by Willow Rose
“I missed you, Mommy,” he said. “Where were you?”
“Yeah, Mom, where have you been?” Olivia asked.
I sat down in my seat, while my mom got me some food and handed me the plate. I stared at the green stuff, then wondered if there was such a thing as a kale-allergy and whether my mom would believe me if I said I suffered from it.
“I’m helping Matt on the case,” I said. “They need me. And, frankly, after finding Molly out there…in our backyard, I feel obligated to help. Melissa is, after all, my best friend.”
“There was an EXPLOSION downtown,” Alex exclaimed very loudly, yelling the word out. “Were you there, Mommy? Was there a FIRE? And firetrucks, huh?”
“Please, use your inside voice, Alex,” my mom said.
I smiled at him. “Alex is correct. There was a truck that exploded right in front of city hall today. And, yes, I was there, and yes, there was fire and firetrucks and firefighters who put the fire out.”
Olivia stared at me with big eyes. “I heard about it at school. We were on lockdown for hours. Then they told us all to go out on the football field while dogs searched the school. They say it was a bomb; is that true?”
“I heard someone was hurt,” Christine said.
I took a deep breath, then nodded, sticking my fork into the green mass on my plate, dreaming about it being pizza or steak.
I might as well tell the kids the truth, I thought. They’ll only hear rumors from their friends, and that will be worse.
“You’re all correct. It looks like there might have been a bomb placed in that truck and someone did get hurt. An officer. One of our colleagues and Matt’s friend.”
Olivia gave me a look of concern. I knew that look a little too well. All my children had it right now, even Alex.
“I’m going to be fine,” I said. “I was nowhere near the truck when it exploded. I don’t want you to worry about me; do you hear me? I’m being very careful.”
“Now, enough with the long faces,” my mom said. “Eat your dinner before it gets cold.”
We ate in silence, and it was nagging at me. The last thing I wanted was for my children to have to worry about their mother too. They had enough concerns in their lives as it was. This wasn’t good for them. I hated the fact that they had seen Molly hanging in that swing set and knew so much about what was going on.
After dinner, I cleaned up while my mom went to the living room to relax. She turned on the TV and watched the news until Alex came and sat with her and she turned it onto Peppa Pig instead.
Christine and Olivia helped me clean up and, as I was loading the dishwasher, Christine came up to me.
“What did Dad say?”
“Dad? About what?”
I looked at her a little confused; then I remembered.
Oh, shoot. I was supposed to have called him! I promised her.
“You didn’t call him; did you?” she said disappointedly. “I should have known.”
Christine started to walk away. I stared after her, wondering what I could say or do, but nothing came to mind. Instead, I grabbed my phone and walked out on the back porch, then called him. It was dark out, and I could hear fish jumping in the canal. They did that a lot, especially as it got warmer. No one really knew why, but some people said they were catching bugs; others said they were running away from bigger fish like dolphins or sharks. I had never seen a shark in my canal, but there were plenty of dolphins.
“Chad, it’s me.”
“Eva Rae?” he said, surprised. “What’s wrong? Is something up with the kids?”
“The kids, well…actually, yes, something is wrong. They miss you, Chad. They miss their dad, and you don’t seem ever to have time for them anymore. They’re asking when they’re going to visit you again.”
I knew I was putting it on a little thick since, technically, I was the one who was pressing for this to happen, but I sensed it was the only way to Chad’s heart.
“Visit? Ah, well…It’s just there’s a lot right now. I’ve recently started a new job at a new insurance company, and I no longer work from home, so it’s a little difficult to find the time, right now at least…I mean, as soon as things settle down a little, I’m sure…”
I sighed. “What the heck is going on, Chad? You used to be all about the children.”
“I just…It’s hard to find the time right now. I’m sure it’ll get better when…”
“Don’t give me that,” I said. “This is not you, Chad. After fifteen years of marriage, you don’t think I know you? This is not you. This is her; isn’t it? She’s the one who doesn’t want them there; am I right?”
He exhaled, and I knew then that I was right. Tears sprang to my eyes. My poor babies. They had to know by now; didn’t they? They had to have realized by now that their dad had chosen his new girlfriend over them. That was why they didn’t ask to go. It wasn’t that they didn’t miss their dad. They sensed he didn’t want them there.
“It’s just…well, three children are a little much. I can’t blame her. We only live in a condo and don’t have space for them. It gets very crowded when they’re here, and it’s a little too much for her.”
I closed my eyes and bit my lip. I wanted to yell at him so badly but had to restrain myself.
“So, what are you saying, Chad? You can’t see your children because they take up too much space; is that it?”
“No, no, of course not. Darn it, Eva Rae, you know how much I love them.”
“Then why won’t you see them? Why can’t you make room to be with your own children, Chad? Explain this to me because I simply don’t understand it. I don’t even know who you are anymore.”
“We’re trying to figure it out, okay?” he said, annoyed. “I’ll make it work somehow. I miss them too, okay? But it’s…well, it’s not that easy.”
“I really want to believe you, Chad; I really do, but you’re making it hard. You’ve got to find a way to spend time with your children. You’re breaking their hearts. I see it in their eyes. You’re not with them every day; you don’t see the hurt in them like I do. You can’t do this to them. I won’t let you.”
“You won’t let me? What’s that supposed to mean?” he said, suddenly sounding like I had offended him. “You’re no better yourself, you know? Do I have to mention how little you were home when they were younger? Who took care of all the tantrums, all the homework, all the laundry, all the crying when tucking them in at night, huh? You’re no saint in that area either. Don’t you tell me how to be a good father when you’ve only been a mother for like ten minutes of their lives.”
Ouch.
“I know I’m not…” I started but realized that the line had gone dead. Chad had hung up on me. Startled at this, I sat down on the porch swing, tears escaping my eyes. Inside, I could hear Alex scream something at one of his sisters, and soon someone was crying. I leaned back, closing my eyes for just a second before the door opened and Olivia peeked her head out.
“Mom? Alex pulled Christine’s hair. I think you better come.”
I swallowed the knot of tears stuck in my throat and nodded.
“I’ll be right there, baby. Just give me a sec; will you?”
Chapter 35
She was sitting on the porch swing underneath the porch light. Boomer couldn’t stop staring at her. She looked tired and sad, yet so vulnerable and beautiful.
He liked to watch her and did it a lot. Earlier in the day, he had been in the crowd downtown watching too. He had seen the officer walk into the truck right when it blew up. People around him had screamed and run for cover when it happened. Boomer had watched when Eva Rae Thomas had arrived in the cruiser with her partner, the guy she was also dating, Matt Miller. Covered by the crowd on the corner in front of Heidi’s Jazz Club, he had watched her closely until a police officer had told them to get out of there, that it was too dangerous for them to stand so close.
Boomer had moved away, still covered by the crowd. He had continued down A1A until he
reached Juice N’ Java, where he had bought himself a coffee and chatted briefly with the woman behind the counter whose name was Deborah about the horrifying blast they had heard.
“We all ran out there, but our boss told us to get back inside,” she said, slightly excited but trying to hide it. “A car exploded, someone told me afterward. Something like that. Did you hear it too?”
“I sure did,” Boomer said and paid with cash, making sure not to leave a trail.
“I guess everyone did,” Deborah replied. “Good thing it was all the way down there and not right here that it happened. Must have been something wrong with that car or somethin’, to go up in flames like that, causing an explosion. The cash register shook and everything. People were screaming in here. For a moment, I feared it was terrorists or something like you hear about in Europe and those places in the Middle East. Terrible world we live in. But Marty in the kitchen said it was just an accident. His brother is a cop, and he texted him and asked.”
“Good thing it wasn’t anything worse,” Boomer said and received his coffee.
He tipped Deborah extra before returning to watch the scene from a distance. A news chopper was lingering in the air above the intersection, and reporter vans had arrived. Styled women in short skirts and high heels were elbowing their way up the career ladder and doing live reporting from the scene. The police had blocked off the entire intersection and big portions of A1A, while dogs sniffed the trash cans and drains. People around him were shocked and talking with fear in their voices, yet not afraid enough to not want to have a look for themselves.
When Eva Rae Thomas had walked back into the police station, it wasn’t fun anymore, and he had decided to leave. He knew it wouldn’t take long before the police would start questioning the spectators and looking for anyone who stood out, knowing that criminals often returned to the scene of the crime to watch their work.
Boomer had rushed up through the town and taken his pick-up truck, which he had parked behind the Chinese restaurant Yen Yen. He drove to Cape Canaveral, then walked down to the beach, where he sat in the white sand, looking at the pictures he had taken with his phone, pictures right during and after the bomb went off. He kept staring at the pictures, going through them again and again, his heart beating faster each time. Then he opened and looked at the ones he had taken of her, zooming in as much as he could on her face as she received the news from the chief of police. One of her colleagues had gotten hurt. One she cared about.
It hurts; doesn’t it?
Boomer then opened the app he was using to trace her phone. He had been surprised that she had accepted him when he had asked for her friendship in the app, using a fake profile with the name of one of her old friends. He figured she had seen no harm in accepting this friendship, thinking it was someone she knew. It was almost too easy. And now he could follow her everywhere she went, constantly staying one step ahead.
Now, as she rose to her feet to walk back inside, as soon as the door slammed shut, Boomer started up the small boat and chugged away, cruising down the canal. He docked the boat further down in his usual spot by the ramp, then grabbed all his fishing stuff and put it in the pick-up truck and drove it home, listening to Taylor Swift on the radio. As he walked into the house after putting his stuff in the garage, he looked at himself briefly in the mirror in the hallway, then ran a hand through his hair and smelled his sweaty armpit before yelling:
“Honey! I’m home!”
Chapter 36
“We found the guy who wrote to Molly, the one who claimed to be a photographer.”
Matt was at my door the next morning, looking like he hadn’t slept at all.
“Come on in,” I said. “I have coffee.”
“Sounds heavenly,” he said and walked inside with me. We entered the kitchen just as Alex turned his spoon with milk and cheerios at his sister and was about to sling it at her.
“ALEX!”
He stopped and turned to look at me, spoon still balancing in his hand.
“Don’t you dare do that,” I said. “Are you kidding me?”
“But she started it,” he whined, letting the spoon fall into the milk. “She’s me-an.”
“Am not,” Christine said.
Alex answered by sticking his tongue out.
“That’s it,” I said. “Both of you go upstairs and brush your teeth. Bus will be here any minute. GO!”
“You’re so unfair, Mom,” Alex said, then ran up the stairs, Christine right behind him, rolling her eyes at me.
I turned to look at Matt, then smiled.
“Coffee?”
He nodded, startled, then sat on a stool, wiping away a few lost cheerios from the counter.
“What was that all about?”
“That? I don’t know. The usual, I guess,” I said and poured him a cup. “Who knows what they fight about? I’m not sure they even do anymore.”
I poured myself another cup. It was my third this morning. I hadn’t slept much myself either and felt the exhaustion in every bone of my body.
“Does it frighten you?” I asked and nodded toward the stairs. “Seeing this?”
He shrugged. “I’m just not used to all this conflict, I guess. But that’s probably what makes it so hard with Elijah, you know? Me trying constantly to avoid conflict.”
“Ah, yes, conflict comes with the job, and a lot of it. You just can’t let it get to you. They can hate you at one second, then turn around and love you dearly the next.”
Matt sighed. “I’m afraid he hates me pretty much all of the time.”
I put my hand on top of his, then leaned over and kissed him. “It’ll get better. I promise,” I said as our lips parted. “Now, what was that about you finding the guy who contacted Molly?”
Matt nodded. “Computer Forensics has her laptop, and they found him easily. He wrote messages to her on the social media app called Amino. They managed to pull the entire conversation.”
“Never heard of it,” I said. “I feel like every time I just learn about social media, another one pops up, and I’m lost again.”
“I know,” he said. “Our parents had it easy.”
Our eyes met, and he immediately regretted his remark.
“Well, my parents had it easy,” he said. “Anyway, this is like a social media platform for art lovers, so it seems very safe, but in reality, it’s just like all the others. You post pictures of yourself and creeps find you. Molly was no different, she posted many artistic self-portraits as her art, and he saw the photos and thought she was beautiful enough to become a model. This guy has been writing to Molly for several months, and I guess that was why she chose to trust him. I can’t blame her. When you read their conversation, he comes off as extremely nice. He’s not even trying to push her into it. He cautiously warned her about bad seeds in the business and seems to know what he’s talking about. Like he gave her all these references, numbers she could call if her parents wanted to check up on him, he said. Numbers that were fake, naturally. He even told her she could bring her parents if she wished or a friend. He didn’t want her to think he was some creep that wanted to exploit her. She ended up being the one pushing for him to help her because she wanted this so badly. He kept telling her she should talk to her parents about it and said that he didn’t want her to do the photos without her parents knowing about it.”
“Yet, she did it anyway. He probably knew she would. He’s clever, this one,” I said and sipped my coffee. “Using reverse psychology. Making her think it was her idea and not his.”
“Exactly,” Matt said.
“So, when can we talk to this guy?” I asked.
Matt smiled. “How about right now?” He pulled a note out from his pocket with an address on it. “Forensics gave me his address. It’s ten minutes away.”
“Let’s go,” I said and was about to grab my purse when I heard the school bus sigh outside my door and peeked out just in time to see it take off. I turned to look at Matt.
“Right aft
er I drive them to school.”
I heard my kids’ footsteps on the stairs. Olivia didn’t have classes till later but was awake now too, and I could hear the shower being turned on. She would ride her bike to school, so I didn’t need to worry about her, only the young ones.
“How about we all go in my police cruiser?” Matt asked.
Alex heard that and rushed down the stairs.
“YAAAY!”
“Really?” Christine asked less enthusiastically. “You want me to sit in the back seat like some criminal? Everyone will stare at us. They’ll all talk. I’m not doing it.”
“I will; I will,” Alex said, jumping up and down. He rushed to the front door while I sent Christine a reassuring smile.
“Nonsense, honey. It’ll be fun. I’m just gonna run upstairs real quick and tell Olivia we’re leaving, and then we’ll go. Go ahead and get in the car. I don’t want us to be late. Don’t be so grumpy, Christine.”
“I hate my life,” Christine said, moaning, then followed Matt reluctantly.
I knocked on the door to the bathroom, then yelled at Olivia that I was leaving and received an Okay for an answer. I rushed down the stairs, past my mom, who opened her mouth to say something, then I pecked her on the cheek before she could and stormed out to the driveway where Matt already had the engine fired up and music blasting out the windows. Alex stuck his head out the window, looking like he was about to explode with excitement while his sister hid her face behind her hands.
Chapter 37
“I thought you’d let me see a doctor? I’m not feeling well.”
Ava stared at the man wearing the surgical mask. He had entered the room where she had been kept for hours, alone. After taking her out of the room with the other girls, he had taken her into a bedroom and chained her to a pipe, then told her to lie on the bed, and then gagged her. It had been light out and then dark again before the light came once more, and the darkness came back while she had waited for him to take her to a doctor as she had asked. But he hadn’t shown his masked face at all. Now, the room she was in had gone dark. She had prepared herself for another night alone in the bed when the door had opened, and light had hit her face again. The man had flipped the switch by the door, and a lamp had turned on, almost blinding Ava.
