excused himself, leaving Fetch and me alone. He was the only one who never abandoned me because of my stubborn streak. Even when I didn’t return his phone calls and ran from him, he was still there, only a phone call away. His silver eyes harnessed my heart and I saw how much he cared. Their depth flowing deep into his soul. He’d always been there.
“Show me what you have in that folder,” he said, raising a glass of milk to his lips. He took a swallow and set it down.
I giggled at him then swiped a napkin across his milk mustache. “There, now we can talk seriously.”
I told him about the Einstein Academy and showed him the pictures of the boys and what Rox and I discovered. My guts wrenched. Was Einstein trying to solve the mystery or keep himself alive? Maybe both, I concluded.
But why hadn’t the police reached the same conclusion? It was Fetch who pointed out all the missing children and the murdered boys were in different states. The police may have lacked the technology to tie them together. Each state or county most likely didn’t know about the others. That made sense, perfect sense, and Einstein only knew because he was one of the boys. It brought another thought to my head. Was Einstein kidnapped too? Did he escape? My body shuddered at the thought.
“We know how they tie together, but we still don’t have the missing link. Who would have done this?” Fetch asked, pushing his empty plate to the side. His persistence was outstanding. Who follows a woman to New York after she left him twice on the chance of seeing her again?
“Why haven’t you ever left me?”
His eyebrows formed a V and he punched his lips together. “I care about you.”
“No, it’s more than that. Didier cared, but never followed. According to everyone, my bio-mom cared but never reached out to find me. You’ve found me twice. No, three times.” I remembered how he mentioned finding me in Paris but I was gone before he caught up to me. “You’ve never once given up on me.”
“I can’t. You are my every thought. Do you know how many times I’ve replayed our moments together?” His elbows on the table, he stared into my soul. “You’ve never forgotten me. I feel it when I’m close to you. There’s a pull between us.”
We were older now and maybe for the first time being honest about our feelings. “I left you in New York partly because you made me mad. You gave me the impression I’d never be with someone unless they had money. I was always poor. Money didn’t mean a thing to me but made me think of all the people who tried to harm me in life. They all had money.” I was shocked at my own revelation to him, usually I kept intimate thoughts private.
He grabbed my hands in his, warmth radiating through me and sang Don’t Go Away by Oasis. Always full of life and music by Oasis. A family at the table next to us overheard him and glanced our way. A smile garnered on my lips and a tear fell from my eye. How did I ever leave this man? He wiped my eye. His caress sent familiar feelings rushing forward. Emotions I wasn’t ready to deal with.
I pulled away from him, cleared my throat, and stifled the burst of sensations reaching into my memory and tugging at my heart. In control, I answered his question. “I don’t know,” the judge weighed on my mind. He was involved. I knew it inside every bone in my body and he lived with Peeping Tom who always got off.
“I’ll take this information and look it over,” he gently pinched my chin between his thumb and pointer finger.
The large clock on the wall said one seventeen. “I need to shower and get ready.” I stood, his eyes following me as I pushed the chair in.
He lifted an eyebrow and threw an arm over my empty chair. “OK.”
Rox’s voice rang in my ears. I turned on my heels, her eyes glued to Fetch as she waltzed towards us. Great!
“Hey,” she said, taking a seat at our table and parking beside Fetch. “I’m Rox.” Her dark eyes stared straight into his and she leaned forward, devouring him with her eyes.
“Fetch,” he said, cocking his head to the side in amusement and interest. His eyes then shot to mine while she continued drooling over him.
I smiled. “Rox is my helper, you’ll be helping each other.” I took his befuzzled expression as my cue to leave. For better or worse, they could crack the case as I faced the day and the signing.
Nerves flapped against my stomach making it queasier by the moment. Public appearances weren’t my thing and I admitted to myself, writing a book I was a character behind the pages. Selling my book and talking with readers and supporters, there was nowhere to hide.
I’d chosen a burgundy wrap dress that embraced my curves yet wasn’t too revealing and a pair of knee-high mahogany boots. Fetch’s eyes widened and he stood as I found him and Rox in the large lobby.
Wow, Fetch mouthed as I neared them. “Stunning.” he took my hand and lifted it above my head. I turned and he made a low growl.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m nervous enough, don’t make it worse.”
“You could mess up big time and nobody would notice because their eyes will be on you and those amazing curves.” He guided my hand down and brought his to his side and stuffed it into his pocket.
“You look like a model,” Rox said, winking at me.
“OK, I’m leaving. Hanging around the two of you will turn my mind to mush.” I chuckled and walked away. Footsteps followed me and a hand grabbed mine.
I turned and was drawn into Fetch’s embrace. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered and kissed my cheek. Tingles sailed through my body from my cheek to my toes.
I touched his face just above the scruff that I always found sexy. “Thank you.”
He walked me outside where a shiny white limo waited for me in the circular drive of the hotel. The driver, a thin, tall woman in a black suit. At first sight I thought she was a man until she looked at a card in her hand and spoke. Her high-pitched voice contrasted her appearance.
I left Fetch and Rox with everything I knew about Einstein’s case, not sure they’d find anything but pleased they actually wanted to help. I figured Fetch considered it was the back door into my heart and life. Our tender moment and his singing eased the butterflies in my belly. It was a huge step to trust them with one of the many mysteries surrounding my life.
The drive through the city brought memories rushing at me. I learned so much during my stay in New York and gained a brother, I thought as I glanced at a text he just sent me. I’ll be there this evening and taking you to dinner after. That was my Will, my biological brother whom I loved with all my heart. At the same time I dreaded seeing him in person. Knowing his father, my sperm donor, was dying. No part of me wanted to think about it yet and a tiny ping touched my heart and radiated throughout my body.
The limo pulled up to the Childrones’ New York home and Mrs. Childrone stepped out the door. Her hair a shiny silver. There wasn’t a streak of blond left and sun beams flashed over her brown eyes, displaying their warmth. Her posture straight, she carried herself with confidence. The click of her heels tapping against the sidewalk rang as a melody in my ears. A large bag hung over her shoulder, brushing against the navy blue fabric of her suit jacket. The bottom of the jacket flared above a curve-hugging knee-length skirt and the white ruffles of her blouse plumed over the lapels of the jacket.
The driver came around the car and took her bag then opened the door as Mrs. Childrone scooted inside, taking the bag from the driver who then walked around the car and seated herself back into the driver’s seat.
She greeted me with open arms as the limo carried us away and she dropped her bag to the floor, folding me inside them. “So wonderful to see you, Cleo.”
Her hug wasn’t the brush most rich people gave as a greeting, not really meaning it but being polite. No, it was an affectionate hug that I returned. The scent of gardenia lingered in the air around us, stemming from whatever perfume she’d sprayed on for the day.
“You look a little flush, but I’ll be at your side through the whole signing. There’s no need to be nervous,” she said with smiling eyes.
She read me well. I was a ball of anxiety. Her words soothed my fluttering gut only slightly.
From the large bag she pulled out a slim rectangular box wrapped in shiny platinum paper with a white bow in the corner, its ribbons wound around the package. She handed it to me. Her thin mouth curved into a smile.
“Thank you,” I said, taking the delicate box. “You didn’t need to buy me anything.”
Her smile grew, turning the lines in her face into a tulip shape. “It’s nothing big but you have brought a happiness and purpose to my life that no one could.”
I nodded. I brought her closure to the son whose disappearance she’d fretted over for many years. I thought again of my Raul. Knowing what happened didn’t make the hole in my life any smaller. If I hadn’t known what happened I’d be solving the mystery of his death not sitting in a limo in New York on my way to my first book signing with a woman who was the closest thing I had to a mother.
It was strange how life had a way of twisting events. I should be on a yacht, sailing the world with the love of my life. Einstein’s mystery would remain a mystery. Karma was riding my tails and pushing me to pursue the events that really forced Einstein out of his parents’ home and into the world of homelessness, starvation, and squalor, and the happenchance of us meeting.
I rested the white bow I’d carefully unwrapped on my lap and slid my finger under the flap of paper exposing a white box. Inside lay a gold ball point pen labeled Einstein Foundation. She leaned into my ear. “We have a ton that you’ll give away with each book but this one is unique. It’s yours.”
Water bubbled in the corners of my eyes as I lifted the precious object out of the velvet inlay inside the box. It wasn’t just a pen. Its weight and shine told me it was plated in real gold. I sniffled as I wrapped my arms around her. “Thank you.”
She held me, tucking my head beneath her chin. I wanted so badly to tell everything about Einstein’s mystery. I loved her as much as her son. It was because of my adoration that I couldn’t say anything, not yet. I didn’t want to unravel the hope and promise she’d gained, not until I knew the truth. The whole truth.
The limo pulled alongside a curb, stopping in front of Best Books, the largest bookstore in New York. Literally, the red carpet was rolled out for us as we exited the vehicle. I didn’t expect anything so impressive and was baffled by the size of the event. I was on display. Wild birds flitted in my stomach. I’d never been a crowd person and usually ran from them. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath as I walked beside the most dignified woman I knew. She glanced at me. The twinkle in her eyes soothed the unsettled butterflies in my belly.
The store manager ushered us inside through the rows of people holding out their hands for a slap from us. He got the show on the road, leading us to the table piled with stacks of my book. My eyes zoned in to the girl on the cover - me. Absent of a smile, with haunting green eyes, I looked so forlorn. It was like looking into the soul of someone else, only it wasn’t. I was an empty child. Love was a void in my life that I yearned for as a child.
Two decades later and a grown woman, a part of that sad little girl still existed inside me. I’d never shake her gloom. It was the fire that kept me going, forcing my way through life and solving every enigmatic circumstance that dared to knock on my door. It was a search for my own happiness, I realized. My haunting childhood and past stared me in the face, literally. Shifting my eyes from the book cover, I glanced toward the crowd and the smiling face and vibrant green-hazel eyes of my brother Will who winked at me from the crowd. The little girl in me desired to run up to him and bury myself like an ostrich in his arms.
I wasn’t that little girl. I was a grown woman with the strength and will of steel so I winked back, sucking strength from him, and took my seat.
I was the belle of the ball and everything was scripted for me. Well mostly. There were things I had to do like read a chapter and give a personal experience. At first, goose bumps raised the hair on my arms like little needles, but after it opened up for questions, I eased. The love and concern of the people was instantly calming and healing.
“If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have my son today. I can’t imagine how you survived,” said a gentleman with tears streaming over his round cheeks. His dark eyes filled with love. “He was taken and escaped. It was one of the foundation’s homes he ran to.”
“We do what we need and it sounds like your son saved himself,” I replied, a huge smile on my face. It felt good to hear their stories and by that point I’d heard hundreds. My eyes in a constant watery state. I barely made the connection between the sad little girl on the cover and the hope and second chance she provided to others.
An unusual feeling tingled through my body and I swelled with pride. Never had I made the connection really, until talking first-hand to families we’d helped. There were so many.
“Yes, he did, but you made it possible. I can’t thank you enough.” His eyes drifted to the left. Several tall bookcases surrounded the open area and table I stood at, engulfed in fluid emotion that flowed across the room.
“Would you like to meet my son?”
“Of course.”
A boy, no older than thirteen, bulky in size like his father with soft, round, brown eyes and rounded cheeks ran towards us. His eyes didn’t leave mine as he perched in front of his father who placed his hands on his shoulders.
“Hi, I’m Cleo. I heard you spent time with us.”
He nodded, all smiles, then lifted his hand for a shake.
Thick, dark tufts of styled, straight, cocoa hair caught my eye from across the room as I lifted my eyes from the boy. Green eyes like my own, soaked in tears, gazed at me. I blinked back emotion, unable to force myself to look in any other direction. A large wave of yearning surged through me as her sadness touched my soul, making it ache for the life she didn’t give me. The life she didn’t fight for. Swallowing hard, everyone else in the room disappeared and the chatter became muted like we were the only two people. I squeezed my eyes shut to erase the moment and the sudden urge to have her arms encircled around me so tight I’d feel her heartbeat. The pitter patter that gave me life.
I sat across from Will at one of New York’s finest restaurants. The kind nobody got into without reservations unless you were a Briggs. A chill shuddered down my spine. Will stayed through the entire signing and caught the moment between me and my bio-mom. I’d seen her before but never made the effort to meet her. When our glances met from across the crowded book store I couldn’t deny she was a piece missing from my life. Maybe the reason I stayed so unsettled. She was the something... someone I’d never come to terms with.
Was it my lack of acknowledging her? My distinct avoidance of my bio-mom that made karma boomerang on me so I lost my Raul? I shivered at the thought.
The candlelight bounced, causing shadows on the table cloth. Will lifted his wine and took a sip. He’d saved me from the moment my heart longed for a woman who’d accepted my kidnapping but who’d also respected my intense dislike for her. I wasn’t sure that was the reason she stayed away from me but it was the only one that made sense for a rational person. I’d felt the love in her eyes and swooned with relief when Will took her aside and spoke with her.
I didn’t know what he’d said and, in honesty, didn’t care. She left. I lifted the wine glass to my lips and took a sip, my mind so far away the soft music in the restaurant, chatter, and clinking of plates and glasses played as background music to the background chatter in my mind.
“You were really good. Those people soaked you up,” Will said, breaking the silence.
I smiled. “That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done and it felt good. Really good to know I’ve touched so many people.”
His green eyes changed shades as he spoke. “I know you don’t want to hear this but I think you need to talk with your mom. I saw the look in your eyes.”
He sounded like our sperm donor. I guess apples don’t fall far from the tree, but this was Will not bio-daddy and he made a valid point. The reaction between my mother and I was unforgettable and a part of me desired to feel her soft touch and hear how much she loved me. “I don’t want to talk about her. Not right now. I understand I need closure and I’ve never understood it better than I do now,” my voice trailed off.
“Don’t let our father’s cruelty and deception keep this rift building between you and her. We all make mistakes, Cleo.” His words echoed inside my head and bounced into my heart. Heat burned behind my eyes.
This sudden change in Will’s perception of our sperm donor and his defense of a man who performed so many vile acts made me realize he loved him. He was a difficult man to love, more the man one wanted to hate. He knew the wicked man was dying. “How often do you see him?”
“Once or twice a week. Why?” The glint in his eye denoted he knew the answer to my question.
I cleared my throat. “He came to see me at home.”
His brows furrowed into a V. “He did?”
“Yes, and I know he raised you.” I placed my hands on the table in front of me and leaned in. The candlelight bounced across the emerald shade of his eyes. “ At certain points in your life he was there for you and showed you affection. I was different. The child that would bring him embarrassment, and your mother, if anyone knew I existed. I don’t know if they plotted together or separately but both made sure I stayed out of their lives. I feel no love, nor loss, only sadness for the monsters who raised you.”
That was the first time I’d ever brought his mother into it. He hadn’t known she owned the small cabin Perdy and I were tucked away in that I now owned.
A solemnness coated his handsome face. “My parents aren’t angels. They may be devils, but I do love them. No doubt Dad’s passing will bring on a battle. One my mother will have to find a way to smooth over, but her passing will be the most devastating. My sisters will fight for every scrap they can milk out of their wills. My future is set. I’ve painstakingly amassed my own fortune, aside from the family, aside from my wife.”
What the heck was he saying? He controlled the company. Was he giving it up in the wake of his parents passing? And what was the talk of his mother’s death? “What are you talking about?”
He shifted in his chair with unease. “I’ve always been a Briggs, but I haven’t always been married. I have a fortune tied to my name pre-marriage. She doesn’t even know about it and our pre-nup protects any fortune I earned before we married. Nobody but me knew until now. I trust you.”
“Am I part of it?”
“No. I only had suspicions you existed then. I’ve gotten off topic. Listen. Parents, cruel or loving, are the only set we get. Your mother isn’t like you. She’s weak and fearful. My dad did a number on her. That aside, do you want her to pass one day without ever giving her a chance? Will you be able to live with yourself?”
He made a point I’d never thought of. Since I knew Perdy wasn’t my bio-mom and that she existed alive and well I’d pitied and despised her. It was a constant ache in my gut but I well knew she was alive and when I thought of her I pictured the woman I saw in a fleeting moment before making the decision not to meet her. How would I feel when she passed? Should I go to my sperm donor’s funeral when it happens? Time was ticking as they aged and I was holding onto hate. Where would the hate go when they were no longer alive?
I swallowed as the server placed our orders onto the table in front of us.
I entered the hotel. My body sagging from fatigue. The day had been long and an emotional tornado. All I desired was bed and deep, dreamless sleep. That sleep wouldn’t happen yet. Sitting in the lobby, cozy like son and daughter was Fetch and Rox, my computer open in front of them. Their faces glued to the screen, they hadn’t noticed me. The lights in the hotel flashing against his silver bullets displaying a sparkle that ignited the colors inside them.
My quick-thinking mind decided to steal a picture of Rox. I stepped sideways behind a pillar and took out my phone. Zooming in on her face, I clicked a picture and another then opened my message app and attached the pics. I typed in Rox and sent it to La Tige. No sooner had I put my phone away did Fetch’s eyes find me. He stood and waved me over.
Joining my cohorts in crime, Fetch stated, “We found the connection.” His voice filled with too much excitement for eleven P.M.
Throughout the day’s events, and the conversation Will and I shared over dinner, I’d nearly forgotten he was helping me solve Einstein’s mystery. I rerouted my weary brain. “What did you find?”
He took my hand. The warmth of his encased mine in a familiar feeling. One that brought back the tender moments we’d shared in the past. There was something seriously wrong with me. Nothing about me lately had been normal. My reactions and emotions were almost that of another person.
“You already knew there was a connection between the judge and the Peeping Tom, Marcus Johns, but we found it thanks to Rox. She’s an expert hacker.” He popped open a few windows, obituaries and marriages filled them.
Fried noodles! She was using my computer to hack into files again. “What did you hack with my computer?”
She gave me her devious smile. “Don’t worry, it can’t be traced back to you, but the judge may encounter legal problems.”
I rubbed my temple in angst. Oh boy!
It turned out Judge Feeney’s mother died when he was a young boy and Marcus or Peeping Tom’s mother divorced his father because he was abusive. After sending her to the hospital, she conjured the strength to run away, right into the arms of Feeney’s father. They married so Peeping Tom and Judge Feeney became step brothers. They were elementary age. The story unraveled itself as the connection slapped me in the brain.
“Marcus is guilty and Feeney saved him each time. He probably even connected Marcus with each of his identities. If we go back to Feeney’s cases, we can find his identities?”
Fetch’s mouth shifted into a half-cocked smile. “Feeney didn’t always get him off. Eventually someone would figure that out. We haven’t spent all day doing nothing.” He popped open another window.
It contained a similar case, but the name was different. Arthur Klide was the name. “The wonderful thing about court cases is they give the name and age. The real Arthur Klide died when he was five. Marcus stole his identity.”
This case ran deep. Too deep for my fatigued brain. I let out a ragged breath and sank onto the arm of Fetch’s chair. “This is insane. How many identities does this man have?”
Fetch scooted and wrapped an arm around me. I slipped into the vacant spot beside him, my back against the plush chair. The heat from his body charged my soul. His eyes drifted from mine, to my chest and downward, then back to my face. “You’ve always had a natural glow to your skin and blush to your cheeks, but since seeing you again your skin is brighter and your cheeks rosier.”
The way he said it, it wasn’t a pickup line. The serious look in his eyes told me he was concerned. “I’m tired.”
He nodded and closed the computer. “There’s more, but we’ll go over it in the morning. I’ll walk you both to the room.”
“Sure,” I stated. If I’d believed he was trying to get into my pants, not that I doubted that’s what he wanted or even what I wanted, his voice and expression carried concern and my pants weren’t available in front of Rox. What was I saying? Eventually, I knew I’d cave to his charms.
Like a gentleman, he walked us to our room, said goodnight, and waited for me to close the door. Small, thin wrinkles apparent on his forehead. Never did his flawless face carry wrinkles. Are they worry wrinkles? I asked myself.
We readied ourselves for bed in quiet, even though I felt Rox had something urgent she wanted to say to me. Once I lay in bed and snuggled my head into the pillow she burst like a balloon, unable to hold in her find.
“Arthur Klide and Marcus Johns are the same guy. He worked at the Einstein academy as a grounds keeper under another alias, Tyler Shaphard. The real Tyler died as an infant, SIDS, he took on his identity and eventually the Einstein Academy discovered it and fired him. Tyler disappeared after that.” The words ran from her mouth like a waterfall.
The connection to the Academy—she’d found it! It also matched what Mr. Applebaum had said. I jolted upwards in bed. “You’re an angel!” I didn’t want to know what she did to find that little tidbit. “What does he go by now?”
“I’m not sure. It’s like he vanished. I’ve been searching deaths and descriptions that might fit his appearance. I’ve come up with a couple possibilities. Since there’s no court cases or murders that fit his M.O. anywhere in the U.S. it’s possible he’s dead or in jail for another crime.”
Clever girl! She was a huge asset and the beginning of the bond I’d felt yesterday just grew by leaps and bounds. My mind tossed all night with the information and whether Peeping Tom was possibly dead. My gut said he was alive.
Without a knock on my door in the morning, I slept until noon and woke to a buzzing from my phone. Without opening my eyes I reached for it and brought it to my face. Squinting my eyes, I slowly opened them and my vision came into focus—I’m on it.
The room was empty. No doubt my cozy partners were doing more hacking as they searched for Peeping Tom. After a shower and slipping into a comfy velvet sweat suit, I strolled downstairs to the café for brunch. Fetch and Rox were nowhere in sight but Didier sat on a settee reading the paper outside the café.
He glanced up as I approached. “I knew you’d have to wake up eventually,” he said, the words sweet like Parisian syrup.
I sat beside him and he grabbed my hand. “My driver will be here soon to take me to the airport, but I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye.”
No doubt his personal jet and he could leave whenever he wanted and purposely waited for me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and whispered in his ear. “I wish you the best of everything.” A trail of happy tears fell from my eyes and over the curve of my cheeks. He was married with children, plural. That sounded weird yet filled me with joy. I didn’t ruin or corrupt his life and I really wanted to meet his wife. It was more of a sibling protective desire that I make sure she was the kind of person that was right for him.
His lips brushed against my ear as he whispered into it, “And I you. Fetch has searched high and low for you. Don’t let him go. Embrace his love.”
Love and Fetch? Was that it? He loved me? I broke from the hug and stared deep into Didier’s dreamy green eyes. “Love?”
He smiled warmly and stood. “Yes.” He then turned on his heel and walked away, leaving my mind to contemplate his words. Love. I’d always denied my feelings for Fetch but having him in my life again, they instantly came rushing back. Was it possible to love two men? That question had riddled my mind for years.
The sun was shrinking on the horizon and the sky above carried a lavender hue. Fetch belted, “I think about you baby and I dream about you all the time,” in perfect pitch. If I wasn’t in the car beside him I’d think I was sitting next to the lead singer of 3 Doors Down. Memories drifted through my mind on key with his voice. Our first date, we stopped for Karaoke and he sang Wonderwall by Oasis. He was a man of many talents. At the time we met he was a handyman/artist and the last thing on earth I really wanted.
“We just passed a sign for Golden Corral. You need to eat,” he said, his voice stern.
A wave of nausea and bile rose in my throat. I swallowed it down. “I’d rather go straight to the hotel.”
“We’ve been on the road for several hours and I’m hungry enough to eat an elephant and Rox needs to eat too. We can’t all starve like you,” he shot, his voice filled with sarcasm.
Rox lay across the backseat, asleep, snoring lightly. It wasn’t that I didn’t like to eat, it was that almost anything I ate came back up. Food wasn’t as appetizing that way.
I sighed. “You’re right.” I glanced into the side mirror at the road behind us and spotted a white car. “Hey, is that car the one that pulled off with us at the last gas stop?”
Fetch glanced in the rear view. “I don’t think so. This car and guy is giving me the creeps too.”
As he pulled off the freeway I shot another glance at the car. It had one driver and continued without slowing. I was being paranoid, but did manage to get the first three numbers of the license plate B23.
By the time he pulled into the parking lot and shut the engine off, Rox was stretching on her own, sitting up and spying our surroundings. Her eyes lit up when she spotted the Golden Corral sign. “Food! I thought we’d never eat.”
I didn’t hold in my chuckle as we exited the car and strolled into the restaurant. Fetch picked up the tab as Rox took her plate and loaded it with a bit of almost everything. Normally I was every bit as bad as her with food but lately I’d had no appetite and usually felt nauseous after eating. About the only food I could stomach anymore was fruit and bread, so I made a small fruit salad and grabbed a roll.
Fetch and Rox sat across from each other in a booth by the window. Taking my choice I slipped in beside Rox, attempting to avoid proximity to him.
I hadn’t forgotten him, only suppressed my memories that verged on exploding in my head along with my desire for him. At that moment, I craved his lips pressed against mine in a toe-curling kiss of shame. Deep, dark, mortifying shame surfaced as Raul’s chocolate eyes and handsome face manifested. I felt his touch on my skin, sending shivers over my body and heard his voice in my head, ‘Te amo mi flor’.
He always referred to me as a flower, his beautiful flower in bloom, or his sweet hibiscus. A drop of water raced down my cheek and landed on my shirt. Fetch glanced at me, worry written across his face. I met his glance and his silver bullets shone into my soul, reassuring me that everything would be OK.
A warm feeling washed through me. He’d been so good at watching out for me, never demanding, always sleeping in his own room, and here I was crying and starving. I owed him so much but couldn’t yet tell him. I kept him at an arm’s length and who knows how long that would work. Our closeness the other day was a fleeting moment. I couldn’t let it happen again.
I felt Rox stare and wondered how much he’d told her about our past or how much she’d figured out using her own cunningness.
The air seemed to grow colder each minute outside. I ran towards the car, jumping up and down for warmth as I waited for Fetch to beep the key fob. From the corner of my eye as I bobbed up and down I spotted a white car. It was parked alongside the restaurant beside the dumpsters. Forgetting how cold it was and that I could see my breath, I walked closer. The car appeared empty. I tilted my head to catch even a glimpse of the license plate. B23. I jumped back and leaped into the car.
“See a ghost,” joked Fetch as he started the engine.
“No, let’s get out of here,” I said in angst, strapping the seat belt around me. “Take a different route, off the highway.”
“OK, are you going to tell me why?” he asked.
“Uh, what’s going on?” asked Rox, her head poking through the gap in the front seats.
“There was a white car behind us when we pulled off at the gas station and then on the highway. I got part of its plate: B23. It was parked by the dumpster when we left but it hadn’t pulled off the freeway with us. It continued without slowing.” The words flew off my tongue with haste.
“No kidding,” said Rox, sitting back in her seat with a shifty expression on her face.
“What?” I turned and looked her square in the eye.
“Nothing. It’s kind of scary. That’s all.” She twisted her hands together.
Fetch’s voice cut the thickening air between us. “We’ll trade the car in once we get to Milwaukee. Maybe a van, something with room so my legs don’t hit the dashboard.”
It was past midnight when he finally turned into the hotel and followed the horseshoe to the front. I stepped out of the vehicle and the air froze me to the bone even with a heavy coat on. Wrapping my arms around my chest, I scurried toward the door and rushed inside, followed closely by my entourage.
Rox and I settled into bed, Fetch in the room next door. My next book signing was in two days, which gave us time to exchange the car and make a visit to the judge’s home, a place I never envisioned breaking into again. We’d made a plan on the drive from Golden Corral to the hotel after the car issue. It was solid and Rox wasn’t going in. There was no way I was endangering the life of a minor.
The next night, using darkness as a cover, we drove to the judge’s home, parking a distance from his house. Rox’s job was to hack his alarm system so Fetch and I could slip inside. We waited for her to break the code. Once she was in we stepped out of the vehicle, quietly closing the doors. He didn’t have any neighbors within close proximity but we weren’t taking any chances either. Not a single light shone from the house. If we were lucky, nobody would be home.
Dressed in black, body-hugging clothes, I followed behind Fetch. He carried a backpack with a few steaks inside, in case the judge had adopted any vicious guard dogs, and a couple flashlights. Staying close to the tree line we slipped across through the darkness. The earth below us mushy from rain earlier in the day. My body shivered from the cold, dry air and my breath made steam with each outtake.
My stomach bubbled as a familiar acid rose in my throat. I swallowed it down and my gag reflex brought it forward as I doubled over and heaved the contents of my stomach onto the ground beside me. Fetch halted and stepped backwards, taking me in his arms. He whispered, “You can’t do this. Go back to the car with Rox.”
I swung my head in a no gesture. I was doing this and knew exactly how to get to his office.
He took my face inside the palms of his hands. “I’m worried about you. Go back.”
“No,” I whispered. “We’re doing this together. I know exactly where to go.” I huffed, running a hand across my mouth and righting myself.
He furrowed his brows and narrowed his eyes. “Fine.” He remembered just how stubborn I was.
We left the safety of the tree line as the gate swung open. We slipped in and it closed behind us. Fetch held up his hand and we stood still for a few seconds. When we heard nothing, we proceeded forward, using the trees in his yard for cover. The house before us was completely dark.
Butterflies flopped against my empty stomach as tension and anxiety crawled across my spine. His home appeared more menacing than when Einstein and I originally broke in. I guessed because then we were starving, fearless kids, now I was an adult with a comfortable life.
We made it to the door without any lights giving us away. I assumed Rox disabled them. Her job was the most important. We wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without her savvy computer skills. Fetch twisted the knob and glided the door open. Silence and darkness greeted us.
I slipped past Fetch who held the door open for me. Even through the darkness, the home didn’t appear any different. I went straight to the stairs and pressed my foot against the first step then the next, Fetch a step behind me. When I reached the top stair, using the same painstaking care to step lightly, a small creak emanated from beneath my foot. I halted mid-step. Listening, nothing stirred and snoring filled my ears. I finished my step and made it to the top, tip-toeing towards the judge’s office.
Fetch’s long legs made it possible for him to step over the creaky stair. He followed me into the office which was also unlocked. I didn’t know if that was Rox or if he kept it that way. Fetch closed the door behind us and we shared a deep breath.
He handed me a flashlight and went directly to the file cabinets, searching through the drawers and files for anything that would further implicate him with the boys’ murders and information on his step-brother/pedophile-murderer.
I eased my way to his chunky, solid wood desk. Staring at it a few seconds, thoughts of Einstein swarmed my mind. I slid the large middle drawer open and the letter opener glittered against the glow of my flashlight. It bought back memories and tears welled in my eyes. I blinked them away and sifted through the contents. Nothing in that drawer. One by one, I searched the side drawers, finding nothing but bills and boring, everyday stuff.
“Cleo,” Fetch whispered, shining his flashlight against my chest. He made a come here maneuver with his head. “Can you still pick a lock?” he whispered once I reached him.
I nodded and took a pin out of my hair that I wore anticipating the situation. File cabinets were easy. Inside were about twenty folders with long numbers on top. Fetch leaned his mouth against my ear, “Court cases.”
I nodded my agreement as I pulled them out with my gloved hands and laid them on Judge Feeney’s OCD organized desk. I shone my flashlight and read one after the other. The boys, each boy and more than Einstein knew. Of course he hadn’t stopped. He’d been killing for years and by the looks of the evidence longer than the six year stay at the Einstein Academy. Then about five years ago it all stopped. He stopped?
I took pictures, but none of this would hold up since we discovered it illegally. I jolted upright from my leaning position and hit Fetch’s shoulder. His warm breath against my neck as he growled quietly in pain. I turned and mouthed, “I’m sorry.” He brought his hand to his shoulder and rubbed it.
There had to be something more, somewhere. My eyes scanned the walls as Fetch continued to nurse his shoulder. There were a few pictures on the wall. Withdrawing any caution I perused each, lifting as I searched for a wall safe. The third one in, I found what I sought. I grasped the combination and pulled. To my surprise, it opened. It must have been tied into the security system and when Rox disabled it the safe was unlocked.
I glanced behind me as Fetch, with care, placed the files back into the cabinet and slid the door closed. I withdrew the contents and carried them to the desk. Jewelry. Einstein and I wouldn’t have lifted this as no doubt it would trace back to the judge. Pushing the memory into a corner of my mind I proceeded to search through the items. The deed to the house, birth certificates, passports, a wad of cash, all large bills, but nothing to be used against him.
The floor moaned in the hallway. I stopped, glanced at Fetch. His eyes wide, we clicked off our flashlights in unison. He pushed me down behind the desk. We crouched there for several seconds as the moaning grew louder. A creak pierced the silence, letting us know whoever was outside the door was heading downstairs. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. A blast of Fetch’s minty breath against my cheek told me he held in his breath too.
We waited there for what felt like hours, but was mere minutes, until the familiar creak told us the person returned. The floor moaned, then it stopped abruptly outside the office door. My heart thumped against my chest like an angry drummer. A few seconds later the footsteps and floor moans continued, becoming quieter as the person went down the hallway and back to bed.
After several more minutes of waiting in dead silence I grabbed up the materials on the desk and arranged them as they were, when I noted a folder I hadn’t peeked inside of or maybe I had. Flipping it open, two house deeds were inside. I turned on the flashlight on my phone and clicked pictures. One residence was in Washington and the other in Long Island. I closed the folder and slipped it into place then laid them back into the safe and closed the door. I rested the picture back into place, my eyes studying the faces.
It was a family photo, an older one, and the color was yellowing. The woman’s hair in a beehive, and the man with a stern face and wide tie and long lapels. The two boys in the picture, about fourteen, with longer hair and dressed in striped sweaters and bell bottoms. His family, but which boy was Feeney and which was Johns?
“Let’s go,” whispered Fetch, giving me a nudge.
We snuck towards the door. Fetch opened it and glanced into the blackness, then grabbed my hand, guiding me towards the stairs. He lifted his leg over the top creaky step, avoiding it completely and I followed him, stretching my short legs over the creaky stair onto the next one.
The anxiety inside me made the door appear further with each step, then blackness closed in around me until it enveloped me completely.
I woke up a few minutes later, my body bouncing and trees moving past me, chilly air against my exposed face. I shot my eyes upwards and noted the familiar jawline of the man who carried me back to safety—Fetch.
He stayed along the trees and in the grass, following the same path we had on the way in. I shot a quick glance back to the judge’s house and saw a light on, silhouetting a large, dark figure. I blinked my eyes and the light and figure vanished. Was it my imagination? I continued watching, my body felt as though it was floating. It was my imagination, but Fetch’s strong arms beneath my back and the bends of my knee were real.
When we reached the gate it opened for us and he carried me over the threshold, only glancing at me once we reached the car. He set me down, his eyes lingering on my stomach and drops of freezing water hit my cheeks.
The van door slid open. “Get in,” shouted Rox as she grabbed my arm and pulled me into the back seat. We’d exchanged the car for a van after my paranoia incident. Rox squealed with excitement saying, ‘A DVD player. You freakin’ rock’,” and gave Fetch a high five. Now she showered me with affection and a roll of questions. “Are you OK? What happened? Are you hurt? OMG! Something bad happened?”
Fetch started up the van, put his arm over the edge of the seat and turned towards Rox, giving her a quick glance and sharp words as he made a three point turn. “Slow down!”
I’d never heard him raise his voice, ever. He meant business. Rox stared at me with wide eyes and mouthed, “Are you OK?”
“I’m fine. I blacked out.” I hated those words. It wasn’t the first time in the last couple weeks, but this time the results could have been detrimental. If I’d have gone in alone and fainted I might have woken up bound and tied or in the back of a police car.
“It’s a good thing I was there,” Fetch said, the sternness in his voice drifting through to my heart. “You can’t keep risking your life like this!”
It was my life and if I wanted to risk it I would. Neither he nor anyone else would tell me what I couldn’t do. “I’m fine!” I huffed through my stubborn rising anger, yet another part of me wanted to coil on his lap and thank him profusely.
“You’re not fine! People who are FINE don’t faint on the stairs of a house they broke into!” he said through clenched teeth.
I thrust my head back against the headrest and folded my arms over my chest. Why couldn’t I simply thank him? Because I was willful and independent.
“What did you find?” Rox asked after several seconds of silence and Fetch and I throwing virtual daggers at each other.
“Lots, but nothing we can directly pin on him since we broke into his house to obtain it,” I answered, my anger towards Fetch simmering.
The rain poured harder and rivulets washed across the windows as Fetch guided the car over the long stretch of highway back to the hotel. He remained quiet and stoic.
“Are either of you going to tell me what happened or do I have to draw my own conclusions?” Rox said, throwing her arms into the air in frustration.
Her question was met with silence as I continued watching the rain and trees and I assumed Fetch, fuming, kept his eyes on the road and his lips shut tight in a line. An attractive line. I’d never seen him like this and didn’t have any idea how to approach it.
“Fine! You know the sexual frustration in this van is thicker than molasses? You two were made for each other. I don’t know why you don’t get on with it!” Rox huffed as she slipped earphones on and pressed the play button on the DVD.
She was right. A giggle rose in my throat and escaped my lips, followed by more. I glimpsed into the rearview and caught Fetch’s eyes on me for a second. His lips parted and he chuckled. Leaned back in the seat, a crafty, satisfied smile carved Rox’s face.
My mind raced to my fainting spells and inability to keep food down. I really didn’t know what diseases ran in my family. Then I thought of my bio-dad. Cancer. He was dying of cancer. It was inoperable and death was imminent. I hadn’t thought my recent health problems were anything that serious. Should I be worried and seek medical help? If it kept up, I promised myself I would after I solved Einstein’s mystery.
The rain continued to pour, filling every pothole in the road. It splashed against the car and spilled over the side of the road. By the time we pulled into the hotel the rain had let up and we piled out of the van. Rox and I went up to the room and, without words, Fetch went another direction. I didn’t know what he was up to but I knew it had something to do with me.
“He’s worried about you,’ voiced Rox as she waited by the elevator.
“I’m fine, just under a lot of stress.” I shot her a quick glimpse. The door opened and we stepped inside.
“He loves you and he’s the hottest guy I think I’ve ever seen, and funny. If he looked at me the way he looks at you I’d be all over that quicker than you could say flash,” she said, leaning against the silver metal wall.
“We have a long history and—”
She cut me off, “And you’re full of excuses.” She blew out a breath and fiddled with the peeling paint on her fingernails.
The elevator door opened and we strode to the room.
She did her usual plop on the bed and pulled her legs up and tucked them beneath her butt. “So what if he’s silly, doesn’t act like a boring adult, is always on his sketch pad and sings in the shower?” She jumped off the bed and strolled to the table where his sketch pad lay. “Do you know what is on this pad?”
I had an idea but also knew he sketched just about everything. Without giving me a chance to respond, she opened it and brought it to me.
“You. He sketches you.” She placed it on the bed in front of me.
I lowered myself onto the bed and picked up the tablet, flipping one page after the next. It was déjà vu and flooded my mind with memories of him asking me to pose and using his artistic eye to capture me in sketches and paintings. I shifted my eyes to hers. “Not even two months ago I lost my fiancé in a car wreck. I’m not ready for all this.”
“I’m sorry, but he’s not coming back, and Fetch is here. He’s always been here. You’re the one who always leaves him, not the other way around.” She sat, not plopped, onto the bed beside me.
I swallowed hard. She was right. Raul was gone forever. All I had of him was memories, sweet memories, of our times together. Fetch was a part of my life years before Raul and my feelings developed for him then, but it wasn’t until I met Raul that I was ready for a serious relationship and Fetch was never a serious guy until tonight. I’d seen another side to him that made me crave what had been in front of my face.
I returned his sketch pad to the table and without turning towards her said, “I have a lot of thinking to do. You’re right.” I admitted it, surprising even myself.
“Yes, you do, and do it quick. That man needs to get laid by you.” She was direct. It seemed to be her style and what I needed to get my head out of the fog and my butt in gear. Now, if I could just fess up to Fetch instead of taking offense, we’d be good.
“When I lost,” she paused a second, “my brother, I was devastated. And then my parents.” Her eyes shifted to the bedspread that she twisted between her thumb and pointer finger.
She’d mentioned losing them, but I wasn’t completely sure she was telling the truth and her nervous twisting of the innocent bedspread confirmed my suspicion. She’d lost someone but wasn’t being honest about it. I switched beds and sat beside her, wrapping my arm around her back. She dropped her head onto my shoulder and we shared a moment until the door opened and Fetch burst through it.
Noting us cuddled together and the surprise on our faces when he thrust the door open, his silver-bullets softened.
He dropped the pharmacy bag onto the table beside his sketch pad and took a seat across from us then took my hands in his. I considered pulling away, but thought twice after my little discussion with Rox. Fetch was a man of communication. Grasping my hands he said, “What happened today was reckless. If I hadn’t have been there you would have fainted in that man’s house and I don’t even want to think what might have happened to you.”
He was right. There was no denying he saved me. I nodded. The concern on his face and the warmth of his hands reminded what it was to have a man who cared deeply. I missed Raul, conflicting how I felt toward Fetch, yet Rox was right—Raul was never coming back.
“I don’t think what’s wrong with you is serious,” he said, his eyes shifting towards Rox.
She rolled her eyes and let out a deep sigh.
“Your face glows, your skin is more flush, and you have a tiny bump in your belly that’s never been there.” He brushed his hand against my belly, sending tingles of veiled passion throughout my body. He’d explored every centimeter of me. I shivered with the memories, but gave him a questioning expression, twisting my mouth and narrowing my eyes.
“You’re pregnant,” he stated, a wide half-cocked smile forming on his face like he was going to be a daddy.
I’m what? Anger, surprise, shock shot through me like a speeding train. He was insane, out of his mind. I reacted in a way conducive to my track record and jumped off the bed. “I am not! That’s impossible. No way!” My words were strong, but inside I wasn’t so sure. Raul and I made love the night before his death. It was completely possible. I just couldn’t admit it to him.
“Yes, you are!” he said, walking towards me until his chest was inches from my face. I felt his eyes on my head.
I brought my hands to my hips and stared upwards into his silver bullets. “Impossible!” I stomped my foot and pushed against his chest.
He took a step backwards then cupped my face in the palm of his left hand. “Take the test in that bag and prove it.”
I glowered at him. “I will not! Remember I don’t take orders.” I laced my arms around my chest. Stop being so stubborn! But I couldn’t. If I did then I had to admit he was right. Flippin’ junipers, what was wrong with me?
“I shouldn’t be the voice of reason since I’m the delinquent teen, but I agree with him,” said Rox, joining our stand-off.
What a traitor. I’d brought her in, kept watch on her, and she was taking his side? And after our bonding moment, of all times to take his side. “Fine.” I grabbed the bag and marched into the bathroom. I peeked my head around the corner before closing the door and glared at Fetch. “If I’m right you’re buying dinner tonight.” I slammed the door.
“If I’m right, you’re not doing anything more that’s dangerous. I’m writing out a list now,” he shouted.
I took the package out of the bag, quickly scanned the directions, then realized I’d have a few minutes to wait so I flung the door open and stomped back into the bedroom. Fetch sat at the table with hotel pen and paper, writing his list. I grabbed my phone then stormed back into the bathroom and peed on the stick.
I set the alarm on my phone as if I was baking something. Noting a message from La Tige. This your girl? is all it said. I downloaded the attachment and stared at a picture from a milk carton. The brown-eyed, brown-haired, freckled teen without a doubt was Rox. Her biological name was Roxanne Shewer and she was seventeen. According to the info, she’d be eighteen next week. Well she hadn’t lied about that.
Another text came through with her parents’ names and phone number. I returned his text, confirming that it was her, and a thank you. Sitting on the hard toilet I planted my chin in the palm of my hands. Do I call them? It shouldn’t even be a question. They were her parents and she’d gone rogue, but I didn’t know the whole story or probably any of the story. She sought me out? Why?
Pondering deep and my heart pulling apart in angst, the alarm beeped on my phone, startling me. It was time? I knew what it was going to say without looking and maybe it was Raul’s way of living on. Closing my eyes, I reached for the stick sitting on the edge of the counter.
I peeled my eyes open and stared at the bright pink plus sign. A baby? I was going to be a mom? No, I wasn’t mom material. My nerves jittered and my hand shook as I reread the directions. Confirmation I was pregnant didn’t help to calm my nerves. Growing inside me was Raul’s offspring. A perfect little baby that would rely on me to comfort and scold, to love and direct. A wave of anxiety washed over me and the room spun. I thrust my head between my knees to keep from fainting.
The door knob jiggled. “Cleo?” said Rox as she knocked against the door.
Through the black tunnel that was forcing itself on me I crawled to the door, reached up and unlocked it. She burst through the door, Fetch on her heels. He thrust me into his arms and laid me on the bed. His fingers running through my hair.
“We were right!” she said as she swung her hips and danced around the floor. “We’re going to have a baby! Bump.” She swung her fist up to Fetch who bumped her in return.
His eyes twinkled in the light, a pattern of many colors washing over the silver and a smile as wide as the Mississippi stretched across his face. He leaned down and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into a huge bear hug, continuing to pull me upward. Before I knew it, he was spinning me in circles around the room.
Rox was twirling with us, her arms clutched onto his as she sang: “We’re going to have a baby, a cute, pudgy baby.” Caught up in their delight and my own shock, I was speechless. I had two people already staking a claim to my child. It couldn’t hurt since I didn’t know thing one about taking care of a baby. My only experience with children was my childhood which under every circumstance isn’t the life my child would live. The saying goes “It takes a village to raise a child” and these two were already building the village.
After a few more spins, we all fell over onto my bed. A baby? My baby? Our baby? Definitely Raul’s baby? I sent him a telepathic thought, well I hoped it reached him. You’re a daddy, babe. Your flower will do the best she can to take the best care of our little guy.
Then it hit me. I said ‘guy’. What if it was a girl, or twins? Shaking my head; it didn’t matter at all. I would love and care for this baby and be a trillion times better parent then my bio-parents were to me. I’d never abandon him, he’d eat healthy home-cooked meals. He’d never sleep on a couch but his own bed, he’d play sports or sing or participate on the math team if that’s what his heart desired. He’d complete school and go to college and...
My thoughts were interrupted when Fetch said, “Let’s go celebrate.”
The three of us headed out and ate steak dinners. Well, I picked at my Filet Mignon and vegetables. Rox beamed the whole time as if she was about to be an older sister. Fetch couldn’t stop smiling all night and they both hugged me every chance they found to sneak one in.
Self-doubt pricked at my heart. Every part of me wanted this baby even though unplanned. My bio-parents were a special breed who abandoned their child but I wasn’t them. I’m not them!
The following day we discussed what we found in Judge Feeney’s office. “He owns a home in Puget Sound, Washington, and Long Island. The Long Island home I assume is a summer home, but why Washington?” I asked, my partners in crime, still bubbling with excitement and smiles, stared at me.
“A getaway?” Rox stated, shrugging her shoulders.
I Googled the address and it appeared in the middle of nowhere. Einstein’s friend’s body was discovered on a hiking trail in Oregon. How close was the house? “It’s close to Puget Sound, in the middle of nothing, surrounded by dense forest.”
“Puget Sound? Maybe he likes to hunt or fish when he’s not judging. Everyone needs an escape,” said Rox.
“Could be,” Fetch answered, scanning through the photos we’d taken. “We just need to find a way to frame him.” Rox leaned over his shoulder as they stared at photo after photo.
“No, we need to go to Puget Sound,” I offered the only obvious answer and was met with two pairs of wide eyes, Rox’s mouth drawn into an O.
Fetch’s eyes then narrowed. “Oh no, not you. I finished my list.” He read it off in his most unlike Fetch serious business tone, covering anything remotely dangerous that I might consider.
“Who are you to decide if it’s safe?!” I huffed. “I’m pregnant, not an invalid.” This was my mystery to solve for a young man who meant the world to me, risked his life to save mine. I was going to be part of it without risking Raul’s precious offspring growing inside me.
“I won the bet,” he said, as if that was it, case closed.
Our relationship was one competition after the next, including many bets. We’d always sucked up our losses with pride, more determined to win the next. This was different. Reluctantly, I dropped my arms in defeat. He was right, anything outwardly dangerous was harmful to my baby, but we needed clear cut boundaries. “You won and you’re right, but I’m not an invalid and this is my mystery to solve.”
Rox’s voice chiseled a hole in the thick air between us as she opened my computer, “Maybe we can do a little spying. No harm in that, low risk. Nobody will know.” She tapped away on the keyboard. Fetch and I swapped glances then moved to stand behind her, glancing over her shoulder.
After an awkward hour or so she leaned back and her upside down eyes darted from Fetch to me. “There it is. I’m blowing this pop joint, you two kiss and make up.” Her matter-of-fact words punched a hole in my gut. She rose from the seat and slid the Do Not Disturb sign over the door as she exited. “Toodles!” and she was gone.
I stared at the screen. A simple, ranch-style house set on the edge of a cliff above the sparkling water of the sound displayed on the screen. Before I knew what was happening, Fetch had me in his arms, his lips pressed against mine. Weak in the knees from his intoxicating scent and proximity to my body, my mouth returned the gesture and I fell under his spell.
Within a few seconds my will power returned and I pushed him away. “Boundaries, remember?”
He raked his hands through his hair in frustration. “Stop pushing me away!”
Our eyes met and I laughed. “She’s such a bossy little twit.”
His mouth curled into a smile. His serious, frustrated expression wiped away as he laughed with me. After a few minutes, when his chuckles died down he said, “She is, and observant. I love you, Cleo. I have always loved you. We were younger, but I would have followed you anywhere.” His silver bullets drilling into my soul.
The truth was, I loved him too, so much, and understood now it was possible to be in love with two men but impossible to have them both at the same time. One of them was gone and he’d never return. The other was gazing at me, his eyes filling with emotion. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think we were a serious thing and...” excuses wouldn’t cut it. I needed to be truthful. “I love you, always have, but I loved Raul too and it’s hard for me. I don’t want to let go of him.”
He pressed his hand against my belly. “You never have to let him go and you will always have a piece of him.”
I ran my hands along his firm chest and over his shoulders, grasping his cheeks in my hands. He dipped his head and brushed his lips over my cheek until he reached my mouth. Wrapping my hands in his, he walked me backwards until my butt touched the dresser then lifted me upward, placing me on it as we kissed. Lost in the moment, all other thoughts left me and I was his.
An hour or so later, I lay curled in his arms, his hand drawing circles around my belly button. I let go of the battle, succumbed to the love shining in his eyes. A love that had haunted me and now flowed into my soul, filling me up, making me whole. He is the one.
Banging against the door and Rox’s words, “You two decent?” broke the magic of the moment and pulled us back into reality.
“Yeah,” Fetch called. At least she knocked instead of barging in. We sat up when she entered. A smug smile on her face. She was a groupie who’d taken claim of my life at a time I most needed it. I thought of the milk carton picture. I needed to do something, call her family, tell Fetch, but couldn’t. I wanted to know more. This pushy young lady was under my skin and worming her way into my heart.
She went directly to the screen of my computer. “Did you see this? Oh, that’s right, you’ve been busy,” she said, stringing out the last three words of her sentence, her hand on her hip and brown eyes fixed on us.
It wasn’t the best quality video but who knows what she hacked to get into it; a satellite or something probably. A gray-headed man sat in a wheelchair. His back to the camera, I couldn’t see his face. Another man of dark skin color carried something in his hand as he walked towards the wheelchair. Trees surrounded the house and the water shone beneath, displaying a rainbow of colors mirrored from the setting sun.
The next day, I completed my second book signing. It wasn’t as emotional a rollercoaster as the last and I didn’t have any surprise visitors. Fetch and Rox never left my sight, giving me superhuman strength to get through.
After, we ate a late dinner and set out onto the road. Fetch had packed the van earlier in the day and was prepared to drive all night. Another little something I had to thank him for. If he hadn’t come I’d have done the driving. I cringed at the thought.
“According to Dr.Com or whatever, morning sickness goes away after the first trimester. How pregnant are you, anyways?” asked Rox from the backseat.
I spun time backwards, remembering the last night Raul and I spent together. The gentle tide rolling in and out and a calm breeze blowing through the opened screen, whispering through the curtains as they breathed against the wind. I relished those moments. There was no saying that was the night but it couldn’t be less than that. “About two months.”
“You should be taking prenatal vitamins and you need to see a doctor. There’s a ton of genetic tests they run to be sure your baby doesn’t have a genetic disease, and an ultrasound. They do the first one by eight weeks, so you’re due,” said Momma Rox.
Fetch chimed in, “The baby’s healthy and I have your doctor appointment covered.” He flipped on the blinker and switched lanes. We zoomed past the trees, their leaves displaying the rusty colors of fall I’d all but forgotten living in the Caribbean.
“The baby’s like the size of a peanut right now, but once you hit the second trimester will gain weight like crazy and you’ll be able to start feeling him kick.” She scrunched her face between the front seats. “You have to let me know, and he’ll start doing somersaults and stuff. Oh and, this is really cool, the baby can start hearing sound. By the third trimester he can make out whose voice is talking and may respond with movement.” She bounced in the seat with excitement.
I didn’t know what I’d do without this tenacious ball of energy. She was amazing. “You got all that off the internet?”
“Yeah. Everything can be found on the net,” she said as if everyone spent the same amount of time zipping around it and hacking into who knows where.
“Your first appointment is with Dr. Rys in Portland. After that signing I’m taking you home and we’ll find a regular gynecologist,” Fetch dictated. I reveled in their concern for me. I hadn’t considered taking him home with me or what would happen to Rox. I couldn’t keep her forever.
Once she slipped her head out of the front seats and settled against her own, I sent La Tige a text. Can you tell me anything more about her family? He didn’t respond right away, so I stuck my phone back into a slot in my purse and closed my eyes.
Two days in the car I watched the scenery buzz past us. Trees filled with colorful leaves gave the drive a surreal effect. I soaked in the beauty of the northwest. When Einstein and I travelled by bus from one city to the next we didn’t stop and revel in the beauty around us. Our lives were a blur.
Our next stop in solving Einstein’s mystery was Puget Sound. We booked a cabin that overlooked the water and wasn’t far from the judge’s home. Who lived in it? Who was the grey-haired man whose face never showed in the video? Was he the Peeping Tom/psychopath—the judge’s step brother? Was the reason he stopped killing because he lost the use of his legs?
Once we arrived and checked into our suite in Portland, the doctor’s office faxed a stack of forms to be completed. It was a daunting task, especially without any medical history from either side of my family. Calling Raul’s family was the easy part, so I cleared that challenge first and gave away the reason why. A stab of guilt punched me in the gut since I hadn’t yet told Kacy. My plan was to tell her in person before heading home.
As things go, his family was excited beyond measure. This baby’s Abuelita was so excited I had trouble piecing together her frenzied Spanish and didn’t get to the family history until the phone was passed to everyone. All I patchworked together was their excitement and they were visiting as soon as I returned home. Finally down to the reason for my call, it turned out his family was really healthy; no genetic disorders or non-genetic diseases, heart problems, or anything else. That eased my nerves considerably. The frantic butterflies in my belly slowed a couple notches.
My brother was the difficult call, asking first about Daddy Dearest. He confirmed my sperm donor was now in the hands of a full-time nurse. It wouldn’t be long and the giant would be gone forever, and no doubt to a fiery ever-after. Will’s voice was plagued with ache and sadness and my heart dropped hearing it but no part of me felt pity for my vile bio-father. It turned out not much ran in their family either; high IQs, manipulation, and deceit, but no hereditary diseases. Granddaddy died of a heart attack and sperm donor was painfully dying of cancer, but that was it.
My last call was the most difficult. If I told Ashla about the baby, no doubt she’d be on the phone to my bio-mom quicker than a bug splattering on a windshield. She couldn’t know, not yet, at least until I told Kacy. I already knew my bio-mom had a tough, long labor with me and Auntie Ashla gave birth to a stillborn baby.
Fetch held my hand as I dialed the number, a good white lie in mind. His unwavering strength shot through me as Ashla picked up the phone. It turned out to be a pleasant call as my lie dripped from my tongue like chocolate syrup. I liked Ashla, but knew she was the gateway between me and the mother I refused to meet. I didn’t feel any better though, as pregnancy and birth complications ran in the family.
At the doctor’s office elevator music played softly in the background while a large-screen TV on the wall gave the “what to expect” run down of each trimester of pregnancy. I woke that morning feeling good, but watching the cartoon woman’s belly expand and the baby drop into the birth canal, nausea crept up on me.
“Cleo Burke,” called a stout lady in Hello Kitty scrubs. She eyed my entourage. “You’re all going in?”
“Yes,” voiced a determined Rox, her head held high.
The lady smiled and handed me a cup. “We need a urine sample. The restroom is to the right. Be sure to write your name on it before placing it in the window.” She glanced at Rox then Fetch. “Dad, the waiting room is just across the hall.”
Dad, she called him Dad. I didn’t see any reason to correct her. I gulped as I took the clear plastic cup and headed towards the restroom. Aiming my pee into a cup wasn’t the simplest thing I’d ever done. Once finished, I joined Rox and Fetch in the waiting room across the hall.
Time ticked slowly and five minutes felt like sixty. The seafoam-colored chairs were padded and Rox changed the channel to old Bugs Bunny cartoons. It lightened the mood and brought my anxiety down considerably. I’d never been a patient—since I was a girl and Perdy brought me in for shots. There’d been no reason; other than an occasional winter sniffle, I’d always been healthy.
“Cleo,” called a nurse with a clipboard in her hand. Her eyes glimpsed from it to me as I reached her. Noting my unease, Fetch went with me into the little room as I was handed a paper top with no back and paper blanket for my lower half. “Someone will be with you in a few minutes.” I took the flimsy clothing, not made for comfort or any other purpose than to dispose of, and flinched as I put it on. There wasn’t even a drawstring back!
A knock on the door not long after I dressed in the hideous, embarrassing paper clothing alerted us the doc or whoever was there. Another lady came in with solid pink scrubs and went over my chart, took my blood pressure and within minutes Dr. Rys entered and did a highly uncomfortable examination. The best part of the whole excruciating experience was listening to the baby’s tiny heart beating like a little thump inside a tube.
“Everything looks normal. Based on your information and my examination, I put you at ten weeks, making your due date in early May. I have ordered blood testing to be done. The transcripts can be sent to your doctor at home once you pin one down. I also recommend genetic testing based on your family history and that window is getting narrow.” She lifted her eyes off my chart and stared at me.
I glanced at Fetch whose soft eyes gave me strength. He’d go through this entire frightening experience with me. I nodded approval.
She set the chart down. “Everything is normal. Given your maternal history that’s a good sign you and the baby will be fine. Medicine is far more sophisticated today. Your doctor may place you in a high-risk category as a formality and regular ultrasounds will be done.” She smiled and crunched her nose. “You’ll see all your baby’s progress. Most women only see snapshots.”
The good news of the day: the baby and I were healthy, my morning sickness should be disappearing soon, and we were walking next door for an impromptu ultrasound. The other news was vials of my blood would be drawn for testing.
A text from La Tige buzzed my phone. Rox was the oldest of five children. They were a middle class family living in New Jersey. Her father a retired Marine Master Sergeant. A military brat: no wonder she carried no accent, she probably didn’t live anywhere long enough to develop one. Her parents were both clean and had never been reported for child abuse, neglect, or anything of the like. It was time to call them.
My last book signing finished, vials of blood drawn, and a picture of the tiny baby growing in my womb, we left Portland. The lush forest, draped in fall colors, spread before us as the car rolled to a stop in front of our rented cabin. It was a two story wooden cabin and the front façade was almost all glass with large windows separated only by thin strips of wood. The flat roof lowered in the back, giving the front of the loft a tall, vaulted ceiling.
Rox jumped out of the van and skipped around the house, stopping only when she came to the shoreline of the water behind it. “This place is amazing!” she shouted as she skipped a rock across the shiny top of the water. The wind blew her hair backwards as she stood with her back to the house, facing the beauty in front of her. She wrapped her arms across her chest to keep out the chill in the air.
Money was nice and made it possible for Fetch and I to put together a birthday dinner for Rox. Garlic and a blend of Italian spices drifted through the three bedroom cabin as Fetch made lasagna from scratch.
“I love it when you lick,” said Fetch as I glided my tongue over a spoon to get every last drop of his savory sauce.
I glanced between strands of red and brown hair falling into my face, catching the sparkle in his eyes as he caught me in his arms, pulling me towards his chest. Our lips meeting in a sensuous kiss that shot my senses into overdrive.
“I know I started this, but really? Don’t you two ever stop?” Rox said, flailing backwards. I caught her arms and we righted each other.
Fetch and I fidgeted for a second before chuckling, my eyes sweeping from her to him. I dipped into the refrigerator and pulled out makings for the salad and placed them on the counter.
“Alright, whatever. Keep it down, my virgin ears don’t need to hear it!” She strolled to the sectional couch and dropped as Fetch and I blew up in laughter. Cooking took love and preparation for all the flavors to swirl together into savory, mouth-watering bites.
“What are you making?”Rox called from the comfort of the living room.
Fetch closed the oven door and poked his head into the living room. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” He ducked as a pillow sailed over his head, landing on the tile floor behind him.
After dinner, we took our party outside and sat by the water around a bonfire. The surface of the water glowed, bathed in the moon’s light. We passed graham crackers, chocolate, and stuffed marshmallows on skewers, holding them above the flames.
“Thank you,” said Rox, bobbing a marshmallow into the flame and back out. “Today’s my birthday.”
I didn’t say ‘I know’ or ‘I know all about you, your family’, instead I kept it simple. “Happy birthday.” I told Fetch and he urged me to call her parents. After our discussion, we agreed she needed to be the one to call.
Fetch sang Happy Birthday and I chimed in and sang along. Her cheeks burned red as she flushed with our singing.
“Listen,” urged Rox, stuffing her burned marshmallow on top of the chocolate and squishing another cracker over the top. “It took a little doing, like hijacking a drone or two. Relax, I’m kidding,” she said, noting the quizzical expressions on our faces. “The house has cameras and an alarm system. I’ve been spying on them inside the house for days. The security system there is a joke. A five-year-old could break in.”
“Hold that thought,” said Fetch, “you got inside the house?”
She sighed long and deliberate before finishing her story. “You already know two guys live there and one is in a wheelchair. Every morning, the other guy wheels him outside and they sit for an hour or so above the sound.” She stuffed a bite of her mutilated s’mores into her mouth and talked with her mouth full. “I need to be honest with you.” She held her hand up, shushing anything we might say. I wanted to hear the truth. She knew something important coming into this and purposely chose me.
Swallowing hard and staring at the flames she continued: “It wasn’t my brother who went to the Einstein Academy, it was me, and it changed my life forever. I was ten, and even then had a high aptitude for technology, so on a grant my parents sent me. My family’s not rich and it was a huge thing for me to do this, I couldn’t let them down even though I preferred to spend summer break hanging with my friends. We snuck out of our cabin one night to teepee our sister cabin. It was a dare, but when we heard footsteps and bushes rustling we hid inside the maintenance shed. It was dark and we couldn’t turn on the light and give ourselves away.” She continued to pace, then looped her hair around her finger and twisted.
She stopped abruptly and turned towards us. “The footsteps came closer to the cabin and we ducked and hid. The door opened and a light flashed across the room and silhouetted the headmaster. We stayed quiet and still, then the door closed. The footsteps moved away from the cabin and I jumped up and grabbed my friend, but his foot was stuck in a hole in the wall. When we got it loose, a journal dropped from inside the wall and landed on the floor beside him. I grabbed it and we ran back to our cabin.” Her dark eyes were large as basketballs.
That’s it? No. It was our turn to talk and the question popped out of our mouths at the same time. “What was in the journal?”
She cringed. “A list of boys’ names with two dates next to each: a birthdate and what I later figured out must be the date of death. At first I had no idea what it all meant, but once I started cross referencing the boys’ names with their birth dates, missing children reports started popping up. Each date of disappearance only days before the second date for each boy.”
“Do you still have it?” I asked frantically. I wanted to know, had to know, if Einstein was in the book.
She nodded. “When I read your book I knew I had to find you, that my case was your case.”
“And Burke...” I asked, my body tightening in anticipation of her answer.
She nodded again. “He only has one date next to his name.”
What did that mean? Was he abducted? Did he get away? Was he the perv’s next victim? Fetch leaned toward me and placed his arm behind my back. I swallowed hard, sucking back the pain inside me and the tears that burned behind my lids.
Rox closed her eyes for a second longer than a blink. “I don’t know what that means,” she said as if reading my mind.
I couldn’t hold back any longer as my leaking eyes gave way to streams of tears coursing down my cheeks. “Why not tell me from the beginning?”
“I didn’t think you’d help me. I figured you’d send me home and I wanted to figure it out, but I needed help to.” She sighed and wrapped her arms around her legs, bringing them towards her. She twisted her lips and nodded as if she knew exactly how I would react.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and showed her the milk carton picture of herself. She gasped then, folding her hands against her legs and said, “I shouldn’t be surprised, huh. I’ve thought for a while you probably knew my story was bullshit. I’m not a good liar.”
I shifted my gaze to Fetch who sat quiet, the fire reflecting off the silver in his eyes. He nodded and I shifted my gaze back to Rox. “I called your parents.”
“So where are they?” she asked in confusion.
“Nobody answered, so I hung up. I think you should call.” I handed her my phone.
“Not yet. We’re too close. This guy, he’s an invalid, and the other guy is his nurse. He can’t kill anymore but shouldn’t live his life in peace after killing so many young boys. It’s the same guy, I know it is. After I found the journal I searched every past year book and maintenance guy who ever worked at the academy. He’s older but I recognize his face,” she pleaded.
“You’re eighteen today, an adult, but your family needs to know you’re safe,” Fetch urged.
She took the phone from me and dialed her parents, then walked away a few steps as she talked in private.
Fetch ran his fingers over my arm and wrapped the other around me as he gently kissed my cheek. “You care more than you show. You’re going to miss her.”
I sunk into his embrace. “I will. I’ve grown attached to her.” We stayed in that position. The fire crackling in front of us until she returned.
The phone in hand, she walked back to the fire and dropped onto the ground. “They’re taking the first flight out in the morning and will be here tomorrow night. We have to wrap up this case before I leave.”
Muted sun drifted through the window as I blinked my eyes open. Fetch’s warm body wrapped around mine. I snuggled into him then glanced at the clock when I heard movement in the living room. Seven o’clock. It was early for Rox to be up. Her usual time was between nine and ten.
I pulled a robe over me to take the chill off my shivering arms and pushed the door open.
“Where are you going?” mumbled a half-sleeping Fetch.
I turned towards him. “I can’t sleep.”
He stretched and lifted upward. Covers dropped, exposing the defined muscles in his chest. Within minutes he slipped on a pair of sweatpants and we dragged into the living room and beelined into the kitchen where Fetch readied a pot of coffee for himself since everything I read said to avoid caffeinated drinks during pregnancy. A low voice carried from the opening between the living room and kitchen. “I could use a cup.”
Startled, we turned on our heels and I shifted my eyes toward the unknown voice. Thin chestnut hair was trimmed short above his ears. Blue jeans held up by a belt with a flannel shirt tucked into them and running shoes didn’t give him a frightening appeal even though my heart beat fast and bile rose in my throat. The living room was large, but how did we both miss seeing him?
“Carry on,” he encouraged, sauntering into the kitchen and taking a seat at the table. “You weren’t hard to find. Well, you lost me a day or so after switching vehicles.” He tented his hands. “I’m a P.I. your brother hired to follow you.”
“What?!” He couldn’t? He didn’t? I fumed. How dare he hire someone. I could so handle myself and had plenty of help with me. I didn’t need this guy. “Whatever he told you, I don’t need you. Leave!” I pointed to the door.
He punched out his lips and let out a long breath. “No can do.”
Fetch placed a cup of coffee in front of him but didn’t sit, moving to my side. “Can we help you?” he said, calm as a summer night.
The P.I. took a sip. “Yup. Tell me what you’re up to. Make my job easy.” He leaned back in the chair, relaxed with an arm over the side, dangling against the rungs as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
I spotted Rox creeping toward us and bore my eyes into hers in an attempt to send her a message. She appeared to get it as she pointed at the door and made a key turning gesture. She was wide awake for this early hour. The P.I. hadn’t noticed her from his peripheral as Fetch moved away from me and towards the sink. The P.I.’s eyes followed him.
Rox disappeared then flashed across the opening, stopping long enough to dangle the keys in her hand. The P.I. continued, “He said you were stubborn. Listen, I’m here to help.”
Through the windows, I spotted Rox reach the van and slide inside, taking a seat in the driver’s side.
Fetch threw me a sideways glance then tossed the scalding hot coffee pot at the P.I. who screamed a mouthful of obscenities. Fetch grabbed my arm, pulling me towards the front door.
“Stop!” shouted the P.I. When we didn’t, he lunged for me, grabbing the bottom of my robe, it fell off my shoulder. Fetch halfway out the door, Rox circling the van and bringing it to the front door. I yanked on my robe to keep it from sliding off as the chilly air rushed against my skin. If it wasn’t for the weather I’d let him have the robe. I fisted my hand and hit the top of his head. He let go of the robe and grabbed for my arm. I pulled it back and with a thrust was being pushed into the open van.
“Leave her alone!” Fetch fumed, then caught the P.I. in the jaw. He stumbled backwards then reeled forwards and swung back as Fetch dodged it and fell backwards into the open van. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled. The P.I. lunged again for Fetch and he kicked him in the face.
“Go!” I shouted at Rox. Without hesitation she hit the gas and we sped off. The man picked himself off the ground. Blood dribbled from his nose and over his lips. He sprinted to his car. “He’s going to follow us.”
Rox sniggered. “No, he’s not. I took care of that by slashing one of his tires.”
“Smart girl. I knew we kept you for a reason.” Fetch chuckled. “That was crazy!”
“Insane!” I fell against him. “You see, danger finds me.” The whole situation tickled me and I couldn’t help my inappropriate laughing. The man never pulled a weapon, said he was there to help, yet we fought him as if he was the bad guy. The problem was he didn’t give up or we could have heard him out. Nah!
“Do you think your brother really hired him?” asked Fetch.
Rox pulled the van over. “One of you needs to drive. I don’t know where I’m going and don’t have a license.” She grabbed something out of the dash cubby and tossed it to me—my phone! I loved this girl and her quick thinking and ingenuity.
Fetch and I eyeballed her and busted into laughter. Between chuckles he said, “Since when do you care if what you’re doing is legal?”
She leaned her head around the seat and shot him a brown-eyed glare of death. “You’re right and you can drive.”
He climbed into the driver’s seat as she took shotgun. He cleared his throat and his lips twitched as small giggles attempted to work their way out.
I gave Rox the address and she punched it into the GPS. We arrived at the house. “Now what?’ he asked.
“I’m going in. I want to know. The guy’s in a wheelchair. He can’t hurt me,” I stated, waiting for the argument, but it didn’t happen.
Fetch blew out a breath. “It’s your show.”
Rox waited inside the van and Fetch and I hid between the trees. The bright sun didn’t do much to squelch the chill in the air. I was still in my robe and slippers and Fetch topless; his chest, proportionate and chiseled, was beautiful under the sun’s radiant light. His sweats hung loose over his hips, displaying his lower abs. He was gorgeous.
About fifty feet from the back door of the house was a man in a wheelchair and the darker man, tall and bulky. “That’s him,” I whispered.
We edged closer, careful not to crunch the leaves beneath our feet. With so many on the ground, it wasn’t easy. The tall, bulky man walked towards the house, leaving the wheelchair man, Johns, alone. “I’m going,” I whispered to Fetch. I pressed the record button on the cell phone in my pocket.
“Right behind you,” he whispered. Our breath forming vapor with each exhale. The leaves beneath our feet so moist they didn’t crunch and give us away. About ten feet from him, we reached the deck. The large, bulky man still inside, I made a run for it.
“I hear you. Might as well face me,” he called. A sweater covered his arms and chest as he sat, staring ahead at the water.
Fetch stood at my side, grabbed my hand and laced his fingers through mine as we strode towards him. Johns’ upper half shifted in his seat as if he was trying to get a glimpse. When we reached him we took a stance on either side of the wheelchair.
“Aren’t you two cute,” he stated. His green/blue eyes scanning our appearance. “Did you wake up from bed and say I’m going to irritate that old cripple who lives on the water?” He huffed, making no effort to hide his disgruntled attitude.
Of course he had no idea who we were or why on earth we were there. I sucked in a breath. “I know who you are Mr. Johns.” His brows shot upward and eyes widened. “I know all your crimes, everything you’ve done.”
“So you’re here to face me,” he seethed, narrowed his eyes, and pressed a button on his chair. “I’m already paying my price.”
I crouched on my feet to meet his eyes and grabbed the side of his chair. His hand swiped over mine in a gesture to shove mine away but lacked the ability. I lifted the cell phone out of my pocket, leaving the recording on, opened the gallery and went to the picture of Einstein and his friends at the Academy. “Remember all these boys?”
His narrowed eyes became slits. “You have the wrong man.” He shifted his head away from the picture and gazed at the twinkling, still water below.
I tilted my head and enlarged Einstein. “Do I? What about this boy?”
He pursed his lips and rocked them back and forth, not shifting his eyes to acknowledge the picture. The back door swung open.
“Who are you?” called his nurse as he rushed towards us.
“We’re renting a couple houses down,” called Fetch as he walked towards him as if this was a normal situation of any kind.
I held my ground. “I want to know what you did to him,” I demanded in a quiet, eerie voice. I studied his face and shoved the phone towards it.
He swatted at it and the phone landed on the ground beside him. “Cole!” he called in angst.
“What’s going on here? Who are you really?” the nurse, who I guessed was Cole, shouted.
Fetch said something, his back to me I couldn’t read his lips, and far enough away I couldn’t hear it. The man stopped and Fetch offered his hand in a shake. As the nurse returned the gesture, Fetch pulled him into his chest and wrapped his arms around him in a bear hug. They tussled for a minute, then another voice rang through the air.
“Get away from him!” Judge Feeney marched towards me, older and whiter, with a larger gut swelling over his pants as he advanced towards me, bypassing Fetch and Cole who were still struggling.
I didn’t have much time. “Look at the picture. What did you do to this boy?” I insisted, no games, nothing. I simply wanted an answer. I needed to know what he’d done to Einstein.
Johns stared ahead at this point, not even acknowledging my presence. “He was a friend of mine. Please tell me.”
“Why?!” roared the judge as he approached us. “You broke into my house and now you’re here. Why? What do you want?” The ice in his voice cracked as he leered at me.
I stood my ground and lifted up. “You’re as guilty as your step-brother. No one’s above the law. He killed at least twenty-four boys. How can either of you live with yourselves?” The disgust in my voice obvious.
Feeney grabbed hold of the wheelchair’s handles and pulled him backwards a few steps. “My step-brother has a degenerative genetic disorder. He struggled through school, children always made fun of him because he was slow. They ridiculed him. Someone had to protect him. Be there for him.”
Fetch had the nurse firmly between his arms but he wasn’t fighting him. It was as if they’d both stopped to listen.
A drop of sweat trickled across the judge’s brow. He was nervous and at this point I was on the other side of the chair between them and the edge of the cliff. I took a step to the side. “So you felt bad and jeopardized your own career to help this man?”
Feeney rocked the chair and Johns shifted his gaze from the water below to me. He grabbed the arms of the chair and squeezed, then lifted his torso towards me. The strain of the actions evident in gritted teeth and scrunched forehead. “He’s the... one that... got... away.”
“The blond one?” I asked.
He blinked his eyes slow and leaned toward me as far as he could. “He fought... and got away.” Then fell back into his chair.
“You idiot!” screamed the judge as he pushed the chair towards me. I jumped out of its path, falling to the ground as it slipped past me and over the edge.
Johns fell out of the chair and dropped, smashing onto a rock on the shoreline beneath us. The judge was going down and I couldn’t let them both die. Feeney was every bit as guilty as his step-brother. Two twisted souls tied together as family but not by blood. I couldn’t let him off. “No!” I screamed, grabbing the judge’s arm and tugging with all my strength. His weight and the bulk of the wheelchair still in his other hand dragged me forward. I glanced for something to brace my feet on but there was nothing. They dangled over the edge and I felt my legs slipping over it.
Then a strong arm laced itself around my midsection and dragged me backwards. The judge wiggled his hand to loosen it from my death grip and I slid forward a bit then was dragged back again. “Let me go!” shouted Feeney, his life hanging in the balance of my arm strength.
My glance shifted from his puffy face to the man lying motionless on the ground below. It wasn’t that maybe he didn’t deserve death it was more seeing his frail body smashed below me. Everything in my stomach shot out of me in projectile motion onto the judge’s face until dry heaves shook my body. He spat at me, his hand sliding through my vomit-wettened grasp.
“Let go of him, Cleo,” ordered Fetch in a ragged breath, pulling me backwards. “He’s not worth your life.”
Another arm grabbed the upper half of the judge’s arm and dark eyes met mine—Cole. Together we pulled him up, over the edge and along the dirt. His fluffy belly leaving a trail. Cole pulled him to his feet. He forced Feeney’s hands behind his back. “What are you doing, crazy fool? You killed your step-brother!” he hollered, his voice shaking in anger.
“This, this is why I was hired!” shouted a voice, an arrogant voice.
My breath caught and I watched as two men ran towards us. The P.I., his bloody face dried, and another dressed in a light blue suit.
Fetch grabbed my shoulders. “I love you!” He pulled me to his chest. I allowed his fear and love to swallow me and I sank my face against him.
Sirens blared in the distance and Rox sprinted towards the crazy scene. “Cleo, Cleo!” She reached us before the two men. Shoving her way into our embrace she purred, “I love you guys. Don’t scare me again.”
The police questioned us all and suit man was an FBI agent that caught on to us when Rox hijacked a drone to spy on the house. He said she left some type of footprint. The two had a long discussion and he gave her a card and said ‘Call this number when you graduate in the spring. We prefer to keep the best hackers on our side’. She beamed with pride.
They hauled the judge off after reading him his rights. He glared at me as the police car pulled off and prickles ran up and down my spine. The P.I. gave me and Fetch, but especially me, an earful and so did Will when he handed me his phone. I never guessed it would end this way. Fetch and Will were right, I shouldn’t put myself into such situations. I was soon to be a mom and my baby needed me. From this point forward I vowed to myself and child that I would settle down and enjoy mommy-hood.
That night, shaken but steady on our feet, we were escorted by the police to the airport to meet Rox’s parents. Departing and arriving flights and gate numbers boomed over the speakers. Kiosks lined the walkways, selling coffee, snacks, and other goods for last minute shoppers.
We greeted Rox’s parents. She was the spitting image of her mother from her thick brown tufts of hair to her freckles. Her father was a stout man with broad shoulders and a stern face. He looked like a Marine.
Her father cleared his throat as her mother wrapped her in loving arms. “Are you OK? You’re not hurt? I’ve been so worried. What were you thinking? You’re lucky this nice couple found you.” She showered her with words of love and fear as she switched from hugs to inspection.
“Thank you for watching after her. She doesn’t look it, but she’s a handful,” he said, grasping Fetch’s hand then mine in his firm grasp. I wouldn’t want to be on his bad side.
“Da-ad,” Rox coaxed as she wrapped her arms around him.
He looked her square in the face. “What were you thinking?” His firm voice made me quake.
Her happy mood vanished and her eyes shifted to the ground. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done it. You’ve been worried sick.”
“Worried? Your mother’s been a wreck. We’ve searched everywhere for you, contacted TV stations, radio stations.” He sucked in a deep breath. “We’ll talk more later.”
The officer greeted her parents. “We’ll need you to come to the station with us.”
Her father flashed her a glance and she flashed him a cheeky smile in return.
Fetch shifted on his feet. “We rented a three bedroom suite, it’s not far. You can stay the night with us, rest, shower, eat, and we can bring you back to the airport tomorrow,” he offered.
The officer confirmed they only needed to verify identities to file their report. It wouldn’t take long. I was sure they’d also fill them in on her heroic act.
We escaped back to our suite. After our day we decided to leave the cabin and escape to the city. The lights of Seattle glimmered against the dark sky. Einstein’s case was closed, or would be soon. It was in the hands of the FBI. I flipped the agent’s card in my hands and smiled at the sky, saluting my first love. I did it! Fetch snaked his arm around mine. I couldn’t take all the glory. “We did it!”
He gave me a cocky grin. “Who are you talking to?”
“Einstein. Do you think he can hear me?” I always believed spirits roamed the earth, unsettled, and now my Einstein could rest.
“Yeah, I do,” he said and pulled me closer. “Sometimes, I can smell my mom’s perfume and I know she’s close. Those we love don’t ever leave us.”
I rested my head against his chest. “Tell me about her.”
He turned and we walked in step to the couch. “She was a single mom who worked two jobs to keep us fed. My sister and brother are several years older than me. One by one, they left home and married. When she passed away I packed what I had and signed up for the bridge crew. I ran because of my grief but don’t regret doing it. That’s how I ended up in San Francisco and met you.” His words dug deep into me.
Where did that come from? And how come I was only learning this now? I knew it was the bridge that gave him the opportunity to move to San Francisco but I didn’t know he was running from his own grief. We weren’t so different. “How come you never told me this?”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me about your family?”
He had me there. “You know everything about me now but you’re still a mystery. What about your father?”
He shrugged and ran his finger over my cheek. “I never knew him. My siblings and I don’t share the same father.”
Well, the man truly did have a mystery of his own. “You ever try DNA testing?”
“Nah.”
“Why not?” I urged. “Who knows? You could find a match, maybe, if you want to.” I stumbled over my words, remembering my own stubborn streak. I’d have frowned on a DNA test if anyone suggested it but myself.
He brushed a loose strand of hair from my cheek. “Make a deal with you. I’ll do the testing if you face your mother.”
He knew I couldn’t refuse a challenge. I cringed at his cunning words. “Is this a trick?”
“No. I understand how you feel about her, but you only have one set of parents. I’ve never met my father. I don’t know anything about him and you’re going to be a mother in the next six months. I just think you should give her a chance.”
He was right. I hated her for being weak, never searching, and my hard life growing up, but none of it was really her fault. My sperm donor was right, Fetch was right. I cringed. Sensing my distress he continued, “I’ll be there with you.”
I rubbed my hand against his stubbly chin. “And I’ll be there with you. Together.”
He grabbed my hand. “Together.”
We spent the rest of the evening with Rox and her parents. I really liked them and saw where she got her spunk and wittiness from. Somehow, she convinced them to allow her to visit St. Thomas when the baby came. They only just got her back and she was planning her next trip, but at least she had their permission this time. Eighteen now, she really didn’t need it, but I felt better knowing they agreed. She was their baby and I understood as a parent. My whole outlook on life had changed; it was all about the little, precious life inside me and everything I did from here on out would be for him.
Our plane landed in the San Francisco airport late the next evening. I texted Javier before we left Seattle to be sure he got Kacy to the old Happy Trails, where we met, by nine P.M. tonight.
“Here’s all the gynecologists I found in St. Thomas,” said Fetch, displaying a list on his phone. The lights of the city whistling past us.
“We’re returning to the place we met and seeing Kacy and you’re OB/GYN shopping?”
He tossed his head backward, enough to flip the hair out of his face. “Yeah, you’ll be home soon.”
“In a week. Bookmark the page and we’ll get back to it. Tonight is about friends, about us.” I kissed his cheek.
He nodded and grabbed my leg, right in my tickle spot. I giggled.
“You haven’t seen the new bar yet?”
“No. Kacy sent me pictures, but this is my first time back since the fire,” I answered, feeling wistful that I hadn’t visited since. I’d gone to her wedding as her bride’s maid, but that was in Napa not San Francisco.
He raised his eyebrows. “I keep my rent up on my loft across the street.”
“Is that all you think about, really?”
He brought his lips to mine. “Yeah.”
I play-slapped his shoulder as my lips embraced his.
“We’re here. That’ll be fifty-two,” mumbled the cabbie.
“Keep the change.” Fetch dropped three twenties in his hand then held the door open for me.
A bright lettered Happy Trails sign hung beneath the awning, inviting us inside. Through the glass I spotted Kacy and Javier pouring over a computer sitting on the bar. Ding... ding... went a bell as we entered Happy Trails. Kacy turned the barstool. “Welcome to—” Her eyes widened as she jumped off the barstool.
“Cleo,” she screeched as we ran towards each other. The bar itself was the same size but everything was shiny new. The bar, once wooden, was now a sleek marble. The tile floors shone under the lights and a brand new juke box that was made to look old stood in the corner.
“I had no idea... and Fetch. Where did you find him?” she winked his way.
I grabbed her hand and placed it on my belly. “I’m pregnant, Kacy.”
Her dark velvets shifted from me to Fetch then back to me and she whispered in my ear, “Is it a Cle-etch or a Cle-aul?”
“A Cle-aul,” I whispered back.
“Looks like you have the rest of your lives to make Cle-etches. If it’s meant to be you’ll find each other, remember?”
“I do. It was karma.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I can’t believe it I’m going to be an aunt. Aunt Kacy. I love the ring to it,” she said, guiding me to an empty table. The men with beer already in their hands joined us.
“Hold on. This isn’t right. I have the perfect drink for preggo here,” she ran behind the bar and mixed a smoothie.
“With Cleo there’s always a story. I got to hear it,” said Javier, lifting his beer for a swallow.
Over the next hour, Fetch and I told them the whole story, filling the bar with laughter and suspense.
Javier leaned back, a warm smile on his face. “I never thought I’d see the day the two of you found each other, and were soon-to-be parents. We’re waiting three months for the new bar to get rooted before we make a family, but you Fetch... an instant family.”
“Meeting her in New York wasn’t coincidence, staying at the same hotel was, and the baby. I just got lucky,” Fetch answered. His perpetual smile smug as he placed an arm behind my back.
“It’s getting late and Cleo and I have a busy day tomorrow. Can you guys grab the bags?” ordered Kacy.
“I got them. We’re staying in my loft across the street,” Fetch said with a boyish smile. I knew exactly what he was thinking. Evidently, so did Javier.
“When was the last time you were there?” he asked.
“Six—”
Javier cut him off. “You’re staying with us. We have a guest room with a queen size bed nobody ever sleeps in.” He nudged Fetch then leaned towards him and in a near whisper said, “It needs breaking in.”
“Oh my gosh, really guys,” said Kacy as she took my hand and led us out the door and to her car.
Kacy and I spent the next day baby shopping without buying anything. We made a huge baby registry. She was nesting more than me. It was amazing all the stuff stores had for a tiny baby, from an assortment of countless types of bottles and diapers to cradles vs. bassinets. My head was spinning by the time we sat down to eat lunch.
I dropped into the seat. “I’m going to breastfeed,” I declared.
The corner of Kacy’s lip curled. “It’s the best thing, gives the baby all your antibodies.”
“I just can’t believe one little baby is so complicated.”
“You and Fetch will be like the poster couple for parenthood. He’s always entertaining and you’re down to earth, so between the two of you this child will follow a good path with joy in his heart,” she said, taking the menu.
We ordered our drinks. “Kacy, do you think this baby’s a he?”
“I said he as a general term, but maybe. They say momma knows. What do you think?”
“I think it’s a boy, from the moment I discovered I was pregnant. And last night I had this dream of a baby face. Deep, chocolate brown eyes, curly brown ringlets, and his little cheeks were so pudgy.”
“Like a disembodied head floating inside your dream?”
“Shut up.” I kicked her under the table.
She giggled. “What are you going to name him?”
“Raul, after his dad.” I hadn’t actually given it any thought but now, faced with the question, Raul rolled off my tongue as if someone else said it.
She smiled and reached across the table, taking my hands in hers. “I’m really so happy for you. When Raul passed I couldn’t stand the anguish you went through. It ate me up because I couldn’t help you. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that helpless, even when I lost the bar. Fetch is a great guy and he loves you.”
“You’re gloating inside. You always knew we’d end up together.”
She let go and pinched her fingers together. “Maybe this much.”
“I love you, Kacy—Aunt Kacy.”
Minutes after returning to Kacy and Javier’s, my phone rang—Will. It could only mean one thing. Trepidation filled me up inside as I answered, “Will?”
“He passed last night. His funeral is the day after tomorrow. I know you feel no ties to him or the family but I’d like you by my side.”
My heart dropped, shattering on the floor. He was my half-brother. I owed him more than I could possibly give, but joining him at Daddy Dearest’s funeral? It would be a small gesture for me, but a huge one for Will.
“Cleo, I know you don’t want to do this and you don’t have to. I don’t even expect you to—”
I cut him off. “I’ll be there.”
He gave me the details, thanked me profusely, and I dropped onto the closest piece of furniture. “What’s up, lady? I didn’t wear you out that bad, did I?” asked Kacy as she took a seat next to me.
“No, it’s my sperm donor. He’s dead. It’s like all the hate I carried in my heart was for nothing. Poof! He’s gone, and my anger doesn’t matter.” Numb, I stared at the silver leaf candle holder on the wall and studied all its curves.
“Chica, life is too short for hate. We’re here and gone in a blink and the world continues. I lost everything when Happy Trails burned. All the memories of my father that I held onto, but my best ones are in my heart. He gave me life. Your father, however horrible, gave you life. Let go, release the pain.”
I held her and cried against her shoulder as she smoothed my hair. I’d known for over a month he was dying. I’d known for over a week his condition had taken a turn for the worst. Until the moment Will said ‘he’s gone’, my shining moment was the evening I splashed my red wine all over his expensive white shirt. A snigger rose in my throat as I remembered the expression on his face.
I sat up, my snigger turning into a laugh. Kacy raised a brow.
“I don’t have many memories with him, but one jumps out at me. I was being a defiant, hurt, twenty-year-old and it was funny. It’s still funny,” I said between laughs.
She shook her head.
The next day we packed our stuff and headed back to the Big Apple.
I stood by my brother’s side through the funeral and gave every oohing and ahhing glance a smile. I was the bastard’s daughter too and stood proudly next to Will. His wife gave me more than the fair share of evil glances, which I returned with smiles. By the time it was over, my mouth hurt, but that wasn’t the end of the ordeal.
Parents aren’t perfect, they’re not infallible, and sometimes we get a raw deal with them, but we get what we get. Mine were the flies on cow dung but, nonetheless, mine. I walked up the steps to my mother’s townhome, my stomach twisted in knots, with Fetch by my side. I lifted my finger several times to ring the bell but couldn’t, finally Fetch hit the button for me.
The sound of footsteps approaching made my heartbeat quicken. Then the door opened and in front of me stood my bio-mom. Her oval face contorted in surprise, shock, and happiness, her green eyes glowing like emeralds. She raised her arms then dropped them. “Do you want to come in?” she offered in a shaky voice as tears filled her eyes.
I reached out my arms and folded them around her. Life was too short to continue hating this woman. Her arms melted around mine and I felt all the love she had for me. It swelled like a balloon inside me. All my hate and anxiety towards the woman vanished as I realized this is all I ever wanted from her.
After several minutes held in my mother’s embrace, we went inside her house, decorated in regal burgundy and cream, silks and velvets. Her dainty figure still perfect, noticeable beneath her jeans and soft chenille sweater. “Can I get you anything?” she asked nervously.
“No, uh, thank you. This is Fletcher,” I responded as we took seats on a soft velvety couch. It wasn’t really a couch, but a settee.
She nodded, glancing to Fetch. “Nice to meet you.” The room was silent until she swallowed and brought her hand to her mouth. “I sat right there where you are and read your story. All of it. I’m so sorry.” Tears leaked from her eyes. “Look at you. You’re just as beautiful as you were the day you were born.”
Fetch handed her a tissue from the table beside him.
“I’m sorry too. It was easier to hate you than accept that all I wanted was you and to be loved by you.” The warmth in her smile touched me.
That was the start of our relationship. We spent the day talking, laughing, and crying. She never forgot me, never gave up on me, and even threatened my sperm donor. She traveled over the ocean to Paris to find me and followed every lead, but I always evaded her. Running and dodging my past, seeking family ties. If only I knew she was seeking me too. I learned how much she and I were alike, not just our outward appearance, but she had spunk and fire. Her laughter was beguiling and contagious.
Late into the night we carried on and I broke the news.
“You’re pregnant!” she squealed, her eyes so wide and bright they consumed me. It was a second chance for her and for us. Fetch never left my side and amused her much the same way he amuses me.
The following day, we went to see Mrs. Childrone. It was then I told her the story about finding the newspaper clippings in the hidden hallway. Guilt riddled me as I went through the story. She didn’t interrupt, but kept a loving gaze on me the entire time. Other than meeting my mother, it was the most difficult thing I’d ever done, but in her adoration of me, she accepted all that I told her, then embraced me.
Lifting from our embrace, her hands on my arms, she said, “You are an amazing woman. Thank you. Thank you for everything and please don’t ever risk your life like that again.”
Mothers. I felt like Rox must have the day we met her parents at the airport. A mother’s love ran deep, so deep, no matter what their child does they never stop loving them.
The next six months went smoothly. We found a gynecologist on the island. I went to my regular visits and ultra sounds. My bloodwork came back good, no genetic diseases, and my morning sickness finally cleared up after four months. I took my prenatal vitamins regularly and enjoyed each day with Fetch. We cooked, he sketched and painted. I woke one morning alone in bed to discover him painting a Cars mural on the baby’s wall. The entire wall was covered in a scene from the first movie.
La Tige and Ashla came by regularly. Since learning I was pregnant, she never came empty handed, but always had something for the baby. I had enough diapers, baby wipes, teethers, onesies, pacifiers, and toys for every newborn on the island. Kacy teamed up with her and they threw a baby shower, private invite only, but everyone I loved was there, including my bio-mom and Rox.
Fetch completed a DNA test. The results showed a match. Not a parent, but a younger sibling. Since he was the youngest of his mother’s children, that left us only one conclusion; that it was a sibling on his father’s side. The sibling turned out to be a sister, but it was a bit more complicated than that. She’d been adopted as an infant and never met either of her biological parents. The reason she did the DNA test was to find them. She found Fetch instead.
The months rolled forward and my belly grew bigger. Baby Raul kicked and tumbled inside me.
It was a warm day in late February and I was relaxing by the ocean when the door bell rang. Fetch at the store, I waddled to it and pulled it open to the mail carrier.
She handed me a letter. “You need to sign for it.”
Once I signed and closed the door, I flipped the letter between my fingers. It was addressed from a law office in New York. Curious, I opened the letter. My jaw dropped clear to the floor. In my father’s will he left me an unnamed, private Caribbean Island.
I hadn’t moved when Fetch strolled into the house. “Cleo?” He dropped the bags and picked me up off the ground.
“I...” I handed him the letter.
He scanned it. “What the...? You own an island.” He quoted characters from Fantasy Island in his most suave voice, “Dear guests, I’m Mr. Roarke, your host. Welcome to Fantasy Island. I have to be Roarke, I’m too tall to be tattoo, Da plane, Da plane.” He pointed in the sky at an imaginary airplane.
I laughed so hard at him I teeter-tottered and almost lost my balance.
“Be careful my little Weeble Wobble,” he said, taking my hand and guiding me to the bar.
“So what are you going to do with it?”
I shrugged. “I only just found out I had it.”
“Build a resort. A fully self-sustaining resort.” He passed me a bottled water and popped open a beer for himself.
“A resort, huh?” Once he planted the idea in my head it was there. We thought and discussed. He even sketched our ideas, but we didn’t know if the island was even habitable.
The next couple of months grew increasingly more uncomfortable as Baby Raul gained more and more weight. He had less room to swim and complete his acrobatic routine. I tossed and turned most nights from discomfort and sporadic contractions. April twenty-sixth, I woke to a puddle surrounding me. At first I thought it was sweat until I realized it was too broad an area.
“Wake up, wake up.” I hit Fetch in the stomach.
“What?” he said drowsily, with closed eyes.
“The baby.”
“What?” He perked up and stared at the stained, wet sheet. “Your water broke. It’s time.” He leaped out of bed as if someone let a firecracker off under his butt, pulled on a pair of shorts, dropped a shirt over his head, inside out. “Let’s go.”
I watched in amusement.
“Oh, right.” He scurried towards my side of the bed and peeled me off the sheets. Getting on and off the bed was a struggle but I could do it. He pulled my wet gown over my head and dropped a clean one on and lifted me off the bed onto my feet. He guided me towards the door, one hand on the small of my back and the other rolling my suitcase.
“Keys, shoes, my phone.” I chuckled, more water spilling from me with the action.
He bounced around like a Mexican jumping Bean, collecting everything, then pushed me out the door, tucked me into the car, and pulled out of the drive.
I called La Tige who answered on the first ring, almost like he knew tonight was the night.
Twenty minutes later I waddled into the hospital, La Tige and Ashla beating us there. I wasn’t surprised, knowing how La Tige drove. In a blink, I was dropped into a chair and wheeled to a room.
The first couple hours of labor weren’t bad, no more discomfort than the past couple weeks of my life. I used that time to call Kacy, Will, my mother, and Mrs. Childrone. I knew they wouldn’t be here for the birth but that couldn’t be helped; this baby wasn’t waiting. As the hours passed my contractions got stronger. I went from seven to nine in one horrific contraction. With that, the staff surrounded me.
Fetch literally held my hand through the entire birthing process until Baby Raul poked his head out, filled with tufts of black hair, then he kissed me. “You did it.”
Raul wailed loud while the doctor held him in his arms. Fetch cut the umbilical cord and they laid him on my chest and I felt my eyes leak with happiness, searing away my blood and sweat. My little gift from heaven lay against me. Now I knew exactly how my mother felt the day I was born.