by Willow Rose
“Yes, but not a very good one, I’m afraid. Molly Carson went home while the prom queen was still dancing with the prom king. Lots of people saw her leave. She called her mother, who picked her up and took her home, and she went to bed after that, Melissa said. And I have to say that after talking to her friends and teachers, it would be very much out of character for Molly to hurt anyone. They all describe her as someone who takes care of everyone else, always has a shoulder to cry on. When I questioned her, I got the feeling she wouldn’t be able to hurt a fly.”
I drank my wine. “That’s not much of an alibi, though. It could be argued that she might have climbed out of the window.”
Matt gave me a look. “I know. That’s what worries me. Well, that’s one of the many things that bothers me about this case. As much as I would like to rule out Molly as a suspect, it’s not possible.”
“You don’t really think a seventeen-year-old girl killed three of her friends over some boy, do you?” I asked.
He sipped his beer, then shrugged. “I’ve seen stranger things happen, but of course, I don’t. As long as we don’t have any bodies yet, there is still hope. But then you’re looking at a possible kidnapping. And where does that leave us? I just don’t understand why there hasn’t been any ransom request made.”
“Unless it’s a sex offender,” I said. “You already checked all that live in the area, didn’t you?”
Matt nodded while finishing his beer. He put the empty bottle down.
“Yes. And we also spoke to the parents, over and over again. No fights, no reason for the three of them to want to run away.”
I sighed. This was a true mystery, one that had me intrigued, yet scared to death. I had two girls of my own. I wanted to figure out what happened to those three girls as much as anyone, even though it annoyed Matt to talk shop when he was off.
He glanced at the file on the counter next to me.
“How did the meeting go with Rhonda?”
I swallowed and looked away.
“Oh, my,” he said. “She found something; didn’t she? That’s why you have the file?”
I shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Did she find Sydney?”
I lifted my eyes and looked into his. Then, I nodded.
“Really? That’s wonderful, isn’t it? Isn’t it, Eva Rae? Why do you look like that?”
“Like what?” I asked.
“Like you’re upset and not happy. You’ve been wanting to find your sister all your life, and now you finally have the chance. Why don’t you look thrilled?”
I glanced at the closed file on my counter. I wondered what to tell him…if I could tell him the truth. I needed to process it myself first.
“No reason,” I said. “I’m just tired; that’s all.”
“Yeah, right,” he said. “Who do you think you’re fooling? Not the guy who has known you since you were three years old. Something is up. Spit it out, Eva Rae.”
I sighed, then reached over and grabbed the folder between my hands. I stared at it for a few seconds, then opened it and showed him the first page, pointing at the name in the middle of it. He looked at it, then up at me, his eyes growing wide.
“You’re kidding me, right?”
I shook my head. “Nope. This is her name now. And she lives here in Florida, apparently.”
Chapter 5
The room they were being kept in was small and stuffy. The air felt moist and tight. Carina’s chest heaved up and down as she fought not to hyperventilate. Ava and Tara were still sleeping on their mattresses on the floor next to her. Carina felt dizzy as she had every time she woke up in the tight room with the massive concrete walls surrounding her.
She had lost her sense of time since there were no windows in their prison. But she remembered, still with great terror, when she had woken up after her prom night. She had been on a carpet, a beige carpet, she remembered. Her head had been pounding like crazy, and she felt disoriented. She had called for her mother, then spotted Ava, who had also woken up, lying next to her. Then, to her terror, she had realized she had something around her neck, a chain. Panicking, she had tried to pull it off and then started to scream.
A masked person had approached her, then slammed his fist into her face to make her shut up. It had worked. She had fallen backward and not regained her sight properly until she felt a pull on her chain so hard that she could do nothing but follow along, crawling on all fours. There had been a hallway of some sort and what else? Oh, yeah, a bookshelf. There had been a bookshelf that he unscrewed and removed. Then, the masked man had rolled the carpet away underneath, and a slab of concrete was revealed with a frame around it. The masked man attached a bar with a hook to the slab and began cranking it open. Carina watched, her eyes swimming, and trying to focus as a hole appeared beneath it. Then the masked person spoke.
“Get in.”
Carina had tried to focus on the hole and tried to keep her panic at bay, but now she couldn’t anymore. She screamed again with the result that he hit her again, then kicked her in the stomach.
“GET IN!”
Whimpering, Carina climbed down into the hole, and soon the man followed her into the darkness. They walked through a small tunnel that led to a tiny door leading to a room the size of a closet with three mattresses on the floor.
The man pulled her by the chain and attached it to a metal bar inside so tight that she couldn’t reach the door if she tried. She could get up and walk to the corner, where he had left a bucket for them to pee in and another one with some sort of kibble for them to eat and a bowl of water for them to drink from like animals. The first couple of days, Carina had refused to eat and drink, but then realized that, if she wanted to survive, she had to do what the others did. She had to become the animal this kidnapper treated them like. Still wearing the remains of her ocean blue mermaid dress, she crawled on all fours till she reached the bowl of water and drank greedily before the others woke up, her chain clanking against the metal bar on the wall when she moved. The bowl was changed once a day, so whoever came to it first got the clean and cold water. One day, Ava had mixed up the two buckets and peed on their food instead of in the toilet bucket. For that, she received a beating by the masked man that left her unconscious for two hours.
Now, as Carina was watching the two of them sleep, eating as much as she could before they woke up, she started wondering how long they had been down in that hole. Her nails were growing long, and her teeth were so sticky she could carve stuff off them with her fingernail. Not to mention the bad smell coming from their unwashed bodies. But as much as she would like to know how long she had been there, another question was beginning to press on her, one even more urgent than the first.
How long did he intend to keep them down there, and what would happen to them when he grew bored with them?
Chapter 6
The pizza arrived, and I went to get it, then yelled at the kids to come down and eat. As I returned to Matt in the kitchen, he still wouldn’t let it go.
“But this is huge, Eva Rae. This is massive; don’t you think?”
“I don’t know,” I said dismissively while putting the pizza down. It smelled heavenly, and I grabbed a piece directly from the box. Matt looked into the file again and shook his head, then pointed at the picture of my sister.
“I can’t believe it. Kelly Stone is your sister? As in Kelly Stone, the actress? She’s like famous, like really famous as in Hollywood famous.”
“I guess she always seemed kind of familiar,” I said. “I watched her in that movie The Highway and the one about that time traveler guy.”
Matt lifted his eyes and glared at me. “So, what’s your problem? Why aren’t you ecstatic?
“Because…” I said, and put the pizza down. “First of all, I’m still processing all this, okay? Secondly, I’m disappointed; that’s all. Because I can never go visit her.”
“Why not?”
“You don’t just walk up to some famous Hollywood actress and
go hey, by the way, I’m your sister. Do you remember that you were once kidnapped in a Wal-Mart?”
“Sure, you can,” Matt said. “It would be shocking to anyone; why is it harder just because she’s famous?”
I shrugged, then heard the children’s steps on the stairs and signaled for Matt to keep quiet.
“PIZZA!” Alex exclaimed loudly as always.
“With lots of meat on it,” I smiled and handed him a piece.
Alex’s eyes gleamed as he looked up at me. “I won’t tell Grandma; don’t worry,” he said and stormed to the table and sat down in a chair.
“Really, Mom? You’re teaching him how to lie now?” Christine said as I handed her a piece.
I smiled wryly. “Eat your food.”
“Meat, Mom?” Olivia said as she approached me, earbuds still in. I could hear the music blasting loudly from them as she pulled one out. “Really? I was kind of getting used to being vegan.”
I stared at my daughter. “You’re kidding me, right? You used to hate your grandma’s cooking.”
“Who hates Grandma’s cooking?” a voice asked from the doorway. I turned to see my mother standing there, car keys in her hand, her purse over her shoulder.
Shoot!
Her smile was frozen as her eyes landed on the pizza, then on Alex’s greasy face, strings of cheese hanging from his chin.
“So…I take it you’re having a pizza party, huh? I’m sorry if my food is so terrible that you feel like you have to celebrate when I’m out.”
I felt like crawling into a hole. She was hurt.
“Mom, I…I…”
“Save it, Eva Rae,” she said. “I’ve had a long day. I’m going to bed.”
She turned around and was about to walk away when Matt yelled across the room.
“I tried your vegan meatloaf, Mrs. Thomas, and it was really good.”
I shot him a look. Was he seriously kissing up to my mother?
He shrugged. “What? It’s true.”
My mom looked tiredly at us. “That’s wonderful, Matt. I’m going to bed.”
“Mom…I…”
But it was too late. She had left. I felt awful. My mom had been so nice to cook for us every night and, no, it wasn’t all terrible; some of it was quite good, actually. But I guess I hadn’t really shown my appreciation to her. Fact was, I loved having her at the house, at least most of the time when she didn’t criticize me. And it was good for the kids. I was finally close to her again and catching up for all the years we had lost. The last thing I wanted was for her to be hurt. She’d been through so much already. As we all had. And I felt like I was hurting her feelings constantly.
Was I doing it deliberately? To punish her for ignoring me all of my childhood? Because there still was so much unsaid between us?
I felt ashamed.
I drank my wine when Matt came up to me, handing me Rhonda’s yellow folder.
“Maybe this could cheer her up, huh?” he said. “A little mother-daughter project?”
I stared into his eyes, then leaned over and kissed him. “You’re kidding me, right?”
“Not at all. I think this could be good for both of you.”
“I just…I don’t feel like it’s the right time now. I don’t know if I’m ready yet.”
“There will never be a perfect time to do anything like this. Think about it,” he said and kissed me back, the kids making disgusted sounds behind us.
“Get a room; will you?” Olivia said and pretended to be gagging.
“Yeah, and a car,” Alex said, imitating his sister.
I ignored them and laughed. It had taken them a little time to get used to their mom dating again, but after that, they had all been so nice to welcome Matt into our lives, and I knew they liked him, especially Alex, who always asked him to play with his firetrucks with him, and who loved anything with sirens and blinking lights. He had come around on the day Matt took him for a drive in his police cruiser. After that, there was no turning back for the two of them. Sometimes, I felt that Matt wished that his own son, Elijah, was more like Alex and that he enjoyed hanging out with him a lot more than with his own son, which was incredibly sad. I wanted Matt to have that connection with his own son that I felt with my children even though I was gone for a lot of the time when they were growing up. Their trust in me was slowly returning, and now my only regret was all the moments I had missed with them. I was hoping to be able to make new memories with them that we could cherish for the rest of our lives
I glanced at the folder in my hand, realizing that my priorities had changed drastically. I was all about family now, and that also included my sister, famous or not.
Chapter 7
“Where are we going, Eva Rae? Can’t you tell me?”
I looked briefly at my mom, then shook my head. We were sitting in my minivan, the sun baking in through the windows, the AC cranked on high and Bruno Mars playing on the radio. It was a gorgeous day out, one of many when living in Florida, and surfers were crossing the roads, riding skateboards while carrying their surfboards under their arms. Beachgoers and snowbirds were carrying their gear, eyes gleaming at the thought of spending an entire day in the white sand.
“I’m not going to tell you, Mom. It’s supposed to be a surprise,” I said. My voice was trembling slightly in anticipation and nervousness, but I hoped she wouldn’t hear it.
My mom snorted and corrected her skirt. “You know I don’t like surprises, Eva Rae.”
I had been awake almost all night, thinking this through, and by the time the sun rose above the neighbor’s house across the canal, I had made my decision. Today was Saturday, so I had the entire day to do this. Matt was right; the right time would never come if I thought about it too much. I would always come up with an excuse to postpone it, and then I’d never know. If I wanted to face this woman whom I believed was my sister, I had to do it. I had to throw myself into it without any safety net.
“Why can’t you tell me where we’re going,” my mom said after a short break and a deep annoyed sigh. We had left Cocoa Beach and driven past the Patrick Air Force Base on our way to Melbourne Beach, where Kelly Stone lived. Matt had told me that it had been in all the papers when she had bought the house a couple of years ago and it was very close to where the rapper Vanilla Ice had bought his house a few years earlier and had it remodeled during his TV show, The Vanilla Ice Project.
“Because I don’t want to ruin the surprise,” I said. “And, because if I told you, then you would never have come with me.”
My mom snorted again. “That’s not very reassuring, Eva Rae. You’re not selling this very well.”
I exhaled, trying to choke the butterflies in my stomach. I feared that I was making a mistake and contemplated turning around for a few seconds but then decided against it. This could end in disaster, yes, but it could also not. It could also end well.
I glanced nervously at my mother, then felt my heart sink. A gazillion thoughts rushed through my mind in this instant. It had been thirty-six years. Would we recognize her? Would she recognize us? What was she like?
My mom looked at her watch. “How far are we going? Did you remember to bring water? It’s hot out. I don’t want to dehydrate. How about sunscreen? And bug spray, did you bring that? If we’re going to be outdoors, then I’ll need that. You know how I swell up.”
“You won’t need that where we’re going, Mom. And yes, I brought a couple of bottles of water in my purse. You won’t dehydrate. Besides, we’re almost there.”
“Where? There’s nothing much out here?”
My GPS told me we had arrived, and I drove up in front of a gate.
“What is this place, Eva Rae? What are we doing here?” my mom asked. “What have you planned? I have a feeling I’m not going to like it.”
I sighed and looked at her, then grabbed her hand in mine. She winced nervously.
“What is this, Eva Rae? You’re scaring me.”
“Mom. Sweet, dear, Mom. You asked what
my plan was? To be honest, I have no idea. I don’t think I’ve really thought this through.”
My mom shook her head, her eyes scrutinizing me. “What are you talking about? Why are you being like this? What are we doing here, Eva Rae? What’s going on? Won’t you—for the love of God—just tell me?”
I swallowed. I hadn’t really decided when to tell her and thought I could wing it, but now that we were there, in front of her house, ready to ring the intercom, I wasn’t sure I could. How would she react?
“Mom…I…”
“What is this place?” my mom asked, looking out the windshield. Behind the wall, the treetops, and the lion statues towered a mansion. “Whose house is this?”
“It’s…It belongs to Kelly Stone; you know the actress?”
“I know who she is. But why are we here?”
“Well, the thing is…I called her assistant earlier this morning and told her we were gathering sponsors for a charity surf event for orphaned children and that all the money will go to prevent human trafficking of children. She’s agreed to meet with us and talk about it.”
My mom gave me a look. “Why? Why would you say such a thing? I don’t understand anything you’re saying right now. Have you completely lost your mind, Eva Rae Thomas?”
I shrugged. “Maybe, but it was the only way I thought I could get her to meet with us. She doesn’t like reporters and hasn’t done an interview in years. She likes to keep private, so it’s not easy to get to her.”
“But why? Why do you want to get to her in the first place?”
I grabbed the folder from the back seat and held it between my hands for a few minutes. What would happen if I told my mother the truth?
“Kidnapped children are an area close to her heart,” I said. “She’s donated millions to help human trafficking over the years and helped build shelters for homeless children, so they don’t have to sleep in the streets, where they can easily be kidnapped.”
“Kidnapped children, but…what…why, why are you…lying to her like that?”
