Discovery

by Char Webster

  “I’m waiting for some information from a contact,” Frank told him.

  “They can leave a message,” Brooks said with finality.

  Frank blanched but handed over his phone.

  Brooks pushed a button on his desk, and two men walked in. “Please assist Frank upstairs. He isn’t feeling well.” They took position on each side of Frank, when Brooks continued, “Oh, and make sure he isn’t disturbed.”

  The three men left Brooks’ office and Brooks sat back with a satisfied smile. Frank was just full of surprises. He had no idea that Frank had a child—that shocked him. Frank must have worked very hard to keep her a secret.

  Frank’s daughter was his greatest fear. He was petrified that someone would find out about her existence and use her against him. Frank also didn’t want her to be dragged into his world. How fitting. That was exactly what Brooks was going to do. Surprisingly, Frank’s daughter was also the one thing that he loved the most, so it would make Brooks’ plans for him even better.

  He picked up his phone and dialed.

  A voice answered on the first ring. “Yes?”

  “I have a job for you, Ray,” Brooks told him. “I need you to pick someone up for me tonight and bring her to me.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I don’t want her hurt,” Brooks said. “Yet. I will text you the details.”

  “I’ll get on it as soon as I get the information.”

  “I’ll see you tonight.”

  Brooks smiled. Frank wouldn’t be any trouble at all from now on. And Brooks had just found another gifted child for his collection.

  ~*~*~

  Kate pulled into her driveway and noticed that the backyard was lit up. She wondered immediately what was going on. One look toward the front passenger seat told her that Alex definitely had something to do with it. Alex had a half guilty, half happy look on her face.

  “What’s going on, Alex?” Kate asked.

  “What do you mean?” Alex replied, jumping out of the car.

  “Hey, come back here,” Kate called after her.

  “Zach?” Kate looked through the rearview mirror at Zach, who was unbuckling Maddy from her seat.

  “Don’t ask me. I wasn’t involved,” Zach said, not looking at Kate.

  “Involved in what?”

  “Nothing.”

  “It’s too late for that, Zach. You already slipped, so you should just go ahead and tell me.”

  “All I know is that it’s a surprise.”

  “Great,” Kate said, and they all went into the house.

  “We’ll take Maddy upstairs and get her ready for bed,” Alex told her.

  “You guys are in big trouble,” Kate muttered as she walked through the house and into the backyard.

  The back of the house was lit up, and someone had added little lights along the far side of the pool in the shrubs. The table with the big umbrella was filled with white lights, and there was something on the table.

  She walked over, and there was a tablet that was running through all sorts of photos. The photos seemed old, and she didn’t recognize any of the people in them. One photo appeared, and Kate stopped and stared. The girl in the photo looked to be around ten years old, and she could have been Kate’s twin from when she was that age.

  Suddenly, it hit Kate that she was looking at old photos of her birth parents and probably their family, which would make them her family. Did she have family out there somewhere? Would they want to meet her? Did she want to meet them? She had so many questions.

  Kate stayed glued to the screen, watching the people in the photos. They looked so happy. She saw her father playing soccer, just about to score a goal, and wearing his baseball uniform standing by second base. She saw her mother at the beach in big sunglasses and another photo of her sitting on her back porch reading a book. Kate paused the photo of her parents in formal attire, looking as if they were attending a prom.

  She discovered that she looked a lot like her mother, with the same color hair and shaped face. Their noses were also very much alike. Seeing a few photos of her father with unruly hair that fell forward on his forehead, Kate discovered where she got her curls. After all this time of wondering, she was finally seeing them.

  Watching the photos filter through for the third time, she noticed that there were a few other things on the table. There was a leather-bound journal that Kate picked up and began to flip through. Brightly colored bubble letters spelled out the name “Mandy” on the inside cover of the book, along with doodled flowers and hearts. The first page was decorated with more drawings of flowers and vines. She could tell right away that it was her mother’s journal from high school. She wondered if she should look at it, but her mother was gone, and this was one of the only ways Kate could get to know her.

  There was a pocket knife that was well worn with her father’s name engraved on it, and also a class ring from her father’s high school. The last item on the table was a charm bracelet. Seven little charms were on the bracelet, and Kate wondered if they had a special meaning. She examined each charm, holding them up to the light to see them more clearly. Kate was drawn to an angel that sparkled in the light and looked like it had some sort of gem stone on the wings. There was a soccer ball hanging next to it and Kate wondered if it represented her father since she did not see her mother in any sports photos.

  Kate paused to look at a tiny silver camera with a gem for the shutter. She wondered if her mother loved to take photos as much as she did. Kate had so many questions that would never be answered.

  As Kate began to tear up, she felt strong arms wrap around her. Nick held her as she struggled to get her emotions under control.

  “Thank you,” Kate said quietly after a few moments.

  “You’re welcome, Kate. I wanted you to have something from your parents.”

  “Where did you find all this stuff?” Kate asked, still feeling a little overwhelmed. How could she stay mad at him when he did something extraordinary like this?

  “There’s a storage area in the Association headquarters in Philly. Some of their stuff was in there from the investigation into their disappearance. It’s been so long since someone looked into their case, I figured I could borrow it . . . permanently,” Nick said. He tightened his hold on her for a second, then moved his hands up to cup her face and said, “Kate, I’m really sorry, and I want you to forgive me. I would never do anything to hurt you. Ever.” He was staring into her eyes, and she found it impossible to look anywhere but into his. They stayed staring at each other for long moments until Kate finally answered him.

  “You’re making it incredibly difficult for me to stay mad at you,” she acknowledged.

  “So am I forgiven?” his eyes were sparkling.

  “Almost.”

  “Almost? What does that mean?”

  “It means I have a lot of questions, and you have a lot of explaining to do.”

  “I can handle that,” Nick said with a smile.

  Kate took a step back, and Nick reluctantly released her.

  ~*~*~

  Frank paced his old room like a caged animal. He thought about throwing up his shield and making a run for it, but that would just make things worse. The two guards that had walked him up to the room had removed the phone from there before they left. They had also checked him for weapons and confiscated the knife that Frank was never without.

  He was sure there was someone outside his door now.

  He had to warn Melissa, his girlfriend and mother to his daughter Kali, but he had no idea how to do that. He couldn’t believe Brooks would do this to him, after all these years of loyalty and devotion. He had done everything for Brooks and now the man was going after his daughter.

  Kali didn’t know anything of Frank’s world with Brooks, and he had wanted it to stay that way. At only eight, she was still so innocent and trusting. She had no idea that there were people who would do the things that Frank had done.

  Brooks had gone too far this time a
nd had crossed the one line that Frank would never forget. He would do whatever he had to do to keep his daughter safe, but as soon as he could, he would take his girls and leave. He would find somewhere to hide and keep them safe.

  Frank didn’t want to even think about Brooks hurting Kali. If she was hurt in any way, Brooks would pay for it one hundred times over.

  ~*~*~

  Sheila was moved to the psych ward in the hospital because no one could get her to stop screaming. She screamed non-stop for over an hour about things crawling on her. Since it was the middle of the night, the doctors sedated her and moved her to a private room. They thought about restraining her because she kept scratching at her arms, legs, and face. She had red blood marks all over her body.

  The doctors called Detective Martin as soon as she had begun screaming.

  “Was there anyone in her room when she woke up?” the detective asked the nurse on duty.

  “We didn’t see anyone in her room. The nurse assigned to the room had gone home for the night, but she had just finished her rounds and reported that Sheila was sleeping peacefully.”

  “I will need to talk to her.”

  “Of course. She’ll be back on tomorrow afternoon. You can speak with her then.”

  “Thanks. Then what happened?”

  “She started to scream so loudly that it sounded like she was being murdered. Two of us ran into the room, and she was thrashing about, scratching all over her body. She was screaming at us to help her get them off.”

  “Get them off?” he asked.

  “Yeah, we figured out that she thought she had bugs all over her and that no matter how much she tried to get them off, more would come. We finally had to sedate her. We moved her to a different ward for everyone’s protection. She’ll be evaluated tomorrow morning.”

  “Is this a common thing to happen after suffering a trauma like she did?”

  “No, it’s not. Memory loss, maybe even a slight fear of strangers or someone who looks like her attacker, but not this.”

  “What could cause this?” he asked.

  “We don’t know yet. We’ll do some tests tomorrow,” the nurse replied.

  “Do you mind if I look around her room before I go?”

  “We already moved her and cleaned up her area. There isn’t anything of hers there anymore.”

  “Okay, thanks,” he told her.

  Something about this whole situation hadn’t felt right to him. His lieutenant had asked him why he was bothering with this case when it should have been a simple domestic and basically told him to move on to something else. To the detective, nothing with this case seemed right.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Nick was thrilled that Kate wasn’t going to hold a grudge. She seemed to love her parents’ things that he had collected and brought for her. He had stayed back and watched her gaze at the photos, as they flipped from one to the next. Her eyes had been glued to the screen.

  The other items were some of the personal effects left in the apartment where Jim and Amanda had been hiding before they were caught. The rest of their belongings had been sent to relatives in other states. He didn’t check to see if any of their relatives were still around. That was something Kate would have to decide, if she wanted to meet them or not.

  When she picked up the charm bracelet, he couldn’t stop himself from pulling her into his arms. She looked so vulnerable, and he had wanted to give her some of his strength. He seemed to be creating reasons and excuses to pull her into his arms lately.

  When Kate regained her composure, he reluctantly let her go, but he had stayed close by. Kate took one last look at the scrolling photos and turned back toward Nick. “I’m going to go tuck Maddy in for the night.” She paused and said, “Do you want to come?”

  He was really surprised she had included him in Maddy’s bedtime routine. He looked into her eyes and smiled, “I would love to.”

  They walked back to the house together, so close that they were almost touching but weren’t. He wanted to reach out and grab her hand, but he held himself back. He couldn’t keep this up. He knew what the rules were, and so far, he kept ignoring them when it came to her.

  He watched her look over at him a few times and smiled. It would be so easy to just sweep her up in his arms and kiss her like he had been fanaticizing about since their last kiss. He really was losing it.

  They reached the top of the steps and noticed that all three kids were in Maddy’s room. Maddy was carrying a big pile of books over to Alex, who just laughed.

  “More books, Lex,” Maddy told her with a smile.

  “No way, Mads. I just read you six books, and Zach read you two,” Alex told her.

  Maddy smiled up at Alex and said, “Please.”

  Nick decided to intercede. “Hi, guys. How are you?”

  “Uncle Bud!” Zach gave him a high five.

  Alex gave him a hug and whispered, “How did it go?” Nick winked at her, and she got a huge smile.

  Kate went over and scooped up Maddy. “You are a little cutie.” She kissed her on the head.

  “So she was conning you guys, huh?” Kate asked.

  Zach and Alex nodded.

  “Time for bed, little one,” Kate told Maddy as she settled her into bed. Nick gave her a big kiss on the forehead, and Maddy hugged him tightly around the neck.

  “Good night, Maddy,” Kate told her as she turned out the light and chased the other two kids out of the room.

  “Sweet dreams,” Nick told her and blew her a kiss. Maddy giggled.

  “Night!” she called to them.

  Alex and Zach were waiting in the hallway for Kate and Nick.

  “I guess you didn’t really want s’mores, then?” Kate asked.

  Zach had been leaning against the wall when they passed by. He stood up straight at once, ready to go down the steps. “Oh, we’re going to make them now. We were just waiting for you to make up with Uncle Bud.”

  Alex’s eye became big, and Nick winced.

  “Really?” Kate said sarcastically.

  “Yeah, so now Eric and Emily are going to come over so we can make s’mores at the fire pit.”

  Alex looked at Zach and rolled her eyes. “You have such a big mouth.”

  “Alex, I already figured it out that you guys were co-conspirators in this,” Kate told her.

  Alex looked sheepish but then shrugged and said, “Well, it worked,” and bounded down the stairs with Zach close behind.

  Kate arched her brows at Nick, but he adopted a very innocent look and pretended not to have any idea what Alex was talking about.

  Kate went out to get her parents’ things from the table by the pool and Nick went to open a bottle of wine. He had two glasses poured by the time she came back to the family room.

  “The kids are having fun with the s’mores. Maybe we should get one,” Kate told him.

  “Maybe later.” Nick handed her a glass and settled on the couch in the middle, forcing her to sit closely beside him. He took her hand and held it, playing with her fingers. “You said you had some questions.” She loved the feel of the energy that seemed to flow through them each time they had touched.

  “I have a lot of them,” Kate sighed, and looked down at their hands. She liked how his hand felt in hers. “It seems like I keep discovering more and more questions and not so many answers.”

  “Well, let’s fix that. What do you want to know?” Nick tugged her hand until she was leaning against him. She didn’t move away, and he liked that.

  “How do you block your thoughts and emotions from me?” she asked. It would be so much better if he didn’t know what she was thinking all the time.

  “But, I like to know what you’re thinking,” Nick complained.

  Kate dropped his hand and sat back in the corner of the sofa. She shot him a look and he said, “Okay,” with an exaggerated sigh.

  “How can I do that?” Kate asked.

  “In the beginning, you need to concentrate, but then it will
just come naturally. Think of your emotions and thoughts as free-flowing that you have to contain in a box or a jar or something, where they are just for you and no one else. You want to close the lid or seal it in some way. Give it a try and I’ll tell you if I can hear you.”

  Nick noticed that when Kate concentrated she wrinkled her forehead and bit her bottom lip. He thought it was adorable. “How do I know if it’s working?” Kate asked.

  “Think of something right now and I’ll see if I can hear it,” Nick said with a smile. “You are thinking that I am full of crap. So, no, it’s not working,” he laughed.

  “Hmmph, what am I doing wrong?” Kate asked, clearly frustrated.

  “What are you using as your container?” Nick asked her.

  “I’m using a box.”

  “Maybe that doesn’t seal enough. Try a plastic container with a vacuum seal.”

  She rolled her eyes but tried it again. “Can you hear what I’m thinking now?”

  “Great job, Kate! I can’t hear any thoughts coming from you,” Nick told her. “What were you thinking?”

  “I was thinking that a container would not make a difference but apparently I was wrong,” Kate answered. “What do you use?”

  “I think of a bottle with a cork,” Nick told her.

  “Why didn’t you just tell me to use that? It would have been a lot easier.”

  “They usually teach people to use a box or container.”

  “So why do you use something different?” she asked.

  “When I was little, I watched a movie where kids put a message in a bottle and tossed it into the ocean. I always wanted to do that, and when my brother took me to the beach, he brought a wine bottle for me to use. I always thought it was cool that he remembered that I wanted to do that,” Nick explained.

  “He sounds like a great guy.”

  “He was a great man. He loved those kids, and he was a wonderful doctor. Everyone liked to be around him,” Nick told her, becoming a little lost in his thoughts.