“Don’t look so surprised to see me,” Del smiled taking a seat in the chair opposite Brito and leaning back onto the back two feet.
“Wha...what are you doing here? You’re not a Fed,” the man stammered.
“Thank God for small favors. Actually, I was just wondering about a few things, since you seem to have the town so well in hand and all. Seems like this town is a black hole or something. Awful lots of girls go missing around here,” she said opening a file and showing him a list. “You remember all these? You organized the searches.”
He didn’t even reach for the list. “I tried to find those girls...I don’t know where they ended up exactly.”
“Oh, I believe you there. What I really want to know is why every time one goes missing, you get a nice big chunk of change from the Kingsleys?” she asked, leaning back in the chair once again.
“Regina Kingsley is a loyal supporter to my re-election campaign, and she often donates her spare change,” he licked his bottom lip as he wiped his hands on his pants.
“You know, that’s a pretty good cover, except you aren’t the only one in town getting her spare change. Now tell me the real reason she’s paying you. What does she have on you Chief?” Del asked, leaning forward on her left arm.
Shaking his head, the man stuttered nervously, “I can’t tell you...they will kill me.”
“Listen, you think they aren’t already planning to get rid of you? You’ve been taken in by the Feds, man. I wouldn’t be putting it past them to have a backup. Now, tell me why they keep paying you,” Del asked sharply.
Kasey crossed her arms over her chest, face set in a scowl. “Look, as much as I would like to leave you to your fate, the Bureau is offering protection in exchange for what you know. Give us something and we might work something out.”
“The Kingsleys own the town. When Arthur Senior was here, everything was cool. He didn’t throw his weight around at all, but once he left, Regina did everything that she could to make sure that we all knew that she held our livelihood in her hands. She came up with the idea of selling young girls overseas as slaves. Somehow, she got in touch with someone and things began to snowball from there,” he seemed to be glad to get all of this off his chest. The money was great, but he was having nightmares on what he had done.
“I know that already Chief. What I want to know is why. While you’re at it, you can tell me where you take the girls.” The blonde pressed, reaching up to rub where the strap of her holster sat on her bad arm.
Finally really looking at the blonde, Brito noticed the gash on her head and the way that she was favoring her right arm. “Looks like that maybe you pissed off the wrong person. What happened? Someone make a move on your witchy lover and she decided that they were better in the sack than you were? If you want, I can tell you what she really likes.”
Del rounded the table so fast the other three in the room hardly had time to process it. In seconds, she’d kicked the chair out from under the still handcuffed Chief, one booted foot resting square on his chest. “I know you had something to do with that attack on her. How else would the townies know her involvement with me? Now you’re going to tell me what I want to know, or I’m going to see to it that you get fed to the Kingsleys, with a little note telling them everything you’ve told me so far. You play nice, and I might let Spaulding and Ryerson here take you to a nice safe cell instead.”
“Struck a nerve, didn’t I...Raelin is a great piece of ass. It’s too bad she decided to waste it on you. I bet I could have made her moan so loud. Come to think of it, we could get a pretty penny for someone like her.” Brito stayed on the floor, taunting the blonde.
“Oh, you are a piece of work, aren’t you? You are in no position to taunt me.” Grinning sweetly, she slid her foot down so it sat over the zipper of his slacks. “Now, tell me who’s in charge of collecting the girls,” she growled, pressing her foot down slightly.
Ryerson winced and was about to step forward to pull the blonde off when he caught Kasey’s eye. Seeing her shake her head slightly, he remained where he was. This was her investigation now after all.
When the Chief remained silent leering up at her, she pressed down a little harder. “Come now, you don’t want me to bring Raelin down here to talk to you. Remember what happened last time she cornered you in a room? Must have been awfully embarrassing going home for that change of pants.”
“N...no, no. I’ll tell you. The Reverend finds the girls at his revivals and a couple of men that Regina hired, follows them for a little bit before taking them. There’s a fish camp about eight miles out of town that they are kept at until they have enough for a shipment. When they do, their taken by boat to a pick-up point with a larger boat and the Kingsleys get paid.” The man remembered the power the witch had demonstrated the other night and he paled even as he was wetting himself.
Del grimaced and lifted her foot, wiping it across the Chief’s stomach before leaning back against the table. “That’s a good boy. See? Wasn’t so hard, was it? Now, who are the ones that follow them? The same men who you sent to attack Raelin?”
Trying to hide his shame, he nodded his head. “Yeah, usually them. They’re mean mothers. They really enjoyed hurting Raelin too. You had better keep an eye on her. They may take her just for the hell of it.”
“Don’t worry your thick head about Raelin. She can handle herself, remember? Now, who’s idea was it to take Jenny and why?” Del asked evenly, but making sure to note the warnings.
Brito shook his head. “No one’s...I didn’t know that they even had her until a couple of days later. Mack told me that she came across them taking a couple of campers that they came across and they couldn’t take the chance that she wouldn’t talk. I had to agree with them and just told them to keep her. I didn’t know that she got away until you came to town and I checked up on them.”
“Did the Kingsleys know she escaped?” Del asked looking over at Kasey. Kasey gave her a subtle nod, indicating that she’d written everything down including what the Chief thought was the location of the camp.
“No...they didn’t know that we had her until after Regina called you, and that put too many things in motion. She couldn’t tell you to forget about it...with your reputation, that was something that you wouldn’t do. They thought that they saw Jenny behind their house a couple of days ago, but no trace of her was found. Amelia, Jenny’s mom would have been compensated for her loss and she wasn’t too pleased about that, but AJ talked her into it. She’s always had a thing for him.” The man slowly retook his chair, hiding his stain the best that he could.
“You people fucking amaze me. Why did the Kingsley’s get into this?”
He leaned his elbows on the table, holding his head in his hands. “When Mr. Kingsley left; he took his money with him. Seems that Regina was too demanding for him and he just finally had enough. Like I said, she’s the one that came up with this scheme, and since they own the town, she got almost everyone to turn a blind eye. Everyone wants to keep their homes.”
“Well, I think I’ve heard about all my stomach can stand at this point. I’m sure these guys will see to it that you’re given a nice cell, once they’re done with you. I’ve got things to be doing.” Del winked and turned to the agents, signaling with her eyes that she wanted to speak to them in the other room.
Saying nothing more, she walked out the door, grabbing her coat on the way out and joined Jasper in the next room over. “Well, that’s possibly the highlight of this whole case,” she chuckled, leaning against the desk beside the older agent.
Shaking his head, Jasper kept watching the monitor. “Never knew men his age had bladder problems. I’m quite sure that he’s gonna have bigger problems in his future. A law enforcement officer in prison, you know.”
“Yes well, I’m having a hard time mustering up some sympathy.” Del watched as the two younger agents entered the room. “You think we got enough out of him?”
Nodding his head, Jasper turned to the detec
tive. “We got him, that’s for sure. Now we need to go after the Reverend and the Kingsleys. I think that the Director is quite pleased with what we have so far. She’s already set up a couple of fish trawlers to be in the area to hopefully keep whatever girls that they do have here until we can find the camps.”
“He mentioned one about eight miles from here. I won’t be surprised though, if they had a backup camp. They couldn’t keep them in one spot too long. I bet it’s probably the one the furthest from town.” Del turned and looked at Kasey and Ryerson. “How much trouble you think I’m in for sending him to the floor?”
Director Jacob’s voice came through a speaker. “It’s something that I really don’t want to see again, but it worked. Good work on the whole everyone.”
Del turned at the added voice in the room. “Oh, I think he’ll keep to himself after this. So, do we want to take the Reverend tonight? We need to be careful about when we do this. As soon as we take the Reverend anyone in the town involved will know what we are really here for,” Del stated. She reached up and rubbed her forehead a little, her headache starting to return.
Once more Jacob’s voice came through. “I think that we should locate the camps and do a mass arrest. I’ll use Homeland Security since they are shipping the girls out and we’ll also have to get the Coast Guard involved. I can get twenty agents here in two days. That should give us enough time to locate everybody and take them at once.”
“We’ll have to lay low until then. Kasey, you can stay with us, and Ryerson, you should stay here with Jasper, keep a feel for the townies. You can come out to the house to coordinate if needed. Is that okay Director?” Del asked.
“That’s fine. We need to keep a close eye on Ms. Montrose. The Chief seemed to think that she might be in danger. Ms. Delacroix, I do have to say though that Agent Sumners had an interesting story to tell that I would like to talk to you about at a later time.” There was a click, signaling that she had hung up.
Del stared at the speaker a minute before turning her attention to Kasey. “She's a force to be reckoned with isn't she? I'm not sure what Sumners would have said that counts as interesting aside from trying to kill us all.”
Arching an eyebrow at Ryerson, Kasey coughed. “I’m quite sure that the whole story was electrifying, if you know what I mean.”
Del’s eyes widened when she got what Kasey was saying. “Shit,” she breathed. “We should get back to the house. I need to talk to Raelin and figure out what we’re going to do about that. You can ride back with me if you want. Jasper, you and Ryerson should keep an eye on the Chief to make sure he doesn’t try anything before we can hand him over to the Director.”
“Actually, the Director is sending a couple of Agents to pick him up. They’re gonna take him to Canal City. We don’t want to keep him any longer than we have to,” Spaulding admitted.
“Well then, makes our life easier. You ready to go or do you want to hang around here and have Ryerson drop you off?” Del asked, once again trying to adjust the shoulder strap on her harness to ease some of the pressure on her shoulder.
“I’ll have Ryerson drop me off after the other Agents pick up Brito. Is that all right with you or do you really want me to come with you?” Kasey asked.
“No, you’re fine. I just figured it would save him a trip. You take care of yourself; give me a call when you’re on your way okay? You have my number right?”
“Yeah, I’ve got it. Shouldn’t be more than an hour.”
“Perfect. I’ll see you in a while then. Thanks guys, we did good.” With that, the blonde left the room, heading to the parked Jeep out back and towards home and the vibrant woman she knew was waiting.
j
Raelin was sweeping the back porch when Jenny finally came out though the utility hallway. Turning around, the witch smiled at the look on the young woman’s face. “I was wondering if you were going to grace us with your presence today.”
Blinking sleepily up at the witch, Jenny rubbed her eyes a little to try to wake up fully. “It was a late night is all. Is there anything I should know about this house? Seems like everyone who walks in here walks out with a girlfriend,” she joked.
“Oh really! Is there anything that you want to share?” The witch leaned on her broom.
“I, well uh,” Jenny stammered. “I slept with Kasey,” she blurted out, her hands snapping up to cover her mouth, cheeks burning with a blush.
Leaning forward, Raelin’s eyes narrowed. “Slept as in sleep or slept as in...you did! Jenny, are you sure you should have done that?
“What? Why shouldn’t I?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest defensively.
Putting aside the broom, Raelin walked over and hugged her friend. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt Jenny. It is your choice of course, but do you know if Kasey will be able to be with you after this is over. I mean, will she go up to Julliard?”
Jenny looked away, knowing Raelin would be disappointed in what she was going to say. “I don’t think I’m going to go to Julliard,” she whispered.
Taking a deep breath, Raelin closed her eyes and thought before she spoke. “Jenny, I have no right to talk. Del and I moved faster than the wind. I will not judge you. I will stand by your choices and help you when you need it. Just think carefully.”
“I will. This town is going to need a lot of help once all of this is over. All I want is to write and play music. I can do that anywhere as long as it comes from deep inside. Isn’t that what you always told me? That as long as it comes from the heart, nothing else matters?” Jenny smiled.
“You are right of course, as long as it comes from the heart, all will be well. However, you have now got me thinking. Maybe there is something with this house and meeting your true love. Why don’t you fix yourself some breakfast, while I go up to the attic to find some family history that would explain it. It does seem quite curious that we both have found someone so quickly.” Raelin suggested.
Jenny nodded and headed to the kitchen, a sudden hankering for banana pancakes making her mouth water. She set about getting the things she needed, warming the pan, and chopping the bananas, waiting for Raelin to return.
About a half hour later the witch returned downstairs covered with dust, but carrying three boxes. “Here, I found these. You wanna help me go through ‘em?”
Swallowing the syrupy mess of a pancake in her mouth, Jenny nodded. “Do you have any idea what’s in them?” she asked, reaching out to brush some dust out of Raelin’s hair.
“I saw some manuscripts and some letters. I figure that we’ll find something out for sure.” Putting the boxes on the counter, the witch went over to the sink to wash her hands and face before she delved back into the boxes.
The two friends slowly picked through the boxes. The first was mostly mementos of Raelin as a baby, photos, bronzed baby shoes and a lock of hair from her first haircut among them. Jenny took great delight in teasing Raelin on her fashion sense as an infant and smiled as she read the entries in the baby book.
The second was a bunch of manuscripts as Raelin had suspected, mostly pertaining to magic and things Jenny didn’t understand. They were old and the ink was fading. Raelin decided to set them aside, choosing to go through the last box and then return to the manuscripts, knowing they would take a little more concentration.
Jenny pulled out a pile of papers from the third box, and began reading. It was a letter, addressed to Quinlan, who she knew was Raelin’s mother. She got a few lines in before she stopped eyes wide. “Raelin, I think you better read this,” Jenny whispered.
Taking the letter, Raelin read the first few lines and tears sprang to her eyes as her hand came up to cover her heart.
My dearest Quinlan,
Each passing year, you become more beautiful, and it becomes harder for me to continue living the lies that my family forced upon me. You have waited long enough, and we have wasted enough time not being a family with our daughter.
Raelin is the child that I alw
ays dreamed of having. She has your strengths; your giving nature, your sense of loyalty and your honesty. Thankfully, she has none of my weaknesses like my cowardice to face my family and to stand up to tell everyone that Raelin is my daughter. It pains me every day knowing what she has gone through.
I have decided that it is time to do just that. I have made plans to leave Regina, and for us to be together. I have also transferred the land surrounding your home into your name so that no one can disturb on our privacy.
Meet me at our spot by the springs the day after tomorrow at noon, and together we will tell Raelin her lineage. I can only hope that my darling daughter will forgive me for not being in her life sooner.
Forever yours,
Arthur
May 21, 2004
Jenny watched concerned as tears spilled over her best friend’s cheeks. “Raelin, are you okay?” she asked, unsure how to comfort her friend.
Swallowing hard, the witch looked at her friend. “So I was right, Arthur Kingsley is my father. And he wanted...he wanted to be with me.”
“Oh Raelin, I’m so sorry,” Jenny whispered around the lump in her throat. She reached out, pulling her friend into a hug, knowing the conflict she’d always felt in regards to who her father might have been.
“He was leaving Regina and coming here to live with us. I was going to have a family,” she bowed her head and cried harder.
Jenny didn’t know what to say, so she just let Raelin cry it out, understanding the hurt and pain. She wrapped one arm around her shoulder, her other hand on the back of her head, stroking her dark hair in long soothing strokes.
Sniffing, Raelin pulled away from her friend. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have broken down in front of you.” Glancing down at the letter once more, she suddenly froze. “This was written two days before my mother’s death. Oh, Goddess help me…she was killed waiting on my father. She died on what was going to be the happiest day of her life.”
Jenny reached up and wiped Raelin’s cheeks. ”You know you have nothing to apologize for. After all those years of waiting, they finally try to get their chance at happiness and then it is ripped from them like that. I didn’t think Karma worked that way.” Jenny frowned; she had loved Quinlan as much as she loved Raelin growing up.
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